History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 77

Author: Williams bros., Cleveland, pub. [from old catalog]; Riddle, A. G. (Albert Gallatin), 1816-1902
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams brothers
Number of Pages: 574

USA > Iowa > Buchanan County > History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 77

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On the eighteenth of June, 1873, he had the misfor- tune to get his right hand crushed between two cars in coupling. The hand had to be amputated at the wrist, but before the operation was performed he was practic- ing penmanship with his left hand, and in one month after the accident he was back in the office doing his own writing. If any one can give us a better instance of "pluck" we shall be happy to record it.

Though a Democrat, "dyed in the wool, " he was for twelve successive years (beginning with 1865) elected as a member of the city council, from a Republican ward,

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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.

and in 1881 he was elected mayor of Independence, which, "since the organization of the party," has always been a Republican city.

He has been a delegate to two Democratic national conventions-at St. Louis in 1876, and at Cincinnati in 1880. He is still proud of having assisted to nominate, and still more proud of having assisted to "elect, " Sam- uel J. Tilden to the office of President of the United States. He is likewise still indignant at not having been permitted to assist in inaugurating the same; but wheth- er his indignation is chiefly toward the Democrats for proposing, or towards the Republicans for accepting, an electoral commission, which cheated the same out of the office "to which he had been fairly elected, " he has not informed us.

Mr. Durham was married March 18, 1855, to Helen M. Cameron, of Steuben county, New York. She was the daughter of Peter and Julia (Patterson) Cameron. Her father was a native of Scotland, having emigrated from that country to this when he was sixteen years old. Her mother's family were from New England. Her grandfather Patterson was an officer in the Revolution, but settled, after the war, in Canada, on account of a liberal homestead law which had been enacted in that country. Mrs. Durham's mother was the youngest (or one of the youngest) of thirteen children. Four of her elder brothers were drafted into the British army on the breaking out of the War of 1812. But such was the loy- alty of the Pattersons to the United States that they abandoned their property in Canada, which had become very valuable, left everything behind, without hope of re- covery, and, through many perils, made their escape across the St. Lawrence into the State of New York. The four brothers deserted, and, after escaping into the States, enlisted in the American army, and served till the close of the war. The simple narrative of that es- cape across the river, and of the journey to Rochester (whither Mr. Patterson had preceded his family), would read like a romance. Mrs. Cameron was, at the time, only four or five years old, but she carried through life a vivid recollection of the exciting scenes through which she then passed. All her children know the story by heart, and we deeply regret that we have not room to re- produce it entire.

Mr. and Mrs. Durham have had but two children- Maud A., born June 3, 1858, and Charles H., born April 2, 1866.

JAMES ARMINIUS POOR

was born in Pawlet, Vermont, November 11, 1836. His parents were David and Julia Ann (Wetherwax) Poor- the former being a native of Vermont, and the latter of New York. His father is a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, having joined the New York confer- ence, in that capacity, in 1826. His biographer, in the "Genealogy of John Poore" (his ancestor eight genera- tions back), thus speaks of his early ministerial work :

In most of his circuits, averaging from twenty to twenty-eight ap- pointments, all to be met once in four weeks, he travelled over hills and

mountains, fording rugged streams and heavy snow drifts, subjected frequently to the uncongenial society of bears, wolves, panthers, rattle- snakes and copperheads.

He came to lowa at quite an early day, and was two years each (then the longest pastoral term allowed) at Independence, Fayette and Cedar Falls. He subse- quently returned east, and served for a time at Benning- ton, Vermont, and East Hebron, New York; since which time he has been on the superannuated list. He is now (1881) living with his third wife at Round Lake, Saratoga county, New York, at the advanced age of seventy-eight years.

James A. came to Independence in 1855, and was here engaged for two or three years in mercantile business. From 1857 to 1861 he was engaged with his brother-in- law, William A. Jones, in the lumber business and farm- ing. On the breaking out of the Rebellion he enlisted in the Twenty-seventh Iowa infantry, and served (being promoted to a lieutenancy) for about three years and a half. His career as a soldier has been sufficiently chronicled in the history of his noble regiment.

On his return from the war he again engaged in mer- cantile pursuits till 1869, when he was appointed deputy treasurer, and served the county in that capacity till 1873, when he was elected treasurer-a post to which he has been now three times reelected-being in the seventh year of his service. He was married April 30, 1859, to Amelia L. Herrick, sister of C. F. Herrick, of Independence. They have four children, all born in this city : Elizabeth Rebecca, born June 9, 1866; Helen Louisa, born January . 20, 1871 ; Mary Edna, May 20, 1875; David William, August 20, 1877.

Mr. and Mrs. Poor have a pleasant cottage residence on the corner of Monroe and Chatham streets, where they have spent the most of their married life, and where all of their children were born.

MRS. MARY E. (NORRIS) BROWN,

wife of Ellis R. Brown, was born in New Philadelphia, Ohio, August 3, 1842. Her parents were Lorenzo D. and Ruth Norris. Her father was engaged in mercantile business, and was one of the early settlers in that part of Ohio. With her family she removed to Dubuque in 1857, and, after a residence there of eleven years she came to Independence on a visit to her sister, Mrs. Mc- Donald, who had been living here some time-her hus- band being a harnessmaker. It was during this visit that she and Mr. Brown "met by chance, the usual way" -- which meeting resulted in their marriage before the close of the year 1868.

Mr. Brown came from New London, Chester county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1864, and at the time of his marriage, and for five or six years after (till the time of the great fire in 1874) was engaged by himself in the grain trade in Independence, and since that time he has been employed with his brother, William P. Brown, in the same business. In January, 1873, Mrs. Brown went into the millinery business in the Burr block on Chat- ham street ; and almost immediately secured a lucrative

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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.

trade. But on the third of May in the following year, the "Great Fire" occurred, originating in the part of the building occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Brown and their two young children. It was with the greatest difficulty that they escaped with their lives-losing everything but their night clothes.

Mrs. Brown's loss was two thousand six hundred dollars ; and though her insurance was fifteen hundred dollars, she never received but five hundred dollars. Left in poverty, they did not despair; but both went to work with a will. Mr. Brown, as already stated, went into the employment of his brother, with whom he still continues ; and Mrs. Brown, in October, 1875, went into the store of Lawton & Post as saleswoman, and con- tinued with them until their partnership was dissolved in 1878. She then engaged with the new firm of Post & Sweet, with whom she still remains.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown have but the two children, already mentioned as having been rescued with them from the fire : William, born July 25, 1869, and Jessie May, born August 13, 1872.

JUDSON J. TRAVIS

was born in Franklin county, New York, in 1834. His parents were Jacob S. and Judith (French) Travis -- his father being a farmer and an early settler in Franklin county. His mother died in 1841, and his father not long after married again. In July, 1851, he came to Bu- chanan county with his father, who, in the meantime, had become a widower. They entered one hundred and twenty acres of land about half way between Inde -. pendence and Quasqueton; but retained it only about two years, when they sold it and purchased a hotel in the former place, which they named the Judson house. The elder Travis died two years after the close of the war -- having served two years in the "Gray-beard regiment"- the Thirty-seventh Iowa.

Judson is the eldest of three children. A brother, next younger, died in childhood, and Alice, the youngest, now Mrs. Hamilton, is living near San Jose, California. Mr. Travis owns and cultivates a small farm adjoining Independence on the northeast, on which he has a fine orchard of four hundred apple trees, consisting of Duchess, Fameuse, Haas, Saxton, Plumb's Cider, Ben Davis, Russet, Talman's Sweeting, and several other va- rieties. Mr. Travis had the courage to set out this orchard in 1872, when almost everybody was bewailing the supposed impossibility of raising apples in northern Iowa, but in 1880 he raised from this orchard four hun- dred bushels of excellent fruit, and there is every pros- pect of an increase for years to come.

Mr. Travis has demonstrated that whoever has land with a clay sub-soil, and is willing to pay a fair degree of attention to his trees, in the way of mulching, pruning, etc., can raise apples here as well as in any other part of the world. He has a "forty" of fine woodland not far from his farm, and also four lots in town, three of which constitute his homestead, lying three blocks east of the court house. He has been largely engaged in the wood

trade over twenty years, and, for seventeen, has kept a regular woodyard-the first established in the city. He sometimes handles nearly a thousand cords of wood in a year-bringing large quantities of hard maple from the north.

Mr. Travis was married December 31, 1860, to Mar- garet Ann Bright, who came with her parents to Buchan- an county from Indiana the same year as his coming from New York. They have had six children, two of whom died in infancy. Clara M. was born in 1864, Cora I. in 1866, Daisy E. in 1874, and Elsie L. in 1877. Clara is now teaching her first school, in what is known as the T. S. Cameron district, in the northeastern part of this township.

Mr. Travis has been for several years secretary of the Old Settlers' association, and takes a lively interest in whatever concerns the advancement of his adopted county and city. He was especially active and influen- tial in securing the improvement of the public park, the land of which was donated by the county to the city when the latter was first located as the county seat. The ground, situated in the centre of the original town plat, was low and wet-in fact almost a slough. To fill it up, grade, fence, and decorate it with trees and shrubbery, was really a great undertaking for a place no larger than Independence at the time the work was done. To se-

cure the necessary means Mr. Travis raised a private subscription of over five hundred dollars, and, mainly through his influence, the county authorities contributed two hundred and fifty dollars, and those of the city about seven hundred dollars, for the same object. As a result the grounds are now among the most attract- ive in the city, and a favorite place for public out-door gatherings of a patriotic and social character.

HON. JOHN C. HOLLOWAY

became a citizen of Buchanan county in the summer of 1878. Mr. Holloway purchased a large body of land in Middlefield township in 1876. To this he has since added five hundred and thirty-two acres, adjoining his first purchase, though one hundred and seventy-two acres lie in Liberty township. This is the largest farm, by several hundred acres, in the county. This farm in soil is equal to any in the county, is under a fine state of cultivation and general improvement, and has three good farm houses upon it, besides barns, sheds and oth- er conveniences for stock. The water privileges can not be excelled, being supplied by the. Buffalo creek, Spring branch and a never-failing spring. This farm Mr. Hol- loway superintends, giving employment to over twenty men in the summer season, and working thirty horses. Stock raising is made a specialty, though the production of grain to supply feed is by no means a small item. Seven hundred acres of corn and four hundred of oats are raised per year.

In the fall of 1878, Mr. Holloway built a handsome residence in the western part of the city of Indepen- dence, where his family have since made their home.

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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.

The year 1877 was spent by Mr. Holloway and family in Santa Rosa, California, and his fine west side house is understood to be a reproduction in architecture of the one purchased for their occupancy during their stay at Santa Rosa.

Mr. Holloway was born at York, Livingston county, New York, July 17, 1826. The Holloways were early settlers of Deerfield, Massachusetts, and the grandfather of the subject of this sketch was a blacksmith connected with a cavalry company during the war of the Revolu- tion. The family immigrated to western New York at the close of the War of 1812, and engaged in farming.

Mr. J. C. Holloway received an academical education in Genesee and Lima, western New York, and at twen- ty-one came as far west as Flint, Michigan, where he spent three years farming, building mills, etc. After- ward he went to Marion, Ohio, where he farmed and dealt in stock for years. In the autumn of 1855, Mr. Holloway settled in Lancaster county, Wisconsin, pur- chasing a large farm near the village and engaging largely in business. Before the Rebellion he was a heavy and prosperous stock dealer.

During Mr. Holloway's residence in Wisconsin, he was a member of the lower house of the State legisla- ture (1871), and of the senate, four consecutive years ; and while in the latter body, was chairman of several important committees.

Mr. Holloway was married March 3, 1853, to Miss Mary E. Baldwin, daughter of Rev. Johnson Baldwin, of York, Livingston county, New York. They have had six children, only two of whom are now living. Charles, a promising son, was drowned June 7, 1876, at Beloit, while a student in college at that place. John, the elder of the two living children, was compelled to leave an unfinished course of study at Beloit college, on account of the failure of his health. Addie has spent two or three years at the Wisconsin State university at Madison and is now at home.

To Mr. Holloway's many occupations in the past, may be added that of banker as we learn from an extract from the Legislative Manual of Wisconsin, 1875, in which it is also stated that Mr. Holloway was elected to the legislature by a handsome majority of Republican votes. The Holloway farm of Buchanan county, con- taining fifteen hundred and eighty-four aeres, may yet rival the famous "Burr Oaks" Sullivant principality of Illinois.

SAMUEL SHERWOOD

was born in Fairfield, Vermont, October 18, 1820. He made his home with his father, Samuel Sherwood, sr., till he was twenty-five years of age, when he moved to Janesville, Wisconsin, where he engaged in the mill- wright business till the year 1847, when he came to Iowa, locating in Independence. He pursued his trade twenty-three years, working in adjoining counties wher- ever the work called him. His last work was done in 1870, on the Independence mill. Since that time he has lived a retired life, with the exception of keeping the

mill in repairs. He has always been a man of great ability in that direction, and master of his profession; has been engaged in the erection of some of the finest mills in the country. He is, too, one of the first set- tlers of this county, and to-day holds an honored posi- tion as one of Buchanan's pioneers. We have secured from him many interesting reminiscences. He has been successful in business, and is now the largest stockholder in the company owning the Independence mill.

Mr. Sherwood was married in Independence in 1849, February 2, to Miss Hulda Hathaway, who was born in Warren county, Ohio, February 18, 1822. She was a daughter of Henry Hathaway, a prominent farmer and citizen of that county. Mr. Sherwood has a family of four children, one daughter and three sons-Chister, twenty-nine years of age, single, and engaged in the millwright business in Montana; Clara, born December 10, 1856; Andrew, born October 30, 1858; and Samuel, jr., born May 3, 1865. The three younger children are all living at home.

W. H. CHAMBERLAIN

was born in Orange county, Vermont, 1841. When ten years of age his father, Alden Chamberlain, moved to Windsor county, where W. H. made his home until he was sixteen years of age, when he went to North- field and engaged as a clerk in a dry goods store, where he continued five years. Afterwards returned to his native town, Royalton, and clerked about two years. In the year 1863 he came to Independence in company with B. R. Chamberlain, with whom he engaged in the grocery business, and continued it until June, the year following, when they sold the stock. The following six months Mr. Chamberlain elerked for Cook, Chesley & Co., at the expiration of which time this firm sold out to Lawton & Curtiss, with whom Mr. Chamberlain con- tinued as clerk until December, when Wilcox, Chesley and himself purchased the stock of groceries he and his brother had formerly owned, and added to it a general stock of dry goods and notions. This they run till January of the year following, when they sold to Lawton & Curtiss. In the fall after the sale he returned to Ver- mont on a visit, and remained till spring, when he re- turned to Independence and elerked for Wilcox, Chesley & Morse till January, when he was admitted as a partner, which relation he sustained till the death of Mr. Wilcox, which was in the year 1869. At this time Mr. Chamberlain was running a store at Webster City, under the firm name of Wilcox, Chamberlain & Co. This they closed out immediately after the death of Mr. Wilcox, and Mr. Chamberlain retired, and continued in the store in Independence till March, when he sold out to Messrs. Chesley & Morse. In the spring of 1870, he engaged as a travelling salesman with Sadler & Goff, a crockery and glassware firm of Dubuque, with whom he remained about eighteen months. Returning to Inde- pendence, in company with Mr. L. Moore, purchased a new stock of dry goods, elothing, notions, boots and shoes. In this business they continued till the fall of

THOMAS SCARCLIFF

was born in Lincolnshire, England, February 11, 1828. He made his home with his father, Henry Scarcliff, on the farm till he was nineteen years of age, when he came to the United States, spending his first two years in Genesee county, New York, some of the time engaged in the hotel business, the rest of the time he spent on a farm. From there he went to Janesville, Wisconsin, where he engaged as clerk in a dry goods and grocery store, and part of the time in a hotel. His time spent in that State altogether amounted to about four years. In the year 185 1 he came to this county and located two hundred and forty acres lying north and northeast of the town plat proper of Independence. He soon after returned to Janesville. The year following he came to Indepen- dence and saw the forty acres lying directly south of the town plat proper. He returned to Janesville and pur- chased this forty acres of the owners, who lived there, paying four hundred and fifty dollars for it. In the year 1853 he returned and laid it out in town lots. The dis- posing of these lots by sales and trades of different kinds commanded his attention for about three years. Those were days of inflation. The prospects for a fast growing town made the lots very marketable, and at high prices; twenty feet front and ten rods back sold for three hundred and ninety dollars. It was part of the lot where the Luckey House now stands. Circumstances and hard times caused a reverse of fortune, so to speak, making an absolute lull in the markets, and lots could not be sold at any price.

While these lots were selling for such fabulous prices, other commodities were inflated also. The influx of immigration made a visible difference in prices of every- thing. In a few weeks the demand so far exceeded the supply that many made it a business to bring grain from older adjoining counties. In this enterprise Mr. Scar- cliff engaged moderately, hauling some oats from Lynn county, paying from thirty to thirty-five cents per bushel and found ready sale for the same at one dollar per bushel, corn selling as high as one dollar and twenty-five cents per bushel. In 1856 or 1857 there was such a decline that grain had really no cash value. The year 1859 completed the railroad, which seemed to revive the markets, the price of oats reaching as high as forty-two cents.

About this period Mr. Scarcliff was well initiated in the

grain business, buying and shipping on the market. His books show profit and loss with accuracy; but the profit exceeded the loss quite sufficiently to justify his continu- ing the business. In the latter part of the year 1860 he laid in about twelve thousand bushels of oats, averaging in price about eighteen or twenty cents per bushel. The war breaking out the year following prevented shipping down the Mississippi, therefore blockading the market so completely that oats dropped as low as seven cents per bushel; but in the spring of 1862, when navigation opened up again, he shipped it to St. Louis and realized a profit above the first price paid.

The rise and fall of prices were not confined to grain alone, but to commodities of all kinds. In the winter of 1861-2 Mr. Scarcliff paid one and a half cents per pound for dressed hogs; the price steadily advancing till it reached as high as two dollars and sixty five cents per hundred before spring. The grain business has been Mr. Scarcliff's principal avocation since the railroad came through. He was the first buyer of Independence who shipped grain over the railroad after its completion, some years his business amounting to as high as one hundred thousand dollars. He has since the first done business on the same grounds, scarcely absent three weeks during the whole time, which is about twenty-one years. He is one of the very few men in the United States who has been in business that length of time who has always paid one hundred cents on the dollar.

Mr. Scarcliff was married in Independence, Septem- ber 30, 1862, to Miss Hattie S. Crippen, a native of New York State. They have two children-M. Lillian and Thomas, ages fifteen and four respectively. As will be seen by this sketch, Mr. Scarcliff was one of the first settlers of this county, and has helped to not only lay the first lines to its successful history, but has always been one of the solid business benefactors of the county. He enjoys the highest respect of acquaintances, and is known throughout the county.

He helped to organize the military company; was one of the first stockholders in the People's National bank, and also in the First National bank, of which latter he is still a stockholder. Mr. Scarcliff owns a beautiful residence on the corner of South and Eliza- beth streets, and has in this county about four hundred acres of land, besides a farm in Fayette county.

THOS. SCARCLIFF.

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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.

1874. On the third day of May, 1874 they were burned out, losing the greater part of their stock. In the fall, after this event, Mr. Chamberlain purchased Mr. Morse's interest in the stock, and has since continued it alone. Mr. Chamberlain has been associated with business in- terests of the county and city for the past eighteen years, and has always commanded the confidence of the com- munity as a business gentleman. His shrewdness in buying and fairness in selling, have won for him a repu- tation which insures a business career that will be both satisfactory to himself and to his patrons. Mr. Cham- berlain was married in this city, in 1870, to Miss Kate Wilson. They have one child, Rolfe, born July, 1871. Mr. Chamberlain owns a nice residence west of the river.

E. COBB

was born in the State of New York, Greene county, in the town of Windham, June 7, 1823. His father, Simon Cobb, died when he was but eighteen years of age. At the age of twenty-one he commenced to do for himself by working by the month, and was thus employed until he was twenty-five years of age, when he went to Illinois, purchased teams and engaged in buying wagons in Chicago, and hauling them out to the lead mines, where he sold and traded them for furs and such other articles as he could make profitable by taking back to Chicago to sell. This he followed about four years, when he came to Iowa, June 13, 1853. He made his first pur- chase in this county of one hundred and sixty acres, sections four and five Washington township, adjoining the city on the west. At the same time he purchased two acres where his fine residence is now located ; has since added to it, making one of the most desirable properties in this city. His first residence was a small shanty, set on blocks, with no fence or other buildings, or even a well. The solitary one story, fourteen by twenty-two shanty, among the hazle brushes and weeds, is the picture of his home when he came to move in.

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History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 77

Author: Williams bros., Cleveland, pub. [from old catalog]; Riddle, A. G. (Albert Gallatin), 1816-1902 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Cleveland, Williams brothers Number of Pages: 574

Author: Williams bros., Cleveland, pub. [from old catalog]; Riddle, A. G. (Albert Gallatin), 1816-1902
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams brothers
Number of Pages: 574