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Bodenhofer
Louannda Larson sent in this Bodenhofer information.
It is said that the original Bodenhofers (one f) were from Bodenhofer, Germany. That they had had some money and that there were three sons brought here from Germany by their mother to avoid the draft, since their father had been killed in military service and the mother did not want her sons to go to the military. Only one of those sons got married and started the Bodenhofer line. One other had been involved in horse stealing.

Alonzo Lee Bodenhofer was the son of George Bodenhofer and Clementine Prouty Bodenhofer. He was born at a Lime Kiln on Mineral Creek in Jones County, near the site of Bodenhofer's Mill, October 8, 1869, and died January 13, 1945 at the home of his son Roy, near Onslow, Iowa after some lingering illness—cancer, I believe. He was 75.

He grew up near Onslow and left at the age of 27 to Arkansas, where he lived for many years. In 1897, he married Mathilda E. Harris of Boydsville, Arkansas. They had four sons, two dying in infancy. In 1924, they moved to Armarillo, Texas and resided there for seven years, then moved to Jones County, Scotch Grove Township and took up farming. It is my understanding they never owned anything, but actually sharecropped for a cousin, John. They also had a sister, Katie, that I think died when she was two years old and the boys never remembered her.

Alonzo was listed as a carpenter, and was considered a jack-of-all trades. He was noted as a kind and gentle man.

His two sons, Roy and Louis (my grandfather) were the same way. Tall, lanky and very easy-going. Roy was married to a school teacher and she was a very nice woman. For the life of me, I can't recall her name right off. Roy died of lung cancer when he was 56 years old although he had never smoked a cigarette or took a drink in his entire life. He had four children: Gowen, Connie, Shirley, and Sharon.

The other son, Louis, was my grandfather. He also was a laid back Southerner. Always had a southern speech pattern that he had picked up in Texas. He farmed for years and then went to work at Clinton Engines in Maquoketa at the age of 45 and retired from there. He was born on July 7, 1906, and got married at the age of 31 to my grandmother, who was 16 at the time. They were married for 32 years and then divorced. He died of a brain tumor May 12, 1986, shortly before his 80th birthday. Unlike Roy, he smoked and drank and generally ran around a lot in his younger years. I have many a colorful story about him.

He had four children: Sandra, my mother, who was born July 22, 1939, and married Theodore Walter Eby from Scotch Grove at the age of 16, had me, LouAnnda Eby, born July 7, 1955 (yes, I was born on my grandfather's birthday, and he was my mentor and soul mate) and Nicholas Dean Eby, born June 14, 1956 and died tragically, March 6, 1967. He ran out into the street in front of an oncoming car, in Clinton, Iowa. She divorced and married Marvin Manning from Monmouth, Iowa and had a daughter, Candace Sue Manning, born May 5, 1959. She was a single mother and has been married nine times, finally settling down at the age of 52 and hopefully married for the last time.

I have three children, Nicholas Alan Parker, born September 14, 1973, who is a senior at U of I and majoring in computer programming and physics. A daughter, Laura Jeanne Parker, born November 21, 1980, and is a senior at Clinton High School, Clinton, Iowa and will be graduating January 1999 and then attending college in the fall and plans to major in teaching, and last, Derek Parker, born September 26, 1984, who is in 8th grade and majors in all sports right now. Golfs the 50s and pitches baseball, etc. I was married 15 years to David Parker who runs several businesses here in Clinton, and is well known in the community. I had left home when I was 16, married one year before divorcing and marrying David. I was a congressional aide and then a housewife, taking up sales later, I was in Mary Kay for 11 years and then quit them and joined Avon 2 years ago and am now recruiting for them. I divorced David and married my high school sweetheart and we will be married seven years as of March 12, 1999. He is a longtime resident of Clinton and runs a Roofing Company here.

My sister Candy is married to John Grandick whose family comes from Delmar. They have one child, Amber Grandick, born April 11, 1982.

Louis other children are: Kermit Bodenhofer who runs a bar in Baldwin, Iowa for many ears and is widowed; Dolan Bodenhofer, who was well-respected, worked and retired early from International Harvester in Moline and who tragically died this last Jan in a mule-riding accident in the Shawnee Forest of Illinois; Darla Bodenhofer who is married to Larry Koppess.

The grandmother, born Effie Bernadine Betzer, will be 79 years old September 21 this year and resides in an apartment attached to our house that we have provided her. My great-grandfather, William Betzer, was quite well-known up in Jones County for his strength and died when he was 100 years old. The family are mostly buried up in the Mineral Springs Cemetery.

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Last updated on Friday, 16-Apr-2021 16:54:31 MST