USA > Iowa > Monroe County > Biographical and genealogical history of Appanoose and Monroe counties, Iowa > Part 31
USA > Iowa > Appanoose County > Biographical and genealogical history of Appanoose and Monroe counties, Iowa > Part 31
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Mr. Cloud's marriage occurred in 1874 to Miss Jennie Thomas, whose parents, Asbury and Mary A. (Bowers) Thomas, are both de- ceased, the father dying in Texas and the mother in Appanoose county. Jennie Thomas was born on February 14, 1852. Mr. and Mrs. McCloud had nine children born to them, of whom six are now living: Linnie Myrtle Garton, Minnie, Lillie, Harrison, Mary and Mckinley. The members of this family are well known in the community, and their lives have always been such as to command the high regard of their friends and acquaintances.
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JAMES A. SEDDON.
In the multiplicity of modern industrial interests the one factor that must everywhere be reckoned with is "King Coal." Without this uni- versal article of fuel the great industries of this, the greatest commercial country on the globe would be completely paralyzed, the busy marts of trade, transportation and all the activities that make up the civilization of modern times would receive the check that nothing else could effect. Therefore we must duly respect one who is instrumental in bringing to the market this important product; and in Mr. James A. Seddon we have a man who has been engaged in coal mining in its different phases ever since he was a child, and one who now occupies a foremost place in the business interests of Appanoose county.
Ralph and Mary (Armstrong) Seddon were both natives of Eng- land and were married in the county of Lancashire, about 1831. The former was born September 26, 1807, and died September 24, 1859. The latter was born in October, 1810, and died in the month of July, 1874. They spent their entire lives in the country of their birth, and Mr. Seddon was employed as a coal digger up to his twenty-second year, when he became a manager of mines and continued in this till his death. They were the parents of fifteen children, the only three survivors making their home in America: John Seddon, of Mystic, Iowa; Mrs. Margaret Newman, of Hines, Iowa; and James A., the subject of this sketch.
In Lancashire, England, on the 12th of May, 1851, James A. Sed- don was born, and at the age of eight years began working in the mines. In 1869 he left England, and, coming to the United States, located in Boone county, Iowa, where he obtained employment as a coal miner. In 1870 he went to Wyoming and followed mining one year. The next
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year he returned to Iowa and from there went to Monongahela, Wash- ington county, Pennsylvania; from there, in 1872, to Tioga county, that state, always engaged in mining. He soon returned to his old home in England, intending to remain there, but in July, 1874, he again set out for the new world, and this time located in Jefferson county, Iowa, where he remained till 1876; he then followed his calling for three months in Marion county, and for fifteen months in Monroe county. In 1877 he became a mine operator, but disposed of his inter- ests the next year and came to Whatcheer, Keokuk county, Iowa. Shortly afterward he made a second trip to his old home, but after a visit of nine weeks returned to Whatcheer, where he stayed four months. He then took charge of a mine in Wyoming, but in the latter part of 1878 he resumed the operation of mines in Monroe county, Iowa. In 1880 he spent six months in Whatcheer, and then for the third time went to Wyoming, where he was manager of the coal mines of the Union Pacific Railroad, but he continued this only fourteen months, when he again came to Whatcheer and was employed for fifteen months in weighing coal. In 1884, again taking up his residence in Monroe county, he remained until 1886, when he came to Mystic, Appanoose county, where he has since made his home.
Mr. Seddon and his brother Thomas opened the second mine in Mystic, which was known as the Seddon Brothers Coal Company. They disposed of this mine to the Centerville Block Coal Company. They then purchased the Mystic Block, which they sold to the Peerless Coal Company. They then opened up the Bran and Bower mine, and three others west of Mystic. Mr. Seddon is now the owner of the Iowa and Missouri mine and the Klondyke, and holds controlling interest in the Mystic Fuel Company's mine. For a number of years Mr. Seddon
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has been engaged in building houses for the miners and selling them on the instalment plan. There are about two hundred and twenty-five men in his employ. In October, 1899, he opened a general store in the west end of town, and on the Ist of January, 1901, he established a store in a central part of the town, which is owned by a joint stock company, but all the stock is owned by Mr. Seddon except five shares. Mr. Seddon built and now owns the store building occupied by the Bain Brothers' general store.
When Mr. Seddon returned to England for the first time he was married to Anna Morris, a native of England, as were her parents. She died August 22. 1892, at the age of thirty-seven years, leaving four children : Margaret Elizabeth, James Samuel, Winfield Scott and Peter Henry. In January, 1893, Mr. Seddon married Miss Hannal E. Hughes, who is a native of Des Moines, Iowa. They have two chil- dren, Hazel and Beatrice.
JAMES WOLFINGER.
The record of Mr. Wolfinger is that of a man who has worked his way upward to a position among the substantial men of the community in which he lives. His life has been one of industry and perseverance, and the systematic and honorable methods which he has followed have won him the support and confidence of many. Back to the old Key- stone state must we turn for the ancestry of our subject, and in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, he first opened his eyes to the light of day on the 5th of September, 1833. He is a son of John and Catherine ( Miller) Wolfinger, both born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Their marriage was celebrated in the last named state, where Mr. Wolfinger was ac-
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tively engaged in farming until 1854, in which year the family removed to Mercer county, Illinois. That locality continued to be their home for the following four years, on the expiration of which period they took up their abode in Bates county, Missouri, and there the father's death occurred in March, 1861, when he had reached the age of sixty-three years. The mother afterward removed to Appanoose county, Iowa, and her death occurred on the 17th of February, 1879, at the age of eighty- one years. Five children were born to this worthy couple, but only two of the number are now living, James, and Huldah, wife of Thomas Phillips, a resident of Nebraska. Those deceased were Elias, who died October 11, 1864, in the Union army; Nelson, died May 5, 1862; Shad- rach, died September 21, 1864, at Fort Smith, Arkansas, while in the service.
James Wolfinger, whose name introduces this review, accompanied his mother on her removal to Appanoose county, and has ever since con- tinued his residence in this locality. On their arrival here they first located in the vicinity of Numa, where the son James turned his atten- tion to agricultural pursuits. On the 12th of August, 1861, he enlisted for service in the Civil war, entering Company B, Sixth Kansas Cavalry, and served his country as a valiant soldier until November 18, 1864, when he was honorably discharged. Returning thence to his home in Appanoose county, he was here married in 1868, when Miss Annie Gault became his wife, and their union has resulted in the birth of four children, three of whom still survive, namely: Deborah, who was born in 1871, and is at home with her parents; Catherine, who was born on the 14th of September, 1873, and is the wife of Edward G. Camp- bell, of Appanoose county; and James F., who was born March 23, 1876, and is also at home. Since 1875 the family have resided in their
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beautiful and attractive home one-half mile north of Cincinnati, where Mr. Wolfinger owns one hundred and ninety-five acres of rich and fertile land. In his social relations he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, in which he holds pleasant relations with his old comrades of the blue.
WILLIAM M. ELLIS.
The late William M. Ellis was quite well known to citizens of Appanoose county, of which he had been a resident for more than forty- five years. He was born in Mercer county, Kentucky, January 13, 1830, but when only eight years old was taken by his parents to Harrison county, Indiana, where they took up a permanent abode, which only ceased with their deaths many years later. William grew up in Har- rison county, and such education as he was destined to receive was ob- tained in the somewhat crude schools then prevailing in that section of Indiana. When approaching the completion of his nineteenth year he met and married Miss Margaret A. Ellis, a distant relative of his family, the ceremony occurring in Harrison county, Indiana, December 24, 1849. Miss Ellis was but slightly her husband's junior, having been born. in Harrison county, April 4, 1830, and the union that then took place lasted for more than half a century in a harmony of temperament and tastes that was as pleasing as it was unusual.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Ellis resided on an Indiana farm for six years, and then decided on a removal to the distant state of Iowa. It was in 1854 that this, their first bridal trip, was taken, and when they reached the new state beyond the Mississippi a location was selected in Van Buren county, which remained their home during the three following years. In 1857 they transferred their residence to
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Appanoose county, where Mr. Ellis became the owner of the celebrated Long Branch stock farm, and for years was noted as one of the most extensive stock raisers in that part of the state. Of late years, however, owing to failing health, he was compelled to relax his former vigorous efforts and leave the tasks to younger hands. Eventually, in the course of nature, he reached the "inevitable hour" which awaits all things mortal, and on the 22d of March, 1902, his kind heart and benevolent impulses were hushed in death. Since this sad event Mrs. Ellis has resided at the old homestead, which has witnessed so many of the mutual joys of herself and husband, and where the golden anniversary of their wedding day was observed in 1899. Of her nine children seven still remain to comfort her old age, though their residences are scattered in many different states and localities. Perry, Jesse and Mil- lard all reside in Appanoose county, the latter at Numa. Elias is a citizen of Kansas. Mrs. Laura Tony makes her home in Missouri. Mrs. G. W. Edwards is in distant Colorado. Mrs. Harry Benefield, youngest of the family, is living in Oklahoma territory. Mrs. Ellis looks after the business of the farm and keeps the old homestead cheerful with the hospitality that always distinguished it and ready for the reception of her children when they come, as it always was in their childhood, dur- ing the happy days gone by.
ROBERT CRAWFORD FORSYTH.
Though this son of "old Scotia" has led a roving life on land and sea, changed residence and business frequently, he has, with the shrewd- ness of his race, kept an eye on the main and followed the advice of his great national poet to "gather gean by every wile that's justified by
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honor." In other words, after a long and busy career and his due share of the rebuffs of fickle fortune, Mr. Forsyth can show a comfortable balance on the right side of the ledger and is justly entitled to rank as a successful man of business. It is something of a privilege to have been born in the same county that produced Robert Burns, and this honor belongs to Mr. Forsyth, whose place of nativity has received such a halo from the poetry of this immortal writer that it has become familiar all over the world. He was the son of James and Margaret (Crawford) Forsyth and his birth occurred in Ayrshire, Scotland, June 2, 1832. His father was a hand loom weaver and his business was to make some of those shawls and plaids for which Scotland is so cele- brated in the marts of trade.
The parents, who spent their whole lives within the confines of Scotland, had ten children, of whom Robert was the youngest. They removed to Dundee when the lad was four years old, and in that famous old town he was reared while being educated under the strict discipline of the Scottish schools. When near his fourteenth year the boy was apprenticed to learn the apothecary's trade, which in that country carries with it the power to diagnose cases of sickness among the county poor. It was his intention to eventually become a physician, but after serving his apprenticeship the irresistible inclination toward the sea, so common to the coast countries, drew him like a lodestone, and at the age of seventeen he found himself aboard a ship bound for "foreign parts." It was his fortune to get his fill of this kind of life. After tossing on the billows, riding through storms and undergoing all the other hardships of seafaring for ten years, it was with an increased stock of experience but no considerable improvement in his exchequer that Mr. Forsyth stepped ashore after his decade of dallying with the inconstant sea.
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About this time, or, more specifically, in August, 1857, he took to him- self a wife, and this event set him to thinking that it was desirable to establish a permanent home. With this end in view he crossed the Atlantic in 1858 to Canada, but soon crossed the border into the states and eventually drifted to Rock Island, Illinois, where he found lodg- ment and work. For some years after his arrival he found what the loggers call "rough sledding." but his sailor's career had inured him to hardship, and he buckled down manfully to such hard tasks as he had undertaken to do. For twenty-three years Mr. Forsyth put in his time between coal mining and farming, spending eight years at Rock Island, the other fifteen in Poweshiek county, Iowa. Subsequently he lived awhile in Keokuk county, and eventually found his way to Appa- noose county, where he selected a location at Mystic that proved to be permanent. During his stay in Poweshiek county Mr. Forsyth resumed work as a mine operator, but the venture proved unsuccessful. At Whatcheer, Iowa, he embarked in the drug business, and during the ten years of its continuance at that point found the knowledge acquired during his apprenticeship in Scotland could be put to practical use. At the present time Mr. Forsyth is conducting the drug business at Mystic, in partnership with his son, and they also have a branch establishment at Redfield, under the firm name of Robert Forsyth & Company.
Of late years fortune has smiled upon the Scottish sailor, and with constantly improving financial conditions he is able to say with King Richard: "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York, and all the clouds that hovered o'er our house are in the deep bosom of the ocean buried." The lady whom Mr. Forsyth married in 1857 was Betsie Butter, who has borne him a large family of children, all of whom grew to maturity and are well settled in the
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world, their names being: James C., Donald W., David B., Robert J .. Dugal R., Isabella, Mary E., Jesse and Lizzie. The parents are mem- bers of the Presbyterian church, while Mr. Forsyth also holds fraternal connections with the Masons and Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
DAVID DINNING.
Connected with the development of the rich coal deposits of Iowa, David Dinning is now accounted one of the most prosperous business men of Cincinnati, Iowa. At the age of fourteen years he started out in life for himself, and though but a boy from that time forward he earned his own living, and whatever success he has since achieved is a direct result of his own labors. He was born in Ayreshire, Scotland, on the 27th of April, 1859, and is a son of Matthew and Martha (Nicol) Dinning, who were also natives of Scotland. His paternal grandfather, Hugh Dinning, was a son of Matthew Dinning, who was a sexton, or Scottish beagle. His marked characteristics made him the subject of many anecdotes which are told in Dean Ramsey's "Anec- dotes of the Scottish Worthies." The parents of our subject had ten children, of whom five are now living and are residents of Cincinnati. The father and mother came to the United States in 1884, taking up their abode in Cincinnati, Iowa, where Mr. Dinning is still living at the ripe old age of seventy-six years. His wife, however, passed away in 1890 at the age of fifty-nine years.
David Dinning was the first of the family to come to America. He crossed the Atlantic in 1880 when twenty-one years of age, believing that he might better his financial condition in the new world with its broader business opportunities. He had gained a fair education in the
DAVID DINNING.
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schools of Scotland, and at the age of eleven years had begun to mine coal. After a short duration following his arrival in the United States, he came to Appanoose county, Iowa, where he has since lived. For two years he was employed as a coal miner at Centerville, and in Aug- ust, 1883, he came to Cincinnati, where he obtained similar work, but his ability soon won him promotion and he was made manager of the Cincinnati Joint Stock Company in control of the Appanoose mine, which position he continued to fill until 1888. In that year, with three of his brothers and two of his brothers-in-law, he formed a partnership under the name of the Thistle Coal Company, and they began the de- velopment of the Thistle coal mine, sinking a shaft and carrying on the work with energy. In 1892 Mr. Dinning, associated with David Steel, purchased the interest of all the other partners and now these two gen- tlemen are in control of three paying mines, the second one being known as the Thistle Mine No. 2, and the third, The Merchants mine, known as Thistle Mine No. 3. Annually under their supervision a large amount of coal is taken from the earth and placed upon the markets, where it commands a good price, and brings to the mine operators a desirable financial return for their labor.
In 1881 Mr. Dinning was united in marriage to Miss Jane Ross, also a native of Scotland, and to them were born four children: Mary Belle, now the wife of J. A. Cochrane, doctor of dental surgery at Cin- cinnati, Iowa; Matthew and Martha, both of whom are deceased; and George, who completes the family. The parents are zealous members of the Congregational church, and Mr. Dinning is a Royal Arch Mason. In his political views he is a Republican, but the demands of his business give him no time for seeking public office. His career proves that the only true success in life is that which is accomplished by personal ef-
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fort and consecutive industry. It proves that the road to success is open to all young men who have the courage to tread its pathway, and the life record of such a man should serve as an inspiration to the young of this and future generations, and teach by incontrovertible facts that success is ambition's answer.
CARRIE A. HAKES.
This lady, who resides on her farm near Centerville, is one of those interesting links which connect the pioneer past with the progressive present. Although by no means a very old woman, her life covers the whole of that period during which Iowa grew from raw prairie to the finest body of agricultural land in the whole world. During her resi- dence here of about forty-seven years it has been the fortune of Mrs. Hakes to witness most of the important steps which have led to the Iowa of to-day. When she came the state was comparatively undevel- oped and the population was still small, and she has seen the mar- velous growth which step by step and decade by decade proceeded until this great trans-Mississippi commonwealth achieved an acknowledged supremacy among all the agricultural states of the Union. It is in- structive to review, even though briefly, the lives of such old residents as Mrs. Hakes, as they represent a period and can tell us of conditions which have passed away, never to return, and only in books specially devoted to such subjects or from the lips of the few surviving partici- pants can we now learn of those
" Round whose home the glory That blushed and bloomed Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old Time entombed."
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Carrie A. Hakes was born in Pennsylvania, April 28, 1831, a daughter of A. D. Rose and Sarah (Yeager) Rose, both natives of New York. Previous to the birth of Mrs. Hakes they moved to Penn- sylvania, where the father was a farmer. After living in that state a number of years, the family removed to Missouri and located at Alex- ander, where the daughter was married to Henry Hakes, October II, 1854. Henry Hakes was born in New York, September 27, 1823, studied 'medicine with one of the leading physicians, and before coming west in 1853 had practiced with some success in his native state. Shortly after his marriage Dr. Hakes removed to Appanoose county, Iowa, where he located and resumed the practice of medicine at Centerville. In addition to this, he conducted a drugstore and was the first person to have an open front on what is known as the west side of the square. In 1865 Dr. Hakes disposed of his drug business and moved to his farm southwest of Centerville, where he resided until his death, which occurred May 31, 1885. Mrs. Hakes, who has no children, still occu- pies the homestead and looks after all details connected with the man- agement of her estate. She has long been a member of the Baptist church, and her husband, during his lifetime, was connected with the same denomination.
JAMES H. STEVENS.
Few men of his age have had such a varied business career as the popular merchant whose life it is now the intention to outline. Scarcely any of the regular mercantile callings have escaped Mr. Stevens' activi- ties, and at different times he has been a carpenter, dealer in hardware, jeweler, general merchant, furniture dealer, keeper of a second-hand
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store, and to cap it all twice a proprietor of two different hotels. But Mr. Stevens' fame rests on even a more enduring foundation than that of having been "all sorts of a merchant," and successful in each line. He is entitled to the honor of having founded the town of Mystic, which now holds out bright promises, but when discovered by Mr. Stevens was in a decidedly forlorn state. In fact, there was nothing of it at all, un- less two or three scattering farmhouses could be called a town, but the store established by Mr. Stevens made a nucleus around which in time grew up the now lively infant village. From these preliminary remarks it will be seen that James H. Stevens is an interesting man to know, and it is the object of this memoir to introduce the reader to his ac- quaintance.
He is a son of the late Wesley Jiles and Jane ( Schooler) Stevens, natives of Ohio, who removed to Illinois about the third decade of the nineteenth century and settled in the vicinity of Abingdon, where they engaged in farming. Some years later they moved to Iowa and located near Eddyville, but in 1850 returned to Illinois, where they remained until 1862 and again came to Iowa for permanent residence. A sojourn of eight years was made in Wapello county, followed in 1870 by re- moval to Appanoose and the selection of a location near Mystic. Dur- ing the last four or five years of his life Mr. Stevens resided at Mystic, where his death occurred in 1899. but his widow still occupies the old home. Mr. Stevens was a farmer all his life, Republican in his politics and the religious affiliations of himself and wife were with the Metho- dist Episcopal church. Of their nine children only five are now living.
James H. Stevens, youngest of his father's four sons, was born at .Abingdon, Illinois, August 24, 1851, and he participated in the fam- ily's subsequent sojournings in Iowa. After the usual routine and edu-
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cational experiences of farm life, he branched out for himself at the age of eighteen in the trade of a carpenter. This employment engaged most of his time and attention for eighteen years, and in 1887 he began a general mercantile business at Mystic, or, rather, at what subsequently became Mystic, as there was no town there when Mr. Stevens became the pioneer merchant of the locality. He had a partner named Elgin, but the business was only conducted one year under the firm name of Stevens & Elgin, after which it was sold to Swanson Brothers. Subse- quently Mr. Stevens purchased a third interest in the same store, re- mained a partner for the next two years of the Swanson Brothers and Ewand Brothers Company, when he again disposed of his holdings. In 1890 he went into the hardware business as senior member of the firm of Stevens & Heifner, which continued until 1893, when he sold his inter- est and retired. Meantime he had embarked in the jewelry business in 1892 as senior member of Stevens & Casey, but this interest he also disposed of after a year to Forsyth & Son. In the fall of 1893 the firm of J. H. Stevens & Company was formed to conduct a hardware busi- ness, and shortly afterward the old partnership of Stevens & Casey was renewed to carry on a general merchandise store. After one year this last mentioned interest was disposed of, and in the spring of 1894 Mr. Stevens purchased the Coulter & Heifner hardware store, still retaining his interest in the firm of J. H. Stevens & Company. To Wallace Dun- can, his partner in the last mentioned firm, he sold a half interest in the hardware store purchased from Coulter & Heifner, which was there- after conducted under the firm name of Duncan & Company. Later Mr. Stevens bought the Duncan interest in both stores and since then has conducted the business alone under his own name in a double room. He added furniture to the hardware stock, but in 1901 he sold the furniture
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