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 47
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HARRISON COUNTY.
It was propelled by the water of the Wil- low River. which was dammed where Elisha Mahoney now lives.
Judge Chatburn and Mr. Mahoney came to the county together, and were very much attachedto one another. They came here in the sum ner of 1351, and commenced to build the mill-dam, but did not get ready to grind until about 1853. After working all summer in 1851, their work was all lost, as the high water had taken out their dam. Being possessed of genuine pioneer grit they were not dis- mayed, but went to work at it again. These two gentleman "kept house" in their wagons, and saw very hard times, returning home in the fall shaking with the ague. They borrowed money to en- ter their lands, paying forty per cent. in- terest.
After a long and unusually eventful life, this grand old pioneer, Stephen Malioney, passed from the scenes and conflicts of this life to immortality, February 22, 1888.
Margaret, his first wife, was born in Maryland in 1811, and died in the same State, having been the mother of eleven children. Her death occurred in 1850. The children born by this wife were as follows: Rachel, April 23, 1832; Anna M., April 16, 1833; Harriet E., August 30, 1834; Theodore, February 29, 1836; James H., March 28, 1838; Stephen C., November 25, 1839; Jeremiah, November 5, 1841; William, October 8, 1843; Joseph S., October 20, 1815; Hannah E., No- vember 5, 1847; Lucinda M., September 17, 1849. .
Martha (Beaver) Mahoney was born April 11, 1828, in Barnsley, England, and in 1848 she came to Philadelphia, having been married in England to Mr. Beaver, by whom two children were born, both deceased,
Our subject belonged to the Reorganized Church for over twenty years, and had belonged to the Old Church before com- ing West, as had also his widow, she unit- ing a short time before leaving Phila- delphia for the West. She has belonged to the Reorganized branch for twenty- two years.
In sketching the career of a pioneer possessed with such sterling traits of char- acter, and one who indeed laid the corner- stone of Harrison County, in many ways, the writer is baffled to know what particu- lar line to mark out, in order to give a correct history of such a man's life; but, suffice it to say, his good works follow him, and he "builded far better than he knew."
OHN C. CALEY, dealer in boots and shoes at Missouri Valley, came to this county in 1866, and estab- lished a shoe shop at old St. Johns, but in December of the same year he moved to Missouri Valley and established the first restaurant in the place, in part - nership with John Henry, in which busi- ness he continued for two months, when he sold out and opened a harness shop, with John Casey, the same being the first shop of the kind in the place. This was early in 1867, and their place of business was where Skelton's blacksmith shop now stands. Our subject bought his partner out in 1878, and has continued in the shoe business ever since. In 1875 he removed to his present location on Erie Street, and now conducts a general boot and shoe business on quite an extensive scale.
Mr. Caley was born in Rochester, N.Y., November 25, 1843. The family origin-
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HARRISON COUNTY.
ated on the Isle of Man, near England, where the parents were born and united in marriage. They came to the United States in 1838. Our subject's parents were John and Esther (Christian) Caley. The father was a merchant. They had three children, our subject being the only one that grew to maturity. When he was quite small, his parents moved to Cleve- Jand, Ohio. The father is still engaged in the mercantile business in that place, and is now seventy-six years of age. The mother passed from the scenes of this life several years ago. Our sub- ject attended the schools of Cleveland, and worked in the store with his father. October 1, 1861, he enlisted in Company I, Twenty-ninth Ohio Infantry, and was assigned to the Army of the Potomac. He participated in the battles of Winchester, Port Republic, Cedar Mountain, second Bull Run; and was taken sick and dis- charged on account of disability, return- ing home in 1863, He went to Montana to regain his health, and was absent about two years, when he went home on a visit, and in 1866 embarked in business in old St. Johns.
Politically, he is identified with the Republican party, believing it, best serves the interests of the American people. He is a member of the Odd Fellows' Order, belonging to Lodge No. 170, at Missouri Valley.
G EORGE H. RATHBUN, who is engaged in the dairy business and the breeding of Holstein cattle in Boyer Townshfp, was born in Otsego County, N. Y., April 13, 1845, and has remained with his parents to the present time. He was married to Celia White,
in Delaware County, N. Y., October 10, 1866. His wife was a native of that county, born June 1, 1844, and remained with her parents until the date of her marriage.
In the autumn of 1860 our subject com- menced a three-year course at Franklin, Delaware County, N. Y., in the Delaware Literary Institute, but on account of ill-health was compelled to close after two and one-half years.
Mr. Rathbun, in company with his fa- ther, Henry H. Rathbun, owns one hun- dred and twenty and twenty acres of land on section 22, Boyer Township, which has come to be a finely improved and valuable tract of land. They also have forty acres of pasture land on sec- tion 15, and are doing a good dairy and stock business. Politically Mr. Rathbun votes with the Democratic party. He belongs to Lodge 259, A. O. U. W., at Woodbine, and in religious matters favors the Episcopalian Church.
b ENRY H. RATHBUN came to Harrison County in the fall of 1878, and settled at Woodbine, but in the spring of 1879 moved to a forty-acre farm on section 22, of Boyer Township, where he built a frame house, the upright of which was 16x32 feet, and two stories high, and with two additions 12x14 feet. He was born in Oswego County, N. Y., September 13, 1817, and remained there until 1836, and then emigrated to LaPorte County, Ind., where he remained three years and then returned to the Empire State and remained until he came to Har- rison County.
Our subject was married to Miss Mor- geanna Rathbun in Otsego County, N.Y.,
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in 1844. She was born April 13, 1825, and remained at home until the date of her marriage. By this union one child was born-George H., born April 13, 1845.
Mr. Rathbun is the son of Samuel and Beulah Rathbun. The father and mother were both natives of Connecticut and reared a family of eight children-four sons and four daughters, our subject being the youngest child. One son and two daughters are living-one daughter in Kansas and one in New York.
Our subject is a member of the Masonic fraternity and politically he votes with the Democratic party.
R ANSOM W. BEEBEE, ex-liveryman at Missouri Valley, has been a resi- dent of Harrison County for twenty years. In 1871 he located in La- Grange Township, where he engaged at farming, purchasing land in sections 24 and 26, of that township. He followed farm-life until 1888, and then entered the livery business at Missouri Valley. To in- form the reader more concerning his per- sonal and domestic relations, it may be said that he was born in Madison County, N. Y., April 28, 1835. He is a son of James L. and Alma C. (Williams) Beebee. The Beebee family was originally from Wales, but have been in New York State for many generations. The Williams fam- ily were from England. The father was a contractor, and helped construct the Erie Canal, and also assisted in enlarging the same. He was also extensively engaged in farming. The mother died in 1885, in La Grange Township, this county, and was buried at Council Bluffs. Our subject
was the fourth child of a family of nine sons and two daughters. Of this number five sons and one daughter are living. H. C. Beebee lives in Council Bluffs. Three live in La Grange Township; a sister, Mrs. Carrie Mosher, lives in Cayuga County, N. Y. The father came to Har- rison County in 1871, and carried on farming in La Grange Township until the spring of 1891, and then returned to the Empire State, where he now resides. He is. now eighty-two years of age, though quite active for one so old. He was again married in 1890, to Mary Warhouse.
Our subject's great-grandfathers were both in the Revolutionary War, and were men of much distinction in their day and generation.
Our subject was married in September, 1866, at Buffalo, N. Y., to Catherine My- ers, who was a native of Erie County, N. Y., born in Fairview Township. Her parents were farmers, and are both deceased. June 9, 1887, the Angel of Death visited the home of our subject in La Grange Township and claimed his wife while yet in the prime of her young wo- manhood. She was buried in the Logan Cemetery. She was an exemplary Chris- tian lady, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and beloved by all who knew her.
Mr. Beebee married for his second wife Annie O'Connor, in March, 1888. This lady is a native of Iowa, the daughter of Thomas and Marie O'Connor, farmers liv- ing in La Grange Township. By this union two children were born-Alma, born : August 27, 1889, and Annie, born Novem- ber, 1890.
Politically, Mr. Beebee had always been a Republican. He has served La Grange Township in various official capacities, having been member of the School Board there for fourteen years. He belongs to
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the Masonic fraternity, and is a member of Geneva Lodge, No. 421, at Geneva, N. Y. In a general way, it may be said that our subject obtained his educa- tion in the common schools of New York, and came to Harrison County May 12, 1871 ; and in the same day of the year, in 1887, he passed over the road to bury his wife. He was an American Express messenger for fifteen years, ten years of which he ran between Cleveland and Buf- falo. He relates how that, in one trip in 1864, he had charge of ten tons of specie.
AMES B. KELLEY, physician, surgeon and druggist at Modale, came to Harrison County in May, 1888, and located at Modale and commenced the practice of medicine. In December, 1888, he purchased Dr. Drew's drug business and has been thus engaged ever since. He was born in Perry County, Ohio, May 30, 1859. He is the son of Henry F. and Sophia (Strait) Kelley, both natives of the Buckeye State. He re- mained at home with his parents on the farm until he was nineteen years of age, when he went to teaching school, which he followed six years prior to coming to Iowa to locate; however, he had been to Polk County in the spring of 1882, as he attended lectures in Des Moines in the winters of 1882-83. He attended the State University at Iowa City, in the winter of 1883-84, and received his certi- ficate from the Iowa State Board of Phar- macy. He received his diploma from the State Board of Examiners at Des Moines, in the spring of 1886. He engaged in the drug business at St. Charles, Iowa, in 1884, and was also a practicing physician
until he came to Harrison County in the spring of 1888.
The Doctor was united in marriage in Polk County, Iowa, September 3, 1884, to Miss! Emma Booth, by which marriage union one child has been born-Callie L., November 16, 1885.
The Doctor and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He belongs to the Masonic order, having be- come a member at St. Charles, Iowa.
Emma (Booth) Kelley was born in Jasper County, Iowa, September 9, 1863. Her mother died when she was young and when she was fourteen years of age she went to live with her brother, Dr. W. H. Booth, at Altoona, Polk County, Iowa, where she remained until the date of her marriage. She is of a family of six chil- dren, two sisters and three brothers.
Our subject is one of a family of ten children, five sons and five daughters, he being the fourth child. He received his early education at the High School at New Lexington, Perry County, Ohio. In his political choice he is identified with the Republican party.
EBER WILLIAM CHAPMAN, a dry-goods merchant and a popular citizen of the Village of Persia, Harrison County, Iowa, will form the subject of this sketch. He was born in Wiltshire, England, July 7, 1854, and in the spring of 1861, his parents came to the United States and from the coast came direct to Florence, Neb., near Omaha, and from there went overland by team to Salt Lake City, Utah, and re- turned to Florence, Neb., in 1864, and in the spring of 1865 came to Harrison
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County and settled on the Pigeon, in Cass Township, where they rented a farm for two years and then bought forty acres of land in Jefferson Township, near Reed- er's Mills. The place was improved at the time they purchased it and they held it until 1870, when they sold and moved to Valley View in Union Township, where they bought a piece of wild land compris- ing two hundred acres, which they. im- proved. The Village of Persia was just started at this time (1882) and our sub- ject started in the general merchandising business at that point, his being the first dry-goods store of the place. He is still carrying on an extensive business.
He was married to Miss Frances M. Le- gan, of Vinton, Benton County, Iowa, November 14, 1875, and they are the par- ents of eight children-Maria, Robert, Elsie, Mabel, Emily, Edna, Willie and Elvin. Emily is deceased.
Mrs. Chapman was born in Franklin, Johnson County, Ind., and she and her husband, together with their two oldest children, are acceptable members of the Latter Day Saints Church. Mr. Chap- man is a member of the Masonic order, Lodge No. 490, at Persia. Politically, Mr. Chapman votes with the Democratic party.
ENRY B. COX, whose beautiful farm home, is situated just on the eastern borders of the city of Mis- souri Valley, came to Harrison County in 1854, hence may well be styled a pioneer. He was born in Putnam County, Ind., August 17, 1826. He is the son of Abraham and Lydia (Reel) Cox.
His father was born in Tennessee, and his mother in Virginia. They were married in Montgomery County, Ohio, and both passed from the scenes of this life at their home in Indiana. The mother died Sep- tember 24, 1842, and the father survived until December 16, 1849. They reared a family of nine children, of whom our subject was the seventh; all are living but two, and four are living in Harrison County, Iowa, while three reside in In- diana. They trace their ancestry back to Germany, both grandfathers speaking the German language, but were American born.
Our subject's father followed farming, and Henry B. received his early education in the Hoosier State in a subscription school, and he, like his fore-fathers, has chosen to be a tiller of the soil, always having followed agricultural pursuits. In 1851 our subject might have been seen peering from out a prairie schooner, wend- ing his way toward Pottawattamie County, Iowa, where he remained three years and ther removed to Harrison County, settling upon the farm he now resides upon in St. John's Township. Politically, Mr. Cox is a stanch supporter of the Republican party, and has been elected to numerous local offices since liis residence in the county, including Justice of the Peace and member of the Board of Supervisors, hav- ing been re-elected to both positions, and was also President of the Harrison County Agricultural Society for a number of years.
Our subject was united in marriage, March 30, 1851, to Caroline Reel, and one week after their marriage ceremony had been performed, these two young people possessing strong arms and loving hearts, started West beneath the folds of a cov- ered wagon. The years may come and go,
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HARRISON COUNTY.
and this pioneer may add to his landed possession, but happier and more hopeful years will never come to him than those of his early married life, when in the vigor of his young manhood, he traced his way over unbridged and angry streams, through unsettled States and counties, and like the Star of Empire, headed toward the setting sun. Not that all was one paradise, where thornless roses were ever in bloom, for there were seasons of distress. The mem- orable winter of 1856-57 with its mountain- like snow drifts, scarcity of food and gen- eral suffering, together with the dark days of the Civil War, and the subsequent plague years of flood and grasshoppers, which devastated parts of the Missouri Slope, all required the hardihood and courage that none but a genuine pioneer could well endure.
Mr. and Mrs. Cox were the parents of five children : John L., married and liv- ing at home, is a graduate of West Point, and served in the Regular army one year ; Annete is married to Edward Athey, and now lives in Jackson Township; Mary, wife of John A. George, a resident of Mis- souri Valley ; William Riley and Henry Hudson are at home.
Mrs. Caroline (Reel) Cox was the daugh- ter of Andrew and Nancy (Murphy) Reel, natives of Ohio, who died in Putnam County, Ind. For thirty-six years this noble woman, our subject's wife, walked by his side as his faithful companion, and reared a family, the members of which are an ornament to society, and do honor to her name. Finally the summons came, and all that was mortal of Mrs. Cox was deposited in Rosehill Cemetery, at Mis- souri Valley. The date of her death was October 14, 1887.
October24. 1888, our subject married the widow of William Reel, whose husband
died in Clay County, Ind. Her maiden name was Maggie Forney, the daughter of Joshua and Julia Ann (Rhodes) Forney. She is a native of Putnam County, Ind.
Mr. Cox has always been a hard work- ing and industrious man, and fortunately possesses a faculty for accumulating prop- erty, as is evinced by his present landed estate, which comprises fourteen hundred acres of Harrison County's productive soil. Six hundred acres of this is now under a high state of cultivation, while the balance is in timber and pasture land. His homestead, near the bustling little city of Missouri Valley, possesses many charming attractions, including the well- kept grounds and well-ordered surround- ings, showing him to be a man of method and taste. Indeed it is looked upon by the passer by, as among the most valuable homes in the valley.
It is not the object of this volume to laud and exalt one man's characteristics, achievements and possessions above an- other's, yet in this case the writer cannot refrain from paying a passing tribute to- ward the life-work of this, one of Harrison County's earliest pioneers, for in it there is a lesson to be learned by the readers, though it be in the coming generations, when the leaves of this volume shall have turned yellow with age; it is this: that the secret of this man's more than average successful life, is found in the fact of his having started out early in life with a de- termination to accomplish something by following the line of legitimate labor. Again he came from a long line of sturdy ancestors, his grandfather having served in the Revolutionary War, and his father in the War of 1812, and they doubtless transmitted many of the sterling qualities to our subject, for it will be remembered that genuine pioneers are born, not made,
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The cause of nine failures out of ten in the world, occursin vacillating and flying from one object to another, in the place of choos- ing a life-work, locating the field upon which life's battle is to be fought, and then "fighting it out on that line, " as Grant did his campaigns.
DDISON L. McINTOSH, a farmer of St. John's Township, came to Harrison County with his parents in 1856. He was born in Putnam County, Ind., December 25, 1840, and can trace his ancestry back to George McIntosh, a native of Kentucky, who moved to the Hoosier State at an early day, where his father, Moses B. McIntosh, went with the grandfather; they both working in a mill. Our subject's father married Elizabeth Marksbury, of Ken- tucky, the daughter of Richard and Margaret (Hoffman) Marksbury, and con- tinued to operate a flour mill for many years in Indiana. In 1856, sold and came to Iowa, at which time our subject was but fifteen years of age. He had attended the common schools. of Indiana, but upon coming to this country no school privil- eges, were to be had at that early day. In the winter of 1856-57-the winter of the deep snow -the family lived on the present site of Missouri Valley, and when the snow storm first came up, the cattle stampeded to the Missouri River and they did not find them for weeks. In the spring when the snow melted and the floods came, everything on the flats was submerged.
In 1869 Mr. McIntosh purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land west of town on section 9, to which he has added
until he now has five hundred and forty- three acres, two hundred and sixty being under cultivation. In 1882, he moved from his farm west of Missouri Valley, to his present residence on section 34. He has a fine lake on his farm cover- ing twenty-five acres.
September 28, 1868 he was united in marriage in Missouri Valley, to Miss Margaret Snyder, who was the daughter of Louis S. and Mary (Fysing) Snyder, of Pennsylvania, who came to Harrison County, in 1860. This union resulted in five children, all of whom are living at this time-Minnie, born May 13, 1869; Oscar, born January 13, 1871; Jennie, January 30, 1873; Frank, April 8, 1876, and Ida, January 11, 1879.
In August 1862, our subject enlisted at Council Bluffs, in Company A, Twenty- ninth Iowa Infantry, and was assigned to the Army of the West. His first battle was that of Helena, Ark., after which he participated in the engagements at Little Rock, Mobile and Spanish Fort, from which point they were sent by water to the mouth of the Rio Grande river in Texas. He was mustered out of service in August 1865, at New Orleans. After his return from the service he came home and at once went to making hay, where Missouri Valley now stands, remaining at home working the farm until he went to his own place.
ENRY A. BECHTEL, a lumber dealer of the village of Persia, is made the subject of the following biographical notice. He is a native of the "Hawkeye State," having been born June 18, 1855, in Dubuque, and when
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fourteen years of age commenced clerking for Osborne & Richmond, dealers in hats, caps and millinery goods in Dubuque, and remained with them for four years, and then went to Chickasaw County, and clerked in a general store in the town of Lawler, remaining there until the sum- mer of 1877, when he went to California. He remained in and about Los Angeles and San Diego, until some time during 1878, when he enlisted in the regular army, Company K, Sixth United States Cavalry, and was stationed in Ari- zona Territory. The date of his enlist- ment was January 7, 1878, and he was discharged January 6, 1883, at Ft. Low- ell, Ariz., when he returned to Chicka- saw County, Iowa, engaging in general merchandising with his father, A. Bech- tel. He remained there until the spring of 1887 and then went to Gowrie, Web- ster County, Iowa, where he was engaged in the lumber business until the spring of 1890, and then came to Persia.
Mr. Bechtel was married at the Village of Lawler, July 19, 1884, to Belle Ander- son, and they are the parents of two chil- dren-Raymond E. and Donald G.
Mrs. Bechtel was born in Norway, and when a small child emigrated to Fayette County, Iowa, with her parents.
OHN NOYES, (or Captain Noyes, as he was familiarly called during his lifetime), by virtue of his long resi- dence and close identification with Harrison County's every interest, is justly entitled to more than a passing notice in
this connection. From May, 1856, up to the date of his death, he was a central fig- ure as well as one of the more prominent factors among the hardy band of Harrison County's pioneers. He had a part in the earlier, as well as later development of what has come to be one of the banner counties of the commonwealth of Iowa. He bore a conspicuous part in the history of the Missouri slope, being actively en- gaged in various capacities, and always had the respect of all within the range of his extended acquaintance. It would re- quire a volume to contain the actualrecord of the events of a man's life possessed of such ambitious and energetic qualities as those of Capt. Noyes ; but for the purpose of handing down to coming generations, some of the more important events which transpired in his career, perhaps the sub- joined will in a measure suffice.
Mr. Noyes was born in the State of Maine, February 27, 1812. His parents, who were also natives of the Pine Tree State, were Joseph and Esther (Emerson) Noyes, of English descent. In the fa- ther's family there were fifteen children -Esther, Joseph, Almira, John, Peter, Robert, Ruth, William, Maria, Jonathan, Washington, Julian, Lydia, LaFayette and Hannah. Four of this number still survive.
When three years of age our subject, John Noyes, accompanied his parents to Guernsey County, Ohio, and subsequently to Athens County, the same State. When yet quite young he went to Morgan County, Ohio, where for some time he was engaged in the salt works. He also fol- lowed the great rivers as a flat-boatman, assisting in the transportation of salt and flour to New Orleans. We next find him the proprietor of a large mercantile establish- ment at Hooksburg, Ohio, in which busi-
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