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History of
Audubon County, Iowa M Unless otherwise specified, biographies submitted by Dick Barton. No better indication of the solidity and permanency
of a city's progress is afforded than by a glance at the status of its
financial institutions. Banks are the thermometers which register the
rise and fall of a city's credit. The stability of the commercial and
industrial interests are, to a large extent, dependent upon the policy
and the condition of the local banks. The heart of commercial life,
they are also the avenues of trade, and the arteries through which flows
the financial current of business. Among Audubon county's financial
institutions the Landmands National Bank of Kimballton stands out prominently,
having an unbroken record of progress since its organization about six
years ago. In this brief period the bank has developed into financial
strength and secure position among the banking houses of this section
of the Hawkeye state, and occupies the largest banking building in the
city. The leading figure in the inception of this prominent institution
was Hans Madsen, who is now its president, and who is one of the best-known
citizens of this section. Hans Madsen, the president of the Landmands National
Bank, of Kimballton, Iowa, was born, August 19, 1865, in Aro, Denmark,
the son of C. P. and Kristine (Albertsen) Madsen who were natives of
Aro, Denmark, where the former was a ship and mill builder. The father,
after coming America in April, 1874, located one-half mile west of Kimballton,
Iowa, in Sharon township, and purchased land and was one of the first
settlers on Big Indian creek. After clearing the land and making extensive
improvements he lived of the farm continuously until his death, July
4, 1914. His good wife, the mother of Hans Madsen, died about six years
previously, on January 17, 1908. The late C. P. Madsen was well known
and highly respected at the time of his death when he was eighty-three
years old. His wife died at the age of seventy-four. A skillful carpenter,
he followed his trade at odd times after coming to Audubon county, did
very much toward building up this part of the county. His beloved wife,
who was a great church worker, helped to organize the Danish Lutheran
church at Elk Horn, Iowa, and was known for miles around. In the early
days the families who first came to this community to settle, were accustomed
to make their homes with the Madsen family until they could get a start
in the world. The late C. P. Madsen and wife started in life in a small
way, and during their career made consistent gains on the highway of
success. Only once in his life was the late C. P. Madsen a passenger
on the railways of this country. He and his wife had six children, of
whom Hans, the subject of this sketch, was the third born. Of the others,
Albert, the eldest, died in Denmark; M. H. owns the old home place in
Sharon township; Maren is the wife of Claus T. Peterson, of Shelby county,
Iowa; Albert is deceased; Anna Sophia is the wife of the Rev. J. M.
Gregersen, of Solvang, California. Reverend Gregersen is a Danish Lutheran
minister and the founder of a Danish colony in that state. Reared on his father's farm, Hans Madsen attended
the common schools of this section, and also the Danish Lutheran sectarian
school at Elkhorn, Iowa, in 1885 and 1886. He was a student at Drake
University during 1886 and 1887, and then began his active business
career as a clerk for Emil Bilharz at Audubon, where he remained for
eight months. After this he was employed by M. N. Esbeck until January
12, 1888, when he engaged in the harness business at Shelby and Harlan,
Iowa, for a year. In the spring of 1891 he engaged in the harness business
at Kimballton, Iowa, and after following this business for eleven years
purchased the general store owned by H. Marquesen, of Kimballton. During
the first administration of McKinley, and the succeeding period of eight
years filled by McKinley and Roosevelt, Mr. Madsen was postmaster. In
1907 he sold the store to Thomas & Larsen, and on October 3, 1907,
opened the Landmands bank with Charles Van Gorder, of Audubon, as president,
and himself as cashier. For two years it was a private bank. At the
end of this period, Mr. Madsen bought out Mr. Van Gorder, and organized
the Landmands National Bank of Kimballton, which opened for business,
September 4, 1909. Mr. Madsen is president and his daughter, Alma, is
cashier. The bank has been conducted upon the soundest and
most conservative business principles. Its management is characterized
by sagacity, energy and ability, coupled with liberality and honorable
methods. No other bank has been more closely identified with the many
movements that have helped in the growth of Kimballton and its institutions.
The Landmands National Bank has excellent facilities for giving the
most prompt and satisfactory service in all departments. Insurance is
written at the very lowest rate; foreign and domestic exchange dealt
in; steamship tickets sold, and all accounts, large or small, are handled
with equal care. Many new customers are constantly opening accounts
at this bank, on account of its well-known facilities; its strong financial
backing of wealthy stockholders; its central location on the busiest
street; its superb system of protection afforded by a strong vault and
insurance; its policy of keeping business private, and the highly popular
personnel of the banking force. As a bank president, Mr. Madsen is known
as one of the most courteous and affable of men, and is constantly on
the for the interests of his customers. His daughter, Miss Alma Madsen,
who has been the cashier for five years, has proven a painstaking, trustworthy
business woman. On November 27, 1887, Mr. Madsen was married to Johanna
Ebbesen, of Jylland, Denmark, who came to America in 1878, and who was
one of the first Danish school teachers in America. She taught school
for three years in Elkhorn, and has always taken a keen interest in
educational work. Mr. and Mrs. Madsen have two daughters, Alma E. and
Lydia L. In additional to his heavy business interests, Mr.
Madsen is president of the Danish Lutheran church at Kimballton of which
he and his family are members. He is president of the commercial club,
and is a stanch Republican. In a larger way he is interested in all
good movements that has to do with the growth and prosperity of Kimballton
and vicinity. Any vocation, whether humble or exalted, may produce
a satisfactory measure of success in enterprise, industry and well-directed
purpose guide the individual in his pursuit of success. In no case is
this fact more apparent than in farming. It is a well authenticated
fact that success is the result of well-applied energy, determination,
perseverance and good judgment. When a course of action is once decided
upon, these attributes are essential to success, and those who diligently
seek her favors ever receive her blessing. Peter Madsen, the subject
of this sketch, is one of the well-known and successful farmers of Hamlin
township and his success has been achieved by traveling no royal road.
Industry and good management have been the keynote to his success. Peter Madsen was born on January 7, 1840, in Jylland,
Denmark. He is the son of Mads and Sisse (Nelson) Madsen, also natives
of Jylland, Denmark, where the father was a farm laborer. Peter Madsen lived at home until 1862, at which time
he had to join the army. He served two and one-half years in the war
between Prussia and Austria, but was never wounded nor taken prisoner,
though he saw some of the hardest fighting in this war. In 1870 Mr.
Madsen came to the united States, landing at New York city, and after
spending a short time in that city, he came directly to Atlantic, Cass
county, Iowa. At that time, Atlantic just has one store, a hotel and
a few houses. Mr. Madsen had fifty dollars in money when he arrived
at Atlantic. He first got work on a farm where he remained for three
months, when he got work on the section of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroad. Mr. Madsen worked at this job at Atlantic until
the spring and then went back to Wilton, where he helped to build a
branch of the railroad down into the state of Missouri. In the spring
of 1871, Mr. Madsen came to Atlantic again and purchased forty acres
of land in Shelby county, paying ten dollars an acre for it, and where
he lived for nine years. In the meantime, his family grew larger, so
that in 1880 he purchased eighty acres in section 3 of Hamlin township,
where he now lives. It was without buildings, although seventy acres
of it had already been broken with the plow, and there were no roads
nor no schools. Two year later, Mr. Madsen sold the township one acre
of land, receiving twenty-five dollars for it, and after this there
was a school near his house. Before that, one of the neighbors had given
one room in his house for the purpose of conducting a school. One year after Mr. Madsen came to the United States,
his future wife, Johanna Conradene Johansen, came to this country. She
was born on December 10, 1848, in Jylland, Denmark, and was the daughter
of Lars and Mary Johansen. Peter Madsen and Johanna C. Johansen were
married in Princeton, Missouri, October 7, 1871. She died in July, 1886,
leaving eight children, Jens C., who is unmarried and lives in Hamlin
township; Peterena Mary, deceased, who married Peter Paulsen and had
two children, Conradene and Marie; Lawrence M., who married Marie Petersen
and has six children, Dena, Anna, Peter, Edna, Laura and Jens; Cecelia,
deceased, married Walter Jensen and had three children, Martha, Helena
and Elsie; Johanna M., who is unmarried and is now a patient in the
hospital at Clarinda, Iowa; Lora, who lives in Washington, married Chris
Sorrensen and has three children, Mary, Gladys and Helena; Peter, who
is unmarried and lives in Elkhorn where he follows the butcher's trade;
and Martha, who married Jens Andersen and has three children, Freda,
Leo and Alice. Lawrence M. is now living on the old home place and also
tends forty acres which he owns near there. He was married on January
6, 1906. Mr. Madsen has retired from active farming. He is
a stockholder in the Elkhorn-Marne Telephone Company and is also a member
of the West Hamlin Creamers Company, being one of the organizers of
the latter. Peter Madsen is one of Hamlin township's first settlers
and is, in truth, a pioneer of this section of the state. Mr. Madsen is a Democrat and his son, Lawrence M.,
is also a Democrat. Mr. Madsen has held nearly all of the township offices,
except assessor and clerk, and he has always taken an active part in
local politics and his counsel is widely sought. The family are all
members of the Danish Lutheran church. The career of Soren Madsen, a retired farmer of Greeley
township, this county, and the president of the First National Bank
of Exira, should serve as an inspiration to every young man. Mr. Madsen's
youth was filled with few of the joys which fall within the experience
of most boys of today. From the time he was eight years old he was compelled
to support himself by the labor of his own hands. Coming to America
when he was twenty years old, he took up quickly with the ways of his
adopted country and in a comparatively brief period became a successful
farmer and banker. He is now known throughout Audubon county as one
of the most successful citizens of this part of the state. His career
only goes to show what determination, industry and personal economy
will accomplish. many of Soren Madsen's fellow countrymen have made
good in America, and they deserve unfailing credit for their achievements.
Soren Madsen was born in Denmark on February 7, 1861,
son of Nels and Marie (Jacobsen) Madsen, both of whom were native-born
citizens of Denmark. Nels Madsen was a farmer and worked as a farm hand
until he came to America in 1885, joining his son, Soren, in Hamlin
township, this county, where he purchased forty acres of land, which
he harmed for a time. His wife died in 1887, and two years afterward,
in 1889, he passed away. Nels and Marie (Jacobsen) Madsen had only two
children, Soren and Marie, the latter of whom married Hans Rasmussen,
who is now deceased, his widow living in Hamlin township. From the time
Soren Madsen was eight years old, and after leaving school, he worked
out as a farm hand until he came to America. Upon arriving in this country, in 1881, at the age
of twenty years, Soren Madsen located first at Avoca, Iowa. After working
there for eleven months or a railroad, he went to Utah. In the fall
of 1882, one year after his arrival in America, he began working in
a smelter and mining camp, a position he held for two and one-half years,
at the end of which time he came to Audubon county, where he purchased
eighty acres of land in Hamlin township. By characteristic energy and
good management, Mr. Madsen was able to increase his farm holdings to
one hundred and sixty acres, after which he moved to Sharon township,
where he lived for eleven years. Selling his farm property in Sharon
township, Mr. Madsen purchased two hundred and forty-six acres in Greeley
township, and engaged in general farming and stock raising until he
retired. During all this period Mr. Madsen raised from a hundred and
twenty-five to a hundred and fifty head of hogs every year, besides
a carload of cattle. In fact this experience in raising hogs and cattle
was the basis of his success as a farmer. On May 15, 1888, Soren Madsen was married to Christina
Wolf, the daughter of Peter and Margaret (Petersen) Wolf, both natives
of Schleswig, Germany. Peter Wolf was a farmer in his native land, and
was also engaged in purchasing cattle. He came to America in 1883 and
located in Audubon county, purchasing land west of Exira, living there
until 1903, in which year he retired and moved to Exira. He prospered
and increased his original holdings of ninety-one acres to one hundred
and fifty acres. Peter Wolf and wife were the parents of eight children,
of whom Christina, wife of Mr. Madsen, was the fourth born. The others
were Welberg, Jens, Chris, Botilda, Margaret, Mary and Lena. To Soren and Christina (Wolf) Madsen four children
have been born, Marie, Anna, Nels and August. All of these children
are unmarried, and all the living at home with their parents. Mr. Madsen is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He is county supervisor of Audubon county and a member of the Exira town council. In politics he is an ardent and enthusiastic Democrat. For some time Mr. Madsen has been serving as president of the First National Bank of Exira, and has proved himself to be a man capable of performing the important and highly technical duties of a successful banker. Samuel McGaffin is a farmer of Exira township and owns three hundred acres of fine land here. It is a splendid farm and comprises some of the most fertile land to be found anywhere in the township. Mr. McGaffin began his active career as a farmer in Cass county, Iowa, having taken up that vocation after leaving school. For several years, he was associated with his father, who is now deceased, in operating the farm in Cass county. Mr. McGaffin has always done general farming. He makes a specialty of raising hogs and cattle, especially hogs. Practically all of his grain is fed to live stock. Samuel McGaffin was born in LaSalle county, Illinois, January 25, 1863. He is the son of Alexander and Mary Jane McGaffin, both of whom were natives of Ireland. They were married in their native country and after their marriage came to America. Arriving in this country, they settled in LaSalle county, Illinois, where Samuel McGaffin's father, Alexander McGaffin, was an extensive farmer. He lived in LaSalle county, Illinois, until 1872, when he moved to Cass county and purchased a farm of two hundred acres. He increased this farm from time to time until at one time he owned three hundred and forty acres. He was engaged in general farming and stock raising. Mrs. Mary Jane McGaffin died when Samuel was a small child. His father, however, survived until October, 1909, when he passed away. They had four children, Andrew, Sarah, Mary and Samuel. Samuel McGaffin resided in Cass county, Iowa, during the early years of his life and after leaving school, he made a splendid success of farming in company with his father. After his marriage, however, Mr. McGaffin began farming for himself. He now owns three hundred acres of land in Exira township. He raises about sixty acres of corn and about sixty acres of small grain. Mr. McGaffin feeds about one hundred head of hogs each year. Samuel McGaffin
was married on February 1, 1885, to Ida M. Strahl, the daughter of Colbert
and Druzella Strahl. To this union have been born two children, Eugenia
and Anna Belle. Eugenia married Lester Bowen and has three children,
Olive, Earl and Merrill. Anna Belle married Rodney Marten and they have
two children, Lenora and Ida Belle. Mrs. McGaffin is a native of Colorado.
Her parents, however, were natives of Ohio. For twelve years Samuel
McGaffin served as township trustee. He was elected year after year
and continued to fill the office with exceptional credit. Mr. McGaffin
also served as director of the school board for fifteen years and worthily
discharged the duties of that office. He has always been interested
in educational affairs. Mr. McGaffin is a member of the blue lodge of
the Masonic fraternity, at Exira. In politics he is associated with
the Democratic party and is more or les active in the councils of the
party. Rev. Richard Collins Meek was born in Kentucky, whence he went to Wayne county, Indiana, where he was educated, taught school and entered the ministry in the Methodist church. He preached in Indiana until 1833, then went to Niles, Michigan, and continued preaching in northern Indiana and in Michigan until 1850. When the Methodist church split, in 1844, he joined the Methodist church, South. He went to Holt county, Missouri, whence he came to Audubon county in 1855. He bought his first home here from Walter J. Jardine in section 27, in what is now Exira township. He entered, and also secured by purchase, several hundred acres of brush land east and south of the "Big Grove." The town of Dayton, in section 22, was laid out on his land. He was a Democrat, and his sympathies were with the South. During the war he was at an Indian mission school in Kansas, and returned here at the close of the war, in 1865. He was deeply interested in religious affairs, and was a preacher of more than ordinary ability, but exceedingly old-fashioned. He often preached here to attentive audiences. His wife was Eliza Tatman, better known as "Aunty Meek." They were truly pious people, and of most unblemished characters. She was a homeopathic physician, but not a general practitioner. He bought the old first school house in Exira, and converted it into a dwelling, where he sometimes lived, and alternatively on his farm. Once, in early times, there was a log- rolling just across the county line south of Ballard's timber, to put up a log cabin. As was usual on such occasions, they had some whisky to help the job along. While the work was progressing, the crowd saw Mr. Meek approaching and proposed to joke him. Knowing that he opposed tippling, they offered him the bottle and invited him to drink. Good naturedly, he accepted the bottle, remarking: "Yes, I think I will. Mrs. Meek has been wanting some to make 'Camfine,' and will be pleased to get it, thank you." And he put it in his pocket and rode away. The boys concluded that the joke didn't work as intended. He died on his farm about 1873-4. After his death, there was considerable controversy over his estate. He attempted to convey a large part of it to the church and to other kindred purposes, contrary to law, as it turned out. The provisions of the will in that respect were defeated. John M. Griggs displayed marked ability in conducting the cases for the estate, and recovered most of the property for Mrs. Meek. Griggs's success with the business exalted him to the top notch in the estimation of "Aunty," besides netting him a handsome reimbursement for his professional skill and service. And, perhaps, learning that he was the son of a Methodist presiding elder, did not decrease her admiration. At any rate, from that time onward he stood in "high feather" with Mrs. Meek - so much so, that she made it a point to frequently consult his opinion on divers subjects. During the "grasshopper year," 1875, the prospect of losing the crops by those pests, looked probable. One day, in the worst of the scare, "Aunty" called at John's office to take advice whether it would be propitious to call the people together for a general meeting to pray to have the grasshoppers removed, and earnestly sought his best judgment on the subject in the very best of good faith. John was puzzled for once. It was out of his line. So he cautiously told the old lady: "It can do no harm to try." And then the spirit of mischief and mirth tempted him further to advise: "When the people come to the meeting, let them all go down into the timber and each secure a good brush, and then they can kill a great many grasshoppers in that way." She accepted his remark with a coolness which savored of her doubt of his sincerity. However, about that time the hoppers unanimously rose up in a twinkling and flew away, never since to return. Who can say whether the good intentions of "Aunty" Meek did not hasten their departure? She was s strong temperance woman, a thorn in the flesh in her day to the "booze venders," and she actively engaged in prosecution of the dealers in intoxicating liquor. Mr. Meek and his good wife were childless. Bryant Milliman was born in Sandusky county, Ohio, November 16, 1828. His parents died when he was two years old and he lived with his grandfather, near Niagara Falls, New York, until fifteen years old, when he went to Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was married there on December 5, 1852, to Jane Heath, sister of Amherst, Milton and Mark Heath. Mr. Milliman and wife came with a team from Fort Wayne and arrived in Audubon county in June, 1854. He soon became owner of the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter and lots 17, 18 and 19, in section 4, Exira township, having bought the claims of William Powell and William Shirley to some of these tracts of land, and the remainder was entered from the government. He owned over one hundred acres of this land and resided on it at his death. His first house and barn were erected on lot 17. The old house now forms the kitchen of the dwelling of Miss Amber Kelsey in the town of Exira. He was a Democrat. He died in August, 1912. "Aunt Jane" lives on the old homestead. Their children were: William H., unmarried; Frank, who went blind and died unmarried; Charles N., married Ione Brinkerhoff; George W., married Mrs. Maggie Johnson; Jessie M., unmarried; Marsh Edgar, married Lillie Johnson.
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