USA > Iowa > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, Iowa. Containing full-page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county. Together with portraits and biographies of all the governors of Iowa, and of the presidents of the United States > Part 103
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Among the important events of this man's life may be mentioned his marriage, which occurred April 10, 1866, in Adams County, Pa., when he married Rebecca J. Russell, the daughter of James and. Re- becca (McClure) Russell, who were of Irish descent. The mother died in 1862, and the father, in January, 1880. Mrs. Wisler has two sisters and two brothers living, all residents of the Keystone State. Mr. and Mrs. Wisler are the par- ents of four children-Grace D., born in 1867, now the wife of J. B. Lyon, of Mis- souri Valley, and they are the parents of two children-Waldo Mason, born in De- cember, 1886, and Burton Russell, in De- cember, 1888. The remainder of our sub- ject's children are Russell I., born January 19, 1871. He is a machinist and lives at home; Harry Mayberry, deceased, at the
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age of three months and William L. B., born September 27, 1875.
Mr. and Mrs. Wisler are consistent members of the Presbyterian Church at Missouri Valley. Mr. Wisler became an Odd Fellow in Mountain City, and be- longs. to Lodge, No. 837, at Altoona, Pa., and became a member of the Encamp- ment, ("Red Cloud Encampment, No. 97") at Missouri Valley. Politically, he is identified with the Democratic party. In justice to his father it should be said that he served in the Union Army in the Civil War.
ATHIAS T. WESTON, foreman of the car department of the Missouri Valley Railroad shops, came to Missouri Valley in June, 1878, and engaged with the Sioux City & Pacific Railroad Company for which he is still working.
Mr. Weston was born in Huntingdon County, Pa., October 24, 1853, and is the son of John and Mary (Rider) Weston. The father's people were of English des- cent, and the mother's, of German. But both families have been in Pennsylvania for many generations. The father was a carpenter by trade and died in the spring of 1876. The mother died in the summer of 1869. They were the parents of three sons and four daughters, three now living. Our subject was the youngest child. His sister, Lydia C., wife of W. C. Gardner, resides in Altoona, Pa., and is a machinist, employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Another sister, Sally A., the wife of Jerry Narhoof, resides near Warri- ors Mark, Huntingdon County, Pa.
Our subject's early education was re-
ceived in his native county. He there learned the cabinet maker's trade, and soon after entered the car shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Alto- ona, with whom he remained continually until he came to Missouri Valley with the exception of a year or so spent traveling in different States.
Our subject was married November 28, 1886, to Clara M. Huff, the daughter of of Hiram Huff, whose sketch appears else- where in this work.
Politically, Mr. Weston is identified with the Republican party. He is a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Missouri Valley Lodge, No. 232, of A. F. & A. M., and Triune Chapter, No. 81 as well as Ivanhoe Commandery, No. 17 at Council Bluffs.
Our subject's life is an example of what duty faithfully performed with accomplish, as it will be been by the above that nearly all of his active life has been spent in the employ of two great corporations-the Pennsylvania and North-western railroad systems. He is a skilled artisan, and hence a valuable man for the railroad shops over which he is foreman. In his manner, he is genial, wholesouled and friendly, and hence is very naturally, a popular man, in the society in which he moves.
G.
ARVEY V. ARMSTRONG, an en- terprising farmer located on section 5 of Union Township, will form the subject of this biographical notice. He ranks among the early pioneers of this county, coming here in the month of June, 1854, and entering a tract of land at Six-mile Grove, Jefferson Township, the
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same consisting of one hundred and sixty acres. After a sojourn of one month lie returned to Illinois, his former home, and returned to this county in 1856. This claim was purchased from Mr. Thorpe, living in Jeddo, paying $20 for what he called his interest in a half section of land. Upon this he built a log cabin, the roof of which was made of clapboards, while the floor was of puncheon. This cozy house was provided with a fire-place, the chim- ney of which was built on the outside in good old primitive style, and was doubt- less a better means of ventilation than the modern air-tight, hard-coal stove, fancy house. Their bedstead was made by boring holes in the logs of the house and inserting legs in the same. This land was part timber, there being ninety-five ยท acres of prairie. The first year he broke about fifteen acres, and the remainder in 1857. Subsequently, he erected a hewed log house, which had a shingled roof. He fenced his farm with rails split by his own arms, and built stables, dug a well, set out a small orchard and made other improve- ments. He remained on this farm about eight years, when he purchased land on section 5 of Union Township and section 35 of Jefferson Township, comprising his present farm of three hundred and thirty acres. Here his house, stable and crib- bing were all of logs. A part of this land he had to clear up. He now owns about two hundred and sixty acres under culti- vation, upon which is situated a good farm-house, two stories in height, 16x22 feet, with a wing 16x22 feet, one story high, with an addition 14x18 feet. The place is provided with a frame barn 24x 37 feet, with frame corn-cribs, wagon and cattle sheds. There are also two good wells of water on the premises, beside many other general improvements. Here
our subject and his family have passed twenty-six years of their lives. Great has been the change since that day in 1856, when our subject and his family came to Harrison County with "prairie schoon- ers drawn by horse and ox teams, camp- ing by the wayside, and viewed this goodly land, as it had been left by the hand of nature. It may be added in this connec- tion that our subject had six hundred dol- lars in gold upon his arrival here.
Our subject was born in Gallia County, Ohio, October 9, 1824, the son of Andrew and Hannah (Ray) Armstrong, who reared seven children, of whom our subject was the third. The children's names are as follows: Nancy, Ezra, deceased ; Harvey V., Robert C., deceased; John W., Lou- den J., deceased.
Mr. Armstrong lived in Ohio until six- teen years of age, when he, in company with his parents, moved to Knox County, Ill., where they engaged in farming. When our subject was twenty years old his father gave him his time, after which he worked on a farm by the month, and then rented a farm which he worked for seven or eight years. After this he bought an eighty-acre farm in Warren County, Ill., upon which he remained until 1854, then sold and removed to Harrison Coun- ty, Iowa.
Mr. Armstrong was married August 9, 1844, to Virginia (Rowe) Armstrong, daughter of Joseph and Betsy Rowe, na- tives of Virginia, who reared nine chil- dren, of whom our subject's wife was the seventh child. The following are their names : Polly, Peggy, Berthia, deceased ; Rice, deceased; Caroline, James P., Vir- ginia, E. Winchester, Joseph D., de- ceased. Mrs. Armstrong's father was a farmer, and removed from Virginia to Kentucky a d from there to Indiana, and
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from there to Illinois. Our subject and his wife are the parents of the following children : Bettie C., born June 13, 1845; Joseph A., June 28, 1847, Emma J., de- ceased, born August 18, 1849; Flora E., August 1, 1852; Louisa F., November 3, 1854; John W., June 9, 1856; William D., August 26, 1858; Ettie W., November 7, 1860; James H., deceased, born July 21, 1863.
Politically, he is identified with the Democratic party. Both he and his es- timble wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and took an active part in the erection of Bethel Church, which stands on land adjacent to their farm, and which was built in 1891.
RUMAN L. TRACY, proprietor of Tracy's "job shop" at Missouri Val- ley, probably has as fine an equipped establishment for all kinds of job carpen- ter work as can be found in the county. He was born in Cattaraugus County, N.Y., April 25, 1858, and is the son of William H., and Caroline (Newton) Tracy, natives of New York. Father was a farmer until 1882, when he engaged as a traveling salesman for a nursery of that section, which he still follows.
Truman was reared upon the farm re- ceiving his education in the district schools of that section, remaining at home until 1882, when he took Horace Greeley's advice and went West, coming direct to Missouri Valley.
His first work in this section was at River Sioux, where for about one year he assisted his uncle, Reuben Newton in the railroad office. The following six months he acted as coach-cleaner at the shops at
Missouri Valley, after which he acted as night-watch about the shops for a time. Being in ill health he was obliged to take a rest. Later he was in the employ of the railroad ; also helped his uncle and did other work until 1887, at which time being a natural genius, he started a small carpen- ter and repair shop, which business has proved quite lucrative. He has at this time a shop with circle rip saw, planing- machine, wood-lathe, jig-saw, mortising- machine, and emery wheels, propelled by a six-horse power water motor, receiving the water from the city water works. This was put in at a cost of about $500. He was married in Missouri Valley, December 14, 1883, to Miss Carrie Bradley, a native of Canada; they have been blessed with one child, Harry L. In summing up this man's life, he may be termed a self-made man. Coming West when a young man, without means, but with a determination to work, he has built up a nice trade, which goes to show what might be accomplished by many a young man with proper energy.
W ILLIAM H. DECOU, an enterpris- ing farmer of section 7, Dong- las Township, came to Harrison County with his parents a short time after the Civil War closed. Our subject was born in Norfolk County, Canada, Feb- ruary 10, 1845, and when ten years of age accompanied his parents, who removed to Winneshiek County, Iowa, where they re- mained until 1866, and then came to Har- rison County and bought land. The boys, William and Isaac, came here and put in the crops, then returned and assisted in moving the family, who arrived in June of that year. He remained under his pa-
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ternal roof until 1870, at which time his father gave him a part of his present farm, which he commenced to improve in 1870, breaking about forty acres and building a house 18x26 feet, one story and a half high. He removed to this house in 1872, and lived in the same for eight years, and then erected an addition 18x26 feet. The first crop he put in on his own place amounting to between sixty and seventy acres was speedily harvested by the grass- hoppers. His renter had sixty acres of wheat yielding three bushels and a half.
Our subject was married to Miss Georgia Pugsley, July 4, 1871. Mrs. DeCou was born in Athens County, Ohio, April 9, 1846, and when nine years of age removed to Harrison County, Iowa, where she re- mained until she was married. Three children have blessed this union-Frank H., Nellie R. and Leonard.
The grasshoppers again visited Harri- son County in 1877, at which time they were kept fairly under control by various means devised. The most common of which was the digging of a trench into which they would fall. They also used a - pan eight feet in length which was drawn by a rope attached to each end. The pan was provided with tar, into which the grasshoppers would jump and be killed. They also burned a great many of the grasshoppers by spreading straw on the ground and setting fire to the same at night.
Notwithstanding this plague, Mr. De- Cou harvested thirty-seven bushels of wheat per acre; oats, sixty bushels per acre, and corn, sixty-five bushels per acre, which speaks well for Harrison County soil. But this was only accom- plished by a hard struggle upon the part of Mr. DeCou and his liired men. He is President of the Farmers' Mutual Insur-
ance Company of Harrison County. Po- litically our subject is in full sympathy with the Republican party. In his relig- ious convictions he favors the Presby- terian Church, of which he is a member.
AMES CHAPMAN, a farmer resid- ing on section 1, of Union Town- ship, came to Harrison County in the spring of 1864, in company with his parents. They leased a piece of land of Lindley Evans, in Cass Township, and remained there two years. Having given the date, and location of this family's set- tlement, the reader's attention is now turned to the birthplace of our subject, which was in Wiltshire, England, where he was born in February, 1839. He is the son of John and Harriet (Coleman) Chap- man who were the parents of the follow- ing children, of whom our subject is the eldest. The order of this family is as fol- lows: James, Elijah, Rebekah, Judah, John, Nephi, Harriet J., Eliza J., Heber W., Thomas and Benjamin. Of this family seven boys are still living.
James came to America in 1853, land- ing at New Orleans, where he lay confined to his room, for four long weeks, with the small pox, which he had been exposed to upon the boat. He was in a strange land in a great city, without friends to look after him, but thanks be to our public, charitable institutions, after one week lie was taken to a hospital, where he was well cared for. In relating this to the writer, Mr. Chapman says he hopes to be able at some day, to bequeath a sum suffic- ient to repay the city for all that they in their kindness did for him, believing as he does that the hospital saved his life.
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From the Crescent City he went to St. Louis, remained a week, and then em- barked for Kansas City, near which place he worked on a farm for four weeks, and then went to Utah, where he worked at farm labor for three years. We next find him in the employ of the Overland Stage Company, with whom he remained three years. The next three years he was at work with the mountaineers, and then came to Harrison County.
He was married February 11, 1866, to Mary Ann Smith, daughter of Jackson and Mary Smith, natives of North Caro- lina, and New York respectively. They were the parents of thirteen children as follows: Margaret, Hannah, John, Eliz- abeth, one deceased, Ruth, Isaac, Mary A., Eliza, Jackson, Julia, deceased, Rachel, Joseph, deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Smith went to Utah where they both died.
Our subject and his wife are the parents of four children : Mary J., born August 13, 1867 ; Elizabeth A., July 9, 1869; Nettie A., November 20, 1876; James T., Janu- ary 1, 1881. Mrs. Chapman died Novem- ber 22, 1891, and was buried in the ceme- tery on John Chapman's farm.
Upon Mr. Chapman's arrival in this county, having assisted on the farm a year or two, he was employed in the steam mill of U. L. Dow for one year, at the end of which time he paid $300 for forty acres of land; this was a wild tract in Union Township; he broke this out, and built him a dug-out 12x14 feet, in which he lived for about two years then sold the land to Mr. Allee, and bought eighty acres of school land, for which he paid $4 per acre. Here he built another dug-out, (constructed of sod and poles.) He im- proved this land and lived upon it seven years, and then bought the place he now occupies, consisting of one hundred and
twenty acres, costing him $15 per acre. It is situated on section 1, and at the time he purchased it, had some improvements on it, including sixty acres of breaking and a shell of a house. His farm now con- sists of two hundred acres three-quarters of which is under cultivation. He has a good farm-house 16x30 feet, with an ad- dition 18x20 feet ; also good barn, and out- buildings. At the present time he is erect- ing a barn 24x30 feet. With his wind mill and tank and accompanying water- works, water can be thrown to the top of his house, being conveyed through a pipe eight hundred feet in length. Besides his home farm he has also a quarter of sec- tion 12, which is well improved.
Politically, Mr. Chapman is a supporter of the Democratic party, and in religious matters, like the man at the Temple says, "God be merciful to me a sinner."
EMUEL MEFFERD ranks among the vanguard of pioneers to Harri- son County, coming as he did in the early spring of 1850, forty-one years ago, when he was but a lad of seven summers. The family stopped in Jefferson Town- ship until 1853, when they removed to Douglas Township, his father being one of the earliest settlers in Harrison County. He remained at home until he was twenty- six years old, after which he rented land of his brother, in the same township, and in July, 1872, he purchased forty acres of land on section 28, Douglas Township, broke it up and built a house before he left his brother's farm, and kept adding to this tract until he now has two hundred and fifty acres.
Mr. Mefferd is a native of Newlingburg,
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Ky., from which locality the family re- moved when they came to Harrison County. He was married to Miss Mary R. Richmond, in Harrison County, Iowa, March 8, 1869, and they are the parents of six children-George L., Isabella, Fred- erick, Pearl E., Arthur and Reuben R.
Mary R. (Richmond) Mefferd, wife of our subject, was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, January 3, 1854, and when six years old accompanied her mother to Harrison County, her father having died in Utah. She is a member of the Latter Day Saints Church.
M AHLON GRIFFITH, may well be ranked among the pioneers of this section of Iowa, and for this, if for no other reason, should he be al- loted space in this connection for a bio- graphical notice. The pioneers are fast passing away. The young men who came ! to Harrison County during the '50s, and prior to the Civil War, are now old men and many of them are sleeping the last sleep, while still others are fathers of large families of children who have grown up and gone out into life's conflict for them- selves. The furrowed brow, the bedimmed eye, and the bowed form of the men, who in the pride of their young manhood, gazed out upon the primeval forests and beautiful valleys found within Harrison County, now belong to those whom we look upon with reverence on account of their age. We come now to speak of one who had passed his three-score and ten years. Mr. Griffith, was born in Bel- mont County, Ohio, December 3, 1819, and before speaking of his life in Harrison County, it should be said that he remained
under the paternal roof until he was twenty-six years of age, which date marked an important era in his life, as during that year, and on December 20, 1846, he was united in marriage to Miss Elvira Mathew, who was born in Farquier County, Va., November 5, 1830, and when four years of age moved with her parents to Musking- ham County, Ohio.
Our subject was by trade a potter, and worked at the pottery business at Hope- well, Ohio, until 1850, when he came to Van Buren County, Iowa, where he rented land one year, and then went to Towa County and purchased a farm, remaining three years, when he disposed of it and came to Pottawattamie County, and pur- chased land near the present site of Avoca. At that date there were but few people in this county, and a frame house had never been erected in Kanesville (now Council Bluffs.) Mr. Griffith had a farm of four hundred acres, but owing to the discour- aging prospects occasioned by the "hard winter" of 1856-57, he disposed of his land, at a good margin, and returned to his old home in the Buckeye State, which at one time seemed a paradise to him, but like many another man who had seen the roll- ing prairie of the Missouri Slope, he was again seized with the Western fever and the following year returned to Pottawatta- mie County, and after making three trips to Ohio overland, traversing the great prairie States of Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, he finally bought a part of his old place back near Avoca, where he lived and labored until 1876, in the autumn of which year he sold out and located in Harrison County, where he now lives. At the time of his coming to Iowa there was no Omaha, and Bellevue, as well as Florence, were mere trading points.
The children who have been born to Mr.
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and Mrs. Griffith, eleven in number are as follows : Francis P., born June 10, 1848; George M., May 26, 1850; William F., August 25, 1852; Louis I., April 25, 1854; Mary V., March 14, 1856; James A., De- cember 28, 1857; Dora A., June 6, 1859; Adelia E., January 21, 1863; Minnie V., July 1, 1866; Mahlon J., August 17, 1869; Daisy E., January 14, 1872.
These children are all living, and our subject and his wife who have reared this large family of sons and daughters who will rise up to call them blessed, are now the grandparents of thirty-one children. In their religious belief Mr. and Mrs. Griffith hold to the faith as taught by the Methodist Church. Politically, our sub- ject is a Democrat; he cast his first vote in Presidential election for James K. Polk.
C A. WALKER. a successful mer- chant at Missouri Valley, came to the place in July, 1874. He was born in Corinth, Orange County, Vt., April 24, 1841. He is the son of Newton and Mary (Wilson) Walker. The Walk- ers were of Scotch descent. The grand- mother's people were of English ancestry. The Wilsons were of Irish descent. Grandmother Wilson, whose maiden name was Tailor, was of Scotch descent. Her husband was a soldier, both in the Revo- lutionary and War of 1812, and drew a pension for such services several years before his death.
Our subject's father was always a farmer, and still lives midst the scenes of rural life. Upon this farm our subject was born and reared. The date of his father's birth was April 27, 1811, and though now a very old man, is quite ac-
tive. Our subject's mother died in 1858, and was buried at Corinth, Vt. They reared a family of six children -five daugh- ters and our subject. Four of the daugh- ters still survive-two living in California, one in Boston, and one in Somerville, Mass. Our subject's early education was received in the old Green Mountain State at the common schools, and when seven- teen years of age he left school to help his father on the farm. Two years later he went to Manchester, N. H., where he worked in a woolen mill for two years, and from there went to Lawrence, Mass., and there drove a bread-cart for three years. We next find him in Kingston, N. C., in 1865, where he acted as an overseer for a plantation for two years. He then re- turned to Manchester and clerked in a grocery store until he removed to Mis- souri Valley in 1874. His first work here was in the employ of Ellis & Avery, with whom he remained one year, at the end of which time he began business with Mr. Avery under the firm name of Avery & Co. Later on he formed a partnership with S. B. Shields, under the firm name of Shields & Walker, which partnership existed for four years, when he formed another partnership with Mr. Bradley. The firm of Walker & Bradley continued four years, when our subject bought Brad- ley out.
Politically, Mr. Walker is a Republican, and since his residence in Missouri Valley has served in the City Council three years. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and belongs to Valley Lodge, No. 232.
He was united in marriage New Year's day, 1868, at Manchester, N. H., to Miss Luvira Howard, a native of Vermont, whose parents were of old Puritan stock. She died April 10, 1889, and was buried
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in Rose Hill Cemetery, at Missouri Val- ley. July 16, 1890, our subject was mar- ried to Florence Moyer, a native of Illi- nois. . Her father is deceased and her mother lives in Omaha.
W ILLIAM H. BURKHOLDER, who came to Harrison County Febru- ary 7, 1862, and is now a resident of section 8, Douglas Township, was born July 29, 1840, in Knox County, Ohio.
His father, Isaac Burkholder, was born in Rockingham County, Va., and was mar- ried in the same county to Miss Sarah Ralston, and they were the parents of five children, our subject being the youngest. The father died in Richland County, Ill., and the mother in Knox County, Ohio.
William H., our subject, settled in Douglas Township in the spring of 1867, purchasing forty acres on section 16, in the spring of 1866. Upon this tract he built a house during the winter of 1866-67, having broken up his land in the summer of 1866. At this time his wife was one of the first school teachers in the township, and here they remained until 1882, when he sold out and purchased his present farm.
Upon arriving in Harrison County our subject worked for L. D. Butler in his sawmill near the present site of Wood- bine, and later for J. H. Farnsworth, where he staid until the fall of 1862, and then went to Washington County, Iowa, where he remained until the spring of 1863, then returned to Harrison County, renting a farm in Douglas Township. In the summer of 1864 he worked a part of James Farnsworth's farm, and in Novem- ber, 1864, he enlisted as a member of
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