Tramel, Walter O.

TRAMEL, LEONARD, WHITEHEAD, ALLSPAUGH, LONG, MILLER, HARDENBURGH

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 10/23/2009 at 06:44:15

Tramel, Walter O.

While the life of Walter O. Tramel, one of the worthy native sons of Clear Creek Township, Jasper County, has not been of an unusual character, nothing strange or tragic about it, nevertheless it abounds in lesson and incentive, for his record has been one of persistence, even in the face of obstacles at which others would have quailed. He has sought to be of benefit to his neighbors and the community in general, and his example has resulted in no harm to those who have come under his influence.

Mr. Tramel was born in Independence Township on October 29, 1876, here grew to manhood, was educated in the common schools and has always been identified with the agricultural interests of the community, believing that better opportunities existed here in his chosen line of endeavor than elsewhere. Mr. Tramel is the son of Joseph and Cynthia (Leonard) Tramel, one of the well-known old couples of this locality. The father's death occurred in Oregon in September 1904, at the age of seventy years, and the mother died January 18, 1907. Their family consisted of four children, two sons and two daughters, namely: William lives in Independence Township; Mrs. Stella Whitehead lives in Poweshiek Township, this county; Mrs. Bertha Allspaugh lives in Boulder, Colorado; and Walter O., of this sketch. For a full history of the Tramel family the reader is referred to the sketch of William Tramel on another page of this work.

Walter O. Tramel has devoted his life to general farming and stock raising, buying and shipping, and is one of the best-known stockmen in this locality and one of the most successful. In the spring of 1911 he moved onto the farm which he had purchased the preceding year and he has made a vast improvement in the same, rendering it one of the best farms in the community, well-equipped in every respect and under a high state of cultivation, and he has a good home. In addition to caring for his farm Mr. Tramel buys and sells about two hundred carloads of livestock annually, and no small part of his income has been from this source in the past. No better judge of livestock could be found than he and he is uniformly successful. By hustling persistently and dealing honestly he has accumulated a competency, but he has never shown that parsimonious spirit exhibited by some of the successful men of today and he therefore has the respect and confidence of all who know him.

Mr. Tramel was married in March 1903, to Lillian Long, who was born in Clear Creek Township, this county, March 12, 1882, and here she was reared and educated. She is the daughter of George and Phoebe Jane (Miller) Long, the father born in Winneshiek County, Iowa, April 3, 1854, and the mother in this township, on May 24, 1857, and this union resulted in the birth of nine children, five of whom are deceased, namely: Clarence D., born May 11, 1877, lives in Independence Township; Quincy, born October 27, 1879, died November 29, 1879; Pearl Hardenburgh, born in April, 1880, lives in Independence Township; Lillian, wife of Mr. Tramel of this sketch; James Carl, born September 13, 1883, is assisting his father on the home farm; Stella, born June 18, 1885, died November 3, 1885; Charles, Fred and the youngest child died in infancy.

To Mr. and Mrs. Walter O. Tramel four children have been born, namely: James Russell, born January 6, 1904; William Blaine, born January 6, 1905; Cynthia Marie, born June 7, 1906; Gertrude Irene, born March 6, 1910. These children were born in Independence Township, this County, and they are all at home with their parents.

Politically, Mr. Tramel is a Republican and he belongs to the Yeoman Lodge of Ira. He is a public spirited man and takes much interest in what ever tends to promote the interests of his community, lending his aid whenever necessary. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 1338.