in New Plymouth, Idaho, being engaged in farming and fruit-growing; Alonzo S. and Harvey C. reside at the same place and are engaged in the same business; Harry Lincoln, who was a farmer in this county, died in 1898; Frank E. lives in Reasnor, being employed as lineman for the telephone company. Eugene Bean, after receiving an excellent education, began life for himself when twenty-one years of age, by teaching school, teaching very acceptably one year in Buena Vista county and three years in Jasper county. Then turning his attention to the business world, he accepted a position as cashier of the Marathon Bank of Marathon, Iowa, which position he filled with much credit and satisfaction for two years, he having an interest in the bank. At the end of this period, his partner, Richard Olney, having had a son frozen to death in a blizzard, became dissatisfied with the rigors of the Iowa climate and sold out, moving his banking interests to Arkansas. This necessitating some change of plans upon the part of Mr. Bean, he came to Reasnor, Iowa, where he farmed for two years, after which time he entered the depot of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, as station agent, conducting, in connection with this, a general live stock and grain business. Accumulating rapidly, in 1900, he moved to Newton, for the purpose, principally, of giving his children better educational advantages, and there he entered the auditor's office as deputy for Joe Horn, county auditor at that time. After serving as Mr. Horn's deputy for two years, he was elected auditor on the Republican ticket for two terms, making a clean, creditable and eminently satisfactory record. After his tenure in office he returned to Reasnor and resumed the grain, live stock, coal and poultry business, which he has continued ever since, building up an extensive and lucrative business. On September 5, 1886, Mr. Bean was united in marriage with Martha A. Wilson, daughter of W. S. and Mary (Irvin) Wilson, both of whom were born close to the border line dividing Scotland and Ireland, being of hardy Scotch-Irish stock. Mrs. Bean is one of eight brothers and sisters, three of whom died in childhood; the living are: Mary J., who has remained single, resides in Reasnor; W. O. lives in Green City, Missouri, where he is engaged in merchandising; Mrs. W. E. Denniston lives in Newton, where Mr. Denniston is engaged in the lumber business; James I. is engaged in the lumber business in Baxter, Iowa. Mrs. Martha A. Bean was born in Scott county, Iowa, February 26, 1867, and she received a good education in the home schools. Her father died in 1879, when -forty-eight years old, and the mother passed away in 1906, when seventy-six years old. To Mr. and Mrs. Bean five children have been born, all of whom are living, namely: Lorena Fern, unmarried, was born in Marathon, Iowa, in 1888, and she is postmistress at Reasnor; Lavina Pearl, born in Reasnor in 1890, is teaching school in the country; Edith Aubine, born in Reasnor in 1892, is attending the high school at Newton, this county; Mary and William E., who were both born in Newton, the former in 1903 and the latter in 1907, are both living at home. Mr. Bean is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Reasnor, and his wife is a devout member of the Presbyterian church in Palo Alto township. Mr. Bean is affiliated with Jasper Lodge No. 78, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Monroe and of the encampment and canton of Central Lodge No. 16, at Newton. In politics he is a stanch Republican and is well-known throughout the county. DOW W. TERPSTRA. That period of the nineteenth century embracing the decade between 1850 and 1860 was characterized by the immigration of the pioneer element which made the great state of Iowa very largely what it is today. These immigrants were sturdy, heroic, sincere and, in the main, upright people, such as constitute the strength of the commonwealth. It scarcely appears probable that in the future another such period can occur, or, indeed, any period when such a solid phalanx of strong-minded, brawny-armed men and noble, self-sacrificing women will take possession of a new country. The period to which reference is made, therefore, cannot be too much or too well written up and the only way to do justice to such a subject is to record the lives of those who led the van of civilization and founded the institutions which today are the pride and boast of a great state and a strong and virile people. Among those who braved the obstacles of Jasper county in its early period of development were the late Dow W. Terpstra and family. The subject was known as a man of extraordinary characteristics, who, by reason of years of indefatigable labor and honest effort, not only acquired a well merited material prosperity, but also richly earned the highest esteem of all with whom he was associated. Mr. Terpstra was born in Friesland, Holland, June 11, 1842, and he was the son of Watson and Sietska (Zuidma) Terpstra, both born in the same locality as was the subject and there they grew up and were married. In the year 1850 they emigrated to the United States, locating in Lancaster, New THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY ASTON, LENOX THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRA.: ASTOR, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATIONS York, where they maintained their home for a period of five years, engaged in farm work; then the family came to Iowa, selecting Marion county as their future place of abode, Watson Terpstra purchasing eighty acres there. His son, Dow W., of this review, being the eldest child, began working in the fields when very young, assisting his father clear up the timber and otherwise get the raw land in shape for crops, consequently he had little opportunity to obtain an education, indeed there were few schools and they were poorly managed and their sessions were brief; but this lack of text-book training was later made up through extensive miscellaneous home reading and actual contact with the business world. Mr. Terpstra was married in Marion county, Iowa, and he moved to Jasper county in 1869 with his wife and here bought a fractional eighty acres near Killduff. Later he traded this for one hundred and twenty acres in Elk Creek township. He was a man of excellent ideas and he managed well, and, naturally a hard-working, industrious man, he forged rapidly ahead and added his place here until he became the owner of four hundred and fifty acres of as valuable land as the township afforded. This he kept well improved and well tilled, in fact, made it one of the model farms of his community, and here carried on general farming and stock raising on a large scale. He was one of the largest cattle feeders in the county and no small part of his handsome competency was realized from this source. He had a pleasant home and convenient outbuildings, everything about his place indicating thrift and that a gentleman of good taste had its management in hand. Having laid by a competency, Mr. Terpstra and wife retired from active life in 1905 and moved to an attractive residence in the town of Sully, Iowa, and that was their home until Mr. Terpstra's death, on July 11, 1906, after a successful and honorable He was a man of considerable influence in his community and was well liked by all who knew him, being a man of kindly impulse and exemplary character who inspired confidence and respect. Mrs. Terpstra subsequently returned to the country and is now living on a part of the old home place. She is a woman of praiseworthy attributes and she enjoys the friendship of a very wide circle of acquaintances. career. Mr. Terpstra aided in the public affairs of his community in whatever manner possible. For some time he was president of the school board of his district and after moving to Sully he became a member of the town council. Politically, he was a Democrat, and was always true to the tenets of his party. He attended the Reform Dutch church and was liberal in his support of the same. |