Elmer J. Oshel

Elmer Jesse Oshel was born in a log cabin ten miles south of Creston, Iowa, September 26, 1864. He was the third child of John and Mary Virginia (Beam) Oshel, one of the early pioneer families in southern Iowa. He worked for farmers in Union and Taylor counties.

Elmer J. Oshel married Emma Reed on March 4, 1886. After farming in Taylor County near Lenox he moved his family to a prairie farm near Orient in Richland Township. In the fall of 1888, he built a small house on the Oshel farm located four miles west and one mile south of Orient, so he would have a place for his family in the spring of 1890. They acquired 500 acres of land and were one of the first families to raise soybeans in this county.

After a successful farming career, Mr. And Mrs. Oshel built a home in Orient for their retirement in 1917 (house where Hazel Williams lives now).

There were 10 children born in the Oshel home, nine of whom reached maturity: Hallie Marie (Williams), Edith P. (McCracken Huffman), Belva E. (Evans), Clara D. (Richards), Floyd E. , Gladys A. (Lent), Bernice (Farquhar Graham), Ralph Reed who died in childbirth, Helen M. (Conger), and Dorie I. (McClain).

Mr. Oshel passed away March 25, 1939, and Mrs. Oshel passed away November 21, 1943 and laid to rest in the family plot in the Orient cemetery. Other family members in the Orient cemetery are: Hallie, Edith, Floyd, Gladys, Ralph, and Helen.

From: A Collection of Recollections

Orient, Iowa 1882-1982