"With the rapid destruction of
our forests the lumber business, once one of the largest and most
flourishing of American industries, is now declining in importance
and will continue to do so. Somehow there is a fascination about a
saw-mill or a lumber yard. The bark-covered logs, bearing the marks of
their handling, their speedy conversion into lumber by those powerful
engines, the saws, the great piles of lumber, the odor of the freshly
sawed wood, and, perhaps more than all, the sense that all this means
construction, building, progress - these give to a lumber yard an
attractiveness. And a moment's thought will convince any one of the
great share which the lumber dealer has had in the building of shops
and factories, in the construction and furnishing of homes.
John
LEHMANN was born in Switzerland in 1833, and at the age of eighteen
came to America, leaving Bern February 8th, crossing the ocean on a
sailing vessel, and arrived at Turkey River, Iowa, on June 29th. He
was the son of John and Mary (MILLER) LEHMANN, who
came to America in 1854 with a family of nine boys and three girls,
seven of whom are now living, and settled about one mile from Elgin,
John LEHMANN, Sr., and his brother entered land in
Clayton and Fayette counties. He farmed all his life and died highly
respected at the age of eighty-seven years.
John Lehman,
Jr., was educated in Switzerland, and there assisted his father on his
farm. In America he worked on his father's farm and later hired out.
In 1858 he married Elizabeth KOHLER, who was born in
Switzerland in 1839, and who came to this country with her father in
1854. He now bought one hundred and forty acres of wild land, put up a
house and broke the land. He lived there until 1872, when he
established a lumber business in Elgin, and later took his youngest
son into the business. In 1901 he sold out and retired. John and
Elizabeth LEHMANN are the parents of nine children: John W., now a
hardware merchant at La Porte City, Iowa; Louise; Lena; Albert, who
died September 10, 1868; George; Frederick; Cecelia; Julia; Amelia.
Mr.
Lehman is a member of the Iowa Legion of Honor. He was baptized into
the church in Switzerland. He is a Democrat, and was supervisor
several terms, township collector one year, clerk of the township ten
years, school treasurer at Elgin ten years, township trustee, and was
elected assessor, but resigned. His choice by the people to fill these
offices shows the confidence which his neighbors always have had in
him.
In early days Mr. Lehman was much in demand to help
survey land for the settlers as he could control the length of his
steps so well that he could measure land almost as accurately by
stepping as by the use of a chain. His character and worth have
attracted many friends who are the solace of his declining years.
Would that all our citizens could look back over a life as well spent
as his."