USA > Iowa > Clarke County > Biographical and historical record of Clarke County, Iowa > Part 20
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After selling the mill Mr. Larrabee de- voted himself to farming, and started a private bank at Clermont. He also, ex- perimentally, started a large nursery, but this resulted only in confirming the belief that Northern Iowa has too rigorous a cli- mate for fruit-raising.
Mr. Larrabee did not begin his political career until 1867. He was reared as a Whig, and became a Republican on the or- ganization of that party. While interested in politics he generally refused local offices, serving only as treasurer of the School Board prior to 1867. In the autumn of that year, on the Republican ticket, he was elected to represent his county in the State Senate. To this high position he was re- elected from time to time, so that he served as Senator continuously for eighteen years before being promoted to the highest office in the State. He was so popular at home that he was generally re-nominated by ac- clamation, and for some years the Demo- crats did not even make nominations. During the whole eighteen years Senator Larrabee was a member of the principal committee, that on Ways and Means, of which he was generally chairman, and was
also a member of other committees. In the pursuit of the duties thus devolving upon him he was indefatigable. It is said that he never missed a committee meeting. Not alone in this, but in private and public business of all kinds his uniform habit is that of close application to work. Many of the important measures passed by the Legislature owe their existence or present form to him.
He was a candidate for the gubernatorial nomination in 18S1, but entered the contest too late, as Governor Sherman's following had been successfully organized. In 1885 it was generally conceded before the meet- ing of the convention that he would be nominated, which he was, and his election followed as a matter of course. He was inaugurated January 14, 1886, and so far has made an excellent Governor. His position in regard to the liquor question, that on which political fortunes are made and lost in Iowa, is that the majority should rule. He was personally in favor of high license, but having been elected Governor, and sworn to uphold the Constitution and execute the laws, he proposes to do so.
A Senator who sat beside him in the Senate declares him to be "a man of the broadest comprehension and information, an extraordinarily clear reasoner, fair and conscientious in his conclusions, and of Spartan firmness in his matured judg- ment," and says that "he brings the prac- tical facts and philosophy of human nature, the science and history of law, to aid in his decisions, and adheres with the earnestness of Jefferson and Sumner to the fundamental principles of the people's rights in govern- ment and law."
Governor Larrabee was married Sep- tember 12, 1861, at Clermont, to Anna M. Appelman, daughter of Captain G. A. Appelman. Governor Larrabee has seven children-Charles, Augusta, Julia, Anna, William, Frederic and Helen.
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EORGE W. HOWE, was one of the first settlers of Clarke County, and was the pioneer merchant of Osceola, where he was engaged in business at the time of his death, which occurred October 1, 1864. He was born in Enfield, Massa- chusetts, August 2, ISIo, and was the second son of Sylvanus and Sukey (Joslin) Howe, descendants of one of the original founders of the town. He grew to man- hood on the farm of his father, and at- tended the common school. At the age of twenty-one he entered the store of Saxton & Field, and afterward became a member of the firm under the name of Saxton, Field & Co. In 1836 he formed a partner- ship with Seth Richards, and emigrated to the Territory of Wisconsin, which then in- cluded the Territory of Iowa, and settled at Fort Madison, where he established a store under the firm name of Howe & Richards; and soon after the arrival, in 1837, of his partner, Seth Richards, they removed their stock of goods to Bentons- port, in Van Buren County, lowa. Owing to the financial troubles in 1837 they went out of business and engaged in farming, making two farms in Van Buren County, he driving the ox teams to break the prairie. In 1840 lie engaged as a clerk for A. J. Davis, in his store at Bentonsport, 20
and afterward had charge of a store at lowaville, Iowa. In 1848 he established a store at Red Rock, Marion County, lowa, in partnership with Seth Richards, under the firm name of Howe & Richards. In IS50 the same firm entered 960 acres of land near the center of Clarke County, 160 acres of which they sold to the county in 1851, and upon that land the town of Osce- ola is located. The price paid was 6212 cents per acre. Having been compelled in 1851 to remove his stock of goods from Red Rock, by the high waters of the Des Moines River in June of that year, he took them to what was then called Lost Camp, in Green Bay Township, Clarke County, where he remained until Osceola was founded in November, 1851, when he re- moved to that place and continued there the mercantile business under the firm name of Howe & Richards. This firm had branch stores at Corydon, Wayne County, Afton, Union County, and Bedford, Taylor County, Iowa. Mr. Howe was an honest and upright man in all his dealings, and was a friend of the poor, and assisted many a good man to secure a home in Clarke County before the days of home- stead laws. Ile married in September, 1863, Miss Martha S. Underwood, daughter of Roswell Underwood, of Enfield, Massa-
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chusetts. She still survives him. His estate was worth $200,000, all of which he accumulated himself without any assist- ance from others.
P. GLENN is a native of Sangamon County, Illinois, a son of Thomas M. @ and Anna (Scott) Glenn, natives of South Carolina. He was born November 6, 1825, and was reared on a farm, making his home with his parents, and obtained his education in the common schools, which he attended in the winter. When twenty years of age he enlisted in the Mexican war in Colonel Baker's regiment, Company E, Fourth Illinois, from De Witt County. He was absent from home just twelve months. his most important engagements being the siege of Vera Cruz and the battle of Cerro Gordo. He returned to his home in Illi- nois and engaged in farming. In 1853 he with his family and parents, moved to Clarke County, Iowa, and entered 160 acres of Government land on the northwest quarter of section 27, township 73, range 25 west, Fremont Township. He at once went to work to build a cabin in which to shelter his family, which consisted of a wife and two children. Here he lived two years, when he sold out at an advance on the purchase price, and bought an adjoining farm, which he afterward sold and moved to Kansas. Meeting with reverses there he returned to Iowa where he has since lived. At the breaking out of the war of the Re- bellion he raised what was known as Com- pany F, Sixth lowa Infantry, which was the first company to leave for the field from Clarke County. He participated in the battle of Shiloh and had many narrow escapes, but was by shot or shell uninjured. He was married July 1, 1847, to Frances Orlena Hamilton, and to them were born nine children-Thomas M., Olive A., James,
K., Samuel P., Orlena, Tabitha, Ruth, George and Fanny. James K., Samuel P., Orlena and George are deceased. Mrs. Glenn died February 3, 1866, and in 1867 Mr. Glenn married Miss Sarah E. Harlan, a daughter of Aaron and Jemima (Polly) Harlan, early settlers of Clarke County. Mr. Harlan was born in Barren County, Kentucky, January 13, 1803, and in his in- fancy his father moved to Hamilton County, Ohio, and thence in 1807 to Wayne County, Indiana, where he lived until manhood. He married Jemima, daughter of Wilham and Jemima (Kelsoe) Polly, and to them were born eight children-James R., Stephen, Hosea, Noah, Aaron, Edee, Nancy and Sarah E. Mr. Harlan came to Clarke County in the fall of 1853, and first pur- chased eighty acres of land in Osceola Township, northeast of the village. He afterward bought forty-five acres in Fre- mont Township. He is now in the seventy- fourth year of his age, and is one of the oldest residents of Clarke County.
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ARREN CONAWAY, an enter- prising citizen of Knox Township, where he resides on section 5, was born in MeLean County, Illinois, Septem- ber 28, 1839. His parents, Aquilla and Rachel (Barnett) Conaway, were natives of Maryland and Kentucky respectively. Our subject was the youngest in a family of nine children, whose names are as follows -Catharine, Milton, James H., William, Providence, Aquilla, Margaret A., Nancy Jane and Warren. Warren Conaway re- mained on the home farm in MeLean County till eighteen years of age, his edu- cation being received in the common schools of his native county. At the age of eighteen years he removed with his pa- rents to Daviess County, Missouri, living there till the breaking out of the war of the
Respectfully Jours Johan Millonough,
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Rebellion, when he enlisted in the Forty- eighth Missouri State Militia. He served four years, engaged in fighting the bush- whackers and guerrillas, and in guarding the rights of loyal citizens. He left Daviess County in 1870, when he came to Clarke County, Iowa, and located on his present farm in Knox Township, which contains 160 acres of highly cultivated land, and has since been engaged in farming and stock- raising. He has a good, comfortable resi- dence, commodious barn and out-buildings for his stock. Mr. Conaway was married to Elizabeth Ann Day, December 29, 1864, and to this union have been born seven children-Irwin Edgar, Armilda E., Emma L., Elmer Herman, Nova C., Roscoe and Marcella. Mr. Conaway started in life without means, but by his untiring industry and persevering energy he has made his present fine property, and is to-day classed among the representative men of Knox Township.
OHN MCDONOUGH is a native of Greene County, Pennsylvania, born July 14, 1820, a son of Richard and Ann (Mellon) McDonough, both natives of Ireland. the father born in County Ferma- nagh, in 1791, and the mother in County Tyrone, in 1790. They were married in New York about 1814, and to them were born ten children, of whom John was the fourth. They located in Pittsburgh, Penn- sylvania, about the year 1816, but shortly after went to Greene County, where they remained five or six years. They then returned to Pittsburgh, locating on Char- tens Creek, in the suburbs, about 1824. Both died in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, the father February 1, 1840, and the mother surviving till May 28, 1863. John McDon- ough, the subject of thissketch, was reared in Pittsburgh and Allegheny City, receiving his education in the schools of the latter
city, but on account of the limited circum- stances of his parents his facilities were not very good. At the age of seventeen years he began working in the foundry of Kingsland, Leightner & Co., and remained with that firm and their successors sixteen years, and in the meantime availed himself of the night schools, where he received a fair education. He had not been in the employ of the firm long before he was taken into the office, and was gradually promoted from post to post until January I, 1851, when he was admitted as a partner, the firm being then known by the name of Bollman, Garretson & Co., iron founders. He remained with this firm till January, 1853, when he started a foundry in Alle- gheny City under the firm name of McDon- ough & Stewart. He sold out his interest in this foundry June 1, 1854, to John D. Kilgor, and in the same month visited Iowa. He was so taken with the country that he entered a section of land in Jackson Township, where he now lives. He then returned to his home, but in the spring of 1855 came with his family to Clarke County, where he found the house which he had contracted to build, lying flat on the ground. The family were obliged to camp in wagons, and although they endured many hardships they stuck to the place through the pioneer days, and are now liv- ing in comfortable circumstances, having a most beautiful home. Since coming here Mr. McDonough has devoted most of his time to farming and stock-raising, in which he has been very successful, owning at present about 500 acres of choice land, and at times has owned much more. The quiet life of a farmer has had charms even for one who has been raised among the " madding crowd" of a great city, and engaged among the noises of manufacto- ries. April 12, 1847, Mr. McDonough was married at Brady's Bend, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, to Miss Agnes
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Campbell, who was born in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, February 24, 1823. a daughter of James and Mary Campbell, who were both natives of Scotland, they. coming to America about 1819. Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Mc- Donough, all of whom survive-James C., of Dakota, was born March 1, 1848, and married to Electa J. Hamilton in April, 1880; Richard S., of Hastings, Iowa, was born February 7, 1850, married June 18, 1879, to Kate Duval; Mary, at home, born August 11, 1852; John, Jr., born Septem- ber 12, 1854, living at home; Charles B., at home, born March 30, 1858; Thomas Benton, at home, born June S, 1860; Ann Mellon, born June 26, 1862, and William C., born October 7, 1867. Mr. McDonough has for a number of years past been an en- ergetic advocate and worker in the cause of education. After coming here he was elected school director, next justice of the peace, which office he filled a number of years. He next served as county supervisor two or three terms, then was a trustee of the lowa Agricultural College at the time of the contract for the present building. During the late war he was Captain of a company of home guards in the Southern Border Brigade. He was president of the Clarke County Agricultural Association, having purchased their fair grounds at a sheriff's sale, selling it in stock shares to residents who made it one of the very best in lowa. He helped organize the Old Settler's Association of Clarke County, and was its first president. In the fall of 1883 he was elected Senator of the fifth Senatorial District (Clarke and Decatur) to the twentieth and twenty-first General Assembly, and is still serving as such, and is on record as a staunch supporter of tem- perance, and of woman's rights and suf- frage. Mr. McDonough is extensively engaged in stock-raising, giving particular attention to horses. Few men in Clarke
County are more widely known or more generally respected than John McDon- ough. He has been active in the support of every movement calculated to pro- mote the general welfare of his township and county, and has won the confidence and esteem of all who know him. In his polit- ical views Mr. McDonough formerly affili- ated with the Whig party, but since the organization of the Republican party has voted that ticket. Mr. McDonough is an active member of the Catholic church, and took a prominent part in the erection of the first Catholic church in Clarke County, at Woodburn. Though a staunch believer in the doctrines of his church he has freely contributed for the erection of other churches, regardless of color or creed.
WYATT is one of the wealthy pio- neers of Franklin Township. His first house was a rude cabin, 18 x 20 feet, built of logs on 160acres of land, on sec- tion, 22, purchased from John Jackson, in April 1854. Commencing in this small way, he has made rapid progress, and is now one of the leading agriculturists in the town- ship. His farm of 28412 acres is devoted to stock-raising, for which it is especially adapted. It consists of prairie up-land, natural meadow and timber-land, and the main branch of the Chariton River runs through the farm, giving a water frontage of three-quarters of a mile. Mr. Wyatt was born in Indiana, near Terre Haute, September 7, 1820. After the age of one year he lived in Edgar County, Illinois. He was early inured to farm labor, and the lessons of his youth were never forgotten. December 3, 1846, in Edgar County, Mr. Wyatt married Miss Eliza Jane Scott, who was born in that county, January 21, 1826. They came to Wapello County, this State, October 25, 1853, and to their present
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home the following spring. The rude cabin of pioncer days has given way to an elegant residence, and all corresponding improvements. Of their ten children but four are living-William E., living in Lu- cas County; Jacob B. and Mrs. Electa J. Wells also reside in Lucas County; James R., lives with his parents; Joseph B., Frank- lin, John, Luther C., Margaret A. and Cinderilla C. arc deceased. Mr. Wyatt was the fourth child of fourteen children. His parents, William and Elizabeth (Prick- et) Wyatt, were from Virginia. The father died in Edgar County, Illinois, and the mother in Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt have been connected with the Bap- tist church for thirty-five years. In poli- tics he is a Democrat.
BRAHAM CARTER, M. D., de- ceased, was born in Mason County, Kentucky, October 22, 1800, and died at his home in Osceola, Iowa, June 26, 1874. He was well known in Southern Indiana, where he had gained a strong foothold on the affections of the people by his skill in his profession. He began the study of medicine, after completing his academical education, in the office of Dr. Donnavan, of Bracken County, Kentucky, and at- tended lectures at the Transylvania Uni- versity, under Drs. Dudley, Richardson, Blythe and colleagues, in 1821 and 1822. After his graduation he practiced in his native county a short time, and then in 1825 moved to Decatur County, Indiana, and located near Greensburgh, where he continued in the practice of medicine until 1853, when he moved to Indianapolis, and from there moved to lowa, whither most of his children had preceded him. He was a conscientious, untiring worker, and the labor and exposures incident to the faith- ful pursuit of his profession undermined
his health, and for some years he was practi- cally retired from practice. As the time drew near for his departure from this world, he was fully aware of his approach- ing dissolution, but to one who for more than half a century had lived a consistent and earnest Christian lite death was no terror, and he went with joy to claim the rewards of a well-spent life. When thir- teen years of age he became a member of the Christian church, maintaining his rela- tions to that denomination until he was transferred to the church triumphant. He was a close student of the Bible and Chris- tian literature, and in the church was an efficient and reliable worker. In all his relations to mankind he was strictly honor- able and was universally esteemed. He was a pioneer of the medical profession in Southern Indiana, and gained an enviable reputation by his successful treatment of disease, and especially by his skillfulness in all surgical cases. He was without a peer in his section of the State, and was called upon to go long distances to perform difficult operations. Dr. Carter was mar- ried November 22, 1822, to Miss Harriet Norris, and to them were born five chil- dren-Adelia, Richardson, Caspar, Perlina and Elizabeth, only two of whom are now living-Mrs. Adelia New, of Indianapolis, and Casper Carter, of Osceola, Iowa.
HOMAS B. O'NEALL resides on the southwest quarter of section 32, Liberty Township, where he settled in 1868. He has 280 acres of prairie land and twenty-four acres of timber, all in ex- cellent condition. He was born in Greenc County, Indiana, August 24, 1840. His parents, William and Mary (Boyd) O'Neall, were natives of South Carolina, and moved to Greene County in 1829, purchasing a slightly improved farm in the forests of In-
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diana. A cabin had been erected and a few acres chopped. There the family lived until Thomas B. was fourteen years of age, then moved to Warren County, Illinois, where he was reared to manhood. He came to Clarke County, Iowa, February 20, 1868. May 19, 1869, he was married to Miss Eliza- beth Binkerd, daughter of John and Judith Binkerd. pioncers of Clarke County. Mrs. O'Neall was born February 12, 1852, in Henry County, Iowa. Her parents now reside in Holt County, Nebraska, locating there in 1882. In 1869 the parents of Mr. O'Neall came to live with him. His mother died at his home December 4, 1878, aged seventy-seven years, three months and nineteen days. His father died January 27, 1883, aged eighty-three years and twenty- two days. Mr. and Mrs. O'Neall have had nine children, viz .- Eliza E. (died, aged four months), Jemima, Phebe, Elizabeth (died, aged fourteen months), William C., Cora B., Irene, Peter and Sophia. Mr. O'Neali was the eighth of ten children, only one besides himself living-Mrs. Rhoda M. Booth, of Hopeville, this county. Of the ten children in the Binkerd family, Mrs. O'Neall is the eighth. One brother, George K. Binkerd, lives neat Lacelle, this county. Mr. O'Neall is one of the leading agricul- turists of the county. His farm is princi- pally devoted to stock-raising. In politics he is a Democrat. He has served the town- ship several terms as magistrate. Hugh O'Neall, the founder of the O'Neall family in America, immigrated to this country in the year 1730. He came from near the town of Antrim, Ireland, and settled at Chrilian, a small town near Wilmington, Delaware, where he married Annie Cox, daughter of Jonathan Cox, by whom he had seven sons, one of whom was Will- iam, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. William O'Neall married Mary Frost, daughter of William Frost, who bore him one daughter and six sons, one of whom
was Henry, grandfather of T. B. O'Neall, who married Mary Miles, daughter of Samuel Miles, and to them were born five daughters and nine sons, one, William O'- Neall, being the father of the subject of this sketch.
ILLIAM G. EVANS, one of the .pioneers of Clarke County, was born in Morrow County, Ohio, November 21, 1828, a son of Owen Evans, who was a native of Cambria County, Penn- sylvania. He was reared and educated in the common schools of his native county, and has made farming the principal avoca- tion of his life. May 16, 1850, he was mar- ried to Elizabeth J. Rider, a native of New York State, and a daughter of William Rider, deceased. Of the six children born to this union five are yet living-Mitchel L., Marshall O., Mary E., Sarah C. and Lewis, all married but the last named. Mr. Evans located in Farmington, Iowa, in the fall of 1850, and in 1851 located in Appa- noose County. In August, 1851, he came to Clarke County, and entered 160 acres of land in Washington Township, this being the third entry made in the township. In August, 1852, he removed his family to his land in Washington Township, having at that time but 50 cents, an ox team and his 160 acres of timber land. He subsequently entered another tract of 200 acres of prairie land. When he first came to this county Mr. Evans found the inhabitants to be principally Indians. His first residence was a round log cabin with puncheon floor and clapboard roof, and his nearest neigh- bor lived in a rail pen, one and a half miles away. Ox teams were the usual modes of conveyance in those early days, and their journey to mill, forty miles distant, was made by the same way. Mr. Evans was bereaved by the death of his wife, May 29, 1882. In Oc- tober, 1883, he was again united in marriage
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to Mrs. Mary A. (Riley) Sifrit, of Martin County, Indiana, who had three children by her former husband -- Delphia, Clyde A. and Carrie P. Since the war Mr. Evans has paid special attention to stock-raising. In the spring of ISSI he removed to Mur- ray, where he was engaged in general mer- chandising one year, when he sold out and has since devoted his attention to the breed- ing of fine horses, in which he is meeting with success. He has on his farm two fine Clydesdale stallions. Clyde, sixteen and a half hands high, weighing 1,600 pounds, and Punch, sixteen hands in height, also weigh- ing 1,600 pounds. He still owns a good farm of 180 acres. Mr. Evans has been elected to hold various township and other local offices. He is a member of the Metho- dist Protestant church.
J. DENLY, one of the progressive farmers of Knox Township, residing on section 9, is a native of Wiltshire, England, born April 23, 1838, the eldest son of John and Sarah (Gilmore) Denly, who were the parents of ten children-Thomas J., Emily, Daniel, Fanny, Edward, John, Sarah, Hannah, Martha and a daughter Mary, who is now deceased. Thomas J. was reared on a farm, and educated in the common schools of his native country. He came to America in January, 1857, and for two years lived in New York and vicinity. He then removed to Pike County. Penn- sylvania, where he followed farming two years. April 1, 1861, he eulisted in Com- pany K, Fourth Regular Artillery, and was in the service three years. He participated in the engagements at Yorktown Peninsula, second battle of Bull Run, Antietam, Fred- ericksburgh, Chancellorsville and Gettys- burgh. He was honorably discharged at Rappahannock, Virginia, in April, 1864. After the war he located in Wayne County,
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