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HENRY V. ROCK.
Henry V. Rock, successfully owning and operating
a farm of three hundred and twenty acres on section
29, Knox township, was born in Waldeck, Germany,
on the 17th of July, 1863, a son of Frederick
and Louisa Rock, of whom more extended mention
is made in the sketch of William V. Rock on another
page of this volume.
Henry V. Rock acquired his education in the schools
of his native land, but in 1881, at the age of
eighteen years, he decided to come to the new
world. After landing on the shores of America
he made his way to Clinton county, Iowa, where
he worked on a farm by the month for five years.
On the expiration of that period he went to Scott
county, Iowa, where he was also employed as a
farm hand for three years. He then came to Pottawattamie
county, this state, and purchased a farm of eighty
acres in Pleasant township, on which he lived
for eleven years, when he sold that tract and
bought three hundred and twenty acres two miles
south of Avoca, on section 29, Knox township,
where he has since made his home. He has met with
a. large measure of success in his farming operations,
his prosperity having been acquired entirely through
his own well directed energies, indefatigable
industry and capable business management.
In 1895 Mr. Rock was united in marriage to Miss
Bertha W. Plantz, who was born in Indiana on the
1st of March, 1876, a daughter of Christian and
Lomenia Plantz, both of whom were natives of Germany.
They came to America in an early day, first locating
in Illinois and later removing to Indiana, whence
they came to Pottawattamie county, Iowa. Mr. Plantz
departed this life in 1896, but his wife still
survives him and now makes her home in Avoca,
Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Rock are the parents of six
children, as follows: Ella T., Alma W., Arnold
F., Lola Louisa, Leonard J. and Herbert V.
777
In his political views Mr. Rock is a democrat
who is active in the local ranks of his party,
having served as township trustee, school director
and constable, while at the present time he is
secretary of the school board. Both he and his
wife are members of the Lutheran church at Avoca,
Iowa, and are well and favorably known throughout
the community. Germany has furnished to the United
States many bright, enterprising young men who
have left the fatherland to enter the business
circles of this country with its more progressive
methods, livelier competition and advancement
more quickly secured. The hope that led Henry
Rock to leave his native land and seek a home
in America has been more than realized, for here,
with the aid of his estimable wife, he has gained
the prosperity which he sought and which now numbers
him among the representative and successful agriculturists
of Pottawattamie county.
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Harrison D. Harle, the general manager and treasurer
of the Harle-Haas Drug Company of Council Bluffs,
was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, in 1843. His father
was Harrison D. Harle, a native of Virginia, where
he was born in 1814. He passed away in 1857 in
Council Bluffs, where he had been in the livery
and grocery business for many years.
Mr. Harle of this review was educated in the
common schools of his native town and in 1854
came with his parents to Council Bluffs, where
he supplemented his early education by a course
in the common schools of that city. His father
died when he was but fourteen and the family felt
that they could do better on a farm and accordingly
took land in Pottawattamie county. It fell to
the lot of the son Harrison to conduct this farm
and to bring it to a point where it would yield
crops which would insure a living for the widow
and children left to his care. He worked faithfully
for this until he had attained the age of twenty-three.
At the outbreak of the Civil war his patriotism
was so aroused that he enlisted but was not allowed
to serve, as his mother was a widow and he was
her sole support. Feeling that he had brought
the farm to a point where it could be easily taken
care of, he came to Council Bluffs and entered
the drug store of X. W. Kynett to learn the business.
For ten years he was with this firm, acquiring
an intimate knowledge of every detail and proving
a valuable employe. For several years he was on
the road selling proprietary medicines for the
firm. His lack of an early education seemed to
hamper him on all sides and he felt that before
he could attain much more in business life he
must acquire more of the advantages of education.
For this purpose he went to St. Joseph and entered
a business college, where he learned bookkeeping.
Upon his return to Council Bluffs Mr. Harle had
charge of the counting room of the Nonpareil and
later kept books for a dry-goods firm. With the
mastery of the druggist's business and with the
business education he
778
had acquired, he felt that he was now ready to
forge ahead in the business world. Accordingly,
in partnership with Dr. A. B. McKune, he bought
a drug store, carrying on business under the firm
style of Harle & McKune until 1883. At that
time Samuel Haas bought Dr. McKune's interest
and the firm became known as Harle, Haas &
Company. The business had grown to such enormous
proportions that they entered exclusively into
the wholesale trade and in 1899 the present company
was organized, with Mr. Harle as treasurer and
general manager.
In 1872, Mr. Harle was united in wedlock, in
Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Josephine Wood, a daughter
of Amasa Wood. Their union has been blessed with
one daughter, Cora Ethel Harle. Lacking early
educational advantages, Mr. Harle has always felt
eager to do all in his power to build up the opportunities
for the education of the young people today and
served efficiently as treasurer of the school
board. He is not actively interested in politics,
preferring to devote his time to the interests
of his business and the companionship of his family.
He is a member of the Elks lodge and of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, having held all the chairs
in the subordinate lodge and encampment. As a
representative business man he is interested in
the Commercial Club, of which he is an active
member. In the prosecution of his business there
has been manifest one of the most sterling traits
of his character--his desire to carry forward
to the highest perfection attainable anything
that he undertakes. He is the man who has built
up the firm of which he is the senior member and
under his wise management the business has grown
steadily from year to year. In his business affairs
he is energetic, prompt and notably reliable.
Tireless energy, keen perception, honesty of purpose,
a genius for devising and executing the right
thing at the right time, joined to every-day common
sense, guided by resistless will power, are the
chief characteristics of the man.
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Edgar H. Merriam is one of the representative
business men of Council Bluffs and the president
of the Commercial Club of that city. He is today
the vice president and treasurer of David Bradley
& Company, wholesale dealers in agricultural
implements, and is also identified with other
business enterprises which have had important
bearing upon the development and prosperity of
the city.
Mr. Merriam was born in West Meriden, Connecticut,
on the 15th of August, 1849, a son of Lauren T.
and Susan J. (Hubbard) Merriam, also natives of
that state, and he was a lad of ten years when
he accompanied his parents on their removal to
Chicago, where he attended the common and high
schools. Laying aside his text-books at the age
of sixteen years, he commenced clerking and was
thus employed in Chicago for one year. He then
went to Galesburg, Illinois, where he attended
a commercial college and after his graduation
became a bookkeeper in that city, remaining there
for
779
two years. During the following year he engaged
in clerking at Blackberry, Illinois, and on leaving
there went to Savannah, Illinois, where he was
employed in the hotel conducted by his father,
Lauren T. Merriam, for about two years, at the
end of which time he returned to Chicago. After
clerking in a grocery store in that city for a
year, he went to Decatur, Illinois, and accepted
a position as clerk in a hotel. Subsequently he
obtained work in an implement house and during
his five years' connection with that firm he became
thoroughly familiar with the business. He next
went upon the road for the Furst & Bradley
Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of agricultural
implements, who were succeeded by David Bradley
Manufacturing Company. In 1882 he came to Council
Bluffs as secretary of David Bradley & Company
and served in that capacity until 1902, when the
company was re-incorporated, Mr. Merriam becoming
secretary and treasurer. In 1906 he was made vice
president and treasurer and still holds those
offices. This is one of the leading industrial
concerns of the city, doing an extensive business
in various kinds of farm machinery, wagons, buggies
and carriages, wind mills, pumps, tanks, pipe,
gasoline engines, steam engines, threshers, power
corn shellers, shredders, supplies and machine
repairs. They are a branch house of the David
Bradley Manufacturing Company, which has a large
manufacturing plant at Bradley, Illinois, fifty-four
miles south of Chicago. For many years business
was carried on in Chicago, having a plant in the
very heart of the city, but needing more space
it was removed about ten years ago to Bradley.
Their warehouse in Council Bluffs is seventy-five
by one hundred and fifty feet in dimensions and
four stories in height and large shipments are
made from this point each year.
Mr. Merriam has not confined his attention alone
to this business but has become interested in
other enterprises, being a director and vice president
of the Independent Telephone Company of Council
Bluffs. His standing in business circles is plainly
indicated by his election to the presidency of
the Commercial Club of this city in March, 1907.
Although he started out in life with no capital,
he has made good use of his opportunities and
has steadily prospered. He has conducted all business
matters carefully and successfully and in all
his acts has displayed an aptitude for successful
management. Fraternally he is a member of the
Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Benevolent
Protective Order of Elks, while religiously he
is connected with St. Paul's Episcopal church
and is a member of its vestry.
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Thomas J. Shugart, president of the Shugart-Ouren
Seed Company, of Council Bluffs, has made steady
progress in his business life until he has long
since become one of the successful, capable and
enterprising merchants of his adopted city. He
was born in Bureau county, Illinois, on the 23d
of May, 1805, and there resided until twenty-three
years of age with the exception of four years
spent in Iowa City, Iowa. His early education
was
780
acquired in the district schools of his native
county and to some extent he attended school in
Princeton, Illinois, remaining a resident of his
native state until November, 1888.
He then came to Council Bluffs, where he engaged
in the hardware business with his uncle, E. L.
Shugart, so continuing for three years, when he
sold out and engaged in seed business. In the
latter line he has since remained and in November,
1905, the business was incorporated under the
present name. A large trade has been worked up
and the company now receive a very liberal patronage,
making the volume of business transacted over
its counters one of the important commercial enterprises
of the city. Mr. Shugart has ever wrought along
modern business lines. His labors have been effective
and resultant and today he is enjoying the fruits
of his former toil as one of the prosperous citizens
of Council Bluffs.
In September, 1880, in Iowa City, Iowa, Mr. Shugart
was united in marriage to Miss Anne B. Rice, a
daughter of J. H. Rice, and they have three children:
Rice Shugart, Mary Edith and Mildred. Mr. Shugart
is a republican in politics and is now serving
the third term as a member of the school board.
The cause of education finds in him a warm friend
and he is active in his efforts toward improving
the public school system of the city. In his fraternal
relations he is connected with the Woodmen of
the World, the Modern Woodmen and the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, and he attends the Christian
church, of which Mrs. Shugart is a member. These
relations indicate much of the character of the
man and the rules which govern his conduct and
mold his life. He ever has due regard for the
rights of others and in his business life has
followed closely those principles which ever awaken
respect and confidence.
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MARY E. ALLEE.
Mrs. Mary E. Allee, living in Walnut, was born
in Muskingum county, Ohio, on the 22d of July,
1848, her parents being W. R. and Edith (Griffith)
Belmont, who were likewise natives of the Buckeye
state. Their family numbered twelve children,
of whom Mrs. Allee is the eldest, and the others
still living are: Alderman, Almon and Edgar, who
are residents of Hancock, Iowa; John, whose home
is in Walnut, Iowa, and Leahann, the wife of H.
V. Van Beck, of Hancock, Iowa, and Worthington,
of Clarks, Nebraska. Five of the family are now
deceased. The father died in the year 1893, but
the mother still survives at the age of eighty
years and is yet living in Hancock, Iowa.
Mrs. Allee spent her girlhood days under the
parental roof and was trained in the labors of
the household, so that she was well qualified
to take challenge of a home of her own at the
time of her first marriage. In 1868 she became
the wife of Benjamin Huxford, who died on the
2d of February, 1873. She was again married on
the 5th of September, 1877, when she became the
wife of Francis M. Allee, who was a native of
Parke county, Indiana, born
783
June 25, 1844. He enlisted for service in the
Civil war as a member of the Ninth Indiana Battery
and served throughout the period of hostilities,
participating in the engagement at Shiloh and
in several other battles and skirmishes. He was
on the steamer Eclipse when it exploded and was
thrown out in the river, sustaining a slight injury
in the shoulder, but he never received a gunshot
wound while in the service, although he remained
at the front until the close of the war, when
he was honorably discharged at Indianapolis, Indiana,
in 1865.
When hostilities had ceased and the country no
longer needed his aid, Mr. Allee returned home
and resumed farming, which he followed continuously
until 1902, when he retired to private life. He
came to Pottawattamie county in 1880 and bought
a farm in Lincoln township, which he at once began
to cultivate. As the years passed he continued
its further development and improvement, transforming
it into a fine property, from which he annually
gathered good harvests as a reward far the care
and labor he bestowed on the fields. He continued
actively in the work of the farm until 1902, when,
having acquired a handsome competence, he put
aside further business cares and took up his abode
in the village of Walnut, where his remaining
days were passed. His rest was well merited, as
it came to him in reward for his untiring labor
and diligence in former years. He still retained
the ownership of his farm, however, having one
hundred and sixty acres in Lincoln township, from
which he derived a good income, and which remained
his property up to the time of his demise.
In his political views Mr. Allee was a stalwart
democrat and kept well informed on the questions
and issues of the day. He held several local township
offices, the duties of which he discharged with
the same fidelity and stalwart purpose that characterized
him in his army life when he followed the old
flag upon the battle-fields of the south. Fraternally
he was connected with the Masons and with the
Odd Fellows, being a charter member of the lodges
of those organizations in Walnut. He was also
a member of John A. Dix Post, No., 408, G. A.
R, and his widow is a member of the Eastern Star
and Daughters of Rebekah at Walnut. Both attended
and supported the Methodist Episcopal church and
in the community were held in high esteem. The
death of Mr. Allee, which occurred February 17,
1906, therefore was the occasion of deep and widespread
regret. His widow still resides in Walnut, \where
she is much esteemed, her good qualities of heart
and mind having gained for her a large circle
of warm friends.
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There are few men of W. G. Tittsworth's years
who can boast of having served their country in
the Civil war, and indeed there are few who can
relate so many thrilling incidents and events
as a matter of personal experience. The life of
Mr. Tittsworth has indeed been varied and fiction
furnishes no stranger tales than some of the chapters
in his life record. He
784
was born in Franklin county, Arkansas, on the
10th of September, 1847, his parents being David
and Elvina Tittsworth, who were natives of Tennessee,
and at an early day removed to Arkansas, where
the father died, the mother afterward going to
Missouri, where her last days were passed, the
family settling an a farm in Taney county. There
were six children: A. D., William D., William
G., Mary, Narcissa and Annie. After losing her
first husband, Mrs. Tittsworth was married in
Taney county to James Clevenger, a farmer, and
W. G. Tittsworth of this review not being satisfied
at home, went to live with his maternal grandmother,
who resided on a farm in Taney county. He was
but five years of age at the time of the removal
of the family to Missouri, and owing to his father's
early death he had no educational privileges but
through reading, observation and investigation
he has continually broadened his knowledge, being
long recognized as a well informed man.
The year 1859 witnessed his removal from Missouri
to Iowa, where he was employed at herding cattle
by I. C. Cooper, of Des Moines. Returning to Missouri,
he was there at the time of the outbreak of the
Civil war. The condition of affairs which existed
in the border state is too well known as a matter
of history to need recounting here. It was a time
when party feeling ran very high and long time
friends and even families were separated and became
enemies because of opposing views in regard to
the questions at stake. Missouri became principally
the scene of the operations of the guerrillas,
who, under the guise of loyalty to the south carried
out their real object of murder and plunder. These
bands were composed of many of the most desperate
men of the state. On one occasion they visited
the home of Mr. Tittsworth's mother, searching
far arms and plunder. The second eldest son, William
D. Tittswarth, then a youth of fifteen, was at
the home of a neighbor four and a half miles away.
The raiders found him, and being aware that his
step-father had voted for Missouri to remain in
the Union and that the family entertained Union
sentiment, remorselessly shot him down. Wounded,
he managed to escape to the bushes and at length
reached a vacant log cabin in the woods where
he was cared for by sympathizing neighbors. Scenes
of bloodshed and cruelty were everywhere prevalent
and it was with such that William G. Tittsworth
became familiar at a time when most boys are acquiring
an education. Seizing a rifle and mounting a horse
which his mother gave him, he joined the Home
Guards, May 2, 1861, and served under Captain
Jesse Gallaway, who was shot down at the threshold
of his awn door, with his child in his arms, by
a relentless guerrilla who fired upon him from
the dark. The Home Guards fought a skirmish with
bushwhackers at Forsyth, Missouri, and later General
Sweeney came upon the scene with a regiment from
Kansas and two pieces of artillery and attacked
the bushwhackers at Forsyth, dispersing them.
Mr. Tittsworth was present at both engagements.
Later he returned to Des Moines, Iowa, and subsequently
went to St. Louis, Missouri. He desired to enlist
again for service in the Civil war but was rejected
on account of his youth. He then joined Company
B, Eighteenth Missouri Infantry and served without
muster or pay until later on near Atlanta, Georgia,
where
785
he was mustered and remained with the regiment
until 1865, when he was mustered out at St. Louis.
He was with the army of the Tennessee when it
participated in the battles of Atlanta, Resaca,
Dallas, Snake Creek Gap and many others, and was
with Sherman on the famous march to the sea. He
also went with the army as it proceeded northward
through the Carolinas, on to Washington and was
present at the grand review.
When the war was ended Mr. Tittsworth again went
to Des Moines, Iowa, and later proceeded to Michigan
and to Chicago. In that city, meeting an old acquaintance,
he was enabled to secure a position as cook on
a vessel on Lake Michigan, being thus employed
for two seasons. In 1868 be went to Wyoming, where
he remained until 1880, and the story of his life
on the plains of the west was a thrilling one,
oftentimes fraught with great hardships and dangers.
He became a trapper and hunter, selling the products
of his skill to the builders of the Union Pacific
Railroad until 1871, when he returned his attention
to the ranch, raising horses and cattle in Sweetwater
county, Wyoming, and also carrying on business
as a drover. He became a noted cowboy and expert
trailer. He lived in Wyoming at the time when
the gamblers almost ran that country, and when
no man's life was really safe, but though often
the companion of desperate characters whose entire
lives showed scarcely a trace of goodness, such
was his character and his principles that he came
unscathed from the fire. During his residence
in the west he visited many parts of Wyoming,
Utah, Washington, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and
other territories, and became a great hunter,
killing many deer, elk, mountain sheep, bears
and other wild animals. He was connected with
one event notable in the history of Colorado--the
opening of the Henpeak mine, when two hundred
warriors of the Ute tribe, who had just murdered
the Van Dyke party, ordered the Henpeak miners
to leave the country. The celebrated scout, Jim
Baker, an old companion of Kit Carson and Jim
Bridger, was with the miners. He had in early
days married several different Indian squaws and
was the father of many half-breed Indian children.
It is said he could count upon his fingers as
many as from twenty to thirty. His son, William,
a half breed, then about thirty years of age,
was then with him. Jim Baker was a very fearless
and powerful frontiersman and had killed many
Indians. He met the warlike party of Utes in council
and boldly told their chief that he had been to
Washington and seen the great White Father, who
had given him that country to Bear river and that
they must leave. The chief replied that the whites
had killed their buffalo and mined their gold,
and he demanded that they leave. Baker seized
the chief and roughly jerked him off his horse;
telling him he would kill him, and Baker stepped
into his camp and seized his rifle, ordered the
Indians to leave or he would open fire and the
fight would begin at once. The sagacity of the
Indians convinced them that discretion was the
better part of valor and they departed, and Baker
sent three men, one of whom was our subject, to
see that they crossed the Bear river.
Among the various experiences of Mr. Tittsworth
when a young man struggling to gain a position
in life, is his career as a circus man. For one
season he was with Yankee Robinson's circus in
Illinois and Iowa, his busi-
786
ness being to describe for a side-show the relics
left from the burning of Barnum's famous museum
in New York. Thus he obtained a wide knowledge
of human nature, which has been of great value
to him.
The summer ranch of Mr. Tittsworth was in Salt
Wells Basin and he wintered his cattle at Brown's
Park, Colorado and Utah, which is a deep depression
in the ground, the sides rising from four to seven
thousand feet.
During his residence in the wilds of the west
Mr. Tittsworth always had a faithful companion
in his wife, whom he wedded on the 24th of July,
1872. She bore the maiden name of Jean Law and
was born in Beotland in 1857, a daughter of George
Law, whose birth occurred in Fifeshire, Scotland,
in 1812. Her mother bore the maiden name of Elizabeth
Phillips. Mrs. Tittsworth was one of a family
of ten children and it was in Rock Springs, Wyoming,
that she was married. She lived with her husband
in that wild western country and was often alone
for weeks at a time save for the company of her
little daughter Florence, her husband being away
on trading expeditions or acting as guide to parties
crossing the desert. For nine months at one time
she never saw the face of a woman, white or black.
The ranch was fifteen miles from the nearest neighbor
and thirty-five miles from the railroad. For nine
years Mr. and Mrs. Tittsworth there resided, the
year 1880 witnessing their arrival in Pottawattamie
county, Iowa, where he has now a highly improved
farm of one hundred and twenty acres. His home
is pleasantly located within a short distance
of Avoca and is thoroughly equipped with all modern
accessories and conveniences. Mr. Tittsworth has
made a specialty of raising and feeding stock
and is widely recognized as one of the leading
stock-raisers of this portion of the county, and
the family residence stands on a natural building
site, commanding a fine view of the surrounding
country, and its furnishings are attractive and
tasteful.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Tittsworth have been born five
children: -Florence Elizabeth, who was born June
30, 1875, and is the wife of Joseph True, of Knox
township; David, who was born January 15, 1877,
and is deceased; William D., who was born November
24, 1879, and is now in northern Wyoming; John
C., who was born August 23, 1882, and is in Utah;
and Bertha B., who was born March 31, 1885, and
is a graduate of the Avoca high school. She is
now a teacher in the rural schools of the county.
In his political views Mr. Tittsworth has long
been a stalwart republican and fraternally he
is connected with the Masonic lodge and with the
commandery. He is likewise a member of the U.
S. Grant post, G. A. R, of Avoca, and thus maintains
pleasant relations with his old army comrades.
There are few men who can relate from personal
experience stories of life in the west so varied
and so interesting as can Mr. Tittsworth. In his
youth he witnessed events which can never be forgotten
and many experiences of the west have also left
an indelible impression upon his mind. Today,
however, as one sees him amid the quiet surroundings
of a beautiful home in Pottawattamie county, it
is difficult to realize that his entire life has
not been passed in the same way. It is fitting
that in his later years he should enjoy the fruits
of his former toil. His entire life has been a
787
busy one and he is yet actively engaged in general
farming and stock-raising, having a fine herd
of Poland China hogs. He is a careful student
of high grade stock and his successful experiments
in the raising of hogs are the results of careful
study and scientific research. He has also made
a specialty of the raising of seed corn. Some
years ago he started with but one ear 6f Reed's
Yellow Dent seed corn and since that time he has
carefully followed up his experiments in the raising
of prize corn until today his seed corn is in
demand all over the county. His wife has charge
of the poultry and fruit products and has won
many premiums at county fairs in the exhibits
of high-class poultry, fruit, bees and honey.
Their home is an attractive residence standing
in the midst of a beautiful grove of evergreens
and forms one of the loveliest pictures to be
met with as one travels over Pottawattamie county.
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Fred S. Roane, one of the younger but none the
less active and successful business man of Pottawattamie
county, is well known as a prominent ,agriculturist,
stock raiser and feeder of York township, where
he owns and operates a half section of valuable
and well improved land. He was born in Neola,
this county, April 22, 1876, his parents being
John and Eliza (German) Roane. The father, who
is one of the county's substantial citizens, is
a farmer and banker, whose residence in Iowa dates
from 1867, in which year he arrived in Pottawattamie
county. He is a native of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania,
born on the 28th of August, 1838, his parents
being James and Hester (Houdd) Roane, both of
whom were natives of the Keystone state. James
Roane and his family became early settlers of
McHenry county, Illinois, and it was there that
John Roane was reared, coming to Pottawattamie
county in 1867. Here he opened up a firm and later
engaged in merchandizing in Neola, where he is
now engaged in the banking business. He was married
in York township, on the 1st of February, 1868,
to Miss Eliza German, a native of Arkansas and
a daughter .of George German, an early settler
here, who became a prominent farmer of York township.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Roane were born six children,
two sons and four daughters, Fred of this review
being the eldest. His brother Reuben is associated
with him in the operation of the home farm. The
daughters are: Mrs. H. L. Robertson, of Council
Bluffs; Mary H., the wife of W. S. Geise, of Underwood;
Pearl, the wife of Joe Mitchell, of Neola; and
Bessie, who is at home with her parents.
Fred S. Roane, whose name introduces this record,
was reared upon the home farm and educated in
the schools of Neola and Woodbine. He remained
with his father until he had attained his majority
and then began farming two hundred and forty acres
of the old home place, which he later purchased,
while subsequently he bought eighty acres adjoining,
so that he now has three hundred and twenty acres
in the one farm. This is a valuable
788
property well equipped with modern conveniences
and accessories. He uses the latest improved machinery,
has good buildings and his fields indicate his
careful supervision in the large harvests which
are annually gathered. Following his marriage
he erected an attractive and commodious dwelling
on his place and has also put up good barns, corn
cribs and other buildings necessary for the shelter
of grain and stock. He built a stock and hay barn,
eighty by sixty feet, with twenty-six foot posts,
capable of accommodating one hundred and fifteen
tons of hay. He is widely known as a stock-raiser,
making a specialty of shorthorn cattle, and he
buys and feeds from two to five carloads per year.
He also raises good grades of Poland China, Duroc
and O. I. C. hogs and feeds for the market. His
business affairs are capably managed, indicating
his careful supervision and unfaltering diligence
and as the years go by he is adding annually to
his income.
On the 1st of March, 1898, Mr. Roane was married
to Miss Hattie M. Kilmer, a native of Harrison
county, Iowa, and a daughter of J. M. Kilmer.
They had four children but lost their first-born
in infancy. The living are Etta M., Ethel I. and
Fred L. The family are prominent in the community
where Mr. and Mrs. Roane are widely known. Their
circle of friends is almost co-extensive with
the circle of their acquaintance and their home
is justly celebrated for its warm-hearted and
gracious hospitality.
In questions of national importance Mr. Roane
is a republican but casts an independent local
ballot. He has served on the township board for
two terms and as road supervisor but has never
been a politician in the sense of office seeking,
preferring to concentrate his time and energies
upon his business affairs. The lessons of thrift
and industry which he learned in youth have borne
rich fruit in his later years and through the
careful direction of ibis business interests he
has gradually advanced until he is now one of
the substantial agriculturists of the community.
Moreover, he is one of the prominent citizens
of York township, having spent his entire life
in this county, where his many sterling traits
of character have gained for him the warm regard
and good will of those with whom he has come in
contact.
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