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Past
and Present of Shelby County, Iowa S The man of medicine occupies a distinguished place in the
world; no other profession or business holds the sacred trust and the emotional
beauty of his; no other profession entails as careful work, and no other demands
so much patience and forbearance. The
Latin phrase, amicus humani generis, friend of the human race, stands as a motto
for the life of the physician and should be engraved on the monument of time as
symbolical of the medical profession. Dr.
Albert E. Sabin has been identified with the medical history of Shelby County,
Iowa, for the past 14 years, and in that time has impressed his community as a
man of worth in every respect, not only as a physician, but as a public spirited
citizen, who is interested in the daily life of his fellow citizens. Dr. Albert E. Sabin, son of Job and Amanda (Zorn) Sabin, was
born in Perrysville, Vermilion County, Indiana, November 15, 1874.
His father was a native of England, and his mother of Illinois, and after
their marriage they settled in Perrysville, Indiana, near the old Wabash and
Erie Canal. From 1830 to 1850, the
Wabash and Erie Canal went from Fort Wayne by way of the Wabash River to Terre
Haute, and then across the country to Evansville, Indiana, and was one of the
leading canals of the United Stats, and millions of pounds of produce were
hauled on it each year. Job Sabin
followed canal boating as an occupation for many years on this canal, and later
became a pilot on the Wabash River. In the early history of the state of Indiana, up until the
time of the Civil War, practically all of the produce of northern and central
Indiana found its way down the Wabash and White Rivers, to the Ohio, and thence
to the Mississippi. Job Sabin died
in Vermilion County, Indiana, in 1884, while his wife is still living in
Perrysville, that county. Job Sabin
and wife were the parents of four children, two dying in infancy and two still
living, Mary and Dr. Albert E. The early education of Doctor Sabin was received in the
schools of his home town, and after graduation from the high school at
Perrysville, he entered the State Normal School at Terre Haute, Indiana,
intending to prepare for the teaching profession. However, he decided to enter the medical profession, and with
this in view, he entered the Indiana Medical College at Indianapolis, from which
institution he graduated in 1897, being only 23 years of age at the time.
Feeling the need of more extended training before beginning the active
practice, Dr. Sabin then became a student of Rush Medical College at Chicago and
graduated from that excellent institution in 1899. One of the most critical times in a young physician’s life
comes immediately after his graduation, when he is undecided where he will
locate. Many a physician owes his
failure in life to the fact that he did not use good judgment in choosing a
place to begin his practice, and Doctor Sabin, bearing this in mind, was in no
hurry to begin the active practice of his chosen work.
After looking over the field and visiting many places, he finally decided
to locate in Shelby county, Iowa, and the success which has attended him here
shows that his judgement has been vindicated.
He came to Kirkman, Shelby County, Iowa, in march 1900, and here he has
been practicing for the past 14 years, with a success which is tribute to his
skill as a physician and his popularity as a man.
The trouble with many physicians is the fact that they do not keep
abreast of the times, since there is no field in which there are as many
improvements each year as there are in the medical profession.
New appliances are being invented each year; new drugs are being
compounded; new methods are being developed, all of which tends to place the
medical profession on a sounder and surer basis.
The progressive physician keeps in touch with all of these changes and it
is to the credit of Doctor Sabin that he lets nothing escape him which would in
any way help to alleviate the suffering of his community. He is a member of the county, state, and American medical
associations and has acted as president of the Shelby County Medical Association. Doctor Sabin was married on September 15, 1901, to Abbie
Carter, the daughter of James T. and Helen (Wertz) Carter, natives of Indiana
and Iowa respectively. James T.
Carter was born in 1847 in Indiana and came with his parents to eastern Iowa
when three years old. After
marriage, he settled in Center township, Shelby County in 1870, being one of the
pioneers of the county. He died on
his farm in Jackson township in 1883, having moved there from Center township.
Helen Carter died in February 1908.
They were the parents of seven children, living:
Cassius I., in Linn, South Dakota; Nettie (Barber) of Shelby County;
Abbie (Sabin); Frank, in Harlan, Iowa; Charles, of Center Township; Pearl, wife
of W. E. Blaine, of Douglas Township; Clara, wife of Ben Kowing of Kansas. There are very few farmers in Shelby county, Iowa, who are of
French descent, and among them Mathias P. Sondag occupies a prominent place.
He was born 34 years ago in the township where he is now living, and
consequently has spent all of his life within the limits of this county.
He is a young farmer who started in at the foot of the ladder and by good
management, close economy and continued industry has met with the success which
he enjoys today. As a farmer and
stock raiser he takes rank among the most progressive of his county, while as a
public spirited citizen, he is no less conspicuous.
He is a man of quiet and unassuming demeanor and justly merits the high
esteem in which he is held by his fellow citizens. Mathias P. Sondag, son of Theodore and Mary (Korth) Sondag,
was born in Cass township, Shelby county, Iowa, September 23, 1880.
His father was born in France in 1850, received his education in his
native land and came to America upon reaching his majority.
He first located in Keokuk county, Iowa, and worked out as a farm hand in
that county for a period of six years, after which he came to Shelby county, and
located in Cass township where he has been living for the past 37 years.
He first purchased 80 acres of land and as he prospered from year to
year, he added to his holdings until he is now the owner of 240 acres of
excellent farming land. Nine
children were born to Theodore Sondag and wife:
Mary, single; Mathias P., with whom this narrative deals; John, who
married Mary Tersch; Joseph, who married Mary Hammes; Anna, the wife of Michael
Leimen, and four who are still single, Theodore, Michael, Susan, and Amelia.
The mother of these children died August 17, 1899.
She was born in Wisconsin in 1859. Mathias P. Sondag was educated in the schools of Cass
township, attending school during the winter seasons and working on his
father’s farm during the summer months, and in this way was fully competent to
manage a farm by the time he reached his majority. He married at the age of 23 and began by renting a farm of 80
acres, and continued renting until 1912. During
most of this time, he rented from 100 to 200 acres of land and gave universal
satisfaction to the men from whom he rented. In
1912, he bought the farm of 80 acres on which he is now living and is already
making preparations to add to this. He
raises about fifty-five acres of corn and forty acres of other farm produce
every year and feeds most of his grain to his stock, marketing about thirty head
of hogs each year. Mr. Sondag was married April 25, 1904, to Anna M. Jacobs, the
daughter of Nicholas and Margaret (Hammes) Jacobs, and to this union have been
born four children, Margaret, Nickolas, Leonard and Delorons. Mrs. Sondag’s parents were both natives of Germany, her
father coming to this country when he was 20 years of age, locating in Keokuk
county, Iowa. He worked as a farm
laborer for the first five years after arriving in America and then moved to
Shelby county, where he purchased 200 acres of land in Cass township.
Two years ago, he rented this farm and retired to Portsmouth, where he is
now living. Descended from one of the first settlers of this county,
Charles N. Sunderland has spent his whole life of nearly half a century in the
county of his birth. He has never
been seized with a desire to wander from his native heath and has always felt
that there was no better place to live in than the place of his nativity.
His father was one of those sturdy pioneers who blazed their way to this
county in the earliest days of its history and a man who was a prominent figure
in the county from the beginning. His
son has been no less an important factor in his county’s history and today is
classed among the most progressive farmers and stock raisers of the county. Charles N. Sunderland, the proprietor of the Walnut Ridge
Stock Farm, was born in 1867 in the same township where he has spent all of his
life. His father, Lorenzo Dow
Sunderland, was born in Ohio in 1825 and was reared to manhood in his native
state. On reading man’s estate,
he was married to Mary Lucas, who was born in Ross County, Ohio in 1835, and
shortly afterward made the long overland trip to Iowa.
He settled in Shelby county on the farm in Center township where his son,
Charles, is now living. He took a
very active part in the affairs of the county from the beginning and was
connected with every movement which he thought would help his county in any way.
He was one of the largest land owners of the county and at one time owned
fourteen hundred acres of land in the county.
He made a specialty of stock raising and kept large herds of cattle on
his farms. He died in 1904 and his
widow passed away five years later, both being laid to rest in the beautiful
cemetery at Harlan. He was a man of
the strictest integrity and highest ideas of honor and in his death the county
lost one of its earliest pioneers and most useful citizens. Charles N. Sunderland received such education as was given by
the rude schools of his boyhood days, and early in life began hard labor upon
his father’s home farm. He was
the only child and, since his father had plenty for him to do, he remained on
the home farm after he was married in 1891.
At the death of his father, he bought three hundred and sixty acres of
the old home farm and continued to live on the same part of his father’s farm
where he was born. He has given
most of his attention to stock raising and as a breeder of Aberdeen Polled Angus
cattle has won a reputation which extends far beyond the limits of his own
state. He has shipped some of his
best cattle to all parts of the United States and has been a frequent prize
winner at county and state fairs. He
also raises full blooded Percheron horses and a high grade of hogs, having found
by experience that it pays to handle only the best grades of live stock.
He has ten acres of highly prized natural timber on is farm and a
profitable fruit orchard of three acres. Mr. Sunderland ws married in 1891 to Mae Thomas.
His wife was born in Indiana and is the daughter of Mr. And Mrs. Absolem
Thomas, her father having been a farmer and school teacher and a man of unusual
ability. To this marriage have been
born two children, Roy and Cecil. Roy
is a graduate of the high school at Harlan and is now assisting his father on
the home farm. Cecil is also a
graduate of the Harlan high school and married Robert Henry, a farmer now living
in Crawford county, Iowa. The Democratic party has been the preference of Mr. Sunderland and he has always been interested in local political affairs. He has served in a creditable manner as the trustee of his township. Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. He and his family are consistent members of the Baptist church. |