History of Floyd County, Iowa : together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 88

Author: Inter-state publishing co., Chicago
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : Inter-state publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1168

USA > Iowa > Floyd County > History of Floyd County, Iowa : together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 88

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Alvaro W. Burgess is a native of Mukwanago, Waukesha County, Wis., born Sept. 20, 1846, a son of Alvaro Burgess, Sr., who died in Beaver Dam, Wis., in 1864, whither he had moved with his family in 1848. The subject of this memoir was the youngest of a family of ten children, and he came to Nora Springs from Beaver Dam in 1869 and engaged in the manufacture of pumps. In Febru- ary, 1871, he married Miss Marion E. Gaylord, oldest daughter of W. P. Gaylord. On the 29th day of September, 1872, after an illness of two days, she died. In April, 1874, he married Miss Lentie Paddleford, second daughter of Charles Paddleford. They have two children-Dale and Ruth. Mr. Burgess is now engaged in the mercantile business at Nora Springs with Mr. A. Stone. They carry a $7,000 stock of goods, and their annual sales amount to $30,000. They are popular merchants, and are recognized as men of irreproachable business integrity. In politics Mr. Burgess's sympathies are with the Republican party .. In religion, a Baptist.

Thomas Edwin Bryan, one of the prominent citizens of Nora Springs, is a native of Nobles County, O., born Dec. 3, 1843. His father, Cornelius Bryan, was born in Monroe County, O., in 1810. The subject of this memoir came to Nora Springs, Ia., in Novem- ber, 1869, from Delaware County, Ia. He enlisted during the war of the great Rebellion in Company K, Twenty-first Regiment Iowa Volunteers Infantry, and remained in the service three years. He married Miss Carrie Nichols, who died after a long and painful illness on Feb. 13, 1875. He was married Jan. 23, 1878, to Harriet A., daughter of Hon. W. P. Gaylord. They have one child, a daughter-Beulah. In company with J. J. Gaylord, Mr. Bryan is conducting a store of general merchandise at Nora Springs under the firm name of Gaylord & Bryan. He is an accomplished business man, an active salesman and a good accountant. In politics he is a Republican, and was appointed Postmaster of Nora Springs in January, 1879, and still retains the office. He is a prominent

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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.

member of the I. O. O F. and A. O. U. W. fraternities, Nora Springs.

Henry H. Cott is a native of New York State, born in 1839. He, with his parents, moved to Wisconsin in 1852 and came to Nora Springs in 1872, starting the first paper ever printed in the town. With a disposition that cannot endure inaction, he gathered a slight knowledge of printing while spending the winter of 1863-'4 in Flint, Mich .; at that time he was working by day in a furniture manufactory, and becoming acquainted with the "boys" of the Wolverine Citizen; he passed the evenings in their company at the printing office, without the slightest idea that printing was ever destined to become his regular business. In the spring of 1864 he returned to Wisconsin, engaging in the grocery business, and printing a three-column amateur paper started by other parties. From this small beginning and from love of the work grew out a job office, and a newspaper became a natural consequence. Mr. Cott is by right the senior editor of Floyd County, having been continuously in business for a longer period than others of the profession.

Charles Darling, son of Calvin Darling, of Vermont, was born in Tioga County, N. Y., May 19, 1840. In 1855 he went to Por- tage County, Wis., with his parents, where he worked on a farm in connection with his trade, that of carpenter, which he learned when a boy, till the fall of 1868, when he came to Floyd County. He is living on section 21, Rock Grove Township, and is both farming and working at the carpenter's trade. He was married Sept. 21, 1862, to Maria Post, a native of New York State. They are the parents of four children, three living-Adda E., Francis L., and Annie L. Milton L. died at the age of five years. Mr. Darling is a member of the Baptist church. He has been Town- ship Trustee several years, and School Director. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and G. A. R. During the war he served in Company F, Fifth Wisconsin Infantry, one year.

Ira R. Dean, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Foxcroft, Piscataquis County, Me., Nov. 8, 1831, and is a son of Ira Dean, a native of Massachusetts. He was reared on a farm and received a common-school education. He went with his parents to DeKalb County, Ill., in 1844, and in 1854 came to this township. He resides on section 14, where he owns eighty acres. He was married Sept. 27, 1857, to Mary A., a daughter of Adam Cline. They are the parents

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ROCK GROVE TOWNSHIP.

of six children, five living-Henry G., Dorcas M., Sarah A., Char- lotte M. and Luna E. He has served as Constable two terms.

William Dean, farmer and stock-raiser, Rock Grove Township, is a son of Ira Dean, a native of Massachusetts, and was born in Foxcroft, Piscataquis County, Me., July 26, 1827, where he received a common-school education. He came West, to DeKalb County, Ill., in 1844, and to this county in 1853. There were only two houses where Charles City now stands, at that time, one being a store and a dwelling. He went about sixty miles, to Waverly and Cedar Falls, to mill, built his first house of logs, making the floor- ing of basswood and the shingles of oak with an ax only ; fastened the roof on with weight poles. Took his wheat to McGregor, a distance of 100 miles, and sold it for 25 and 30 cents per bushel. He was married July 4, 1856, to Harriet A., daughter of Samuel Gaylord. They had one child-William J., born May 7, 1858; died May 25, 1858. Mrs. Dean died May 8, 1858. Feb. 12, 1860, he married Adeline Arthur, who died Sept. 8, 1874. July 4, 1875, he married Harriett N. Birdsell. He resides on section 11, and owns 370 acres of fine land. He has held the offices of Township Clerk, Township Trustee, and has been Justice of the Peace several years. Mr. Dean always held that the path of duty was the only path of safety; would sooner see the "heavens fall " than swerve from what he thought to be right. He was ever particular to fulfill to the letter every promise, even to the least. When his promise was out for anything it was always sure. Though hard up for money his punctuality enabled him to get any money that was not in immediate use wherever he could find a dollar.

Nicholas Fleenor, farmer and stock-raiser, section 17, Rock Grove Township, was born in Washington County, Va., June 17, 1811. He is a son of Isaac Fleenor, of the same State, Nicholas being born and reared on the same farm as his father ; attended a subscription school in a log cabin ; had slab benches with no backs, puncheon floor, and heated by a fire on a large stone at one end of the cabin, the smoke going out of a hole in the roof. There was a slab on pins stuck in the wall for a writing desk, and greased . paper pasted over a crack in the wall for a window. He went to Washington County, Ind., in 1834, and cleared out a farm. He came to this township in 1855, moved on a farm here in 1856. He owns 150 acres, and has deeded eighty acres to his sons. He was married in December, 1835, to Sarah Kaylor. They had eleven children, seven living - Robert, John, James, Mary J.,

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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.

Martha E., Nancy C., and Luella. Two sons, Isaac M. and Geo. F., died in the late war. Isaac M. was in the Twenty-eighth Iowa Infantry, and Geo. F. was in the Dubuque Battery. One daughter, Mary, died after she was married, and left one son.

Enoch F. Forbes, section 20, Rock Grove Township, was born in Black Hawk County, Ia., June 2, 1853. He came to Floyd County with his parents in April, 1865. He was married Nov. 25, 1873, to Lora E. Henry, born in this township May 24, 1856, and a daughter of John and Julia A. (Workman) Henry. They are the parents of four children, three living-Milton, Wilson and Mary Maud. Mr. Forbes is a member of the I. O. O. F.

John G. Forbes, a native of New York, came to Iowa in 1850, and settled in Henry County. From Henry County he went to Louisa, from Lonisa to Black Hawk, from Black Hawk to Tama, and from Tama to Rock Grove, in 1865, and purchased of B. M. Lyon the premises near Rock Grove City, where his widow now resides. He married Miss Elizabeth Mathews. In February, 1872, he died, and was buried at Rock Grove City. He was an industrious, honest farmer, and was respected by all. On the premises he had planted a fine young orchard, which is now pro-

ducing its fruits. He held the office of Trustee and School Director, and whatever he did for himself or the public was well done. His children were- Harriet, now dead ; Margaret J., wife of William O. Moore, of Indiana, and now dead ; Thomas J., now in Kossuth County, Ia .; Joseph W., now in Minnesota ; James W., now here; Mary E., wife of P. J. Smith, of Black Hawk County ; Wilson M., now studying for the legal profession, at State Uni- versity at Iowa City ; E. Fletcher, now here, and Isabella, wife of George Brown, Esq., of this place. In politics a Republican. In religion a Methodist.

H. Gage, Mayor of Nora Springs, was born in Worcester County, Mass., Feb. 20, 1822, a son of Nathan Gage, likewise a native of the Bay State. His grandfather, Silas Gage, emigrated from Scot- land to America when a mere boy, and his descendants are now among the prominent respected citizens of various States. The subject of this memoir was reared on a farm, and his educational advantages were those of the common schools. At the age of four- teen he became self-supporting, purchasing a stock of tinware, which he peddled three years, then ran a wholesale cigar and confectionery wagon three years. He spent two years as collector for T. New & Co., stove dealers, in Keene, N. H., and in 1852 he married Nancy

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E. Stone, of that place. Four children have blessed their union, Henry S., Warren H., Frank H. and Mary E. After his marriage, in 1854 Mr. Gage moved to Madison, Wis., thence to Stevens' Point in 1856. One year later he located in Howard County, Ia., where he engaged in farming and the mercantile and stock busi- ness until the fall of 1867, when he became a resident of Nora Springs. He has been instrumental in building up the town, and has been always foremost in any enterprise that promised progression to her interests. He always takes an active interest in educational matters and has been a member of the School Board for six years. He has served acceptably as Mayor for the past five years; he helped to organize the Masonic lodge of this place, and is also a member of the I. O. O. F. fraternity. During the first years of his residence here Mr. Gage engaged in the mercantile, grain and banking business, but of late has attended to the management of his farms, five in number, and loaning his money. Though coming to this country in limited circumstances he has by an indomitable will and determination to succeed surmounted all obstacles, and to-day he ranks with the wealthy and influential citizens of Floyd County.

Jonathan F. Gates, attorney, Nora Springs, was born near Marietta, Ohio, Nov. 13, 1838. He went with his parents to Mil- waukee, Wis., in 1843, and in 1847 to Fond du Lac County, Wis. In 1861 he went to Independence, Ia., and from there direct to what is now Springfield, D. T., and helped lay out the town; returned to Independence in 1861. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company C, Twenty-seventh Iowa Infantry, and was discharged Feb. 16, 1863, on account of disability. His education was limited till after the war, when he went to Lenox Collegiate Institute, Hop- kinton, Ia., during 1866 and 1867. He then read law and was ad- mitted to the bar in March, 1875. He practiced in Independence a short time; served five years as Deputy Sheriff of Buchanan County, Ia., before he was admitted to the bar. He came to Nora Springs in the fall of 1875, where he is engaged in the practice of law, col- lecting, notary public, real estate and general agent. He was married April 10, 1869, to Mary J. Burrington. They have one adopted child-Edna, born April 14, 1873. He is a member of the I. O. O. F.

Edson Gaylord, born in Northville, Litchfield County, Conn., Oct. 16, 1826, is a son of Samuel and Betsy (Jackson) Gaylord. His paternal grandfather, Ager Gaylord, was in the French and Indian wars, and distinguished himself by killing two Frenchmen

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at one shot, while on picket duty. The Gaylords are noted as a long lived race, several of his ancestors reaching 100, and one the advanced age of 112 years. His mother was specially noted for her fine vocal powers. Edson Gaylord has always been a hard work- ing man commencing at the early age of six years, when his father hired him out to ride a horse for Elmer Baldwin, of New Milford, Conn., to plow a steep side-hill full of stumps and stones. He was put on the horse, which was hitched ahead of two yoke of unbroken steers. The horse pulled one way and the steers the other. The order was given to "lick up," and he "licked up," when off they started, boy, horse, steers, and, lastly, Yankee Baldwin, holding on to the plow with a death-like grip. He started as soon as the sun was up in the morning, and rode all day, returning just as it was dark, and received six and one-fourth cents a day. At the age of nine he was hired out to work on a farm at $6 per month. At the age of seventeen he went to Sussex County, N. J., to teach school. He left home with $7 in money and one plain suit of clothes. After traveling three days he reached his destination with fifty cents left. He taught the school three successive terms and re- turned to Connecticut with $70, paid up his father's small debts and commenced going to school. Three weeks later he was sent for from a back country school, where the large scholars had just dismissed the teacher with fearful warnings if he ever dared show himself in the community again as a teacher. After many warn- ings from friends and much persuasion from the committee he con- cluded to accept the position which he filled with perfect satisfac- tion to all concerned for three winters. In the spring of 1848 he engaged to work for Captain John Peters, of Woodville, for $160 a year, pledging himself to work faithfully, with no holiday. This pledge he kept to the letter, losing no time in the following five · vears he did not make up by working nights. He taught three terms in a district school in New Jersey. Up to the time he was twenty-one he gave all his wages to his father, reserving only suffi- cient to clothe himself in the plainest manner. In the spring of 1853 the five brothers were in council together and agreed that one of their number should " go West," and look up, and secure homes for themselves and families. This lot fell to Edson. He went first to Bristol, Wis., where he had cousins; looked over the Southern part of Wisconsin and the Northern part of Illinois, down as far as Quincy; then came into Iowa, and from here went to Minnesota; then back to Bristol, where he worked through harvest; then started once more, and, finally, after coming to Rock Grove for the third

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time, was fully convinced that it was the most lovely spot, and pos- sessed more natural advantages than any other he had seen in all his rambles. Oct. 21, 1853, he cut the first tree, to clear up the site for his future home on the northwest quarter of section 17. He completely finished a house 18 x 24, warm and comfortable, with- out using a nail. The roof was of split stakes, held in place by heavy poles. Mr. Gaylord has some peculiarities that it would be well if more possessed. He has held as his motto: "Pay as you go," owing no one, and never gave his note till after he was forty- five, and then on conditions. Never gave written security to any one. In religion he is eclectic; in politics is independent; always subscribes liberally to all church and public enterprises, especially such as pertain to the cause of education. He cut the first tree for a school-house in Floyd County, getting up in the middle of the night to do it. Mr. Gaylord is a man of more than ordinary ability, as his work has shown. He cut out and made the first pioneer road through Rock Grove; burned the first lime in a regular kiln. He made and supplied almost the entire country with lime and brick for many years, having for this business over forty-five acres of very heavy timber, averaging to handle the wood three times with his hands. He deeded most of the land where Nora Springs now stands from the Government. He built one of the most substantial houses in Northern Iowa, using for the purpose 100,000 brick and 500 bushels of lime; has dealt with many, but lawed with none, always exemplifying his fixed convictions, that every person should secure their own needs by honest toil. He was for some years a corre- spondent of the New York Tribune. Has written many valuable papers on the apple-tree question in the Northwest, which have been republished and highly complimented by leading horticultur- ists of the Northwest. He never aspired to any public office which he did not secure by heavy majorities. He has been Justice of the Peace, Chairman of the Board of Township Trustees, and Chair- man of the City School Board several years each. Is nowa mem- ber of the two latter, and also Marshal and Street Commissioner. He was married July 22, 1862, to Helen M. Lamb, of Wayne, Du- page County, Ill., of Scotch parentage. Their first born was a son-Wallace E., born July 22, 1863; the second, a daughter, Myrta J., born July 22, 1865, died Mar. 1, 1869; the third, a daughter, Vienna, born Jan. 27, 1871.

Jackson Gaylord was born in the village of Northville, township of New Milford, Litchfield County, Conn., on Dec. 23, 1829. He was named after his mother, whose maiden name was Betsy Jack-

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son. He is a descendant of brave and patriotic ancestors, many of them having fought bravely in the defense of their country's honor, in the wars which occurred in their lifetimes. His great-grand- father died in the French and Indian wars, and his grandfather, Agur Gaylord, entered the army at the age of 16, serving through the French and Indian and the Revolutionary wars. On one occa- sion while out on a scouting expedition, he saw two Frenchmen, who had taken refuge behind two trees which had commenced growing together and widened out as they grew. Mr. Gaylord and his party took refuge behind a stump, standing in Indian file, to watch the proceedings of the enemy. The Frenchmen stepped together to prime their guns, one of them apparently being out of powder. Mr. Gaylord embraced the opportunity to make sure of his men, which he did by killing both at one shot. Agur Gaylord died at the ripe old age of eighty-eight years. Samuel Gaylord, father of the subject of this interesting record, was born Jan. 6, 1776, in the town of Norfolk, Conn., and at the age of fourteen was apprenticed to the blacksmith's, serving seven years. He was an excellent workman, especially excelling in the manufacture of edged tools. He emigrated to Rock Grove Township in 1855, and resided here until his death. He secured the south half of south- east quarter of section 1, township 96, range 19, Portland Township, Cerro-Gordo County; also twenty-nine acres of timber on section 18, lying between the railroad addition to Nora Springs and the Shell Rock River, on a part of which the M. & St. P. R. R. Co. built their depot. He also owned blocks 13 and 14, old town, living on said premises several years. He has since built a house on lots 1 and 2, block 10, railroad addition, where he resides at this time. He was married on the 8th of November, 1862, to the widow Harriet Vliet, of Tranquility, Sussex County, N. J. She had three children-Eliza and Ira, who live in Jersey, and Alice, who married Robert Wilson, and now lives in Nora Springs. His wife, Harriet, died of consumption, on Dec. 2, 1877. He was again married Aug. 7, 1879, to the widow Elizabeth Coppock, a native of Stockport, England, and sister to Israel Turner, depot agent at Nora Junction. She had one son-W. M., who lives with his mother. Jackson has no children. By profession he is a school-teacher, and has a good education. He attended the com- mon schools until twelve years of age, and from that time until his eighteenth year went to school during the winters and worked in the summers. He spent four terms in an academy or high school. Being naturally endowed with superior mental abilities he has

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ROCK GROVE TOWNSHIP.

been a diligent student, and is one of the best informed men of his day. As a teacher he has been very successful. While in the West farming was his principal business. In politics a Republican . He is not a member of any church, but in sentiment a Congregation- alist. His wife, Harriet, was a member of the Congregational church. The following narrative as related by him shows to some extent the endurance and perseverance of the early settlers: "In 1855 I was living in Tranquility, Sussex County, N. J .; having deter- mined on going West, I went to New York City, where I met my father, mother, and two sisters, also brother Lyman and family and brother Edson, who had returned from the West for the pur- pose of taking my father and family back with him. We went to Chicago, then up the lake to Kenosha, Wis., thence to Bris- tol, where we stopped several weeks with brother Wilberforce and other friends, making preparations for a three-hundred-mile over- land journey to Iowa, also waiting for our goods which we had sent by the way of the lakes, but we were obliged to go witbout them, learning afterward they arrived the day we left. We pur- chased four yoke of oxen and three wagons; on the 12th of No- vember we commenced our journey. For three days the weather was very pleasant, when suddenly it changed, rained, turned cold, snowed, and winter set in in earnest. Our faithful oxen trudged on, day after day, slow but sure. At night stopping with some farmer, spreading our beds upon the floor, bunked in for a snooze and a rest, Edson and sometimes myself sleeping out-doors in the wagon. So we traveled on day after day through the snows, and beaten by the cold winds of the Wisconsin hills. Upon reach- ing the Mississippi River we found navigation stopped on account of the slush ice in the river. Thinking we might have to remain where we were during winter, we commenced making preparations for that purpose. We stopped with a Kentuckian by the name of Hartford, a whole-souled, generous-hearted man, who, with his wife, did all they could to make us comfortable. In about four days the weather moderated so that the ferry-boat could run. We hurried our things aboard our wagons, and bidding good-bye to our kind hosts, we started once more for Iowa. On nearing the river we had to cross some bridges over bayous; our oxen not lik- ing the looks of things very well, behaved so badly we were obliged to unyoke part of them and draw the wagons over by hand. On reaching the ferry we had quite a time in persuading our cat- tle to get on board; this being accomplished, we crossed the river

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and landed at Clayton City, Ia., just at dark. Then we had to climb the heights and get over the bluff's. Our oxen not being shod and the road slippery, we had to double teams, sand the road, and take one load at a time. All having safely reached the sum- mit, we were soon bunked for the night and in the arms of Mor- pheus. On the 5th of December, after a cold and tedious journey, we arrived at Rock Grove, on section 17, where Edson Gaylord lives at the time of this writing. The log house is now stand- ing, having two rooms, in which seventeen of us, big and little, lived mnost of the winter. Provisions were very scarce; 110 meat or anything hardly in the country, except flour; for some time we lived principally on bread, and gravy made of flour, water, and molasses. We had to go long distances to trade. Myself and Earl Gaylord, my nephew, ten or twelve years of age, went to Dubuque to trade, with a big wagon and two yoke of cattle, a distance of 140 miles; stopping at Janesville, we found salt $9 a barrel; in Dubuque it was about $1.60. We were gone twelve days, camping out and sleeping in our wagon. Meetings were held in log school-houses and the groves. The people gathered for miles around, coming with ox teams. All were on a com- mon level, and general harmony and peace prevailed.

John G. Gaylord, known in army records as J. J. Gaylord, was born in Litchfield County, Conn., July 28, 1843. He is a son of Lyman Gaylord, and came with his parents to this country in 1855. He was reared on a farm, and educated in the common schools of this county. He enlisted in the late war, in Company A, Twenty-first Iowa Infantry, and served over three years. He was in the battles of Magnolia Hill, Champion Hill, at the capture of Vicksburg, July 4, 1863 ; was one of the number that made desperate charges at Black River Bridge and Vicksburg, May 22, when Grant attempted to take the latter by storm ; fought from May 1 to July 4, losing one tenth of their number May 17, at the Black River Bridge charge, and taking 1,100 prisoners and eighteen cannon ; also, at Mobile, Fort Blakely, Spanish Fort and others ; was never wounded or taken prisoner, and was always in the front. He was married May 21, 1861, to Alice J. La Due. Mrs. Gaylord died and, Sept. 16, 1863, he married Sarah Ankeny. Of his four children only three are living - Alice, Flora, and George A. He resides on section 10, and is engaged in farming and stock-raising. He owns 200 acres of fine land.

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History of Floyd County, Iowa : together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 88

Author: Inter-state publishing co., Chicago Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : Inter-state publishing co. Number of Pages: 1168

Author: Inter-state publishing co., Chicago
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : Inter-state publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1168