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 41
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In those days it required twenty-five
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cents to get a letter out of the post-office, and (unless within Iowa, where the post- age was fifteen cents) it bore the invari- able mark, "Due twenty-five cent-," as this was before the present fine postal system.
In relating his early hardships, Mr. Wood states that he gathered sod corn, growing over in the Missouri, for one- tenth of the crop, in order to procure seed corn to plant his first crop with. This seed was planted upon eight acres and in the harvest time he was rejoiced at the gathering in of fifty bushels per acre.
Concerning our subject's birthplace and ancestry, it may be stated that he traces his lineage back to Jonathan Wood, who was born in England December 14, 1724. His son, Samuel, was born June 30, 1767. His wife was Betsy Wood and they reared a family of nine children, of whom Henry was the second child. He was born Aug- ust 9, 1790, in Connecticut and was a car- penter by trade. He died in Portage County, Ohio, October 14, 1882. He mar- ried Esther Cranmer, at the close of the War of 1812 in which strife he was a sol- dier. Their family consisted of four sons and five daughters, of whom our subject and one sister now living, were a part. Samuel Wood, of whom we now write was born May 23, 1816, and at the age of twenty-one years set forth for himself. His first work after leaving home wasthat of clerking in a general store at Kings- town, Mo., which was then looked upon as the "far west," and to which place his par- ents had removed in 1836. After a year's engagement in that position, he com- menced teaching school in Caldwell County. He taught one term, wlien the Mormon trouble began, and the family re- turned to Adams County, Ill., but in 1840 our subject left that State and came to
Lee County, Iowa, arriving May 1. He here engaged in farming and teaching school. He remained in that county un- til 1846, when he went to Kanesville, with two yoke of cattle-one yoke of oxen and one of cows. He was in company with his wife's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Merrill, who located near what is now Hazel Dell Church, where he farmed six acres, upon which he raised corn, for which he re- ceived $2.50 per bushel. The same year he found a stalk of corn so high he could not reach the top-most ear, so he climbed the stalk and while astride the big ear, he gave a loud crow, saying "hurrah!" He taught two terms of school at that point, but his chief work was in a wagon shop, which trade he had picked up himself.
In the spring of 1848 his house and nearly all the furniture therein was burned, whichi necessitated hini to raise a new log house. He remained in that vicinity un- til November, 1850, when he came to this county as above related.
Mr. Wood was united in marriage in Caldwell County, Mo., in the spring of 1838, to Mary Merrill, daughter of Thomas and Susan Merrill. By this union eleven children were born, eight of whom still survive. The hand of affliction was laid upon Mr. Wood April 11, 1865, upon which day liis wife died. And for his sec- ond wife he married Nancy A. E. Cope- land, who also died, and June 30, 1873, he married Mrs. Jane (Follette) Gunneth, who was first married March 28, 1858, and had ten children, of whom three are still living. Her father was a farmer and a native of New York, but came to Ohio in 1835, and to Indiana in 1843. By her marriage to Mr. Wood one son, Charley, was born, in 1872, and died in 1882.
In 1852 Mr. Wood came to Council Bluffs, where he died January 12, 1889.
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The mother died at the same place De- cember 13, 1882. They roared a family of thirteen children, Mrs. Wood being the second child. She was born January 25, 1836, in Ohio, and her father was formerly a Mormon, but died a Spiritualist. The mother, formerly a member of the Latter Day Saints Church, also died a Spiritulist. Mr. Wood's father-in-law, Thomas Mer- rill, was buried near Council Bluffs, and in the absence of a better casket, his coffin was a walnut log, shaped like a coffin, and dug out in the center, with a board hewed for the top and fastened with wooden pins. Mr. Wood's present wife and her former husband, John Gunneth, went to Salt Lake in 1864, and returned in October, 1866.
The first school in Union Township was taught in Mr. Wood's first log cabin in 1858, by Mrs. H. S. Smith, who taught about twelve children. It may be stated however, that Mr. Wood's children were chiefly taught at home, he being a teacher himself, having gained his knowledge by his own exertion, except what he gathered from some of the primitive schools, he having attended for the first time in Northfield, Portage County, Ohio.
The first store at Unionburg was built by William Brown, in a building upon Mr. Wood's land, but subsequently this prop- erty became Mr. Wood's who operated the store and post-office about two years, and then closed.
A dance hall was built one year after the store building and is still used for pub- lic gatherings.
Politically, Mr. Wood votes for the man he thinks best qualified. He and his former wife were members of the Lat- ter Day Saints Church. Mr. Wood be- ing among the pioneers of the county, and one who is eminently qualified, takes much
interest in, and is usually a speaker at Old Settler's reunion meetings. Great indeed has been the change in customs, society and general civilization, since this man first pushed his way into this portion of the West. Coming as he did six years prior to the building of a single mile of rail- road west of the Mississippi River, and more than a decade before the Civil War. The early hardships and privations co-in- cident with those earlier years, are things of the past, and cannot be reinstated by the present or future generations, even as the Red Man is fast becoming extinct, and the prairie grass, which at that time waved in an emerald sea, is becoming scarce, and will only be known in the fu- ture by the pages in history ; so it will be with the pioneer hardships, which our sub- ject passed through, will be recounted by his children and his children's children. The same as we look back to-day upon all that the Puritan Fathers passed through on the rock bound coast of New England.
In 1846-47, Mr. Wood in company with three other men herded cattle in the rushes in Harrison County, and when on his way across the prairie one time, he com- posed a song which was sung in Europe and this country, relative to the Mormon people. In 1863 his brother Martin, made him a visit and prevailed upon him to ac- company him to Ohio. Our subject was at that time teaching school, which he turned over to his son and started for Marshalltown, the nearest railroad point. Up to this time he had never seen the cars nor heard a whistle. So he told his brother if he liked the looks of things when he got to the railroad he would go; being satisfied with the ap- pearance of things he concluded to try it. The first station they came to when the whistle blew, he jumped up excitedly and
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wanted to know what the matter was, and why the noise. Being informed that a station was at hand, lie wanted to know what a station was, which created much laughter on the train. He bought the first cook stove and the first kerosene lamp he ever saw.
In 1838 he was at the massacre at Hahn's Mills, where the Mormons were massacred and seventeen werethrown into a well and covered up, he narrowly escap- ing with his life. The occasion of his coming West in 1846, was the disturbance at Nauvoo, Ill.
Thus it will be seen, his has been a life of wonderful historic events and the name of "Uncle Sammy Wood" will be remem- bered and referred tolong after he has de- parted from the scenes of this life.
AMES COLLINS, whose pleasant farm home is situated within a beau- tiful grove on the northeast quarter of section 18, in Douglas Township, was a pioneer of 1856, at which time he entered the land he now lives upon, where he entered one hundred and sixty acres, and erected a frame house 18x20 feet, in which he lived for ten years, at which time he built his present residence. He has added to his farm until he now possesses two hundred and forty acres of valuable land. When he came to the township there were but four families who lived at Twelve-Mile Grove. The first schoolhouse in the township was erected at Twelve-Mile Grove, soon after our sub- ject effected his settlement. It goes with- out saying, that those were days of hard- ship, and the word, "pioneer" stood for
much more than romance or poetry. If only twenty-five cents worth of any given article of household supplies was needed, a trip had to be made to Council Bluffs, which consumed three days' time.
To acquaint the reader with the early years of our subject, it may be stated he was born at Union, Monroe County, W. Va. November 23, 1827, where he lived with his parents until he was twenty-eight years of age. His father was a mason by trade, and taught James the same trade, which he followed until coming to Harri- son County. He left the old "Pan Han- dle" State at Charleston, coming via Cin- cinnati, St. Louis, and thence to Council Bluffs. At the latter place the accommo- dations were so poor for his wife and fam- ily, that he could not remain, consequently engaged a man to take them into the country, starting in a north-easterly di- rection and wlien twenty-five miles out they chanced to meet one Jolin Rogers, an old friend from Virginia, where the family remained a few days, while our sub- ject made a land exploring trip. At this time a law was passed giving all Mexican soldiers a bounty, payable in land war- rants, and Mr. Collins purchased one hun- dred and sixty acres in this way, paying fifty cents per acre. The first summer he came he lived with a family by the name of Hooks, on L. D. Butler's place, which place he farmed, at the same time build- ing a house on his own place.
Mr. Collins was married in Monroe County, W. Va., August 10, 1848, to Cath- erine Rogers, by which union three chil- dren have been born, John, Mary and Sarah. Mrs. Collins, the mother of these children, died in Douglas Township March 17, 1866, and our subject married for his second companion Nancy Lacy, February 5, 1867, in Lincoln County, Va. By this
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union four children have been born- Rose, Catherine, Ellen and Thomas.
Politically Mr. Collins affiliated with the Democratic party. He was the first Justice of the Peace in Douglas Town- ship, which office he still holds, having held the same almost continuously since his first election. Before him has been tried a number of important cases, some of which have been carried to higher courts, where they have been universally sustained.
In his religious belief he is in sympathy with the Roman Catholic Church.
CHILLE CHEVALIER, one of the representative farmers of Harrison Township, was born in the town of Mowtier Ge Vall, Can- ton of Berne, Switzerland, June 7, 1843. He is the son of Charley H. and Susanna (Werthmuller) Chevalier, both of whom died in the old country. The father was a farmer and they were the parents of
eight children, four of whom are living- Charley H., a resident of Waterloo, Iowa; Julia, deceased; Florian, deceased; Caro- line, a resident of Switzerland; Alfred, died in Tacoma, Wash .; Zeline, a resident of Switzerland; Constant; de- ceased ; Achille, our subject.
Achille, the youngest child was reared midst the romantic scenes of rural life, in that most beautiful of all lands, Switzer- land. He was educated at the public schools, and remained at home until he was twenty-three years of age when his father died, after which he came to America and located in Waterloo, Iowa, where he engaged with the Illinois Cen-
tral railroad company, as machinist, and remained with them about twelve years, after which he came to Harrison County, and on account of his health, located on a farm. He arrived in this county in 1878, and he located on land he had purchased in 1873, the same being on sections 24 and 25, of Harrison Township, and comprises two hundred and forty acres, which at the time he purchased was wild prairie land, with no improvements whatever, upon it, but under the touch of his good manage- ment has come to be among the finest farms in that locality. He devotes him- self exclusively to general farming and stock raising. It may be said in the true sense of the word, that our subject is a self-made man, beginning alone, and unaided by wealthy relatives, he has worked his way high up the scale, and his success is beautifully demonstrated by his charming home, with all of its pretty surroundings. His life is indeed a be- fitting example of what a man coming from a foreign shore may accomplish in this country, providing he is possessed of push and good business qualifications.
Mr. Chevalier was united in marriage August 21, 1870, to Miss Sarah Heyer, who was born in Du Page County, Ill., November 14, 1854. She is the daughter of Jacob and Caroline (Armbruster) Heyer, natives of Germany, but now residents of Waterloo, Iowa. They reared a family of five children-Sarah, the wife of our subject, being the oldest; Henry, a resi- dent of Waterloo, Iowa; Susan, wife of Fred Dahl, of Waterloo, Iowa; John, of the same place; Mary, wife of Lall Van Vleck, a conductor on the Illinois Central railroad.
Our subject and his wife are the parents of four children-Joseph, Oscar, Susie, and Albert, all living at home.
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Politically, Mr. Chevalier is non-parti- san, casting his ballot for the man he thinks best qualified for the position. He has served his school district as member of the School Board, but does not aspire to office.
RA CARMAN, of section 34, Union Township, who came to Harrison County during the month of March, 1883, bought the farm he now occupies, which then consisted of eighty acres of wild land. He at once set about to build for himself a home, his first work toward improvement being tlie erection of a house, eighteen feet square, one story and a half high, together with stables and outbuild- ings. At present the place is well im- proved and is provided with a good or- chard, with seventy-five apple and a quan- tity of plum and cherry trees and small fruits. His land is all under cultivation, and is provided with three wells of living water, at various places on the place, which is made beautiful by a large num- ber of shade trees. The owner came to the county, to use his own language, "worse off than nothing," but is now sur- rounded with a comfortable, valuable home. Mr. Carman was born in Kalama- zoo County, Mich., April 21, 1847, and is the son of William P. and Lydia P. Car- man, who reared a family of eleven chil- dren, of whom our subject is the fourth. The family came in the following order- Cordelia, Ervin. Edwin, deceased, Ira, Byron, deceased, Andrew, Milo, Rosella, Jasen, Elvira and Clara. Andrew has not been heard of by the family for fifteen years, and it is not certain whether he is
living or not. The father of our subject was a native of New York and the mother of Ohio.
January 30, 1870, Mr. Carman was united in marriage to Emaline Sherman, a daughter of John and Sarah Sherman, who were the parents of ten children, of whom our subject's wife was the fourth. The parents were both natives of Penn- sylvania, and the following is the order of their children-an infant, deceased, Mary A.,infant, deceased, Emaline, Eman- uel, Franklin P., Katherine J., David G., infant, deceased, and William E.
Our subject and his wife are the parents of eight children, who were born in the following order, William J., born May 2, 1871; Charles F., September 16, 1873; Maude M., May 24, 1874; Edith R., April 23, 1879; Nannie R., October 21, 1882; Orville I., September 27, 1883; Milo E., April 13, 1884; Lulu V., January 18, 1888.
Mr. and Mrs. Carman are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and politically he is identified with the People's party.
ULIUS S. McDONALD, one of the representative farmers of Taylor Township, residing on section 11, came to the county in September 1875, locating in Clay Township. He worked in a sawmill for six months and then worked on a farm by the month for three years, after which he rented land until 1887, when he bought one hundred and five acres of his present farm which was improved at the time he purchased it.
He was born in Clinton County, Ohio,
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March 15, 1854. He is the son of D. P. and Mary A. (Sharp) McDonald, both natives of Ohio. He came with his parents to Appanoose County, Iowa, in 1856, and there remained twelve years, when the family removed to Washington County, Iowa. He remained with his parents until 1873, the date of his coming to this county. He was married in Harrison County, November 16, 1879, to Miss Caroline M. Garner, daughter of Henry and Ann (Mahoney) Garner. They are the parents of three children -Pearly A., Ruby A., and Olive N.
Caroline M. Garner, wife of our subject, was born in Pottawattamie County, December 30, 1857, and in 1861, her parents came to Harrison County, effect- ing a settlement in Raglan Township. Mr. and Mrs. McDonald are both mem- bers of the Latter Day Saints Church, at Magnolia. He belongs to Magnolia Lodge, No. 126, of the Masonic order, and is also identified with the Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union.
S AMUEL S. BEEM, an enterpris- ing farmer, who now resides on sec- tion 35, of Union Township, lias been a resident of Harrison County since 1835. He came in the spring of that year, and paid cash rent for land in Union Township, for two years, giving a share the third year, at the end of which time he bought the land he now occupies. This farm consists of eighty acres, which was under cultivation, at the time he bought; and the price paid was $25 per acre.
Mr. Beem is a son of the "Hawkeye State" born in Madison County, Iowa,
June 1, 1861, which was the first year of the great Civil War, and his posterity can date their father's birth from that event in American history, should all family re- cords be destroyed. Our subject is the son of Michael and Margaret Beem, na- tives of Jackson County, Ind., who reared a family of eleven children, of whom our subject was the sixth child. The children were as follows-Erasmus N., Elizabeth A., William P., deceased; John L., Louis C., Samuel S., Jefferson L., Will- iam W., George P., Arnetta B. and Mar- garet E.
The parents with their entire family moved to Kansas, in the autumn of 1878.
Our subject remained at home until eighteen years of age, and then returned from Kansas to his native State (from which it is hard to wean a man) and com- menced working out by the month, on a farm. He worked for others for two years, and then rented land in Pottawattamie County, for three years, after which he came to Harrison County.
March 6, 1887, Mr. Beem took to him- self a wife, in the person of Annie M. Kemmish, daughter of Peter C. and Susan Kemmish, who had seven children, of whom our subject's wife was the second. The children were Charles W., Annie M., James F., Nathan A., Curtis O., George H., deceased and Sada B. The Kemmish family were natives of England.
Our subject and his wife are the parents of two children-Charles W., born May 15, 1888 and Marvin S., September 29, 1890.
Politically, our subject is identified with the People's party.
Mr. Beem is a self-made man, and now while surrounded with the comforts of home, with his intelligent family around him, he can relate to his children, how
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that when he left "Bleeding Kansas," he had but $2 in his pocket and was com- pelled to walk and beat his way on the railroad back to Iowa, arriving at Council Bluffs with twenty-five cents in his pocket.
AMES H. OLMSTEAD, a substan- tial farmer residing on section 19, Taylor Township, came to Harrison County, in the spring of 1872, and settled in Clay Township, where herented a farm until the autumn of 1873, then he bought eighty acres of land in Clay Town- ship, which he tilled for three years, then sold and rented in Cincinnati Township until the spring of 1881, at which date he removed to Butler County, Kan., bought a farm and remained until August of that year. He then sold and returned to Har- rison County, Iowa, and lived on a rented farm until the spring of 1887. At this date he went to No-Man's-Land, south of Kan- sas, but only remained two months, when he retraced his steps to Harrison County, again he rented land that year, and the following spring bought the farin he now occupies.
Mr. Olmstead was born in Wisconsin, August 16, 1849. He is the son of Joshua and Mary (Walker) Olmstead, the father being a native of Illinois, while the mother was born in Indiana. The father was a miller by trade. In 1850 our subject with his parents removed to Allamakee County, Iowa, and in 1856 to Dodge County, Minn. At that date Minnesota had not yet been admitted into the Union, and there were but three families living in Dodge County. They remained there until the spring of
1866, when they started over land for Cali- fornia, going by the way of the Neosha Valley, Kan., and being so captivated with that section of the West, our subject's fa- ther bought land in Lyons County, Kan., and died in Butler County, Kan., in 1875. Our subject remained .at home with his parents until twenty-one years of age, and then took a homestead in Butler County, Kan., remaining there until the spring of 1872, when he came to Harrison County, Iowa.
He was married in Lyons County, Kan., in 1869, to Miss Ellen Wilson, by whom two sons have been born, William and Robert. Ellen (Wilson) Olmstead, died in Butler County, Kan., and for his second wife our subject married Miss Ella M. Parker, the daughter of David and Emily (Stark) Parker. The date of our subject's marriage was August 17, 1874, they being united in Harrison County, Iowa. By this marriage six children have been born -Minnie M.,Harvey, Emma A. (deceased), Oran F., Herman L. and Erle A.
Ella M. (Parker) Olmstead, was born in Ohio, October 2, 1853. Her father was born in Canada, her mother in New York State. They removed to Harrison County, Iowa, in June 1863. Mr. and Mrs. Olmstead are members of the Christian Church, and politically he affiliates with the Repub- lican party.
C LARK C. COOPER came to Har- rison County in the spring of 1887, and rented the farm which he now owns, the same being in Union Township. He paid $1,350 for eighty acres, which was all broken and fenced. Among the
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improvements he has placed on the farm is a one-story house, 14x28 feet, a barn, 18x30 feet and fourteen feet high.
Our subject was born in Rock County, Wis., in 1858 and moved to Illinois, when a small boy. He remained with his par- ents until he was of age, and farmed land for his mother, in Illinois one year, and then came to Pottawattamie County, Iowa, where he farmed three years and then moved to Harrison County.
Our subject's father was Edward Cooper, and the mother, Jane (Dodge) Cooper, who reared a family of eight children, of whom our subject was the sixth. The family was as follows-Fannie, John, George, Charles, Eugene, Clark C., Frank and Minnie. The parents were natives of New York State.
Politically, Mr. Cooper is identified with the Republican party.
He has seen his share of hardships and .. adversity, but by being possessed of temperate habits, and practising self- denial, coupled with a goodly amount of industry, he has built for himself a good home. At the present time he is a single man.
LFRED LONGMAN SR., whose history is identical with that of Harrison County, coming here as he did in the month of May, 1853, will be mentioned in this connection, He was born in the County of Derby, Eng- land, December 21, 1821, where he grew to manhood and received his early education. His occupation was that of a farmer but for three years he worked at the brewing business in the town of Derby. He sailed for America, January 6, 1851, landing at
New Orleans, where he re-embarked for St. Joseph, Mo., remaining in that vicin- ity for about two years at general labor, and then came to Harrison County, ar- riving May 11, 1853, about which time he purchased a claim on section 11, town- ship 78, range 43, remained one year and sold to a man named Bates from Ohio, and then rented land now known as the Lo- gan Place, which he occupied for three years. During that time he bought the farm he now owns-the Valley Home Farm -which he sold in 1861, upon his going to California, where he remained three years, but on account of non-payment took the place back. Upon his return from California he rented the old place he had been on, and built upon his own, moving to it in 1866, and there remained until 1884, at which time he rented his farm and moved to Logan where he pur- chased a fine home. He has kept adding to his farm until it now comprises eight hundred and forty acres, and is beyond question, one of the best farms in Harri- son County. During the past year it has rented for $1,200 cash rent.
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