Levi Deremore
A history of the agricultural interest of Allamakee county
would be incomplete and unsatisfactory were there failure to make
mention of the career of Levi Deremore, who for many years has
carried on general farming and stock-raising upon a fine property
of two hundred and fifty-seven acres on section 12, Franklin
township. He needs no introduction to the readers of this volume
for his name has been a respected one in this part of Iowa since
pioneer times and his father was for many years one of the
greatest individual forces in the financial, agricultural and
general business development of this locality.
Levi Deremore was born in Village Creek, Lafayette township,
October 11, 1858, and is a son of Abraham and Julia (Deal)
Deremore, the former born in Cumberland, Maryland, October 14,
1814, and the latter in Somerset county Pennsylvania, March 9,
1825. In early life the father worked in the employ of others and
when he left Maryland went to Pennsylvania, where for a number of
years he taught school. Being unusually well educated, he became
also a singing and writing teacher and followed these occupations
until he went to Wisconsin. After living for one year in Monroe,
that state, he removed to Allamakee county, Iowa, and about the
year 1851 settled on a farm seven miles west of Lansing, his
property being in the midst of a dense wilderness. He traded his
forty-acre farm at Monroe for one of one hundred and sixty acres
and one years latter exchanged the latter farm for a half
interest in the Allamakee mill at Village Creek, this being the
first mill in this county. Three years later the father traded
his interest in for a farm three miles from Waukon, a property
known as the Clemm farm, and for twenty-two years thereafter he
continued to develop and improve that place, becoming known as a
prosperous, practical and able agriculturist. At the end of that
period he became connected with the Upper Village Creek mill, but
at the end of one year removed to Waukon, where he lived retired
until his death, which occurred in 1897. In that city he became
active and prominent in business and financial circles, rising to
the position of president of the State Bank at Waukon and also
president of the Allamkee Fire Insurance Company, of which he was
one of the originators. In addition he was a director and half
owner of the Guttenburg State Bank and was interested in the
Sioux City Bank of Sioux City, being recognized throughout this
part of Iowa as a discriminating financier and a farsighted and
resourceful business man. He was honored by his fellow citizens
by election to various positions of trust and responsibility,
serving on the school board and as road supervisor for many
years.
Levi Deremore was the eighth in a family of eleven children. He
acquired his education in a district school just east of Waukon
and he remained with his parents until he was twenty years of
age. At that time he began operating his father’s farm and
continued at this occupation for three years thereafter, going at
the end of that time to Village Creek, where he worked in a
gristmill in the employ of his brother for six years. He then
removed to Lansing, where he engaged in teaming and sawmilling
for twelve years, going from there to Waukon. At the end of ten
months spent in that city he again turned his attention to
general farming; buying two hundred and fifty-seven acres of fine
land on section 12, Franklin township. Upon this property he
engages in farming and stock-rasiing and both branches of his
business have proven important and profitable under his able
management. He is a stockholder in the Monona Creamery Company
and in the Farmers Shipping Association and his ability and
energy are recognized and respected in business circle.
On the 7th of November, 1883, Mr. Deremore was united in marriage
to Miss Lizzie Schmeiden, who was born at Thompson Corner, Center
township, September 30, 1863. She is a daughter of Harmon and
Carolina (Martin) Schmeiden, natives of Germany, where in early
life the father was a miller. Her parents came to America and
settled in Center township, Allamakee county at an early date,
Harmon Schmeiden engaging in farming in this locality until his
death. Mr. and Mrs. Deremore have become the parents of three
children: Rose Carolina, who was born September 6, 1884, and
married Henry Meis, a farmer near Swift Current, Saskatchewan,
Canada; Emma, who was born November 22, 1886, and married Arthur
Lint; and Arthur, born August 6, 1890.
Mr. Deremore is connected fraternally with the Modern Woodmen of
America and he gives his political allegiance to the democratic
party. He is an earnest supporter of the cause of education,
doing much in the interests of the public schools during his term
of service on the school board. He is a substantial and practical
farmer, an able and farsighted business man, a progressive and
public-spirited citizen, and his record is an added credit to an
honored and worthy name.
-source: Past & Present of Allamakee County; by
Ellery M. Hancock; S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.; 1913
-transcribed by Diana Diedrich
Return to 1913 biographies index