USA > Iowa > Cedar County > A topical history of Cedar County, Iowa, Volume II > Part 10
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ยท The young couple began their domestic life on their present farm, which Mr. Woods rented from his father-in-law for about three years, and then purchased the property, consisting of the northeast quarter of section 7, Red Oak township. The farm, which is known as the Maple Knoll Stock Farm, is well equipped with substantial buildings, all the improvements having been made by Mr. Woods. In February, 1909, he extended his interests by the purchase of another property consisting of three hundred and sixty acres in Linn township, one-half mile west of the home farm. This place, also well improved and known as Brook Side Stock Farm, is an ideal place for stock-raising purposes and especially for feed- ing cattle, containing five large barns and other substantial buildings for the ac- commodation and shelter of live stock. Attention is given to the raising of cereals, about two hundred acres of corn being planted, all of which is fed to the stock, and Mr. Woods also buys considerable. His time is chiefly given to the buying, raising, feeding and shipping of live stock, and in the year 1909 alone he marketed twenty-one carloads of stock, consisting of cattle, sheep and hogs. The extent of his transactions and the good grade of stock handled have gained him prominence throughout the district as one of the foremost stock-dealers in Cedar county, his wise management of his interests gaining him a high place among the substantial and representative business men of the county.
With the passing of the years the home of Mr. and Mrs. Woods has been blessed by the birth of five children, Glenn, Clair, Weldon, Ruth and Frank, and the family circle remains unbroken by the hand of death. Mr. Woods is a mem- ber of the United Brethren church of New Olivet, and the teachings of that in- stitution have ever proved the guiding influences in his life. Essentially a home man, his interests and ambitions are centered in the family circle, wherein he finds his greatest happiness and contentment. In politics he is a republican but has never cared for official honors. His business record has ever been character-
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ized by strict integrity and honorable methods, and the course which he has ever pursued in attaining his present success has been such as has won and held the respect and esteem of all with whom he has had business dealings, while his personal characteristics constitute him a valued citizen in the community where he resides.
JOHNSON SPEAR.
Johnson Spear, an honored veteran of the Civil war, who is now living retired in Tipton, Iowa, after a useful and well spent life mainly devoted to agricul- tural pursuits, is a native of Ireland, born in County Tyrone, June 1, 1845. He spent the first six years of his life in the land of his birth and then accompanied his parents, Robert and Elizabeth (Johnson) Spear, on their emigration to America. The family first located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they remained for two years and then came to Iowa, taking up their abode in Tipton. Here our subject attended the old union school until twelve years of age and then began his business career as a farm hand, working by the month for three years.
When his adopted country became involved in the Civil war Mr. Spear re- solved to enter the service, although at that time but seventeen years of age. He enlisted, however, at Tipton in August, 1862, becoming a member of Company B, Twenty-fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, under Captain Rathburn. During the three years of his service he participated in all of the engagements in which his company took part, including the Vicksburg campaign. After the surrender of that stronghold he went to Jackson, Mississippi, with Sherman but later re- turned to Vicksburg and participated in the Red River Expedition under Banks. After a time he was also connected with the Army of the Potomac, being under Sheridan in his campaigns through the Shenandoah valley. On the expiration of his term of enlistment he was mustered out at Savannah, Georgia, and dis- charged at Davenport, Iowa, at which time he bore the rank of corporal.
On his return home Mr. Spear resumed farming and continued to work for others until he attained his majority, when he began farming on his own account. After his marriage at twenty-four years of age, he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Fairfield township, to the improvement and cultivation of which he devoted his energies until he retired from active life in February, 1908. As time passed he prospered in his undertakings and was able to add to his property until he became the owner of three hundred and sixty acres, which he has since disposed of to his children. He is now the owner of a beautiful home on Eighth street, Tipton, and is enjoying a well earned rest.
In 1869 Mr. Spear was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Elliott, also a native of Ireland, who on coming to this country first located in Pennsylvania and later removed to Scott county, Iowa, with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Elliott. By that union our subject had four children : Anna, the wife of Clark Flamsburg, who is operating the old home farm in Fairfield township; Thomas,
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who married Martha Davis and is also residing in Fairfield township; Jennie, the wife of Robert McClellan of South Dakota; and Bessie, who died at the age of eighteen months. For his second wife Mr. Spear married Miss Lucy Carey, a native of Cedar county and a daughter of Moses Carey.
Prior to his removal to Tipton, Mr. Spear was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church but is now connected with the Reformed church of this city. He has always been very active in church work and has served as a teacher of the Bible class and as assistant superintendent of the Sunday school. He is a charter member of William Beaver Post, G. A. R., of Tipton, and is one of the honored and highly esteemed citizens of Cedar county, with whose interests he has now been identified for almost sixty years.
JOHN GERBER.
John Gerber claims the picturesque land of the Alps as the place of his na- tivity, his birth having occurred in the canton of Berne, Switzerland, his natal day being March 15, 1857. He is a son of Ulrich and Barbara (Streit) Gerber. The father was a manufacturer of cheese, spending his entire life in his native land, where he died in 1870. In 1876 the mother emigrated to America and spent her remaining years with her son John, passing away at his home on the 26th of December, 1909, when she had reached an advanced age. She was the mother of seven children, as follows: Elizabeth, still a resident of Switzerland ; Dan, who makes his home in Wisconsin; Ferene, also of Switzerland; Ulrich, who went to Norway, since which nothing has been heard of him; Fred, a resi- dent of Virginia; John, of this review; and Christian, who died in Dakota in 1894.
John Gerber, the sixth in order of birth in the family, was reared in his mountain home to the age of sixteen years and at that period in his life, in 1873, accompanied his brother Fred on his emigration to the new world. The trip across the Atlantic was full of interest for John Gerber and he also looked for- ward to the superior advantages that he could enjoy in the new world and thus make a place in life for himself. He and his brother first located near Mil- waukee, Wisconsin, where for three years John Gerber worked at farm labor. On the expiration of that period he made his way to Cedar county, believing that through the exceptional advantages here offered to the agriculturist, he might more quickly acquire a competency. Thus in 1876 he located here and for four years continued his work at farm labor, while in 1880 he removed to Guthrie county, this state, there purchasing a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he cultivated and on which he made his home during the succeeding twenty years. He then sold his land and returned to Cedar county, having since that time resided on his father-in-law's farm of seventy-eight acres, situated on section 13, Center township. He assists in the operation of this tract of land and also helps his father-in-law in the conduct of a feed mill, Mr. Gerber running the engine in the mill. He likewise rents a separate tract of land, which is
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devoted to general farming, and through his industry and perseverance he is meeting with substantial success.
It was in 1884 that Mr. Gerber established a home of his own by his mar- riage to Miss Elma Elizabeth Beltz, who is a native of Center township, born December 31, 1862, and a daughter of Elias and Fidelia (Goodale) Beltz, both natives of Ohio. The father came to Cedar county in 1859, while his wife had come in 1852 with her parents, and it was in this county that their marriage took place. The mother departed this life June 15, 1865. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Gerber has been blessed with seven children, namely: Gilman, who mar- ried Coe Iola Collar and makes her home with her father; Lilly Barbara, who died when thirteen months old; John E .; Gertie Elma, who died when only three years of age; Harry Albert; Roscoe William; and Estella Euretta. The chil- dren still reside with their parents.
Spending his boyhood and youth amid the beautiful scenery of the Alps, Mr. Gerber has in later life enjoyed the freedom and opportunity for advancement in this country and as time has passed he has worked his way upward until today he stands not only among the successful men of Cedar county but is as well a man highly respected and esteemed in the community in which he has spent much of his life since taking up his abode in America.
ROBERT GAIGE.
Robert Gaige, a citizen of Tipton, whose many substantial qualities have won him high regard and whose influence is always found on the side of reform, im- provement and progress, was for many years closely associated with agricultural interests in this part of the state but is now living retired. He was born in Owego, Tioga county, New York, on the 27th of June, 1841, and spent his youthful days there in the home of his parents, Henry and Nancy (Hayes) Gaige, who always remained residents of the Empire state. The father was a shoemaker in early life but later turned his attention to farming and for many years engaged in the tilling of the soil. He held membership in the Masonic fraternity, and both he and his wife were devoted members of the Baptist church, guiding their lives by its teachings.
Robert Gaige was seventh in order of birth in a family of nine children, four sons and five daughters, but is the only one who ever came to Iowa. He resided at the place of his nativity until he removed to Cedar county in March, 1867, arriving in Tipton when a young man of about twenty-six years. He has since made his home here and is widely known in the county. His education was acquired in the district schools and he was reared to the work of the home farm, early becoming familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agri- culturist. After coming to this county he secured land about a mile and half east of Tipton and bent his energies to the development and improvement of the farm, upon which he resided until he retired from active business life and erected his present fine home at the corner of Seventh and Mulberry streets in Tipton. He then disposed of the farm but is still the owner of lands in Dakota
MR. AND MRS. ROBERT GAIGE AND GRANDSON
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and Kansas. While living in the country he was recognized as one of the most enterprising and progressive agriculturists of the community, following practical and advanced methods which brought him substantial success as the years went by.
On the 23d of December, 1872, Mr. Gaige was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Katharine Walters, who was born near Rochester, Iowa, on the 13th of December, 1848, and has spent all of her life in this county with the exception of a brief period of four years in her childhood days, when she lived in California with her parents, Henry and Mary (Thompson) Walters. In their family were fourteen children, of whom nine are now living.
Mr. and Mrs. Gaige have no children of their own but their kindness and generosity have prompted them to adopt two boys and two girls whom they have reared as their own. Of these Ally went to California and has not been heard from since the earthquake, so it is believed that he died in that terrible disaster. Mary, who is a graduate of the high school and was formerly a teacher, is the wife of Frank McClelland of Stanwood, Iowa, and has two children. Claud, a traveling man, residing in Duluth, Minnesota, is married and has two children. Lenore Maley is still at home and will graduate from the Tipton high school with the class of 1911. The four children born of the above marriages are regarded by Mr. Gaige as his grandchildren and he could not bestow upon them a greater love if they were of his own blood. Mrs. Sarah Burns, eighty-five years of age, also makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Gaige, who give to her the care and devotion which should ever be accorded the aged. Thus the Christianity of these worthy people finds exemplification in their daily lives. Both are active mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church and are strong and earnest temperance workers. Mr. Gaige exercises his right of franchise in support of the prohibi- tion party.
PAUL H. DOWNING.
Paul H. Downing, one of the popular citizens and successful business men of Tipton, capably controlling and managing large interests, was born in Greene county, Indiana, October 8, 1851, but has spent almost his entire life in Iowa, having been brought to Cedar county in 1854 by his parents, Albert and Sarah (Moore) Downing, both of whom were natives of Virginia. The father was born September 15, 1815, and was only two years of age when his parents re- moved with their family to Jackson county, Indiana, where he resided until after he had attained his majority. He was married in Greene county, Indiana, on the 25th day of January, 1847, to Miss Sarah Moore, who was born in Virginia, April 13, 1821. They came to Iowa in 1854 and Mr. Downing secured a tract of land from the government, upon which not a furrow had been turned nor an improvement made. At once he began to till and improve this farm and ex- tended its boundaries until it comprised five hundred and twenty acres. His original holdings were only two hundred and forty acres. Year by year he car- ried on the work of improvement and progress and became one of the prosperous
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agriculturists of the community. He died July 14, 1877, and his wife, surviving him for about sixteen years, passed away on the 12th of February, 1893.
They were the parents of six children: Alexander G., now living in Des Moines; John, a resident of Springdale township; Albert, whose home is in Corning, Iowa; George, also of Springdale township; Paul H., of this review; and Andrew, who is living in Corning. The eldest son, Alexander, enlisted on the 15th of August, 1861, in defense of the Union cause, becoming a member of Company E, Eleventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry, when only eighteen years of age. He afterward veteranized and was mustered out July 22, 1865, fol- lowing the close of hostilities. He is now actively connected with Drake Uni- versity at Des Moines.
The family home following the removal of the parents to Iowa was estab- lished about two miles north of Bennett in Springfield township, from which point they looked abroad over a wild and unimproved prairie. Comparatively few settlements had been made in this district and the hardships and privations of pioneer life confronted them. Paul H. Downing bore his part in the work of early development and improvement as the years passed on and when he started out in life on his own account chose the occupation to which he had been reared. For a long period he carried on general agricultural pursuits with good success, giving his attention to the work of tilling the soil until he removed to Tipton in 1893.
Mr. Downing has since been active along other lines, having been elected county auditor in 1896, while re-election continued him in the office for three consecutive terms or for six years. He has been a lifelong republican, unswerv- ing in his allegiance to the party, and is now serving for his third term as a mem- ber of the city council. After leaving the auditor's office he turned his attention to the real-estate business, in which he has since been engaged, and aside from representing others in the purchase and sale of property he is the owner of two hundred acres of valuable land in Springdale township and six hundred and. forty. acres in the eastern part of South Dakota. He is likewise a director of the Cedar County State Bank and was director and vice president of the original Savings Bank of Tipton, thus continuing until it was sold and surrendered its charter.
On the 29th of January, 1890, Mr. Downing was united in marriage to Miss Marian M. Gemmill, who was born in La Salle county, Illinois, December 14, 1860, and went with her parents to Ida county, Iowa, where she was married. She is a daughter of William and Jean (Patten) Gemmill, both of whom were natives of Scotland. They were married in that land, after which they came to Illinois in 1856 with two daughters. Mr. Gemmill died in Illinois in 1875, and his widow afterward removed to Ida county, Iowa, with her family in 1889. There she passed away May I, 1904. Of her children two were born in Scotland and nine in Illinois, while eight are yet living. Mr. and Mrs. Downing have no children of their own but have reared as an adopted daughter, Margaret, the niece of Mrs. Downing.
In 1898 Mr. Downing erected a fine residence on Seventh street, where the family are most comfortably and attractively located. He is a member of the
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Masonic fraternity and also of the Knights of Pythias lodge, loyal to the teach- ings of those orders and exemplifying in his life their helpful and beneficent spirit.
Mr. Downing has witnessed many changes since he came to this county more than fifty-six years ago. There was only one house between his boyhood home and Tipton, a distance of eight and a half miles. The journey westward was made with ox-teams, after which the oxen were used in breaking prairie. There was not a tree in sight of the home and the closest one was in a grove about four miles away. The produce had to be hauled to Davenport, thirty miles distant, and in the early spring and fall, when there were heavy rains, the roads were often almost impassable. Time and man, however, have wrought many changes and Mr. Downing has lived to see a wonderful transformation here for the wild land has all been converted into fine farms containing splendidly developed fields and rich pastures in which high grade stock is fed. The pioneer log cabins and little frame dwellings have also been replaced by commodious and substantial resi- dences, and the county bears every evidence of prosperity and progress.
OSCAR WILLS.
Oscar Wills, who for the past ten years has served as station agent at Tipton for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, is there also engaged in the furniture and undertaking business in association with A. M. McCormick, the firm being known as McCormick & Wills. Tipton has remained his home since he first opened his eyes to the light of day on the 5th of June, 1870. His parents were James and Kate (Davis) Wills, the former born in Indiana on the 22d of June, 1836, and the latter in Ohio on the 19th of February, 1845. They came to Tipton with their respective parents in childhood and here James Wills still makes his home. His wife passed away in Tipton on the 14th of April, 1898. Their chil- dren were four in number, as follows: John, who is a resident of Idaho; Gertrude, the wife of J. W. Tuthill, of Washington, D. C .; Esther, the wife of H. J. Gilliland, of Tipton; and Oscar, of this review.
Oscar Wills supplemented his preliminary education by a course of study in the Tipton high school and then, being obliged to provide for his own support,- he secured a position in the brickyards, where he was employed for five years. In 1890 he took up the study of telegraphy in the office of the Chicago & North- western Railway Company at Tipton and the following year began drawing a salary as telegrapher. Ten years ago he assumed the duties of his present posi- tion as station agent and has therefore remained in the service of the railroad at Tipton for the past nineteen years, with the exception of one year on the main line. On the IIth of January, 1909, in association with A. M. McCormick, he purchased the furniture and undertaking establishment of F. W. Casterline and the enterprise has since been conducted under the firm style of McCormick & Wills. They carry a large and carefully selected line of goods and have already won a liberal patronage.
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On the 5th of November, 1897, Mr. Wills was united in marriage to Miss Bertha Lee Thompson, a native of Tipton, who was called to her final rest on the Ioth of January, 1909. He is a republican in his political views and for two years ably represented the first ward in the city council. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, while frater- nally he is identified with Cedar Lodge, No. 11, A. F. & A. M .; Siloam Chapter, No. 19, R. A. M .; and the Knights of Pythias. He enjoys a wide and favorable acquaintance in Tipton and vicinity and is popular in both business and social circles.
THOMAS ALEXANDER SPEAR.
More than half a century has come and gone since Thomas Alexander Spear arrived in Cedar county when a youth of ten years. Not long after he started out in life on his own account and, realizing the fact that there is no excellence without labor, he has persistently and with unfaltering energy carried on the work to which he had set himself, overcoming all difficulties and obstacles by determined and unremitting effort and thus gradually working his way upward until he is today honored as one of the most extensive landowners and prosperous citizens of this county.
A native of County Tyrone, Ireland, Mr. Spear was born March 4, 1843, and was one of eleven children whose parents were Robert and Elizabeth (John- ston) Spear, also natives of the Emerald isle. The former was born March I, 1804, while the latter was born September 1, 1816, in the same house in which her mother and her grandmother were born and which was also the birthplace of Thomas A. Spear and his brothers and sisters. Robert Spear carried on farming and also worked at the stone-mason's trade in Ireland until 1853, when he crossed the Atlantic to the new world with his family, establishing his home in Philadelphia. Two years later he came with his family to Cedar county, Iowa, where he successfully followed the occupation of farming. It was in 1831 that he wedded Elizabeth Johnston and they traveled life's journey together for more than sixty-one years, being separated by the death of Mr. Spear on the 5th of December, 1892. His widow survived him until June 21, 1901.
Their children were as follows: Robert, who was born December 29, 1832, and is now deceased; Mrs. Mary Jane McCabe, who was born June 14, 1834, and is living in Philadelphia; Mrs. Margaret McCabe, who was born December 27, 1836, and is now deceased; John, who died in infancy ere the family came to America; John, who was born May 1, 1839, and lives in Stanwood, Iowa; William, who was born October 31, 1842, and makes his home in Cass county, Iowa ; Thomas A., of this review; Johnston, who was born June 1, 1845, and is a resident of Tipton; Anna, who was born March 6, 1850, and is the deceased wife of Thomas McCabe; Stewart, who was born September 4, 1852, and is living in Fairfield township; Armstrong, who was born September 4, 1854, and is a resident of Philadelphia. He was only three weeks old when the family left Ireland for the new world.
alex Spear
.
Harriet & Spear
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Thomas Alexander Spear was a lad of eight years when the family emigrated from the old country and had but completed his first decade at the time of their arrival in Tipton, since which time he has remained in Cedar county. They left Liverpool on the sailing vessel "America" which on the voyage was disabled, the masts being blown away. They were seven weeks on the ocean and the food and water supply both became so nearly exhausted that they were put on short rations. Mr. Spear remembers eating raw potato skins with relish. Many died on the ship and most of the passengers believed that they would never reach land but at length the storm ceased and temporary masts were put up. Favoring winds at length brought them to New York and eventually the family reached Philadelphia, where they joined the grandparents and two sisters of our subject who had preceded them. On reaching this county they took up their abode in a log cabin in the south part of Tipton.
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