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 58
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Our subject has always been a hard- working man, and is now reaping the re- ward of his labors in the possession of a comfortable and pleasant home. He votes with the Republican party, and belongs to Grand Army Post No. 353 at Persia.
AMUEL T. SMITH, the junior member of the firm of Lyman & Smith, was born in York County, Penn., January 8, 1855, and is the son of Samuel A. and Martha B. (Tosh) Smith, who were of Irish descent, but natives of Pennsylvania and Maryland, respectively. The former is a resident of the Keystone State, but the mother is deceased. They had a family of ten children, six of whom still survive-Joseph, William, Margaret E., Daniel, Samuel T. and Mary J.
Samuel T. was reared in Pennsylvania, surrounded by the scenes of rural life, and educated in the public schools. He re- inained at home until he was twenty-four years of age, at which time he went to Baltimore and became a salesman in a commission and grocery establishment, where he remained four years, and in the spring of 1883 came to Iowa, spending some months in the eastern part of the state, but during the month of April, 1884, came to Dunlap and engaged with R. B. Hillas, as clerk, with whom he was asso- sociated until he succeeded him in busi- ness.
Mr. Smith was married to Miss Lizzie
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Cadwell, January 8, 1891. She was born in Independence, Iowa.
Both our subject and his estimable wife are acceptable members of the Congrega- tional Church. In his political choice he is a Republican.
In looking over the history of the vari- ous business firms of Harrison County one finds but few instances, if any, where so large a concern has comeinto existence and been owned by men who started in life with no other capital than their busi- ness tact and energy,
RANCIS H. MORGAN, station agent of the North-Western Rail- way at Dunlap, has been a resident of the place, and held such position since January 3, 1873, and was in the employ of the company five years prior to that, being agent at Denison. At Dunlap he succeeded Smith Child, who was agent from the time the road was built, in 1866, up to 1873. Mr. Morgan is also American Express agent. Our subject hails from the Empire State, and was born July 5, 1845, on Long Island, New York. He is the son of James H. and Caroline (Camp) Morgan, who died while our subject was yet a small boy. When twelve years of age he came to Iowa with a sister, and located in Howard County, at a time when all was new and wild, and there was not a grist mill within forty miles of them, and the few settlers came from far and near to get corn and wheat ground in a large coffee-mill they had. The family saw the rough side of pioneer life, and when they came to the State they crossed the Miss- issippi River on the ice, making part of
their trip from there on by the stage, and the balance by ox teams. After living five years in Howard county they removed to Madison, Wisconsin, where our subject went into a printing office, but when sev- enteen years of age commenced learning telegraphy, but before his year's engage- ment was up, and on May 23,1864, he en- listed in the "hundred-day service,“ be- coming a member of Company D, Fortieth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged September 20, 1864, after which he returned to take up telegraphy at Edgerton. Wisconsin, on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul line, for which he was operator for five months at that point and was transferred to Mazomanie, Wis- consin, where he remained a year, and then went to Beloit, Wisconsin, for the Chicago & North-Western line, where he was both clerk and operator for three years and four months, after which he was ex- press agent one year at Madison, and in 1868 came to Denison, Iowa, as above related. He was married at Mazomanie September 23. 1869, to Mary E. Cowdery, born July 18, 1849, and the daughter of Henry A., and Ruth (Whitcher) Cowdery. Politically our subject is a stanch Re- publican.
ATRICK FAGAN, a farmer of section 15, LaGrange Township, came to Harrison County in the spring of 1884 in company with his father's family, who settled on the farm he now occupies. They purchased two hundred and forty acres, besides thirty- five acres of timber. The farm was fairly improved when they purchased it, includ- ing a small house, corn cribs, etc.
frestarkburgen
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Our subject was born in Dubuque, County, Iowa, March 17, 1851. His father died July 17, 1890, and he is living with his mother, and has followed agri- cultural pursuits for a livelihood.
ENRY C. HARSHBARGER, of Boyer Township, is a large land- owner and farmer, and a man whose prominence is so closely connected with, and interwoven into, the history of Harrison County, that it is befitting that more than a passing mention should be made of him in this connection.
Let us go back to Spencer County, Ind., in the days of old "Tippecanoe," and by research in the family records it will be found that our subject was born March 5, 1840, and seven years later he might have been seen accompanying his parents, peep- ing out of an emigrant's wagon, as it was during that year that his parents came overland to Mahaska County, Iowa, where they remained until the spring of 1856, and then came on to Harrison County and settled on section 33, Boyer Town- ship, which is now the County Poor Farm. Our subject remained with his parents until 1861, when he enlisted in Company I, First Nebraska Infantry, but after two years the regiment was transferred to the cavalry service, and Gov. Thayer, of Ne- braska, was his Colonel. He was mus- tered in at Hannibal, Mo., August 10, 1861, and participated in the following en- gagements: Black Water, Mo., in the fall of 1861; Ft. Donaldson; Pittsburg Landing; first siege of Corinth; and the evacuation of Corinth, May 30, 1862. They also operated in Tennessee and Ken- tucky, and were in many small engage-
ments not necessary to mention in this connection. He was also at Cape Girar- deau, Mo., in the summer of 1863, and at the battle of Chalk Bluff. Their next en- gagement was at Sylamore, Ark., in the spring of 1864.
In June, 1864, he re-enlisted for three years more, at Duvall's Bluffs, Ark., hav- ing sixty days' veteran furlough, and the Government furnished him transportation to Omaha, allowing him to visit his home. Upon returning to Omaha, at the ex- piration of his furlough, the Indians were making trouble along the Western border, and he was sent with his regiment, where he remained the balance of his time spent in the service. On account of our sub- ject's disability, he received an honorable discharge at Ft. Kearney, Neb., Novem- ber 24, 1865. He then returned to his fa- ther's home, in Harrison County; but after one year of work on a farm his health gave way, and he was placed in nomina- tion and elected County Recorder, at the fall election of 1866. After holding this office two years he was elected County Judge, in the fall of 1868, and served un- til January 1, when, by virtue of his of- fice, he became County Auditor, the office of County Judge having been abolished. So, it will be seen, our subject was the last County Judge, as well as the first County Auditor. After leaving the Auditor's of- fice, he engaged in the mercantile busi- ness at Woodbine, in partnership with H. C. Laub, of Denison, our subject carry- ing on the business at Woodbine, contin- uing there three years, at the expiration of which time he moved to his farm in the Boyer Valley, which he had purchased some time before. He bought his present farm in 1879. It was mostly wild land, which he has improved. He now has five hundred and sixty acres of land under the
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plow, and about two hundred acres of tame grass, besides pasture-land. His well-arranged farm-house is 24x28 feet. while his horse-barn is 28x40 feet, and a cow-barn 24x84 feet.
Mr. Harshbarger was married to Emily Mundy, December 14, 1865, by which union there have been born three chil- dren -- Virgie P., June 8, 1867; John E., September 6, 1868; Charles C., January 13, 1871. Virgie P. was married to J. A. Prater, February 23, 1887. Mrs. Harsh- barger, the mother of these children, died January 23, 1871.
For his second wife our subject married Miss Nettie B. Edgerton, September 17, 1871, and by this union there have been seven children born-Hope, December 24, 1872; Miller M., June 1, 1875; Harry S., September 11, 1880; Jesse J., March 22, 1883; Mary M., March 3, 1885; Edwin L., December 15, 1888; and Henry C., March 28, 1891. Of these children, Hope died July 13, 1874; Harry S., December 23, 1881; Jesse J., May 22, 1883; Henry C., September 17, 1891; and the mother died April 5, 1891. She was born in On- ondaga County, N. Y., January 15, 1855.
Mrs. Emily (Mundy) Harshibarger was born in Wisconsin, November 16, 1846.
Concerning the father of our subject, it may be said that he was born in Mont- gomery County, Ohio, December 18, 1890, where he remained until he was twenty- two years of age, and then came to Spen- cer County, Ind., where he opened up a farm in the heavy timber-land, and re- mained there eight years. During that time he cleared over sixty acres of land. He then came to Mahaska County, where he bought a piece of wild land upon which he lived until 1856, and then came to Harrison County and lived until 1870, when he sold his farm and moved to
Kansas. When he came to this county, Magnolia was the nearest postoffice, and Council Bluffs the nearest trading point, and during the "hard winter" of 1856-57, their breadstuff was corn-meal, and some- times this had to be ground in a coffee- mill. Teams could not be taken out of their stables, and hand-sleds had to be used to draw wood on. Their meat con- sisted of venison, which was very plenti- ful in this county at that date.
To return to the subject of our sketch, it may be said that he is identified with the Republican party, and has been prom- inent in the Grand Army Post, of which he was Commander about three years. He is also a member of Charter Oak Lodge, A. F. & A. M., No. 401, at Woodbine. He served four years as Postmaster at Wood- bine, from 1869 to 1873. He was also ap- pointed as Collector of Internal Revenue, and served as such for two years and a half. He was also Deputy United States Marshal in 1870, for the entire county, and took theDecennial Census in that year alone; and again, in 1880, served in that capacity, taking the census of Boyer and Lincoln Townships.
OSEPH KESSLER, an uncle of H. C. Harshbarger, came to Harrison County in 1858, and bought a piece of land on section 28, of Boyer Township. He was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, in 1825, moved to Spencer County, Ind., in 1839, remained there ten years, and then moved to Mahaska County, Iowa, and from there to Guthrie County, where he remained until he came to this county, He was married while
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HARRISON COUNTY.
living in Indiana, his wife only living two years, after which he made his home with John Harshbarger, his brother-in-law. He sold his farm in Boyer Township in 1867, and went to Lincoln County, Kan., where he died in 1874. During the Civil War was a member of Company C, Twenty- ninth Iowa Infantry.
B ENSON JACKSON, one of the early pioneers of Dunlap, came to the county in March, 1868. Upon coming to the county, he entered the employ of Story & Smith, hardware merchants, with whom he remained for three years, and in March, 1870, he em- barked in business for himself, opening up a hardware and tin-store, and in Au- gust, 1873, he formed a partnership with Mitchell & Laub, with whom he was asso- ciated for four months, under the firm name of B. Jackson & Co. He then as- stuned full control, when the firm was consolidated under the name of B. Jack- son, and in 1879 he sold to D. P. Simmons & Co. and removed to his farm, three miles south of Dunlap, on sections 23 and 24, of Harrison Township, where he spent two years making improvements upon a farm which now contains four hundred and forty acres. In the autumn of 1881, he returned to Dunlap and in the spring and summer of 1882 he was engaged in the lumber business, in Montana, and that fall sold and formed a partnership with A. I. McMartin, purchasing the lumber busi- ness of Olmsted Brothers, at Dunlap, in- cluding the grain business. The elevator at that time only contained four bins, and was run by horse power, but has · since been rebuilt and remodeled by Mr. Jack-
son, until it has a capacity of fifteen thousand bushels. In 1883 he had charge of the business alone, and a year later, disposed of the lumber department, and after two years, repurchased the lumber yard of Pierce & Wells, and again as- sumed full control. But almost immedi- ately sold the same to A. I. McMartin, after which our subject devoted his entire attention to grain and live stock, together with his farm interests, and at present nearly has control of the grain business at Dunlap. He has handled as high as three hundred car loads of grain in one season.
He has always been one of the active business men of the place, and as a reward now possesses several excellent farms, one located on sections 7 and 8, of Harrison Township, of three hundred and twenty acres ; a fractional "eighty" on section 6, and eighty acres on section 36, of Willow Township, Monona County, also one hundred and twenty acres in Grove Town- ship, Shelby County, and two hundred and forty-one acres in Crawford County, a part of section 32-3 of Union Township. The last two pieces adjoin on the county line, and this he calls his "Grove Farm." In all, he possesses twelve hundred and seventy acres of land. And the strange part of all this accumulation is found in the fact that when he first struck Harri- son County, the total amount of his ex- chequer was $27.40. He first set foot in Dunlap, at three o'clock in the morning, and commenced work the same day, at carpentering, as his tin-shop was not yet completed. But soon everything was in readiness for his bench work. He started in at $3.00 per day, and from the very outset commenced to accumulate, and has never allowed a good trade to go by, and when he could not get the cash
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would take such quadrupeds as horses, calves and pigs. He is a close figurer and a shrewd, intelligent, business man as his success will attest.
Our subject is a native of Upper Cana- da, born in the County of Dundass, Jan- uary 7, 1846. He was reared in Canada, and his early life passed on a farm. He received his education in the public schools, and at the age of sixteen went to learn the tinners' trade, in a large estab- lishment. On account of his education he was soon given the management of affairs, which gave him a good business schooling. In January, 1866, he came to the United States, taking a trip through the Eastern States, and finally landed in Williams County, Ohio, where he re- mained one winter, previous to his com- ing to Iowa. He landed April 21, 1867, and spent the summer in Clinton County, and from there to Cedar County, where he remained until the time of his comlng to Dunlap.
Politically, our subject is a Republican, but is an advocate of free-trade. He be- longs to the Masonic Order, being a member of Hospitable Lodge, No. 244, and Ark Chapter No. 89, and has passed all the Chairs of the Blue Lodge, and is Cap- tain of the Host, of the Chapter. He was the First Master Mason made in Dunlap.
Thanksgiving Day has a peculiar sig- nifiicance to our subject, and especially that of 1874, when he was united in mar- riage to Miss Josephine Bryan, who was born in Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson are the parents of four children, who bless their home circle-Lilian, Ray, Thomas J. and Gladys I.
The father of our subject, James Jack- son, was born in Canada June 30, 1813, on the same farm he now occupies. He is the son of James and Peggy (Doran)
Jackson, natives of the north of Ireland and Holland, who settled near Albany, N. Y .. There were three brothers who operated flatboats on the Hudson River, and when the Revolutionary War broke out the grandfather of our subject took sides with the British and moved to Can- ada, while the other two remained with the Federals, and it is supposed they drifted to Virginia.
The mother of our subject died Novem- ber, 1890, at the age of seventy-six years. She and her husband were the parents of eight children-Isaac A., a resident of Dunlap; James H., residing at Shaller, Iowa; Benson, our subject; Permillia E., deceased wife of Robert E. Rose, of Dun- lap; Charles E., of Harrison Township; Lovinia, wife of John A. Story, residing in Canada; George A. and Edgar W. died in infancy.
In conclusion it only remains to be added that the above sketch, tracing the business ladder of this man's life, impresses the reader with the importance to be at- tached to a youth learning a good trade and obtaining a good business education, which were the corner stones of this truly successful man's life.
HOMAS A. E. LYMAN, of the firm of Lyman & Smith, dealers in general merchandise, doing business at Dunlap, will form the subject of this notice. Mr. Lyman is a native of Cat- taraugus County, N. Y., and was born May 7, 1861. He is a son of Thomas Ad- dis Emmett Lyman and Mary (Patterson) Lyman. The father was a native of Con- necticut and the mother of New York, both of whom are now deceased. They
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had a family of seven, two of whom are now living, our subject and Clarence, who is located in Grand Island, Neb. When our subject was but nine years of age he accompanied his mother and three broth- ers to Dunlap, since which time his mother and two brothers have died. He was reared and educated from his ninth year in Dunlap, and when thirteen years old commenced clerking in a store, which he followed until he formed a partnership with S. T. Smith in 1890. He was a sales- man for R. B. Hillas for ten years, but now is the senior member of the firm to which he belongs. It should be said of this gentleman, that he is a purely a self- made man, having started from the low- est round in the ladder and by business tact, with a large amount of energy, has kept gradually advancing.
Politically, Mr. Lyman is a supporter of the Republican party. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias order, being a member of Harrison Lodge, No. 284.
He was united in marriage October 20, 1886 to Miss Lucy Barber, daughter of George and Anna Barber, who was born in Toronto, Canada, July 21, 1868. Mr. and Mrs. Lyman are the parents of two children-Addis Emmett and Clarice. Our subject and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Lyman's partner's name is S. T. Smith, both of whom are young men, just in the prime of their life. They suc- ceeded R. B. Hillas, now of Chat- tanooga, Tenn., and took possession Sep- tember 15, 1890. The stock was valued at $10,000 which is kept in two rooms, 25 x 90 feet. The east room is de- voted to clothing and gents' furnishing goods, together with a full line of carpets, while the west room is devoted to dry- goods and groceries. They now carry a
$16,000 stock, which is nicely ar- ranged and presents an inviting appear- ance to their large circle of custom- ers. There are but few, if any, stocks of goods between Cedar Rapids and Council Bluffs superior to this. Their trade ex- tends throughout a portion of Harrison, Crawford, Shelby and Monona Counties.
W ILLIAM C. STODGEL, a farmer living on section 8, of LaGrange Township, came to Harrison County in the Spring of 1882, and settled on his present farm. He bought eighty acres of wild land, upon which he made substantial improvements, having sixty acres under the plow, and the balance in meadow and pasture land. Subsequently, he purchased forty acres on section 9, thirty acres of which is under cultivation.
Our subject was born in Clay County, Ind., August 5, 1853, and in 1856 his parents removed to Pottawattamie County, Iowa. He remained at home until he was sixteen years old, and from that time until he was of age, worked out by the month on a farm in Pottawat- tamie County. He then rented a farm until the spring of 1882, when he bought his present farm. He was married in Pottawattamie County, August 14, 1874, to Miss Nancy A. Nicholls, and they are the parents of six children : William E., Benjamin, Elizabeth, James M., Samuel F., George W. Of these children, Eliza- beth, James M., and Benjamin, are de- ceased.
Nancy A. (Nicholls) Stodgel, is a native of Illinois, born September 29, 1861, and when a small girl, her parents removed to
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Harrison County, Iowa, where she re- mained until the date of her marriage.
Politically, our subject is identified with the Democratic party. He belongs to the Mutual Protectionists, the object of which is to protect against horsethieves or other invadors.
E S. HICKS, merchant tailor at Dun- lap, came to that place September 24, 1883. He is a native of Corn- wall, England, where he was reared and spent his early life. He lived on a farm and was educated in the public schools until he was thirteen years of age, when he was thrown from a horse, receiving an injury on his right leg, which caused him to seek other employment, so he chose the tailor's trade, serving an apprentice- ship of five years, after which he came to America with his parents, who settled at De Witt, Iowa. Our subject worked for three months at Maquoketa, Iowa, and from there went to Davenport, where he engaged with Thomas Mccullough, and remained six months, when he received a position as cutter for W. H. Taylor, of Iowa City, with whom he was employed for six years and a half, and then went to Council Bluffs. and worked at his trade two years, which perhaps proved a provi- dential trip to him, for it was there that he met Miss Belle Brown, whom he mar- ried February 16, 1882. She is the daugh - ter of Hugh and Ann E. (Lynch) Brown. She was born in Kansas City, Mo., May 28, 1860. Her father fought during the entire Civil War period, and now, though aged sixty-four years, he is known as the best stair-builder and contractor of fine work at Council Bluffs.
After leaving Council Bluffs, our sub- ject went to St. Joseph, Mo., where he worked a year, and at Creston, Iowa, eighteen months, and then came to Dun- lap, and went to work for M. Barrett & Sons, with whom he was associated two years and six months, when he went to Marshalltown, Iowa, where he was laid up one year by reason of sickness. After he recovered he returned to Dunlap, and worked for Barrett & Sons until February 5, 1891, when he had another mishap, breaking his limb, and as soon as he was able to get around he opened up a tailor shop of his own in the Chamberlain build- ing. on Iowa Avenue. His first month's business amounted to $1,100, and he now enjoys the best trade of any one in his line in the county. He is on the road part of the time soliciting orders, and is what may be termed a "hustler."
Politically, Mr. Hicks is a stanch Re- publican, believing that party works for the interests of the masses of American citizens, including the laboring man.
Mrs. Hicks is a lady of refinement and culture, with , rare accomplishments in both vocal and instrumental music, and is one of the leading spirits in the social element of Dunlap. She gives instruc- tions in music and is agent for a large line of musical instruments; gives musical en- tertainments for the benefit of the churchi and benevolent societies, and is a lady of whom the world has none too many.
Our subject is a great admirer of horses, and is interested in some very good ani- mals, and, generally speaking, is a wide- awake business man. His taste for fine liorses comes in a natural way, as his father was a great horseman, and during twenty-five years of his life owned some of the best running horses in England.
His father died in. Clinton County in
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1872, at the age of fifty-eight years. The mother still lives in that county, at the age of seventy-three years. They reared a family of eleven children-James A., a farmer in Clinton County ; David, a farmer in Clinton County; Susan, wife of Rich- ard Benton, a farmer of Clinton County ; Amelia, wife of James T. Walker, a farmer of Clinton County ; Escott S., our subject ; Sarah, wife of Robert Bacchus, a farmer of Clinton County; Caroline, wife of Prof. W. F. Hanson, of Fulton, Ill. ; John M., a farmer of Clinton County ; Ralph C., of the same county; and Mary, the oldest of the family, who died when twenty-one years of age.
P ETER FAGAN, a farmer of section 15, LaGrange Township, came to Harrison County in 1883, and has remained on the farm ever since. By birth he is a "Hawkeye," having first seen the light of day, November 25, 1862, at Dubuque, Iowa, where he was reared and received his education.
Edward Fagan, the father of our subject, was born in Ireland in 1809, and remained in his native land until 1845, when he exchanged the Emerald Isle for the New World, sailed to America and came direct to Dubuque, Iowa, where for seven years he worked in the lead mines, and finally bought a farm near that city, upon which he lived until he came to Harrison County in 1883. His had been a life of toil and hardship, both in the land of his nativity as well as in the United States. He died in the Roman Catholic faith, July 17, 1890.
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