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Large Farms of the CountyO'Brien county has been blessed in having its lands well distributed in small sized farms. She has had no colonies settle as renters on lands owned by large syndicates or nonresident landlords, like some of the surrounding counties. Practically all her large farms have been managed by actual citizens. We will make note of a few large farms. D. Edward Paullin In 1880 D. Edward Paullin, after whom Paullina was named, bought nine sections of land in Dale and Union townships and proceeded at once to put on very large improvements. It was all broken up. He expended from fifteen to twenty thousand dollars in improvements and machinery. Indeed his ranch buildings were little towns of themselves. He was an Englishman and was a stirring man. He farmed on a very large scale, until November, 1883, when he sold to Hudson Mickley. He later resided in Lemars, in Plymouth county, where was a large colony of Englishmen, including the Close brothers, James B. and William B., who held large landed possessions in both Plymouth and Osceola counties. Mr. Paullin was killed in a game of polo about 1903 at Lemars. Hudson Mickley farmed all those lands on a similar scale for the seasons of 1884-85-86. These lands were later divided up into ordinary sized farms and sold. Franklin Teabout In 1874-75-76-77 Franklin Teabout, a man of much vim and energy, opened up several large ranches on sections 25 and 36 in Lincoln, and sections 3, 10, 11, 14 and 25 in Summit and another ranch in Clay county. In 1877 he bought thirty-six hundred acres, at fifty cents per acre, with taxes on same to be redeemed of one dollar and fifty cents per acre, of Daniel T. Oilman, of Sioux City, same being part of the above lands. Mr. Teabout was an actual farmer and actual citizen. He erected quite extensive buildings on his main ranch on section 36, in Lincoln, which, with its many renters and ranch hands, made up quite a colony. Mr. Teabout had had a remarkable and successful career in large farming in Winnesheik county. Iowa, the small town of Franklin, in that county, being named for him and the seat of his farming operations there. He and William H. Valleau were the first merchants and grain buyers in Sanborn and other points. He was the father of Mrs. George H. Valleau, of Sanborn. These lands also were long ago divided up and sold. John H. Archer John H. Archer has filled many large fields in the county. This item is but an enumeration of large farms and farming operations in a group. In extent of acres, being about thirty-five hundred acres in actual farming, in and around Archer, Iowa, named for him, his is the largest tract in continuous farming for the long series of years in the county, farmed and managed by one man. Mr. Archer has personally superintended each tract, by direct oversight from crop to crop, item to item. He has carried it out from the basis of small tracts under various arrangements of rentings and otherwise, rather than as one farm. This is by no means the limit of his land holdings, he being the owner of sundry landed interests in other places. He came from England when a young man, and married the daughter of a farmer. E. L. Ballon. He has bought land from year to year, and held on to everything once purchased. The gradual, if not to say phenomenal, advance in land values in the county during his time in the county has proved the wisdom of his policy relating to land. Chester W. Inman Chester W. Inman was, after Hannibal H. Waterman, among the first four real farmers who, in number of acres, arose above the quarter section proposition. He came in 1868. He was also one of the early actual citizens who became a county official, he being county treasurer and also was a member of the board. He opened up a large ranch of five hundred and eighty acres on section 26, in Grant township on the Waterman. The spot of his residence was one of the few really picturesque and scenic farm residences in this locality. O'Brien county was mainly a plain level of merely prairie sameness. The bluff here on the Waterman would even be somewhat of a bluff on the Missouri river. It was an ideal spot for the poetic or romantic. It seemed pitiful that his public turmoils and individual private property tribulations should have prevented the enjoyment of his dream, for be it said Mr. Inman and family were people who could have enjoyed the picturesque. He was a man of considerable breadth. He attempted to farm on a large scale through the grasshopper scourge and discouragements. He built what was in those times considered a mansion, costing in those cheapest of times some thirty-five hundred dollars, and in truth was beyond the times, and big farming could do none other than fail, and he lost all. This residence was a three-story building, with a large hall in the third story, evidently constructed with a special idea of large entertainments and gatherings. Miscellaneous Large Farmings Among the large farms of a section of land in size we might also mention those of Joseph Hain and John Bowley, in Floyd, of Oliver M. Shonkwiler and George W. Schee in Hartley township, of Hector Cowan, in Dale, of Neil McKerrall and Frederick G. Frothingham in Union. The Rodgers section in Caledonia and the farm of Mathern Brothers (Frank and Antone), in Highland. Jonathan A. Stocum Jonathan A. Stocum had for many years been an instructor in Bryant & Stratton's Commercial School in Chicago, but at intervals had purchased sundry O'Brien county lands at tax sale during the years when its affairs were in trouble, but in 1871 he had procured many tax titles on same and proceeded to open up a large ranch of eight hundred acres in Lincoln township, and farmed the same until his death in 1891. He resided in Sanborn and conducted his ranch from there. He was not simply farming, but was a breeder of fancy stock, the inventory of his estate showing some forty fine bred horses and other stock in proportion. His was among the earliest efforts at the better grade stock proposition in the county. Further references will be made to Mr. Stocum in the section relating to Sanborn, he having been the pioneer attorney there, and, with John Lawler, a high official of the Milwaukee road, having platted Stocum & Lawler's addition to Sanborn, and engaged in other of the early town of Sanborn enterprises. Samuel J. Jordan Samuel J. Jordan was among the early settlers in Grant township, and opened up a ranch of eight hundred acres. He has been among the few of the large ranch owners who has continuously resided actually upon the land itself during all the years, and conducted in person his large farming operations and stock raising direct from his family residence. As his sons, Ralph C. Jordan, now a member of the board of supervisors, and Clay P. Jordan, of Jordan's Bank at Sutherland, have grown up they have become a practical part of the broadening business of both farming and banking. They have also been among the few large farmers who have included in and incorporated as a part of their large farming all those modern, up-to-date and highly developed devices in the construction of barns, buildings, water works, dairying and machinery equipments, even in the details, on the lines as taught and suggested at Ames Agricultural College. Other items will appear as to this, family under other heads. Past and Present of O’Brien and Osceola Counties, Iowa, Volume 1, 1914 | ||
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