Representative Christian J. Wyland View All Years
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Christian J. Wyland
Shelby County
Born on the old Wyland homestead, known as Wyland Mills, in Elkhart County, Indiana, June 22, 1836, where he grew to manhood. He had the usual school advantages and experiences of most country lads. From the age of ten to sixteen he worked on his father's farm, and for the next five years was a hand, first on the farm, then at the mill, wherever his services were of most value. From 1855 to 1860 he was engaged in superintending a mill of his father's. On April 11, 1864, he was united in marriage to Miss Amanda H. Dunnington, a native of Kentucky. Soon after his marriage he built a house on land adjoining that of his brother William, and removed to it. In 1871 he was nominated for county treasurer on the Democratic ticket, for this has always been his party, and was elected. He then moved to Harlan and took possession of the office January, 1812. He was re-elected in 1813. During his first term of office there was no bank nearer than Council Bluffs. In the spring of 1872 Mr. Wyland, in company with his brother, D. M. Wyland, who came back from Council Bluffs, where he had been engaged in a banking house for some time, formed a partnership in the land-office business, as C. J. & D. M. Wyland. To mark the popularity of C. J. Wyland in the county where he has undergone so much privation and lived to see such marked improvement, it only need be said that his services as county treasurer for two terms, his election to the Iowa Legislature in 1883, and his re-election in 1885, have proven him a man of ability and untarnished reputation. No man has been more active than Mr. Wyland in encouraging advancement in public improvements. It was he, together with other leading spirits, who organized the company which finally induced the Harlan branch of the Rock Island Railroad Company to build a line into the county. Every commercial interest has felt his force as an organizer. Mr. Wyland is a member of Mt. Zion Commandery, No. 49, K. T.; Olivet Chapter, No. 107, R. A. M., and Parian Lodge, No.321, A. F. & A. M.
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