USA > Iowa > Adams County > Biographical history of Montgomery and Adams counties, Iowa : containing portraits of all the presidents of the United States, with accompanying biographies of each ; a condensed history of Iowa, with portraits and biographies of the governors of the state, engravings of prominent citizens of the counties, with personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families > Part 24
USA > Iowa > Montgomery County > Biographical history of Montgomery and Adams counties, Iowa : containing portraits of all the presidents of the United States, with accompanying biographies of each ; a condensed history of Iowa, with portraits and biographies of the governors of the state, engravings of prominent citizens of the counties, with personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families > Part 24
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He was married December 7, 1855, in Linn county, Iowa, to Miss Mary Jane Thomas, a woman of intelligence, who has been a worthy helpmate to her linsband, and to whom much of his success in due. She was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- vania, a daughter of James and Jane (Park) Thomas, both also natives of Pennsylvania, and of English and German extraction. Mrs. Rogers was reared in her native State until sixteen years of age, when her parents came to Linn county, Iowa, where the mother after- ward died; the father died in Greene county, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers have four chil- dren, viz .: Armintha Jane, the wife of Robert Clark, of Taylor county, Iowa; they have two children; Martha Malinda, the wife of David Clark, of Greene county, Iowa; Charles W., who lives on the home farm, married Elizabeth Scott, and has three children;
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Homer E., also on the home farm, married Myrtle MeGraw, and has one child. Mr. Rogers is a Republican in his political views; his father was formerly a Whig. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. since March, 1858, as has also his wife. Ile has filled the positions of class- leader, exhorter and Sunday-school super- intendent; has also taken an active interest in education and temperance and in every good cause.
M. WOOD was born in Erie county, New York, October 18, 1830. His ancestors were among the early set- tlers of New England. His father, James Wood, a native of Massachusetts, was a son of Thomas Wood, who was born in Worth- ington, that State. The mother of II. M. Wood was Estlier (Moon) Wood, a native of Rutland, Vermont, and a daughter of Na- than Moon, also a New Englander. James Wood was born in November, 1790, and Esther, his wife, in July, 1798, and they were married in western New York. They liad a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters. One son, John M., served in the late war as a member of Company C, Thirty second Iowa Infantry. He is now a resident of Erie county, New York. The parents both died in Erie county, New York, each at about the age of eighty-five years. The mother was a consistent member of the Free Will Baptist Church. The father was a man of intelligence, keen judgment and inarked business ability. He cleared some 300 acres of land, conducted a tavern and store and bought and drove cattle, and thus did an extensive business. He was a Whig, and was active in the political campaigns of his day. He served as county Supervisor, and in 1846 as a member of the State Assembly,
performing his public as well as his private duties in a conscientious and earnest manner. In early life he was a member of the Meth- odist Church, but subsequently united with the Free Will Baptist, and was a deacon in that church at the time of his death. He was a Royal Arch Mason, and a veteran of the war of 1812.
H. M. Wood was reared in his native county, and received his education in the common schools. He assisted his father on the farm and in the hotel and store. In 1851 lie went to Wisconsin, and after remaining there a short time went to Will county, Illi- nois. In the fall of 1852 he settled in Jackson county, Iowa, near Maquoketa, not long afterward returning to Erie county, New York. In 1863 he came west again, this time settling in Black Hawk county, Iowa; thence, in 1867, to Dallas county. After one summer spent there lie came to Adams county and settled on wild land, where he has since continued to reside. He now has a fine farm of 120 acres. His two-story resi- dence is located on a natural building site, and is surrounded with ornamental trees and shrubs, making an attractive home. He has a good barn, orchard and grove, and other substantial improvements.
Mr. Wood has been married three times. November 7, 1852, he wedded Miss Celestia Ward, a native of Wyoming county, New York, and a daughter of Hanibal Ward. She died near Maquoketa, Iowa, in Novem- ber, 1853, leaving twin daughters, Connelia and Cordelia. The former is now the wife of John Wolf, of Kansas, and the latter died at
the age of seven years. In February, 1854, Mr. Wood married Mariett Goodell, who was born in Erie county, New York, daughter of Isaac Goodell; she bore him two children, viz .: Margery M., who died at the age of four years, and Mary L., wife of William
.
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Wolf, of Nebraska City, Nebraska. His second wife died at Waterloo, Black Hawk county, Iowa, November 9, 1863. He was married to his present wife in Black Hawk county, Iowa, in February, 1864. Her maiden name was Julia A. Benight. She was born in Vigo county, Indiana, near Terre Haute, daughter of Guy R. and Har- riette (May) Benight, both natives of New York, and the latter reared and cdncated in Clark county, Illinois. Both died at tlie home of Mrs. Wood, the father in Black Hawk county in 1864, and the mother in April, 1880. By his present companion Mr. Wood has had three children, two of whom are living, namely: Esther I., wife of Rev. G. W. Palmer, who has charge of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church at Persia, Iowa, and Nellie Frances, wife of S. M. Richie, of Douglas township, this county. Both Mrs. Palmer and Mrs. Richie are accomplished ladies, and have been successful teachers.
Mr. Wood affiliates with the Republican party, and for seven years has served as township clerk. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been a class leader for twenty years; has also served as steward, both district and recording. He was inade a Mason in Instruction Lodge, No. 275, of Corning, Iowa, in 1872.
Such, in brief, is a sketch of the life of one of Adams county's well-known citizens.
AMUEL J. MCGINNIS, one of Doug- las township's well known citizens, was born in Champaign county, Ohio, An- gust 4, 1833, son of Samuel H. and Exona (Harbour) McGinnis, both natives of Cham- paign county, Ohio. His father was a son of William McGinnis, of Scotch descent, a native of Kentucky, and a soldier of the war
of 1812, and of Jenny McGinnis, his wife. The mother was a daughter of Elisha Har- bour, a native of Virginia and a soldier in the war of 1812. The Harbours were among the first settlers of the Old Dominion. One inember of the family was kidnapped in Eng- land and brought to America and sold. Sam- uel H. McGinnis died when the subject of this sketchi was a boy, and his wife died in 1853.
Samuel J. was reared on a farm in the county where he was born, receiving his edu- cation in the common schools there. In 1854 lie came to Jefferson county, Iowa, and remained one season, after which he returned to Ohio. Two years later he came back to Jefferson county and was married. He then settled in Monroe county, Iowa. During the war lie enlisted in Company K, Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry. He received injury by a comrade's ax while they were at work in camp, his right thumb being cut off, and lost the use of his index finger. He also lost an- other finger from the same hand by erysipe- las. For loss this sustained he now receives a small pension from the Government. In August, 1865, he was honorably discharged at Davenport, Iowa, after which he returned to his home in Monroe county. In 1866 he moved to Lucas county, this State, where he lived seven years; thence to Texas; a year later to Jewell county, Kansas, where lie took a homestead and lived two years; spent the next year in La Salle county, Illinois, and, returning to Jewell county, Kansas, lived there three years longer. At the end of that time he sold out and came to Adams county, Iowa, and purchased from Frank M. Davis tlie eighty-acre farm on which he now lives.
Mr. McGinnis was married in Jefferson county, Iowa, November 19, 1857, to Miss Sarah D. Andrew, who was born in that county eight years before Iowa was brought
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into the Union, her birth occurring Novem- ber 8, 1838. She is a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Gaut) Andrew. IIer father was a native of North Carolina, settled in Iowa about 1836, and died in Lucas county, this State, at the age of eiglity years. Her mother was a descendant of Irish ancestry, and she, too, lived to be an octogenarian, her death occurring in Texas.
Mr. and Mrs. McGinnis have four children, namely: Elizabeth Alfie, wife of Charles Mc- Kernon, Douglas township, this county; Mary Alice, wife of Jolin Richeg, also of Douglas township, and was before her mar- riage engaged in teaching; and Ora Matella and William H., at home. Politically Mr. McGinnis is an Independent. He is a mem- ber of Llewellyn Post, G. A. R., Corning, Iowa. He and his wife and daughter Ora M. are members of the United Brethren Church, of which he is a trustee.
EVI P. WILLITS, of section 33, Grant township, is the owner of Lawn Field, one of the most beautiful homes in Adams county, Iowa. He came here in October, 1871, where he has since resided and made his home, and is one of the most prominent citizens of the county. He was born in Wayne county, Indiana, Novem- ber 12, 1841, a son of James Monroe Willits. who was also born in Wayne county, and his parents in Rhode Island. The parents had seven sons and two daughters. The mother of our subject was Saralı (Myers) Willits, a native of Ohio. The parents were married in Wayne county, Indiana, and afterward, in 1844, moved to Mercer county, Illinois, where the mother died when Levi was six years old. The father afterward married again, and is still living at the age of seventy-
three years. He has been a farmer all his life, mainly grazing of late. In his political views he is a Republican.
L. P. Willits, our subject, was reared on a Mercer county farm, and received his educa- tion in the public schools of that county. During the late war he enlisted, in Decem- ber, 1863, in the Eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, nuder Colonel R. J. Oglesby, and took an active part in several raids and skir- mislies in the vicinity of Vicksburg, Mem- pliis, Fort Blakely; was on patrol duty at Mobile, and also at the magazine explosion at that city. He was honorably discharged at the close of the war, after which he returned to Mercer county, and remained nntil 1871, when he came to this county. He first bought 120 acres of wild land, to which he has since added until he now owns 240 acres of well improved land. He has a good frame house, built in 1890, which is 16 x 26 feet, two stories high, with an L 12 x 18 feet, one story, and is surrounded by slade and ornamental trees, shrubs, groves, vineyards and orchards, all of which are laid out with artistic skill and taste. He has about twenty acres in groves and orchards. The place is a favorite resort for picnics for niles around. Lawn Field is a model and beautiful home, where the genial proprietor and his wife are blest with the comforts of life, and where hospitality is dispensed to all.
Mr. Willits was married in Mercer county, Illinois, March 16, 1871, to Miss Maria Shields, who was born in that county, a daughter of William and Lucy (Wilson) Shields, the former a native of Wayne county, Indiana, and the latter of Quincy, Illinois. The father settled in Mercer coun- ty in 1839, where he was among the pioneer settlers, and both parents are now living near New Boston, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Willits have five children-Victor B., Britt
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L., Dottie, Glenn and Blaine. Politically Mr. Willits is a Republican, and socially a member of the G. A. R. Post, No. 316, of which he was a charter member. His bugle calls can generally be heard on quiet eve- nings, and he also has a martial band of four pieces in tlie family. He has served as Con- stable, and in other offices in the county.
AMILTON WHITE, president of the Red Oak Sanitarium, was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, in 1834, re- ceived his education mostly at Muskingum College, Ohio, and at the age of seventeen years began teaching school and followed that profession for some time. In 1857 he settled at Peoria, Illinois, where lie resided until 1866. During the war he was a successful recruiting officer, assisting in raising the Seventy-seventh Illinois Infantry; but on account of one lung he could not bear the hardships of a soldier's life. In 1867 he came to Red Oak and engaged in teaching a select school. For a year he was an instructor in Amity College, Page county, this State; then until 1877 he was engaged in mercan- tile business at Red Oak; next he was inter- ested in mining in Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona; and as an organizer and seller of stock he was very successful. At one time he was associated with ex-Governor Stone of Iowa in mining stock and mining enterprises. Finally, in 1890, he came to Red Oak and originated and opened the grand Sanitarium, which will presently be described.
Mr. White was married at Newark, Knox county, Ohio, in 1855, to Miss Ellen I. Gill, an educated and refined lady, and they have ten children, five of whom are living, namely: Ida May, an artist of talent, well and favora- bly known; Bessie, who is now the wife of
L. W. Evans, of Red Oak; Ella, a teacher of painting; J. H. and Charles. Mr. White is a Democrat and a temperance lecturer. As a Democrat he has been an active worker, at one time canvassing twenty counties in the interests of his party. He is a model citizen.
HE RED OAK SANITARIUM was opened in June, 1890, in connection with the Crystal Springs, whose waters are highly medicinal. As analyzed by the eminent Professor A. B. Prescott, of Michi- gan University, the water contans 10 } grains of bicarbonate of sodium to the gallon, 31 g grains of bicarbonate of calcium, with smaller proportions of other bicarbonates, besides sulphates and chlorides, and an abun- dance of carbonic acid gas,-thus being similar to the famous Bethesda water of Waukesha, Wisconsin, except that it contains about twice the amount of mineral matter, inaking it that much more effectual as a medicine. Of course long ere this these waters have been tried, with uniform good results, and sometimes with extraordinarily good results.
The main building cost $20,000 and is furnished with all the modern improvements of a first-class sanitarium. Including the bath honse, it presents a frontage of 126 feet; and the eastern frontage, including the rear addition, has a total of ninety feet, while a flag floats upon the tower nearly a hundred feet above the basement floor. Extensive verandas adorn the building. Just west of the main building and connected with it by a covered passage, is a large three-story bath house, the upper floor of which is devoted to the Turkish bath. The grounds are not yet complete in their ornamentation, but the work is going on as rapidly as practicable. A wind engine stationed at the foot of the
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hill near the springs elevates a sufficient sup- pły of water to a large tank elevated some distance above the building; and the water, being soft and slightly alkaline, is used for all purposes throughout the establishunent. The medical and surgical department of the sanitarium is under the management of com- petent physicians and surgeons, who give daily and nightly attention to its inmates. This institution is controlled by a stock com- pany, of whom Hamilton White is president; W. W. Marshall, treasurer and R. M. Roberts, secretary, with an authorized capital of $100,000.
AMES BARRY .- No better farmer, per- haps, is to be found in Adams connty than the subject of this sketch. He is a trne Irishinan, remodeled on the American plan. He knows a good farm, has made one and understands keeping it in order. As a progressive and enterprising citizen he has few equals in his township.
Mr. Barry was born in county Wicklow, Ireland, November 7, 1825. He came from the Emerald Isle to America in 1866, land- ing in Quebec and going from there to Utica, New York, being accompanied by his wife and seven months old child. In Utica he worked three years and a half in a woolen factory. In 1870 he came to Clinton county, Iowa, and farmed on one place eight years. He then came to Adams county, to the place where he now resides in Washington town- ship. First he bought eighty acres, to which lie subsequently added three other eighties, tlie whole comprising a half section of Adamns county's richest soil. Here he is engaged in general farming and stock-raising. His house is conveniently located on the section road, and is sheltered and beautified by a fine grove.
In Ireland, January 7, 1865, Mr. Barry wedded Miss Catherine Smith, daughter of Patrick and Lucy Smith, both of whom died on their native Isle. Ten children have been added to this nnion, six of whom are living, as follows: Anna, wife of T. T. Waters; Sarah, wife of T. S. Hatton, has two chil- dren, William and Thomas; Patrick, James, Katie and Michael.
Mr. and Mrs. Barry are members of the Catholic Church. In politics he is Demo- cratic.
JOHN HOUCK, deceased, was one of the prominent early settlers of Adams county, Iowa. A biography of him will be found of interest to many, and is as follows:
John Houck was born in Germany, May 17, 1820, son of John and Anna Elizabeth (Neff) Houck. His father died when our subject was a small boy and his mother was subsequently married to Michael Doefen- baugh. He received a good German edn- cation. When he was seventeen years old the family came to America and settled in Dearborn county, Indiana. There some years later he was united in marriage with Ernest- ine Amdor, who was born in Germany, July 8, 1825, daughter of Michael and Mary So- phiia (Nebergall) Amndor, both natives of Germany. At the age of twelve years she came with her parents to America, and in Dearborn county, Indiana, was reared and educated.
In 1849 Mr. Houck moved to Marion county, Iowa, where he improved a farm and „resided until 1852. In that year he came with his family to Adams county and settled on a large farm in section 6, Quincy town- slip. The years 1859 and 1860 he spent at Pike's Peak. Returning to Adams county, he opened a store at Quincy which he sccess-
г
Robert Walthall
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fully conducted for ten years. Failing healtlı compelled him to retire from business, and the remaining years of his life were spent on his farm, where lie died October 20, 1880. He left a widow and eight children, six of whom are now living, viz .: John W., Henry, Joseph, Frank, George and Mary, wife of Frank Stewart. Five of their children are deceased: William, who was a soldier of the late war; Bennett, Albert, Orren and Ellen Powell.
Before the war Mr. Houck was a Democrat, but after the organization of the Republican party lie gave liis earnest support to it. He was a most worthy citizen, honored and es- teemed by all who knew him.
OBERT WALTHALL, a farmer and stock-raiser of Mercer township, was born in Greene county, Olio, in Au- gust, 1840, the son of Alfred H. and Cath- erine (Byran) Walthall. The former was a son of Alexander Walthall, a native of Vir- ginia, and the mother was the daughter of Thomas Bryan, also a native of Virginia, and a pioneer of Ohio, where Mrs. Walthall was born. Our subject was reared on a farm, received his education in the common schools, and resided with his parents until the break- ing ont of the late war, enlisting October 9, 1861, in Company A, Seventy- Fourth Olio Volunteer Infantry. He was detailed to guard prisoners at Columbus until the fol- lowing April, when he went south and participated in the following hard-fought battles: Fort Donelson, Nashville, Murfrees- boro, Buzzard's Roost, Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain, after which, on account of disability, he was incapacitated from active duty in the front, and was detailed in guarding prisoners in Washington city and Point Lookout. Maryland, serving in this 22
capacity until the expiration of his termi of enlistment. He was honorably discharged October 9, 1864.
Returning to his Ohio home he rented a farm and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was married September 6, 1865, to Miss Sally McKillip, a native of Fayette county, Olio, and a daughter of James and Rachel (Mills) McKillip, natives of Ohio. James McKillip's parents were natives of North Carolina, and Mrs. McKillip's of Kentucky. The grandfather Mills was born in Masou county, Kentucky, and emigrated with his father's family to Ohio in 1796, where they erected the first house in Greene county. He there grew to manhood, and afterward figured conspicuously in Ohio's political affairs, and was one of the signers of the constitution of that State. Mr. and Mrs. Walthall are the parents of three children-Octavia, the wife of Robert Mckay, Ulysses S. and Ardilla.
After his marriage Mr. Walthall followed farming in Ohio until 1876, when he came to Adams county, Iowa. He purchased 160 acres of wild land, which he has improved, and has one of the most substantial homes in the county. He makes a specialty of raising short-horn cattle, high-grade of horses and thoroughbred swine. He has served in many local offices of trust and responsibility, with honor to himself and credit to his con- stituents. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M., Instruction Lodge, No. 275. Politi- cally he is a Republican.
HARLES CAROTHERS was born in Wayne county, New York, January 23, 1826, son of John Carothers, a native of New York, and a grandson of Robert Carothers. The grandfather was in Sodus Point, New York, at the time the British
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fired that town. The Carothers family came from Scoteh and Irish ancestry. John Ca- rothers married Anna Mason, a native of the Empire State. Her father, Isaac Mason, was also a native of New York, and was a soldier in the Revolutionary war.
The subject of our sketchi was a lad of twelve years when his parents moved to Crawford county, Pennsylvania, and settled near Meadville. In 1841 they moved to a place near Galesburg, Knox county, Illinois, becoming pioneers of the then far West. The parents passed the rest of their lives there and died, the mother at the age of forty-eight years and the father, seventy. They had a family of six sons and four daughters. The father was a farmer all his life. He had always voted the Democratic ticket until the presidential election of 1840, when he gave his support to General Will- iam Henry Harrison. Charles was fifteen when the family moved to Illinois. His education was received in the common schools of New York, Pennsylvania and Illi- nois and completed at Alleghany College, Meadville, Pennsylvania. For several years he was engaged in teaching in New York, Pennsylvania and Iowa.
In 1868 Mr. Carothers came to Adams connty and settled on 120 acres of rich bot- tom land in section 21, Douglas township. Here he has continned to reside, engaged in general farming and stock-raising. The fine appearance of his well improved farm indi- cates that the hand of toil has been well directed and backed by good judgment.
Mr. Carothers was married, at the age of twenty-eiglit, in Crawford county, Pennsyl- vania, to Miss Alfreda H. Ellis, a native of Maine. When nine years of age she re- moved with her parents to Pennsylvania, where she was reared and educated. Her parents, John and Susan (Ford) Ellis, are
both deceased, the mother having died in Pennsylvania and the father in Maine while on a visit to that State. Following is the issue from this union: Helen, wife of Sam Bilingsley, Marshall county, Kansas; John E., Council Bluffs, Iowa; Ford Mason, Cow- litz county, Washington; Anna, wife of P. D. Hawkins, Shenandoah, Iowa; C. Grant, of McPherson connty, Kansas; Minnie G., Charles E., Bird L., Milo D. and Fred P., at home. Three of the children, C. Grant, Mrs. Billingsley and Mrs. Hawkins, have been efficient and popular teachers. Mr. Carothers voted for Fremont and has been a member of the Republican party ever since its organ- ization. He has served as township trustee, township clerk and Justice of the Peace. Both he and his wife are members of the Evangelical Church.
II. REED, Jr., a farmer of section 27, Grant township, Adams county (post- office Lenox), settled there in March, 1884, coming from Taylor county, where lie had resided since 1869. He was born in Morgan county, Ohio, September 6, 1852, the son of J. H. Reed, Sr., a well-to-do farmer and an old settler of Taylor county, Iowa, and was also an Ohioan by birth and education. Mr. Reed's mother, whose name before marriage was Adaline Hurd, was born in Rhode Island, and died when her son was three years of age. The father married again in 1856. He settled in Iowa, south of Cres- ton, as a pioneer there, and resided there until 1869, when he moved to Taylor county, locating in Platte township, where he now owns a fine farm of 700 acres.
Mr. Reed, whose name heads this sketch, was reared to farm life. In 1884 he settled on section 26, Grant township; Adams conn-
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ty, then wild land, improved it and made a fine farm. He prospered, and in time pur- chased more land, until he now owns 480 acres of rich land. He is also the owner of three dwelling-houses, besides the comple- went of stables and other equipments of a well ordered farm. Every feature of his premises is an evidence of thrift and good taste. In the spring of 1891 he occupied his present dwelling, purchased of Joseph Weech, on land that was first improved by Mr. Ralston. On national questions Mr. Reed is a Republican.
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