History of Mills County Iowa - 1985

FRED AND NELLIE PIERCE
Fred Wilson Pierce, born April 4, 1878, and Nellie May Morris, born June 28, 1878, were raised
on farms west of Oakland, Iowa, In Pottawattamie County, and were married February 14, 1900.  
Fred was the oldest son of Otto Winfield and Frances (Wilson) Pierce and Nellie was the oldest 
daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Sketchley) Morris.  They set up housekeeping on the Carter 
place and when Fred's father  moved to Oakland they moved to his farm and welcomed three 
daughters; Verna, 1901, Elsie, 1903 and Leila, 1906.  About this time Fred saw an automobile 
and feel in love with this horseless carriage.  He pored over car cataglogs and chose an Oakland 
40 with such extras as top, windshield, and carbide lights.  He preserved this beauty in pictures 
with his new Kodak camera and processed prints in the family bathtub.  By 1915 no sons had 
arrived to help farm so the family moved to Oakland when Ruth was six weeks old and Verna was 
ready for hight school.  Fred joined the General Motors organizatin and sold Oakland cars with 
such extras as teaching the buyers how to drive, a rather scary venture at times.  The new 
Oakland Big Six was a real hill climber and that huge touring car took the family many places 
including a trip up Pikes Peak.
Nellie kept busy with homemaking, civic activites and sewing for four girls, a skill she learned 
early by making her own clotes when she was ten.  She learned to play the parlor organ and gave 
lessons so she could purchase her first sewing machine.  After the move to Oakland a piano was 
purchased and Nellie made sure all her girls took lessons.  Verna played "Poor Butterfly", Elsie 
said "No Way" and Leila could play any piece set before her.  Later Ruth, after many lessons, 
decided playing by ear was more fun and less work.  Nellie played a mean ragtime and was an 
early gourmet cook but never learned to drive a car!
In 1918 Fred joined the Y.M.C.A. and went to France where he drove a Pierce-Arrow truck 
hauling supplies to our soldiers "over there."  He sold his General Motors stock before leaving 
home and realized later it could have made him a wealthy man.  After his return he found very 
tough competition in the car business so decided on a change.
Fred had purchased the Kaufman farm in Mills County northwest of Hastings and after selecting a 
likely looking cornfield, had a well dug, a house, barn, garage and chicken house built, and strung 
his own electric line across the field to the nearest transformer.   Fred's formal education ended in 
country school when his mother died so he educated himself by reading everything available and 
vowed his girls would all go to college.  When the family moved to Mills County in 1923, Verna 
had graduated from Iowa State and Elsie and Leila were enrolled at Iowa State teachers College.  
Ruth started attending Golden Hill Country School.
In spite of a 900 acre farming operation plus cattle feeding and hog raising, times were rough but
the family managed summer vacations and Fred drove in 48 states over the years.  He was later 
honored by the Ponitac Motor Company at their factory fo logging over two milliam miles in 
oaklands and Pontiacs.
Ruth enrolled at Nebraska Univeristy in 1933 and about that time things hit bottom.  Fred lost his 
farm but was later able to buy it back and Mark and Ruth Bowen now make it their home.
Fred died in 1970 and Nellie in 1950.  Also gone are Verna, Elsie, Leila and granddaughter Linda
Bowen.  For fifty years the family was ruled by girls, with four daughters and five granddaughters, 
but the trend changed with the birth of seven great grandsons and six great-granddaughters.  
Now, among the great-greas, boys are leading girls six to five but excitement builds, as an 
expecting new arrival may soon change the ratio again.  Ruth (Pierce) Bowen