USA > Iowa > Mills County > A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa > Part 43
USA > Iowa > Fremont County > A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa > Part 43
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She was of Scotch lineage. Mr. and Mrs. Pease became residents of Iowa in 1852, and here reared their five children, namely : Mrs. Clark : Mrs. Fanny Evans, of Malvern ; Gas- ton, who died while a soldier in the Civil war; John, who is living in Lee county ; and Lizzie, who died at the age of four years. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Clark has been blessed with thirteen children, and the family circle yet remains unbroken by the hand of death. In order of birth they are as follows: James P. and Willis G., who are residents of Mills county: LeRoy A., who is living in Harrison county : Samuel, John R., Abner. Fred and Harry, all residents of Mills county ; Mrs. Mary Boggess, a resident of Henderson, Iowa; Fanny, Sadie, Alice and Helen, who are still under the parental roof. Abner is a graduate of the high school in Henderson and the younger children are being well educated in the excellent country schools.
In his political views Mr. Clark is a stal- wart Republican and keeps well informed on the issues of the day, yet has never sought or desired public office. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian church in Malvern, and both are held in the highest regard throughout the community. Mr. Clark is spoken of by his neighbors as a kind and generous husband and father and a loyal citizen, fair and just in his dealings, genial in disposition and courteous in manner.
HON. JOHN PARKER.
The keynote to the success of men like John Parker, a prominent farmer and stock man of Ingraham township. Mills county, Iowa, is industry. Other characteristics aid
John Parker
THE FAR YORE PUBLI LIBRARY
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such men in wo. Idly advancement, but hard work, carly and late, is what wins the battle. Mr. Parker is one of those enterprising Eng- lishmen who have done so much to develop the agricultural interests of their parts of the state. Ile was born in Linconshire, in 1837, one of the eleven children of George and Elizabeth ( Beet ) Parker. Ilis father was born December 24. 1812: his mother on Christmas Day. 1813. and they were married in 1833. Mr. Parker was an agricultural laborer and he taught his sons how to farm and encouraged them to work hard. Some of his children died in infancy, some in youth, and five were reared to manhood. His son George went to Ohio in 1854. and settled in Wyandot county. From there he came to Towa in 1867. accompanied by his brother. John Parker, the subject of this sketch. George Parker was born in Sep- tember. 1835. became a prosperous farmer and a local official and died in Anderson township. Mills county. in 1890, leaving a good property to his eight children. James and John Parker came over together from England in 1857. on a sailing vessel which consumed five weeks in making the journey from Liverpool to New York. James is a well-to-do farmer with a large family, and lives near Hastings. Mills county. Henry Parker is a farmer and breeder of Poland China hogs and owns one hundred and sixty acres of land in Pottawattamie county. He also has a family. Joseph Parker, likewise a man of family, is a farmer near Oakland, Pottawattamie county. The mother of these children died in England in 1866, as the re- sul of a fall, and the father came to Iowa at about the age of seventy years and lived in a house built for him by John Parker on the latter's farm until he died in 1895. leaving a
widow. He was a Wesleyan minister, a zeal- ous preacher of the gospel, a self-educated man, of mental ability and moral worth, who was highly esteemed by all who knew him.
John Parker was educated in the common schools until he was about ten years old, when he began to work on the farm. From the age of fourteen to the age of twenty he worked by the month and by the year. In 1857, when he was twenty years old and had saved sixty dollars with which to pay his passage and expenses, he and his brother James joined their brother George in Wyan- dot county, Ohio. In 1867, as has been stated. John and George came to Iowa, where they were tenant farmers for about four years. In 1871. John Parker bought forty acres of new prairie land and five acres of timber, for which he paid sixteen dollars an acre. On this property he erected his first house, which in 1882 gave place to his pres- ent residence. By four subsequent pur- chases he has increased his holdings to two hundred and eighty-five acres of fertile up- land rolling prairie, one hundred and twenty acres of which is devoted to corn, yielding an average of from fifty to fifty-five bushels an acre. He has preserved the fertility of his land by strict attention to rotation of crops. Ile sells some corn but feeds most of his crop on the farm. His stock consists principally of cattle and hogs and he milks from twelve to fifteen shorthorn cows, keeps a blooded bull and raises calves. He breeds about seventy-five Poland China hogs for the market each year and keeps ten horses and raises colts.
Mr. Parker is a Republican and has rep- resented his district two terms in the state legislature, his service ending January, 1900. He was for three years one of the com-
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missioners of Mills county and has several times been trustee of his township and has been school trustee and has held other minor offices. While a member of the legislature he took an active part in the state legislation and was one of the leading members of the house. He is prominent in state and local politics, ever taking an active interest in the affairs of his party. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church for thirty years, and his wife since her early girlhood. He has held every office in the church except that of minister, and has been Sunday-school superintendent many years. He is an Odd Fellow.
Mr. Parker was married in Ohio, Septem- ber 19, 1861, to Miss Mary Johnson, who was born in Morrow county, Ohio, in 1841, a daughter of John and Lucy ( Alger) John- son, natives of Vermont, who came early to Ohio, where they were well-to-do farmers, and reared ten of their eleven children, five of whom are living, as follows: Mrs. Ara- bella Strickler, a widow who lives at Colum. bus, Ohio, and has three children ; Andrew J. Johnson who has nine children and lives in Shenandoah, Iowa: Amanda, who married Alpheus Miller, of Ohio, and has three chil- dren. William Henry Harrison Washburn, Mrs. Parker's half-brother, is a son of her mother by a former marriage. John John- son, Mrs. Parker's father, died at the age of fifty. Her mother married a third time and died in 1869, aged sixty-two years. Her father and mother are both buried in Mor- row county, Ohio.
John and Mary (Parker) Johnson have had ten children, all of whom are living : Elizabeth W. married William H. Salzers, a Mills county farmer, and has two daugh- ters : Alice Jane married William Tucker, of
Saline county, Nebraska, and has a son and three daughters; Cora A. married Richard Tucker, of Saline county, Nebraska, and has a son and five daughters; Emma L. married J. E. Johnson, of Mills county, Iowa, and has one son and three daughters; Ida J. married G. W. Phelps, of Fillmore county, Ne- braska; Harry Grant, a farmer in Mills county, married Miss Nellie Jackson; Rosa, who is the wife of D. N. Salzers, of Mills county, has one daughter; Howard Roy, a farmer on a part of his father's land, mar- ried Maggie Crow, who has borne him a son ; and Sanford J. is a member of his father's household and he and John Guy Parker are students and the latter will soon enter Simp- son College.
GEORGE T. OTIS.
George T. Otis was born June 2, 1842, on Dutch Creek, Ohio. His father. William Otis, was a native of New York and was a wagon-maker by trade. Emigrating west- ward, he took up his abode in Ohio. locating in the town of Lowell, in the year 1815. He was married in that state to Sabrina Rice, and in 1857 he came to Glenwood, where he spent his remaining days, passing away at the age of seventy-nine. His family is one noted for longevity, and the maternal grandmother of our subject lived to be over ninety years of age.
George T. Otis was with one exception- the youngest in a family of seven children, six of whom are yet living. He assisted his father in wagon-making and started out in life for himself at the age of nineteen. As a companion and helpmate he chose Miss Flor- ence Yockey, a daughter of Henry Yockey, who was a native of Pennsylvania and also
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a wagon-maker by trade. Her father re- moved to Ohio at an early period in the de- velopment of that state, and about 1865 hic came to Glenwood, where he has since fol- lowed his chosen occupation. The mar- riage of Mr. and Mrs. Otis was celebrated on the Ist of December, 1867, and has been blessed with four children, three sons and a daughter, all at home, namely: Carl HI., George D., Della and Howard.
For a quarter of a century Mr. Otis was engaged in the livery business, with excel- lent success, but in 1892 he sold that enter- prise and removed to Oregon, hoping there- by to benefit his wife's health. For a year they traveled through the western country and then returned home. Mrs. Otis was spared to him for a number of years follow- ing, but died in February, 1900, at the age of fifty-one. Our subject first visited the northwest in 1862, when he went to Mon- tana, where he was engaged in mining until 1866, and then returned to Mills county. During the greater part of the time through the past third of a century he has resided in Glenwood. Few men in Mills county are more widely known or more highly re- spected. He is always ready and willing to accommodate his friends and customers in any way within his power, is whole-souled and generous, and his many admirable qual- ities have won for him high regard.
A. O. DALRYMPLE ..
1. O. Dalrymple is the proprietor of the Valley Farm in Riverton township, Fremont county, and is one of the well known and enterprising citizens of the community. He was born in Warren county, New Jersey, near the city of Washington, on the 17th
of March, 1857, and belongs to one of the good families of that county, which was also the birthplace of his parents. His grand- father, David Dalrymple, was a sollier in the war of 1812 and was of Scotch lineage. His father, James Dalrymple, was a tailor, blacksmith and farmer. He was industrious, honest and loved by all, and his death oc- curred when he was sixty-five years of age. In politics he was first a Whig and later a Republican and loyally espoused the cause of the party during the Civil war. being a firm adherent of Lincoln and his policy. He witnessed the starting of the first loco- motive ever put in motion in this country. He died within a mile and a half of his birthplace in Warren county, New Jersey. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Eleanor Deremmer, was also a native of Warren county and was reared and educated there, her ancestry being Scotch-Irish. She died in that county, twenty-two years ago, in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which she was a worthy member. She was loved and revered by all who knew her for her many excellent qualities. In the family of this worthy couple were fourteen children, nine of whom reached mature years, namely: John, who is living on the old family homestead in Warren county, New Jersey : George B., who is a resident of the same county: Peter, of Montana, New Jersey : Mrs. Hattie AAnderson, of Stewarts- ville, that state; \. O., of this review : Mrs. Emeline Stecker, of Easton, Pennsylvania. now deceased ; Henry, who died in Philips- burg. New Jersey: Caleb, who died in Rox .. burg. Warren county, same state ; and Ben- jamin, who died in Orefield, Pennsylania. .A. O. Dalrymple spent his boyhood days in the manner usual to farmer lads of the
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period. In the winter season he pursued his education in the public schools, and with the coming of spring he took his place in the fields to assist in the operation of the home farm, aiding in the work until after the crops are garnered in the autumn. In 1878 he em- igrated westward and landed in Atkinson, Illinois, with but forty cents in his pockets. He secured employment on a farm near Ke- wanee. Henry county, that state. The year 1882 witnessed his arrival in Fremont coun- ty, and he located first in Fisher town- ship. but soon came to the Valley farm, which he owns and which is one of the most desirable farming properties in this portion of the state. On the place he has an excellent residence, which was erected in 1894, and is built in a modern style of architecture, with bay windows, and is attractive in appear- ance and convenient in arrangement. He owns one hundred and five acres of rich land and has one of the best herds of Poland China swine in the county. He raises only high-grade animals and has some of the best representatives of the breed that can be found. This is his specialty in stock-raising and it has proved a profitable source of in- come, for the size and excellent condition of his hogs enables him to command for them a ready sale on the markets.
MIr. Dalrymple completed his arrange- ments for a home in 1882 by his marriage to Miss Julia Sausaman, who was born in Ke- wanee, Illinois, and was reared and educated there. Her people were from Pennsylvania. Her father has now passed away but her mother is still living near Kewanee. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Dalrymple has been blessed with five children, namely : Hat- tie, Joanna, Leona. Chester and Luella. For many years Mr. Dalrymple gave his support
to the Populist party, but in 1896 supported Bryan. In 1900, however, he voted for McKinley. He is a man six feet in height, weighing one hundred and eighty-five pounds. His manner is entirely free from ostentation or display and his genuine worth gained for him the confidence and regard of all those with whom he is associated. His business success is due to earnest purpose and well-directed labor, for without capital he started upon his business career and annually added to his possessions until he is now one of the subtantial agriculturists of this county.
SETH DEAN.
We are now permitted to touch briefly upon the life history of one who has retained a personal association with the affairs of Mills county for many years, having served as county surveyor for a quarter of a cen- tury, and one whose ancestral line traces. back to the colonial epoch. His life has been one of honest and earnest endeavor, and he has gained the confidence and respect of all with whom he has come in contact either in business or social circles.
MIr. Dean was born in Lyons township, Mills county, on the 20th of October. 1851, his parents being William E. and Susan ( Briggs) Dean, natives of the Green Moun- tain state. On the paternal side his great- grandfather, Seth Dean, fought for Ameri- can independence in the Revolutionary war, and at the close of his third term of enlist- ment, with his papers ( real Continental mon- ey), he secured a grant of land in Windsor county. Vermont, where he spent the re- mainder of his life. He wedded first Mary Bicknell, and after her death he married
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Ruth Wight, of Hardwich, Massachusetts, where his birth also occurred. Their son Seth. the third of a family of four sons, and the grandfather of our subject, was born on the old homestead in Barnard, Vermont, served as a private in the Plattsburg, New York, campaign in the war of 1812, and afterward throughout life followed farming in that state, dying there at the age of forty- nine years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Martha French, lived to the ad- vanced age of eighty-two years. Our sub- ject's maternal grandparents were Benjamin and Susana (Crowell) Briggs, residents first of Vermont, removing to Huron county, Ohio, in 1836, and residing there the re- mainder of their lives, while his great-grand- parents were Ephraim and Rhoda ( Whit- comb) Briggs, natives of Massachusetts. Ephraim Briggs also was a Revolutionary soldier, and participated in the battle of Lex- ington, under command of Captain Knowl- ton, afterward colonel. When mustered out at the close of three-years service he was a commissioned officer of the Massachusetts Continental Line.
William E. Dean, the father of our sub- ject, was one of the pioneers of Mills county. Iowa, having located here in 18449. He was a farmer by occupation and spent forty-four years upon one farm in this county. His death occurred at the homestead in Lyons township, when he was seventy-three years of age. In early life he was an old-line Whig, but on the inception of the Republican party in 1854 he joined its ranks and assist- ed in its organization in Mills county. Hc took a prominent and active part in public affairs: served as the first coroner of the county ; and filled. at different times, all the local township offices. He was also the first
drainage commissioner of the county, and by virtue of this office had charge of the public sale of the government swamp land in Mills county. He assisted in the building of many of the early schools and churches of this locality and always bore his part in the work of development and progress. Ilis wife Susan died on the farm March 31. 1872, at the age of fifty years. She was the moth- er of six children, four of whom are still living. Later he married Eliza J. Briggs, a sister of the first wife, who also died at the family home. December 25. 1893.
Seth Dean, whose name introduces this review, is almost wholly self-educated, his early school privileges being limited. The rudimentary branches of learning he ac- quired at home and in the public schools of the township; and for about nine weeks he attended Tabor College in Fremont coun- ty. . \ good mathematician, he loved figures from early boyhood and displayed great apti- tude for his present vocation, that of survey. or. He bought and borrowed books on civil engineering, thus educating himself, and is to-day one of the best in his line in the state. In 1874 he went to Kansas, where he worked on a farm for a short time. Returning home in December of the same year he taught school through the winter months. In the fall of 1875 he was a candidate for county surveyor, but was defeated. He opened an office in Glenwood in the spring of 1876 and engaged in private practice. Being elected to office in 1877 he has since filled this office with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of all concerned. Mr. Dean is not wholly unknown in his profession outside of his own county. He was elected a member of the Civil Engineers' Club of the North- west, at Chicago, in March, 1877, and upon
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the reorganization of the club as the West .. ern Society of Engineers in 1883 he be- came a charter member of that body, hold- ing membership therein until 1895. He was elected a senior member of the Michi- gan Engineering Society in January, 1888, and a non-resident active member of the New England Water Works Association in December of the same year. Mr. Dean was also a charter member and assisted at the "bornin' " of the Iowa Sureyors' Associa- tion at Des Moines in February, 1885, and at the annual meeting in 1886 was elected the president of the association. This body united with the Iowa Civil Engineers' So- ciety in 1887, the new organization taking the name of the Iowa Society of Civil En- gineers and Surveyors. At this meeting Mr. Dean was unanimously elected the secretary, which office he held for ten consecutive years, retiring voluntarily at that time, but still re- taining an active membership.
He was elected a member of the Ameri- can Association for the Advancement of Science in 1885, with which organization he is still affiliated. He also served as a volunteer observer in the United States weather bureau, and in the Iowa weather service from January, 1877, to 1895.
On the 9th of April, 1879. Mr. Dean was united in marriage with Miss Annah Baxter. who was born in Weyauwega, Wis- consin, where she was reared and edu cated, removing with her parents to Glen- wood in the spring of 1875. Her parents were Duncan Baxter and Clarissa (Cham- bers) Baxter, both natives of Remsen, Oneida county, New York. They were married in April, 1848, and in 1855 re- moved to Weyauwega, Waupaca county, Wisconsin, and in 1875 to Glenwood, Iowa,
where they both died. Her paternal grand- parents were John and - (Coley) Bax- ter, of Remsen, Oneida county, New York. and the maternal grandparents were Will- iam and Clarissa (Cundal) Chambers, of Remsen, Oneida county, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Dean have one son, Henry H., a youth of fifteen who is at home.
In his political affiliations Mr. Dean is a Republican, but receives the support of his friends from all political parties. He cast his first presidential vote for General U. S. Grant in 1872. With the Masonic fraternity he also holds membership, and he and his family are active and prominent members of the Glenwood Baptist church.
WILLIAM W. WARNER.
Far distant from the present place of his abode is the birthplace of William W. Warner, who is numbered among the native sons of Pennsylvania, born in Jefferson county, that state, on the 6th of March, 1848. He is classed among the leading and repre- sentative farmers and stock-raisers of south- western Iowa, and the prosperity which he is enjoying is well merited, for his career has been an active, useful and honorable one. His parents, Isaac and Polly (Bowers). Warner, were both natives of Pennsylvania and were of German lineage. The father was a farmer by occupation and remained in the Keystone state until after all his children were born. In 1867 he went with his fam- ily to Illinois, locating in Fulton county, where he engaged in the operation of rented land until 1878 when he came to Fremont county and continued farming on rented property. In 1888 he was called to his final rest, at the age of sixty-seven years. He
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lived a quiet, unassuming life, devoting his connection with the production of the cereals time to the acquirement of a good living best adapted to this climate he has raised and handled stock for a number of years, feed- ing catle and hogs, which he has shipped to market. He possesses excellent business and executive ability, is a capable financier and above all is industrious and energetic. so that lie is now rated among the substantial farmers of the county. for himself and family. He gave his polit- ical support to the Democracy but never sought public office. His wife died in Illi- nois. They were consistent members of the Lutheran church and in that faith they reared their family of nine children, namely : Catherine J., now Mrs. Vail; William W .; Philip B., of Nebraska; Anna, the wife of W. Teach; Samuel, of the Indian Territory; Sarah, the wife of G. W. Kline; Margaret, the wife of E. Childers; Mary, the wife of E. Grous; and Elma, who is living in the Indian Territory.
William W. Warner spent the greater part of his youth in Pennsylvania and ac- companied his parents on their removal to Illinois, remaining at their home until his marriage, which occurred in the Prairie state. Soon afterward he came to lowa and in 1879 took up his abode in Fremont county, where he engaged in the operation of rented land for three years. He then purchased a tract of primeval prairie-one hundred and sixty acres-but has since added to the property until his homestead farm now comprises two hundred and forty acres. He began life here with very limited capital and found it difficult to get a start. The land had to be fenced and broken ready for cultivation, but soon he placed it under cultivation and the rich fields yield to him a golden tribute for the care and labor he bestows upon them. For many years the place has been self-sup- porting, and the excellent improvements and buildings found thereon indicate his active and useful career and stand as monuments to his enterprise and progressive spirit. The land is all under fence and is divided into good fields for cultivation and grazing. In
In 1879 Mr. Warner was united in mar- riage to Miss Charlotte Tygart, who was born in Kansas, April 20, 1857, a daughter of Thomas and Charlotte ( Priddy ) Tygart the former a native of Indiana and the lat- ter of Ohio. Their marriage was celebrated in the Hoosier state, where they remained until all of their children were born, with the exception of Mrs. Warner. The father there followed farming, and on leaving Indiana he removed to Pottawatomie county, Kansas, subsequently taking up his abode in Leaven- worth, where he engaged in driving a hack. Both he and his wife died there in 1865. The most of their children were grown at that time, but Mrs. Warner was only seven years of age. She returned to Illinois and found a good home with a sister, with whom she remained until her marriage, when she became a faithful companion and helpmate to Mr. Warner. Together they have traveled the journey of life, sharing with each other its joys and sorrows, its adversity and pros- perity, and now they have a good home and many warm friends. Her mother was a consistent member of the Baptist church and her father was a faithful follower of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows. That worthy couple had ten children, namely : Eliza, the wife of J. Nealis, of Kansas : John. now deceased ; Rhoda, the wife of .\. Maize : Jane, the wife of Joseph Graham; Elizabeth,
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