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Prominent among the business men of Pottawattamie
county, a resident of Neola, and the largest dealer
in and feeder and shipper of horses in southwestern
Iowa, is Thomas S. Fenlon, who has conducted business
at his present place of residence since 1892.
He has lived in Pottawattamie county, however,
since 1868 and therefore through almost four decades
has been closely associated with its interests
and its development.
He was born near Rockford, Winnebago county,
Illinois, April 28, 1865, and was three years
of age when brought to Iowa by his parents, James
and Mary (Stapleton) Fenlon. The father was a
native of Ireland and when a lad went to Illinois
with his parents, being there reared to farm life.
He was mar-
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ried in Winnebago county to Miss Mary Stapleton
and in 1868 made his way westward to Council Bluffs,
where he established an implement business which
he conducted far ten years. He then sold out and
removed to York township, where he purchased three
hundred and twenty acres of land. This he improved,
making his home thereon, it being his place of
residence for fourteen years. In the meantime
he carefully conducted his business affairs so
that success crowned his efforts and in 1892 he
retired from farm life to enjoy the fruits of
his farmer toil, removing to Des Moines, where
he is now living at the age of eighty-one years,
while his wife is seventy-six years of age. Not
content, however, to be engaged in no business,
for indolence and idleness are utterly foreign
to his nature, he is now traveling for the Woodmanse
Manufacturing Company and is the oldest traveling
salesman in the state of Iowa. Unto him and his
wife were barn thirteen children but only eight
reached maturity. Five died in infancy and but
five are still living.
Thomas Fenlon was reared on the home farm, where
he enjoyed common-school advantages. Later he
spent one year in a business college at Atchison,
Kansas. He remained with his father and assisted
him in the cultivation and development of the
old homestead until he had attained his majority,
when he went to Keith county, Nebraska, where
he secured a homestead claim of one hundred and
sixty acres and a tree claim of similar amount.
This he also improved, erected a dwelling there
and resided upon that place for six years, but
he sold out and returned to Neola.
On the 1st of May, 1889, Mr. Fenlon was married
in Neola to Miss Catherine Flynn, a native of
Pottawattamie county and a daughter of James Flynn,
a farmer of Neola, who died in 1894. For three
years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Fenlon
resided on their Nebraska ranch. Later he conducted
a livery stable in Neola for a few years, but
the growth of his business as a dealer and shipper
of horses compelled him to dispose of the livery
business and seek more commodious quarters far
the conduct of his other interests. This he did
by buying forty acres of land in Neola in 1901,
and upon no forty-acre tract in Pottawattamie
county are found as good improvements--the land
and buildings representing an investment of over
sixteen thousand dollars. The buildings are all
modern, commodious and convenient and were erected
for the express purpose for which they are now
used. Furthermore Mr. Fenlon has recently completed
the finest dwelling in Neola, built in modern
style of architecture and equipped with all of
the latest conveniences and comforts, while its
furnishings indicate a refined and cultured taste.
He began business here in a small way but his
interests have been extensively developed and
he now ships and feeds between three and five
hundred draft horses a year to the eastern markets.
In 1906 he fed five hundred and seventeen head.
He ranks among the largest dealers and shippers
in the state and is known all over the country
in this connection.
Mr. and Mrs. FenIon have no children of their
awn but have reared two
boys and two girls from infancy, of whom Jerome
is now of age and makes his home in Des Moines.
In politics Mr. Fenlon is a democrat and for several
years has been chairman of the democratic committee
of Neola. He has frequently attended county conventions
as a delegate and has also been sent as a
790
delegate to state conventions. While interested
in political questions and at all times a public-spirited
citizen, his time and attention, however, are
chiefly given to his business affairs, wherein
he has gained most gratifying success. He and
his wife are members of the Catholic church at
Neola and throughout the state and wherever known
Mr. Fenlon has a host of warm friends. He certainly
deserves much credit for what he has accomplished
and may well be termed a self-made man, for without
any extraordinary family or pecuniary advantages
at the commencement of life he has worked earnestly
and energetically, and by indomitable courage
and integrity has achieved both character and
fortune. By sheer force of will and untiring effort
he has worked his way upward and is numbered among
the leading business men of Pottawattamie county.
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FRED MARTI.
Fred Marti, who for a period of twenty-five years
was one of the active and prosperous farmers and
stock-raisers of Pottawattamie county, still owns
an excellent farm of three hundred and twenty
acres in Minden township, adjoining the corporation
limits of the village of Minden. He is one of
Iowa's native sons and throughout his entire life
has been imbued with the spirit of enterprise
and progress which has been a dominant factor
in the upbuilding of the middle west. His birth
occurred in Scott county, November 8, 1856. His
father was Fred Marti, Sr., a native of Switzerland,
who spent the days of his boyhood and youth in
the land of the Alps. There he was married and
afterward emigrated to the new world, first settling
at Davenport, Scott county, Iowa. He began farming
in that county and there reared his family. His
last years were passed in that locality, where
his death occurred.
Fred Marti of this review was reared on the old
homestead farm in Scott county and when not busy
with the work of the fields he pursued his studies
in the common schools. From the time of early
spring planting until the crops were harvested
in the autumn he assisted his father, and remained
at home until after he had attained his majority.
As a companion and helpmate for life's journey
he chose Miss Verena Risse, who was a native of
Switzerland, but was reared in Scott county, the
wedding being celebrated in Davenport in the spring
of 1879. Mr. Marti and his bride located upon
his present farm in that year. He first purchased
one hundred and sixty acres of land, a part of
which had been broken, while upon the place was
a little house. The new home was quite unpretentious,
but large possibilities lay before the young couple
because of their ambition and determination. Mr.
Marti began to cultivate his fields and improve
the property and from time to time he added to
his original holdings until he became the owner
of four hundred and eighty acres. At a later date,
however, he sold one hundred and sixty acres,
still owning a half section. Upon his place he
has erected a large dwelling, substantial barns,
and added all the improvements and accessories
which are a
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part of the model farm of the twentieth century.
He has planted an orchard and set out a grove,
and he continued in the active cultivation and
management of this place until 1904. He also raised
and fed stock and both branches of his business
proved profitable. In that year he built a good
residence in Minden, where he is now living retired,
enjoying in well earned rest the fruits of his
former toil.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Marti have been born seven
children, who are still living. Fred, Jr., who
is a student in the home school, being the only
son. The daughters are Emma, the wife of Frank
Bloomer, a resident farmer of Minden township;
Lizzie, the wife of Henry Bloomer, a brother of
Frank, and a farmer of this county; Rosa, the
wife of John Langer, who follows agricultural
pursuits here; Nellie, at home; Verena, who is
engaged in the millinery business in Omaha; and
Anna, who is attending school. They also lost
two sons-Fred, who died in his third year, and
Leslie, who passed away in his fourth year.
Mr. Marti has been a life-long republican, much
interested in the party and its growth. He has
served as a delegate to county and state conventions,
was also township committeeman, and does everything
in his power to secure republican victories. He
and his wife are members of the German Congregational
church. His entire life has been spent in this
state and his memory goes back to the early days
of Iowa's development. He has swung the whip over
the backs of ox teams in early life when the farming
was done after the primitive method of that time.
He has aided in breaking the sod in many an acre
and has borne the hardships and privations incident
to life on the frontier, but he has lived to see
all of the evidences of pioneer life replaced
by those of a modern civilization and has borne
his full share in the work of improvements in
agricultural lines. His unremitting diligence
and activity in former years brought him a gratifying
measure of prosperity and it is thus that he is
now enabled to live retired, enjoying many of
the comforts and some of the luxuries of life.
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John N. Maguire, identified with the farming
and stock-raising interests of Carson township,
his home being on section 25, is busily engaged
in the cultivation of a good tract of land of
one hundred and sixty acres. He was born in Richland
county, Ohio, on the 15th of March, 1854, his
parents being James and Elizabeth (Plunkett) Maguire,
who in 1863 left the Buckeye state and became
residents of Warren county, Illinois. They were
farming people, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania
respectively. They remained residents of Illinois
from 1863 until called to their final rest, the
father passing away in 1876 and the mother in
1881. There was five years difference in their
ages, so that both were sixty-five years at the
time of their demise. Their family numbered five
sons, of whom four are yet living: William, a
resident of Reno county, Kansas; Frank P., who
is living in Hutchinson,
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Kansas; Michael, who died in Kansas City, Missouri,
in 1892, when thirty-eight years of age; John
N., of this review; and Edward, whose home is
in Danbury, Woodbury county, Iowa.
John N. Maguire spent the first nine years of
his life in the state of his nativity and then
accompanied his parents on their removal to Warren
county, Illinois, where he was reared. The public
schools there afforded him his educational privileges
and he was trained to habits of industry and economy
while assisting his father upon the homestead
farm. He entered upon an independent business
career in 1878 in Illinois. The following year
he removed to Kansas, where he resided for two
years, after which he returned to Illinois and
a year later came to Iowa, arriving in Pottawattamie
county in 1882. He first settled in Silver Creek
township, where he purchased land and developed
a farm, making his home there until the spring
of 1902, when he sold his property and invested
his means in his present farm, comprising one
hundred and sixty acres of rich and productive
land on section 25, Carson township. He has improved
the place himself and has brought it into a rich
state of fertility. In addition to raising the
cereals best adapted to soil and climate he also
gives considerable attention to stockraising and
both branches of his business are proving profitable
owing to his careful management and indefatigable
industry.
While in Kansas Mr. Maguire was married to Miss
Addie Daugherty, a native of Fulton county, Illinois,
and a daughter of Michael and Sarah Daugherty,
who were early residents of that state, locating
there about 1854. Both are now deceased, however.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Maguire have been born four
children: Agnes, who was born in Warren county,
Illinois, in 1880; Florence, born in Pottawattamie
county in 1883; Belle, who was born in 1885 and
is the wife of Frank Clark, of this county; and
Leo, whose birth occurred in 1891. The family
circle still remains unbroken by the hand of death.
The parents are communicants of the Catholic
church, being connected with the Carson parish.
In his fraternal relations Mr. Maguire is a Modern
Woodman, holding membership in Oakland camp, while
politically he is a democrat. He has served as
trustee and in other township offices, discharging
his duties in prompt and able manner, whereby
he has won the entire confidence of the community.
In business affairs, too, he is notably reliable
and energetic and his success is that of one who
works his way upward by personal effort and unfaltering
diligence.
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Among the business men of Council Bluffs who
have achieved prominence as men of marked ability
and substantial worth is John P. Greenshields,
of the well kown real-estate firm of Greenshields
& Everest Company, and vice president of the
First National Bank. He was born in the province
of Quebec, Canada, November 20, 1859, and there
spent the first eighteen years of his
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life, his education being acquired in the schools
of the province. His parents were John and Margaret
(Naiswith) Greenshields, both of whom were natives
of Scotland and in childhood removed to Canada
with their respective parents, the families coming
to the new world at the same time.
Believing that the United States furnished better
opportunities for an ambitious young man, Mr.
Greenshields came to Iowa in 1877, and first located
in Essex, Page county, where he obtained a position
as clerk in a little general store, remaining
there three or four years. At the end of that
time he returned to Canada and went upon the road
as salesman for a Montreal house dealing in hats
and furs, in whose employ he remained for ab9ut
four years. He next went to Chicago and secured
employment with a clothing firm, opening branch
stores in various cities, and so continued for
a year. Going to Anthony, Kansas, he there embarked
in the real-estate business on his own account
and for a time conducted a clothing store at that
place. It was in 1886 that he left there and came
to Council Bluffs and soon afterward opened a
real estate office in this city. He has since
carried on business here along that line with
marked success and also gives considerable attention
to insurance, writing a large number of policies
each year.
Mr. Greenshields was married in Shenandoah, Iowa,
August 6, 1885, to Miss Allie A. Armstrong, a
daughter of. the late John Armstrong, and to them
were born four children but Jeanette is the only
one now living. The others were: Chester, who
died at the age of nine years; Fay, who died in
infancy; and James, who was a twin brother of
Jeanette and also died in infancy.
In religious faith Mr. Greenshields is a Presbyterian
and in his social relations is a member of the
Masonic order and the Elks. Politically he is
identified with the republican party but does
not care for the honors or emoluments of public
office, preferring to devote his entire time and
attention to his business affairs, in which he
has been more than ordinarily successful, though
for one term he served as alderman of Council
Bluffs. It is through his own unaided efforts
that he has arisen to a place of prominence in
the commercial world, for he began his business
career as a clerk in a country store, but being
energetic, industrious and a man of sound judgment
he has steadily prospered as the years have gone
by until he is now at the head of a large and
lucrative business and is vice president of the
First National Bank of Council Bluffs.
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Harry Z. Haas, vice president of the Harle-Haas
Drug Company, wholesale dealers, and bookkeeper
for the city waterworks of Council Bluffs, his
native city, was born on the 22d of July, 1861.
His youth was here passed and at the usual age
he entered the public schools where he mastered
the elementary branches of learning. His early
advantages were later supplemented by study in
the college at Nebraska City, Nebraska, and he
also attended the Military College at Poughkeepsie,
New York, for one year. He next entered Bryant
& Stratton Business College, in Chicago, where
he also studied for a year, and
796
thus equipped by thorough training for the practical
duties of life, he returned to Iowa and has since
been engaged in various business enterprises,
including that of cattle-raising, In 1902 he became
vice president of the Harle-Haas Drug Company,
of which his father, Samuel Haas, was president
until the time of his death in 1900, He has since
remained with this company which owns and conducts
an extensive wholesale house in Council Bluffs
with a large trade that reaches out to various
parts of the country.
Mr. Haas is equally well known in social circles.
He is a director and commodore of the Council
Bluffs Rowing Association, belongs to the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks and to the Fraternal
Order of Eagles; also to the Council Bluffs Fish
& Game Association and to the Commercial Club
of Council Bluffs. In his business he has displayed
untiring energy and strict integrity. He forms
his plans readily and is determined in their execution,
while his close application to business and his
excellent management have bought to him -the high
degree of prosperity which is today his. It is
true that he became interested in a business already
established, but in controlling and enlarging
such an enterprise he has displayed resolute purpose
and industry, and has demonstrated the truth of
the saying that success is not the result of genius,
as held by many, but the outcome of a clear judgment
and experience.
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James Wilson, one of the best known breeders
of thoroughbred registered polled Durham cattle,
having the finest herd in Iowa, has in this connection
gained a reputation that has made him known beyond
the borders of the state, He was born in Perry
county, Ohio, on the 20th of September, 1849,
his parents being Thomas and Abigail (Sellers)
Wilson, of whose family of three children he is
the eldest. His brother John is a resident farmer
of Perry county, Ohio. The father was a native
of the Buckeye state and was reared in Perry county,
where he spent the greater part of his life. In
the '40s, however, he made his way westward to
Iowa and entered two hundred and forty acres of
land from the government in Mahaska county. He
remained in this state, however, for but a short
time on account of the prevalence of fever and
ague and other illnesses to which pioneers are
subject. Returning to Perry county, Ohio, he there
made his home up to the time of his death, which
occurred in 1857.
James Wilson, reared under the parental roof,
early became familiar with the duties and labors
that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. He
worked in the fields during the summer months,
spending the winter seasons as a pupil in the
public schools, and after completing his education
he remained upon the home farm until 1871, when
he came to the middle west. He had some uncles
living in Washington county, Iowa, whither he
made his way in search of a location. Later in
the same year he continued his, journey to Pottawattamie
county and invested in one hundred and sixty acres
of land on section 7, Knox township, where he
now resides, paying eight dollars per acre for
this land. Subse-
797
quently he bought eighty acres on section 7 and
one hundred acres on section 18 just across the
road from the old farm.
Throughout the intervening years he has carried
on general agricultural pursuits with excellent
success, and in more recent years has given considerable
attention to the raising of fine stock, in which
connection he has become widely known. In 1893,
when on a visit to the World's Columbian Exposition
in Chicago, he purchased a premium polled Durham
bull and began breeding high grade cattle for
the market. In this regard he has gained a national
reputation, being known throughout the entire
country as one of the leading breeders of polled
Durhams, having a herd of over one hundred head.
He has now some fifty-five head of fancy bulls
and heifers, which he intends to dispose of at
a sale in October, 1907. There are no finer cattle
of this breed to be found in the entire country
than those owned by Mr. Wilson and in fact he
is widely regarded as authority upon the subject
of Durhams. He has met with excellent success
in his business and as one of the leading stock
breeders and raisers not only of Iowa but of the
entire country, he well deserves mention in this
volume.
In 1872 Mr. Wilson was united in marriage to
Miss Maria A. Hammond, of Marysville, Missouri,
and they have become the parents of five children,
of whom four are yet living: Cora D., Rosa B.,
Warren F. and Oley M. All are yet at home with
the exception of Rosa, who is now the wife of
Warren Best, of Shelby county, Iowa. All have
been students in the high school at Avoca and
have thus enjoyed liberal educational privileges.
In politics Mr. Wilson is a republican, unfaltering
in his allegiance to the party, and at the present
writing is a member of the board of township trustees.
He has also served for several years as a member
of the school board and the cause of education
finds in him a warm friend. He belongs to the
Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is serving
as a trustee, and he is much interested in all
that pertains to the material, intellectual and
moral progress of the community. In his business
affairs he is reliable and energetic and his close
application and unfaltering diligence have brought
him a very gratifying success.
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Eldin H. Lougee, a real-estate dealer of Council
Bluffs, was born in Campton, New Hampshire, on
the 11th of July, 1868, and in 1870 accompanied
his parents on their removal to Plymouth, New
Hampshire, which was one of the towns of his native
county, There he was reared, no event of special
importance occurring to vary the routine of life
for him in his boyhood and youth. At the usual
age he took up his studies and passed through
the grades successfully until he was graduated
from the high school with the class of 1886.
Following his graduation, Mr. Lougee went to St.
Johnsburg, Vermont, where he engaged in clerking
for two years, and in the fall of 1887 he arrived
798
in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he soon after
secured a clerical position in the Council Bluffs
Savings Bank. He remained as an employe of that
institution until May, 1890, and then entered
the office of E. E. Hart and J. D. Edmundson as
clerk, remaining there until the spring of 1897.
In that year he embarked in business on his own
account as a real-estate and loan agent in partnership
with his uncle, F. C. Lougee. This firm was continued
until January 1, 1906, when Eldin H. Lougee bought
out his partner and has since been in the business
alone. He has thoroughly informed himself concerning
realty values and has negotiated many important
real-estate transfers. He has likewise placed
many loans and has secured a good clientage in
this department of business.
Mr. Lougee is well known in connection with public
life in Council Bluffs, having served for four
consecutive years in the city council as the republican
member from the second ward. He is deeply interested
in the success of his party, but he never allows
partisanship to warp his judgment in regard to
public measures relative to the welfare and progress
of the city.
Mr. Lougee was married in 1906, in this city
to Miss Caroline, the daughter of John Schoentgen,
deceased. Mr. Lougee belongs to the Elks lodge
and has membership relations with the Knights
of the Maccabees. He has been a resident of Council
Bluffs for twenty years, and in the field of political
life and commercial activity has won distinction,
being today numbered among the leading, influential
and honored residents of Pottawattamie county.
A young man, he possesses the enterprising spirit
of the west which has been the dominant factor
in producing the wonderful development of this
section of the country.
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In a history of the agricultural development
of Pottawattamie, county, mention should be made
of Nicolaus Petersen, who though now living retired
in Walnut, was for many years closely associated
with the farming interests of the county and is
still the owner of five hundred and sixty acres
of valuable land within its ,borders. A native
of Germany he was born on the island of Fehmarn,
province of Holstein, on the 3d of March, 1852,
his parents being Matthias and Catharine Petersen,
who were also natives of Germany, where they spent
their entire Jives. In their family were five
children, of whom two are now living: Nicolaus
and a sister who yet makes her home in the fatherland.
No event of special importance occurred to vary
the routine of life for Nicolaus Petersen in his
boyhood days but the favorable reports which he
heard concerning America and her opportunities
awakened in him a desire to try his fortune in
the new world and in 1871, when nineteen years
of age, he crossed the Atlantic, settling in Davenport,
Iowa, where he worked at the brewer's trade for
fifteen months. He was next employed as a farm
hand for three years, during which time he carefully
saved his earning toward the
799
time when he should be able to purchase a farm.
In 1877 he arrived in Pottawattamie county and
his hopes of one day owning property found fulfillment
in his purchase of one hundred and sixty acres
in Layton township. Later he bought more land,
adding to his holdings from time to time as his
financial resources increased until he now owns
five hundred and sixty acres in Layton township.
He lived for twenty-eight years upon that farm
and brought it under a high state of cultivation,
the fields bringing forth large crops annually
so that in the course of years he acquired a handsome
competence, enabling him now to live retired in
well earned ease. In 1905 he removed to Walnut
and purchased a fine residence, which he now occupies,
here enjoying the comforts and many of the luxuries
of life. While upon the farm he made a specialty
of raising and feeding stock and was very successful
in that business.
In 1877 Mr. Petersen was married to Miss Margaret
Ehlers, a native of Germany, who came with her
parents to America in 1868, settling in Scott
county, Iowa, where her father and mother are
now living. Their family numbered five children
and unto Mr. and Mrs. Petersen have been born
six children: Matthias, Nicolaus and Charles,
all of this county; Louisa, the wife of Charles
Ormann, of Scott county, Iowa; Agnes, the wife
of William Stamp; and Minnie at home.
The parents are members of the Lutheran church
and are much interested in the intellectual and
moral progress of the community, their influence
being ever found on the side of right, justice
and truth. In his political views Mr. Petersen
is a democrat but has never filled offices save
that of school director, in which he has served
for several terms. He is a member of the Odd Fellows
lodge at Walnut and has filled all the chairs,
being in hearty sympathy with its beneficent principles
and purposes.
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Dr. Christine S. Ericksen, who in the practice
of her profession has made an excellent record
and is now city physician for contagious diseases,
came to Pottawattamie county from Newman Grove,
Nebraska, in 1899. A native of Chicago, Illinois,
she is a daughter of Erick P. and Christine S.
Ericksen, the former a farmer by occupation. Her
parents were married in Denmark, whence they came
to the United States in 1867, shortly afterward
settling in Chicago, where the father was a contractor
and builder. During the great Chicago fire of
1871 they lost all that they had. In 1878 they
removed to Sycamore, Illinois, where they remained
for one year. On the expiration of that period
they became residents of Nebraska, in 1879, settling
forty miles from a railroad or trading point.
They have since seen the development of the great
middle west and the Northwestern Railroad now
runs within two miles of their home. They were
the parents of seven children.
The removal of the family to Nebraska in her
early girlhood led Dr. Ericksen to pursue her
studies in the public schools of Newman Grove
and
800
eventually she was graduated from the high school
there. She then taught school for four years and
was afterward graduated from Fremont Normal College
in 1897 with tile degree of Bachelor of Arts.
She again taught school from 1897 until 1899,
when, having determined upon the practice of medicine
as a life work, in the fall of the latter year
she began studying for that purpose and was graduated
from the medical department of the University
of Nebraska in 1903, She has since been engaged
in general practice in Council Bluffs and has
been accorded a liberal patronage here. She keeps
in touch with the onward march of the profession
through her membership in the Pottawattamie County
Medical Society, the Council Bluffs Medical Society,
the Iowa State Medical Society and the American
Medical Association. She is now city physician
for contagious diseases--a position which she
has filled for several years. She also belongs
to the Ben Hur Court of Honor, the Rebekah degree
of the Odd Fellows and the Knights and Ladies
of Security.
Dr. Ericksen is a member of the Fifth Avenue
Methodist Episcopal church, in the work of which
she has taken a very active and helpful interest,
serving as superintendent of the Sunday school
for three years, while for a similar period she
has been the second vice president of the district
Epworth League.
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