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 40
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Politically our subject believes in the principles as administered by the Repub- lican party. During all of the years of his residence in Harrison County he has borne the respect of his neighbors and worked for the general upbuilding and de-
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velopment of his county and township. And by industry and a study of agricul- ture he has built for himself and family a comfortable home, and like most of the early settlers who have been frugal and painstaking, is surrounded by the comforts of a pleasant life.
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HOMAS V. COWAN came to Har- rison County in November, 1877, and settled on his present farm, which is situated on section 25, of Jeffer- son Township, having purchased the place the autumn previous. Of his earlier life it should be stated that he was born in Washington County, Pa., May 28, 1821, the son of George and Jane (Conn) Cowan, and is the third child of a family composed of thirteen children, of whom ten are liv- ing. The father died in Hancock County, W. Va., in September, 1860, having lived there since 1841 with his family.
When our subject was fourteen years of age his father moved to Ohio and engaged at work in a woolen factory, as did our subject, who labored in that capacity at Steubenville for eight years. In 1841 the father went to Virginia, but our subject remained at Steubenville until 1843, at which time he went to Pennsylvania. In 1856 he came to Poweshiek County, Iowa, and engaged at wagon-making at Browns- ville, and there remained for about fifteen years, when he engaged at farming until coming to Harrison County.
Perhaps the most important event in this man's life occurred June 17, 1845, at which time he married Hannah Jane Matchet, a native of Washington County, Pa., born March 1, 1823. She is the
eighth child in a family of eleven children. Mr. and Mrs. Cowan are the parents of ten children : Joseph M., Mary A., George M., John J., Edward G., Jennie M., Charles R., Sadie E., Frank L. and Willie.
Our subject embarked in life for himself at the age of twenty, having spent some time in a factory and at the harness- maker's trade, which he did not complete, however, but after he was of age he learned the wagon-maker's trade in Northern Pennsylvania. All of the worldly goods possessed by our subject have been won by hard work, perseverance and economy, and as a reward for his labors, he is now comfortably situated in the midst of pleas- ant home surroundings. Politically he votes independent.
E LMER E. SCHRIVER, a represen- tative farmer of Union Township, and a resident of section 36, came to this county March 4, 1884, and commenced working land for his father, as he had not yet reached his majority. He planted and cultivated eighty acres of corn, and worked two years in this way, batching it, after which he rented land on shares. Subsequently his father bought the farm on which Elmer E. now lives, paying $27 per acre for the same. His fa- ther paid $12,000 on the land, and made a present of the same to his son. There were sixty acres in this farm, which was under cultivation, with a fair house and orchard on the place. Among the improvements which our subject has put upon the place, may be mentioned the building of a barn 24x26 feet, with outbuildings and a well
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24 feet deep, and a new fence around the farm.
Our subject was born in Nobles County, Ohio, May 27, 1864, and is the son of Will- iam and Martha Schriver, who had a fam- ily of six children, as follows : Andrew J., Elmer E., Jennie, Susan M., Elizabeth and Mary. The father and mother were na- tives of the Buckeye State. Elmer E. re- mained at home until coming to Iowa. Subsequent to his coming West, however, his parents removed to Benton County, Iowa.
Mr. Schriver was married, March 5, 1889, to Effie V. Norman, daughter of James and Rebecca Norman, who was the fourth child in her father's family. Mr. and Mrs. Schriver are the parents of two children : William J. born July 25, 1890; and Noah, born October 22, 1891.
ETER CHARLES KEMMISH, a farmer residing in Union Township came to the county in March, 1870, and located at Reeder's Mills, com- monly called "Hard Scratch," where he followed the wheelwright's trade for three years, at the end of which time he moved to the site of his present home, which he purchased in 1870. His first tract con- sisted of eighty acres, but he now owns three hundred and twenty acres, all of which is surrounded by a hog-tight fence. His first residence was built of mostly na- tive timber, and was 14 x16 feet. This was built in the spring of 1872, and several ad- ditions have been made, until he now has a house the upright of which is two sto- ries high 17 x36 feet with an addition 16 x 24 feet.
Our subject was born in Portsmouth,
England, February 8, 1844. He is the son of Charles and Elizabeth (Wilkie) Kemmish. The father was a native of England as was also the mother. The family cam to America in the winter of 1853, and landed at New Orleans, from which point they came by boat to Keokuk, Iowa, and from there they emigrated with ox-teams to Salt Lake, Utah, where they remained three years, then removed ninety miles South, where they stopped until the spring of 1859. They then started overland by ox- teams for the states, making believe they were going to settle at Pravo, and when they got there said they were going to another place, and so on until they made good their escape. They came by the way of St. Joseph to Fremont County, Iowa, where they remained three years and moved to Pacific City, in Mills County, and in 1862, to a point about five miles east of Council Bluffs, where they halted one year, then moved into Council Bluffs, where they operated the " Farmers Inn " until three months before coming to Harrison county.
Our subject started for himself in the autumn of 1864, when he began working by the day, following this for six months, in Council Bluffs, after which he spent two and a half years in learning the wag- on-maker's trade, receiving $7.50 per week for the first six months. After hav- ing mastered his trade he started a shop of his own at Tabor, Fremont County, which he ran for three years, afterward removing to Reeder's Mills as above re- lated.
He was married near Council Bluffs, November 20, 1864, to Susan Lidgett, a native of England, born June 14, 1846, the daughter of Nathan and Mary Ann (Cros- ley) Lidgett, and is the eighth child of a family of nine children. Her people came
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to America in 1850, and died in Mills County, Iowa. The home of our subject and wife has been blessed by the advent of seven children, all of whom are living, except one who died in infancy. The children's names are as follows: Charles W., Annie M., James F., Nathan A., Cur- tis O., George B. and Sadie G.
Upon leaving home our subject had the sum of $40 in money, and when he was married had a very limited amount of household furniture and also $5 in cash. He has always been a hard working honorable man and reasonably prosperous. Both he and his wife are members of the Latter Day Saints church. Mr. Kemmish was the oldest son in his father's family, and his father being in ill health, followed basket-making for a livelihood. Thus many of the family cares devolved upon the oldest son and his mother. He and his father bought grain of the Mormons, near Salt Lake, and hauled it by night time, and sold it to the Government soldiers, making a profit of about $1 per bushel. They really had to smuggle the grain through as Brigham Young and his followers were not in full sym- pathy with the Government army. At this time our subject was a lad of but fourteen summers, hence it will be seen, that his has been a life of care, toil and hardship.
ARON D. HOYER, of section 8, Douglas Township, has been a resident of the county since May, 1878, when he bought a piece of wild land consisting of five hundred and sixty acres, of which he sold four hundred acres, first building a frame house 16x28
feet, with a basement and cellar the same size as the house. From year to year he has improved every opportunity of making a valuable home, which he now possesses. Our subject was born in Berks County, Pa., May 16, 1835. Like most of the boys reared in the old Keystone State, he remained under the paternal roof, assisted his parents in the country not free from stones and stumps, until he was twenty-eight years of age. He was a canal boatman during a greater portion of his young manhood, employed on the Schuylkill navigation.
Upon the same day which President Lincoln sent forth the Emancipation Proclamation (January 3, 1863), he was married to Miss Amelia F. Baumann, of Berks County, Pa., and of the city of Reading. They are the parents of six children, as follows: Frank M., Louis B., Ferdinand B., Ernest J., Bertha H. and Millie J., all of whom were born in Reading, Pa.
After Mr. Hoyer's marriage he was en - gaged in the hotel business, which he fol- lowed until he came to Harrison County, Iowa. His place of business was Reading, Pa. Prior to his marriage he was en- gaged in steamboating for a time, from Philadelphia to Georgetown, making three trips a week. During the spring of 1862 he made three trips from Philadelphia to Washington, D. C., his boat being loaded with gas coal, and the rebels had the Potomac River blockaded at two points, and the blockade had to be run to unload their cargo. After making these three trips the boat was chartered by the Gov- ernment, and he carried stores for the army, coming back to Reading in the fall of 1863.
Mrs. Hoyer was born in the State of Baden, Germany, September 17, 1845, and
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emigrated with her parents to Reading, Pa., where she grew to womanhood.
Our subject is a member of the Masonic order, belonging to Charter Oak Lodge No. 401, at Woodbine, Iowa.
AMES H. FARNSWORTH was one of the few pioneers who ventured to the then wild wilderness of Har- rison County (to which the tribes of savage Indians had just bid a last fare- well), to become a settler, in the spring of 1852, locating in what is now Boyer Township, on section 25. He accompanied his father, Samuel Farnsworth. Both he and his father bought claims which had been "squatted " upon a year or two prior by the Mormons. They entered the land as soon as it came into the market.
The claims just referred to were in Twelve-Mile Grove. Here they erected log houses, provided with hewn floors. They cleared and broke about eight acres during the summer of 1852, and our sub- ject thinks Mr. Matthew Hall was the first man that did any improvement in the way of breaking.
Our subject built his first house on sec- tion 18, in Douglas Township. It was about 15x15 feet, and in this he lived from 1857 to 1861, when he built another house on the same land. This was a frame structure 16x24 feet, which was not really all completed until 1867.
Mr. Farnsworth left his family on the farm in the spring of 1863, and with a train of ox-teams went across the plains, visiting Denver, Central City, and Em- pire, the highest mining point, which is about one hundred miles from Denver.
Here they left their ox-teams, having sold their goods at the then small town of Denver, and with a pack train went over the range to Green, and from there to Southern California. They then went back through South Park to Colorado Springs, where the city of Leadville is now situated. They prospected for gold for about three months, and returned to Denver, where they found good prospects, but on account of the Indian excitement did not remain. With two others our subject bought four ponies and a light spring wagon, provided with a cover, and started for home. They made the trip from Denver to Omaha in thirteen and one half days. This was a dangerous country to travel through, on account of the Indians, but they reached home in the autumn of 1863 in safety.
To go back to our subject's origin and early career, it may be stated that he was born April 19, 1834, in Marion County, Ohio. About 1850 his father emigrated to Piatt County, Ill., where they remained until the time of coming to Harrison County, in 1852.
Our subject was married to Miss Olive Haworth, of Harrison County, by which union there have been born nine children; James E., Mary E., Samuel A. (deceased), Sarah M. (deceased), Owen G., Erminie M., Viola B., Charles V., Herbert A.
The father of our subject, Samuel Farnsworth, was born in Virginia in about 1805, and was married in the same State to Miss Elenor Smith. They removed to Ohio, remained until 1850, and then came to this county, where the husband died June 21, 1857, his wife following him to the better world in December, 1860.
Our subject's wife was born in Athens County, Ohio, November 5, 1837, and she was bereft of her mother when but a small
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child. Her father came to Harrison County in the spring of 1852, locating in what is now Douglas Township. He im- proved a farm on section 30, and Olive lived with him until she was married. Her father was born in Belfast, England, May 28, 1803, and came to America when a young man, spending some years in New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. He finally settled in Athens County, Ohio, where he remained until he came to Har- rison County, Iowa. He died in Douglas Township December 4, 1883.
Politically, Mr. Farnsworth believes in the Democratic party.
He is a man of pleasing address, and thoroughly conversant with the great and ever-changing West, whose trackless prairies and mountain steeps his eyes gazed upon nearly two decades before the shrill whistle of the locomotive had been heard west of the Missouri River.
AMES H. NORMAN, of section 35, of Union Township, has been a res- ident of Harrison County since March 18, 1871, when he rented a piece of land near Logan, where he re- mained for two years, and then bought sixty acres of railroad land, for which he paid $7 per acre. It was wild prairie, and he at once broke forty acres of it, and built a story and a half house 16x24 feet, and enclosed the whole sixty-acre tract with a wire fence; also set out an orchard, erected stables and outbuildings, and farmed the place for two years. One sea- son he sowed thirty-five acres of wheat, and did not reap a single bushel, all being destroyed by grasshoppers. This was a
great calamity to Mr. Norman, as he had to sell his place and again become a renter of other men's land, which he continued for seven years. He then bought wild land, which he improved, and upon which he now lives. The same being a well- improved farm, provided with a one-story house 22x32 feet. Adjacent to the house may be seen a fine bearing apple orchard of one hundred and twenty-five trees, with a great abundance of small fruit, all giv- ing the place the appearance of an orderly, well-kept home.
Our subject hails from the Buckeye State, and was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, June 24, 1827, and lived there until he was thirteen years old, then with his brother went to Carroll County, Ind., remained there a short time, and then went to Southern Indiana, working at whatever he could get to do so long as it was honorable.
After a seven-years' residence in Indiana he went back to Ohio and worked until 1851, and in 1852 came back to Carroll County, Ind., again, where he remained until the spring of 1854, and then came to Adams County, Iowa, remained a week, and went to Illinois, where he worked by the month. He then engaged at farming and fishing with a seine, which business he followed for fourteen years, and then came to Harrison County, as above related.
Our subject was married during the month of November, 1851, to Jamima Dean, daughter of Elijah and Nancy Dean, natives of Ohio. By this marriage one child was born, and two years after the marriage the wife died. Our subject was again married August 31, 1856, to Rebecca Williams, daughter of John and Sarah Williams, the former a native of Kentucky, and the latter of Pennsylvania.
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They had a family of eight children, of whom our subject's wife was the youngest, Benjamin Squire, Sarah J., John and Re- becca, and three deceased. The names of our subject's children are: Sarah E., Anna Eliza (deceased), Lillie J. (de- ceased), George and Effie. Clarence Tucker, a grandchild of our subject, came to live with them in 1891.
Politically, Mr. Norman is a supporter of the Republican party, and in religious matters a Methodist Episcopal.
0 LIVER H. P. COPELAND, was born in Indiana, in October 1850, and accompanied his father, Wickliffe B., to Harrison County in 1852. He was married in October 1873 to Emma Dove, and they are the parents of one child- Myrtle, whose mother died in September 1879. In December 1887 Mr. Copeland married Delila Lewis, by whom one child was born-Mabel. Oliver P., resides on the same farm with his father and attends to the carrying on of the old homestead.
V. S. Copeland, second son of W. B. Copeland was born in Putnam County, Ind., February 23, 1850, and accom- panied his parents to Harrison County in 1852. In 1870, in company with his brother, F. J. Copeland, he purchased a farm in Union Township. February 4, 1879, he was married to Lillie V. Brownell, daughter of Charles Brownell, of Rock- ford, Ill. By this union three child- ren were born: Ida May, Charles W., and Jane. In 1882 he sold his farm and engaged in the furniture business at Logan. In 1884 the building and entire stock of goods were burned. He then erected the
building now occupied by the Observer office, and resumed the furniture trade, which he closed out in 1887 and moved to a farm in Delaware County, Iowa, and is now farming in Beadle County, S. Dak.
Catherine S. Copeland, only living daughter of W. B. Copeland, was born in Harrison County, Iowa, September 18, 1853. She attended the Logan schools, taught school about a year and in 1878 married A. J. Davidson, a printer by trade and has since then followed the meanderings of her husband's travels over most of the Western States.
James H. Copeland, fourth son of W. B. Copeland, was born in Harrison County, Iowa, December 31, 1857. He attended the Logan public schools, until sixteen years of age, when he clerked in the store of P. J. Rudesill, for four years. He then followed teaching for two years, after which he went to San Francisco, Cal., remained one year and then married Alice Williams. After returning from California he worked as car accountant in the Chicago & Northwestern railway offices at Missouri Valley. Heresigned that position and moved to a farm near Chadron, Neb., where he lias since resided. Mr. and Mrs. Copeland are the parents of two children-Belle and Earl P.
LAVIOUS JOSEPHUS COPE- LAND, a resident of Logan, Iowa, came with his parents to Harrison County, Iowa, in 1852.
He was born in Putnam County, Ind., October, 24, 1847, passing his early years at home with his parents attending the district school and assisting his father
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until 1864, when he left his father's home. He taught one term of school after which he attended the Western College at Glenwood, Iowa, now known as Glenwood Seminary, one year, and then attended a select school one year, and began teaching ; he followed this, summer and winter, until 1876, when he had taught twenty-three terms. He was married July 1, 1874, to Ida S. Stephens, a native of New York, born 1853.
Mr. and Mrs. Copeland are the parents of eight children as follows: Ada B., Jennie L., Tennie A., Nellie L., Grace G., Frank B., Tillie Pearl, and Josephine S., all born in Harrison County, Iowa.
Politically, Mr. Copeland is a member of the Republican party and in religious matters is a Methodist.
LEXANDER J. PITTS, a farmer, whose well-tilled lands may be found on section 11, Douglas Township, has been a resident of Harrison County two decades, coming as he did in the spring of 1871, and purchasing two hundred and forty acres of wild land, which had never felt the keen edge of the plow- share until his coming and laying bare its virgin sod. The first year he built a small frame house in which he lived that sum- mer, and then constructed a barn which he used for residence purposes for two years, at the end of which time he built the house in which he now lives, the same being 30x34 feet on the ground, by fourteen feet in height. His present farm contains a half section of land, provided with a good well-cared for tenant house.
When he first came to the county there
were but two houses between his place and Dunlap, one of these being a "dug-out." There were thirty-two votes cast in Doug .. las Township at the fall election after he came. Our subject was born in that ban- ner county of the Empire State-Orange County, N. Y., June 3, 1819, which makes him seventy-two years of age at this writ- ing. He was left an orphan, both parents dying by the time he was eleven years old, and from this time on he knew what it was to battle in life, unaided or cheered by the council of a kind father and a loving mother. He worked on a farm for his board and clothes for five years, for the privilege of going to school a few weeks each winter. Becoming convinced at the end of that period that life had more in store for him than simply the servitude of a slave, and believing in the theory that a skilled mechanic could always command better wages than a day laborer, he learned the blacksmith's trade. The first year he received $20, out of which he had to clothe himself. They required him to remain five years in order to learn the trade which is three times the present apprenticeship for such a trade. He was paid the follow- ing sums, including his board, for the re- spective years, $20, $30, $40, $80, and the fifth year, $200. He has followed black- smithing nearly all of his life and operated a shop on his farm in Douglas Township up to 1881.
During the war he was engaged at ship- building in New York, for which he re- ceived large pay, the same placing him in independent circumstances. After the close of the war he returned to his old home in Orange County and purchased a sixty-acre farm, which after seven years, he sold, doubling his money. The cattle with which the farm was stocked, brought as high as $100 per head. After the dis-
SAMUEL WOOD
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position of this property he came to Iowa.
Miss Esther Garven, of Orange County, N. Y., became his wife August 26, 1840. They are the parents of eleven children : James G., Stevenson, Clement D., Eli W., Sarah G., Francis A., Rosa L., George C., Emeline D., Charles V. W., and Eugene. Stevenson, Francis, Rosa, George, and Clement are deceased.
Esther (Garven) Pitts, wife of our sub- ject, is a native of Ireland, born April 15, 1822. When twelve years of age, in com- pany with her mother, she came to Orange County, N. Y., where she remained until the time of her marriage.
To return to more personal matters con- cerning the subject of our sketch, it should be stated that politically he is a Republi- can, and voted for William Henry Harri- son, as well as for all the Republican Presidents, including the grandson of "Old Tippecanoe," Benjamin Harrison, now President of the United States.
Mr. and Mrs. Pitts are both members in good standing and zealous workers in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Eli W., fourth son of our subject, en- listed in Company D, Sixty-ninth New York Infantry in 1861, and was shot in the left leg, causing the same to be amputated above the knee. In consequence of which he was in the hospital at Baltimore for one year and then returned to New York, and from there accompanied his parents to Iowa. He met with a railroad accident which caused the amputation of his other leg, which terminated in his death at the Soldiers' Home, at Dayton, Ohio. Eddy, grandson of our subject, a bright boy of thirteen summers, born in December, 1878, and a son of Eugene Pitts, lives with his grandfather,
In conversation with this man now liv- ing on borrowed time (having passed his
three-score years and ten) and listening to him while he recounts the events of his checkered life, fraught with so many vicis- situdes, disappointments and joys, and learning of the sacrifice he and his good wife were called upon to make, in sending forth their son to do battle in defense of our country, we cannot but feel that his pathway has not always been by the side of still waters and yet he has met life with all of its changing scenes only as a true manhood can.
S AMUEL WOOD), one of the earli- est pioneers of Harrison County, settled on section 23, of Union Township, November 12, 1850, and has made that location his home ever since. When he came to the county he had a wife and five children, for whom he sought out a home in this goodly por- tion of Western Iowa. He came to the country without means, having but five head of cattle, a two-year old colt and $5 in money, but now is in possession of a farm comprising two hundred and ninety- seven acres. all of which is paid for, and in his own language, "Thank God I owe no man." Upon his arrival he built a log cabin 14x17 feet, near the site of his beautiful farm residence. The cabin home was floored with puncheon, which he cut from native timber. It will be remem- bered that this was three years prior to the organization of the county, and there was not a town or village within Harrison County and Kanesville, (now Council Bluffs) was their nearest market place, and that was a mere hamlet of log houses.
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