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HON. MAXWELL A. O'BRIEN. A man whose ability as a lawyer
has been proved beyond any question, Hon. Maxwell A. O'Brien as first assistant
attorney general of the State of Iowa, and attorney for the Iowa State Highway
Commission, is rendering a very important service to its people and justifying
his appointment to responsible positions. He was born at Chicago, Illinois,
November 21, 1890, a son of Daniel and Alice (Abraham) O'Brien, he born in
Ireland and she in Oskaloosa, Iowa. They were married in the latter city,
February 10, 1886. First a contractor and later a realtor, he was a prominent
citizen of Oskaloosa, and was connected with the building of the Union Pacific
Railroad across the plains. In religious faith an Episcopalian, he was a member
of the church at Oskaloosa, to which his widow also belongs. In political belief
he was a Republican, but he did not seek office, preferring to work as a private
citizen in behalf of his party. He is now deceased, but she survives and still
resides at Oskaloosa. They had but the one child. he paternal grandfather,
Daniel O'Brien, also a native of Ireland, came to the United States and settled
at Ottumwa, Iowa, where he died. The maternal grandfather, Absolam Maxwell
Abraham, came to Iowa, in 1856, in a covered wagon, from Ohio, and, settling at
Oskaloosa, became one of the leading merchants of that city. He married Miss
Laurana Greenough, a member of one of the old families of Massachusetts.
Maxwell A. O'Brien attended the public schools of Oskaloosa
and Penn College, and he took his professional training in the law school of the
University of Iowa, form which he was graduated in 1914. Entering upon the
practice of law at Oskaloosa, he continued in it until 1922, when he was
appointed assistant attorney general of Iowa, and came to Des Moines to assume
the duties of his office. He had already served as county attorney of Mahaska
County, Iowa, for six years, so that he was not new to public office. During the
World war he did his duty as a patriot, entering the army in 1918, and he was
trained at Camp Zachary Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky, for the field artillery
branch of the service, and was still there when the armistice was declared. From
there he was honorably discharged as a second lieutenant, and returned to
Oskaloosa.
In March, 1915, Mr. O'Brien married Miss Virginia Slade, born
at Oskaloosa, a daughter of S.T. and Mary (Eldridge) Slade, the former of whom
was a coal operator with mines at Des Moines, but now deceased; the later
surviving and making her home at Des Moines. Mr. and Mrs. O'Brien have three
children: Maxwell Slade, Samuel and Mary Alice. An Episcopalian, Mr. O'Brien is
a member of Saint Paul's Episcopal Church of Des Moines. He is a York Rite and
Shriner Mason. As a Republican he has always taken a very active part in
politics, and is regarded as one of the leader s of the local party. He belongs
to the Iowa National Guard, utilizing in its behalf the practical knowledge he
possesses of military matters. While in college he made Phi Delta Theta Greek
letter fraternity, and he belongs to the Polk County, State and American Bar
Associations. As a lawyer Mr. O'Brien is logical in thought, great in high aims
and lofty purposes, and he is courageous in following his convictions.
Responsive to the popular will, he is nevertheless honest with himself, and true
to his settled conception of his duty, and it would be difficult to find a man
better fitted for the office he holds.
JAMES H. O'DONOGHUE, M.D., is too well known in Buena Vista County to
require any special introduction. He was born in Calhoun County, Iowa, July 8,
1868. His father, Michael O'Donoghue, was a native of New York State. He was a
civil engineer and a teacher. In 1863 Michael O'Donoghue went to Illinois, and
was superintendent of schools at Rockford. He was one of a family of fourteen
children and eight of his brothers were soldiers in the Union Army. From
Illinois he came to Iowa, and took up a homestead and taught school at Lake City
in Calhoun County. He closed his school early one Friday, March 1, 1868, to
attend a settlers' meeting at his homestead twenty miles away. He started on
foot across country and was caught in one of the terrible blizzards which for
many years was remembered in that section. After search had been abandoned his
body was found twenty days later by a hunter, Rinaldo Gray, within a mile of his
homestead. He was twenty-eight years old when he perished. Michael O'Donoghue
married Catherine Cannell, who was born on the Isle of Man and was a small girl
of seven years when her mother came to this country and settled in Illinois.
After the death of her husband she proved up the homestead he had entered. For
fourteen years she held the office of superintendent of schools at Calhoun
County. Later she married Rev. J. B. Trumble, a minister of the Methodist
Church, and survives him, her home being at Hollywood, California.
Doctor O'Donoghue was graduated from high school at
Rockwell City, Iowa, in 1883 from Epworth Seminary, Epworth, Iowa, and soon
afterward came to Buena Vista, County and for two years was principal of the
Alta schools. For a time he was superintendent of schools at Bloomington,
Nebraska, and later was a member of the faculty of Morningside College at Sioux
City, Iowa, and Sioux City College of Medicine. He was superintendent of schools
at Correctionville four years and for six years was superintendent at Storm
Lake. He has the A. B. degree from Morningside College and has the Master of
Science degree from the University of Iowa. he studied medicine in the Sioux
City Medical College, in the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and in 1904
graduated from teh Illinois Medical College of Chicago, now the medical school
of Loyota University. After graduating he returned to Storm Lake, where he was
already well known as an educator, and for over a quarter of a century has been
engaged in general practice.
The only interruption to his professional service was
the twenty-two months he was absent with the colors during the World war. He was
commissioned an officer in the medical department June 22, 1917, and was
assigned duty with the Aviation Corps on the Pacific Coast until February, 1919.
Doctor O'Donoghue is a member of the Buena Vista County, Iowa State and American
Medical Associations, is a Royal Arch Mason, a Methodist, and in matters of
politics votes an independent choice.
He married, December 30, 1890, Miss Janet M. Fairburn,
who was born in Dubuque County, Iowa. They have three children: Archibald F., an
orthopedic surgeon who graduated in medicine at Iowa City in 1918 and served the
colors in the Medical Corps during the war. He is now practicing at Sioux City.
He married, in 1920, Miss Helen Dougherty, daughter of Dr. T. E. Dougherty, a
dentist at Guthrie Center, and they have one daughter, Janet, born January 6,
1925. Dorothy graduated from the Law School at Iowa City in 1924, receiving the
honorary election to the Order of Coif. She married in 1926 Kent R. Martin, an
attorney, also a law graduate in the same class and with the same honorary
distinction, and now a member of the well-known firm of Swan, Martin & Martin at
Atlantic, Iowa. They have one daughter, Janet, born September 25, 1930. Don H.,
who is also an orthopedic surgeon, connected with the Children's Hospital at
Oklahoma City. He graduated from Iowa State University in 1924, with the degree
of M. D. He married, in 1927, Miss Ragnhild Christensen, daughter of Louis
Christensen, a contractor and builder at Oklahoma City, and formerly of Storm
Lake.
CHARLES T. OFFICER. One of the oldest and
most substantial families of Council Bluffs is represented by Charles T.
Officer, who was brought to that then frontier village when he was about two
years of age, and except while in college has lived there practically all his
life.
His father, Thomas Officer, was one of the most
constructive factors in the early history of Council Bluffs. He was born in
Washington County, Pennsylvania, son of Robert Officer and grandson of Thomas
Officer. The Officer family were pioneers in that famous center of Scotch-Irish
Presbyterianism in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Some of the family were
represented in teh Revolutionary war, and a sister of Charles Officer is a
member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Thomas Officer lived all his
life in Washington, Pennsylvania, and was an elder in the Presbyterian Church.
His son, Robert Officer, was born in 1797, in Pennsylvania, and after leaving
that state moved to Springfield, Illinois, and finally came out to Council
Bluffs, where he died in 1873. His wife, Margaret Scott, died about 1879.
Thomas Officer completed his education in Washington and
Jefferson College at Washington. His intention was to study for the Presbyterian
ministry, but on account of failing eyesight he gave up that plan. For some time
he was a teacher in the Deaf and Dumb Asylum at Columbus, Ohio, and later went
to Jacksonville, Illinois, and organized the work of the deaf and dumb school
there, remaining as superintendent until the institution was well established.
Thomas Officer came out to Iowa during the 1850s and
settled at Council Bluffs in 1856. Council Bluffs was then a place of 1,500
population, while Omaha, across the river, had scarcely begun to grow. On coming
to Southwestern Iowa, Thomas Officer sold land he had owned in Illinois for
several years, at a considerable profit, and invested in Government land at
$1.25 an acre. At Council Bluffs he became a banker, and made his influence a
helpful factor in the growth and development of the city. He served as a member
of the Hone Guard, with the rank of second lieutenant, during the Civil war. He
was one of the founders of the First Presbyterian Church, an deserved as clerk
of the session and elder from 1857 until his death in 1900, at the age of
seventy-eight. He was a Republican and for several years was a member of the
Park Commission.
Thomas Officer married Elizabeth Mills Pusey, who was
born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and died in 1910, at the age of
eighty-seven years. She was a daughter of Nathan Pusey, a Pennsylvania farmer
and land owner who spent his last years in Baltimore. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas
Officer had three children, and the two living are Charles T. and Miss Julia, of
Council Bluffs.
Charles T. Officer was born at Jacksonville, Illinois,
in 1854, and was two years of age when brought to Council Bluffs. He attended
school there and went east and spent one year at Gettysburg College in
Pennsylvania. On account of a weakness of the eyes he gave up his education and
for five months worked on his father's farm, looking after the cattle. He then
resumed his education as a student in Lafayette College at Easton, Pennsylvania,
and was graduated in 1878. His father and his uncle, Mr. Pusey, had established
a private bank at Council Bluffs in 1857, and Mr. Officer after returning home
from college entered the bank and was one of its officials until 1900. For the
past thirty years his chief attention has been directed to real estate, and he
is one of the oldest real estate dealers in Southwestern Iowa. A large part of
his operations have been in his own property, and his business has been a
constructive factor in the growth and development of Council Bluffs as a city.
He sold all his farm lands during the great boom following the World war.
Mr. Officer married, in 1882, Margaret Boyle, who was
born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was educated at Pittsburgh. Her father,
Robert Boyle, was an accountant. Mrs. Officer died May 23, 1927. On June 7,
1930, Mr. Officer married Edith Brock Beardsley, of Council Bluffs, where she
was born and reared. She is a daughter of Andrew E. and Hattie Brock, a pioneer
family of Iowa and Council Bluffs, where her father for nearly half a century
was identified with business interests. She is mother of three children by a
former marriage, Virginia, Richard and Jean Beardsley, the father of these
children having passed away. Mr. Officer since the age of three years has
regularly attended the First Presbyterian Church of Council Bluffs, of which his
father and mother were two of the thirteen charter members, and he has for many
years been an elder in the church. He is a Republican in politics.
CARL
C. OLSON. As inspiring illustration of the value of determination,
courage and perseverance in the overcoming of early disappointments and later
physical misfortune is to be found in the career of Carl C. Olson, proprietor of
the C. C. Olson Insurance Agency of Boone. Reared on a farm, without the
assistance of influential friends or monetary help, and handicapped by an
accident that would have thoroughly discouraged one of less courageous spirit,
he educated himself and eventually has become a man of substance and worth and
one who holds a high place in the respect of his fellow-citizens.
Mr. Olson was born October 30, 1863, in Sweden, a son of Carl
Olof and Karin (Mattson) Johnson, who with their family of four children
immigrated to the United States in the spring of 1868. The family went directly
to Denniston, Iowa, where John, Mathilda and Erick, the other three children,
all died and were buried at that place. From that place the parents and the son,
Carl C., removed to Ogden, Iowa, where five children were born, as follows:
August, born May 9, 1869; Emrick, born March 25, 1872, died December 11, 1919,
at Hudson, Colorado, and was buried at Las Animas, that state; Julia, who died
in infancy; Amanda, born October 17, 1875, now living at Aguilar, Colorado; and
Aurora, born June 28, 1878, who died at Las Animas, Colorado, September 17,
1895, and was buried at that place. The family farm was about four miles
southeast of Ogden, and there the mother, who was born in Sweden, December 11,
1835, died March 6, 1884, being buried beside her daughter Julia in Swede Valley
Cemetery, four miles south of Ogden. About two years after her death the father
married Stina Lisa Dybeck, and in the spring of 1895 moved with her and three
children to Las Animas, Colorado, and purchased a farm of 120 acres near that
place, which he farmed for some years. Subsequently he bought a property in the
town of Las Animas, where he died January 9, 1914. Mr. Johnson was born March 6,
1833, in Sweden, and his second wife, who was born in Sweden, July 8, 1831, died
June 10, 1910, and was buried at Las Animas.
Carl C. Olson remained with the family on the home farm until
the younger brothers were old enough to carry on the work, and then became a
hand for neighboring farmers for two years. Desiring some other form of
employment, he went to Omaha, Nebraska, where he became a machine operator in a
barbed wire factory, in which he worked two years. The laws as to the protection
of workmen in dangerous employments were not as strict then as now, and Mr.
Olson's employment ceased when his right hand became caught in the machinery and
so badly injured that it was necessary to amputate it. He received no other
compensation than the payment of the doctor's bill, and the factory went into
liquidation about that time.
This would have totally discouraged most young men, but Mr.
Olson was made of sterner stuff, and as soon as he had recovered from the
effects of his injury he began seeking the means of a livelihood. Realizing the
need of a more advanced education he entered Augustana College, Rock Island,
Illinois, enrolled in the freshman class, graduated in the normal and business
department and finished most of the subjects in the college department. In order
to secure funds for this tuition he taught school during vacation periods, and
traveled on behalf of the college for two summers with a male quartette,
covering nearly all of the Central and Eastern States.
In 1896 Mr. Olson returned to Boone County, Iowa, where
he taught public and parochial schools until the fall of 1898, when he was
prevailed upon by his friends to run as candidate for the office of county
recorder on the Republican ticket. He was elected and entered upon his duties
January 1, 1899, and gave a good account of himself, but lost in the election
for a second term to an opposing candidate of the same name. However, he was
elected to the same office in 1902, and after the expiration this term served as
deputy recorder for three years. In 1907 Mr. Olson bought a half interest in the
Hawkeye Laundry Company, and was one of the proprietors of this business for
about seven years, when he disposed of his interest and bought the insurance
agency of Andrews, Houghton & Jordan, which he has since operated at Eighth and
story streets, under the style of C. C. Olson Insurance Agency.
On October 10, 1910, Mr. Olson was united in marriage
with Miss Theresa Brannberg, who was born January 30, 1879, at Moingona, Boone
County, Iowa, where she was reared and secured her early education. The family
moved to Boone in 1897, and there she clerked for a time, but later became an
accomplished dressmaker and was thus employed until the time of her marriage.
She is an active and popular member of the Boone Woman's Club, and of the Boone
County Fifty Year Club. Mrs. Olson's parents, Carl Hendrick Brannberg, born
September 17, 1850, and Anna Stina (Holmberg) Brannberg, born August 18, 1849,
both in Sweden, came to the United States in May, 1878, and located at Moingona,
Iowa, but later moved to Boone. Mr. Brannberg was injured while working with a
wrecking crew to clear the tracks after a railroad wreck, and from these
injuries he died December 14, 1907, being buried in Linwood Cemetery at Boone.
His widow is still making her home at Boone, to which city the family moved in
1897.
Carl C. Olson has made his home in Boone County since the
family came from Europe in 1868, and in the City of Boone since January 1, 1899.
He and his family belong to the Augustana Lutheran Church, in which he has
served on the church board as deacon for a good many years. He also served as
Sunday School superintendent for a long period, until other activities caused
him regretfully to give up this work, and was the leader of the church choir
most of the time. He also sang first tenor for a number of years as a member of
the Boone Male Quartet, a very popular organization, which disbanded only when
several of its members were called away from the city. Some years ago this
quartet gave a complete program on the Young Men's Christian Association course,
and while at college Mr. Olson was the leader of several musical organizations
and a member of others. He is an active member of the Boone County Fifty Year
Club, which was organized in 1926, restricted to people who have lived in the
county for fifty years or more. He came to this county when there was little
else than wild prairie, when there were no roads, when sloughs and ponds covered
half of the land, and when small hands of roving Indians could be found here and
there engaged in hunting the prairie chickens, wild ducks and wild geese, and
spearing the muskrats of the ponds in the winter. Boone County was then a
paradise for hunters, and it was a delight for the youthful Carl to shoulder the
family gun and go out in the dawn of an early spring morning to return with
provender to add to the family larder. For many years Mr. Olson was active in
politics on behalf of his party, and candidates for office sought his support
and influence. He is willing to give his friends credit for much of his success,
and their loyal support has given him much pleasure in all of his efforts.
ALWIN A. OLTROGGE is owner and editor and
publisher of the Westside Journal at Westside, Crawford County, Iowa.
He was born at Waverly in this state February 6, 1891,
son of J. Henry and Anna (Kaufmann) Oltrogge. His father was a native of Hessen,
Germany, and his mother was born at Roseville, Michigan. Both are now deceased,
having spent most of the years of their married life in Waverly.
Alwin A. Oltrogge was educated in parochial schools at
Waverly, and it was from his uncle, G. A. Grossman, one time publisher of the
Waverly Phoenix, that he learned the printer's trade. After finishing his
apprenticeship he worked as a journeyman, and has been connected with various
printing and newspaper plants over the state. In 1928 he bought the Westside
Journal, and his management has brought increased prestige to one of the oldest
papers in Crawford County. The Journal is now in its thirty-eighth year. It is a
weekly paper, Republican in politics, which is also the partisan creed of Mr.
Oltrogge. He is a Presbyterian and a member of the Masonic fraternity. He
married Miss Clara Schmidtke, and has a son, Robert.
LLOYD L. OPDYCKE, Iowa lawyer and newspaper
man, is a resident of New Hampton, where he is practicing law in the firm of
Blankenheim & Opdycke, and is also publisher and editor of the New Hampton
Gazette. The Gazette is a Republican paper, which was established thirty-five
years ago.
Mr. Opdycke is a capable lawyer, but his experience
since boyhood has made him familiar with all phases of newspaper and printing
work. He has been owner of the New Hampton Gazette since January, 1929. He was
born at Ottawa, Illinois, December 19, 1896, son of M. L. and Carrie L. (Reed)
Opdycke. Two years after his birth, in 1898, the Opdycke family moved to New
Hampton Iowa, and his father was also a printer and newspaper man, being
connected with the New Hampton Carrier. Lloyd L. Opdycke was the only son in a
family of three children. He attended local schools and at the age of sixteen
began working during vacations in the office of the New Hampton Tribune. After
graduating from high school he was connected with newspapers in different parts
of the country, and in the intervals carried on his advanced studies at
Valparaiso University of Indiana and the University of Minnesota. In 1924 he
took his law degree at the Minnesota College of Law, Minneapolis. While in
Minneapolis he had charge of the printing department of the technical school
known as the Dunwoody Institute, instructing linotype operation. His experience
in newspaper work included a period of service with the New Hampton Tribune and
also the paper he now owns. He has done work in the composing room, as reporter
and in other capacities for such newspapers as the Cedar Rapids Republican,
Minneapolis Tribune. Mr. Opdycke is author of the History of Chickasaw County in
the World war.
In April, 1918, he enlisted and was assigned to the
service in the artillery corps, spending a year with the colors and most of the
time at Fort Constitution at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He has been county
commander of the American Legion and also district commander and has served as a
member of the state executive committee.
Mr. Opdycke formed a law partnership with R. P. Blankenheim
in 1927, and they handle a general law practice in Chickasaw County. He is a
Royal Arch Mason, member of the Knights of Pythias, B. P. O. Elks, Modern
Woodmen of American, and still has a working card in the Typographical Union.
His church is the Baptist, and he has had working relations with the Republican
party all his life.
WILLIAM A. ORTMEYER in the community of Armstrong in Emmet County
is spoken of as the most useful citizen because of the splendid work he has done
as superintendent of schools there during the last ten years. Mr. Ortmeyer is a
school man of wide and successful experience. He was born at Crown Point,
Indiana, August 30, 1890, a son of Conrad and Charlotte (Frevert) Ortmeyer. His
father was born in Germany and died in 1918 at Charles City, Iowa, and his
mother was born in Indiana and died there in 1893. Mr. Ortmeyer was educated in
rural schools, also attended a village school. and in 1909 was graduated from
the high school at Charles City. Following that came two years of study in the
Charles City College and after one year at Cronell College, at Mount Vernon,
Iowa, he was graduated with his Bachelor's degree in 1913. He has also taken
four summer sessions of work in the University of Iowa.
Mr. Ortmeyer for one year was teacher of high school
mathematics and athletic coach at Oskaloosa. He was one year superintendent as
Parkersburg, and then gave up teaching to go to Montana, where he put in three
years of business effort at Livingston, and later was for one year with the
Hart-Parr Tractor Company at Charles City.
Mr. Ortmeyer in 1921 was made superintendent of schools
at Armstrong, and the able work he has done has given him successive renewals of
his contract from time to time. He is a member of the Iowa State Teachers
Association, is a Royal Arch Mason, member of the Methodist Church, where he is
on the official board, and a Republican in politics. Mr. Ortmeyer married,
August 9, 1916, Miss Hazel Ege, who was born in Illinois. They have two
children, Howard, born December 24, 1919, and Helen, born July 29, 1925.
CHARLES C. ORVIS was an ambitious young lawyer
of about twenty-five years when he came to Iowa and established his permanent
residence in the City of Oskaloosa, judicial center of Mahaska County. Here he
has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession during the
intervening period of more than thirty years, and thus he now has standing as
one of the veteran members of the bar of this section of the Hawkeye State,
honored alike for his sterling character and for his professional ability and
loyalty.
Mr. Orvis was born in McHenry County, Illinois, October 10,
1869, and is a son of Samual L. and Lavina (Sanborn) Orvis, seven of whose
children attained to maturity, and two of the number being now deceased. The
subject of this review is the only one of the immediate family in Iowa, the
other four having residence in Illinois.
Samuel L. Orvis was born and reared in Wisconsin, and was one of
the gallant young men who represented that state as a loyal soldier of the Union
in the Civil war. In 1861, soon after the inception of the war, he enlisted in
the First Wisconsin Cavalry, with which he took part in many engagements at the
front, and after the expiration of his original farm he promptly reenlisted, he
having thereafter served with an infantry command until the close of the war. In
later years he maintained active affiliation with the Grand Army of the
Republic, and thus perpetuated his association with his old comrades. He gave
the greater part of his active life to farm enterprise, and was in his
eighty-ninth year at time of his death, about 1921, his wife having preceded him
to the life eternal. His brother John is a resident of Des Moines, Iowa, and is
in his ninety-seventh year at the time of this writing, in the spring of 1929.
The Orvis family was founded in America by the early Colonial
period of our national history, an din each successive generation since that era
its representatives have rendered good account for themselves, members having
followed the tide of western migration and representatives of teh name being now
found in various states of the Middle West and the West. The original American
progenitors of the Orvis family became exiles from their native Wales, whence
they fled when social disturbances resulted from conflict on the part of rival
princes of that land, and the original settlement in America was made in
Connecticut in 1655. Ancestors of the subject of this review gained pioneer
honors in Wisconsin, where they made settlement about 1848.
The earlier education of Charles C. Orvis was acquired in the
public schools of Illinois and in the high school at Wilmot, Wisconsin. In
preparation for the profession of his choice Mr. Orvis eventually entered the
law department of what is now the great Valparaiso University, in Valparaiso,
Indiana, and in this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of
1893. In the year that thus marked his reception of the degree of Bachelor of
Laws the great World's Columbian Exposition was opened in the City of Chicago,
and the embryonic young lawyer found in that connection a means for adding
somewhat to his financial resources. At the exposition Mr. Orvis obtained a
position as a member of the Columbian Guards, and he was assigned to duty in the
Fine Arts Building. He continued his service until the close of the exposition,
and on the 23rd of April, 1894, he arrived in Oskaloosa, Iowa, and girded
himself of this novitiate in the work of his profession. The passing years have
brought to him success and prestige as a resourceful trial lawyer and specially
well fortified counselor, and no member of the Iowa bar has held more closely to
the fine ethical code of the profession than has this honored and popular
citizen of Oskaloosa, whose law practice has long been one of substantial and
representative order and who commands the unqualified confidence and esteem of
his professional confreres and of the community in which he has ever stood forth
as a loyal, liberal and progressive citizen. Mr. Orvis has at all times been
animated by a spirit of human sympathy and tolerance, and both in his profession
and in his civic relations he has been veritably a communal guide, counselor and
friend. In the law business his office practice is especially comprehensive and
representative, and none is better qualified for service of advisory order.
While serving as city attorney of Oskaloosa, in the period of 1904-10, Mr. Orvis
made an admirable revision of the city ordinances, and legal authorities gave
special commendation of this work on his part.
The political allegiance of Mr. Orvis is given to the
Republican party. he is a member of the Mahaska County Bar Association and the
Iowa State Bar Association, and he is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of
America and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He and his wife are communicants of
the Protestant Episcopal Church.
On the 20th of September, 1896, at Lake Geneva,
Wisconsin, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Orvis and Miss Mabelle Sanborn,
daughter of John W. and Olive (Walker) Sanborn, the Sanborn family having early
been founded in New Hampshire. Miss Geneva, eldest of the children of Mr. and
Mrs. Orvis, is a successful and popular teacher of music and English, she having
attended Penn College at Oskaloosa and having later been graduated from
Morningside College, Sioux City, this state. John W., a graduate of the
Oskaloosa High School, is now serving as stenographer and general assistant in
his father's law office. Robert Walker, youngest of the children, was graduated
from the Oskaloosa High School, and is now in his third year, a junior,
attending Penn College.
TRACY R. OSBORNE. There is, perhaps, no line of
business which requires more sympathetic handing of its details than that which
has to do with the last sad services rendered to the beloved dead. The
morticians of today are not only men of skilled training, but must be, to be
acceptable, possessed to those characteristics which enable them to soothe the
bereaved ones while caring for those who have passed into the beyond. New Sharon
and Mahaska County are fortunate in possessing such a man in Tracy R. Osborne,
who in addition to his undertaking is also engaged in the furniture business.
Tracy R. Osborne was born in Mahaska County, April 27,
1870, a son of Frank J. and Dorcas (Stanheker) Osborne, and grandson of Lauren
Osborne, the latter of whom, a member of a New England family, came to Mahaska
County, Iowa, in 1846, and here was engaged in farming the remainder of his
life. Frank J. Osborne was born in Mahaska County, and became one of the best
known farmers of this section. His wife was born in Virginia, of New England
parentage.
Although his schooling was limited to the common
branches, Tracy R. Osborne made such excellent use of his opportunities that he
was able to secure a teacher's certificate and taught school for several years,
after which he was engaged in farming. In neither of these occupations, however,
did he find the work for which he felt he was suited, and, coming to New Sharon,
he became interested in the mercantile business in this town, and for the past
thirty-five years he has been engaged in the furniture and undertaking business
that still engages him, and is today the second oldest business man here.
Since coming to New Sharon he has taken a vivid interest in
civic affairs, and is also active in state and national matters, always working
through the Democratic party, which he has served ably and well. He has held
various city offices, was postmaster under the Wilson administration, and at
present he is treasurer of the State Democratic Committee and committeeman of
the Sixth Congressional District of Iowa. He was chosen as the candidate of his
party for the office of lieutenant governor in the 1930 campaign. For some years
he has been a trustee of Mahaska County Hospital, and is a director of the
boards of various manufacturing industries of Iowa. For a long period he has
been president of the Mahaska County Red Cross. In addition to these honors he
has been active in his business, and has held at different times all of the
offices of the state organization of the Iowa Funeral Directors Association.
On November 20, 1896, Mr. Osborne married at Sioux City,
Iowa, Miss Estella Sieh, daughter of C. J. and Sarah (Graham) Sich, a German
family, very early residents of New Sharon. Three children were born to Mr. and
Mrs. Osborne: Harold, who is a graduate of the University of Iowa, and is
manager of the Bell Telephone Company, lives at Edwardsville, Illinois, and
married Helen Byford; Kenneth, who is a junior in the University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor, where he is specializing in pipe organ music; and Tracy R., Junior,
who is a freshman, University of Iowa. The family are all members of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, and interested in all of the activities of that
body. Mr. Osborne is president of the Board of Stewards of the church, and is
otherwise of value to it. In fact it would be difficult to find a man more
genuinely useful in every respect than he.
OSCEOLA FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY. A group of
public spirited citizens at Osceola had made efforts to circulate books and
reading matter and foster in a general way sentiment for a public library a
number of years before 1908, when the plans for a real library were finally
matured and brought to a culmination through a gift of $12,000 from the Carnegie
Library Fund. A library building was erected and dedicated in 1910.
The library board at that time comprised J. F. Banta,
president; A. D. Simmons, treasurer, and Miss Nellie Richards, secretary. Mr.
Simmons as treasurer and Miss Richards as secretary have held these same offices
for twenty years. The first librarian was Anna W. Karr.
During the past twenty years the community has
responded to the support of a library, which like every other institution, must
grow, and its service has been expanded to meet the increasing demands for those
resources of culture and entertainment that only a library can meet. The library
now contains about 6,500 volumes, with an annual circulation of 26,000 and the
collection is well balanced between general reading and reference works. More
and more emphasis is placed upon the library service to the grade and high
schools. One-third of the circulation of the library is in the children's
department. Fifty-five periodicals are subscribed for. Many of the community
gatherings, of women's clubs, boy scouts and other organizations, are held in
the club rooms of the building. Since 1923 the librarian has been Miss Clarice
Baird.
FRANK A. OSINCUP, M.D., has a fine record of service as a
physician and surgeon at Waverly, but his chief distinction in that community
rests upon his sixteen consecutive years of service in the office of mayor. Only
in his first election was there any active opposition to his candidacy. The
community has been more than satisfied with the progressive administration he
has given to municipal affairs. Doctor Osincup has the real interest of the town
at heart, has his own home and property investments there, and people recognize
that his acts are regulated by his public spirit, a conservative policy and by
complete unselfishness, and during these years he has set a progressive record
in the matter of constructive improvements. During this time a complete sewer
system has been built, dam and water works constructed and an extensive program
of street paving carried out.
Doctor Osincup was born at Vestal Center, New York,
August 1, 1862, son of Rev. Asbury and Hester (Fairbrother) Osincup. Both his
parents were born in New York State. His grandfather came from Germany. Asbury
Osincup gave many years to the ministry of the Gospel, but depended on his farm
for the support and rearing of his family. He lived to be sixty-seven years of
age, and his wife died at the age of sixty-eight. They reared two sons and three
daughters, one daughter having died in infancy. One of the sons, Wesley H., was
a contractor at Binghamton, New York, but died about 1920.
Frank A. Osincup attended public schools in New York, took a
business course in the Lowell Business College at Binghamton, and spent two
years with his pre-medical studies in Cornell University. In 1894 he was
graduated M. D. from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Chicago and had
one year of interne experience and training in Saint Mary's Hospital. He paid
all his expenses while in medical school, working during summer vacations at the
carpenter's trade. A friend of his was a Baptist minister who has been a pastor
at Waverly, Iowa. It was at his suggestion that Doctor Osincup came to this Iowa
Community. For a number of years he specialized in surgery, and his reputation
as a skillful surgeon extended far beyond the borders of Bremer County. Soon
after coming to Waverly he was called upon to perform a major operation in
surgery. It was the first successful operation of the kind in this section of
the state. Doctor Osincup was unsparing of his energy and strength in his
devotion to his work, and finally his health failed and for five years he
completely retired from practice. When he resumed his professional work it was
as a general practitioner.
Doctor Osincup some years ago founded the Caphemin
Chemical Company, for the manufacture of tablets and other preparations
recognized as standard by the medical profession. This business is now conducted
by his two sons, Lynn C. and F. Wilard, who grew up in that line of work.
Doctor Osincup received first political honor at the
age of twenty-one, when he was elected justice of the peace at Vestal Center,
New York. In addition to his long continued labors as mayor he served two terms
on the Waverly School Board, part of the time as chairman. He is a member of the
Bremer County Medical Society, Austin Flint Society, the Iowa State and American
Medical Association. he has been a sincere student of Masonry and is affiliated
with the Lodge, Royal Rach Chapter, Knights Templar Commandery, thirty-second
degree of the Scottish Rite and the Mystic Shrine and Eastern Star. He is also a
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen of America and
Knights of the Maccabees, is a member of the Rotary Club, Community Club, a
Republican and a Methodist.
Doctor Osincup married, in New York, Alma M. Chamberlin,
daughter of Samuel and Caroline Chamberlin. She died in 1911, leaving two sons,
Lynn and Willard. Willard during the World war was at the Great Lakes Naval
Training Station near Chicago. After the death of his first wife Doctor Osincup
married Mrs. Mary Burlington Woodring, whose father was a Baptist minister. By
her first marriage she has a daughter, Carol, now the wife of A. M. Stoeber, of
Sioux City.
OSKALOOSA PUBLIC LIBRARY. In no community that can claim its
consistent share of popular civic loyalty can there be failure to appreciate the
value of a well ordered public library, which in a cultural and practical sense
represents a public utility. The financing and developing of such institutions,
however, are almost invariably attended by struggle on the part of a limited
number of progressive citizens who are determined to achieve the desired end.
Thus the public library in the City of Oskaloosa, judicial center of Mahaska
County, had in its inception and earlier stages of development the usual phase
of earnest effort to assemble the requisite funds and arouse general communal
interest and support, and the city owes an enduring debt to the zealous and
progressive leaders who initiated and carried forward the library movement and
who encountered their share of discouragements an diverges.
The proposition to establish a public library under
municipal control was regularly submitted to the voters of Oskaloosa at the
annual election on March 27, 1899 and the proposition carried. The library then
established continued for two years, but in 1903 through the generosity of
Andrew Carnegie was established as a Carnegie Public Library. Andrew Carnegie
gave $20,000 and the people of Oskaloosa through popular subscription raised
@2,500 to buy the site. Later Andrew Carnegie donated $2,000 more for the
finishing of the second floor.
This building justifies in the fullest sense the
purposes for which it was provided, for all departments of its service are
maintained at high standard, and its collection of books covers a wide range of
the best in literature and the general equipment and facilities are the
metropolitan order. Miss Priscilla Pickrell was the first to serve as librarian
in the new building, and the present efficient and popular librarian is Miss
Mary B. Lee, who assumed charge in 1920, she having been associated with the
public library in the City of Dubuque during a period of three years prior to
her coming to her present post, and hers being high rank in her profession.
The service of the Oskaloosa Public Library is
well balanced along all lines, and on its shelves are 24,664 volumes. The number
of borrowers of books average more than 30,000 annually, this appreciative
patronage coming both from the city and the rural districts, and the library
having important functioning in connection with the work of the public schools
of the county. Much local pride and interest attach to the service of the Story
Hour of the library, this service being given each Friday afternoon during the
school year and the year 1927 having recorded an attendance of more than 7,000.
The children's department of the library is exceptionally well equipped and is
giving an invaluable service. The library is unequivocally one of the best
communal assets of Oskaloosa.
FATHER FRANCIS B. OSTDIEK. Since locating at Des Moines in 1921,
at which time he established Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Rev. Francis B.
Ostdiek has accomplished much that is good for the city spiritually, morally and
intellectually. Possessing great zeal, energy and piety, and the strength that
comes from absolute belief in his cause, he has labored untiringly and
unselfishly for the betterment of his people and the advancement of his adopted
community.
Father Ostdiek was born at Ottumwa, Iowa, in
1888, and is a son of Gearhart and Mary E. (Stenger) Ostdiek, natives,
respectively, of Germany and Indiana, the latter of whom died in 1926, and the
former is still a resident of Neola, Iowa. Gearhart Ostdiek was only six years
of age when brought by his parents, with seven other children, to America on an
old sailing vessel that took six weeks to make the journey. Upon arrival at New
Orleans the young German lad was so anxious to be ashore that he leaped from the
ship before it had reached the dock and only the presence of mind of a stranger,
who grasped and held him, prevented young Ostdiek from drowning. This
Westphallian family settled, in 1840 near West Point, Iowa, where Ferdinand
Ostdiek, by nature and training an intellectual man, entered upon his career as
a school teacher. His first class consisted of twelve pupils, of all ages, while
at the close of his twelve years of teaching he had sixty students under his
instruction. He had taught school for eight years before there was either a
priest or a sister in the community, which now has three parishes. In 1846 the
State of Iowa possessed but one bishop and eight priests, and in many of the
smaller communities it was necessary for such men as Mr. Ostdiek, who was well
read and well informed, to act a spiritual guide to the children under his
charge. His son Gearhart and his worthy wife were the parents of nine children,
of whom seven are living: Katherine, of Omaha, the widow of Henry Pogge; Mary,
of Omaha, the widow of John Loobey; Philimena, of El Passo, Texas, the widow of
George Menke; Caroline, the wife of Henry Grote, a farmer of Neola; John,
engaged as a caretaker at Leadville, Colorado; Barbara, the widow of Fred Grote,
of Neola, Iowa; and Rev. Francis B., of this review.
Francis B. Ostdiek attended the parish school at
Neola, Iowa, and later St. Benedicts at Atchison, Kansas, for five years.
Subsequently he spent two years at St. Ambrose College at Davenport, Iowa, and
there took a philosophical course. He was ordained May 20, 1913, by Archbishop
Dowling, and his first charge was as assistant at St. Ambrose Cathedral, where
he remained fifteen months. He then became assistant at St. Francis Church,
Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he remained for ten months, and was pastor at Red
Oak Iowa, for five years. Father Ostdiek established Holy Trinity Church at Des
Moines in 1921, and now has 150 families in his congregation. The parochial
school has an enrollment of 165 children, taught by four Catholic Sisters. The
church, through Father Ostdiek's business ability, is now the possessor of a
well improved and valuable property. At the time of his arrival, in 1921, he
purchased three acres of land facing Beaver Avenue and commenced the erection of
the church and school. He has also laid out grounds for a baseball diamond and
other out-door sports, and the entire property is a credit to the priest, the
church and the city. Father Ostdiek is not only a zealous spiritual guide of his
people, but their personal confidant and business adviser as well. In the
community he is highly esteemed by men of all creeds and denominations, and has
given his support to all worth-while civic movements.
S. LOUIS OSTREM, superintendent of the State
Securities Department at Des Moines, is a lawyer by profession, and has had a
broad experience in both business and legal affairs.
He was born in Story County, Iowa, December 30, 1884, son of
Henry and Anne (Kvale) Ostrem. His parents, who were born in Norway, where all
the grandparents died, came to the United States when young people, were married
in Story County, and Henry Ostrem for many years was a traveling salesman for
Warfield, Pratt, Howell Company, Des Moines, Iowa, and later engaged in the
mercantile business at Jewell and elsewhere. Of six children three are living:
S. Louis; George, a dentist at Nevada, Iowa; and Edward, practicing dentistry at
Iowa Falls.
S. Louis Ostrem attended the Jewell High School, had a
business college course, and for about six years was engaged in the general
mercantile business at Jewell. He had training in the Gregg Shorthand school at
Chicago, and finished his law course in Drake University, being admitted to the
bar in 1913. He practiced law five years at Jewell and for five years taught in
the Lutheran College at Jewell.
In 1918 Mr. Ostrem became an assistant in the State
Corporations Department at Des Moines and for a short time in 1921 was deputy
secretary of state. He was then promoted to his present duties as superintendent
of the State Securities Department, and his increasing experience has made him a
highly valuable official to the entire state. Mr. Ostrem is a Republican in
politics, and in college was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.
He married in 1916 Amanda Fatland, who was born at Cambridge,
Iowa, was educated in high school and in the liberal arts department of Drake
University and taught school four yours before her marriage. They have two
daughters, Rebecca and Flora. Both are active members of the Lutheran Church.
CURTIS G. OUREN, member of a pioneer
family of Pottawattamie County, has given practically all his mature business
life to grain and seed handling and is president of the Ouren Seed Company,
which is the successor of several other partnerships and corporation titles, and
is one of the oldest organizations of its kind in South Western Iowa.
Mr. Ouren was born in Pottawattomi County, April 5,
1871, son of Henry and Aurora (Pederson) Ouren, his father a native of Norway
and his mother of Sweden. They were married in Chicago. In 1861 they moved to
Iowa and bought land in Pottawattamie County, and after leaving the farm they
moved out to Los Angeles, where both of them died. They are buried in Council
Bluffs. Henry Ouren was largely self educated, but had a wide range of
information and could speak several languages. He was a Democrat in politics,
served as a member of the board of supervisors and township treasurer while
living in Iowa, and both parents were members of the Lutheran Church. Of their
nine children four are living: George, a fruit farmer at Leavenworth,
Washington; Alexander, a retired farmer at Council Bluffs; Curtis G.; and
Minnie, wife of C. Cunningham, of Los Angeles.
Curtis G. Ouren grew up on his father's farm, getting his
education in country schools, and after completing a business course in Council
Bluffs he was with an implement house as clerk for three years. In 1893 he
acquired an interest in the Shugart Frederick Seed Company, and he has continued
in this same line of business and substantially with the same organization
throughout all the years since then. In 1905 the business was incorporated as
the Shugart-Ouren Seed Company, and still later became the Ouren Seed Company.
Mr. Ouren is president and general manager, E. H. Gregory, treasurer, and C. G.
Ouren, Jr., secretary. It is a house with a long and honorable record, and as
dealers in feeds and grain and seeds its distribution territory is over a large
part of the states of Nebraska and Iowa and adjoining states.
Mr. Ouren married in 1896 Miss Anna Gregory, daughter
of William Gregory, a New York State farmer. Mrs. Ouren attended grade and high
schools in New York. They have four children: Frances, wife of N. M. Innes,
manager of the Topeka, Kansas, branch of Montgomery Ward & Company, and Frances
is a graduate of the University of Iowa; Curtis G., Jr., was educated in the
Council Bluffs High School and Iowa State College at Ames, and is now an
official in his father's business; Katherine, a graduate of the University of
Iowa, married Robert Whitels, who is in the oil business at Los Angeles;
William, a graduate of the Council Bluffs High School, is a student in Iowa
State College at Ames. The family are members of the Congregational Church and
Mr. Ouren is a church trustee. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, Lodge No. 531, B. P. O. Elks, is a member of the kiwanis
Club, Greater Council Bluffs Club, and is a Republican in politics.
JAMES E. OWEN, Doctor of Osteopathy at
Indianola, is one of the oldest representatives of his profession practicing in
Iowa. He was among the very early graduates of the American School of Osteopathy
of Kirksville.
Doctor Owen was born in Clark County in Northwestern
Missouri, July 9, 1858, son of John H. and Naney Jane (Starr) Owen. He grew up
in Clark County, attended public schools there and also had a commercial course
in the Gem City Business College at Quincy, Illinois. Mr. Owen was one of the
first students to enroll in the American School of Osteopathy, and was graduated
in 1897. In the same year he located at Indianola, and has practiced there
steadily for over thirty years. He is a member of the Baptist Church.
Doctor Owen married, December 29, 1887, Miss D. D. Petty, of
Kirksville. She is also a graduate of the American College of Osteopathy, |
