USA > Iowa > Pottawattamie County > Biographical history of Pottawattamie County, Iowa > Part 36
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Mr. Cool was a charter member of the first Masonic lodge, Mount Nebo, the rooms of which was over his blacksmith shop, which was built for that purpose, being one of the first buildings of Avoca. He has held all the offices in this lodge. Ile has served as Deputy Sheriff three times, and is a member of the U. S. Post, of which he has held the offices of Deputy Grand Master and Quaran- tine Master. Mr. Cool has erected seven dwelling-houses, two shops and a livery
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stable, the latter being destroyed by fire in 1880.
He was married in 1847 to Sarah Carleton, daughter of James and Julia Carleton, and by this marriage there was one child, Mary, now the wife of Malcohn Howe, of Hamp- shire, Illinois. The mother died in 1865, and in 1867 Mr. Cool married Margaret Fowler, daughter of Dr. Thomas E. and Marilla Fowler, and by this marriage there were two sons-Benton and Daniel. Dr. Thomas Fowler was one of the pioneers of Ilamp- shire, Illinois, settling there in 1846, where he was engaged in the practice of medieine many years. In 1869 he came to Avoca, where he became a well-known physician. He was one of the charter members of the Mount Nebo Lodge, No. 297. He died and was buried with Masonic honors. Ilis wife died in 1889.
ILLIAM CHARLES has made his home in Pottawattamie County, Iowa. since 1876. Ile was born in Corn- wall, England, October 15, 1837, son of Richard Charles, a native of the same county. His grandfather, Philip Charles, was also born in that portion of England. Richard Charles married Mary Otis, a native of Corn- wall, and by her had twelve children, seven sons and five daughters, William being the youngest save one. Our subject served his time as a miller until he had acquired a thorough knowledge of that business. 1857 the Charles family came to America and located at Buffalo, New York, where they remained two years. At the end of that time they continued their way west- ward, and took up their abode near Marion, Grant County, Indiana. The father died in that county, at the age of seventy-nine years,
and the mother, who has now reached the advanced age of ninety-three years, is a resi- dent of Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Charles was a miller all his life. He was a member of the Church of England.
William Charles worked at milling in Grant County, Indiana, until 1876. In that year he came to Iowa and purchased eighty aeres of land in section 13, Wright Town- ship. Pottawattamie County. Since that time he has been identified with the best interests of this community. He has made many im- provements on his farm; has built a good frame house and other out buildings, and has a grove of three aeres and an orchard of two aeres.
Mr. Charles has been twice married. At the age of twenty-six he wedded Miss Mary Woolman, a native of Grant County, Indi- ana, daughter of S. N. Woolman. By her he had one daughter, Clara, now the wife of H. L. Bales, of Wright Township, Pottawat- tamie County. Mrs. Charles was a worthy member of the United Brethren Church. Her death occurred in 1864. In 1866 Mr. Charles took for his second wife E. Jane Woolman, a sister of his former companion. She was also born and reared in Grant County, Indiana, This union has been blessed with four children, three of whom are living- Salınou P., Jessie and Willie. They lost one son, Burr, at the age of nine years.
In connection with his general farming, Mr. Charles carries on the manufacture of sorghum, having a local reputation as an ex- pert manufacturer of that article.
For ten years he has been a faithful and zealous worker in the cause of his Master; is a deacon in the Methodist Episcopal Church of Lewis, and is also a local preacher, ex- pounding the word of God every alternate Sabbath. He is an efficient worker in the Sunday-school. Mr. Charles is well posted
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on all current topies, and is a great reader of history and the Bible. He is broad and progressive in his views, is earnest in his labors for the advancement of religion, and is regarded by all who know him as an honorable and upright citizen and a true Christian.
In connection with the family history of his wife, it should be further stated that her father, S. N. Woolman, was a native of New Jersey, and her mother, Elizabeth (Bond) Woolman, was born in Virginia, a descend- ant of an old family of that State. Botlı parents were members of the United Brethren Church.
OHIN M. PHILLIPS, born March 15, 18 20, in Rowley, Essex County, Massa- chusetts, died in Couneil Bluffs, Iowa, September 10, 1888. His early life was spent on a farm, but when a young man he engaged in the boot and shoe business. First he employed several men manufacturing goods on contraet for various large houses in Georngtown, Massachusetts, his shop being on the old homestead farm. Afterward, in 1852, he removed to South Danvers, Massa- chusetts, now Peabody, and engaged with his brother in the manufacture of boots and shoes under the firm name of A. P. Phillips & Co.
Ile was early attracted to the West, and in 1856 they opened a store in Council Bluffs under the firm name of J. M. Phillips & Co., his brother, A. P. Phillips, taking charge of the same until 1858, when he returned East and J. M. Phillips came West to take charge of the interests here; and in 1860 removed his family to Council Bluffs, consisting of his wife, Olive N. Phillips, nee Cressey, whom he married in Rowley, Massachusetts, in
1845. Nathan C Phillips, Mary O. Phillips and John M. Phillips, Jr., are his children. Other children born at Council Bluffs are Emma C. Phillips, who married F. W. Vos- winkel, and now lives at Holton, Kansas; Ruth M. Phillips, who married II. L. Shep- herd, and lives at Council Bluffs; Granville D. Phillips, who is unmarried and resides in Seattle, Washington. Of the others, Na- than C. Phillips is married and resides in Conneil Bluffs; Mary O. Phillips, unmarried and resides with her sister, Mrs. Shepherd, in the family residence, and John M. Phil- lips, now engaged in railroad surveys in Washington. In 1860 the firm of J. M. Phillips & Co. started a boot and shoe store in Omaha and put it in charge of Albert Tucker, an old employé of the firm both in Massachusetts and at Council Bluffs. After- ward he was admitted to partnership in the Omaha house, the firm name being changed to Tucker, Phillips & Co. Some few years later, in 1866 or 1867, there was a general dissolution of partnership between the mem- bers of the firm of A. P. Phillips & Co., of Peabody, Massachusetts, engagel in the manufacture of shoes, and J. M. Phillips & Co., of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Tucker, Phillips & Co., of Omaha, Nebraska, also engaged in the wholesale and retail boot and shoe business. The members of the two first firms at that time were A. P. Phillips, J. M. Phillips and Oscar Phillips, a son of A. P. and nephew of J. M., who had been admitted into the firm, and in the Omaha house the three named and Albert Tucker. In this dissolution J. M. Phillips sold out his inter- ests in the other places and bought the in- terests of the others and became sole owner of the Council Bluffs store, and continued it until his death under the name of J. M. Phillips, except for two years when his sons Nathan C. and John M. were in partnership
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with him, afterward retiring from the firmn' IIe early engaged in the wholesale business, and for years had a very extensive trade, but retired from the wholesale business in 1885, owing to advanced age.
He from the first took an active interest in the affairs of the county, uniting with the Republican party in its infancy. He held various positions; was Alderman for two years; member of the Board of County Su- pervisors four years. He with others organ- ized the Fairview Cemetery Association, the first cemetery in the county, and continued a director of the same until his death. He was troubled with deafness, which caused him to decline several positions offered him. He was one of the organizers of the Council Bluffs Savings Bank and a director of the same for several years.
- AVID DUNKLE, a pioneer farmer near Crescent City, was born in Fayette Connty, Ohio, March 14, 1834, a son of William and Mary (McMullen) Dunkle, na- tives of Virginia who emigrated to Ohio and were married there. The senior Mr. Dunkle, a farmer, moved in the summer of 1840 to Greene County, Missouri, and thence to Dade County, that State, and in 1848 to Buchanan County. His wife died in Missouri, in April, 1844, and he came to lowa in the spring of 1852, locating on a farm a mile east of Cres- cent City,-this village being then called Pigeon City,-and on section 30, Ilazel Dell Township. This land-160 acres, just broken -Mr. Dunkle purchased of Solomon Free- man, and here he lived with his son until the end of his life, December 29, 1873, when he was abont ninety-two years of age. -
David, our subjeet, remained upon the home farm until 1885, when he moved to
Crescent City. He bought eighty acres on sections 14 and 22, Crescent Township, which he afterward sold; and he still owns a por- tion of the original 160 acres, which he has placed under cultivation and substantial im- provements. Being one of the pioneers of the county he had to undergo most of the hardships incident to pioneer life, but he faced them with determination and is now reaping his reward. He brought the first horses to this part of the county that were put to general nse; previous to that time oxen had been universally employed. Ile was elected the first County Supervisor from this distriet in 1860, and was re-elected twiee afterward. In 1860 he was elected Justice of the Peace, in which official relation he has since served continuously with the exception of one year in the service of the late war. He has also held the varions township offices. He has served his town and county faithfully and well, as is indicated by the persistent de- sire of his fellow-citizens to continue him in office. He was instrumental in bringing about the organization of the first independ- ent school district in this part of the county, it being the second one organized in the county; the one at Kanesville, now Council Bluffs, was the first. He has done a great deal for the cause of education, and this is the best evidence of his patriotism.
November .4, 1864, he enlisted in Com- pany H, Thirteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged at Davenport, Iowa, May 22, 1865, on account of disability. He par- ticipated in the battle of Nashville between Ilood and Thomas, December 22 and 23, 1864. He is now a member of Abraham Lineoln Post, No. 29, G. A. R., at Couneil Bluffs. He is a high-minded Democrat on national questions, in which he takes an active interest, and was generally a delegate to county and State conventions.
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He was married December 22, 1852, to Margaret MeMullen, daughter of William and Catharine McMulleu, natives of Vir- ginia. She was born in Fayette County, Ohio, in 1834, and died July 25, 1883, leav- ing four children, as follows: David William, who resides in Florence, Nebraska; Martha A., now the wife of W. H. Cafferty, in Omaha; Sarah A., now Mrs. John Daggett in Florence; and John W., at home.
M. LEWIS, one of the prominent citi zens of Washington Township, was born in Franklin Conrty, Indiana, Sep- tember 23, 1846, the son of Samnel Lewis, who was born in the same county in 1812. and was a son of Daniel Lewis, a native of Pennsylvania, and of English descent. Our subject's mother was Martha (Richardson) Lewis, who was born in Ohio, and the daugh- ter of Nathaniel Richardson, a native of Con- neetient. In 1853, when the subject of this sketch was but seven years of age, the family moved to Marion County, Iowa, where the father lived until 1879, and then in Potta- wattamie County till his death, which oe- enrred in 1882, at the age of seventy years. He had been a farmer all his life; politically he was a Republican; and religiously a inem- ber of the Methodist Church. , The mother now lives in Madison County, Nebraska. They had a family of twelve children, seven sons and five danghters, all of whom grew to maturity.
F. M. Lewis remained on the farm in Marion County until 1877, when he settled six miles from Council Bluffs, and later bought eighty acres of land, where he now lives. He was one of the early settlers in his neighborhood, and has been very successful in all his undertakings, being now the owner
of 200 acres of well improved land. Ile was married in Marion County, Iowa, February 1, 1877, to Miss Lizzie Devore, who was born in Bartholomew County, Indiana, the daugh- ter of Levi and Rosetta (Osborne) Devore, the former a native of Indiana, and the son of Ben Devorc, and the latter was the daughter of Jonathan Osborne, a native of New Eng- land. Mrs. Lewis was bnt two years of age when her parents moved to Marion County, where she grew to maturity and was edu- eated. Her mother died in 1881, in Potta- wattamnie County, and the father now lives six miles north of Council Bluffs, near Cres- eent. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis have four chil- dren: Tonny Benton, Mary Elva, Charles Earl and Irvin. Politically Mr. Lewis is a Republican; and religiously both himself and wife are members of the Evangelical Church.
ILLIAM BROWN, one of the sub- stantial farmers of James Township, is the son of Nathan Brown, who was born in Pike County, Ohio, in 1813. He was from an old American family, and was reared to farm life. In 1839, at the age of twenty-six years, he came to Bloomington, Iowa, where lie settled on a tract of wild land, remaining on the same farm for thirty years. In the spring of 1872 he came to Pottawattamie County, where he bought a farm of 640 aeres in James Township, which he improved. From the effects of blood- poisoning occasioned by a wound from a needle of a self-binder running through his hand, he died, in 1879, at the age of sixty-six years. Religiously both Mr. and Mrs. Brown were United Brethren. Mr. Brown was a hard-working and industrious man, and ac- eumulated a handsome fortune. He was of
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a quiet disposition and took but little interest in politics, but was a stanch Democrat. He had the respect of his fellow-citizens and had served as Trustee of his township. He took an active interest as School Director, and built the school-house at District No. 6. He was married to Filinda Odell, daughter of Thomas Odell, and to them were born eight children, of whom the two eldest, Johnnie and Sarah, died in infancy; Alvira died at the age of twenty-six years; Hattie is the wife of Dr. James Welsh, a mining expert of New York city, and they have one child, Bertie; Johnson is still unmarried; Minor married Fannie Parker, of James Township, and they have two children, Eva and one un- named; William, our subject; and Jessie, who married Henry Crommett, deceased, formerly a real-estate dealer in Omaha.
William Brown, a son of the above and the subject of this sketch, was born in Mus- catine, August 8, 1858, and was reared to farm life. He was but sixteen years of age when his father came to James Township, Pottawattamie County. In 1882 he married Allie Irwin, daughter of J. D. and Emily (Downs) Irwin, and they have had four chil- dren: Leslie, Ira, Jessie and William. Since the death of his father Mr. Brown has been managing the farm. He is a practical farmer and stands deservedly high as one of the young and enterprising citizens of Pottawat- tamie County. He owns 240 acres of good farm land. Politically he is a Democrat.
WEN W. JONES, a Crescont Town- ship farmer, was born in Dembershire, North Wales, January 18, 1831, a son of William and Ann Jones, also natives of the same place, occupants of a farm and the parents of six children: Avon. David, John,
Owen W., Ann (wife of Mr. Williams and residing in Wales), and William W., deceased. When nine years of age Owen was hired out on a farm by the year, and remained there four years. Then he went to sea on an Eng- lish vessel hailing from Conway, Wales, and followed a seafaring life for six years, suffer- ing many hardships, and being then laid up for nine months with a broken leg. In his twentieth year he sailed for America on the ship Orient, landing at New York some two months later, January 3, 1852. After visit- ing Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Pittsburg, he returned to Cincinnati and was engaged there two years as a machinist in a cabinet factory. Next he went to Illinois, and was soon called to Alton, that State, to visit his sick brother, who shortly afterward died. After working in a coal mine a few years he removed in the spring of 1859 to the Alma (Illinois) mines, and then went to St. Louis, made several changes and finally landed at Council Bluffs, July 4, 1861, after a tedious trip up the Missouri. He visited several points and finally settled at Big Grove on the banks of the river. A flood came and he moved out to higher land in skiffs, going into a house belonging to John Bird. He began trading and got some live-stock together and then moved into Garner Township. There he eut wood and hauled it to town with the oxen that he had raised. Subsequently he sold the oxen and purchased a team of horses, and followed farming and stock-raising on different rented places until in 1866 he bought
his present farm of sixty acres on section 26, land entirely unimproved; and here he has made for himself and companion a comfort- able home, with a nice frame house, farm buildings, orchard, shade trees, flowering plants, etc. It is indeed a cosy retreat for him and his companion in their old age. Politically he is a true Democrat, taking
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
great interest in the public affairs of the county. They are zealous adherents to the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints.
September 29, 1858, while engaged in the coal mines in Illinois, he married Mrs. Hannah Jones, widow of Samuel Jones, who came to America in the spring of 1855, settling in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, and came thenee to Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Jones have had two children, both of whom are deceased.
ORENZO D. SEWARD, one of the well-known citizens of Pottawattamie County, was born in Adams County, Illinois, in 1841, the son of Pitney Seward, who was a pioneer in that county. When he landed at Quincy there was but one house there. Byrum Seward, the grandfather of our subjeet, was a pioneer of Butler County, Ohio, and a cousin of Secretary Seward, of Lincoln's administration. He served in the war of 1812. Pitney Seward was twice mar- ried, first to Mahala Case, and they had eight children: Byrum, Julia, Harriet, Franklin, Lorenzo, Stephen, Elizabeth and Aliee. Mr. Seward's second wife was Harriet Case, a sister of the first, and they had five children, only two of whom grew to maturity, IIattie and Sallie. Mr. Seward moved to Clark County, Missouri, about 1866, where he died at the age of seventy-two years; was born in 1811, and died in 1883; was a member of the Christian Church, a substantial farmer, and was respected by all who knew him. Ile and his father were among the first pioneers to the Western country.
Lorenzo D. was but ten years of age when he went to Ohio to live with his uncle, and but fourteen years of age when he came to
Iowa in 1855 with his two brothers, Franklin and Stephen, landing at Keokuk, where he remained until 1858. In that year he went to Story County and worked on a farm until 1859, when he went to Colorado, when Den- ver was but a small town, and worked in the mines and also at teaming. He drove a team across the plains from Leavenworth, Kansas, to Denver and other points. In 1863 he returned to Iowa and married Carrie F. Long, of Fremont County, Iowa. The father was an old pioneer of that county, having settled there in 1859. He was from Wiscon- sin, but was a native of Germany. He was the father of eleven children, viz .: Charles, Rosanna, Catharine, Mary, Maggie, Jacob, Carrie, Julia, Rachel, IIenry and Clara. The father was a substantial farmer, and died in Fremont County. Mr. and Mrs. Lorenzo Seward are the parents of four children: Minnie, Henry, Katie and Effie L., who died in infancy. After marriage Mr. Seward set- tled in Mills County, lowa, where he worked in a saw-mill for two years. Ile resided in that county until 1878, when he came to Pottawattamie County and settled on a farm. He purchased his present farm in 1880. He is a member of Hancock Valley Lodge, No. 439, I. O. O. F. In his political views he is a Democrat, and is Chairman of the Town- ship Democratic Committee. He stands high in the community as an honorable man, and one who has had a wide experience in Western lifc.
ORACE G. LOWE, of section 9, Car- son Township, was born in Decatur County, Indiana, October 3, 1854, the son of Franklin and Julia (Spurling) Lowe; the father is a well-known and prominent eitizen of Carson. They reared a family of six
Lewis W. Roxx
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OF POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY.
children. Horace, the eldest child, was reared in Decatur County, Indiana, until fourteen years of age, when, in the fall of 1870, the family removed to Glenwood, Mills County, lowa, where they lived until the next spring. They then moved on the land where the home farm now is. Here he has since re- sided with the exception of two years. lu 1879 he accepted a situation as salesman in the mercantile house of Ohio Knox, of Mace- donia; and the next year he accepted a posi- tion in the mercantile business of L. D. Woodmansie, of Whecler's Grove. In 1881 he returned to the farm, where he has since resided, which consists of 240 acres of land, under a high state of cultivation.
He was married April 17, 1881, to Miss Hattie A. Woodmansie, of Logan County, Illinois, who was a child of five years when her father, L. D. Woodmansie, came to this county. He was a native of New Jersey, and her mother, Mary (Niswonger) Wood- mansie, was a native of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Lowe have two children, Mabel and Loren. Politically Mr. Lowe is a Republican, and he and his wife are members of the Presby- terian Church. Mr. Lowe is an honored and esteemed citizen of the county, where he has resided for so many years.
EWIS W. ROSS, attorney at law, Conn- cil Bluff's, was born of Scotch lineage, October 15, 1827, in IFanover Town- ship, Butler County, Ohio. Ilis grandfather, Ezekiel Ross. and his father, Amos Ross, natives of Essex County. New Jersey, settled in Butler County, Ohio, in 1814. Ezekiel died in 1845, in his eighty-ninth year, and was buried in the Bethel burying ground near his homestead. Amosdied in his seventy- ninth year, in Jersey County, Illinois, and
was buried in the Jerseyville cemetery. Lewis W. Ross remained on the home farm until his twentieth year. May 1, 1848, he entered Farmer's College, near Cincinnati, and continued there until the winter of 1850, when he changed to Miami University, lo- cated at Oxford, Ohio, graduating from that institution in the month of June, 1852. At Farmer's College he had among his instructors Robert H. Bishop, D. D., and numbered among his student acquaintences Oliver W. Nixon, of the Inter-Ocean; William C. Gray, of the Interior; Murat Halsted, late of the Commercial Gazette; Lewis B. Gunkle, law- yer and capitalist, Dayton, Ohio; Joseph M. Gregory, lawyer, Memphis, Tennessee; Jacob C. Denise, M. D., Omaha, Nebraska; and Benjamin Harrison, the present ocenpant of the White House at Washington. In Miami University, he had among his class-mates Milton Saylor, twice elected to Congress from a Cincinnati district; David Swing, now of Chicago; and Benjamin Harrison, already mentioned. Saylor received the first, and Swing the second, honors of the class.
After leaving college, Mr. Ross read law in Hamilton, Ohio, for two full years, pass- ing to the bar in the summer of 1854. His law preceptors were Joseph Scott, a notable example of the advocate and court lawyer in the same person ; and N.C. McFarland, a man of excellent common sense, and untiring in- dustry. Scott was afterward, for many years, one of the Supreme Judges of the State of Ohio; and McFarland served under President Arthur as Commissioner of the General Land Office. After coming to the bar Mr. Ross located in Hamilton. Ohio, remaining there in practice for a period of two years. In the month of August, 1856, he removed to Cass County, Iowa.
On the 3d day of January, 1861, he settled in Council Bluff's, Pottawattamie County,
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
Iowa, which place has always since been his home, except a temporary absence, extending through seven years, whilst employed in the State University. It is fair to say that he has given his life to the study and practice of his profession. He was State Senator in the 10th and 11th General Assemblies. Being a mem- ber of the Judiciary and Public Land Com- mittees, his legal knowledge and professional experience were in constant demand and ex- ercise. In 1864 he was elected a Trustee of the State University for four years, and re- elected in 1868. In 1874 he was elected a Regent of the University for six years. In 1880 he was made Resident Professor of the Law Department of the University, and in 1881 was promoted to the office of Chancellor of that Department. As Trustee and Regent he labored earnestly and successfully in strengthening and developing the University. He was especially active and largely instru- mental in organizing and establishing the Law, Medical, and Homeopathic-Medical Departments. During the seven years of his service as Professor and Chancellor. he taught with other subjects, Equity, Real Property, Torts, and Common Law and Code Pleading. During this period the faculty and lecturers consisted of James M. Love, George G. Wright, Anstin Adams, John N. Rogers, John F. Duncombe, Einlin McClain and J. L. Pickard. As Chancellor the subject of this sketch was the responsible head of the faculty, composed of mnen eminent as jurists, lawyers and teachers. It is worthy of notice that during all the years of this headship, the most perfect harmony prevailed between the faculty and himself, and between the several persons composing the faculty. In author- ship Mr. Ross has produced but little of per- manent valne. While in the law school he published, in aid of his platform work, " An Outline of Common Law and Code Pleading,"
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