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 54
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ship, which was improved at the time, containing a good house, barn and bearing orchard, together with small fruit.
Our subject was married November 15, 1878, to Miss Effie C. Luke, of Woodbine, by whom one child has been born, Clyde A., born September 24, 1888. Mrs. Sny- der was born in Onondaga County, N. Y., August 27, 1859, where she remained un- til 1870, and then came to Harrison County with her sister; Mrs. Egerton, with whom she made her home until the date of her marriage, her mother having died when she was about eight years old.
HOMAS THOMAS, who has been identified with the history of Harri- son County since September, 1865, settled on section 27, Union Town- ship, the site of his present home, at first purchasing fifty acres, to which he added, until at one time he owned two hundred and seventy acres. His present farm comprises one hundred acres of fer- tile land all under a high state of cultiva- tion.
Upon coming to this county, the near- est trading point was Council Bluffs, this being before the railroad era. Mr. Thomas is an adopted citizen of this country, hav- ing been born at Carmarthenshire, Wales, May 24, 1832. He is the son of William and Mary Thomas. The father was also a native of Wales, born about 1787, and died in his native land, aged seventy years. William and Mary were the parents of twelve children, ten of whom grew to man- hood and womanhood, our subject being the ninth child. The father was a farmer and shipping agent on the sea side.
When twenty years of age, our subject
sailed for the New World, landing at Montreal in the autumn of 1853. He went to Michigan and worked that winter on the railroad at Manchester, but believing that the Hawkeye State afforded better opportunities for young men starting out in life, in the early spring of 1854, he came to Council Bluffs, and in a short time went to St. Louis, where he engaged in coal mining, which occupation he followed for about seven years, and then started across the Western Plains with a party of Mor- mons en route for Utah. After remaining there one winter, he returned to St. Louis and mined for six months, when he saw visions of the Far West, and engaged to drive one of the teams which made one of the overland trains. He remained two years and a half engaged as a teamster over the mountains in the summer time, and mining in the winter, thus acquiring a small start.
In September, 1865, we find him, as be- fore related, located in Iowa, where for a few years he had a hard struggle to make a livelihood, but by perseverance and a vast amount of hard labor, he has over- come the obstacles, and is now surrounded by a comfortable home. He was married in St. Louis about 1855, to Mary Ann Doyle. He was again married December 10, 1862, at Sacramento City, Cal., to Mrs. Elizabeth Lewis; with whom he had been acquainted in his native country, and where in 1848 she married David Thomas, who emigrated to California in 1856; he died September 30, 1860. They are the parents of six children, five sons and one daughter.
Politically Mr. Thomas is a supporter of the Democratic party, and in religious matters he and his wife are Latter Day Saints. All in all, our subject has had his share of vicissitudes, coming as he did, at
35
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an early day from a far away foreign shore, to a land where he met strange customs and new faces. He has steadily grown into the spirit of our institutions, and is now a highly respected citizen, whose eyes looked out upon the great Western domain when it was yet a howling wilderness; and doubtless he is now better qualified to en- joy our modern-day luxuries than as though he had been rocked in the cradle of one who was in affluence, as he knows what all these things have cost, both the nation and him as an individual.
AVID WILLIAMS, who has been a resident of Harrison County, since the spring of 1871, arriving March 18, in company with his parents, and who is now a well-to-do farmer of section 34, Union Township, forms the subject of this notice.
The father bought a farm and David worked with him until he became of age, after which he rented land, giving one- third of the crop for six years, when he bought the farm he now occupies. This was eighty acres of wild land, for which he paid $7.25 per acre, and during 1880 he broke it all up, and in 1881 erected a frame house 16x20 feet, and also purchased an- other eighty acres adjoining, paying $9 per acre for one "forty," and $12.50 for the other. In 1884 he built an addition to his house 16x22 feet, and the year later built a barn 24x30 feet, together with other outbuildings for the accommodation of the place. He has a bearing orchard of about fifty trees, and a young orchard of two hundred trees. All in all, this is one of as valuable places as the county affords.
Our subject was born in Indiana, Au-
gust 17, 1852, and removed with his par- ents to Mason County, Ill., where he worked at farming until the spring of 1871, and then came to Iowa with his par- ents. His parents were John and Sarah (Anderson) Williams, who had a family of nine children, our subject being next to the oldest; Mary, David, Josiah, Harriet E., Ellen S., Cordelia, John H., Laura A., Hannah L. Laura is now a resident of Kansas.
Mr. Williams was married November 1, 1874, to Flora E. Armstrong, the daugh- ter of Harvey V. and Virginia (Roe) Arm- strong, who were the parents of nine chil- dren, Flora E. being the fourth child. The names of the children were as follows : Betty C., Joseph A., Emma J., Flora E., Louisa F., John W., William A., Etta W., and Harvey J. Mr. Armstrong, father of our subject's wife, was a native of the Buckeye State, while his wife was a na- tive of Illinois.
Mr. and Mrs. Williams are the parents of six children, who are still living and two are deceased : John H., born June 8, 1875; Frederick A., June 13, 1877; Nellie V., July 26, 1879; Lawrence R., April 11, 1881; Creighton D., January 9, 1883; Ella T., April 7, 1885; Bessie B., April 7, 1887 ; Wade W., January 12, 1890. John H. and Lawrence R. are deceased.
Politically our subject affiliates with the Republican party. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. This man's life has been crowned with success, and all by his own exertion, as he commenced life with a span of colts, a wagon, harness, and two cows; during the grasshopper plague which devastated Southwestern Iowa, he lost much. Be- sides the property above spoken of, Mr. Williams has a quarter section of land in Pottawattamie County,near Neola, which
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without exaggeration is pronounced the finest tract of land in the West. Our sub- ject's school days were very limited. He attended the district school during the winter months. Mrs. Williams secured a better education and taught four terms of school before her marriage.
W ILLIAM H. McEUEN, who came to Harrison County in 1880, arrived at Logan March 12. He bought a place the following June in Boyer Town- ship, consisting of eighty acres, which he held three years and then moved to his present home on section 1, where he owns a farm of three hundred and ten acres, situated in Boyer and Jefferson Town- ships. It was wild land, but has by his plowshare been brought to a high state of cultivation. He has a commodious · farm-house, 18x28 feet, and two stories in height, with an addition 18x28 feet. He generally keeps about fifty head of cattle.
To return to the earlier walks of his life, and go back into his family history, it is found that he was born in Litchfield County,Conn., February 13,1830, and is the third child of a family of four children born to his parents, Charles and Aurilia (Ramsey) McEuen. The father was born in Connecticut, and the mother in New York. They emigrated to Ohio when our subject was nine years of age, and settled in Geauga County, Ohio, where they spent the remainder of their days.
When William was twenty years of age he set forth for himself and commenced dealing in cattle, buying and shipping from Windsor, Ohio, where he then re- sided, and later moved to Geneva, He followed this business most of the time
until he came to Harrison County, and by that means he secured a fair start in life.
He was married September 9, 1858, in Geauga County, Ohio, to Sarah E. Wood, a native of the same State, and the daugh- ter of Abram and Betsy Wood. She was the third child of a family of six. Mr. and Mrs. McEuen are the parents of one child, Frank G., who married Ella Walton, of Ashtabula County, Ohio. They live in Harrison County at present.
While living in Ohio, for three years he was a commercial traveler, selling paints and oils. During the time he dealt in cattle he shipped to Buffalo, N. Y., be- fore any regular yards had been established there, and afterwards shipped to Albany, N. Y. He bought cattle in Chicago be- fore that city had her Union Stock Yards.
Since coming to Harrison County he has been successful in his agricultural pursuits, and is surrounded to-day with a comfortable home and has the respect of all who know him.
ATHANIEL H. VANARSDALE, of Reeder's Mills, Jefferson Town- ship, who has been a resident of the county since February 1, 1866, will form the subject of this notice.
Mr. Vanarsdale was born in Norris County, N. J., March 8, 1838. He is the son of Levi and Anna Eliza (Horter) Van- arsdale. The father was a blacksmith by trade. He was born in 1800, and died in the county in which he was born, April 14, 1862. The mother died in the same county, July 27, 1867, aged sixty years. Their only child was Nathaniel H., our subject. He has a half brother, by his father's first wife, named Abner G., a res-
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ident of Binghamton, Broome County, N. Y. When thirteen years of age, Na- thaniel H. commenced learning the black- smith trade of his father, with whom he worked until he was seventeen years old, when he was bound out one year to his half brother, to complete his trade, after which he worked for the Yellow Bird Om- nibus Line, doing job work in New York for them for six years. He then followed his trade, as a government blacksmith, for one year and eleven months, and then came by rail to Keokuk, Iowa, and crossed the State of Iowa by stage to Council Bluffs, arriving February 14, 1864, where he remained until February, 1866, and then came to Harrison County, and built a shop at "Hard Scratch" (Reeder's Mills). The first fire was built in his forge February 4, 1866. He continued to work at the trade until October 1, 1873, when he moved to Logan and operated a shop until March 1, 1877, at which date he re- turned to Reeder's Mills, and in 1879 re- built his shop, and is still wielding the sledge at that point.
He was united in marriage in Morris County, N. J., May 11, 1862, to Margaret Sanford, a native of Sussex County, of the same State, born December 7, 1835. She is the eldest child of a family of three sons and three daughters, of Garrison M. and Mary J. Sanford. Mr. and Mrs. Van- arsdale are the parents of three children : Mary Jane, born October 1, 1863; Nettie, December 10, 1867; and Hattie, February 21, 1870.
Politically, Mr. Vanarsdale believes in the principles of the Democratic party, and in religious matters he and his wife favor the teachings of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
When he came to Harrison County his earthly possessions consisted of $5 in
money and a few household goods. But being in possession of a good trade, his oft-repeated blows upon the anvil liave forged for himself and family a comforta- ble home in the "Kingdom of Harrison," now one of Iowa's banner counties.
S AMUEL L. BERKLEY, one of the business men of Woodbine engaged in the sale of drugs at that place, is the son of Thomas J., and Nancy (De Long) Berkley, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. Samuel L., was born March 30, 1864, in Washington County, Ohio, and removed with his parents to Magnolia, Iowa, where they spent about four years, and then removed to Missouri Valley, but located in Wood- bine in 1882. He attended the private and public schools, and when sixteen years of age was engaged as a clerk in a dry-goods establishment at Missouri Valley, where he remained two years, and then entered the employ of C. D. Stevens, of Woodbine, with whom he was associ- ated for seven years. November 1, 1889, in company with Dr. Buxton, he pur- chased the Giddings drug store, under the firm name of S. L. Berkley & Co., who carry a full line of drugs, paints, wall paper and school supplies. They carry a stock of $3,500, and the first year of their business they sold over $6,000 worth of goods, and their trade is constantly in- creasing under their careful management. Mr. Berkley has passed an examination and become a registered pharmacist.
Mr. Berkley was united in marriage, April 26, 1888, to Ruby A. Kling of Wood- bine, who is the daughter of J. R. and Emily (Bliss) Kling. She was born Feb-
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ruary 12, 1864, in Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Berkley are the parents of two chil- dren-Hugh K., born September 6, 1889; Lawrence J., September 18, 1891. They are both members of the Baptist Church, and he is the present Superintendent of the Sabbath-school.
Politically, he is identified with the Republican party, and is the present City Recorder of Woodbine. He is one of the leading young business men of Eastern Harrison County ; is active in church and Sabbath-school work, and was President of the Harrison County Sabbath-school Association for two years.
AMES HARDY, SR., (deceased) was born in Somerset County, Pa., in April, 1813, and in the Keystone State received a good business education. He spent his early life in Somerset County, Pa., and in 1833 married Minerva Tomlinson, and moved to Logan County, Ohio, and for three years was engaged in farming; from which place they went from Steuben County, Ind., and in 1850 crossed the borders of the Hawkeye State and settled in Mills County, where he was elected the first Sheriff that county had. But not being fully satisfied with his loca- tion, in 1852 he removed to the present site of Magnolia, where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land; also an- other quarter section on section 15, of Cal- houn Township, upon which was a good water power, upon the site of which he erected one of the first flouring mills in Harrison County. He was among the first settlers at the town of Magnolia, and assisted the County Seat Commissioners in locating the county seat at that point,
and was County Judge in that county in 1854-55-56-57, and under his adminis- tration the first court house in the county was built .. He always took an active part in any enterprise that in his judgment would build up the interests of Harrison County, and was ever ready with dona- tions of land and money to help such matters along, and no man was more pop- ular in the county than was " Judge Har- dy," as he was almost universally called. He lived in Magnolia until 1864, and then moved to his place on the Willow River, in Calhoun Township, where he resided to the day of his death, May 10, 1885. About four years before his death he lost the use of his eyesight, as a result of sickness, and from that time on gradually grew weaker, until finally he fell into a dreamless sleep, and thus passed from earth. He was a member of the Congregational Church, having been a member of that body for some thirty years.
He reared a family of nine children- eight sons and one daughter. Of all the pioneer band none were more highly re- spected than Judge Hardy, who was a kind father, a considerate husband, a good citi- zen and a trustworthy friend to all who lived within the radius of his acquaint- ance.
ENRY HANNEMAN, JR., of Calhoun Township, a farmer resid- ing on section 16, of this same town- ship, has been a resident of Harri- son County since the month of October, 1855, his father settling in Magnolia Township at that time, and is still a res- ident there. Henry was born January 23, 1855, in Indianapolis, Ind., and was but a
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mere babe when his parents emigrated to Harrison County, and thus truly it may be said " he had grown up with the coun- try." When his father, Henry Hanne- man, Sr., came to the county it was very wild and new, Council Bluffs being their nearest mail and market point, and prices were not in keeping with the present-day quotations; for our subject relates now that upon one occasion his father took a load of corn to Council Bluffs and brought back a bushel of salt. Game was very plenty, and our subject well remembers, after he was quite a lad, of seeing elk and deer. He attended the district schools, common to Harrison County at an early day, which were held in log houses, and he relates how that he, with the other scholars, saw the soldiers, who were going South to put down the Civil War, march proudly by the old log school house.
Henry assisted on the old homestead, and remained under the paternal roof un- til twenty-two years of age, when he was married and commenced farming on his own account upon land owned by his father. In April, 1881, he purchased his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres, upon which there had been some improvements made, but without build- ings. He moved to this place in the sum- mer of 1883 a house from off his father's place, to which he made an addition, and the following fall moved to his new home. In the summer of 1889 he built a barn 34 x40 feet, having sixteen-foot posts. He generally keeps about thirty head of cat- tle, and a corresponding number of swine, farming a part of his own and a part of his father's land.
He was united in marriage November 27, 1877, to Theresa Schuelzky, a native of Prussia, born February 19, 1856, and the daughter of Frederick and Mary
Schuelzky, who is the fourth child of a family of seven children, six of whom grew to their majority. Her people came to America in the spring of 1869, landing in New York, and from there came to Franklin County, Iowa, where her father farmed until the winter of 1887, and then went to Thayer County, Neb., where his wife died October 11, 1889, and December 2 of the same year their youngest daugh- ter, Anna M., closed her eyes to earthly scenes. Her older sister who was mar- ried and living at Davenport, Neb., died September 8, 1889. The father came to Harrison County, and died April 8, 1890.
Mr. and Mrs. Hanneman are the parents of six children, all living at this time ---- Mary M., born September 29, 1878; Anna Catherine, born May 15, 1881; John Hen- ry, born March 21, 1883; Charles F., born February 28, 1885; William Homer, born March 15, 1887, and . Theresa Henrietta, born May 20, 1889.
Our subject and his wife are members of the Evangelical Church, and politic- ally Mr. Hanneman is a Republican.
OHN C. MICHAEL, came to Har- rison County, Iowa, with his parents in 1868. They settled on section 17, of Magnolia Township, where he remained until 1884, and then bought the farm he now occupies on section 8, of Magnolia Township.
Our subject was born in Mecklenburg, Strelitz, Germany, October 19, 1859, and in April, 1863, his parents came to Amer- ica, and direct to Cleveland, Ohio, where they remained until the time of their com- ing to Harrison County.
Our subject bought a partly improved.
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farm, of which about fifty acres had been broken and fenced. He built a frame house 16x26 feet, together with an ell 16x18 feet.
He was united in marriage in Harrison County, October 16, 1884, to Miss Lena Herman, and they are the parents of four children, Mamie, Carl, William(deceased) ; and John.
Lena (Herman) Michael, was a native of Mecklenburg, Germany, born in 1863, and came to America with her parents, when twelve years of age. They settled at Cleveland, Ohio, where they remained until the autumn of 1879, and then came to Harrison County.
Politically, our subject is identified with the Democratic party.
S YLVESTER L. HICKOX, who is one of the pioneer settlers of Harri- son Township, and who came to the county in the spring of 1868, will form the subject of this notice.
He was born in Fair Haven, Conn., March 19 1825, the son of Darius and Anna (Loyd) Hickox, natives of England and Connecticut, respectively. The father was born in England in 1779, and died November 10, 1840. He was married in 1820, to Anna Loyd, who was born in the town of Stratford, in 1803, and died March 31, 1849. The father was a traveling salesman for a map-publishing concern. Sylvester L., our subject, was reared in Connecticut, and at the age of sixteen, engaged at the carriage trade, working at this for five years, and then formed a part- nership with a Mr. Olmstead, with whom he was associated for two years, after which our subject assumed full control,
and conducted the business for twenty years, manufacturing all kinds of buggies and carriages. After disposing of his busi- ness, he removed to this county, where he has since resided. Our subject had no capital with which to commence life save good business qualifications and plenty of pluck, two leading factors in any branch of business. His life has been a success, as is evinced from his present home sur- roundings.
Mr. Hickox was married May 2, 1849, to Mary White Bissell, who was born in Scholarie County, N. Y., February 10, 1827. She is the daughter of George C. and Elizabeth (White) Bissell. The former was born in Bolton, Conn., July 20, 1792, and died in December, 1882. He was the son of George and Lois (Cone) Bissell. Elizabeth (White) Bissell was born in South Hadley, Mass., January 27, 1800, and died in May, 1867. She was a di- rect descendant of Peregrine White, the first child born on the Mayflower. The father of Mrs. Hickox followed various pursuits for a, livelihood, being a stone- mason by trade. He also followed farm- ing, school teaching, was an instructor of vocal music, and a temperance lecturer. Our subject and his wife are the parents of three children-Anna E., born May 3, 1851, wife of Dr. Dwight Satterlee, of Dunlap; Edward I., born March 18, 1856, who died March 11, 1890. While he was in the employ of the railroad company he fell from the top of the train, the cars passing over his left leg, severing the main artery ; Robert N., born April 7, 1864, dy- ing November 10, 1864.
Mr. and Mrs. Hickox are consistent Christians, belonging to the Congrega- tional Church, and always assisting in every Christian work, he having been Dea- con for sixteen years.
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Politically, he has always been a Repub- lican, and has officially represented his township as trustee, member of the school board, etc.
Mr. Hickox first came to the county alone in the autumn of 1867, thoroughly investigated the country, and brought his family here the following spring, when he made a purchase of eighty acres of land, on section 21, of Harrison Township, of which twenty- five acres have been broken ; and this was all that distinguished this track of land from the vast sea of prairie grass surrounding it. There were only three houses to be seen, in any direction, and the scene was indeed one of rare beauty, yet not to be fully appreciated by by this New England family, who had been reared within a cozy home, nestled in among the New England hills where the landscape was ever a feast to the eye. Our subject at once began the erection of a building, first building his barn, which he arranged to live in until his house was completed. His farm-house was a frame structure 20x30 feet, with fourteen-foot posts and was the first of its kind built in this part of the county. This served to stimulate others and soon the country be- gan to put on a different appearance, and neat farm-houses sprang into existence in all directions; but to Mr. Hickox is due the credit of setting an example. The first two or three years of their residence in the county, they had little produce to sell, but managed to turn off a small quan- tity of garden truck, and were compelled to pay extravagant prices [for all of what they could not raise. For instance, they paid $1.00 for four pounds of granulated sugar; $1.00 for four pounds of dried peaches; with coffee, flour, dress goods and muslins all correspondingly high. They were compelled to undergo nearly
all of the hardships co-incident with pio- neer life ; but all has changed under the influences of civilization. The transition was great. The great prairie sea, with its blooming flowers and wild animals, has been transformed into a fertile, well-tilled garden-spot, where every quarter section · of land has a beautiful farm-house with groves and orchards surrounding them, and all bespeak of culture and prosperity. All of these early sacrifices must needs have been made. No one appreciates this wondrous change more than our subject and his good wife, who came from New England to become pioneers in Western Iowa. They can now look out upon a well- settled country, and view large trees of their own planting, while their fields are waving with golden grain.
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