USA > Iowa > Keokuk County > A genealogical and biographical history of Keokuk County, Iowa > Part 20
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In 1900 Mr. Reed left the old homestead and removed to Webster, retiring from active farming life. He purchased a lot in the town and built a home there and is now comfortably situated. In his younger days he was identified with the Republican party, but for the last several
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years has advocated "greenback" principles. Socially he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of South English. He is a member of the Methodist church of Webster, which he aided in build- ing, and takes an active interest in church work and is serving as one of its trustees. At the time of the Civil war he manifested his loyalty to his country by enlisting in 1861 in the Eighth Iowa Infantry, in which he served for one year, being mustered out in 1862. He then resumed farm work which he continued with success until his retirement to private life. He is now one of the oldest residents of this portion of Keokuk county and has witnessed its improvement as the years have passed, bearing his part in all the work of development.
ROBERT H. GEMMILL.
Robert H. Gemmill is one of the highly respected citizens of South English, whose useful and well spent life has not only gained for him the confidence of his fellow inen, but has also secured for him a comfort- able competence which enables him to lay aside all business cares and spend his declining days in ease and retirement. His father, John Gemmill, was a native of Paisly, Scotland, and on his emigration to America in 1846 settled in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, where he followed his trade of a weaver for about two years. He then removed to Potters Mills, the same state, and remained there until 1854. His next place of residence was Milroy, Pennsylvania, where he made his home ur til his death, which occurred in 1887. In 1838 he was united in marriage to Miss Jane Dempster, also a native of Scotland, and they became the parents of ten children, seven sons and three daughters, who in order of
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birth were as follows: William; John, James W. and Maggie J., all three deceased : Annie; Robert H., our subject ; Mathew, deceased ; John D .; Alexander, deceased; and Kate.
Mr. Gemmill was born, reared and educated in Centre county, Penn- sylvania, the date of his birth being April 9, 1850. He remained with his parents until he reached the age of nineteen years, and on leaving home came to Keokuk county, Iowa, locating in Lafayette township, where he worked at farming in the employ of others. In June, 1873, he mar- ried Miss Elizabeth Archer a native of Scotland, and to them were born two children, but both are now deceased.
After his marriage Mr. Gemmill removed to German township, where he continued to work for others until 1884, when he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, which was all raw land when it came into his possession and which he improved. However, he con- tinued with his former employer, David Archer, until 1892, when he took up his residence upon his own place and devoted his energies to its improvement and cultivation until his removal to South English in 1901. He has since lived in practical retirement, enjoying the fruits of his former toil, surrounded by all the comforts which make life worth the living.
Fraternally Mr. Gemmill is an honored member of Naphthali Lodge, No. 188, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of South English, and the Odd Fellow's Lodge, No. 263, of the same place. Politically he has always been identified with the Republican party since attaining his majority, and in religious belief is a Presbyterian, being an active and prominent member of his church. He is a man of upright char- acter and is highly respected and esteemed by all who know him.
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A. S. HURST.
For many years the subject of this sketch was one of the active and progressive agriculturists of Keokuk county, as well as one of its most reliable and honored citizens, and now in his declining years he is enjoy- ing a well earned rest at his pleasant home in Webster, free from the cares and responsibilities of business life. Mr. Hurst was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, on the 11th of October, 1843, and is a son of Hen- ry F. Hurst, who was a native of Lancaster county, that state, where his early childhood was passed. The father was quite young on the death of his parents and he subsequently made his home with his uncle, Philip Hurst, until he attained his majority. He then went to the city of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he worked at the carpenter's trade for nine years, and from there removed to Clarksville, Greene county, that state, where he continued to follow the same pursuit until his marriage. His next home was in Jefferson, Greene county, where he worked at his trade for about three years, and then removed to a farm in the same county, though he continued to follow the occupation of carpentering. After spending two years there he located on another small farm, which he purchased and improved, devoting his energies to its cultivation for about seventeen years in connection with work at his trade. In 1866 he came to Iowa and bought an improved farm of one hundred acres in Keokuk county, to which he removed his family the following year. This farm was in English River township, and he made it his home until called to his final rest on the 2nd of February, 1870, when fifty-seven years of age. In 1842 he had married Miss Melvina Stewart, a native of Greene county, Pennsylvania and a daughter of Alexander Stewart. She was of German descent. By this union were born two children, a son and daughter, both of whom are still living, our subject being the eldest.
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A. S. Hurst passed the days of his boyhood and youth in the county of his nativity and is indebted to its public schools for the educational privileges he enjoyed. He remained under the parental roof until he reached the age of eighteen years and then learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed in Pennsylvania until 1864. On leaving home he went to Knox county, Ohio, where he continued to follow his chosen occupation for about a year, and then, after a brief visit at home, he came to Keokuk county, lowa, arriving here on the 18th of February, 1865. He located in English River township, where he worked at his trade for one year and then took charge of his father's farm, continu- ing its operation after the death of his father until the spring of 1898, when he removed to his present home in Webster, where he is now living a retired life.
In the fall of 1867 Mr. Hurst was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Miller, a native of Ohio and a daughter of Samuel Miller, who was born in Pennsylvania and was a farmer by occupation. She was born June 28, 1846, in Hancock county, Ohio, where her early life was passed and where her education was obtained. In 1855 she accompanied her parents on their removal to Keokuk county, Iowa, and became a resident of English River township, remaining at home until her marriage. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hurst were born four children, two sons and two dangh- ers, but the first born died in infancy. Henry P. Hurst, the next of the family, is now operating the old homestead farm, a part of which he
Elizabeth is the wife of S. E. Heaton, a hardware dealer of Web- Owns.
ster. Samuel M. is clerking in his brother-in-law's store. As a public spirited and energetic citizen Mr. Hurst has ever borne an important part in public affairs and was a member of the vigilance committee of Keokuk county until it was disbanded. His political support has always
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been given the Democratic party and he has taken an active part in pro- moting its interests. He is an old and highly respected citizen of his adopted county and is justly deserving of prominent mention in its his- tory.
WILLIAM B. WORLEY.
"The talent of success is nothing more than what you can do well and doing well whatever you do, without any thought of fame," says Longfellow. A practical illustration of this sentiment is given in the life record of Mr. Worley, who is one of the honored pioneers of Iowa. a veteran of the war of the Rebellion and one of the substantial and highly respected citizens of the town of Ollie, Keokuk county, where he has long been engaged in the furniture and undertaking business. Springing from sturdy German ancestry, it has been his fortune to in- herit the best elements of that industrious and intelligent people, and his career has been such as might naturally be expected from such a com- bination of attributes. He has achieved a definite and worthy success through his own efforts, has ever been as true to the duties of citizen- ship as he was loyal to the old flag whose fortunes he so valiantly fol- lowed on the battlefields of the south, and he is peculiarly deserving of representation in a work of the province of this publication.
William B. Worley is a native of the old Keystone state of the Union, having been born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, on the Ist of October, 1827. His father, David Worley, was born in Wittenberg, Germany, where he was reared, and when a young man he severed the ties which bound him to home and native land and emigrated to America, locating in Pennsylvania, where eventually was solemnized
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his marriage to Miss Elizabeth Althouse, who was born in that state, of which her parents were pioneer settlers, both being of stanch old German lineage. David and Elizabeth Worley became the parents of eight children, of whom all are now deceased except our subject and his brother George, who is a resident of Ohio. The names of the children are here entered in the order of birth : John, Julia Ann, William B., Su- san, George, Katherine, David and Aaron.
When the subject of this review was a mere child his parents re- moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio, becoming numbered among the pio- neers of Richland county, where they passed the remainder of their lives. the father having there reclaimed and improved a good farm. Wil- liam B. was reared amid the surroundings of the pioneer farm and he early began to contribute his quota toward the work involved in its im- provement and cultivation, while his educational privileges were such as fell to the lot of the average youth of the locality and period. He remained on the homestead until the death of his father, after which he went to the village of Newville, where he learned the trade of cabinet- making, while at the expiration of one year he turned his attention to work at the carpenter trade, in which line he became a skilled artisan. In 1852, when twenty-five years of age, Mr. Worley left his native state and came to Iowa, passing the first winter in Cedar county and thence going to Washington county, where he was engaged in the work of his trade until 1860, when he went to Missouri, where he remained until after the harvest season of that year, then returning to Iowa. This was in the crucial epoch which led up to the Civil war, and when the rebel guns thundered against the ramparts of old Fort Sumter Mr. Worley's intrinsic patriotism and loyalty were roused to action, and in 1861 he tendered his services in defense of the Union, enlisting as a private in
1
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Company I, Fortieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for three years, the regiment being commanded by Colonel Garnett. He participated in the battle of Seven Pines and in numerous other minor en- gagements, but the regiment was assigned to garrison duty during the greater portion of the time, and our subject was in the quartermaster's department at the time of the expiration of his term, receiving his lionor- able discharge in 1864, at Iowa City. He then came to Keokuk county, where he had taken up a tract of land shortly before enlisting for the war, and here he established himself upon his farm, which comprised eighty acres, engaged in agricultural pursuits, making excellent improve- ments on his place, while he worked more or less at his trade, having erected three residences in Jackson township for his own use prior to taking up his home in Ollie, where he has resided since 1888. Here he engaged in the furniture and undertaking business, and he now has a large and well equipped establishment for a town of the size, while his appointments for the proper conducting of his enterprise as a funeral director are of the best order. Mr. Worley has ever shown a spirit of absolute fairness and impregnable integrity in all his dealings, and thus he has gained the confidence of the community and secured an excellent supporting patronage, while he is honored as one of the pioneers of the county and as one who has ably played his part in furthering the advance- ment and civic prosperity of this favored section of the Hawkeye state.
In politics he has given an unequivocal allegiance to the Republican party from the time of its organization, and while he has not been afflicted with political ambition of a personal sort he has ever taken a deep interest in the party cause, while he has served in various offices of local order. He and his wife are consistent members of the Baptist church in their home town and aid in its direct work and collateral
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benevolences, while their pleasant home has ever been notable for the cordial hospitality which is there ever in evidence. In the state of Ohio, in 1851, Mr. Worley was united in marriage to Miss Jane Crowner, who was born there, a daughter of John Crowner, one of the pioneers of the Buckeye state. To our subject and his estimable wife have been born nine children, their names, in order of birth, being as follows: John, Sabina, Lane, Gertrude, AAda, George, William. Ollie and Frank. All are living except John and Gertrude and all are well established in life.
JOSEPH BROWN.
To endure the toils of early pioneer life, not to give up aniid the many discouragements that beset one who ventures beyond the beaten paths, and at last to feel that the vast structure of civilization around him has been partially reared by himself, is a reward that comes to the early settlers of our country and causes a iceling of contentment with life's efforts. In the history of Keokuk county Joseph Brown and his father deserve a prominent place.
Thomas Brown, the father of our subject, was born and reared in Pennsylvania, was one of the brave men who struggled for the second and complete vindication of America in the war of 1812, and shortly afterward came west and settled in Knox county, Ohio. There in the forests, from which the Indians and wild beasts had not yet been driven, he cleared a farm and built his home. Here was his residence until 1848, and then in a wagon he journeyed to Iowa with his family ; he took up the present farm of one hundred and sixty acres and brought it into a state of cultivation ; this he later increased by three hundred acres.
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He lived faithful to all the duties of citizenship, allied with the Demo- cratic party, and passed away in 1854. While in Ohio he married Nancy Markley; she came from Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, to Knox county, Ohio; her parents were among the earliest settlers of the latter county. To this worthy couple were born sixteen children, of whom only three are now (1902) living.
Joseph Brown was the fifteenth in order of birth of these children and was born December 22, 1833, in Knox county, Ohio. It was in his sixteenth year that he came with his father to Iowa, and there he completed his education in the district schools. His father died when he was twenty-one years old, and then he rented the old home place and one hundred acres besides; the latter he had to clear before it was suitable for cultivation. He now owns two hundred and twenty acres of fine land. In August of 1861 Joseph Brown enlisted in the For- tieth Jowa Volunteer Infantry and through three years he served in many of the important engagements of the war, being on the skirmish line at the siege of Vicksburg. Being mustered out in 1864, he returned to his farm labors.
In 1876, in Pennsylvania, Mr. Brown married Sarah Hice, who was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in 1838; she came to Iowa when thirty-five years of age. Her parents were William and Hannah Hice, both old settlers of Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Brown had two children, one of whom is dead. Henry Hice was born in 1879 and is now farming the old homestead. Mr. Brown is identified with the Republican party, and is prominent in the affairs of the Baptist church, which he helped to build. All matters of importance to the community have found in him a zealous supporter, and his influence has ever been on the side of right.
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DeWITT C. BAKER.
A retired farmer and representative citizen of the village of Ollie, Mr. Baker has been intimately identified with the industrial activities and material progress of this favored section of the Hawkeye state, and he is most appropriately given a place in this compilation, which has to do with those who have been the founders and builders of Keokuk county.
Like many another of the sterling citizens of this state, Mr. Baker is a native of Tennessee, having been born in Jefferson county, on the 22d of July, 1833. His father, John Baker, was a native of the Old Domininion, having been born in the state of Virginia, the family having been there established in the colonial epoch of our national history. He removed from his native state to Tennessee and became one of the honored citizens of that state, having been a powder manufacturer by vocation and having been a colonel in the state militia. He was loyal to the section in which he had been reared, and when the Civil war was inaugurated he enlisted for services in the Confederate army and did valiant duty in behalf of the cause, while previously he had attained no little distinction as an Indian fighter. He was promi- nent in the ranks of the Democratic party in Tennessee, and there he died in the year 1872, at the age of seventy-six years, having been born in 1796. He was a man of ability and sterling integrity, ever command- ing the esteem of those with whom he came in contact. In Tennessee he was united in marriage to Miss Martha Frazier, who was born in Pennsylvania, whence, in her childhood, she accompanied her parents on their removal to Tennessee, where she passed the remainder of her life, her death occurring on January 9, 1866, at the age of seventy-five; 35
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she was born in 1791. John and Martha Baker became the parents of five children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the youngest, the . others being Mary (deceased). Elsie, and Charles and John, both of whom are deceased. The father of our subject became a prominent drover in Tennessee, purchasing large numbers of horses and mules annually and driving them through to Florida, and his efforts in this line of enterprise were attended with marked success.
DeWitt Clinton Baker, to whom this review is dedicated, was reared and educated in his native state, where he completed his education at the age of twenty years. He forthwith gave inception to his independent career, since he then came to Iowa in 1853. and became one of the pioneer settlers of Keokuk county. He located on a tract of government land in Richland township, where he developed a fine farm and where he continued to maintain his home until the year 1876, having been successful in his enterprise, which included diversified farming and stockraising. In the Centennial year he removed to Jackson township, where he became the owner of a landed estate of about four hundred acres, the major portion of which he reclaimed and placed under effective cultivation, while his business ability and progressive spirit was shown in the work which he accomplished in connection with the development of the agricultural resources of this section, since for a period of about eight years he devoted his attention largely to the buying of raw land, clearing and improving the same and then disposing of the property, whose value had been, of course, greatly enhanced Thus he contributed in no small measure to the substantial progress of this section, and his course was ever such in connection with his various transactions as to retain to him unqualified confidence and respect on the part of all with whom he had dealings.
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On the 28th of December, 1854, Mr. Baker was united in marriage to Miss Virtue A. Edwards, who was born in Brighton, Washington county, Iowa, the daughter of Joseph and Margaret Edwards, who were pioneers of that county, as were they later of Keokuk county. Of the ten children born to our subject and his estimable wife, three are deceased .- Margaretta, Melissa and Lela. Those surviving are as fol- lows: Martha, Joseph E., Ella, John C., Nora A., Charles D. and Will- iam FF., all of whom were born and reared in this county. Mrs. Baker died November 7, 1890, at Ollie, Iowa. In March, 1892, Mr. Baker married Martha A. (Brown) Fye, widow of W. G. Fye, who was born in Keokuk county, May 19, 1855. She was the daughter of James and Rebecca Brown, who came from Ohio and settled in Iowa in the early clays ; they spent their declining days and died in Iowa. Mrs. Baker has two daughters by first marriage, Lillian and Bessie Fye.
At the time of the Civil war Mr. Baker enlisted in the Third Mis- souri Volunteer Infantry, a mounted regiment, with which he served six months. In 1862 he enlisted a second time, for three years, be- coming a private in Company I, of the Fortieth Iowa Volunteer In- fantry, with which he was in active service until January, 1865, when he received his honorable discharge, having done valiant service in sup- port of the Union during the great fratricidal conflict in which a man's foes were veritably of his own household, as was exemplified in the case of our subject, for his father was a soldier in the Confederate service, as has already been noted. During his long term of service the subject of this review was in many notable conflicts, having participated in the siege of Vicksburg and been present at the time of the taking of the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, while his regiment also took part in Banks' celebrated Red river expedition and participated in the battle
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of Jenkins' Ferry and several minor engagements. Mr. Baker was mus- tered out of the service at Little Rock, Arkansas, in January, 1865, and after receiving his honorable discharge returned to his home in Keokuk county and turned his attention to farming in Richland town- ship, of which fact mention has already been made. In 1889 he took up his residence in the thriving town of Ollie, where he is the owner of considerable property, while he still retains in his posession a good farm of eighty-eight acres.
Mr. Baker has ever maintained a lively interest in public affairs of a local nature and has done all in his power to forward the advancement and material properity of his home county. His political support was given to the Democratic party until 1896, and when he became a Repub- lican, and he has been called upon to serve in various offices of trust and responsibility, among which it may be noted that he has been incumbent of the position of justice of the peace in Jackson township for fifteen years, while for three years he was a member of the county board of supervisors. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order and the Knights of Pythias, while he and his wife are devoted members of the Baptist church in their home town, taking an active part in its work. The family has long been prominent in the social life of the community, and its members all enjoy the unqualified esteem of those who know them, while a refined hospitality is ever in evidence in the attractive home of our subject and his wife.
JOHN P. JONES.
Among the prominent agriculturists of Keokuk county, there are few better known or more widely respected than Mr. Jones, the veteri-
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nary surgeon and horse dentist of Steady Run. Coming to this region in 1845, when a mere infant, he has grown up with the country, and having spent the greater part of his life on the farm, there are few, if any, who excel him in practical knowledge of agriculture. He was born in Jefferson county, Iowa, February 27, 1844, and is the son of Alexander and Comfort T. (Ford) Jones.
Alexander Jones, also a veterinary surgeon and a prosperous agri- culturist, was one of those strong, vigorous men who assisted in the opening up of this county to settlers. Born in North Carolina, August 8, 1806, he was, by his father, of Welch extraction and by his mother of English When a lad nine years old he moved with his parents to a farm in east Tennessee, where he spent his youth and early manhood. In the schools of his neighborhood he received a fair education, and on the home farm practical training for his life work. At the early age of eighteen he rented a farm in his vicinity and started life for himself. At this same time he married Comfort T. Ford, who was born in Ten- nessee, July 31, 1800, and there grew to womanhood. Of this union there were seven children, the first three of whom were born in Ten- nessee,-Henry, October 16, 1825; Mary, October 8, 1828; and Sarah, May 16, 1831. William was born in Indiana, November 27, 1833; Cynthy Ann, February 24, 1836; Jolin P. is mentioned below ; and Alex- ander was born on the Steady Run homestead, September 29, 1846. Mrs. Jones was a sympathetic wife and mother and a great help to her huis- band. She died June 14, 1878.
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