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 30
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 30
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OHN H. KINDRED, deceased, former- ly a resident on section 33, Washington township, was born in Cumberland county, Tennessee, February 12, 1821, the son of Thornton and Hannah (Minnick) Kin- dred, natives also of Tennessee. His father, a farmer, was a private soldier in the war of 1812. His mother died about 1878, a de- vont member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Four of their ten children are still living.
Mr. Kindred. whose name heads this sketch, began for himself on a farm in Tennessee, and later added stock-raising. August 12, 1861, he enlisted in Company E, First Ten- nessee Infantry, and served three years and two months, taking part in a number of bat- tles. He was discharged in September, 1864. A portion of the year 1863 he spent in a hos- pital at Kingston, Tennessee, on account of a wound. Because of the hostility of his State to the Union canse, he left there with his wife and eight children and came to Mont- gomery county, Iowa, arriving June 9, 1865;
but November 13, following, he came to Ad- ams connty, rented a farm on section 7, Washington township, for four years, and then bought a farm of eighty acres on section 33, where he now resides. He afterward added eighty acres more. The residence is located a mile from Eureka. The house is 14 x 16 feet. There are two orchards of large and small fruit; and the farm is well adapted to all the farm crops of this region. The sur- roundings indicate a comfortable and happy home.
Mr. Kindred held the office of Justice of the Peace in Tennessee for twelve years; was School Director in his township and an im- portant factor in educational affairs,-and in fact in all the enterprises that have promised good to his community. He died June 15, 1884.
He was married February 11, 1842, to Miss Susan Taylor, a daughter of James and Permelia Taylor, of Roan county, Tennessee, and they have had eight children, viz .: Per- melia, the wife of James Farmer, a farmer in Cumberland county, Tennessee; George W., whose sketch is given in the next paragraph; Hannah, who married Joseph Corey, and died February 8, 1873, at the age of twenty- six years, a member of the Methodist Episco- pal Church; Mary, the wife of J. W. Harris, residing on a farm in Cloud county, Kansas; Rachel, now the wife of Daniel Thomas, a farmer of Adams county, Iowa; Josephine, now Mrs. James Buddin, of Barry county, Missouri; Hamilton, residing in Adams county, and married to Flora Timberlake; and Susie, now Mrs. H. G. McCollum, resid- ing on the farm with the mother. Mrs. Kindred is a member of the United Brethren Church.
Mr. Kindred, our subject, was a Republi- can in politics and an enthusiastic supporter of the temperance movement. His services
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as a valiant soldier in the defense of his country, his blameless life and his devotion to family and liome, all give evidence to his worth.
AMUEL P. MILLER, a farmer of sec- tion 13, Red Oak township, is a highly respected citizen, having been a resi- dent of this State ever since 1843, and of this township since February, 1880. He was born in Fayette county, Indiana, November 15, 1829, a son of Isaac Miller, a Virginian by birth and of German extraction. His mother, whose maiden name was Artemisia Richards, was also a native of Virginia. Yonng Miller, of this sketch, was fourteen years old when his parents removed with him to the Territory of Iowa, three years before it became a State, settling in Des Moines county, twelves miles northwest of Burling- ton. A short time before his death the father moved to New London, Henry county, this State, where lie died.
Mr. S. P. Miller, our present subject, was reared on a pioneer farm and therefore re- ceived his education in the characteristic pioneer log schoolhouse, but finishing at Mt. Pleasant Academy, conducted by Professor S. L. Howe, a prominent educator. From the age of seventeen years Mr. Miller taught school for twenty-five terms, with marked snecess. June 15, 1854, in Des Moines county, Iowa, he was married to Samantha H. Bingaman, an intelligent lady who has been a true companion in life to her husband. She was born in Warren county, Ohio, and was eight years old when she was brought to Iowa by her parents in their emigration to this State. Her parents were Frederick and Mary (Kynett) Bingaman, her father a na- tive of Maryland and her mother of Penn-
sylvania. Settling in Des Moines county, they remained there nntil death.
In 1880 Mr. Miller came to this county and purchased his farm of eighty acres, which is now magnificently improved. Residence, barn (46 feet square) and other outbuildings, fences, etc., as well as the fruit and orna- mental trees, are all in good condition. In partnership with two of his sons he is en- gaged in manufacturing sorghum syrup, with all the modern improvements in apparatus, making 2,000 to 5,000 gallons annually. Mr. Miller has six children, namely: Arthur W. and Charles M., bothi married and living in Red Oak township; they have a good farın of 280 acres; Mary Alice, wife of Jolın L. Red- fern, of Des Moines connty; Eva, wife of A. M. Selser, of Pilot Grove; Frank H., married and living in Red Oak township; and Clar- ence I., attending school at Red Oak. Charles M. and Frank H. have been successful teachers.
Mr. Miller is a zealous Baptist and Prohi- bition Republican. In the church he is a deacon; his wife and all of the children are also members of the church. He has done much for religion and morality in his neigh- borhood, being broad-minded and progressive.
EORGE W. KINDRED, one of the leading farmers of Washington town- chip, residing on section 29 (postoffice Eureka), was born in Cumberland county, Tennessee, January 15, 1845, the son of J. H. and Susan J. Kindred, both natives of Tennessee. He began in life for himself at the age of twenty-one years, when he came with his parents to Montgomery county, Iowa, remaining there from June nntil November, 1865, when they came and settled in Wash- ington township, this county, on a farm which has ever since been his liome. He is
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numbered among the responsible, worthy and progressive farmers of his township. He owns abont 225 acres of land, of which ten acres are in timber and the rest well improved. The farm is well located, about a mile and a half from Eureka and some nine miles from the county seat. It is a fertile farm, whereon the proprietor devotes his attention to stock- raising as well as general agriculture. There is also a very good orchard on the place. The dwelling, which is commodious, is lo- eated on a half-section line road a quarter of a mile from the Eureka coal mines. He is a School Director.
He was married December 15, 1867, to Miss Sarah E. Mansfield, daughter of the late James and Susanna Mansfield, of Grant county, Indiana. By this marriage there are eight children, viz .: Grant, who is now read- ing law in the office of H. T. Grangers in Corning, Iowa; Canus, who is farming in his own interests the present year; Austin, Essie I., Vernie, Archie, Walter and Avis. Mrs. Kindred is a member of the Dunkard Church, while in politics Mr. Kindred is an ardent Republican. He is a valued citizen and one of the most substantial business men of this township.
J. NOBLE, of section 21, Grant town- ship, is one of the well-known and early settlers of the county, having come here in 1883. He was born in Mercer county, Illinois, March 13, 1845, a son of D. F. and Sarah (Pratt) Noble, the former a native of Union connty, Indiana, and the latter of Pennsylvania. The parents settled in Mercer county in 1836, where they were among the early settlers. The mother died in that county in 1881, at the age of sixty- seven years, and the father died in 1890, at
the age of seventy-seven. The parents had six children, four sons and two daughters. One son, David, served in the late war three years, in the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry.
T. J. Noble, the fifth child, was reared on a farm in Mercer county, and received his education in the public schools. In 1882 he came to this county and commenced breaking land on his farm of 280 acres, which he had bought in 1875. He now owns 320 acres of Adams county's best soil which is well im- proved, and on which is a good cottage, 16 x 36 feet, and seven acres of groves and orchards. He also has stables, cribs, yards, feed lots, a windmill, and everything about the place shows the thrift and prosperity of the owner. He is engaged in general farm- ing and stock-raising.
Mr. Noble was married March 9, 1882, to Miss Elizabeth Davis, who was born in How- ard county, Iowa, but reared and educated in Rock Island connty. She was the daughter of B. R. and Lydia (Sigler) Davis, the former a native of Fulton connty, Illinois, and the latter of Pennsylvania, and both now reside in Rock Island county, Illinois. The father, a fariner by occupation, served in the late war. He is a Republican politically, and both he and his wife are members of the Baptist Church. Mr. and Mrs. Noble have two children, Fern and Aravilla. Politi- cally Mr. Noble is a Republican, and socially a member of the Masonic order, Lenox Lodge, No. 353; he was made a Mason at New Boston, Illinois, in 1881.
R. DUNLAP, of section 20, Grant township, was born in Virginia, Feb- ruary 25, 1832, a son of Andrew Dun- lap, who was born near Dunlap creek, Fayette
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county, Pennsylvania, near Brownsville, where the Dunlap family were among the early set- tlers. He was a son of Andrew, Sr., who was reared in Chester county, Pennsylvania, and was of Scotch extraction. Our subject's mother, Jemima (Robey) Dunlap, was a na- tive of Virginia, and daughter of Loyd Robey who was reared near Philadelphia. Andrew Dunlap was twice married; by the first union he had three children, and by the second eight children, and our subject was a member of the second family. His parents came to Ohio in 1853, and settled in Adams county, and later mnoved to Mercer county, Illinois, where the father died at the age of seventy-five years. He was a boat-builder and miller by occupation, and politically was a Democrat. His wife was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and died at the age of seventy five years.
The subject of this sketch was reared to farm work, and also worked in the saw and grist mills. He received but a limited educa- tion, and July 3, 1863, enlisted in Company B, in the Second Ohio Heavy Artillery Regi- ment, under Captain Rothrock, a brother of Judge Rotlırock. Mr. Dunlap served two years, and was first under fire at Cleveland and then at Morristown. He was one of 100 men who escorted General Schofield from Knoxville to Atlanta, and at Dalton they had a narrow escape from the Rebels. He was honorably discharged at Columbus, Ohio, at Camp Chase. In 1869 he went to Mercer county, Illinois, where he remained until he came to Adams county. He first worked three years in the mills, then at farming, and in 1882 bought his present place of Joel Barrett. He has a good house, 16 x 22 feet, one and a half stories high, with an addition 12 x 12 feet, situated on a natural building site, and surrounded by evergreen and other
trees ; he has also a fine barn 36 x 44 feet. He is a dealer in Clydesdale horses.
Mr. Dunlap was married in Adams county, Ohio, March 25, 1858, to Mary C. Taylor, who was reared and educated in this county, the daughter of James and Mary (Moore) Taylor; the former was born in Ohio, of Scotch- Irish parents, and the latter was born in Virginia, and died when Mrs. Dunlap was a child. Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap have four children : James T., a well-known and promi- nent citizen of Union township; John N., foreman of a large nursery in Riverside, California; George, who is interested with his brother in California; and Charles E., at home. They lost two children by death : Robert S., at ten years of age, and an infant child. Politically Mr. Dunlap is a Republi- can; socially a member of the G. A. R., Lenox Post, and religiously both he and his wife are members of the United Presbyterian Church.
J. BIVENS, of section 28, Grant town- ship, is one of the early settlers of this county, having come here in the spring of 1876. He was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, January 25, 1833, a son of Leonard and Christena (Hull) Bivens. The father was born on the same farm as our sub- ject, and the mother was born in the same neighborhood. The father was a farmer all his life; a Democrat politically, and a mem- ber of the Catholic Church, and his children were reared in that faith. The parents lived in Pennsylvania until death, the mother dying when our subject was small. He was reared on a farın in Franklin county, and received a common school education. At the age of twenty-two years he came West to Knox county, Illinois, where he lived three months; then he lived in Peoria county, same State,
.
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and next returned to Knox county, where he lived until 1876, and in that year came to this county. He bought his present farin of S. II. Fisher, who had made some improve- inents, and he now owns 240 acres of Adams county's best land, located four miles north- east of Lenox. He has a good residence, 14 x 24 feet, one and a half stories high, with an addition 12 x 24 feet, and also good stables, slieds, cribs, feed lots for stock, etc.
Mr. Bivens was married in Knox county, Illinois, when twenty-eight years of age, to Mrs. Addie (Phillips) Cullison, a widow lady, who was born in Vermont, a daughter of Joseph Phillips. She was reared and edn- cated in her native State. They have liad six children, three of whom are living, viz .: Joseph Leonard, Sidney Grant and Charles, all at home. Three children died in child- hood: Katie, at the age of fonr years; Or- lando IIngh, when a babe of nine months; and Sherman Porter, at the age of eight years. The great loss of Mr. Bivens' life was in the death of his beloved wife, in 1881. She was an affectionate wife and inother, a kind neighbor, and her death was a severe blow to her family and friends. Mr. Bivens is a Republican in his political views.
M. HURDLE, another one of the en- terprising and well-to-do citizens of Adanıs county, Iowa, was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, in July, 1829. His father, William V. Hurdle, M. D., was of Scotch ancestry and born in Ohio, the son of pioneers of the Buckeye State. His mother, whose inaiden name was Mary Kinney, was born in Pennsylvania, the daughter of Will- iam and Mary (Mahan) Kinney, also of Pennsylvania. W. V. Hurdle was an in- fluential and popular physician in Mus-
kingnin connty, Ohio, for many years. He inoved to Illinois in 1855, and died in 1863. F. M. Hurdle was reared in his native county, receiving a good education in the schools at Zanesville. He was for a time engaged in the mercantile business at Dresden. In 1852 he came west and settled at La Harpe, Han- cock county, Illinois, where he did a mer- cantile business. The years 1861 and '62 he spent in Chicago, engaged in a commission business, and from there went to Sparland, Illinois, where he conducted a dry-goods es- tablishment. In 1870 he was appointed United States Inspector of the Internal Revenue Department, and served as Govern- ment Ganger at Peoria, Illinois, for fifteen years.
In 1888 Mr. Hurdle came to Iowa and located on his farm in Carl township, Adams county, which he had purchased in 1883. It contains 280 acres, and is one of the best farms in the county. His beautiful residence is furnished with taste and elegance, and is surrounded by attractive and well-kept grounds. A grove of fourteen acres, a fine orchard, an abundance of small fruits, com- modious barns, modern windmill, well-culti- vated fields, and broad pastures dotted over with fine horses and cattle-all tliese com- bine to make the Hurdle farm one of the most desirable ones in Adams county.
Mr. Hurdle was married in La Harpe, Illinois, in 1855, to Miss Letecia Barr, a lady of much culture and refinement, born in Breckenridge county, Kentucky, of a highly respected family. Her parents, Adam and Hannah (Beauchamp) Barr, were both na- tives of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Hurdle have had two sons born to them: O. V. Hurdle, who holds an important and trnsted position in a bank at Clarinda, Page county, Iowa, and Logan E., born in Chicago in 1863, and died at the age of five years at
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Sparland, Illinois. O. V. Hurdle married Miss Mollie Mahan, and has three children : Frank, Charlie and Leonard.
A. MCGINNIS made his arrival on this mundane sphere December 4, 1853, in Madison county, Iowa. He is a son of the Rev. J. B. McGinnis, deceased, a minis- ter of the Christian Church and a prominent pioneer of Madison and Adair counties. He was well and favorably known all over sonth- western Iowa, had preached the gospel of salvation in many a log cabin and school- house, and was instrumental in doing much good in the cause of his Master, whom lie served faithfully as long as he lived. His death occurred at his home, twelve miles northeast of Greenfield, Adair county, Iowa, in April, 1890. He had come to this State from Indiana, and here he was the owner of a large and valuable tract of land. After giving liberally to his children he had a fine farm of 200 acres left, on which he was re- siding at the time of his death. He had a family of twelve children, eight sons and four daughters, cleven of whom are now living.
J. A., whose name heads this biography, was the sixth born in this large family. He was a lad of nine years when liis father set- tled in Adair county, and there he grew to manhood, spending his youth on a farm and receiving liis education in the pioneer schools. He purchased land in Adams county in 1877, and is now well located on a good farm of 120 acres, eighty acres of which are in Carl township and forty in Colony township. Here he has a comfortable cottage home, good outbuildings, fine grove, orchard, etc., and everything about the premises wears an air of thrift and prosperity.
In Carl township, this county, in Septem-
ber, 1878, Mr. McGinnis married Miss Mary E. Madison, daughter of Charles Madison, of Carl township. She was a teacher before her marriage, was a lady of much culture and refinement, and possessed many amiable traits of character, being loved by all who knew her. She was a member of the Chris- tian Church. She died Jannary 10, 1890, leaving one son, Charley Guy, born June 25, 1881. Her second child, a daughter, died December 27, 1889, at the age of three days.
Politically Mr. McGinnis is an Indepen- dent. He is a member of the Christian Church.
RS. EMMA BOWLING resided near Carbon, Adams county, Iowa, for more than a score of years. She was well known in this vicinity, and her biog- raphy will be of interest to many. Briefly, it is as follows:
She was born in Germany, the daughter of George and Lena (Marshaw) Orf, and was five years old when she came with her par- ents to America and settled in Pennsylvania. Her father was by trade a knife-maker; bnt after coming to this country he was in the railroad employ. His death occurred at the age of fifty-seven years. The mother died at Mrs. Bowling's when in her seventieth year.
Emma grew up and was educated in Penn- sylvania. Arriving at young womanlivod, she was married in 1866 to Monroe Martin. Mr. Martin was born in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, in 1840, a descendant of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. He was reared on the farm and educated in the pub- lic schools of his native State. When the war came on he enlisted in Company A, Forty-eighth Pennsylvania Infantry Volun- teers, and served nine months, after whichi he returned home. Six months later he en-
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listed again in the Pennsylvania Infantry Volunteers, remaining in the service threc years. He was at the battles of Petersburg, Gettysburg, Wilderness and others, and was honorably discharged at the close of the war. While in the service lie met with an accident by which his leg was broken. His marriage, as already stated, ocenrred in 1866, and the following year they moved to La Fayette county, Wisconsin. Mr. Martin was a butcher by trade, and had followed that bns- iness five years in Pennsylvania. After rc- siding two years and a half in Wisconsin, they came to Adams county, Iowa, bought wild land and developed a fine farm of 280 acres. Mr. Martin also bonght a farm of eighty acres in Lincoln township, which he gave to their only child, Carrie. She is the wife of William Roath, a native of Knox county, Illinois, and has three children: Emma Lnella, Lotta May and Alice Eliza- beth. Mr. Martin died September 9, 1884, aged forty-five years. On that day he had become a member of the G. A. R., Llewellyn l'ost, and while returning home was stricken with heart disease and died before reaching the honse. He was a man of industry and integrity, and was an honored and respected citizen. Politically he was a Democrat.
In November, 1886, the subject of our sketch was united in marriage with George Bowling, a native of this State, and an en- terprising and well-to-do citizen of Douglas township. Mrs. Emma Bowling died No- vember 24, 1891, and was buried at Quincy, November 25, 1891.
C. KANE, a farmer and stock-raiser of section 22, Mercer township, has been identified with the interests of Adams county since 1876. He is a native of Penn-
sylvania, born at Philadelphia in May, 1842, and is the third son of Allen and Mary Kane. At the age of ten years he came with his father's family to Dubuque, Iowa. His youth was spent in assisting on the farm and attending school, receiving a common-school education. In 1864 he, in company with about 100 others and twenty or thirty teams, crossed the plains to Montana. At this early date there was no trail, and the services of a guide were employed. They were four months in crossing the plains, arriving at Virginia City. Forty miles west of the Mis- sonri they saw the last honse prior to reach- ing their destination. During the journey quite a number of the party were slain by hostile Indians. After arriving at Virginia City, which was then a mining camp, Mr. Kane engaged in mining, continuing in this business for six years. The guide on this journcy was the celebrated frontiersman, Bridges, and on the way they located Boze- man City. Mr. Kane may well be classed as a pioneer of Montana. The trip back was uneventful, as railroads and many other marks of civilization had taken the place of the dangers and hardships they had encoun - tered on their trip west.
He returned to his former home in Du- buque connty, and was there married July 1, 1874, to Mary Ann Daly, a native of Iowa, born in Dubuque county, a danghter of Den- nis and Ellen (Moriarty) Daly. The former was a native of County Cork, Ireland, and the latter of New York. Mr. Daly came to America in 1832; was married in New York, and came to Iowa in 1850. Mr. and Mrs. Kane are the parents of six children: Mag- gie, Allen, Robert, Alice, Bertha and Dora. The family are members of the Catholic Church.
Mr. Kane settled in Adams connty and purchased 240 acres of wild land, which he
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at once began the task of improving. Politi- cally he is a staunchi supporter of the Demo- cratic party. Mr. Kane is a self-made man, and by his own industry and exertions has accumulated a good property, which he uses to the best advantage in providing himself and family with all the necessaries and com- forts of life.
OBERT BUXTON, a successful farmer of section 8, Grant township, came to this county in April, 1881, where he has since been one of the important factors of its development. He was born in Washing- ton county, Pennsylvania, September 20, 1851, a son of Absalom Buxton,a native of Virginia, and of English and German descent. He was a son of Jacob and Elizabeth Buxton. At the age of twenty-four years, in Washing- ton county, Pennsylvania, Absalom Buxton was married to Nancy Shaw, a native of Williamsburg, Washington county, and daughter of Robert and Agnes (Wilkins) Shaw, the former a native of Ireland, and the latter of Guernsey county, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Buxton came to Washington county, Iowa, in 1852, where they were among the early settlers. He was a soldier in the late war, and died while in the service of his country, in the White Hall Hospital, in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, near Philadel- phia, in his forty-second year. He left a widow and two children,-a daughter and a son. He was a mechanic, cooper and mason by occupation; a Democrat politically, and religiously was inclined to the Methodist Church. The widow and children lived in Washington county, Iowa, until 1881, when they came to this county. The home farm contains 160 acres of rich soil, well improved, on which is a good one-and-a-half-story house, 16 x 24 feet, with an L 24 x 32 feet,
surrounded by a nice lawn and pine and evergreen trees.
Mrs. Buxton and daughter, Mary J., are worthy and consistent members of the United Presbyterian Church. Mr. Bnxton is in the prime of life, frank and cordial in his man- ner, and is one of Grant township's popular citizens. He was united in marriage Au- gust 27, 1891, at the Methodist Episcopal parsonage, Corning, Iowa, to Miss Mary Woodward.
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