Biographical and historical memoirs of Story County, Iowa, Part 56

Author:
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Goodspeed
Number of Pages: 484

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the decision of the voice of God, as manifested by the voice of the people. Having expended his last dollar in pursuing his legal studies, he only waited to vote, as a matter of form, and borrowing $10, with which to reach Louisville, Ky., then the paradise of Northern teachers, he started out to find work and bread. While teaching in Shelby County, of that State, he enlisted in May, 1846, in Humphrey Marshall's regiment of Mounted Volunteers for the Mexi- can War, and, with his regiment, was mustered in at Louisville, going to Memphis by boat. From there they marched to Little Rock, crossed the Red River at Fulton, and diagonally from the northeast corner of Texas to the Rio Grande, near Camargo. This wearisome trail of many hundreds of miles, much of it through the swamps in mid-summer, bridging morasses and quicksands, was more fatal to life than a severe battle would have been. January 23, 1847, in company with Capt. Cassius M. Clay, of the same regiment, and Maj. Solon Borland, of Yell's regiment of Arkansas Mounted Vol- unteers, and seventy others, he was captured by 3,000 Mexican cavalry, and their imprisonment lasted until October, during which time he was marched nearly 2,000 miles under guard, and confined in many different prisons, the most noted of which was that of Santiago, in the City of Mexico. He at one time escaped, with a comrade, and after severe toil and suffering of several days' duration, narrowly escaped butch- ery at the hands of his captors. He also had a memorable escape from death on the second day after the capture at Encarnacian, but ow- ing to the coolness and courage of Cassius M. Clay, he was saved from an ignominious death. He, with most of the survivors, was liberated at Tampico, and narrowly escaped going to the bot- tom of the Gulf of Mexico, owing toan unseawor- thy Government steamer, during a storm on the twelve days' trip from Tampico to the Balize.

Young Scott was selected by his comrades to write up the events of their unique war ex- perience, which he did in an octavo book of 128 pages, published at Louisville in 1848, the title being " Encarnacian; or, the Prisoners in Mexico." In 1849, having married in Janu- ary, Miss Selina A. Bell, of Orange County, N. Y., he was elected principal of the New Bath Seminary at Owingsville, Ky., and in 1852 he bought and published the Kentucky Whig, at Mt. Sterling. Two years later he resumed teaching and opened a boarding school for girls at Flemingsburg. On the first day of August in that year, while he was selecting lands for entry in Iowa, his wife died of cholera at Bell's Chalybeate Springs, in Fleming County, leaving an infant son. The ensuing two years were employed mainly in visiting Masonic Grand Lodges and eminent Masons in the interest of the Universal Masonic Library, a publication of thirty large volumes, under the auspices of the eminent Masonic Poet Laureate, Robert Morris. This work brought him to the Grand Lodge of Iowa, in 1856, where he learned that his investments of two years be- fore in Benton and Tama Counties had rapidly appreciated in value, and he then determined to make Iowa his home. Of this visit and its results, Hon. T. S. Parwin, then, as now, Grand Secretary, relates in his sketch of Scott as Grand Master, published in the volume for 1873, the following incidents: " We well remember that at the communication at Oska- loosa in 1856, the Grand Lodge wound up with a sort of experience meeting, or love- feast, as it would be called by the Methodist brethren. The writer was making (says Par- win) as he supposed, the last speech, and was somewhat happy in his effort, under the inspir- ation of the occasion, when, as he concluded, a voice as if of thunder from the farthest cor- ner of the hall rose upon the doubly silent

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throng, and said: 'Most Worshipful Grand Master, if this is a free fight I would like to pitch in.' The Kentucky vernacular was under- stood, and the inimitable Sanford, Grand Mas- ter, responded: 'Go in.' For the space of five minutes words sweet as incense fell upon the ears of a silent auditory. When the stranger had finished he was no longer a stranger, for we took him to our hearts at once. Such was Scott's introduction to Iowa Masons. He settled at Nevada, a lodge was organized there, and Brother Scott appeared at the next com- munication of the Grand Lodge as the repre- sentative of No. 99, which owes much of its continued prosperity to his first work. In 1857 we hear of him as eminent commander of Des Moines Commandery, and honors crowded on him rapidly. He was elected Senior Grand Warden in 1859, appointed Deputy Grand Master in 1867, and was elected Grand Master in 1869 and again in 1870. He was first custodian in 1860. His absence in the war broke in upon the continuity of his labors and Masonic service. Of his work as Grand Mas- ter we need not now speak; the brethren know his record as well as we. He was first initi- ated, passed and raised in Wingate Lodge No. 161, Kentucky. He received the capitular de- grees in Sharpsburg Chapter No. 109, they being tendered with his fees and dues, in return for the gratuitous education of the orphans of a former beloved member. He was knighted at Hickman, Ky., under the hand of the Eminent Sir Robert Morris; received the Royal and Select Masters' degrees at Baltimore, Md., and, if he pleases, writes at the end of his name '32°,' as the symbol of his position in the Scottish Rite, which he received at the hands of Illustrious Albert G. Mackey, of Charleston, S. C., then Grand Secretary and Treasurer of the Southern jurisdiction." As seen above, Mr. Scott became a citizen of Story County in

1856. He had previously purchased an interest in the forty acres which he soon platted as Scott's Addition to Nevada. He opened an office for law and land business, but at that time the cases for the former were mostly of a trifling nature, and the labor and confinement irksome. He gave the most of his attention to the land interests, which occupa- tion was more agreeable to his tastes and promised better returns. He was soon recog- nized as one to take an active part in public affairs, and in 1857 was tendered the support of the Republican County Convention as a member of the House of Representatives. This proved to be equivalent to an election, but he declined it. In 1859 he was elected a member of the Senate of the Eighth General Assembly from the counties of Boone, Hamil- ton, Hardin and Story. The business of the session of 1860 was important, including the revision of the entire code. Among the mem- bers of the Senate and House were James F. Wilson, W. F. Coolbaugh, Alvin Saunders, John W. Rankin, John F. Dancombe, Cyrus Bussey, Nat. Baker, Thomas S. Wilson, H. C. Caldwell, and numerous others who have il- lustrated the history of this and other States, in war, in council, at the bar and on the bench. The extra session of 1861 was called to provide for Iowa's share in the defense of the nation. Because of his supposed experience in the War of 1846, his neighbors who volunteered looked to Mr. Scott to lead them, and Gov. Kirkwood was kind enough to suggest the command of a regiment. The latter he declined in favor of those supposed to have a military education, but in the emergency yielded to the pressure of public opinion, left a wife and babes and a seat in the Senate for "three years or during the war." He entered the service in May, 1861, as captain of Company E, Third Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and upon the organization

July

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of the field and staff in June, he was commis- sioned lieutenant-colonel. The summer of 1861 was passed in Northern Missouri. In September the battle of Blue Mills Ferry was fought by 500 men of the Third Iowa, a sec- tion of artillery and 200 Missouri Home Guards, all under command of Col. Scott, and against several thousand Missouri troops com- manded by Hon. David R. Atchison. The Iowa troops acted with much gallantry, but retired before a greatly superior force, the losses being about equal, but the honors were with the Federal forces. During the follow- ing winter he served on a military commission in St. Louis, which tried many citizens for acts of disloyalty. One of these was Magof- fin, a brother of the governor of Kentucky, whom the commission sentenced to be hung for the assassination of Federal soldiers, In An- gust, 1862, Mr. Scott was made colonel of the Thirty-second Iowa Infantry, the service of which regiment was highly arduons and honor- able to the command. It especially distin- guished itself in the unfortunate Red River campaign, and in the battle fought at Pleasant Hill, La., under command of Col. Scott, April 9, 1864, proudly illuminated Iowa's war record by valor and losses that were scarcely equaled and not surpassed during the entire war. At the Republican State Convention in 1867 Col. Scott's name was presented without his knowl- edge for the place of lieutenant-governor of Iowa, and he received the nomination and was duly elected, presiding as such over the Senate " of the Twelfth General Assembly. In 1869 he was appointed assessor of internal revenue over a district comprising about one-third of the State, extending from Black Hawk County to the Missouri River. He held this position until the duties were transferred to the office of collector. In 1885 he was elected to the Senate of the Twenty-first General Assembly,

and, as was always the case, discharged his duties in a very efficient manner. He has also served as township clerk, has been presi- dent of the local school board, president of the County Agricultural Society, director and president of the State Agricultural Society, director and president of the State Improved Stock Breeders' Association, president of the State Association for Farmers' Institutes, presi- dent of the State Road Improvement Associa- tion, president of the County Association of War Veterans, and is now (1890) president of the Old Settlers' Association of Story County. Besides the political, military and semi-public duties appertaining to these positions, and the personal business that has claimed attention in looking after real-estate interests, farming, horticulture, etc., he has found time to edit for two years the Farmer's Journal, at Cedar Rapids, an industrial department in the Daven- port Gazette for one year, to contribute to the columns of industrial and local papers, to serve one year as professor of military tactics in the Iowa Agricultural College at Ames, and to compile an extended history of his family. He has, on invitation, delivered addresses on patriotic anniversaries at various places and before all the State associations before named, also the State Teachers' Association, the State Drainage or Tilemakers' Association, besides delivering addresses before the State societies in Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and Michigan. In 1858 he was married to Annie Crabb, near his native place, but she died on January 26, 1862, at her father's house in Ohio after a very brief illness. She left two children, neither of whom are now living. November 24, 1863, he wedded Mary S. Wright, of Free- port, Ill., who, with one daughter and three children belonging to his only son, who reached manhood and married, constitute his present family. Many thousand trees of his planting

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are to be seen in the town and county, and much of the fine stock in Central Iowa at the present day are descendants of animals intro- duced by him. He aroused many young minds to a sense of their capacity for usefulness and honor during his work as a pedagogue. Iowa is a monument to the pioneer law-makers, of whom he is one, and he who has done these things can scarcely be said to have lived in vain. He is five feet eleven inches in height, weighs 200 pounds, fair and florid in com- plexion, sanguine, impulsive and frank even to the verge of bluntness, despises cant, hypocrisy and meanness, is impatient with stupidity, loves his old friends, but would rather punish than conciliate his enemies. Though these qualities are not such as make one successful in politics Col. Scott has been for more than thirty years the leading figure in Story County, and one among the representative citizens of the State.

Andrew Scott, farmer and stock-raiser, Ames, Iowa. Prominent among the substantial men of the county, whose career thus far has been both honorable and successful, is the subject of this sketch. His father, John Scott, was born in Washington County, Penn., in 1803, and his mother, whose maiden name was Miss Mary Freed, was a native of Ohio. Andrew Scott was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, in 1832, one of nineteen children, the result of his father's first and second marriages. Only the follow- ing are now living: Eliza, Robert, George, Ja- son, Albert, Sarah and Hannah. Andrew Scott grew to manhood in the State of his na- tivity, obtained a good common-school educa- tion, and came to Scott County, Iowa, in 1854. In the spring of the following year he came to Story County, located a claim and soon re- turned to Scott County, where he resided until 1857. He then returned to Story County, and has made this county his home ever since. He was married in the fall of 1859 to Miss Zilphia

A. Grove, a daughter of Adam L. and Rachel (Antrum) Grove. To Mr. and Mrs. Scott were born eight children, six of whom are still living: Amanda E., Mary J., John M., William A., Ra- chel, Josiah D., Frank F. and Carrie M. . Mrs. Scott died in the spring of 1873, and in 1880 Mr. Scott chose for his second wife Miss Ida J. Goldsmith, a native of Illinois, and the daugh- ter of George and Mary J. (Green) Gold- smith, who are now residing at Ames in Story County. Mr. Scott learned the carpenter trade in Ohio and followed this for some time after coming to Story County. He is now the owner of 160 acres of the finest land in the county, and is a man of industry and enterprise. His farming operations are conducted in a manner indicative of a progressive, thorough agricult- urist; his stock is of a high grade, for long ago he found that it was poor economy to raise inferior animals. Energetic and public-spir- ited, he never fails to aid any movement which tends to benefit the county or his fellow-men. Politically he has at all times been a member of the Democratic party. Mr. Scott and all his family are members of the Christian Church in the township where he resides.

J. B. Shaw, a prominent farmer and stock raiser, residing on Section 30, Sherman Town- ship, located on his farm in the fall of 1876. Originally from Clermont County, Ohio, he is the sixth of nine children born to the marriage of Daniel and Sarah (Tice) Shaw, and his birth occurred in 1833. His father, a native of New Jersey, was born about 1793, and served in the War of 1812 under Zachary Taylor. He was a farmer by occupation, and followed agricult- ural pursuits all his life, dying in Ohio in 1847, and leaving a widow who survived him one year. They reared all of their children to maturity, but only four of them are now living: A. B. (is connected with a newspaper in North Springfield, Mo.), J. B., Sarah (now Mrs.

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Sharts, of Indianapolis, Ind. ) and Griffin (a farmer of Henry County, Ind.) J. B. Shaw passed his boyhood and early youth in Ohio, his education being obtained at the Milford Academy. At the age of fifteen years he went to Indiana, and engaged as clerk in a dry goods store, being thus occupied for eight years, and after farming in that State for one year he came to Keokuk County, Iowa, and there made his home until 1876, at which time he cast his fortunes with Story County. He was married in the "Hoosier State," in 1856, to Miss Amanda E. Sharts, of Marion County, daugh- ter of Daniel and Catherine (Ringer ) Sharts, and their union has been blessed in the birth of six children: Daniel (a farmer of New Al- bany Township), Belle ( Mrs. Krouse, of Greene County, Iowa), Sherman (at home), B. F. (now attending commercial college at Des Moines, Iowa) and Della and Lottie (at home). Upon arriving in this county, in 1876, Mr. Shaw purchased 225 acres of raw land, which now comprises his farm. This he has well im- proved with a good dwelling, which he erected the same fall he settled here, barns, sheds, etc., and a fine lot of forest trees, besides a quantity of small fruits. His farm is all well fenced and drained, he having used over a car-load of tile on it. In politics he is an active Republican, and frequently attends the conventions as del- egate, and he has three times served as chair- man of the county convention. He has also served as assessor and township trustee. He always takes an active part in church and Sun- day-school work, and has acted as superintend- ent of the Evangelical Lutheran Sunday-school of Johnson's Grove, he and wife both being members of that denomination. He has ever taken an active interest in all things tending to benefit the county. He helped to organize this school district, and was its first director, and has several times served as president and

secretary of the school board. Socially he affiliates with Columbia Lodge No. 292, A. F. & A. M.

Elias W. Shearer, farmer and stock-raiser, Collins, Iowa. Of that sturdy and independent class, the farmers of Iowa, none are possessed of more genuine merit and a stronger character than he whose name stands at the head of this sketch; he has risen to more than an ordinary degree of success in his calling as an agricult- urist and stockman, and wherever known he is conceded to be an energetic and progressive tiller of the soil. His birth occurred in Marion County, Ind., on the 3d of January, 1844, and he is the son of Michael Shearer, who was a native of Maryland, but who was reared in the Keystone State. Michael Shearer was twice married, his second wife, Miss Catherine Mc- Cord, a native of Ohio, being the mother of our subject. Mr. Shearer moved from Indi- ana to Iowa in 1848, settling in Wapello Coun- ty, and was one of the pioneers. He cleared and improved a farm, and there remained until his death about 1850. His. wife survived him several years, and died in Story County since the war. Elias W. Shearer, the third of six sons, became familiar with the duties of the farm in youth, and was reared in Wapello. In March, 1862, he enlisted in Company E, Seventeenth Iowa Infantry, and served until discharged in May, 1865. He was promoted to sergeant in November, 1863, and served in that capacity until the close of the war. He participated in a number of engagements, the most prominent being Corinth, Iuka, Jackson, Champion's Hill, Vicksburg, Missionary Ridge, and was captured at Resaca in the fall of 1864, being held a prisoner at Andersonville most of the time until the close of the war. He was honorably discharged at Davenport in 1865, after which he returned to Wapello Coun- ty, Iowa. In the spring of 1868 he came

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to Story County, Iowa, and has been a resident of the same ever since. He bought eighty acres of land in 1868, and this immediately commenced to improve and cultivate. To this he has since added enough to make 320 acres of excellent land, all well cultivated and im- proved. He keeps a good grade of stock, and uses a thoroughbred animal for breeding pur- poses, always having on hand a high grade of cattle, horses and hogs. His commodious resi- dence and other buildings indicate a thrifty 1

and progressive owner, and in the management of everything connected with his farm Mr. Shearer shows excellent judgment and sound practical sense, qualities which cannot fail of success. He has a nice grove of forest trees, three acres of orchard of select fruit, and has everything attractive and pleasant abont his place. In his political preference he is a Re- publican, and has held a number of local posi- tions in the township, viz .: Township clerk, assessor, etc. Mr. Shearer was married in Story County on the 5th of September, 1869, to Miss Eliza E. Shenkle, a native of Indiana, and the daughter of Benjamin Shenkle (de- ceased). Six children blessed this union: Anna (wife of Emmett B. Weise, of this coun- ty), Jennie, Charles Perry, George Nelson, John L. and Edith May. Mr. Shearer is a member of the Maxwell G. A. R. Post, and Mrs. Shearer is a member of the United Brethren Church.

Erik Sheldahl is one of the honest " sons of the soil " of Story County, Iowa, and is now engaged in cultivating an estate which com- prises 1783 acres of well-improved land, a por- tion of which is well covered with timber, and on which are a comfortable frame residence, good out-buildings and all the necessaries that go toward making his home comfortable and hap- py. He is a native of Norway, and until his removal to the United States his home was

about seventy miles south of the ancient city of Bergen. He was born on the 15th of Feb- ruary, 1815, being the fifth of eight children born to Erik Sheldahl and Bandy Shedahl, | the names of their family being as follows: Anna and Lars (who are dead), Erasmus (who is married and resides in Story County, Iowa, being one of the successful tillers of the soil of this section), Maggie (who is a widow and a resident of this county), Erik (the subject of this sketch comes next), Haldor (a success- ful educator of Norway), Carrie (who is a resi- dent of Kansas, her husband being a farmer), and Osmon (who is an able minister of the Lutheran Church in Story County). The fa- ther of these children was a collector in his native land, and was also a practical and ener- getic farmer. He died in Norway when about seventy years of age. His wife also died about that age, having been an earnest Chris- tian and a faithful wife and mother. Erik - Sheldahl obtained his early educational train- ing in the common schools and by private tutors, and being of a quick perception and possessing an excellent memory, the knowledge he obtained has been of practical benefit to him since. At the early age of fourteen years he commenced earning his own living, and al- though he possessed not a dollar at that time, his capital consisting wholly of a pair of will- ing hands, a determined spirit and a good con- stitution, he has done well, and besides becom- ing possessed of considerable property, has won the good-will of all. He first began teach- ing school, following this occupation in connec- tion with farming, and these occupations con- tinued to receive his attention for from fifteen to twenty years. He was very successful as an educator, and has always been a warm friend to the public schools, doing all in his power to improve them in every way. On the 10th of May, 1847, he emigrated direct from

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his native land to America and landed at New York City, from which place he went to Milwau- kee, Wis., afterward moving to Kendall Coun- ty, Ill. Here he remained for a period of seven years, then emigrated directly to his present farm, and although the country was raw prairie land, and not a house to be seen here, he determined to pitch his tent. He, with others who had emigrated here, built them log-cabins and began gradually to make improvements, and although he and his family had to suffer many hardships, trials and vicis- situdes, which are the usual accompaniments of pioneer life, they were more than ordi- marily successful. He has always been an active Republican in his political views, and his first presidential vote was cast for John C. Fremont. In the capacity of school director and trustee, a position he has filled for many years, lie has had their advancement at heart, and in his good judgment the people have implicit confi- dence. He was first married to Miss Maggie Shuld, who was born in Norway June 22, 1819, and to them eight children were born: Betsey (of Story County, Iowa), and Randy (an in- fant), and Erik (aged eleven, who are de- ceased, the first-mentioned being married and her husband a farmer of Story County), Mar- tha (who is married, her husband being a resi- dent of this county), Maggie (who was the wife of Ole Fritz, a farmer of Story County, died at the age of thirty-three years ), Hanner (married, her husband being a resident of this county ). Mr. Sheldahl's first wife died June 18, 1859, and the following January he mar- ried again, and to them have been born twelve children: Erik (a clerk of Cambridge), Lou (a clerk in a large retail establishment in the city of Des Moines), Benjamin (deceased), Henry R. (an intelligent and well-educated young man, assists his father on the farm), Anna (whose husband is a farmer in this coun-

ty), Maggie (a school teacher, and remains with her parents), Carrie, two children who died in infancy, Osmon (who is twelve years of age), and an infant (the youngest in the family, deceased). Both Mr. and Mrs. Shel- dahl are devout members of the Norwegian Lutheran Church, the same being located near their home, and all their children are also in- terested in the cause of Christianity, and con- tribute liberally to worthy enterprises. Here, surrounded by their children and numerous friends, Mr. and Mrs. Sheldahl expect to pass their declining years, and being very hospita- ble, charitable and kind to the poor and op- pressed, they fully deserve their present good fortune.

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Biographical and historical memoirs of Story County, Iowa, Part 56

Author: Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago : Goodspeed Number of Pages: 484

Author:
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Goodspeed
Number of Pages: 484