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| J. Bodenhoffer—E. Booth | ||||||||
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John Bodenhoffer
Born 11 April 1872 | ||||||||
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JOHN BODENHOFER is not lacking in a full measure of popular confidence and esteem in his native city and county, as is evidenced by the fact that he served two terms as a member of the county board of supervisors and was then, in 1921, appointed county sheriff, in which office by successive reelections, he has been retained to the present time. He is thus an efficient and popular member of the governmental official family of Jones County and has his executive headquarters in teh courthouse at Anamosa, the county seat, in which city his birth occurred April 11, 1872.
Sheriff Bodenhofer is a son of the late Jacob and Rebecca (Soisbe)* Bodenhofer, with whose names is associated a distinct measure of pioneer prestige in the Hawkeye State. Jacob Bodenhofer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1832, was reared and educated in the old Buckeye State and was about seventeen years of age when, in 1848, he severed the home ties and came to Iowa, where he found employment on a pioneer farm. He later studied law and gained admission to the Iowa bar, he having thereafter been engaged in the active practice of his profession at Anamosa for many yeas and having been one of the venerable and honored pioneer citizens of Iowa at the time of his death, which occurred in the year 1906, his wife having died in 1897, and having been a sister of Samuel Soisbe,* who served as a representative in the Twenty-eighth Iowa Legislature. Rev. George Bodenhofer, grandfather of the present sheriff of Jones County, was a clergyman of the Christian Church and after coming to Iowa was here associated in the establishing of Cornell College, which is now one of the important and well ordered educational institutions of the state. In the Anamosa public schools John Bodenhofer continued his studies until he was graduated in the high school and thereafter he was actively engaged in farm enterprise in his native county for a period of thirty years, he being at the present time the owner of two well improved farms in Jones County and this landed estate having an aggregate area of 300 acres. While still residing on his farm Mr. Bodenhofer served two terms as representative of his township on the county board of supervisors, and this office he resigned at the time of his appointment to that of county sheriff, in 1921. As sheriff he has given a signally loyal, circumspect and effective administration, and the popular estimate placed upon the same is shown in his continued retention of the office since the year mentioned. The political allegiance of Mr. Bodenhofer is given to the Republican party, he and his wife have membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias, and the Wapsipinicon Country Club claims him as one of its appreciative and popular members. October 26, 1893, marked the marriage of Mr. Bodenhofer to Miss Emma L. Manley, daughter of the late Thomas and Alice (Hannum) Manley, who were honored citizens of Jones County at the time of their death, Mr. Manley having been here the owner of a fine farm estate of 720 acres. Mr. and Mrs. Bodenhofer have three children: Helen is the wife of Roy Simpson, of Cedar Rapids, this state; Hazel is the wife of Philip Hammond, of Lisbon, Linn County; and Hylah is the wife of Ernest Towne*, their residence being maintained on the old home farm of Sheriff Bodenhofer, near Mechanicsville, and Mr. Towne being in active charge of the place.
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.
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Henry Bohlken
Born 1854 | ||||||||
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HENRY BOHLKEN, farmer, Wayne Twp., Sec. 25; P.O. Amber; born in Germany in 1854; came to America and Jones Co. in 1872. Farm consists of 270 acres, belonging to the Hildenbrandt estate; Mr. Hildenbrandt died in 1865. Maiden name of Mrs. Bohlken was Maggie Hildenbrandt, a native of New York; they were married in 1876. Mrs. Hildenbrandt died in July, 1879; there were nine children; names of those living are George, Maggie, Minnie and Philip. Mr. Bohlken is a Democrat, and so is also George Hildenbrandt.
From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 621. | |||||||||
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Rudolph Bohren
Born January 15, 1863 | ||||||||
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Rudolph Bohren, who is one of the substantial and influential men of Lovell township, was born in Switzerland, January 15, 1863, His parents were John and Anna (Gertch) Bohren, also natives of the land of the Alps which remained their home until their deaths. Rudolph Bohren remained at home during the years of his youth, obtaining a good education in the public schools of his canton and learning those practical lessons for the conduct of life which have stood him in such good stead since he has become a citizen of this republic. When he attained his twenty-first year he decided to try his fortunes in the United States and in April, 1884, embarked on the long ocean journey. After landing upon our shores he came to Jones county, Iowa, locating in Monticello, where he found employment among the bands of men who were working for the railroad that was then being constructed in the northwest section of Iowa. The following year he engaged in cheese-making, but after one season, experience he forsook that business to work in a creamery. During these three winters, however, he also attended school that he might acquire some familiarity with the English language in a more orderly manner than through picking it up in his intercourse with his companions. In 1888, Mr. Bohren began farming as a renter and ten years later bought two hundred and forty acres of his present farm, which he had cultivated as a tenant for the six years preceding his purchase. Since he has made it his residence lie has added one hundred and twenty acres to it, so that he now has a tract of three hundred and sixty acres in Lovell township. He has engaged extensively in the dairy business, keeping fifty cows upon the place, and has also devoted a great deal of his time and energies to the breeding of hogs, making a specialty of these two branches of farming. In the winter of 1905, he delivered one hundred and five hogs at the Monticello stockyards, selling them there for twenty-four hundred dollars. They were less than ten months old and all had been raised by himself. This year he has about one hundred and seventy-six shoats, which will be ready for the market in the fall and from which he hopes to gain an even greater interest upon his investment of labor. Industry is one of his salient characteristics and has been the means of his success in the past and indicates what the future may bring to him.
On the 22d of October, 1894, Mr. Bohren wedded Miss Elizabeth Friedli, of Lovell township, and to them have been born four children: Frieda, Olga, Lena and Fritz. Since he has been admitted to citizenship in this republic Mr. Bohren has affiliated with the republican party, and his election to membership upon the school board shows the confidence the people place in his judgment. Indeed he is a man whose influence is felt, and for the good of his fellows, in whatever body he may happen to belong, whether it be that for the government of the schools, that of the directors of the Klondike Creamery Company, of which he is secretary, or the congregation of the German Reformed church, of which he is trustee. From History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 319. | |||||||||
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G. A. Boman
Born November 28, 1854 | ||||||||
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G. A. BOMAN, of the firm of Brown & Boman, harness-makers, Monticello; is a native of Putnam Co., Ill., and was born November 28, 1854; his parents came to Iowa in 1856, and 1ocated in Clinton Co.; he grew up to manhood there, and learned the harness-maker's trade; he came to Monticello and engaged in the harnessmaking business with C. W. Brown August 1, 1878, and they are building up a nice trade. He married Miss Alice M. Hooper, from Clinton County, Iowa, May 30, 1878.
From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 660. | |||||||||
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Edmund Booth
Born August 24, 1810 | ||||||||
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Edmund Booth, early Jones county pioneer, lost his hearing and part of his sight due to a childhood illness, but went on to become a founder of Anamosa, editor of the Anamosa Eureka for forty years and participant in the California Gold Rush. Both he and his wife, Mary Ann Walworth Booth, were totally deaf, both of them having lost their hearing on account of childhood diseases. (Theirs was the first marriage recorded in Jones County.) Edmund did not fully lose his hearing until he was about eight years old, so he retained some speech. Given his total deafness after the age of eight, his adult powers of speech were considered remarkable. But, Mary Ann communicated only through Sign and through written English.
Edmund went as a Forty-Niner to California to "strike it rich" in the goldfields, leaving Mary Ann and two young children at home in Anamosa for almost five years. He did not become a millionaire (worse luck!); but he did find enough gold to send money back to Mary Ann. She invested in land, had a house built, and generally took the kind of responsibilities that were beyond the experience of many women--even hearing women--of her day. She bought what has become prime real estate in downtown Anamosa. You can find the Booth Tract on city maps, bounded by Main, Booth, First, and Fourth Streets. It was part of this land that Edmund donated for the Library. He also donated the land for the first site of the Congregational Church--then on Main Street--although that site later was exchanged for a larger one at the corner of Booth and First Streets. Shortly after Edmund returned from California, he bought the city newspaper, the Anamosa Eureka, of which he was the editor from 1858 until his retirement in 1898. His son, Thomas, worked alongside his father, and after his father's retirement, served as editor of the paper until be retired in 1911. You can read more about Edmund and Mary Ann Booth at the Library of Congress American Memories site, including his diary and letters chronicling his overland crossing; prospecting at Feather River, Hangtown, and Sonora; visits to Sacramento, Columa, Columbia, and Stockton; and return voyage via Nicaragua, 1854. Submitted by Wilma Spice second-great-granddaughter of Edmund Booth. | ||||||||
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