USA > Iowa > Buchanan County > History of Buchanan County, Iowa, and its people, Volume II > Part 11
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John H. Titus supported the republican party by his ballot and for many years was a justice of the peace. By his sensible advice he was able to assist many people in settling their differences outside of the court and thus saved them unnecessary expense. He was reared in the Quaker faith and never de- parted therefrom. His wife was born near Scottsville, which is in the vicinity of Rochester, Ohio, and was there reared and married. She accompanied her husband to Iowa in 1862 and passed away upon a farm near Aurora, October 14, 1864, when but forty-four years of age. She was the mother of twelve children, two of whom died in childhood. Like her husband she was a member of the Society of Friends. By a former marriage Mr. Titus had a son. Benja- min, who is now living retired in Aurora, this county.
Gilbert E. Titus was reared at home and under the instruction of his father early became proficient in agricultural work. His schooling was that afforded by the public-school system and he was well grounded in the fundamental branches of learning. When a young man of twenty-two or twenty-three years he went to Titusville, Pennsylvania, where oil fields had just been discovered. The man who first found out their existence was Jonathan Titus, a first cousin of the father of our subjeet, and Titusville was named in his honor. Gilbert E. Titus remained in that place for a year and a half and conducted a livery stable and drove a stagecoach. At the end of that time he went to Painesville, Ohio, where he engaged in the livery business for two years. His father-in-law was government inspector of horses at Cleveland and Mr. Titus was associated with him until the spring of 1864. He then sold out and in March of that year came to this county, locating upon a tract of land near Aurora. He erected a number of buildings but after operating the farm for three or four years rented it and came to Winthrop, where he has since engaged in the livery business and in the buying and selling of horses. His long experience in that line has made him an almost infallible judge of horses and he often sees possibilities of develop- ment in an animal that is to all appearances undesirable. Not onee but many times he has purchased such a horse and by giving it good care and training has brought out the good points latent in it. He has prospered in his under- takings and is now in possession of a competence which insures him of the comforts of life.
Mr. Titus was married in Ohio to Miss Caroline Abbott, a native of Massa- chusetts and a daughter of R. H. Abbott, a railway contractor and government inspector of army horses during the Civil war. To Mr. and Mrs. Titus have been born two children: Bessie, the wife of Elmer Brintnall, a son of E. P. Brintnall. deceased, and a carpenter and builder; and Lila, the wife of B. W. Briggs, of Dubuque. Iowa.
Mr. Titus is an adherent of the republican party and has held a number of local offices. In addition to serving as township trustee and constable he held the office of deputy sheriff fourteen years and in that time arrested several notorious horse thieves. Both he and his wife are members of the Congrega- tional church and are active in the support of all good causes. Mr. Titus be-
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longs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America and is well known in both of those organizations. He holds the un- qualified respect of those who have been associated with him in business or in a social way and all who know him wish him many more years of health and strength.
GEORGE A. SNOW.
George A. Snow, manager at Independence for the Meuser Lumber Com- pany of Dubuque, is a self-made man who has been both the architect and builder of his own fortunes. He now occupies a creditable position in commer- cial circles and his worth is widely acknowledged. He was born in Ticon- deroga, Essex county, New York, on the 12th of June, 1848, a son of William E. and Alzina (Sweet) Snow, who were also natives of Ticonderoga. In early life the father learned the ship carpenter's and house carpenter's trades and in the year 1867 he came to Iowa, settling at Independence, where he engaged in carpentering for a number of years. He then purchased a farm southwest of the city and devoted his energies to general agricultural pursuits until his life's labors were ended in death in January, 1892. For four decades he had survived his wife, who passed away in 1852. After her demise the father married her cousin, Miss Betsy J. Sweet, his second union occurring before his removal to Iowa. There were two children of the first marriage, George A. and Charles J., the latter now a resident farmer of South Dakota. There were also two children of the second marriage: Emma, deceased; and Jed, who resides on the old homestead.
George A. Snow pursued his education in the schools of New York and for one year in the schools of Independence. At the time of his mother's death, which occurred when he was but four years of age, he went to live with his maternal grandparents, with whom he remained until he was eighteen years of age. He came to lowa in 1869, joining his father, with whom he remained through the winter. He then worked in Independence for others, being em- ployed for one summer in the building of the big mill at this place. He after- ward secured a clerkship in a store, remaining there and in other stores for about eight years. He next turned his attention to the hotel business, which he conducted for two years at Cedar Falls, Iowa, after which he became a land- owner, also following farming for about eight years. On the expiration of that period he again took up his abode in Independence and for nine years was employed in the Leach lumber yard, at the end of which time Mr. Leach sold the business to the Meuser Lumber Company of Dubuque. Mr. Snow remained with them as manager of the business at Independence and is now in control of the yard at this place. He has carefully directed the business, which has become a profitable venture, and he has the entire confidence of the corporation which he represents. He owns farm lands in Nebraska and in Minnesota, having made judicious investment in real estate.
Mr. Snow has been married twice. In 1876 he wedded Miss Emma Fleming, who was born north of Winthrop in Buchanan county, a daughter of James
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Fleming, who was an early settler of the county, in which he followed farming. To Mr. and Mrs. Snow was born one daughter, Lillian, who died in 1885. The wife and mother passed away in 1879 and in October, 1882, Mr. Snow wedded Mrs. Phoebe M. (Blair) Knapp, who was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Joseph and Phoebe (Whitford) Blair, both of whom were natives of Essex county, New York. They emigrated from that state to Pennsylvania and thence came to Iowa about 1870, settling on a farm near Brandon, where they continued until about three years prior to the death of Mr. Blair. At that time he took up his abode in Brandon, where he lived retired for two years but spent his last year in the home of his daughter, Mrs. Snow. He was nearly ninety-five years of age at the time of his death, while his wife passed away when eighty-five years of age. They had lived together in happy wedlock for sixty-five years. Mrs. Snow is the youngest of their four children. Mr. and Mrs. Snow have an adopted child, Marie Knapp, who is a granddaughter and who is now attending school.
In his political views Mr. Snow has always been a democrat but has never been an office seeker. He has membership with the Modern Brotherhood of America and with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He has worked earnestly and persistently as the years have gone on and has made for himself a creditable position in the business circles of Independence, while in social life, too, he has won a desirable place.
ALFRED P. BURRHUS.
Alfred P. Burrhus has been closely associated with the material development, politieal activity and moral progress of Quasqueton and is therefore accounted one of its prominent and valued citizens. He is now engaged in the implement business there, having been connected therewith for a quarter of a century. He is also a factor in banking cireles and is the owner of extensive farm property in the county. His birth occurred in Patterson, Putnam county, New York, March 22, 1839, his parents being Luther and Mary (Penny) Burrhus, who were also natives of that county. The father, who was born in 1806, devoted his early life to farming, owning a tract of land in that state. He continued his residence in the east until 1859 and then came to Iowa. Here he enlisted at Independence as a member of the Graybeard Regiment and was with the army until the close of the war, his command being largely engaged in guarding pris- oners at Columbus, Ohio. When hostilities were over he returned to Buchanan county and lived with his son Alfred until his death, which occurred in 1871, when he was sixty-five years of age. He had long survived his wife, who died in 1845 at the age of thirty-nine years. Mr. Burrhus gave his political support in early life to the whig party, of which he was an active champion, and later upon the dissolution of that party he joined the ranks of the newly formed republican party. He always manifested a deep interest in the politieal questions and situation of the country, both when in New York and in Iowa.
Alfred P. Burrhus was a pupil in the country schools of his native state and afterward attended the high school at Poughkeepsie, New York. When sixteen
A. P. Brushes
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years of age he began teaching in the rural schools and the following year came to Iowa, where he was employed as a teacher in the district schools of Delaware county for a time. He afterward traveled in a photograph car, making daguerreo- types throughout northeastern Iowa for two years, and he visited Waterloo when it was only a village. He afterward became interested in a hack line carrying passengers between Waterloo and Dyersville, Iowa, and later he turned his attention to farming, having saved from his earnings a sum sufficient to enable him to purchase a tract of land in Liberty township, Buchanan county. He was also appointed mail agent over the route between Winthrop, Rowley and Marion, carrying the mail for about a quarter of a century. While thus engaged he established an implement business in Quasqueton, which he has conducted for the past twenty-five years and within that period has built up an extensive trade. He now has one of the leading establishments of this character not only in Quasqueton but in the county, and he has also established branch implement houses at Robinson and at Rowley, Iowa. devoting the greater part of his atten- tion to that line. However, he is a stockholder in the State Savings Bank of Quasqueton and in the State Bank of Monti, and for many years he has been closely and extensively associated with agricultural interests, being the owner of three hundred and ninety-five acres of valuable land in Buchanan county, some of which is in Cono and some in Liberty township. He handles Durham cattle for commercial purposes only and also full blooded Percheron horses.
In 1858 Mr. Burrhus was married to Miss Elizabeth Crooks, who died in 1872, and the following year he wedded her sister, Martha A. Crooks, who was born in Leesville, Ohio, and in 1856 was brought to Iowa by her parents, Alexander and Hannah (Johnson) Crooks, natives of Ireland and of Leesville, Ohio, respect- ively. In early life the father learned the tailor's trade in New York city following his emigration from Ireland to the United States. He afterward removed westward to Leesville and in 1856 came to Quasqueton, where he filled the office of justice of the peace. Later he was elected sheriff of this county and following his return to Quasqueton was again elected justice of the peace, occupying that position to the time of his death, his decisions being strictly fair and impartial. In Ohio, too, he was very active in politics. His religious faith was a dominant feature in his life. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he served as trustee and was also superintendent of the Sunday school. He was honorable in every relation and his life constituted an example well worthy of emulation.
Mr. Burrhus has a family of four children, three of whom were born of the first marriage and one by the second. F. C., the eldest, now a druggist of Denver, Colorado, has lost his wife but has two sons, Leo and Harold. Lois N. is the wife of George Rozelle, representative of a pioneer family of Buchanan county and a conductor on the Denver & Salt Lake Railroad. She is the mother of two sons, Alfred and Harry McDonald, born of a previous marriage to George McDonald. Artie E. is the wife of O. D. Stapleton, a civil engineer living at La Grange, Illinois, and they have four children : Doris, Mabel, O. D. and Billy B. The fourth of the family is A. P. Burrhus, Jr., who is associated with his father in the implement business. He married Ida Overly and they have seven children, namely : Walter B., Wilma, Marjorie, Genevieve, Miriam, Pauline and Kenneth.
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Mr. Burrhus has long figured actively in political cireles as a stalwart repub- liean. He has been a member of the county central committee and a delegate to state conventions and has done not a little to shape the party's poliey in this section of the state. At the present writing he is filling the position of township clerk and is the efficient and popular mayor of Quasqueton. Fraternally a Mason, he has filled all the offices in the local lodge, including that of master. He is equally prominent in the Odd Fellows lodge, in which he has passed through all the ehairs, including that of noble grand, and he has been a delegate to the grand lodge. Stronger still is his belief in and sympathy with the principles and teachings of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is an active and zealous member. He is serving as one of the stewards, is chairman of the board of trustees and is superintendent of the Sunday school. He is constantly seeking out new methods to interest the young people in the work of the church and to instill into their minds those principles which work for the upbuilding of noble character. He has ever been interested in all movements for the betterment of existing conditions, whether for the mental, material, politieal or moral welfare of his community. His life has indeed been a potent foree for good and the consensus of publie opinion names him as one of the foremost citizens of Quas- queton and his part of the county.
THOMAS SCARCLIFF.
Thomas Scareliff is one of the most venerable citizens of Independence, having passed the eighty-sixth milestone on life's journey. He first visited the eity in 1851 and later he took up his permanent abode here, since which time he has been actively identified with its growth and development. At the present time he is vice president of the Peoples National Bank. The success which came to him in former years now enables him to live retired with an in- come sufficient to supply all of his needs and his wishes. England numbers him among her native sons, his birth having occurred in Dunston parish, near Lineoln, in Lincolnshire, February 11, 1828. His parents were Henry and Eleanor (Hurton) Scareliff, also natives of the same locality, the former born in 1793 and the latter in 1791. Henry Scarcliff always made farming his life work. He brought his family to America about 1865 and settled first in Roek county, Wiseonsin. Ile afterward purchased a farm nine miles from Janes- ville and thereon continued for a number of years, after which he took up his abode in the city of Janesville, where he lived retired to the time of his demise. His wife died some years before, when about sixty-seven years of age.
Thomas Scareliff was the fifth in order of birth in a family of six children. He attended school in his native eonntry and at the age of nineteen years erossed the Atlantic to the new world, making his way to Batavia, New York, where he worked in a hotel. He was afterward employed as a elerk in Janesville, Wiseonsin, entering the service of Smith & Clarke. dealers in dry goods, with whom he continned for about two years. receiving a hundred dollars for one years' service. In 1851 he first eame to Independence, making the trip with horse and buggy across the country, but remained for only two nights at Inde-
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pendence. He then went to Janesville, Wisconsin, where he remained until the following spring. At that time he went to Warren, Illinois, by rail, thence by stage to Galena and on by boat to Dubuque. During that trip, while at Warren, he was compelled to sleep on the floor of the depot, as no other quarters could be secured. From Dubuque he traveled to Independence by farm wagon. He had previously entered two hundred and forty acres of land adjoining the town of Independence and upon his return he purchased forty acres on the south side of Main street, for which he paid four hundred and fifty dollars. This he afterward laid out in town lots. This forty-acre tract constitutes the southeastern part of the city and he has sold out the entire tract. The former purchase he also improved and has sold practically all of it for good prices. A part of this has been laid off in town lots and constitutes the eastern section of the city. In addition to dealing in real estate he engaged in the grain busi- ness and at two times had corn cribs a quarter of a mile in length and sixteen feet in width along the track. He sold his corn at Dubuque and on two dif- ferent occasions he shelled and shipped over ninety thousand bushels. He shipped the second car load of grain ever sent over the Illinois Central Railroad from this point. Before the building of the railroad he at one time purchased eighteen hundred bushels of wheat at forty-two and a half cents per bushel, which he cleaned and screened and then sold at seventy cents per bushel, realiz- ing a handsome profit on the investment. As the years went by Mr. Scarcliff became identified with other business enterprises. He is a stockholder in the First National Bank and is now the vice president of the Peoples National Bank. He was also one of the early stockholders in the Wapsipinicon Milling Company but afterward disposed of his interest in that industry. Other busi- ness concerns have profited by his cooperation and financial support and he has thus contributed much to the business development and consequent prosperity of the city.
On the 30th of September, 1862. the marriage of Mr. Scarcliff and Miss Harriet Crippen was celebrated in St. James Episcopal church, and they were the first couple married therein. The bride was born at Fort Covington, New York, September 17, 1841, a daughter of Ransom B. and Marian (Stiles) Crippen, both of whom were natives of Franklin county, New York. They came to Iowa at an early period in the development of this state and the father was the first station agent at Winthrop, occupying that position for a number of years. Later he removed to Independence, where he remained for a number of years and then returned to New York, where both he and his wife passed away. The death of Mrs. Scarcliff occurred April 2, 1911, and was deeply regretted by many friends as well as by her immediate family. To Mr. and Mrs. Scarcliff were born two children. Thomas E. married Lolah Ozias, whose parents were also pioneers in this county, and they have one child, Helene Anna. Thomas E. Scarcliff is engaged in the grain, coal and lumber business in Independence. The other member of the family is Mrs. R. F. Clarke, the wife of the president of the Peoples National Bank. They have three children, Margaret, Daisy and Frances.
Mr. Scarcliff belongs to the Masonie fraternity, with which he has been iden- tified for more than a half century. He is now a member of the lodge, the chapter, the commandery and the Mystic Shrine. His political allegiance is
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given to the democratic party and he served as a member of the city council for a number of years, exercising his official prerogatives in support of many public improvements. He is an exemplary member of the Episcopal church and his entire life has been guided by its teachings, so that his career has at all points been honorable and upright, winning for him the high respeet and warm regard of all with whom he has been brought in contact.
NATHANIEL G. PARKER.
Nathaniel G. Parker is a veteran of the Civil war who has spent practically his entire life in this county. remaining for sixty-eight years in the vicinity of Quasqueton. He is now living retired in the town which in the early period of the county's existence was the county seat. He was born in Linn county, Iowa. in 1843. His father, Nathaniel G. Parker, Sr., was born in Pennsylvania, near the Ohio state line, in 1806, and in early life learned and followed the ship carpenter's trade near Sandusky. Ohio. There he resided until 1838, when he went to Illinois, where he remained for a year. He then came to Iowa, traveling overland to Linn county, where he settled in 1839. He worked as a millwright near Cedar Rapids, being employed in a mill on Otter creek. He afterward came to Buchanan county and helped put in order the mill at Quasqueton.
In 1846 Mr. Parker removed his family to that town and for four years operated the mill. At that period Quasqueton was the only village in the county and pioncer conditions everywhere existed, the work of development and civilization having scarcely been begun. Most of the houses were built of logs and they stood in the midst of a country of wild prairie and uneut forests. The Indians still visited the neighborhood and there was plenty of wild game. Deer were frequently killed, while it was no uncommon thing to secure wild turkeys, prairie chickens. quails, etc. Mr. Parker was one of the first six taxpayers and he became closely and actively identified with the prog- ress of the county. He helped to lay out the roads and erected the first church and schoolhouses built in the county. Investigation into the early history shows how closely and helpfully he was associated with the pioneer development. He acquired lands from time to time until his holdings were quite extensive, and he broke the sod on the wild prairie with ox teams. In 1857, however, he sold the farm which he had cleared for thirty dollars per acre and removed to Texas, where he remained until 1860. He then returned northward to Kansas and traded a yoke of oxen for a claim, but there was a scourge of grasshoppers, totally destroying all crops, and feeling that he could not earn a living for himself and family in that state. he traded his claim for a pony and returned to Towa, where he remained until his death, which occurred in 1877 when he was seventy-one years of age. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Maria Walker and was born in Connectieut in 1812. passed away in 1855.
Nathaniel G. Parker, who was largely reared in this county, pursued his early education in the little briek schoolhouse at Quasqueton which is still standing, and he went through the usual experiences, trials, hardships and priva-
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tions incident to pioneer life and at the same time enjoyed those pleasures which come through the close companionship that is usually a feature of fron- tier communities. Time passed on uneventfully for him until after the out- break of the Civil war, when on the 5th of September, 1862, at the age of nineteen years, he enlisted as a member of Company G, Sixth Iowa Cavalry, being enrolled as a private at Quasqueton. He was mustered out as sergeant. The regiment was organized at Davenport and he became the company's saddler, having previously learned the trade under the direction of his father. He participated in the battle of White Stone Hill from the 3d to the 5th of September, 1863, was in the battle at Manovatse on the 30th of July of the same year, and at Takaokuty on the 28th of July, 1864, being on duty much of the time in the territory of Dakota.
When the war was over Mr. Parker returned to Quasqueton, where for a short time he was engaged in the harness business. He afterward carried on general farming but is now living retired and for sixty-eight years has made his home in the vicinity of Quasqueton.
In 1878 Mr. Parker was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Biddinger, a native of Ohio and a daughter of William and Katherine (Kitch) Biddinger. Her father was born in Pennsylvania, in 1810, and his life record covered the intervening years to 1874. The mother was born in Ohio, in 1824, and passed away in 1901. Mr. Biddinger was a farmer in Ohio in early life and on coming to the west in 1849 settled in Liberty township, Buchanan county, when this was a frontier region. He traded Ohio property for Iowa lands and made his way westward by boat to Dubuque and thence across the country to his destination. He became a factor in the early development of this section of the state and his wife was active in church work. In their family were eight children, including Mrs. Parker, who has spent much of her life in Iowa.
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