USA > Iowa > Monroe County > Biographical and genealogical history of Appanoose and Monroe counties, Iowa > Part 34
USA > Iowa > Appanoose County > Biographical and genealogical history of Appanoose and Monroe counties, Iowa > Part 34
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY.
Wellington Spencer passed his boyhood days in Ohio, where he re- ceived a good education, and then taught school for a time. He took up the carpenter's trade and also followed farming. He came to Iowa in 1870, and first settled in Cedar township; he has lived on his present farm for nine years. He was married in Morgan county, Ohio, in 1869, to Amanda Hammond, the daughter of James and Sarah Hammond, the father a native of Ohio and the mother from England. Their three children are Robert, Edward and Minter Day, the first and the last be- ing married and having homes of their own, while Edward remains on the home place. Robert is the superintendent of the Albia public schools. Mr. Spencer is a Republican and has held various township offices. When the Civil war broke out he was so patriotic as to offer his services, but they were rejected owing to his youth. He and his wife and children are members of the Methodist church.
MELVIN KNAPP.
While the vast commercial enterprises of this country are the wonder of the foreign world and place the United States in the front rank of nations, it should ever be kept in mind that the basis of this prosperity and commercial dominion is necessarily in the great agricul- tural interests; in the corn and wheat belt of the United States lies the destiny of the world, and all other interests, large and small, rise or fall with the size of the corn and wheat crops. With these facts in mind, it is eminently fitting that in the foremost agricultural district of the great state of lowa prominent mention should be given the farmer and citizen Melvin Knapp.
Elihu and Polly (Hays) Knapp were the parents of this gentle-
MELVIN KNAPP.
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY.
man; the former was a native of the state of New York, born February 12, 1800, and died in February, 1883; the latter was born in the state of Virginia, and died February 1, 1846. They were married in Frank- lin county, Ohio, and took up their residence in Madison county, that state, in the home previously established by Mr. Knapp, near Amity. There Elihu operated a tannery, and made harness and shoes. Of the three children in the family our subject alone survives.
The birth of Melvin occurred in Madison county, Ohio, on July 7, 1834; he remained at home until he was twenty-two years old and when not in school spent his time in the tannery and in farm labor. In the spring of 1856 he went to the great west, expecting to locate in Kansas, which was at that time the hotbed for all the civil strife which was so soon to break forth on the whole country. He concluded to avoid that and instead removed to Iowa, locating in Appanoose county in April. A little later he was married and after spending the first year of his married life in Ohio he settled in Independence township, Appanoose county, where he remained for two years. He then located in Bellair, coming to Numa after the close of the war. His plans were interrupted by the outbreak of the Civil war; he enlisted in the Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry and for three years saw active service in the field, all of that time being spent west of the Mississippi river, ex- cept at the time of the siege of Vicksburg. He returned and purchased his present farm in 1865, and has since been actively engaged in farm- ing; he is now the owner of two hundred and sixty acres of fertile and well tilled land, which he devotes to general crops.
In December, 1856, Mr. Knapp married Miss Lucretia McGuire; they became the parents of three children, two of whom are now liv- ing: Ella Hugh, residing in Pleasant township; and Caroline, who is
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at home. Mr. and Mrs. Knapp are members of the Christian church and are well thought of in the society of the community ; he is a mem- ber of the Centerville post of the Grand Army of the Republic and has been a Mason since 1863.
ALLEN A. MASON.
The subject of this sketch was born in Chautauqua county, New York, April 14. 1834. the son of Norman and Sarah Ann (Allen) Ma- son, the latter a descendant of Ethan Allen, of historic fame. His father was a native of New York and his mother a native of Vermont, and they were married in Washington county, New York, in 1830. Af- ter marriage they lived in western New York, but came west to Iowa in 1863 and settled in Albia, where for a time he conducted a restaurant and boarding house. To this union these children were born: Eliza- beth, deceased; Allen A .; Darwin N., a minister; William Gussie, de- ceased; Mary : Charles, deceased; Katie: Lillian, deceased; and Jessie, deceased. Father of these children died in 1892, but his wife is living with her son in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Allen A. Mason spent his early days in western New York until twenty-two years of age. He taught school in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. He was married in October, 1860, to Miss Margaret Boyle. daughter of William and Esther Boyle, pioneers of Iowa. The four children by this union were: Charles N., Fred D., John H., and Ben A. His wife died in the spring of 1874, and is buried in Albia. He was married in the fall of 1875 to Martha E. Taylor, daughter of John M. Taylor. Six children have been born by his second wife: Walter M., Ralph T., Elsie, Roy E., Edna E., Carlis.
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY. 517
When Mr. Mason first came to Iowa he followed the carpenter's trade. He served as deputy clerk for two years, and in 1858 and 1859 he was deputy treasurer and recorder. In 1861 he was elected county judge on the Republican ticket. Since 1864 he has been engaged in running a nursery and in farming. He has one hundred and twenty acres on the home place, having sold off three hundred acres in 1901. He was in the dairy business in Albia from 1876 until 1887, and had the only milk wagon at that time in the city. .
S. M. KING, M. D.
Dr. S. M. King was born in Portage county, Ohio, September 27, 1836, on a farm, and when two years old his parents moved to Illinois. His parents were Joel E. and Emeline (Barnes) King, both natives of Massachusetts. The father's parents were Robert and Bridget ( Mor- gan) King, natives of Massachusetts, and great-grandfather Robert King was a native of Ireland and died in Berkshire county, Massachu- setts, in 1802, aged sixty-two years. His wife was also a native of Ireland, and he married in Ireland and they had eleven children. He was a practicing physician. His son, Dr. Robert King, was also a prac- ticing physician and participated in the war of 1812, as a captain of the Massachusetts militia. He removed from Massachusetts to Portage county, Ohio, in 1826, and lived and died there. He had twelve chil- dren, of whom was Joel Elisha King, our subject's father, born in 1813 and died in 1890 in Fairfield, Iowa. His wife is living in Mount Pleas- ant, Iowa; she was born December 24, 1813.
They had eight children, six now living. He, too, was a physician and in 1861 enlisted in Company E, Twentieth Illinois Volunteer In-
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fantry, and was detailed to the hospital service. In 1862 he was dis- charged on account of physical disability. He moved to Fairfield, Iowa, in 1865 and practiced there up to his death. He was a Republican and a Methodist. When he went to Illinois from Ohio it was to preach, but he gave up the ministry for medicine.
Sylvester Morgan King was the eldest of the children and he was reared in Illinois. On April 19, 1861, he enlisted in Company E, Twen- tieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, as a private, and was at Fredericks- burg, Fort Donelson and Shiloh, being severely wounded at the last battle. On October 12, 1862, he was discharged and August 15, 1864, re-enlisted from Akron, Ohio, in Company I, Sixth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, and served in all the engagements, including Hatcher's Run, Five Forks, Dinwiddie, Sailor's Creek, Farmville, and on to Appomat- tox under Sheridan. He was discharged May 30, 1865, at the close of the war, and then came to Iowa. He soon went to Cleveland, Ohio, and there attended the Cleveland Homeopathic College, in 1866, and then came to Iowa and located at Eddyville, where he remained till 1870, when he came to Albia. He has been in active practice ever since. In 1878 he graduated from the Hahnemann Hospital College at Chicago. He is a member of the Iowa Homeopathic Medical Society and the American Institute of Homeopathy. He is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a thirty-second degree Mason, of the Scottish Rite, is a Knight of Pythias, a Modern Woodman, and belongs to the Ancient Order of United Work- men. He was married in 1866 to Louisa M. Chaffee.
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JOHN REES PRICE.
John Rees Price, attorney at law, was born at Rhoudda Valley, South Wales, June 23, 1874, the son of Isaac and Ann (Davis) Price. His parents are natives of Wales and trace their genealogy back for many generations in Wales to the time of William the Conqueror. In 1880 the parents came to America, stopping in Rapids City, Illinois, in the spring of 1880, and in the fall of the same year came to Monroe county, Iowa, and settled three miles west of Albia, at what was known then as Cedar Mines. Here the father engaged in mining and farming, having from early life been engaged in those occupations in Wales. From 1886 to 1889 the family was in the territory of Washington, but then returned to Monroe county, where the parents have since resided. For several years past the father's occupation has been farming; he re- sides in Guilford township and is meeting with fair success.
These parents had seven children, John Rees Price being the third oldest. His youth was spent in coal mining, and he was educated in the country schools, and then spent four years in Central University at Pella, Iowa. He taught school several years in Monroe and Marion counties and in May, 1898, began the study of law in Albia, under John T. Clarkson. He was admitted to the bar on examination before the supreme court in May, 1900, and since then has practiced in Albia. He was in partnership with Thomas Hickenlooper up to the time the latter was qualified as clerk of district courts. He was then alone till March, 1902, when he formed a partnership with Judge J. C. Mitchell, of Ot- tumwa, the latter holding an office at Ottumwa, his resident town. At the same time J. H. Tomlinson, of Eldon, became an associate partner, the firm being Mitchell, Tomlinson & Price, a strong and successful combination. The firm conducts a general law practice, abstract and
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loan business. Mr. Price is a Republican and belongs to the Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. He was mar- ried in 1899 to Miss Mary Welch.
J. C. ROBESON.
J. C. Robeson was born near Hamilton, Ohio, January 6, 1834, the son of Elihu and Mary I. (Cummins) Robeson, both natives of Butler county, Ohio. The paternal grandfather, William, was born at Rock- bridge, Virginia, and moved to Pennsylvania, and thence to Ohio. Robeson is a Scotch-Irish name. The Cummins family are of Scotch extraction. The parents of our subject moved from Ohio in 1854 to Des Moines county, Iowa, where the father died in 1864. The mother afterward died in Monroe county, Iowa. The father was a farmer, a Whig in politics and he and his wife were United Presbyterians. They had seven children.
J. C. Robeson is the oldest in the family. He was reared on a farm and received a common school education. He came west with his par- ents in 1854. On November 16, 1861, he enlisted in Company K. Four- teenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served three years. He is now a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He came to Monroe county in 1869 and settled four miles north of Albia and farmed up to 1900, when he removed to Albia. He is now president of the Albia Telephone Company.
A Republican in politics, he was elected representative in the fall of 1887, and served one term. He has been twice married; first in 1860 to Miss Maria McChesney, who died in February, 1861, leaving one child, John E., of Monroe county, a farmer. In 1870 he married Mrs.
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY.
Margaret Elder, and they had three children. He and his wife are members of the United Presbyterian church.
N. E. KENDALL.
N. E. Kendall, an attorney at law, was born in Lucas county, Iowa, near Russell, on March 7, 1868, the son of Elijah L. and Lucinda (Stev- ens) Kendall. The father was born in Shelby county, Indiana, and the mother in Hendricks county, Indiana. When Elijah Kendall was in boyhood his parents came to Iowa and settled in Lucas county, where they lived and died. Grandfather Abbott G. Kendall was a native of Highland county, Ohio, and was a son of Aaron M. Kendall, of Irish descent. The father of our subject was a farmer and was a member of Company C. Eighteenth Iowa Infantry, and served four years as a private in the Civil war. He died in 1896, aged seventy years, and his wife died when our subject was a boy.
N. E. Kendall was reared on a farm and given a common school ed- ucation. He was fifteen years old when he left the farm to take up the battle of life for himself. He went to Chariton, Iowa, and entered the law office of Stuart Brothers, as a stenographer and law student. He later came to Albia and entered the law office of T. B. Perry, in the same relation, and was admitted to the bar May 15, 1889, since which time he has practiced in Albia. He is a Republican and was city attorney for Albia for two terms and county attorney for two terms ; also a mem- ber of the Republican state committee for three terms, being secretary one term, and vice chairman two terms. He was elected a member of the Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth general assemblies of Iowa.
In 1896 he was married to Miss Belle Wooden, of Centerville.
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Mr. Kendall is a Master Mason, a Knight of Pythias, a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Brotherhood of American Yeomen, and the Benevolent and Protec- tive Order of Elks.
EDGAR M. NOBLE.
Mr. Noble was born in the town of Albia, Iowa, April 25, 1854, the son of David A. and Elizabeth An (Arnold) Noble. His father was born in Pennsylvania and his mother in Indiana. They were married in Albia in 1853. the father having come to Albia in 1851, and the mother in 1852. They had three children. The elder Mr. Noble mer- chandised in Albia thirty or more years and died in 1895. aged sixty- five, but his wife still resides in Albia, aged sixty-eight. The father was a Republican and was county treasurer two terms. He and his wife were members of the Christian church. He was a successful business man as a general merchant. He had a fair common school education. The last several years of his life were spent retired.
Edgar M. Noble was reared and educated in Albia and spent one year at Christian College at Oskaloosa. In early life he entered the store of his father and was in mercantile lines up to 1895, since when he has been in the real estate and insurance business. He was married in 1878 to Miss Anna Miller. He is a Republican and the nominee of his party for auditor of the county. He and his wife are Methodists, and he is a Knight Templar Mason and belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY.
LEVITICUS TILTON RICHMOND.
Leviticus Tilton Richmond, cashier of the First National Bank and Farmers' and Miners' Savings Bank of Albia, Iowa, was born on a farm in Cedar township, Monroe county, Iowa, June 11, 1861, the son of Samuel and Sarah A. (Bell) Richmond, both sides being Irish stock. His father was born in Trimble county, Kentucky, November 22, 1822, and was reared in Kentucky, where he was married, his wife being a native of Kentucky. From this state they removed to Indiana, where they resided near Bedford for a few years and in the fall of 1844 came to Burlington, Iowa, and the next year went to Davis county, Iowa, and in the spring of 1846 came to Monroe county and settled in Cedar town- ship, where the father still resides, but the mother died in February, 1897. He has been a farmer and miller, being a millwright by trade.
Leviticus Tilton Richmond was reared on a farm and was the eighth of a family of ten children, one son and a daughter being younger than he; there is only one daughter in the family. His early education was obtained in country schools, afterward at Central University at Pella, Iowa, being there from 1877 to 1880. In 1880 he taught in the academy at Knoxville for six terms. He had previously taught and by attending school and teaching alternately had educated himself. His first teaching was in the public schools of Monroe county, and his first term was taught in 1878, when just past eighteen. In March, 1882, he began reading law under the late W. A. Nichole, of Albia; was admitted to the bar in May, 1883. He at once began the practice of law in Albia.
Mr. Richmond is a Democrat and as such was appointed deputy sheriff in 1884. He was elected sheriff in 1885 for a short term and in 1886 was re-elected and held office till January 1, 1888, when he re- sumed the practice of law. For five months he served as mayor of Albia,
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being appointed by the council, of which body he was a member ; he was a councilman for four years. For four years he was a member of the board of trustees for the Industrial School for the Blind at Knoxville, Iowa, through appointment by the general assembly. He practiced law up to January, 1899, when he was made cashier of the First National Bank and in October, 1901, when the Farmers' and Miners' Savings Bank was organized, he became its cashier.
He was married November 18, 1885, to Lizzie W. Malone, a native of Maryland, and a daughter of James and Mary (Coughlin) Malone, natives of Ireland, and who came to Monroe county in 1870, and died here. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Richmond are: Francis H., Wil- liam T., and Thomas B. The family are members of the Roman Catho- lic church.
JOSEPH HARVEY ROBERTSON.
"Men of progress" is a phrase that aptly applies to many Americans in this twentieth century of industrial advancement, and in these three words is often summed up the highest compliment that can be paid to these soldiers of this commercial age when the world's battles are no longer fought by the sword. And among those who may very justly be considered in this class is the gentleman whose name heads this sketch, a worthy, prosperous and leading citizen of Appanoose county, Iowa. While he has devoted his life to hard work and has intently fol- lowed the business of his choice, he has also found time to give to the public interests of his community and is a worthy exponent of American citizenship in its highest and best sense.
Moses Robertson was his father; he was born in Kentucky on
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October 21, 1811, and died in Appanoose county on November 29, 1893. His wife, Jane Streepy, was a native of Knox county, Indiana, where she was born August 15, 1826, and she died on November 9, 1862. Moses Robertson went to Knox county, Indiana, when he was ten years of age, and there spent the days of his youth, obtained his education in the country schools and married the lady of his choice. In 1852 they came west and located on the same farm which is now the property of the subject of this sketch. Besides conducting the farm they opened a general store on the place and continued this for a number of years. In 1891 he left the farm and spent the remainder of his life in Cin- cinnati, Iowa.
Joseph Harvey claims Appanoose county as the place of his birth, and his birthday was January 8, 1858. He attended the country school up to his sixteenth year, and then learned the blacksmith trade, which he never followed, however. Prior to 1901 he had been engaged ex- tensively in the stock business and has been considered one of the lead- ing farmers of the county. He has now somewhat relaxed the vigorous toil of his younger years and is enjoying the fruits of his well spent life. He has always shown an active interest in the political affairs of the county and is one of the local leaders of the Republican party. He is a member of Prosperity Lodge No. 504. F. & A. M.
Mr. Robertson was married in 1878 to Miss Emma Stevenson, and they became the parents of three children: Ava, born May 31, 1879: Ora, born June 9, 1881; and Joe, born June 11, 1891. Emma Stevenson was the daughter of P. J. and Mary (Gunder) Stevenson, and was born in Darke county. Ohio, November 30, 1857. Her parents came to Appanoose county in 1868, in which county they now reside.
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GEORGE W. STREEPY.
It is now our privilege to record briefly the life history of a man who has served his country as a soldier in defense of the Union, and in the peaceful pursuits of an agricultural life has gained as great victories as on the battlefield and is now able to look back on a life of well spent activity. His father was Edward Streepy, who was born in Pennsyl- vania in 1801 and died in 1895, aged ninety-four years; his mother was a native of Davis county, Indiana; was born in 1806 and died in 1847; her maiden name was Delilah Freeland and she was married in Davis county. Edward Streepy was brought to Washington county, Indiana, when he was thirteen years old; by occupation he was a farmer and followed this calling all his life. After the death of his wife he re- mained in Davis county until 1850 and then went to what is known as the North River Bottom in Indiana, where he carried on his farming operations for four years; in 1854 he sold out and came to Iowa, lo- cating near Unionville in Appanoose county, where he spent the re- mainder of his days.
George W. Streepy, the son of the above parents, came into the world in Davis county, Indiana, February 6, 1833, and spent the days of his youth much after the manner of all boys who are reared under the invigorating influences of the farm. In 1850 he settled in Davis county, Iowa, but remained there only one year and then came to Appanoose county, where he has since made his home. When the lurid glow of civil strife lit up the land his spirit was aroused to defense of the Union and in 1863 he enlisted in Company I, Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry; on account of an injury to his left leg he served most of the time in the commissary department. With the exception of this period spent in the service of his country and three years which he devoted to mercantile
GEORGE W. STREEPY.
THENEW YORK PRE_ QUIERASY
e
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pursuits at Iconium, Mr. Streepy has engaged in tilling the soil all his life, and he has met with most encouraging success. He has three hun- dred and fifty-five acres all in one body on his place; a fine and valuable farm.
In 1856 Mr. Streepy was married to Lucy Elizabeth Dean and three children were born: Dedetta A., who is now Mrs. Edward White; and the two deceased are Alice and Baxter. Mrs. Streepy died in 1862. In 1866 he was again married, his second wife being Mary Reprogle, who died August 27, 1875; she left one child, Mrs. Mary E. Harvey, of Centerville. For his third wife Mr. Streepy chose, on March 16, 1876, Miss Margaret J. Cafferty, who is now living and is the mother of three children: C. E. Streepy, Zelma E. Streepy and George W. Streepy, Jr. Mr. Streepy recalls the days of the Civil war by his membership with the Grand Army of the Republic. He casts his vote for the Re- publican party, and in the public affairs of the county has been a mem- ber of the county board of supervisors for one term and has filled num- erous township offices. He has been one of the prominent members of the Methodist church and a few years ago donated the ground, directly . across the road from his home west of Cincinnati, upon which has been erected a substantial house of worship; the only condition affixed, to this gift was that the church should be of no particular denomination, but open to all services held in the cause of religion. In this, as in many other ways, Mr. Streepy has shown his excellent common sense and his desire for general progress in the community. He may be truly desig- nated as a man of character, one whose every act is in accord with his inmost principles of right and justice.
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J. N. VANPELT.
The constantly increasing number of farmers who, after a life of well spent activity, are retiring and passing their remaining days in the enjoyment of their competences is an indication that this most worthy class of industrial workers is now meeting with the rewards which they so richly deserve, for surely the tiller of the soil, above all other men, should be able to lay by enough in his working years to give him the comforts of life without labor in old age. One of the retired farmers of Monroe county, Iowa, is J. N. Vanpelt, who is now making his home in Melrose and has been one of the leading agri- culturists of this section.
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