USA > Iowa > Cerro Gordo County > History of Franklin and Cerro Gordo counties, Iowa and biographies of representative citizens. History of Iowa, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races > Part 92
USA > Iowa > Franklin County > History of Franklin and Cerro Gordo counties, Iowa and biographies of representative citizens. History of Iowa, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races > Part 92
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Joseph Wood was born in Fayette Co., Penn., in 1804. His parents were not pos- sessed of much of this world's goods, and the untimely death of his father left his mother with five little children depend- ent upon her for support. She fulfilled this duty as best she could and kept her family together until her son Joseph was eight years old, when she was obliged to place him according to circumstances. He spent his life in this way until nearly fourteen years old, when he put into prac- tice a resolution to test the innate man- hood he believed himself to possess, and set out to meet more than half way his struggle with life. The small pack of his possessions placed on his back was lighter than his heart, as he bade good-bye to his friends and youthful associations, and set forth for a foot journey of more than 200
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miles. He had but a few shillings, and made the route with the utmost possible self-denial, eating but four meals. Reach- ing Perry Co., Ohio, nature succumbed ; he was too nearly starved to make further progress. This was in 1817; the country was well nigh a wilderness of primeval forest, and the settlers had but little to eat save corn and the wild meat which re- warded the hunter's toil. But they divided food and hearthstone with the forlorn boy, and he resolved to rest his travel-weary feet for a time, if he could find anything to aid in self-sustaining. He engaged to work for a shoemaker for the necessaries of life, in order to learn the trade. Food, clothes and instruction ranked alike in value, but he managed to go to school for three months of the year he stayed with this man, and obtained a slight knowledge of reading and spelling. He believed the future held a better fate for him, and once more he essayed a foot journey, with his knapsack on his back. He halted at Johnstown, Licking Co., Ohio, and worked there for eight and ten dollars a month until he was twenty-four years of age. He was married at twenty-one, and in less than three years, he was a widower with two young children to care for. His small savings were exhausted by the expenses of his wife's illness and burial, and he was forced to begin anew. After a time he again married. At thirty-two, having saved a litttle money, he removed with his family to Indiana. He was frugal and industri- ous, and in 1855 was enabled to come to Iowa. He made his claim on section 25, township 96, range 22, abont a mile from Clear Lake. The severe winter of 1856-7 discouraged him and he went to Missouri
and Kansas, where he stayed about two years, when, impelled by sickness, he re- turned and re-occupied his claim, of which happily, he had not disposed, and here has his lot been cast. He stands among the best citizens. The traits which character- ized his independent spirit in boyhood, have made him a valuable acquisition to the community where he has spent the strength of his manhood's years. His farm is under fine improvements, stocked with horses and cattle he has abundance of small and other fruits, and in his trans- actions with the community he is deserv- edly popular and trusted. Of a family of ten children, resulting from his second marriage, but three are living-James B., Mrs. Eunice Hayden and Mrs. Sarah Ste- vens, all of whom are settled near their father, and are in easy circumstances. Mrs. Catharine Mckinney is a danghter of Mrs. Wood oy a former marriage. Peter R. Wood, another son, laid his life upon his country's altar. He was ser- geant in the 32d Iowa Volunteer In- fantry, and was mortally wounded at the battle of Pleasant Hill, La. Father Wood is a fine sample of the element that forced its way into the western wilds, and hewed success from the resources of the wilderness. His history proves the folly of the times. Nearly eighty years old, his judgment is still sound, his mental and moral strength firm, and the iron resolution that cast aside the misfor- tunes of his youth, is still unbroken. He lives with his wife in a green old age, passing down life's western slope, flooded with a brightness reflected from his noble and well-spent life, as fresh and rosy as
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the halo of the dawn that blesses the world in the mornings early June.
James B. Wood, of the firm of Wood & Berkley, wagon makers, was born in Henry Co., Ind., Nov. 10, 1839. He mar- ried Mary Denslow, whose father was among the first settlers of Cedar county. He died at Council Bluffs about the year 1850, while en route for California.
Charles A. Meddaugh is the son of Peter Meddaugh, who settled with his family in Cerro Gordo county, in June, 1855. The elder Meddaugh was a native of Poughkeepsie, N, Y., born July 4, 1795. He was of Dutch descent; his grandparents having come to this country from Hol- land many years prior to the Revolution. He was a harness maker and saddler by trade, and was engaged in this occupation before coming to Iowa. On his arrival in the State he bought a quarter section claim in the present township of Lime Creek, whose present owner is John D. Glass. His wife was also born in Duchess county, and after the death of her husband returned to the State of New York. She died there in Tompkins county, Feb. 20, 1882. Four of the six children of Mr. and Mrs. Meddaugh are still living- James resides in Florida; Mrs. Rebecca Robinson in Broome Co,, N. Y .; Mrs. Lydia Bull, in Tompkins Co., N. Y .; and C. A. Meddaugh, of this sketch. The latter is third in the order of succession, and was born in Tompkins county in 1841. He married a daughter of the Buckeye State-Margaret G. Emsley. Her father died in her childhood, in Ohio, and her stepfather, James Speers, was an early settler in Cerro Gordo county. He died in Clear Lake township, in 1869. Her
mother lives at Clear Lake. Mr. and Mrs. Meddaugh have two sons-Lofton A. born in Florida, Ang. 19, 1870, and Karl E., born Oct. 30, 1879. Thomas G. Ems- ley, of Mason City, is a brother of Mrs. Meddaugh. Mr. Meddaugh has been much of his life engaged in teaching, and is still interested in all educational mat- ters. He deals to some extent in school furniture, although his chief occupation is farming. In 1866 he went to Florida where he passed four years. He resides at Clear Lake, and owns a fine farm of 200 acres in Grant township, also a 430 acre farm in Florida.
During 1856 E. A. Tuttle, A. B. Tuttle, Charles Gillespie and Elnathan Crowell located.
Elnathan Crowell was born at Cape Cod, Mass., in 1812, which was his home until he was thirty years of age, as it was that of his father and grandfather, who passed their entire lives there. Mr. Cro- well went to sea at twelve years of age. He shipped on a merchantman and during his nautical life saw much of the world. He visited the principal seaboard cities of America, as well as the chief places in France, Spain, St. Domingo and other countries. When he abandoned a sea- faring life he followed the vocation of carpenter and worked at Boston and Southbridge, Mass., and at Keene, N. H. He first located in the west near St. Mary's, Ohio, and came to Mason City in 1856. In'June of the next year he became a resident in Lake township. Mr. Cro- well has been married three times. His first wife was a native of North Dana, Mass., and died eighteen months after her marriage. Her successor was Roxanna
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Gibbs, who died after coming to Lake. The third wife, Mrs. Sarah (Dickerm) Hall, is still living. One of three chil- dren of the second marriage-Lewis C .- still survives. Mr. Crowell owns a valua- ble farm of 120 acres, on section 26, and resides at Clear Lake.
Mrs. Elvira F. (Gibbs) Dort and her daughter, Mrs. R. A. Howard, are the representatives of two prominent pioneer settlers of Clear Lake, who came here to- gether in 1857. Mrs. Dort was born in Sullivan, N. H., in 1813. She married Willard Dort, with whom she lived forty- seven years. Following is a sketch of Mr. Dort, published at the time of his death. Mr. Dort was born at Gilsum, N. H., April 5, 1807. He received an ordinary country school education and was engaged in farming and carpentering all his life. He married Elvira F. Gibbs, April 24, 1834, who survives her husband after a pleasant companionship of forty - seven years. They have three children, two sons who reside east, and one daughter, Mrs. Rosa A. Howard who has always re- sided with them. Mr. Dort and family came to Clear Lake from Keene, N. H., in 1857. Mr. Dort was one of the few pio- neers of Clear Lake who spent the best part of their lives in improving and build- ing up our town. He was a remarkably industrious man, and, though he had at- tained the age of seventy-four years, sel- dom passed a day unemployed till his last sickness, or six days previous to his death. He joined the Baptist Church at Sullivan, N. H., in 1838, and lived a consistent Christian life. In 1867 he with others or- ganized the First Baptist Church at Clear Lake, and was elected the first deacon of
this Church, a position he held to the day of his death. In 1872 he began the erec- tion of a church for the society. He cut and hewed and hauled all the timber for the frame, and stone for the basement, and during the following summer, with the help of others, built the church, paying nearly one half of its cost, and donating all his labor, and by his zealous labors the denomination have a church that is an or- nament to the town and a credit to the society. When the building was nearly finished he, unfortunately, fell from its roof and received injuries from which he never fully recovered. He was an earnest temperance man, and did all in his power to forward whatever tended to elevate the people morally or religiously. Generous and hospitable, his doors were always open, and in pioneer days the tired and hungry were always sure of a generous welcome, and found rest and refreshment without money and without price." He died at his residence at Clear Lake, April 16,1881.
Mrs. Rosa (Dort) Howard became the wife of Thomas O. Howard in December, 1856. They accompanied Mrs. Howard's parents to Clear Lake. Herself and two children survive the husband and father. A daughter, Nettie L., wife of O. J. Hub- bard, resides in Lake township. The son is the namesake of his father. Mr. How- ard was born in Marlow, N. H., Dec. 13, 1832. He was a resident of Keene in that State some years previous to coming to Iowa. He was a carpenter and builder by trade, and, with characteristic energy, identified himself with a new and grow- ing country, and soon became well and
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widely known and universally esteemed for his manly and noble qualities. He en- listed in August, 1862, in company B, 32d Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and received a mortal wound at the battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, April, 9, 1864, and died two days after at the hospital at that place. The following account of this brave soldier was published in the Sketches of Iowa Soldiers. "Thomas O. Howard, Ist lientenant of company B, 32d regiment, Towa Volunteer Infantry, was born in the State of New Hampshire, and was thirty years of age at the time of his death. He was made orderly sergeant on the organi- zation of the company, and upon the death of Lient. Lane in December, 1862, was promoted to a second lieutenantey, and subsequently was made first lieutenant, which position he held at the time of his death. He served with the regiment on all its marches and campaigns, except in the expedition to Meridian, when he was absent on sick leave. It is said that death loves a shining mark, and the truthfulness of this saying is well illustrated in his death. Lient. Howard was the idol of his company, and, perhaps, it might in truth be said, of the regiment. Tall, well formed and comely, with a dignified bear- ing and a winning, open countenance, truthful and honest in all ·his dealings, courageous, brave, firm, yet kind and gen- erous, he was every inch a gentleman and a man. As an officer, he had no superior among the officers of his regiment. There was the material in him of which success- ful generals are made. During the long, weary hours of waiting, preceding the battle of Pleasant Hill, he commanded the skirmishers in front of the right wing
of the regiment, and his bearing on that occasion was worthy of all praise."
The first settlers on the prairie were Abram Bennett and Mr. Gardner. Ben- nett located on section 6, in 1855, and Gardner on section 9. Gardner remained a year or two and removed to Spirit Lake, where he and all but two of his family were killed by the Indians in the spring of 1857. Bennett removed to Colorado and died.
E. A. Tuttle brought his family on and moved on his place in 1856. About the same time Caleb Hubbard and Mr. Piser settled on the prairie.
During the years of the war but few set- tlers came in. About the next settlement was made, in 1868, by R. O. Sirrine, Wil- liam Jackson and Myron Barton, all of whom located on section 16.
C. B. Seabury resides on section 10, Lake township, on a farm of 100 acres. He was born in Chautauqua Co., N. Y., in March, 1832. He married Susan Case and in 1869 they came to Iowa. Mr. Seabury sent his family by direct route and made the journey himself with teams. Mr. and Mrs. Seabury have three daughters-Florence, Irene and Lena. Mr. Seabury was elected supervisor in 1873, held the position three years and has also been township trustee several terms and acting justice of the peace three years.
Joseph Case came to Iowa in 1869, mak- ing the route overland with his teams and personal property. He was born in the eastern part of the State of New York and when a boy, in 1807, went to Chautauqua county. He died at Clear Lake in Sep- tember, 1880. Mrs. Case, his widow, re- sides with her daughter, Mrs. Seabury.
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HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY.
She was formerly Patty Fairbanks and was born in Vermont in 1810.
Rodney Palmer was born in St. Law- rence Co., N. Y., in 1848. He came to Iowa with his father, who is a resident of Lake township, in 1869. He is located on section 26, on a farm he bought of C. Pat- rick, a non-resident land-holder. It com- prises eighty acres and Mr. Palmer has made all its improvements, it being wild land when he purchased it. He was mar- ried to Lizzie, daughter of George Carlton, and the children are-La Fayette, Clarence W., Merwin and Alice E.
Osman Burdick located on section 4 of Lake township. He is a resident on a tract of land originally entered by E. A. Tut- tle. Mr. Burdick purchased of Moses Stewart in January, 1869. He was born in 1840 in Madison Co., N. Y., and came with his father, Perrin Burdick, to Rock Co., Wis., when eight years of age. His father lives with him. His mother died when he was but two years of age. The family removed from Wisconsin to Clay- ton Co., Iowa, and soon after to Bremer county. They next moved to Floyd county and eventually settled as stated. Mr. Burdick's farm contains 160 acres. He married Adeline Rice, sister of James A. Rice. She was born in Illinois. Their children are-Elmer and Clara.
J. G. Lindon, of the firm of Lindon & Bolton, stock dealers, was born in England in 1850 and was there trained to the voca- tion of farmer. In 1869 he came to the United States and spent a year at Water- town, Wis., coming to Clear Lake in 1870, and at once entered into his present busi- ness. The copartnership of Lindon & Bol- ton was formed in 1877. The house is
ranked among the most extensive in the State, and enjoys a large degree of public confidence. At the present writing, May, 1883, they have in stock 3,000 head of cat- tle, all of which were wintered within a radius of a few miles. Mr. Lindon has had large experience in the management of stock, and is versed and practiced in the details of business. The interests of the firm are extending, and have every pros- pect of far outstretching their present di- mensions. Lindon & Bolton own a fine farm of 400 acres near town, and Mr. Lin- don owns individually a quarter section His fine residence is situated in the east part of the village. Mrs. Lindon was formerly Carrie E. Quick, a native of Ohio, of English descent. She is the mother of two children-Adella and Vida Belle Lindon.
James D. Freeman settled in Cerro Gordo county in June, 1871. He pur- chased forty acres of virgin prairie, erected a good house and set out shade trees, which gives the place an appear- ance of having been much longer occu- pied. He has added forty acres to his original purchase. Mr. Freeman was born in Plainfield, Vt., July 19, 1827. His parents, Nathan and Esther ( Con- verse ) Freeman, were both of New Eng- land origin. He was the youngest of six children, and, at thirteen, he found him- self comparatively homeless. His brothers and sisters were married, and his mother being in a hopeless state from consump- tion, the home was broken up, and James went to Lowell, Mass., finding employ- ment in a cotton mill as extra hand. In nine months he had secured the confidence of the owners and an expert knowledge
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of the machinery, and was put in the position of assistant overseer of several hands, and also attended to card grinding. He operated in this manner nine suc- ressive years. He then went to Manches- ter, N. H. and assisted in the opening of a new cotton mill, where he remained two years He was married in that city, in the fall of 1849, to Martha Straw. He had an illness of several months duration in 1851, and left his position. In the fall of that year he returned to Vermont. A year later he went back to Lowell, and again entered a cotton mill. In 1853 his wife died, leaving a son-Le Roy A., and in 1854 Mr. Freeman was married to Maria L. Vose. He then removed to Milwaukee, Wis., and followed the voca- tion of painter. In 1855 he went to Columbus, Wis. Later he took his family in a prairie schooner and set out for Chat- field, Minn , where he followed his trade. When his country called for the aid of her faithful sons, Mr. Freeman responded, and in 1862 enlisted in company D, 8th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, serving three years. His regiment was on the frontiers of Dakota one year, where it did good service defending the territory from Indian depredations. Mr. Freeman was in action at Murfreesboro and other important battles. As a result of ex- posure incident to a soldier's career, his eyes were seriously injured and he was discharged and sent to Chicago for treat- ment, after which he went to Springfield, Mass., where his family had gone. He again obtained employment in a cotton mill at Holyoke, and acted as third over- seer. At the end of six months he was tendered the position of second overseer,
but was obliged to leave the mill from failing eye-sight. He then went to Waverly, Bremer county, where he be- came totally blind. After a year of dark- ness he partly recovered sight and can now read with the aid of magnifying lenses. He next removed to his present home. By his second marriage, Mr. Free- man had nine children, five of whom died of diptheria while he was in the ser- vice. Those remaining are-Gilman, Frank, Leon and Myron. Mr. Freeman belongs to the G. A. R., and in religious belief is a Congregationalist. He is a republican in politics.
E. Howard purchased his farm on sec- tion 11, of Palmeter Brothers, and took possession in the spring of 1872. He is a minister of the Church of the United Brethren, but in consequence of advanced years and impaired health has retired from active labors. He was formerly con- nected with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and assisted in the organization of its first conference in the State of Iowa, about the year 1844. Mr. Iloward was born in the State of New Hampshire, emigrated to Illinois and thence to Iowa. Ilis first wife died in 1840, in Illinois. By this marriage he had four children. The present Mrs. Howard was Merilda Hoyt. She was born in Broome Co., N. Y., and went with her parents to Illinois She has three children. The eldest, Martin Luther, was born in Alla- makee Co., Iowa, in 1852; Emma Jane is now Mrs. J. A. Weller, of Toledo, Tama Co., Iowa ; Nellie A., is a teacher in Cerro Gordo county.
N. W. Warren resides on section 19, on a farm purchased of E. C. Johnson, and
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HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY.
on which he settled in 1873. He was born in Massachusetts in November, 1835. When a boy, he accompanied his parents to Rushford, Allegany Co., N. Y., where his father died. In 1853 Mr. Warren emigrated to Columbia Co., Wis., and en- gaged as clerk in a general store. He subsequently bent all his energies toward farming, which has occupied his attention the greater part of his life. His wife, Olive J. Williams, was born at Rome, N .. Y. They have six children-Frank, Car- rie, Fred, Charles, Rosa and Myra. Mr. Warren owns 130 acres of land. In relig- ion, he belongs to the M. E. Society.
Joseph Thada owns eighty acres of land on section 7, which he has put in creditable condition. The improvements are first class and buildings good. He purchased the property in 1874, of Fred Langenberg. Mr. Thada was born at Mecklenberg, Germany, in 1842. At the age of fourteen he came to America with his father, John Thada. His mother, Sophia Thada, died in Germany. The senior Thada, located at Green Bay, Wis., where he yet lives. Joseph Thada mar- ried Agnes Schiller, born in Germany, in 1853. Her parents came to America in 158 and settled near Green Bay, Wis. They now live in Lake township, Cerro Gordo county. Mr. and Mrs. Thada have five children-Nathalie E., Hattie E., Bertha M., Sylvia A. and Oscar V.
Benjamin Leonard, Jr., came to Cerro Gordo county in 1875. His farm is on section 5, Clear Lake township, on which he took up his abode in the fall of 1882. He was born in Niagara Co., N. Y., April 4, 1836. When he was fourteen his father, Benjamin Leonard, Sr., removed
to Wisconsin, and is still living in Green county in that State. Benjamin Leonard became a soldier in the hour of his coun- try's sore need, enlisting twelve days after. the firing on Fort Sumter, in the 3d Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. He was with General Pope in the Shenandoah Valley, and received a severe gun-shot wound in the right arm at Antietam, two years after his enrollment. The result was his discharge. He went to Wiscon- sin, where he was married to Lavina Brayton, a native of Illinois. In 1871 he went to Kansas, where he resided four years. Mr. and Mrs. Leonard have four children-Walter J., Flora A., Lily May and Imogene. Mrs. Leonard's brother, Charles Brayton, resides on the same sec- tion. In 1878 he bought his farm of W. G. Ettles. He is a native of McHenry Co., Ill., born in 1838. He went to Wisconsin, and, in 1862, enlisted as a soldier of the civil war, in the 31st Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and was in the service three years. In 1868 he located north of the lake from which the township is named. Mrs. Brayton is a native of Illinois. They have three children-Ed, Elna and Hattie.
James B. Heath is a resident on sec- tion 32, Lake township, where he fixed his abode in 1875, on a farm of 160 acres. He is a native of England, born in August, 1848. His father, James Heath, made a number of trips to this country before his final emigration in 1849. He landed at New Orleans, whence he proceeded to St. Louis, going thence to Delaware Co., Iowa. He had become thoroughly Ameri- canized when the rebellion threw the Nation into consternation, and adopting the ill as well as the good fortune which
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HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY.
befell the land, he enlisted in her defense in the 21st Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served about eight months, when he was discharged for physical disability. He returned to Delaware county, where he passed the rest of his life. His death occurred Sept 8, 1868, at the age of forty- two years. He was a grain and provision merchant, a calling to which he was trained in his native country. His widow resides at Delhi, Delaware county. Mr. Heath, of this sketch, married Eliza, daughter of Thomas C. Helm, a native of Kentucky. Mrs. Heath was born in Del- aware county. She is the mother of two children-larry C. and Nellie Maud.
Milton Young Moore settled on section 15, in the spring of 1876, having purchased the farm of Theron Palmeter. He was born in Centre Co., Penn., in 1835. When he was nine years old his parents, Thomas and Sarah (Richards) Moore, removed with their family to Clinton Co., Ohio. The mother died in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1856. The father went to West Virginia, where he died in 1876. From Ohio Mr. Young, of this sketch, went to Indiana, remaining there two years. He came to Lee Co., Iowa, in 1858. Ile married Lydia E. Cook, a native of Salem, Henry Co., Iowa, They are the parents of six children-Mary Ida, eldest, is the wife of James MeLaughlin; Lizzie married R. W. Clark, of Clear Lake. The others are Edgar T., Ethel L., Arthur C. and Milton W. Mr. Moore's farm contains 177 acres.
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