Biographies

~ Ogg, Mason C. ~

One of the successful young farmers of Fairview township, Jasper County, who has won the confidence and respect of his neighbors, while advancing his own interests in a material way, and with the excellent start he has the future augurs much for his success as an agriculturist and stock raiser.

Mr. Ogg was born in Fairview Township, this county, December 10, 1879. He is the son of William Marshall Ogg and Harriet Elizabeth (Churchill) Ogg, the father born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, October 1, 1849, and the mother was born in Wisconsin in 1851. The paternal grandparents, George and Lida (Rush) Ogg, were natives of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, the former born March 18, 1811, and the latter on June 2, 1820. They were married May 11, 1845. George Ogg was a blacksmith by trade and he always kept a shop in connection with his farm. About 1861 he brought his family from Pennsylvania to Allamakee County, Iowa, and there bought a farm. Remaining there until 1874, he moved with his family to Jasper County and bought one hundred and sixty acres in Fairview Township. The death of George Ogg occurred on April 13, 1875, his widow surviving many years, reaching an advanced age, her death occurring on December 29, 1899.

William M. Ogg, father of the subject, bought one hundred and twenty acres of the old homestead, to which he later added eighty acres more and in due course of time became well established. He and his family are members of the Baptist Church, and in politics he votes the Republican Ticket.

William M. Ogg was married on February 20, 1873, to Harriet E. Churchill, and to this union five children have been born: Mason C., of this sketch, and Ethel, who is at home, are the only ones living. Lyda died when about five years old; Wallace E. died when about eighteen years of age; Elmer E. died when about fourteen years of age. In order to give his children proper educational advantages, Mr. Ogg moved with his family to Des Moines, where he still lives, retired from active life.

Mason C. Ogg grew up on the home farm and assisted with the general work about the place when a boy. He had the advantages of good educational training. He attended the Capital Prairie district school, Jasper County. He was fourteen years old when the family moved to Des Moines and there he entered the public schools, later attending the Baptist College in that city, where he made an excellent record and from which he was graduated in 1901. He turned his attention to farming after leaving school, beginning renting his father's farm of two hundred acres in Fairview Township, Jasper County, and here he has remained, keeping the place well improved and under a high state of cultivation. He has met with encouraging success as a general farmer and stock raiser. He makes a specialty of raising full blood Hereford cattle.

Politically, he is a Republican and he has served as township trustee. Religiously, he belongs to the Baptist Church.

Mr. Ogg was married on January 1, 1903, to Olive E. Woodard, who was born in Osage, Iowa, the daughter of Otis P. Woodard, who is engaged in the insurance business there. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ogg, Helen Sawyer and Wallace Almon. Page 891.

~ Oldham, James A. ~

All credit is due a man who wins success in spite of obstacles and by persistency a position of honor as a man and citizen. The record of James A. Oldham, farmer of Fairview Township, Jasper County, is of such a man, for starting with little assistance he has worked his way to definite success.

Mr. Oldham was born in Knox County, Illinois, September 6, 1851. He is the son of Joseph and Margaret (Scott) Oldham, both born in England, the father in Cheshire in 1811. He grew up in his native country and there learned the trade of machinist. When twenty-one years of age he emigrated to Philadelphia where he worked two or three years, then moved to Knox County, Illinois, where he rented land until 1865, but in the same year he came on to Warren County, Iowa, and bought one hundred and sixty acres, selling out a year later and moving to Des Moines, where he worked a year at his trade. In the fall of 1866 he came to Jasper County and rented land a while, finally buying forty acres in Fairview Township and there he remained until his death, in 1876. His wife, whom he married before leaving Philadelphia, subsequently married R. S. Buckley. Mr. Oldham was a Democrat. His family consisted of three sons and two daughters, namely: Joseph died in infancy; Silas is deceased; Mrs. Selina Tool, Mrs. Edna Hancock; James A., of this sketch, was the oldest. He had little opportunity to get an education. He remained at home until he was twenty-four years old, then rented a farm, later buying a few acres, to which he has added until he now owns five hundred and fifty acres of valuable and desirable land in Fairview Township. He has kept it under modern improvements and a high state of cultivation and for many years he has ranked with the leading farmers of the County and the substantial citizens of his Township. He has a pleasant and attractive home and in connection with general farming he has long been one of the leading stock raisers of the County.

Politically, Mr. Oldham is a Democrat, and he belongs to the Methodist Church. He was married on December 25, 1875, to Sarah E. Tool, who was born in Jasper County, the daughter of James A. Tool, who came to Jasper County in 1843, being one of the very earliest settlers in the County. To Mr. Oldham and wife the following children have been born: Ernest J., Mrs. Minnie B. Blackledge, Cora (deceased), Horace T. Mrs. Olive Blackledge, Arie, Earl and Grace. Page 920.

~ Ortwig, Charley Burnett ~

As a rule the farmer boy who has to start at the very bottom of the road that leads up the hill of success, when he begins life's more serious work for himself, is bound to experience the greatest trials and to pass through the most severe schooling before he can rise above the surface and show his head; but in time true worth will always tell, as it did in the case of Charley Burnett Ortwig, a progressive and successful young farmer of Kellogg Township, Jasper County, who seems to possess the stick-to-itive qualities characteristic of those born of German ancestry, and he is very deserving of the handsome rewards that have attended his efforts.

Mr. Charley Burnett Ortwig was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, October 2, 1881. He is the son of Albert and Augusta (Reng) Ortwig, both born in Germany, the father in 1835, and the mother in 1832; the death of the latter occurred in 1894. They grew to maturity and were educated in the fatherland, in fact, spent their early lives there, emigrating to the United States in 1880. In 1881 they located in Jasper County, Iowa, where the father has since remained, engaged in farming and stock raising, having become well situated.

His family consisted of four sons and two daughters, namely: Ida, Minnie, Albert, Herman, Adolph and Charley Burnett, of this review. The subject of this sketch came from his birthplace in the Badger State to Jasper County, Iowa, when a boy and here he grew to maturity and received a good education, assisting his father with the general farm work when a boy. For some time he filled the position of fireman in the electric light plant at Newton, but finally returned to farming, locating on his present place in 1907. His father has a very desirable farm of one hundred and forty acres, one hundred of which lies in Kellogg Township and the balance in Mariposa Township. He is rapidly improving the same and is succeeding in all phases of his farm work.

Mr. Ortwig was married on May 16, 1905, to Marie Cornelia Cook, who was born in Pella, Marion County, Iowa, March 20, 1888, the daughter of Dirk and Nellie (Earley) Cook, both born in Holland.

Politically, Mr. Ortwig is a Republican, and while he takes more or less interest in public affairs, he is not a politician. Page 791.

~ Owings, J. B. ~

The history of Jasper County is not a very old one. It is the record of the steady growth of a community planted on the wild prairies scarcely more than a half century ago and has reached its magnitude of today without other aid than those of industry. The people who redeemed it from the primeval state were strong-armed sons of the soil who hesitated at no difficulty and for whom hardships had little to appall. Among this class is the prominent retired farmer and enterprising citizen by whose name this article is introduced. The county was in its infant state of development when he came upon the scene, and he has done much to assist in advancing its wonderful resources and brought it up to the proud position it now occupies among the most progressive and enlightened sections of Iowa.

J. B. Owings was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, December 23, 1837. He is the son of Beal and Miranda (Young) Owings, both natives of Maryland, from which state they came to Ohio about 1815 and became prominent among the pioneers there, spending the rest of their lives on a farm there, the father dying in April 1839, and the mother in 1844; they were the parents of eight children, three of whom are living, namely: Mary Ann died about 1908; Ellen also died about 1908; John died at Trinity Center, California, in 1911; Denton died in childhood; McKensie lives in Newton, Iowa; Jesse died when twelve years old; Minerva lives at Carbon Cliff, Illinois, and is the wife of a Mr. Barton; J. B., of this review.

The subject grew to maturity and was educated in his native state, remaining there until 1855, when he came to Jasper County, Iowa, where he has since resided. He settled nine miles east of Newton and followed farming successfully until 1892, when he moved to Newton and retired. He lived to see and take part in the great transformation of the County, for when he first came here the wild prairies were scarcely touched by a plowshare and the town of Newton was very small, there being no square and the court house was small and built of wood; there was not a brick building in the town. Land was then worth only three, six and eight dollars per acre. Mr. Owings is the owner of a finely improved and productive farm in Kellogg Township, consisting of one hundred and thirty-four acres. On this he did unusually well as a general farmer and stock raiser.

On December 27, 1860, Mr. Owings was married to Martha Mills, daughter of John Mills, of Keokuk County, Iowa. She was born in Tennessee, March 13, 1844, and from there she removed to Iowa with her parents when she was one year old. To Mr. and Mrs. Owings three children have been born, namely: Shafer A., who was born May 12, 1862, married Allie Miller, of Jasper County, and they live on the parental homestead, nine miles east of Newton; Gertie J., born July 27, 1865, is the wife of J. B. Case, a traveling salesman, residing at Jackson, Mississippi; Arrie D., born December 12, 1869, married Charlie Miller, living near Kellogg, Jasper County; she is now deceased.

Mr. Owings has been a worker in the affairs of the County, having held a number of township offices in Kellogg, and he was overseer of the poor in Newton Township. In all of these he discharged his duties most faithfully and creditably. Fraternally, he is a member of Newton Lodge No. 59, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; politically, he is a Republican, and he and his wife are faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Page 528.