A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa, Part 44

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 752


USA > Iowa > Mills County > A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa > Part 44
USA > Iowa > Fremont County > A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa > Part 44


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who became the wife of R. Meader and after- ward married J. Childers ; Hannah, the wife of J. Gaunt ; Columbus, Thomas and Sarah F., all deceased; and Charlotte, who is the youngest of the family. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Warner is blessed with one son, George W., who was born November 30, 1879. The greatest grief that has ever come to them has been through the loss of their second child, Clarence E., who was born February 22, 1881, and died in June, 1882.


Mrs. Warner holds membership in the Christian church and takes a deep interest in its work. Mr. Warner gives his politi- cal support to the Democracy and for some years has been in hearty sympathy with the reform movement along political lines. He has filled the office of township trustee for a number of years, has also served as consta- ble and has filled other local offices, to which he has been called by his fellow citizens who recognize his worth and ability. He is truly a self-made man, and as the architect of his own fortune he has builded wisely and well, rearing the superstructure of his pros- perity upon the sure foundation stone of honesty, industry, diligence and unfailing perseverance.


ALPHEUS H. WINKLER.


Among the most progressive and enter- prising business men of Mills county none stand higher in public esteem than higher in public esteem than Alpheus H. Winkler, of Glenwood. He was born in Holt county. Missouri, December 8. 1855, and is of Eng- lish and German descent. According to tradi- tion his great-great-grandfather was reared by King William, III, of England, being ed-


ucated by that monarch for the ministry. His father, Wyatt T. Winkler, was a native of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, and a son of William and Margaret Winkler. The grandfather was born in Germany and when a young man came to the United States, lo- cating on a farm in Pennsylvania, where he spent the remainder of his life, dying there at the age of eighty-four years. He was a highly educated man, and prior to his emi- gration to the new world, took part in the German wars. In early days he was noted as a log-roller, being a man of great strength, and at the age of eighty-two could throw the best wrestler in his county, that being quite a pastime in those days. He devoted his life to farming and was also a tax collector.


About 1849, when a single man, Wyatt T. Winkler, the father of our subject, left Pennsylvania and removed to Glasgow, Mis- souri, where he operated a ferry and also conducted a general store until 1861, when hie removed to Holt county, Missouri, and thence to eastern Kansas. There he also engaged in merchandising and farming, and continued to make his home in that state until called from this life June 18, 1885, at the age of fifty-eight years. He was one of the old free-state Democrats, and was a man highly respected by all who knew him. He wedded Miss Mary J. Thrailkill, a native of Missouri, who is now living on a farm in Oklahoma. By this union were born ten children, all of whom are still liv- ing. Mrs. Winkler's grandparents were William and Polly (Ish) Thrailkill. Will- iam Thrailkill was born in Tennessee and died in California, and his wife was born in Scotland and died in Missouri. Reared on his father's farm and in the village where his father was engaged in business, Alpheus


Ulf Winkler.


THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY


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BIOGRAPHIIC.IL HISTORY.


H. Winkler was principally educated in the district schools, but he attended high school for a time, and in 1882 was graduated at Bryant's Commercial College, of St. Joseph, Missouri. He was married on the 22d of October, 1885. to Miss Margaret Culwell, a native of Nemaha county, Nebraska, and they have become the parents of three chil- dren : Ada M., Albert H. and Ethel May, all born in Hiawatha, Kansas.


Henry Culwell, the father of Mrs. Wink- ler, was born in Tennessee, of which state his parents, Samuel H. and Margaret ( Mayber- ry) Culwell, were also natives, while the latter was a daughter of James Mayberry. Samuel H. Culwell died in Nebraska at the age of sixty-eight years, and his wife passed away in the same state at the age of sixty- nine. The Culwells followed agricultural pursuits principally and were also business men. In 1855, in company with his parents and the four other children of the family, Henry Culwell removed to Illinois, and in the spring of 1857 went to Nemaha county, Nebraska, where he made his home until coming to Glenwood, Iowa, in May, 1900. In connection with our subject he is now running the electric light plant at this place. On the 20th of December, 1864, he was unit- ed in marriage with Miss Catherine Mayes, and to them were born four children, one of whom is now deceased. Mrs. Culwell was one of a family of fourteen children, whose parents were Joel and Martha Mayes, na- tives of Missouri and Tennessee, respective- ly. The former died in Nemaha county, Nebraska, at the age of forty-nine, the lat- ter in Jackson county, Missouri, at the age of seventy-one years.


After his marriage Mr. Winkler made his home in Hiawatha, Kansas, until 1895, 21


when he came to Glenwood, Mills county, lowa, where he has been a reputable busi- ness man of high standing ever since. He has large farming interests both here and in Nebraska, and also owns several hundred acres of valuable coal and iron lands in Ten- nessee. Ile is quite extensively engaged in the real estate and loan business, and also conducts the electric light plant at Glenwood, which he purchased in 1899. By putting in new machinery he now has one of the most modern plants in this part of the country. He is recognized as one of the leading and successful real estate men in southwestern Iowa. Since casting his first presidential vote for Grover Cleveland Mr. Winkler has been an ardent Democrat, and fraternally is identified with the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. Ile and his family attend the Methodist Episcopal church, and they are recognized as valua- ble and prominent additions to the commer- cial and social circles of their adopted home. Thoroughly up-to-date and progressive Mr. Winkler is a man of excellent business and executive ability, whose sound judgment, unflagging enterprise and capable manage- ment have brought to him well-merited suc- cess. In manner he is pleasant and cordial, which, combined with his sterling worth, makes him one of the popular citizens of the community.


J. H. BRIGHT.


The broad prairies and the rich valley lands of Iowa offer splendid inducements to the agriculturist, and thus was attracted to the state a contented, intelligent and prosper+ ous farming people, who laid broad and deep the foundation for the present progress and


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development of the county. Among the early settlers where the parents of our sub- ject. Mahlon and Eliza (Abel) Bright.


The father was a native of Virginia and was of Irish descent. In the Old Dominion he was reared to manhood and in Pennsyl, vania he was married to Miss Eliza Abel, who was born in the Keystone state, where they began their domestic life, remaining there until 1855, when they came to Iowa, locating in Lee county. After renting a farm for two years the father purchased a small tract of land in Henry county, upon which he remained for a quarter of a century, but in 1883 he sold that property and came to Fremont county, where he became the owner of a small tract of land upon which he remained until after the death of his wife, in February, 1892. He afterward found a good home with his son, J. H., with whom he lived until his own demise, February 27. 1893. His life was one of in- dustry and activity, devoted to his business interests. In his political views he was a Whig and on the dissolution of that party he became a Republican, on which ticket he was elected a constable of Henry county, serving in that capacity for ten years, with marked fidelity. However, he never sought public office, contented to live the quiet life of a representative agriculturist. A man five feet, eight inches in height, he was of a rather stout build, of a social nature and of a charitable disposition, the poor and needy finding in him a warm friend. His genial manner won for him the high regard of neighbors and friends, for he always man- ifested sterling traits of character, being a devoted and exemplary member of the Pres- byterian church. He had only one brother, Eugenius Bright, who is yet living in Vir-


ginia. His wife was the youngest of three children, her brothers being James, who died in Iowa: and Allen, who resides in Wayne county, this state. Unto the parents of our subject were born five children : Delia, of Burlington, Iowa, who married a Mr. Bradd, and after his death became Mrs. Bird ; Lebbeus, who married Amanda Olin- ger, of Fremont county ; J. H., of this re- view : Aaron, who is living in Page county, Iowa; and Mrs. Alice Pizett.


J. H. Bright was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, February 28, 1846, and pur- sued his education in the old log school- house near his home. When nine years of age he accompanied his parents to Iowa and was reared to manhood in this state. His training at farm labor was not meager and the habits of industry and energy which he formed in youth have since been salient features in his success. He remained under the parental roof until 1864, when, at the age of eighteen years, he responded to the country's call for men, enlisting in the Union army for three years' service as a member of Company K, Fourth Iowa Cavalry. The regiment was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee, and he joined the command at Memphis, that state, at once entering upon active and arduous service. The first bat- tle in which Mr. Bright engaged was at Guntown, Mississippi, on the 7th of June, 1864. He was afterward taken severely il! and placed in the field hospital. Soon the surgeon in charge noticed his condition and advised and secured for him a thirty-days' furlough. He was then sent home and upon his recovery and the expiration of his leave of absence he again joined his command at Memphis. The regiment soon went into winter quarters at Louisville, Kentucky, and


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in March, 1865, proceeded to Gravel Spring. Alabama, and thence took part in the Wil- son raid in that state and Georgia. Mr. Bright participated in the engagement at Selma, Alabama, and with his command proceeded to Columbus, Georgia, where at night they stormed and captured the city. From there they continued on their way to Macon, Georgia, where they were at the time of Lee's surrender. They were then marched to Atlanta, where they were mus- tered out and received transportation to Davenport, Iowa, being honorably dis- charged and paid off in the latter city.


On returning home Mr. Bright resumed work on his father's farm and afterward engaged in breaking prairie, which pursuit he followed for four years, thus gaining a start in life. His labors, earnestly pros- ecuted, have enabled him to accumulate a large estate. In 1873 he was married and for two years resided upon rented land, after which he purchased a small tract in Taylor county, Iowa, but never made any improve- ments on it. Subsequently he sold the land and purchased two lots in Shenandoah, erect- ing thereon a house, which continued to be his place of abode for two years. On the expiration of that period he sold that prop- erty and bought one hundred and twenty acres of land, which he yet owns. With characteristic energy he began its develop- ment and has prosecuted his work with vigor. As time has passed he has extended his pos- sessions, purchasing a tract of one hundred and sixty acres, upon which his home now stands, and adding to this from time to time until he now owns fourteen hundred acres of valuable land, much of which is in the Nishnabotna valley. He has given his undivided attention to farming and stock-


raising and for nineteen years has been an extensive breeder and shipper of cattle and logs. His home is a two-story, frame resi- dence, large and attractive in appearance and commanding an excellent view of his own well-tilled fields and of the beautiful valley. Upon the place are two large barns and many substantial outbuildings, together with a bearing apple orchard and a peach orchard of over four thousand trees. Beauti- ful and extensive groves surround his home and every accessory seen upon a model coun- try seat is there found. The residence is situated three and a half miles west of Shen- andoah and is connected to the city by tele- phone. His is indeed a model and up-to-date home and indicates in an unmistakable man- ner the progressive spirit of the owner.


Mr. Bright was united in marriage to Miss Mary Beshears, a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of Iowa. She was born in this state January 6, 1855. a daughter of Joel and Helen ( Scott ) Be- shears, who were natives of Louisanna. They came to Iowa when but few families resided within the territory and were among the earliest pioneers of this portion of the coun- try. The father made a good farm, accum- ulated a large estate and left to each of his children land for a homestead. After many years he removed to Missouri, where his last days were spent. His widow still survives him and is now living with a son in South Dakota. Their children were: Mary. now Mrs. Bright: Mrs. Anna Johnson: and Charles, who for many years has success- fully engaged in farming in South Dakota. After the death of her first husband the mother became the wife of a Mr. Carroll, who is now deceased, and by their union she had one son, Scott Carroll. Unto Mr. and


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Mrs. Bright have been born seven children : Nellie, a successful school-teacher now em- ployed in the line of her profession near Denver, Colorado; Jesse D., of Shenandoah ; Pearl B., the wife of L. R. Walker, a farm- er of Fremont county; Effie A .; Anna Myrtle : Roy E. and Glenn E .- all at home. On the 24th of September. 1891, the wife and mother was called to the home beyond, leaving her family and many friends to mourn her loss.


Mr. Bright was reared in the political faith of the Republican party and has al- ways been a stalwart advocate of its prin- ciples. He has served as justice of the peace and in other local offices, but does not seek public preferment, his time being fully oc- cupied by his business affairs. His has been a most energetic and useful career. His close application. his unfaltering purpose and his straightforward business methods have enabled him to work his way steadily upward to a prominent position among the substantial residents of the community and now he stands upon the plane of affluence, being able to surround his family with all the comforts and many of the luxuries which go to make life worth the living.


ALLEN J. CHANTRY.


Among the leading representative citi- zens of southwestern Iowa is Captain Allen J Chantry, of Mills county. His father, Thomas Chantry, a son of David and Eliz- abeth ( Reed) Chantry, of Lincolnshire, England, was born at the latter place in February, 1795, and in 1816, at the age of twenty-one years, came to the United States, locating first at Philadelphia. After- ward he traveled considerably through west-


ern territory and finally settled on a farm in Chester county, Pennsylvania, where, in the year 1822, he was married to Hannah Passmore, whose parents, Thomas and Eliz- abetli (Dickinson) Passmore, were also na- tives of that part of the Keystone state and lived within hearing of the artillery at the battle of Brandywine during the Revolution- ary war, and some of our subject's ances- tors were among those who fought for Amer- ican independence.


Thomas and Hannah Chantry lived in Chester and Lancaster counties until the spring of 1837, when they emigrated to Iowa territory and settled in Van Buren county, where, on June 13, 1841, Captain Allen J. Chantry was born, and therefore takes rank among the earliest natives of Iowa, a distinction of which he has always been proud. In 1846 the parents removed to Henry county, same state, settling near the town of Salem, and afterward, in 1855, removed to Guthrie county, where the pre- vious year his father had entered (bought of the government) a large tract of land, which he improved and upon which he made his home the remainder of his life, dying in the fall of 1864 at the age of sixty-nine years, and where also the mother afterward. lived until 1892, when she died, at the age of eighty-seven years. Both the father and mother of Captain Chantry were leading and devout members of the religious society of Friends, both having enjoyed the advan- tages of an excellent education. On their removal to Iowa (then an unsettled terri- tory) they found themselves with their young children without the advantages of public schools: and in order to assist their children in laying a foundation for a good practical education they instituted a family


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school, of which the mother assumed chief charge. and for years the spinning-wheel and the loom and other household duties would have to yield an hour each day for recitation and books. At length time brought the subscription schools, soon to be followed by the beneficent public school sys- tem.


After attending public school two or three short terms the subject of our sketch, during the last two years of his minority, taught school in winter and worked on the farm in the summer until he enlisted in the service of his country, August 11, 1862, for a "period of three years or during" the Civil war, and was assigned with the company to which he belonged to the Twenty-ninth Regiment, Iowa Infantry, then being or- ganized at Camp Dodge, near Council Bluffs, Jowa, from companies from counties in the southwestern part of the state. On Novem- ber 15 he was commissioned second lieu- tenant of Company K by Governor Kirk- wood, and was subsequently promoted to be first lieutenant and captain of his company. He was on every campaign an.l in every action in which his regiment took part in a little over three years of very active service. He was severely wounded in the left shoulder at Terre Noir creek, Arkansas, April 2, 1864, while commanding the rear guard of Gen- eral Steele's supply train, which was furious- ly attacked by an overwhelming force of Confederate cavalry under the command of that intrepid fighter, General Jo Shelby ; but they remained on the field and by maneuver- ing and hard fighting by one of the bravest and best companies in the service succeeded in holding the enemy in check for over an hour and until reinforcements arrived, and a supply train worth over one-half million


dollars was saved for this service, which cost his company eighteen men in killed and wounded. Lieutenant Chantry and his com- pany received the compliments and thanks of Major General Steele. Thirteen days thereafter he was again wounded by a Con- federate sharpshooter while commanding the advancing skirmish line in an action near Camden, Arkansas, but continued on the feld until the action was over and Camden was captured.


Lieutenant Chantry participated with his regiment in all its future operations at Mo- bile, Alabama, and in the Army of the Rio Grande on the southwestern border of Texas during the spring and summer of 1865, and at the close of the war when his regiment was ordered to New Orleans for muster out he was offered the position of A. A. I. G. on General Slack's staff, and Major General Steele offered him a lieutenant colonel's com- mission in the "standing army of the Rio Grande" if he would remain with the army and accept said staff appointment, but he de- clined, as the war was now considered over, and he was mustered out with his regiment at New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 10, 1865, and honorably discharged with it at Davenport, Iowa, August 24, 1865, and im- mediately resumed the active duties of civil life.


He bought a tract of unimproved land in the valley of the Nishnabotna, in the northwest part of Page county, erected a house thereon and on the 16th day of No- vember, 1865, was married, at the age of twenty-four, to Miss Harriett A. Rains, a daughter of Henry and Mary ( Hieronymus) Rains, of Mills county. Her parents were ratives of North Carolina and Kentucky, respectively. Mr. Chantry settled im-


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mediately after his marriage on the new home in course of improvement, improved his place and farmed in summer and taught school in winter for ten or twelve years, until duties of home and care and feeding of stock demanded all his time and attention. During his seventeen years residence in Page county he served two terms as member of the county board of supervisors, and in the fall of 1873 was elected by the Repub- lican party as a representative in the state legislature from Page county and served in the fifteenth general assembly of Iowa.


In the spring of 1882 in order to secure better educational advantages for his young family, he rented his farm in Page county, then consisting of four hundred and twenty acres, and removed to Malvern, in Mills county, where during the previous winter he had bought a farm, to which, with a fine herd of shorthorn cattle, he now gave his personal attention. In 1887 he was unanimously nominated by the Republican county con- vention and the same fall elected a repre- sentative in the legislature from Mills coun- ty, and again nominated and elected in 1889 and served in the house in the twenty- second and twenty-third general assemblies, and during the summer of I891 was unani- mously nominated as a Republican candi- date for state senator for the district com- posed of the counties of Mills and Mont- gomery, and was elected and served in the state senate in the twenty-fourth and twenty- fifth general assemblies of Iowa.


More recently he has been connected with the banking business for several years ; was a director and the last two years of his con- nection was the president of the Farmers' National Bank of Malvern, but in 1897 he sold his interest in the bank and has since


(up to the present time, March 4, 1901 ) de- voted his time and attention to his farming and stock interests and to the education of his children, now consisting of five sons and two daughters-three of the former are now married and settled, the others still re- maining at home.


At a reunion of the Twenty-ninth Regi- ment, Iowa Infantry, held after the close of the war it was decided to keep up the regimental organization. The colonel, Thomas H. Benton, Jr., having previously died Captain Chantry was elected by his late comrades in arms as its colonel. He is also a charter member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic, as well as a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows fraternities.


LEWIS G. LINVILLE.


Lewis G. Linville is one of the native sons of Mills county, his birth having oc- curred in Center township on the IIth of June, 1866, within half a mile of his pres- ent home. His grandfather, James Linville, was a native of Tennessee and a farmer by occupation. He married Miss Sarah Burris, a native of Tennessee, who died at the old homestead about five years ago. Her father was William Burris and her people were farmers. Mrs. Linville was a most lovable old lady, possessed of those characteristics which ever win the respect and admiration of the young.


His father, George H. Linville, was born near Sparta, Tennessee, in 1818, and was a farmer by occupation. In 1854 he re- moved to Mills county, Iowa, where he se- cured a tract of wild land which he trans- formed into what is now known as the Lin-


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ville homestead, and continued its cultiva- tion and improvement until his death, which occurred on the 5th of January, 1900. He was a highly respected citizen, widely known for his sterling worth of character. Before coming to lowa he had lived at different points in Missouri. Unto the parents of our subject were born the following chil- dren : Granville P., now a resident of Wi- nona county, lowa: Margaret Splawn, who is living in Silverdale, Kansas; Mrs. Esther A. Estes, whose home is near Glenwood ; Mrs. Mary J. Dye, deceased ; Mrs. Nancy C. Wright, who is also living near Glen- wood : Mrs. Sallie Bohart, a resident of Chi- cago: and Mrs. Martha A. Kelly, whose home is in Macedonia, Iowa. Creditable portraits of the father and grandfather adorn the home of our subject. These men were of fine old southern stock and the pictures show them to have been people of strong character and marked individuality.


Mr. Linville, whose name introduces this record. has spent his entire life in the county of his nativity and received excellent edu- cational privileges, attending the graded and high schools of Glenwood. He has given his energies to agricultural pursuits and is to-day operating a fine farm, whose well- tilled fields yield to him a good return. All modern accessories and improvements are there found and the place indicates the care- ful supervision of the owner, who is known as a very practical yet very progressive ag- riculturist.




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