Louannda Larson sent in this Bodenhofer information.
It is said that the original Bodenhofers (one f) were from Bodenhofer,
Germany. That they had had some money and that there were three sons
brought here from Germany by their mother to avoid the draft, since
their father had been killed in military service and the mother did not
want her sons to go to the military. Only one of those sons got married
and started the Bodenhofer line. One other had been involved in horse
stealing.
Alonzo Lee Bodenhofer was the son of George Bodenhofer
and Clementine Prouty Bodenhofer. He was born at a Lime Kiln on Mineral
Creek in Jones County, near the site of Bodenhofer's Mill, October 8,
1869, and died January 13, 1945 at the home of his son Roy, near Onslow,
Iowa after some lingering illness—cancer, I believe. He was 75.
He grew up near Onslow and left at the age of 27 to Arkansas, where he
lived for many years. In 1897, he married Mathilda E. Harris of
Boydsville, Arkansas. They had four sons, two dying in infancy. In 1924,
they moved to Armarillo, Texas and resided there for seven years, then
moved to Jones County, Scotch Grove Township and took up farming. It is
my understanding they never owned anything, but actually sharecropped
for a cousin, John. They also had a sister, Katie, that I think died
when she was two years old and the boys never remembered her.
Alonzo was listed as a carpenter, and was considered a jack-of-all
trades. He was noted as a kind and gentle man.
His two sons, Roy
and Louis (my grandfather) were the same way. Tall, lanky and very
easy-going. Roy was married to a school teacher and she was a very nice
woman. For the life of me, I can't recall her name right off. Roy died
of lung cancer when he was 56 years old although he had never smoked a
cigarette or took a drink in his entire life. He had four children:
Gowen, Connie, Shirley, and Sharon.
The other son, Louis, was my
grandfather. He also was a laid back Southerner. Always had a southern
speech pattern that he had picked up in Texas. He farmed for years and
then went to work at Clinton Engines in Maquoketa at the age of 45 and
retired from there. He was born on July 7, 1906, and got married at the
age of 31 to my grandmother, who was 16 at the time. They were married
for 32 years and then divorced. He died of a brain tumor May 12, 1986,
shortly before his 80th birthday. Unlike Roy, he smoked and drank and
generally ran around a lot in his younger years. I have many a colorful
story about him.
He had four children: Sandra, my mother, who was
born July 22, 1939, and married Theodore Walter Eby from Scotch Grove at
the age of 16, had me, LouAnnda Eby, born July 7, 1955 (yes, I was born
on my grandfather's birthday, and he was my mentor and soul mate) and
Nicholas Dean Eby, born June 14, 1956 and died tragically, March 6,
1967. He ran out into the street in front of an oncoming car, in
Clinton, Iowa. She divorced and married Marvin Manning from Monmouth,
Iowa and had a daughter, Candace Sue Manning, born May 5, 1959. She was
a single mother and has been married nine times, finally settling down
at the age of 52 and hopefully married for the last time.
I have
three children, Nicholas Alan Parker, born September 14, 1973, who is a
senior at U of I and majoring in computer programming and physics. A
daughter, Laura Jeanne Parker, born November 21, 1980, and is a senior
at Clinton High School, Clinton, Iowa and will be graduating January
1999 and then attending college in the fall and plans to major in
teaching, and last, Derek Parker, born September 26, 1984, who is in 8th
grade and majors in all sports right now. Golfs the 50s and pitches
baseball, etc. I was married 15 years to David Parker who runs several
businesses here in Clinton, and is well known in the community. I had
left home when I was 16, married one year before divorcing and marrying
David. I was a congressional aide and then a housewife, taking up sales
later, I was in Mary Kay for 11 years and then quit them and joined Avon
2 years ago and am now recruiting for them. I divorced David and married
my high school sweetheart and we will be married seven years as of March
12, 1999. He is a longtime resident of Clinton and runs a Roofing
Company here.
My sister Candy is married to John Grandick whose
family comes from Delmar. They have one child, Amber Grandick, born
April 11, 1982.
Louis other children are: Kermit Bodenhofer who
runs a bar in Baldwin, Iowa for many ears and is widowed; Dolan
Bodenhofer, who was well-respected, worked and retired early from
International Harvester in Moline and who tragically died this last Jan
in a mule-riding accident in the Shawnee Forest of Illinois; Darla
Bodenhofer who is married to Larry Koppess.
The grandmother, born
Effie Bernadine Betzer, will be 79 years old September 21 this year and
resides in an apartment attached to our house that we have provided her.
My great-grandfather, William Betzer, was quite well-known up in Jones
County for his strength and died when he was 100 years old. The family
are mostly buried up in the Mineral Springs Cemetery.
