Simeon Ballou was raised at home and supplemented the meager education to be obtained from the district schools by practical experience on the farm which formed the foundation for his future success in his chosen vocation. Until he became of age he remained at home, assisting in the work that was carried on the old farm, and then moved to another part of the township where for one year he tilled the soil as a renter. He then located on the land which he now owns in Rome township. It lies on section 36, is two hundred acres in extent and has been his home for more than 20 years. In 1906 Mr. Ballou was able to purchase one hundred and fifty additional acres, situated in sections 13 and 24 of the same township. He has pursued general farming and has engaged largely in the breeding and raising of shorthorn cattle, finding a ready market and good price for his stock in the cities of the east. The good fortune that attended all his operations has enabled him to relinquish the heavy cares of this life, and to retire to a life of comfort and ease. He still retains his landholdings, however, though the greater part of them are rented.

On the 19th of September, 1886, Mr. Ballou was married to Miss Melissa Carter, who was born in Jones county in 1864. Her father, James Carter, was born in England in 1832, and is still living in Jackson township. His wife, who was Miss Rhoda Benadon in her maidenhood, was a native of Ohio, and through her marriage became the mother of seven children. To Mr. and Mrs. Ballou no children have been born. Bred to belief in the stability of the principles of the republican party, Mr. Ballou has continued to give his political allegiance to its platform—not blindly, however, but because he believed it to present the best ideas for the government of a nation. He belongs to Olin Lodge, No. 200 A.F.&A.M., and he and his wife are members of the Christian church.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 608.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, 1879, page 654, and submitted by Lori J. Mentzel

AREND BALSTER was born at Scotch Grove, Jones County, Iowa, May 9, 1894, and is regarded as the most conspicuously successful business man in that prosperous little farming community.

Mr. Balster's father, John C. Balster, was also a native of Iowa and was of the substantial farmers of Scotch Grove Township, where he lived until his death in 1914. He married Gesine Heyen, a native of Germany, who came to Iowa when a girl. She is still on the old homestead farm. With her is her oldest daughter, Mary, who during the World war, while her brother Arend was in training camp, took charge of his business at Scotch Grove. Anna Balster married George Moenk, a farmer in Castle Grove Township, Jones County, Louise is the wife of Edward Stadtmuller, a farmer in Wayne Township. Hannah married Ernest Heiken, a farmer in Scotch Grove Township. Robert H. is in the implement business at Monticello. Louis is deceased.

Mr. Arend Balster made good use of his advantages in the country schools of Iowa. When he left school, at the age of seventeen, he farmed for two years and at the age of nineteen began his business career at Scotch Grove, handling farm implements. He started with one small building and is today owner of a complete establishment, comprising three main buildings, which house stocks of hardware and implements, groceries and dry goods, and also provide quarters for the post office. Mr. Balster has held the office of postmaster of Scotch Grove for the past ten years. He also has the wholesale agency for repairs and cutting parts for the Adriance and Moline Grain and Corn Binders and other implements, and ships these parts to all the western states except California. He is also manager of the Scotch Grove branch of the Eclipse Lumber Company.

In his first year in business Mr. Balster sold goods to the value of about $11,000. The past year his volume of business has exceeded $110,000. This is a remarkable showing for a town numbering only sixty-one population and is an evidence of Mr. Balster's enterprise and his reputation for integrity.

On May 10, 1918, during the World war, he was drafted into the Twenty-first Infantry and was sent out to San Diego, California. He was also in training at the Rockwell Flying Field at North Island near that city, and later was sent to Camp Kearney, where the Sixteenth Division was still in process of formation when the armistice was signed. He was made a corporal. He returned home January 9, 1919, and since then has given uninterrupted attention to his business. Mr. Balster is a member of the Monticello Post of the American Legion and is a Lutheran.

He married, December 12, 1917, Miss Minnie Hedden, daughter of Henry and Mary (Hausman) Hedden. Her parents are well-to-do farmers of Scotch Grove Township. Mr. and Mrs. Balster's only son, Leslie, is attending school at Monticello, Iowa.

From A Narrative History of The People of Iowa, Volume IV, Edgar Rubey Harlan, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1931, and submitted by Debbie Clough Gerischer.

J. C. Balster is one of the representative farmers of Scotch Grove township, his home place comprising one hundred and sixty acres, which is the old family homestead. He was born on this farm December 2, 1869, a son of Arend and Mary (Jacobs) Balster, who were natives of Hanover, Germany, whence they emigrated to the new world in 1854. After arriving in the new world they made their way to Michigan, where they lived for thirteen years, and in July, 1867, removed to Jones county and located on the farm on which our subject now makes his home. The father is a shipbuilder by trade and throughout much of his life has engaged in that work. Unto him and his wife were born five children, namely: George H., deceased; Mary, the wife of Johnson Poppey, of Jones county; Anna, who has also departed this life; Louise, the wife of Fred Plueger, of Jones county; and J. C. of this review. The mother passed away in 1895, but the father is still living and makes his home on the farm with his son J. C. He is highly respected in the community and has ever taken a deep interest in his adopted country and in this section of the state where he has so long made his home.

J. C. Balster, the immediate subject of this review, was educated in the common schools near his father's home and he assisted in the work of the farm during the periods of vacation. In early life he learned the blacksmith's trade and followed that pursuit for several years. He is now giving his attention to farming, making a specialty of stock raising, feeding horses, cattle and hogs, For the past sixteen years he has operated a threshing machine and in this connection has become widely known in various sections of the county. In all branches of his business he is meeting with success and is numbered among Jones county's most representative citizens.

Mr. Balster was married in January, 1892, to Miss Gecena Heyen, who was born in Germany and accompanied a brother to the new world in 1888. The family numbers three sons and four daughters, Arend, Mary, Anna, Robert, Louisa, Louis and Johanna. The parents are members of the Lutheran church, in the work of which they take an active part. Having spent his entire life in Jones county, Mr. Balster is not unknown to many of our readers and his worth as a citizen is widely acknowledged.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 517.