History of
Fremont and Mills County, Iowa
Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1901.
L
William
Leeka
The subject of this review is
one whose history touches the pioneer epoch in the annals of Iowa, whose days
have been a component part of that indissoluble chain which linked the early,
formative period with the latter-day progress and prosperity.
Fifty-two years have passed since he came to the county and cast his lot
with the pioneer settlers who lived on the prairies that were still largely in
possession of the government, while the timber tracts stood in their primitive
strength and the work of progress and development was scarcely begun.
Mr. Leeka is today one of the most prominent, successful and extensive
land-owners and agriculturists of Green township, Fremont county, his home being
on section 30.
He was born in Clinton county,
Ohio, June 14, 1830, and is a representative of one of the old families of
Germany. His grandfather, Christian
Leeka, was a native of Germany and served as a soldier in the British army
during the war of the Revolution, and when peace was declared he took the oath
of allegiance to the United States and located in Virginia, where he married
Miss Elizabeth Armantrout, who also was of German lineage.
They removed to Ohio, becoming early settlers of that state, and there
they made their home throughout their remaining days as residents of Clinton
county. They lived on military land
and were in comfortable circumstances. They
had six children, four sons and two daughters, all of whom married and located
in Clinton county. One uncle and
aunt afterward removed to Indiana, where they reared families and became
successful residents of the community. The
grandfather of our subject died when about seventy years of age, but his widow
reached the very advanced age of one hundred years.
Both sleep in Clinton county, the grandfather having been buried in the
Sharp cemetery. Mr. Leeka has
visited his grave, thus paying a tribute to the memory of his honored ancestor.
John, Leeka, the father of our
subject, was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, February 22, 1802, and when he
had reached man's estate he wedded Miss Sarah Carter, who was born in Greene
county, Tennessee, December 5, 1805, a daughter of David and Nancy (Antrim)
Carter, also of Tennessee. On both
the paternal and maternal side they were of Irish lineage.
Mr. and Mrs. Carter had eight children who reached years of maturity,
namely: Godfrey, a farmer of Clinton county, Ohio, who was accidentally shot in
a deer hunt; Hugh, who died in Pike county, Illinois, about 1845, soon after
locating there; Mrs. Leeka; and Hannah, Nancy, Mary Ann, Rachael and Elizabeth.
The parents of William Leeka were married in 1827, and they had but two
children. David, the one besides
our subject, was born February 9, 1829, and is still living, with his brother.
He was injured in a gristmill in 1875 and this has affected his mind.
He has a family of six children.
In the spring of 1839 the
parents removed from Clinton county, Ohio, to Van Buren county, Iowa, making the
journey down the Ohio river and up the Mississippi and Des Moines rivers,
bringing with them some household goods and one horse.
The father purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land from a squatter
to whom he paid six hundred dollars, and later at a public sale, he purchased
this quarter section for two hundred dollars.
Afterward he bought one hundred and twenty acres of land of a settler,
thus becoming the owner of two hundred and eighty acres, divided into two parts.
He was a prosperous farmer, being numbered among the well-to-do men of his day.
The country was then new and the settlers were widely scattered. The Indians still living in the state made their way down the
river in canoes. The father served
as a school director, but he did not seek political honors.
He and his wife were earnest Christian people and held membership in the
church of the Latter Day Saints. In
1846 they sold their property in eastern Iowa, at a small profit, and removed to
Holt county, Missouri, in 1847, the father having rented a farm there for a
year.
In November, 1848 he came with
his family to Fremont county, where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of
land from the government at one dollar and a quarter per acre.
The first winter was passed in an old log house south of the present
homestead, and during that season the father with the assistance of his sons,
cut and hauled the hewed logs which were used in building their house in the
spring. It was sixteen by eighteen
feet and a story and a half in height, and when it was completed the family took
up their abode therein. Subsequently the father purchased an additional tract of two
hundred and forty acres, for one dollar and a quarter an acre, so that the home
farm comprised four hundred acres. The
mother died June 30, 1880, when about eighty-two years of age, and the father
died on the 10th of January, 1892, forty-two days before his ninetieth birthday.
They retained their mental and physical faculties unimpaired to the last,
and they now rest in the Thurman cemetery.
Mr. Leeka and his brother were
reared to farm life, and at the age of nineteen years he began in the milling
business with his father and brother. They
built a water-power mill on the farm on Plum creek, in 1849, and did the custom
grinding for a large section. Many
of the patrons came from a long distance on horseback or with ox teams.
The mill was a burr-stone mill, and in addition, in 1857, a sawmill was
erected, containing a circular saw of fifty two inches.
The two mills were operated until 1878, when the gristmill was
discontinued, but the sawmill was in useuntil 1890.
The old frame residence which was so long the abode of the family is now
used as a granary, and has been a silent witness of the progress of the county
since 1859. The ruins of the log
house were torn down in 1899.
On the 28th of August, 1873,
Mr. Leeka was united in marriage to Miss Rachel S. Seward, of Van Buren county,
Iowa, a daughter of B. P. and Nancy (Carter) Seward, the mother being a sister
of Mr. Leeka's mother. Six children
have been born unto them and all are yet living: Roy Bismarck, who is a graduate
of the Lincoln Normal School, of Nebraska, and now owns and operates a gristmill
in Thurman; Madison, who is married and follows farming near Thurman; Clarence
Oliver, also a graduate of the Lincoln Normal School, who now has charge of a
gristmill in Oklahoma; Lorena, a student in the Drake University, at Des Moines;
Sadie, attending school in
Thurman; and Jay D., the youngest of the family, also a student in the schools
of Thurman.
Mr.
Leeka is independent in his political affiliations, but was one of the original
supporters of the Republican party in Fremont county. He was the first township clerk of Scott township and was a
county commissioner for three consecutive years. He served as a justice of the peace for two years.
He and his wife hold membership in the reorganized church of the Latter
Day Saints of Jesus Christ, in which he has been an elder.
In October, 1892, Mr. Leeka began the erection of his fine home, which
was completed in the spring of 1893, and in April he took up his abode therein,
removing from the old frame house into his elegant residence, which is
attractive in architecture, neat and tasteful in adornment, both on the exterior
and in the interior. It is
forty-six by forty feet and the ceilings are ten and eight and a half feet.
The building is two stories in height, with a dormitory.
It is a very substantial frame and is located on a fine elevation,
against a bluff which has been walled up sixteen or eighteen feet with brick.
There are two large cellars in the bluff, and every convenience of modern
times is found in the home. The
building faces south and east, and is one of the finest and best farm houses in
Iowa. In addition to his home farm
Mr. Leeka owns extensive landed interests in Iowa, Texas and Oklahoma, having
thirty-two hundred acres in this state, which is in Fremont county.
He also owns fourteen hundred and fifty acres in Kansas and three hundred
and twenty acres in Oklahoma. The
work of the farm is now carried on by tenants, which enables him to enjoy the
fruits of his former toil. He
inherited four hundred acres of land from his father, but other than this he has
acquired his possessions entirely through his own efforts.
His business efforts have been commendable and irreproachable, and his
example should serve as a source of inspiration to others.
He is one of the wealthy farmers of Fremont county and stands high in the
estimation of his fellow men, justly meriting the warm regard in which he is
held.
Richard
P. Lindsay
Among those who have become prominently
identified with the business interests of Sidney, Iowa, is Richard P. Lindsay,
the subject of this review. He was
born in Fulton county, Illinois, in 1860, a son of Elisha and Elizabeth
(Pennington) Lindsay, the former of whom was born near Wheeling, West Virginia,
in 1816, and is still living, residing with a daughter at Creston, Iowa.
The mother of our subject was born in Ohio, and her death occurred in
this county.
The early life of our subject was passed on a
farm, coming to Fremont county with his relatives in 1877, and he continued an
agricultural life for some years. He then entered public life as a clerk in several mercantile
establishments, finally becoming messenger and baggageman on the Sidney branch
of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, continuing that active life
for nine years. Seven years ago Mr
Lindsay formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, R. S. Tate (whose sketch
appears in this work), opening up a grocery business which has been most
successfully conducted ever since.
The marriage of Mr. Lindsay was celebrated in
Sidney in 1889, by Rev. R. C. Hughes, now the president of Tabor College (a
sketch of which appears elsewhere), when Miss Kate Argyle became his wife. She
was a daughter of Archibald and Harriet (Bowman) Argyle, the latter of whom is
still living in this city. Mr.
Argyle was a native of Virginia, who came to Fremont county about 1856, engaged
in conducting a store and became a prominent citizen.
He was the first recorder of the county, and when his death occurred in
1866 he was sincerely mourned by all of the old residents.
Socially Mr. Lindsay has connected himself with
the orders of K. of P. and M. W., in both of which he is very popular.
He has been a prominent politician and has received recognition from his
party, being elected to the office of county recorder, November 6, 1900.
For three years he efficiently represented the city in the council and is
justly regarded as one of the representative men of this section.
Both he and his most estimable wife are members of the Presbyterian
church.
F.
Loveland
The subject of this brief sketch is engaged in
the clothing business at Sidney, Fremont county.
At all times since he has attained the age of accountability he has
labored earnestly and effectively to promote the welfare of his community, and
no trust reposed in him has ever been betrayed.
He has always resided in Fremont county, where he was born on the 27th of
October, 1867, a son of Darwin Loveland, who was probably born about 1834, and
married Miss Adelia Cowles.
At his parental home Mr. Loveland of this review
spent the days of his childhood, being carefully reared, and upon his young mind
were impressed lessons of industry and honesty which have colored his later
career. He is indebted to the
public-school system of Hamburg for the educational privileges which he enjoyed.
Entering upon his business career he became connected with mercantile
interests in Hamburg, and for fourteen years was in a dry-goods store in that
place. In 1898 he was elected to
the office of county clerk of Fremont county for two years and filled the
position so capably that in 1900 he was again made a candidate of the Republican
party.
On the 2nd of September, 1891, in Hamburg, Mr.
Loveland was united in marriage to Miss Madge A. Burkholder, and they have had
two sons: Gilbert F. and Harry G. Mrs. Loveland pursued her education in Hamburg and afterward
engaged in teaching in that town and in Sidney succcessfully following that
profession for a number of years. She
is a lady of superior education and culture and exerts a strong influence in
social circles. In his fraternal
relations Mr. Loveland is a Knight of Pythias.
He has a large circle of acquaintances in his native county, and that
many of his warmest friends are numbered among those who have known him from
boyhood is an indication of his upright career.
Carl
Lundeen
To a student of biography there is nothing more
interesting than to examine the life history of a self-made man, and to detect
the elements of character which have enabled him to pass on the highway of life
many of the companions of his youth who, at the outset of their careers were
more advantageously equipped or endowed. The
subject of this review has through his own exertions attained an honorable
position and marked prestige among the representative men of the west, and with
signal consistency it may be said that he is the architect of his own fortunes,
and one whose success amply justifies the application of the somewhat hackneyed
but most expressive title, "a self-made man."
Mr. Lundeen resides on section 11, Green
township, Fremont county. He was
born in Sweden on the 6th of August 1850, and when only five years of age lost
his father, Carl Lundeen, Sr., who was a government tailor.
His paternal grandfather was Andrew Anderson, who long served as a
soldier and died about 1861. The
father had four sisters, but no brothers. The
subject of this review has but one brother, Fred Lundeen, who resides in
Nebraska and has large mining interests in the west.
The subject of this review spent the days of his boyhood and youth in the
land of his nativity and then
determined to seek a home and fortune beyond the Atlantic where greater
opportunities were afforded to the young men of determination and ambition. In September, 1872, he sailed for the new world, arriving in
Tabor without capital save his strong right arm and determined purpose.
He began working by the month and was thus employed for two years, after
which he purchased a team of horses and a wagon and began farming on his own
account on rented land, and thus, with the capital which he had acquired through
his own efforts, he purchased eighty acres in Green township.
Fremont county, making a payment of five hundred dollars upon the place,
which was sold to him for nineteen hundred dollars.
His economy and industry soon enabled him to meet the other payments, and
after three years he purchased a tract of one hundred and forty acres
additional. Soon, however, he sold
his first farm of one hundred acres at a handsome profit, and upon his remaining
tract of one hundred and twenty acres he resided until 1891, when he took up his
abode at the present home, where he has one hundred and forty acres, which he
had purchased the previous year, paying thirty-five hundred dollars for one
hundred and ten acres. In 1896 he
gave forty dollars per acre for a tract of thirty acres.
He does not owe a single cent upon his fine property and never has he had
to have any one endorse his paper, for his honesty and integrity are proverbial
among those who know him. His
attention has been given to the raising of corn and feeding of cattle.
He has one hundred and seventy-five acres planted to corn and buys
annually from eight to ten thousand bushels.
He feeds from eight to ten car-loads of beef each year and has bred some
twenty-five calves, but buys most of his stock.
He is particularly successful in the raising of hogs and annually sells
from one hundred and fifty to two hundred head, receiving therefor the highest
market price, as they are always of the best grade and in good condition.
When twenty-four years of age Mr. Lundeen was
united in marriage, on the 6th of July 1874, to Miss Clara Peterson, whom he had
known in Sweden and who came with her parents to America at the same time Mr.
Lundeen crossed the Atlantic. They now have two sons and three daughters, namely: Milda, at
home; Logne, who assists in the cultivation of the home farm; Anna, a teacher;
Willard, who has completed a college course and is his father's assistant; and
Ronnie, who is a member of the class of 1903 in Tabor College.
All of the children have been provided with a college education, and the
family is one of culture and refinement as well as prominence.
The daughters are members of the Congregational church, to the support of
which Mr. Lundeen contributes liberally.
Mr. Lundeen exercises his right of franchise in
support of the men and measures of the Republican party.
He has steadily refused to accept office, preferring that his attention
shall be given to his business affairs. Mr.
Lundeen came to this country a poor young man, but today he stands among the
substantial citizens of Fremont county. His
word is as good as his bond and his industry has been the salient feature in his
prosperity, enabling him to rise from a humble position to one of affluence.
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