USA > Iowa > Pottawattamie County > Biographical history of Pottawattamie County, Iowa > Part 64
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Abel A. Randall, our subject, was born in Hardy Connty, West Virginia, July 3, 1833, and was twenty-one years of age when he came with his father to Iowa. After his marriage he settled one-half of a mile east of Newto :, where he remained until 1879. In that year he moved to his present farm of eighty acres. He lived in Washington County four years before his marriage, an l served as Township Trustee. In his political principles he is a Republican.
Mr. Randall was married February 22. 1870, to Emma Sinclair, daughter of James A. and Martha (Adkisson) Sinclair. The
Lucius Well
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father settled in Newton, Pottawattamie County, in 1854, and was the father of six children : Cora A., Emma M., James L., Ada A., Frank E. and Foy. The father has been Justice of the Peace, Supervisor and Town- ship Clerk, and also School Clerk of his county. Both he and his wife are members of the United Brethren Church, in which he is class-leader, steward and trustee. He is still living, at the age of nearly sixty years. Mr. and Mrs. Randall are the parents of five children, only two of whom survived: Ettie L. and James Edward.
UCIUS WELLS is of the firm of Deere, Wells & Co., wholesale dealers in agri- cultural implements, wagons, and vehi- cles, being the leading and the largest house of the kind in the Northwest, and one of the largest in the whole country, and as such deserves speeial notice here. The firm is made up of Deere & Co. and the Moline Wagon Company, both of Moline, Illinois, and Mr. Wells, who is resident partner. The former company are proprietors of the John Deere Plow Works, which were founded by John Deere in 1847, and is the largest steel plow works in the world. John Deere was the pioneer of steel plow-makers, hammering the first steel plow out of saw steel, and was the founder of the Grand De Tour Plow Works, which establishinent he left when locating at Moline. The Moline Wagon Com- pany have one of the largest factories of the kind in the country. The house of Deere, Wells & Co. was established November 1, 1881, and was the pioneer of the many es. tablishments of the kind whose aggregate business at this time makes Conneil Bluff's the second largest implement center in the Northwest.
Mr. Wells was born February 9, 1845, near Moline, Illinois, and spent his early days on the farm. After receiving a com- mon-school education he attended Lombard University at Galesburg, Illinois, taking an elective course. Upon leaving that institu- tion he took a position with Deere & Co. and continued with them for a period of fourteen years, contributing his mite toward building up that great business, and during that time saw the establishment double its capacity no less than three times. He has been a resi- dent of Council Bluffs since the opening of the house of Deere, Wells & Co. in 1881, and to his untiring energy and business man- agement is due the success of the business.
Mr. Wells is known in the West as an act- ive business man who believes that "what- ever is worth doing at all is worth doing well," and acts upon that principle.
His ancestors on his father's side were English, who left the old country in the lat- ter part of the seventeenth century and set- tled in Connecticut. His ancestors on his mother's side were Seotch-English and settled in New England before the Revolutionary war. His great-grandfathers on both sides were soldiers under George Washington. His father, whose name also was Lucius Wells, was born in Windham County, Ver- mont, in 1803, and his mother in Genesee County, New York, in 1808, they both em- igrating with their parents to Wayne County, Illinois, in 1823, and were married there in 1825. They soon after removed to northern Illinois, locating in what is now Rock Island Connty, and in that removal passed nearly the entire length of the State of Illinois through a country inhabited only by wild animals and Indians. His father died at the homestead in Roek Island County, in 1875, after celebrating their golden wedding. His mother is at this writing (March, 1891),
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enjoying good health at the age of eighty- three.
Mr. Wells was married March 26, 1868, to Miss Martha A. Wadsworth, of Dixon, Illinois, whose parents came from Maryland and were of German ancestry. Mr. and Mrs. Wells have two daughters: Miss Eunice M. aged twenty years, and Cherrie, aged seven years.
OIIN A. WOLF, one of the enterprising and representative citizens of Washing- ton Township, eame to this county in the spring of 1881, where he has since re- sided. Hle came from Mills County, lowa, where he had lived several years. He was born in Perry County, Ohio, May 19, 1850. a son of Philip Wolf, a native of Pennsyl- vania; the Wolfs were of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. The mother of our subjeet was Mary (Lewis) Wolf, who was born in Perry County, Ohio, and her family were of an old American family of New England. Philip Wolf came to this county in 1887, where he resided until his death in June, 1889, at the age of sixty-three years. Ile was a farmer by occupation, and politically a Democrat. In religion he was connected with the Lutheran Church for several years. The mother died in Lueas County, Iowa, near Chariton, in 1865. The parents reared tive children. John A. was about two years of age when his parents moved to Van Buren County, lowa, where they were early settlers. He was reared in southern and western Iowa, and at the age of seventeen years he obtained employment with a well-known stoekman, J. M. Strand. He was in his employ near Dallas, Marion County, Iowa, one year, and then came with him to Malvern, Mills County, in 1869, and was in his employ in
that county eight or nine years. He then rented land for two or three years, and in 1881 bought eighty aeres of his present farm, paying $10 per aere. Later he bought forty aeres more, and one year later added forty acres still more, and he now owns 160 acres, all under a good state of enltivation. Besides his general farming, he is now feed- ing twenty-one head of cattle and 115 head of swine.
Mr. Wolf was married at Red Oak, Iowa. November 30, 1876, to Miss Henrietta Mil- ler, a daughter of John and Ann (Strand) Miller. The mother is a sister of J. M. Strand, a prominent stockman of Mills County, Iowa. Mrs. Wolf was reared mostly in Henderson County, Illinois, and was edu- eated in Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Wolf have three sons: Ira Lewis, Philip Miller and Engene Earl. Politieally Mr. Wolf is a Dem- oerat, but has never aspired to publie office. He is a member of the Evangelieal Church, a elass-leader in the same, has served as super- intendent of the Sabbath-school, and is at the present a teacher. Mrs. Wolf is also a worthy member in the same. Mr. Wolf is yet in the prime of life, frank and cordial in his manner, and is honorable in all his business dealings. He is numbered politically, socially and financially among the representative eiti- zens of his neighborhood.
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K. MURCHISON is one of the thrifty Seotehmen who left his native land and sought a home in the United States. He was born at Loehearron, Ros- shire, in the Highlands of Scotland, in An- gust, 1846, son of Kenneth and Christy (MeLeod) Murchison, both natives of that place. The father died in Scotland, at the age of fifty-six years, and the mother is still
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living there, aged sixty-five. Of their three sons and two daughters the subject of this sketch is the oldest. He was reared on a farm and educated in his native land. At the age of twenty-one he bade good-bye to home and friends and set sail from Glasgow for New York. After traveling over Ohio and Ken- tucky lie went to Stark County, Illinois, where he worked by the month for two years. Then he went to Henry County, same State, where he rented land near Kewanee for five years.
In August, 1869, while in Stark County, Mr. Murchison married Ann MeKinzie, also a native of Rosshire, Scotland, the daughter of Scottish parents, John and Eliza McKin- zie. Mr. Murchison then made his home in Elmira, Stark County, until 1883, when he came to Iowa and settled in Pottawattamie County. Ile bought 120 acres of improved land in section 17, Waveland Township. In 1887 he purchased eighty acres more, now owning 200 acres in one body. He has a comfortable frame house, grove and orchard, stable, feed yards, granary, cribs, etc. The farm is well improved and everything about the premises has a look of prosperity.
Mr. and Mrs. Murchison have five chil- dren: Mary, Kenneth, Willina, John Alex- ander and Christena. Two of their children, Lizzie and a babe, are deccased. In politics Mr. Murchison is a Republican. He is a Presbyterian, in which faith he was reared. His intelligence combined with his honesty and industry has brought prosperity to him and won for him the confidence and respect of his fellow citizens.
RIGAN STILLINGS, one of the pio- neer settlers of Layton Township, was born in Illinois, February 18, 1839, the son of Josiah J. Stillings, who was of Ger-
man descent. Ilis father died in Baltimore, Maryland, when Josiah was but three years of age, and his mother died when he was but six years old, and he was brought up on a farm by his uncle, Abraham Swartz, a farmer of Knox County, Illinois. When about sev- entcen years of age he left his uncle and went to Galena, where he worked in the lead mines. He afterward returned to Knox County, and was married to Luey A. Coy, danghter of Benjamin Coy, a native of the Eastern states, and who was a pioneer of Ken- tucky. He was a great hunter and a fast runner, and could outrun his Indian com- panions. He married a Welsh lady in Ken- tucky, and here Lucy, the wife of Josiah Stillings, was born. Her family settled in Iowa, where they were among the early pioneers. To Mr. and Mrs. Josiah Stillings were born eight children: Arena A., Mary A., Origan A., Eliza J., Sarah E., Martha E., James B. F., Emeline and one who died in infancy. The father was a miller in Illinois for some years, and in 1844 came to Iowa, settling in Washington County, where he ran a mill for four years. He then moved two and a half miles northwest, where he built and ran a mill. He then went into a grocery store and also kept a hotel at Was- sonville, one of the oldest towns in Iowa. He also owned a small farm, where he died in 1886, at the age of seventy-seven years. He was in the Black Hawk war when a young man; held the office of Constable twenty-four years in Iowa-seventeen consecutive years; and was a member of the Methodist Church; Mrs. Stillings was a member of the Baptist Church.
O. A. Stillings, our subject, was reared to farm life, and when five years of age he came with his father to Iowa, and was early accus- tomed to the vicissitudes of pioneer life, and well remembers seeing the Indians buy
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goods of his father, who could talk and un- derstand some of their language. He re- mained at home until he was twenty-one years of age when, in 1861, he enlisted in Company F, First lowa Volunteer Cavalry, and served one year in Missouri. He was in the battle of Black Water, where 1,300 Confederates were captured, and he was also in the battle at Silver Creek, where a ball struck the visor of his cap. He was honor- ably discharged at Sedalia, Missouri. Return- ing home he engaged in farming; then went to Illinois; thence to Kansas, where he drove a Government team to Salt Lake, Utah; next he went to Virginia City, Montana, where he remained through the winter of 1863-'64, and was a member of the celebrated committee which established law and order in Montana, and who executed a great many desperadoes. The next August Mr. Stillings returned to Iowa, and in 1867 was married to Elizabeth Phillips, daughter of George and Elizabeth (Dean) Phillips, and they have five children: Bertha, Frank, Wilber, Frederick, and one who died in infancy. The mother died, and Mr. Stillings married Hortense Van Meter, in 1886, during which year he came to Pot- tawattamie Connty and bought his present farm of eighty acres, but which he has since converted into a fine farm of 120 acres. He is a member of Methodist Episcopal the Church, in which he is a class-leader and steward. Mrs. Stillings is a member of the Christian Church. Politically he is a Re- publican, voting first for Abraham Lincoln. He is a member of the G. A. R. Post, and is a man who stands deservedly high in his township as a straightforward and honorable man. He was injured in the United States service, and is now drawing a pension from the Government. Mrs. Stillings was born in Johnson County, Iowa, the daughter of Elias B. Howell, who was born in Ohio, and
was an early settler of Johnson County. He was married to Rachel Preston, and they have had seven children: Mattie, Lorena, Ilortense, Cora J., Fadilla, Ralph, and one who died when young. Both Mr. and Mrs. Howell are members of the Christian Church, in which he has for many years been a dea- con and class-leader. The Howell family originated in New Jersey. Elias Howell, the father of the above, was an old pioneer of Licking County, Ohio, and was a member of Congress from that State in the time of William Il. Harrison, and was also promi- nent in the Log Cabin and Hard Cider cam- paign. He was Sheriff of Licking County for many years, was the proprietor of the silk interest in Ohio, was married three times and was the father of twelve children. His son, James B. Howell, was United States Senator from Iowa.
G. BRYANT, Mayor of Carson, Jus- tice of the Peace, agent for the Chi- cago, Burlington & Quincy and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroads and also express agent, was born in Parke County, Indiana, November 3, 1863, the son of S. B. J. and Martha (Strother) Bryant. The father is now in Atlantic, Iowa, and general agent for an insurance business, and is a respected citizen of the town. T. G. Bryant was reared in Champaign County, Illinois, receiving his education there and in Indianapolis, and when sixteen years of age they came to Iowa. In 1882 he was made operator at Neola, Iowa, and later at Anita, Iowa. In 1883 he was stationed at Exira, Iowa, where he re- mained for about three years, and was then promoted to the agency of this town, filling his position well, and gaining the good will of the railroad officials. Politically Mr.
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OF POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY.
Bryant is a Republican, and was elected Mayor of Carson in 1890, and is serving to the best advantage of himself and party. He is interested in educational matters and served on the School Board for two or three years. He is a member of I. O. O. F. Lodge. No. 444, and is Secretary of the same, and is also Secretary of the Modern Woodmen, Botna Lodge, No. 172.
Mr. Bryant was married November 4,1886, at Exira, Iowa, to Miss Mary Houston, the daughter of A. B. Houston, a well-known and prominent citizen of that town. They have had two children: Clarence Jackson, who died July 22, 1890, and Hazel. Mr. and Mrs. Bryant are members of the Pres- bytcrian Church. Mr. Bryant, although a young man, has gained a position, socially, politically and financially among the best citizens of Carson.
H. GRAFF, the proprietor of the City Drug Store at Carson, and one of the leading business men of the town, has been in business in Carson since 1880, and carries a complete line of drugs, patent medicines, stationery, and also gives part of his time to the jewelry trade, carry- ing a full line of jewelry. He is a registered pharmacist, and has had many years of ex- perience in the business. His store is 22 x 65 feet, which was built in 1889, his first store having been burned to the ground. Mr. Graff is a native of Fort Madison, Lee County, Iowa, was born December 29, 1853, the son of F. and Maria (Becker) Graff, the former a native of Germany and the latter of St. Louis, Missouri. He was reared in Fort Madison, Iowa, and Hancock County, Illi- nois, and when still a youth spent one year n the music store at Burlington, lowa. In
1875 he went to Sigourney, Iowa, and was in the drug business with Cook & Franken un- til 1979, when he spent one year in Connci Bluffs, with Dr. C. Deetken, a druggist. In 1880 he came to Carson, which he has since made his home.
Mr. Graff was married in 1879, at Sigonr- ney, to Miss Sophronia M. Muzzy, of Clin- ton, Iowa, and a daughter of Milton Muzzy. They have one daughter-Luln A. Politi - cally Mr. Graff is a Democrat. In 1881-'82 he served as Conneilman; was City Recorder one year and Mayor one year. IIe was Postmas- ter four years under Grover Cleveland's ad- ministration, and has been on the School Board three years, serving with credit to himself and friends. He is a member of the Masonic order of Coral Lodge No. 430, and was made a Mason in 1882. He was made Master of the Carson lodge and served two and a half years, but resigned. Mr. and Mrs. Graff are members of the Presbyterian Church, and Mrs. Graff was a graduate of the Iowa City College, and has a life certifi- cate. She has taught twelve or fifteen terms, and was principal of the Carson school four terms. Mr. Graff is a good business man, and is interested in the welfare of the town.
OBERT F. WALKER, a prominent farmer of Pattawattamie County, de- scended from an old American family of English origin. His grandfather, Martin Walker, was from Maryland, and settled in Harrison County, Ohio, where he was among the early settlers. His son, Ephraim Walker, was married in that State, to Mary Ann Rearadon, and they were the parents of four children, who lived to maturity: John, Jessie, Martin and Robert F. The father was a mason and bricklayer by trade, and died in
ยท
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
Harrison County, Ohio, at the age of sixty- five years. Both he and his wife were mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His first wife died, and he was married to Mary LaPort, and they had three children: William, Ephraim and Mary. Mr. Walker was a well-to-do man, and had three sons in our great civil war: Jesse, in Company I, Seventeenth Illinois Infantry, who was in the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh and many others. He served all through the war, and was re-enlisted as a veteran. Martin was in Company E, Third Iowa Volunteer In- fantry, and died at Raleigh, Missouri, after a serviee of six months. The father was a stanch Union man.
Robert F. Walker, the subject of this sketeh, was born in Cadiz, Ohio, February 16, 1841, and learned the trade of brick- laying and plastering in early life. In 1862, at the age of twenty-one years he enlisted in Company C, Ninety-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served until June 1, 1865, or until the close of the war. He was in the battles of Perryville, Kentucky, Chattanooga, Chickamauga, Jonesborough, Evansborough, Bentonville, Kenesaw Mountain, and was with Sherman at Atlanta and through to the sea, and was also in a great inany skirmishes. He was present at the great return march to Washington, and was mustered out at that place June 1, and honorably diselarged at Cleveland, Ohio, June 10, 1865.
After his marriage, in 1865, Mr. Walker came with his wife to Big Grove (now ealled Oakland), where he remained until the fall of 1867. In 1868 he settled on 160 acres of wild land in this county, which, assisted by his faithful wife, he converted into a fine farmu. He takes an active interest in the schools of his district. He is a member of the G. A. R., William Layton Post, Oakland. Mr. Walker is one of the pioneers of this
part of Pottawattamie County. When he came to his farin the township was but thinly settled, and the Indians visited him several times, and often took dinner with him. As a citizen he has done his share in building up his township and county, and as a pioneer he stands high, and is well-known for honesty and industry.
May 8, 1866, he was married to Susan La Port, daughter of John L. and Melinda (Har- rison) LaPort. The father was of French de- seent, and was the grandson of Ephraim La Port, who came from France before the Revolutionary war and settled in Ohio. His son, Abraham LaPort, the grandfather of Mrs. Walker, participated in the war of the Revolution, and also that of 1812. He was a farmer of Harrison County, Ohio, and was the father of ten children, viz .: Bazer E., Abraham, Isaac, Susan, Barbara E., Ephraim, John, Samuel, William and Charles. The father lived to the great age of ninety-five years, and his father lived to be over ninety years old. Mr. LaPort was a member of the Christian Church, and was a substantial farmer. He was a man of sterling eharaeter, and was much respected by the old pioneers. He was familiar with the Indians, and used often to accompany them on their hunting expeditions. His sons were soldiers in the war of 1812. John L. LaPort, the father of Mrs. Walker, was a earpenter of Logan County, Ohio, and was married in that State to Melinda Harrison, daughter of Ephraim Harrison, a full cousin of General Harrison, of Tippecanoe fame. They were the parents of ten children, namely: Margaret, Mary, Charles, Frank, Eleanor, Emily, Jane and Eliza (twins), Miller and Susan. The father moved to Knightstown, Haneock County, In- diana, where he lived until his death, which occurred at the age of sixty years. Both he and his wife were members of the Christian
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OF POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY.
Church, in which he was an elder for many years. He was much respected by his fellow- townsmen, and served as Justice of the Peace for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Walker have had five children, viz .: Mabel, now the wife of Emerson Fletcher, a farmer of Valley Township; Martin, who died at the age of nineteen; Ephraim, Eva, June, and an adopted son, named Clandie. Mrs. Walker is a member of the Christian Church.
INFIELD S. PACKARD, one of the first merchants of Walunt, Iowa, has been identified with the business interests of this thriving town since its in- fancy. When he came to Walnut in 1872 it contained but eleven houses, and Oscar F. Lodge was the only merchant. Mr. Packard is descended from an old American family from Massachusetts. Gahret Packard, his grandfather, was born in Vermont November 15, 1775, and died November 20, 1820. He married Elmira Brittan in October, 1797, and she died May 15, 1830. They .emigrated to Ohio in an early day, settling in Mahon- ing County. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and died from wounds contracted in that struggle. He was the father of eleven children,-of whom the living are: Esther, Charlotte, Thomas, John, Asby D. and Gah- ret H. Asby D. Packard, the father of our subject, was born July 22, 1816, on his father's farm in Mahoning County, Ohio, and when a young man learned the trade of milling. In 1838, at the age of twenty-two, he came to Iowa and took up a claim in Johnson County, and being the first settler in liardin Township, upon which he remained until he obtained Government title. He then went back to Ohio on foot, having been on his claim two years, made a visit, and then
returned. When he first came through from Ohio he rode a pony, and at Chicago he was offered forty acres of land now in the heart of the city. April 29, 1845, he married Nancy (Akins) Montgomery, daughter of James and Martha Montgomery, horn near Dublin, Ireland. Her father, one of the early settlers of Iowa from Pittsburg, Pennsylva- nia, died August 26, 1874. Mr. and Mrs. Packard had nine children, eight of whom lived to maturity: Winfield S., Nancy A., Charlotte, Helen A., Ida, Amelia A. and Asby D. The father lived on his farm all his life, and died at the age of seventy-one years. Ile owned a fine farm of 425 acres in Johnson County, which is still in possession of the family. He laid out the town of Windham in the center of his farm. Mr. Packard served as Justice of the Peace for many years, and was an industrious and law- abiding citizen. The carly pioneers of Iowa were men of strong constitutions and able to endure the hardships of pioneer life. They had strong minds as well as bodies, and were capable of self-government, every locality governing itself. Mr. Packard voted at forty elections, and took an active part in all affairs relating to local government. Built a water saw-mill in 1845, and in 1855 and '56 built a steam grist and saw mill, which was a great help to the early settlers. These mills were burnt down in 1864.
Winfield S. Packard, the subject of this sketch, was born on the old homostead in Johnson County, lowa, March 19, 1847, and gained the elements of his education in a log cabin, and also lived in a cabin constructed in the same manner. He early learned to work on the farm and in his father's saw and grist mill, and grew np with that best of aids to a sound constitution, a good character. He remained with his father until he was twenty-four years of age. In March, 1872,
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
he moved to Walnut and engaged in the mer- cantile business, in which he continued until 1881, when he was burned out. He then traveled for a grocery house in Chicago, and then, in 1884, went into the real-estate and insurance business, which he has since con- tinned; he also owns a livery stable. Mr. Packard has been a member of the Council six years, Township Clerk six years, and Jus- tice of the Peace two years. Politically he is a Republican, and is a man who stands high for good, upright moral character, and is well known to the citizens of this part of the country.
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