LEWIS G. CLUTE, a wealthy farmer of Honey Creek
township, Delaware county, Iowa, is a self-made man in the broad
sense of the term. He is the eldest of the seven living children born to R. S.
H. and Sarah J. (Wolverton) Clute, and was born in Wyoming county, N,
Y., October 8, 1836. He was educated at an academy, and
for several years after leaving school taught school himself. He also added to
his accomplishments by learning carpentering, which trade he followed for many
years in conjunction with farming. He came to Iowa in September, 1853, rented land and
went to farming. In October, 1859, he married, and for awhile lived with his
father-in-law, but in 1862 bought the farm. He now owns three hundred and
thirty-seven acres of good land that belongs to himself,
but cultivates about seven hundred acres, the balance being rented land. His own
land is all in cultivation, with the exception of twenty acres of timber land,
which he utilizes for pasture. He has a commodious house and a fine barn, convenient
out-buildings of all kinds, and groves of evergreens and native trees add beauty
to the surroundings of his home. R. S. H. Clute, the father of the subject of
this sketch, was born in the state of New York, and was the son of Don and Mary (Schermerhorn) Clute, natives of Holland. Don Clute died in August, 1864, at
the remarkable age of one hundred and four years; his grandson, our subject,
having paid him a visit in 1863, when the Knickerbocker
had reached the age of one hundred and three. Mrs. Sarah J. (Wolverton) Clute, was a native of New Jersey and a daughter of Joel Wolverton, a tailor by trade, as well as a farmer. Joel
died in 1884, at the age of about eighty-five years. To R. S. Clute and wife
were born eleven children, of whom seven are living, as follows—Lewis G., the
subject of this sketch; Mary, wife of Rev. Amos Zabriska,
who lives on his farm in Bnchanan county, Iowa; Emma
(Mrs. Henry Hardman), of Cerro Gordo county, Iowa; Charles, Rier,
Frank and Jennie. The father and mother of this offspring, as well as their children
(with the exception, perhaps, of Emma) live in Honey Creek township, the father
being now eighty-six and the mother seventy-five.
Lewis G.
Clute has taken for his life partner Melissa, daughter of William and Mary Roe,
the parents natives respectively of New York and South Carolina, and both
deceased; the former dying in 1876, at the age of about seventy-two, and the
latter in 1872, aged about sixty-six; the couple having come to Iowa in 1851.
To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Clute have been born three children,
viz.—William, Charles and Louis A. The eldest of these, William, is married and is living on his
farm in Oneida township; Charles is also married and resides near his
father; Louis A., with his
wife, still makes his home under the parental roof.
The family of our subject are members of the Christian church
and their daily walk is characteristic of the sincerity of their faith.
Mr. Clute
has always been an honored man in his community and has been intrusted with many responsible offices by his
fellow-citizens. He is now holding the position of justice of the peace, under
a flattering majority given by the republican party,
to which he belongs, At New Orleans in the late exposition he was a commissioner
from Iowa—a position given him by his fellow-citizens as another evidence
of their trust. In his individual industries he received at the Centennial a medal
for his exhibition of seeds, and his apiary to this day produces a quality of
honey that is in demand in all the markets of the world. His creamery is
beyond compare as to neatness and cleanliness and its products are in constant
demand. He is also a large stock-raiser, carrying an average of two hundred and
fifty head of cattle, besides large numbers of horses and choice breeds of
hogs. The fact is, he is a skillful farmer and
consequently a successful one, as is proven by the fact that at the Iowa State fair, held in Des Moines in September, 1890, he secured
eighty-six premiums on his farm produce. At the Missouri State fair, held at
St. Louis, Mo., October, 1890, he secured thirty-three premiums, nine of which
were on grain; on honey he took the first premium, in competition with twenty
thousand pounds, selling afterwards the eleven hundred and seventy-eight pounds
he had on exhibition at twenty cents a pound.
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