USA > Iowa > Mills County > A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa > Part 47
USA > Iowa > Fremont County > A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa > Part 47
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79
Mr. Paddock and his wife are prominent members of the Baptist church, taking an active part in its work and doing all in their power for the advancement of the cause. He is now serving as a deacon, while
his wife filles the position of church treas- tirer. Of the Masonic fraternity of Malvern he is a charter member, and also belongs to Milton Summers Post, No. 224, G. A. R. The cause of education finds in him a warm friend. He aided in organizing the school district, was its secretary and has done ca- pable service as a member of the school board. No movement for the public good has sought his aid and co-operation in vain. He belongs to the class of representative American citizens who have the good of the county, state and nation at heart and whose patriotism is above question.
BARD I. CAVENDER.
We are now permitted to touch briefly upon the life history of one who has re- tained a personal association with the affairs of Fremont county for some years, and is now efficiently serving as county recorder. He is a native of the Hoosier state, his birth having occurred in Dubois county, In- diana, on the 15th of October, 1860. He was reared upon a farm and at the age ot fourteen years began earning his own live- lihood by working for neighboring farmers by the day or month. His early education was obtained in the country schools near his boyhood home.
On leaving the parental roof at the age of twenty years, Mr. Cavender went to Page county, Iowa, where he taught school one term, and later followed the same profession in Taylor county, this state, and also in Mis- souri and Nebraska. In March, 1884. he was married in Clarinda, Iowa, to Miss Florence Stotler, who was born in Tippe .. canoe county, Indiana, but- was reared and educated in Page county, Iowa. In 1867
369
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
she came with her parents to lowa, the family locating in Page county. Her father en- gaged in farming, and is now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Cavender have one child. Frank W., born in Imogene, this county.
Mr. Cavender first became connected with commercial life as a clerk in a drug store in Missouri, where he became thor- oughly familiar with the business, and later was similarly employed at Blanchard and Imogene, Iowa. At the latter place he con- ducted a drug store of his own for five years, and on disposing of the same he engaged in clerking at Randolph, this county, until elected county recorder in 1896. So accept- ably did he fill the office that he was re- elected two years later, but has refused to become a candidate for a third term, it be- ing his intention on retiring from office to remove to Hamburg, to become the editor of the Fremont Democrat. His duties have been faithfully and conscientiously performed, and he has proved a most popular official.
In 1899 Mr. Cavender was chairman of the Democratic county committee, and has taken a very active and prominent part in political affairs. He cast his first presiden- tial vote for James G. Blaine, in 1884. For four years he served as justice of the peace in Monroe township, this county, and was twice the mayor of Randolph, being elected on a non-partisan ticket, without opposi- tion, which fact plainly indicates his per- sonal popularity and the confidence and trust reposed in him by his fellow citizens. For a time he was a member of the school board in Sidrey, where he has made his home since serving as the county recorder. Socially he is a member of the orders of Knights of Pythias. Odd Fellows and Freemasons of Sidney : the chapter. R. A. M., at Riverton ;
and the council at Hamburg. Religiously he is a member of the Baptist church, while his wife is a Presbyterian in religious belief.
WILLIAM IL. MORGAN.
On the roster of the county officials of Mills county appears the name of William 11. Morgan, who is filling the office of sheriff and is proving most competent and faithful in the discharge of his duty. Such an officer is a safeguard to the law-abiding citizens and is an object of terror to those not amenable to the rules which govern the conduct of man in his relations with his fellow men.
Mr. Morgan is a native of lowa, his birth having occurred in Johnson county, near Iowa City, on the ist of July. 1868, his parents being James and Jane Morgan. The father was born in Pennsylvania and came to this state in 1846. Subsequently he removed to Oxford, Nebraska, where he died at the age of sixty-four years. He was a physician and became the owner of considerable land, also had other investments and business interests. His wife died in Emerson, when the subject of this review was five years of age, and he and his brother lived with an aunt until he was about sixteen years of age. His educational privileges were those afforded by the schools of Emer- son, Mills county, but in the broader school of experience he has learned many valuable lessons which have made him well qualified for the duties of citizenship and for the re- sponsibilities of business life.
At the age of seventeen Mr. Morgan started on an extensive tour of the west and was for some time in the mines on the Pacific coast. He was also employed on a farm in California. Later he returned to
370
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
Glenwood and secured a position as a farm hand with General Stone. While thus em- ployed he assisted in planting the greater part of the large orchard on that celebrated farm and continued his service there until 1896. In that year he was made deputy sheriff under Hon. W. L. Tubbs, and served in that capacity until elected sheriff of the county in 1899. He has always been a Re- publican since casting his first presidential vote for General Harrison, and it was on that ticket that he was chosen to the office. He has ever taken a deep interest in the political issues of the day and in the suc- cess of his party, doing all in his power to promote its growth and secure the adop- tion of its principles. He has long been rec- ognized as an active leader in local politics.
On the 25th of June, 1889, Mr. Mor- gan was united in marriage to Miss Maude L. White, a daughter of Hon. R. C. White. the present postmaster of Glenwood. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan now have one son, Guy, who was born March 4. 1890. on the Gen- eral Stone farm where our subject was work- ing. Mr. Morgan is a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge and is also a mem- ber of the State and International Associa- tions of Sheriffs. In the discharge of his duties he is entirely fearless and shows neither partiality nor favor. His reliability and promptness have won him the high commendation of the better class of citi- zens of Mills county and he is justly num- bered among her representative citizens.
O. S. WING.
Indians roamed over the prairies, game abounded in the forests and the wild land was in its primitive condition at the time
Mr. Wing came to Fremont county. Forty- five years have since passed, and the changes which have occurred have made a trans- formation seeming almost phenomenal, yet it has been accomplished through the self- sacrificing efforts of the pioneers who re- claimed the wild land for the purposes of civilization, and through the work of later arrivals who have continued to develop and improve the country,-noble and brave men and women who cheerfully bore the hard- ships and trials incident to pioneer life in order to secure good homes on the western prairies. Mr. Wing also bore his part in the public progress and gave his support to all movements calculated to prove of general good.
In his youth he was a Green Mountain boy, for his birth occurred near Montpelier, Vermont, on the 31st of October, 1833. In the same neighborhood lived the parents of Admiral George Dewey. The father of our subject was Sidney Wing, also a native of Vermont, and the grandfather was one of the early settlers of that state. Sidney Wing served as captain of the state militia, a rifle company, and was a man of promi- nence in the community, exerting a strong influence in public affairs. He married Miss Mary Brooks, also a native of Ver- mont and a daughter of Lemuel Brooks, of Connecticut, and belonged to one of the old families of that state. Unto Captain Wing and his wife were born ten children, three of whom are yet living. He was a farmer by occupation and in his political belief was an ardent Whig. The family attended and held membership in the Congregational church, and wherever they were known they were held in high esteem for their many ex- cellencies of character. The father died
O. S. WING
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
371
BIOGR. IPHIICHIL IHISTORY.
in Vermont, at the age of fifty-five years. and the mother spent her last days in Iowa. where she passed away at the advanced age of eighty-two years.
Upon the old family farmstead in Ver- mont. O. S. Wing was reared, and early be- came familiar with the labors of field and meadow. He was taught the value of indus- try and economy in the practical affairs of life and he was actuated by those precepts throughout his entire career. He pursued his education at Montpelier, where he was a schoolmate of Admiral Dewey. Subsequent- ly he served a four-years apprenticeship in the carpenter's and cabinet-maker's trades and became an excellent workman in those lines. The knowledge of those industries has been of much benefit to him in his later career, enabling him to keep everything about his place in excellent condition.
In 1855 Mr. Wing emigrated westward, making his way by rail to Chicago, Illinois, and thence to Burlington, Iowa, where he purchased a team and traveled across the country to Fremont county. In Nebraska City, Nebraska, he worked at his trade for about two years and in the winter season conducted his wagon shop. The Indians roamed at large over this section of
the country, having not then been re- moved to the western reservation. Deer was so plentiful that a quarter of venison could be purchased for twenty-five cents. Subsequently Mr. Wing engaged in freight- ing goods westward to government forts, to the mountains, to Denver and other west- ern points. He owned the outfit which he employed and usually sold his teams and wagons in the west at the conclusion of the trip, and on returning home would again purchase teams and wagons and load them
up for another journey. Freighting proved to him a profitable venture in those early days before the era of railroads, and after accumulating some capital, in the early '6os he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land. This was the nucleus of his pres- ent fine farm. As the years have passed he has added to his property until he now owns two thousand acres in Fremont county and in Atchison county, Missouri, and also has good farms in Phillips county, Kansas, and a farm of over two hundred and seventy- five acres in Harlan county. Nebraska. His land is all well improved and the home place is a most desirable property. It is improved with a large, and attractive residence, in the rear of which stand good barns and outbuildings ; well kept fences di- vide the place into fields of convenient size ; there are large pasture lands. upon which stock of good grade feeds, equaling the blue-grass region of Kentucky: an orchard yields its fruits in season and the fine brick residence is surrounded by forest trees ; so that altogether this is one of the finest coun- try seats in Fremont county. In addition to general farming Mr. Wing engages in the raising of stock and has found it a profitable source of income.
In 1865 occurred the marriage of O. S. Wing and Catherine O'Neal. a representa- tive of one of the honored pioneer families of Fremont county, and prior to their mar- riage one of the successful and popular teach- ers of this portion of the state. Her fa- ther. Elliott O'Neal, was born in Virginia and married Ann Morgan, a sister of T. O. Morgan, a leading agriculturist of Fremont county. They had but two children, Mrs. Wing and John Thomas, the latter now de- ceased. The parents both died in 1891 and
372
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
were buried in one grave, the father being seventy-eight years of age at the time of his demise, while the mother had reached the age of sixty-eight years, when she was called to her final rest. They were people of the highest respectability, loved and esteemed by all who knew them. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Wing has been blessed with three children : Nettie, wife of George Lusby, of Madison township, Fremont county ; Levi E. ; and John M., who is living in Harlan county, Nebraska.
In his political views Mr. Wing is a Democrat, but has never sought or desired office. He was a delegate to the farmers' congress at Fort Worth, Texas, and has been a prominent factor in promoting the agricultural interests of the community. His success is indicated by the fact that although he began life empty-handed he is to-day one of the heaviest tax payers of the entire county. He holds membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has a high regard of his brethren of the fraternity and the friendship of many of the best citizens of Fremont county. Im- proving his opportunities and making the most of his advantages, he has advanced steadily step by step to a prominent posi- tion in the financial world and at the same time has made an honorable record.
CHRISTOPHER KEYSER.
Christopher Keyser is living a retired life on his large farm on section thirty, in Benton township, Fremont county. He was born in Campbell county, West Virginia, February 10. 1832. His father is an oc- togenarian and is identified with agricultural pursuits in Sidney township, Fremont coun-
ty. Henry Keyser was reared to farm life in West Virginia until sixteen years of age, when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Missouri in 1848, making the journey by way of the water route. I11 the family were six sons, and one daughter was born to them in Missouri. The father purchased a farm in that state and Christo- pher continued to aid in its cultivation until he had attained his nineteenth year, when, in the fall of 1889. he left home and came . to Iowa, one hundred miles north of his Missouri home. He worked by the month, hunted, fished and trapped, having become familiar with those lines of work in Vir- ginia. He continued to reside in this locality with his uncles until his father sold his Mis- souri property and removed to Fremont county, following his two sons, Christopher and his younger brother, Samuel, who had previously come to Iowa, but the latter is now a resident of Kansas.
Mr. Keyser, of this review, was married on the Ioth of October, 1851. to Olivia L. Lambert, of Benton township, Fremont county, who was born in Kentucky, July 13, 1837, and was then fifteen years of age. Their union has been blessed with the fol- lowing children, of whom nine are now liv- ing: Elizabeth, wife of S. S. Orr. an ex- tensive farmer of this locality: S. J., a farmer and business man of Percival, who is married and has eight children and has lost two: Abigail, who died at the age of thirteen years ; Elvira, who became the wife of Paul Hineline and died leaving four chil- dren : Emma, who died at the age of eight- een years: C. C., a farmer of Benton town- ship, who is married; Eddie, who is living on his farm in Benton township and has five children; W. W., who resides on a part of
373
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
his father's farm and is married and has one daughter: Emma, who died at the age of eighteen years: Louisa, wife of Ambrose Parkerson, a merchant of Percival, by whont she has one son: Hannah J., wife of Will- iam Wood, of Benton township, and they have four children : Maggie, wife of Bert O'Connor, who operates a part of his fa- ther's farm and by whom she has one son; and Freddie, who is at home unmarried and assists in the operation of the home farm and also carries on business in Per- cival.
Mr. Keyser is the owner of one thousand acres of the rich bottom land of Fremont county, worth not less than forty dollars per acre. and he keeps stock enough to con- sume all of the products of the farm, car- rying on that line of business on an extensive scale. He raises fine red polled cattle, hav. ing a number of thoroughbreds. He also has good grades of horses, mules and jacks to the number of two hundred and has a valuable flock of Shropshire sheep. He has about five hundred acres planted to corn, yielding twenty thousand bushels, and this he feeds to his stock. He is a most enter- prising. progressive and practical farmer, and his business has brought to him very gratifying success. He was a man of great strength and endurance and has been active. ly concerned in the control of his farm un- til recent years. when rheumatism forced him to relegate the more arduous duties of farm life to others. In 1897 he erected his present large and commodious residence, which stands within twenty rods of the old home in which his marriage was celebrated. He is a Republican in politics and has been township trustee. His wife is a member of the Methodist church. They were the first
white people married in the county. Rev. John Todd performing the ceremony. From the period of early pioneer development they have been witnesses of the growth and progress of this portion of the state and have done all in their power to promote its advancement. As highly esteemed people and worthy early settlers they well deserve representation in this volume.
LOUIS D. McMULLIN.
AA well known and highly esteemed cit- izen of Indian Creek township. Mills coun- ty, Iowa. is Louis D. McMullin, the sub- ject of this review. He was born in 1830. in Ohio, but was reared in that part of Virginia now known as West Virginia, hav- ing been taken there a child of seven years. He was a son of James and Mary ( Vears) McMullin, the latter a daughter of Elisha Years, of German ancestry, but a native of Pennsylvania. Her birth was in Ohio and she died in Illinois. The paternal grand- father was a native of Ireland who immi- grated to this country and became a soldier in the Revolutionary war, dying in that service. James McMullin was born in Ohio, but his death took place in West Virginia. The members of the family of Mr. and Mrs. McMullin were .- William : Minerva J .. de- ceased: Mrs. Diantha Wagoner, living in California: James, who died in Ottumwa, Jowa : and our subject.
In 1852 our subject left West Virginia with his mother and located in Henderson county, Illinois, where he engaged in farm- ing and was a brick-mason and contractor from his twenty-second year until about six years ago, putting up many of the best brick buildings in this part of lowa. He
374
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
and his partner built the first business house in Red Oak. He was a good workman, hav- ing learned the trade in West Virginia, but farming seemed to be a more secure way of existence and this business he adopted as his life work when he came to Mills coun- ty in 1866. He had seen a year's service in the army, having enlisted in Company G. Thirtieth Illinois Infantry, under Colonel Shedd, early in 1864, and this regiment was ordered to Nathville, where it was destined to be connected with some of the severest fighting of the year. Mr. McMullin took part in the destruction of Atlanta and all of the fighting in that vicinity, enduring many privations and bravely doing his duty to his country. He was mustered out ill Springfield, in July, 1865, and the next year came to his present home in the great state of Iowa.
Mr. McMullin has been very successful in his farming and now owns one hundred and twenty acres of some of the most pro- ductive land in Mills county. His improve- ments rank well with those of his neighbors and his residence offers every comfort of life to his interesting family.
The marriage of our subject was to Miss Mary Catherine Davis, a daughter of James R. and Hannah (Mccullough) Davis, of Scotch and Dutch ancestry. The children of this marriage are: Frank E., James Will- iam, Harry C., deceased, Edwin S .. Mrs. Clara E. Pratt, Mrs. Mary J. Ruby, Mrs. Euphie H. Salmons, Mrs. Myrtle L. Silkett, Fannie A. and Mrs. Eldra Floy Young. The family life of Mr. and Mrs. McMullin is a most pleasant one and all are connected with the Cumberland Presbyterian church where they are much esteemed.
In politics Mr. McMullin is a Republi-
can, although he does not like any departure from the old principles of the party. In the township he has been called upon to serve as school director for many years. His connection with the Masonic order dates back fifty years, making him one of the old- est members in the county. The family is one of the most highly regarded in this sec- tion, and Mr. McMullin is justly considered a representative man in Indian Creek town- ship.
WILLIAM T. DAVIS.
While the disposition to do honor to those who have served well their race or nation is prevalent among all enlightened people and is of great value everywhere and under all forms of government, it is particu- larly fostered in this country, where no man is born to public office or to public honor, or comes to either by inheritance, but where all men are equal before the law, where the race for distinction is ever on the road of public usefulness and is open to every one who choses to enter, however humble and obscure he may be, and where the advan- tageous circumstances of family wealth count in the vast majority of cases for but little or nothing. That Mr. Davis has won honors and public recognition is due entire- ly to his merit. He is familiarly known throughout the county as "Our Bill," a term which indicates the warm place he holds in the affection of the people.
He was born in Mount Pleasant, Indiana, May 14, 1851, and is a son of Harrison Davis, who was a native of Ohio and was of English and Welsh lineage. The grand- father of our subject was born in the east, but, emigrating to Ohio, he there reared his
WILLIAM T. DAVIS
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ILFOV F
375
BIOGR.IPHICAL HISTORY.
family. Harrison Davis spent the days of his boyhood and youth in the state of his nativity, and after arriving at years of ma- turity he wedded Lovina Dawson, who be- longed to a good family of that locality. Emigrating westward, they took up their abode in AAtchison county, Missouri, on the state line separating Fremont county from Missouri. In that locality the father passed away. The mother, who was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, has also passed away. At the death of her first hus- band she was left with the care of six chil- dren. In 1860 she again married and re- moved to Saunders county, Nebraska, where she died in 1863.
William T. Davis was a lad of only twelve summers when thus left an orphan, without means of support. He immediately began to earn his own living by herding cattle on the prairies and driving teams across the plains. His youth was a period of hardships and trials, but it developed the elemental strength of his character; and the self-reliance and independence which he then manifested has been of great importance in his business career in later life. In 1866 he came to Hamburg, Fremont county, and has since been an active factor in business affairs and in the material development of this sec- tion of the state. When he was but four- teen years of age he suffered an attack of sciatic rheumatism, which left him a cripple for life. When he was again able to work, his stock in trade consisted of a saw and buck; but he possessed a hopeful heart, a cheerful disposition and willing hands, and those served as a foundation upon which to rear the superstructure of a successful career. He engaged in sawing wood, and received in exchange for his labors books,
clothes and other necessaries. He engaged in doing chores for his board and attended school. He thus managed to obtain a liberal common-school education, to which he has added as the years have passed, augmenting his knowledge by practical experience. Hle possesses an observing eye, a retentive mem- ory and reading and observation have there- fore largely increased his learning. He is indeed a self-made man in the highest and best sense of the term. He has won his lau- rels alone and unaided, under adverse cir- cumstances which would utterly have dis- heartened many a man of less resolute spir- it. With characteristic energy, however, he has worked his way steadily upward, and is a well-known factor in business circles and in public and political life. Making judi- cious investments of his capital in real es- tate, he has become the owner of valuable farming land and other realty. He has a fine farm of two hundred and eighty acres, which is well improved with a good house, barns, sheds, cribs and all the latest improved machinery. There are good feed lots. rich pastures and highly cultivated fields, in which wheat, corn and other cereals are raised. Stock of good grades is found in the pastures and everything about the place indicates the supervision and direction of a progressive and wide awake owner. He directs the work of the farm from his town residence, a telephone line connecting his Hamburg home with the farm house. He makes a specialty of Aberdeen Angus cat- tle or black polled, as they are often called.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.