Complex sentence: Hawk's maternal grandfather, C. W. Howard (1845--1916), had homesteaded in Neenah, Wisconsin in 1862 at age 17 and within 15 years had earned a fortune in the town's paper mill and other industrial endeavors.
Split into simpler sentences: Hawk's maternal grandfather, C. W. Howard (1845--1916), had homesteaded in Neenah, Wisconsin in 1862 at age 17. Within 15 years he had made his fortune in the town's paper mill and other industrial endeavors.