USA > Iowa > Monroe County > Biographical and genealogical history of Appanoose and Monroe counties, Iowa > Part 38
USA > Iowa > Appanoose County > Biographical and genealogical history of Appanoose and Monroe counties, Iowa > Part 38
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the Scottish clans, whose chivalrous bearing, daring deeds, love affairs and wild war music add much spice to the history of the highlands. After marriage this couple lived many years in the section of country bordering on the upper Ohio, but in 1874 decided to try their fortunes in the distant west. Their journey brought them to Appanoose county, Iowa, where a location was found on land in Chariton township, on which they lived until Mr. Calhoun's death in 1894. They had nine children in all, but of these only five are now living, namely: W. F., James A., John B., Mary J. Kingery, of Brighton, and C. C., of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
James A. Calhoun, second in age of the surviving children, was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1855, and was a young man when his parents came to this section of country. About five years after his arrival, when twenty-five years old, he engaged in teaching, and fol- lowed this occupation for eight or ten seasons in Monroe and adjoin- ing counties. In 1882 he went to South Dakota, took up a claim and spent about eight years in that territory. At the expiration of that period he returned to Monroe county and engaged in farming, which has since continued to be his regular occupation. His place consists of a hundred acres of land, which is all improved and comfortably pro- vided as to residence, outbuildings and other improvements. Mr. Cal- houn is regarded as a good farmer and esteemed as a man of industrial habits, who attends strictly to his own business and is honorable in all dealings with his neighbors. While living in South Dakota he held the office of trustee, and is at present assessor of Franklin township. In 1884 he married Martha C., daughter of Samuel and Eliza (Potts) Rinehart, who are mentioned in a family sketch on another page of this work. Mrs. Calhoun, who was a member of the Christian church,
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was much esteemed in the social circles to which she belonged as a kind and affectionate mother and accommodating neighbor. She died in 1890, leaving two children, whose names are Mary D. and Carl H. Calhoun.
JOHN R. CLARK.
The paternal ancestors of Mr. Clark were New Englanders, and his father, Wareham G. Clark, was born and reared in the state of Con- necticut, and engaged in mercantile pursuits in New York city for several years prior to coming west in 1840. On August 23, 1843, at Troy, Van Buren county, Iowa, he married Jane L. Rankin, a native of Ohio, and of Scotch-Irish parentage. This worthy couple were among the very first to come to the newly opened territory of Iowa, taking up their abode in Monroe, or. as it was then called. Kishkekosh county, at a place afterward known as Clarks Point, three miles north- west of Albia, where young Clark had made claim on May 1, 1843. He was one of the enterprising farmers of the county, and remained here until his death, June 16, 1890, in his seventy-eighth year. He was the representative of Monroe and Appanoose counties in the second constitutional convention, held in Iowa City in May, 1846, and in other ways was prominently connected with the history of the growth and de- velopment of Monroe county. His wife died in 1898, in her seventy- third year, having become the mother of twelve children, one daughter and eleven sons, all of whom are now living; the oldest is fifty-eight years of age and the youngest thirty-six, and ten of them are residents of Monroe county, one of Nebraska and one of Idaho.
One of the twelve is John R. Clark, who was born at Clarks
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Point, Monroe county, January 3, 1855, and has been a continuous resident of this county ever since, with the exception of two years spent in Nebraska, from 1878 to 1880. In the same year as his birth the parents sold the original place with the intention of moving to Texas, but they were deterred from this course by the sickness of John R., which was thus a fateful event and probably changed the course of the lives of the whole family. The parents then bought the place which has ever since been known as the old homestead, situated four and one- half miles southwest of Albia, and where the children all grew up and received such educational advantages as were obtainable in the district schools. Mr. Clark has always been an observant man, and has thus supplemented the knowledge which he obtained in his youth so as to be prepared for a successful business career. And the fact that he was reared on a farm, with all its wholesome environments, and that he has been taught the habits of economy and industry and has been strictly temperate and moral in his life, have all aided him in attaining an in- fluential place in the world. He engaged in farming, threshing and sawmilling for some time, and later, with his older brother, W. Grant Clark, opened an agricultural implement store in Albia under the name of Clark Brothers. This is one of the leading firms in the county. The proprietors have dealt extensively in real estate and now own nearly one thousand acres of land in the county, and besides dealing in imple- ments carry a stock of flour, feed, etc., and are proprietors of Clark Brothers and Company, undertakers and dealers in furniture, this es- tablishment being the leading business of that kind in the county.
Mr. Clark has always been interested in political matters and has mainly voted with the Democratic party since he attained his majority. In November, 1892, he was elected county auditor and served two years,
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but was defeated in the race for re-election by the Republican landslide in 1894. In 1896 and 1900 he was one of the delegates from the sixth district of Iowa to the national Populists' conventions. In 1896 he became the owner of the Monroe County News, the only Democratic paper in the county, and it is largely due to his management that the paper has gained such a foothold in Monroe county and has become one of the leading Democratic organs of southern Iowa. Mr. Clark is a member of the Masonic order, and in religious matters assumes lib- eral views.
On March 2, 1883, Mr. Clark was married at Creston, Iowa, to Miss Lilla E. Boggs, who was born and reared in Monroe county, the oldest child of Percy and Jemima Boggs, who also were among the very earliest settlers of Monroe county and are still living at Albia. They are both of Virginia birth. Her grandfather, Josiah C. Boggs, built the first house in Troy township, and possibly in the county, for it was constructed as soon as possible after the first day of May, 1843. Mr. Boggs was prominent in the early history of the county and died at the age of eighty-three years, having reared a large family. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Clark are: Lura R., born April 23, 1884; M. Grace, September 23, 1885; Wareham Grant, March 9, 1887; Lilla E. Beth, June 18, 1890; and Jessie R., April 27, 1894. The two oldest are graduates of the Albia high school, and Grace completed a course at the C. C. C. College of Des Moines in stenography and typewriting. The family reside in a modest home in the north part of Albia, and here Mr. Clark devotes much of his time to fruit culture when not occupied with his business.
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SAMUEL N. BELL.
How varied and many are the uses of biography! After all, man is but a unit in the vast concourse of humanity moving on to a higher goal, whose ranks are being constantly depleted and as quickly filled again, and when viewed in the distance of time each individual is lost in the mass unless some distinguishing mark is found, and therefore most useful is biography to record the deeds of those who will soon step out of the ranks and give place to the onward coming youth, and in this record of the past will men of the future find encouragement and hope. In the life of Samuel N. Bell will be found much worthy of emulation, and he well deserves a page in this work which is given to the memory of the men and women of Appanoose county.
William and Minerva ( Nichols) Bell were the father and mother of this gentleman and both claim Washington county, Pennsylvania, as the place of their nativity, and in that county they were united in marriage. William Bell was a wagon and cabinet maker by trade. In the spring of 1853 they moved to Wapello county, Iowa, where they resided until the outbreak of the Civil war; Mr. Bell then enlisted in a company of Iowa infantry, and in 1862, when fifty years old, he died in St. Louis of pneumonia contracted while in the service. Mrs. Bell survived many years, passing away in 1897, when at the advanced age of eighty-two years. Of the six children of these parents the subject of this sketch is the only one now living.
Samuel N. Bell came into the world in Fayette county, Pennsyl- vania, on the 5th of February, 1844. He grew up to manhood much after the manner of other boys and was early introduced to the practical side of life, and owing to the early death of his father he launched
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out into an independent course in life when only a boy. In 1869 he married Miss Hannah Maria Rice, who was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania; she came west to Iowa several years before her parents made the journey and made her home with her brother in Cincinnati, Iowa. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Bell settled down to married life on what is known as the old Bell farm and were there actively en- gaged in farming until 1893, when they removed to their present com- fortable home west of Cincinnati, where they carry on general farming operations on one hundred acres of choice land.
Four children were born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. Bell, but only two of these are now living. Edwin R. Bell is a farmer and resides on the place just east of the home farm; Della Bell lives at home with her parents. The family are members of the Baptist church of Liv- ingston and are highly respected throughout the community where they have so long been useful citizens.
LIVINGSTON G. PARKER.
This gentleman, who is at present living a retired life at Living- ston. is one of those interesting characters whom every one likes to meet and talk to. He appeals to us an honored veteran of the Civil war, in which he rose to the rank of captain, as a minister of the gospel, as one of the early pioneers and a man of many varied occupations at different periods of life. Having lived long and always been a close observer, Mr. Parker can talk entertainingly on a large variety of subjects, and it well repays an effort to "draw him out" concerning events he has witnessed or been a part of. When it is mentioned that Mr. Parker was born in the year of the battle of Waterloo, it will be
LIVINGSTON G. PARKER.
THE IPURL
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readily apprehended how large a scope of the world's greatest history is embraced within the limits of his career. When he was a baby James Madison was President of the United States, Victoria had not begun to rule England, Napoleon was emperor of France, the state where he now lives had not even been organized into a territory, but was still a wilderness filled with Indians and wolves, which made night hideous with their hungry howlings. It was his fortune to take an active part as a pioneer in one of the American states and to be in touch, as a soldier or civilian, with the mighty events which led up to the Civil war or occurred during the four years of its continuance. He is a grandson of Joseph W. and Abigail Parker, the former of Massachusetts and the latter of Vermont, who settled in New York after their marriage. The grandfather fought in the Revolutionary war, and after the con- clusion of peace engaged in farming, which was his principal occupa- tion throughout his life. The father of our subject, Jeremiah Parker, died in his seventy-seventh year, while his wife Abigail, whose death occurred but a few years ago, had attained the age of ninety.
Livingston G. Parker, a son of the above mentioned couple, was born in Watertown, New York, February 7, 1815, and as he grew up secured an unusually good education for those days. Besides going through the common schools, he was graduated from the Belleville Academy and took a course in civil engineering. He next entered Union College, now Union University, at Schenectady, New York, in which he was graduated in 1835. After teaching school for a num- ber of years in northern New York, he commenced the reading of law with his uncle, Orson Parker, who afterward became noted as a re- vivalist, but our subject was never admitted to the bar. In 1838 he removed to Ohio, where he was employed as an engineer in construct-
35
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ing the Miami canal, and in that state, on the 2d of June, 1841, he was united in marriage to Miss Nancy J. Barney, a sister of a college- mate, with whom he had been associated in the building of the canal. Their wedding tour consisted of a trip to northeastern Indiana, where Mr. Parker secured employment in constructing dams and water power for a milling company. He afterward conducted a book store at Urbana, Ohio, for a time, and both he and his wife taught in the public schools of that city for several years. They came to Appanoose county, Iowa, in 1854, settling at Livingston, where he has ever since resided. After improving his farm to some extent he engaged with J. T. Place in editing the Appanoose Chieftain, but publishing a paper In Centerville at that time was an uphill vocation, and he soon aban- doned the business, although to him is accorded the honor of being the first Republican editor of the county. He taught school one winter in Pleasant township, and among his pupils was C. A. Stanton, with whom he has kept up a lifelong friendship. During the years of 1859- 60 Mr. Parker was engaged in surveying a route for the proposed State Line Railroad, which was afterward built and known as the Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska, now a part of the Burlington system.
When the Civil war was inaugurated, though past the age of mili- tary duty, in company with his eldest son, Mr. Parker enlisted in Company B, Sixth Kansas Cavalry, and shared its fortunes until in May, 1863. He had previously been made quartermaster sergeant and was then given a recruiting commission for Company M, Sixth Kansas Cavalry, but was almost immediately given command of Company B of that regiment and stationed at Westport, Missouri, Captain Harvey and the lieutenants being on detached service, while later he became first lieutenant of Company M. Fifth Kansas Cavalry, and afterward
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captain of the company. The company was a typical frontier crowd, composed of Mexicans, Indians, soldiers from the regular army and men from almost every state in the Union and of almost every nation- ality and occupation, but this company has a record not excelled by any that served in the Civil war. They engaged in the pursuit of Quantrell after the burning of Lawrence, Kansas, and on that occasion were in the saddle for thirty-six hours continuously. When the regiment was mustered out, after three years of service, Companies L and M. which were recruited later, were consolidated under Captain Parker, attached to the Fifteenth Kansas and marched across the plains to Fort Larned, Kansas. They afterward made the return march to Fort Leavenworth and were mustered out in October, 1865.
During the seven years Mr. Parker had resided in Appanoose county prior to the war he had engaged in farming, school teaching, surveying, editing a newspaper, and in addition had been licensed to preach by the Baptist denomination, of which church he had been a member for years. In the summer of 1866 he was regularly ordained and called to the pastorate of the Baptist church at St. John, Missouri, at which place, together with Exline and Livingston, in this county, he preached for a number of years. In 1871 he was a candidate on the Republican ticket for the position of state senator, but was defeated by Senator E. J. Gault. The six children resulting from his marriage were: Edward L .; Jolm, deceased; Benjamin; Charles; Will, de- ceased; and Albert L. After a happy married life of over fifty-three years the wife died in 1894, and since that time Captain Parker has made his home with his sons, Benjamin and Charles, where he has en- joyed the love and respect of a much larger circle of friends than usually falls to the lot of man. He became a resident of this commonwealth
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soon after its admission into the Union, availing himself of an oppor- tunity to join one of those wagon trains quite common in those days, made up of lumbering vehicles called "prairie schooners," and often containing parties of several scores of people. In this slow-moving outfit he journeyed west, and was on the road many days before reach- ing his destination in Appanoose county, Iowa. He became the founder of the town of Livingston, which bears his name, and for years was the postmaster of that hamlet. In 1892, feeling that he had performed his full share, he retired from active business, and the evening of his life is passing serenely, amid friends of long standing and grateful relatives, but best of all in the consciousness of past time well spent and duty well performed.
DAVID STEEL.
To a student of biography there is nothing more interesting than to examine the history of a self-made man and to detect the elements of character which have enabled him to pass on the highway of life many of the companions of his youth who at the outset of their careers were more advantageously equipped or endowed. The subject of this review has through his own exertions attained an honorable position and marked prestige among the representative men of the west, and with signal consistency it may be said that he is the architect of his own for- tunes and one whose success amply justifies the application of the some- what hackneyed but most expressive title, "a self-made man."
Mr. Steel was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, on the 8th of January, 1852, his parents being Matthew and Elizabeth (Bird) Steel. They, too, were natives of the land of hills and heather and spent their entire
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY. 589
lives there. The father followed the occupation of farining in order to provide for his family, which numbered ten children.
David Steel had good common school advantages and when twelve years of age began mining coal, a business with which he has since been connected, either as a mine operator or owner, and to-day he is an important factor in the development of the rich coal resources of Ap- panoose county. Ere leaving his native land he was married in 1873 to Miss Jean Dinning, a daughter of Matthew and Martha (Nicol) Din- ning. Four children were born to them in Scotland: Matthew, Martha, Elizabeth and Jean. With his wife and children Mr. Steel sailed for the United States on the 3d of November, 1880. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to seek a home in America. In this country three other children have been added to the family, David. William and Hugh.
Making his way westward, Mr. Steel was engaged in mining coal in Centerville and in 1883 came to Cincinnati, where he has since re- sided. Here he was again employed as a coal miner until 1888, when he joined several well known business men in the establishment of the Thistle Coal Company, and a shaft was sunk at what is now known as the Thistle mine. A rich coal bed was struck and the output of the mine soon brought an excellent financial return to the owners. Later Mr. Steel and David Dinning purchased the interest of the other part- ners and are now the sole proprietors of two paying and valuable mines. In his political views Mr. Steel is an earnest Republican, giving a loyal support to the men and measures of the party. He is identified with the Masonic fraternity as a Master Mason and he and his wife hold membership in the Congregational church. He is a most genial man, easily approachable by all who may have occasion to seek an audi-
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ence with him, and is very hospitable and generous, being sympathetic in manner and nature and imbued with a broad humanitarian spirit. His life record proves the force of untiring industry as a factor in the busi- ness world, and although he started out for himself empty-handed he is to-day classed among the prosperous and progressive men of his adopted city.
CHARLES CLAWSON.
Charles Clawson is the proprietor of a meat market at Cincinnati and also a well known stock dealer. He was born in Lexington, Mc- Lean county, Illinois, January 1. 1868, and is a son of William and Min- nie (Myers) Clawson. His father was a native of Indiana, and his mother of Illinois. Jesse Clawson, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was born in Pennsylvania and was of Pennsylvania Dutch de- scent. Hoping to enjoy better business opportunities in the west he emigrated to Indiana at an early day in its development, and prior to the Civil war took up his abode in Lee county, Iowa. Subsequently he removed to Wayne county, Iowa, and died at Promise City. By occupa- tion he was a farmer throughout his entire life. The parents of our subject were married in Illinois and the year 1877 witnessed their ar- rival in Iowa. They settled north of Corydon in Wayne county and later became residents of Allerton, Iowa, where they yet reside. By their marriage they had eight children, one of whom is deceased.
Upon his father's farm Charles Clawson was reared and early be- came familiar with the work of tilling the soil. He obtained a common school education. Not desiring to follow the plow as an occupation, at nineteen he became connected with the butchering business in Aller-
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ton, where he remained for two years. He then went to Mendota, Missouri, and entered the employ of the Putnam Supply Company, with which he was connected for five years. On the expiration of that period he arrived in Cincinnati, and with the money which he had saved embarked in business on his own account as proprietor of a good meat market here. He also deals in stock and owns two imported stallions. In his business interests he is associated with his brother-in-law, George M. Smith.
In 1891 occurred the marriage of Mr. Clawson and Miss Mary Smith, of Mendota, Missouri, and they now have three children. In his political views Mr. Clawson is a stalwart Republican and has served as constable and in other minor offices in his town. Socially he is identified with the Masonic fraternity and with the Independent Order of United Workmen. He has spent much of his life in Iowa, and in Cincinnati he has become recognized as a trustworthy man of business who means to win success through perseverance and honorable methods, and who therefore is accorded a good patronage.
JACOB CONDRA.
One of the most pleasant diversions which one can enjoy is to hear from his own lips the personal reminiscences of the old settler, who has passed the greater majority of his allotted years, and now, retired from those toils in which he once delighted, looks back to the days that are only a memory and forward in hope of the future. For him there is no present ; he lives in that sweet, quiet interval when the tempest-tossed world seems receding in the distance and the sea of life is narrowing to the harbor of the evermore. Of such a character is this sketch written,
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and too briefly must we record the life that is so rich in experiences of the past.
For over half a century has Jacob Condra been one of the honored residents of Appanoose county. Born in Crawford county, Indiana, on the 25th of March, 1816, he passed his youth and early manhood on his father's farm, and in 1840 removed to Knox county, Illinois, where he tilled the soil for ten years. In 1850 he came to Iowa and entered four hundred acres of land, where he has since maintained his home. The trip from Illinois to Iowa was made by Mr. Condra and his wife in a wagon drawn by an ox team. They started March 20, 1851, and ar- rived on the first day of April. At the close of the Civil war Mr. Condra distributed all but one hundred and seventy-five acres of his land among his children. On this latter part they now make their home, but rent the land and are retired from all active labor.
In 1838 Mr. Condra was married to Miss Louise Adams, and at the time of this writing they have spent sixty-four years of happy wedded life, experiencing joy and sorrow with equal share. Mrs. Condra was born April 11, 1820. They became the parents of eleven children, of whom three died in infancy, two died after reaching ma- turity, and six are still living, as follows: Isaac N., Rebecca Odell, Leander Franklin, Mary Angeline Kellar, Mrs. Lydia Trimble and John Alonzo. The parents of this family now live alone on their farm and are in very poor health. When able to do so they were regular attendants of the Methodist church in Simpson.
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