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 78

Author: National Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, National Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1150

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 78

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Our subject remained at home, attend- ing his father's mill until after he was married, having his present home on sect- ion 15, ready to move into. In the aut- umn of 1878, our subject, with his family, went to Furnas County, Neb., where they took a homestead, and remained three years, when he sold his improvements, and came back to Iowa and moved into the hotel at Magnolia, which liad belong- ed to his wife's mother. After two years of hotel life, he sold and went to Eureka

Springs, Ark., and there built a hotel, which he conducted five years, and then moved to Tennessee, and worked in a sawmill, where he was quite successful financially. After nine months he return- ed to Eureka, spent the winter, and in March 1889, started for Colorado, arriving at Canyon City, and was there but a few days, and retraced his steps to Green- wood County, Kan., where he conducted a restaurant at Madison until the fall, of this year, when he came back to Harrison County. All of this traveling has been done by team on account of his health.

OHN A. ORR, (deceased), became a permanent resident of Harrison County, in 1876, and in his life time, was a representative farmer in this section of Iowa, hence very natur- ally, find his place on the pages of the history of liis county.

Mr. Orr was born in Carroll County Ohio, July 25, 1851, and in 1856, he accompanied nis parents to Des Moines County, Iowa, remained there one year, and they then moved to Nebraska, and remained in Douglas County until the spring of 1861, when they moved to Har- rison County, Iowa, and in 1872, moved Pottawattamie County. Our subject remained with his parents in the last named county, until 1876, and then pur- chased two hundred acres of land on sec- tions 5, 6 and 8, of La Grange Township, where he built a house, and ma le general farm improvements. Before his death, he had added to his landed estate, until he owned ten hundred and forty acres, lying in the Boyer Valley, so famous for its fertility. He kept it well stocked and

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handsomely improved. He was a busy, energetic and thoroughly upright man, who was usually at home, and made others feel at home with him.

An important event of his life was his marriage, January 4, 1876, to Miss Ellen J. Crossley, who was born in Notting- hamshire, England, June 26, 1849, and in 1852 emigrated with her parents, to America, settling in Pottawattamie County where they became early pion- eers. When they started from England, they intended to go to Salt Lake City having united with the Latter Day Saints Church in England, but after being in Pottawattamie County, a short time, and seeing how matters were. progressing among the Utah Mormons they severed themselves from the church.

Of Mr. Orr's father, Col. William Orr, it may be said he was born in Belfast, Ire- land, March 13, 1826. He emigrated to America, lived in Western Pennsylvania for a few years, then came to Carroll County, Ohio, from there to Iowa, in 1856, went to Nebraska as above related, and finally purchased a farm in La Grange Township, where he remained until 1872, and then removed to Potta- wattamie County, where he now resides. In 1848, he returned to Ireland, and mar- ried, March 24, 1849, Miss Margaret Orr and the following day embarked for this country. They were the parents of twelve children - John A., being the second child. Col. Orr was a candidate for State Senator in 1880 but was defeated.

This notice partaking as it does of genealogy as well as of biography, should also treat of our subject's wife's people : William Crossley, her father, was born in Nottinghamshire, England, December 2, 1807, and in the spring of 1853, he came to America, and purchased a claim of a

man and subsequently entered one hun- dred and twenty acres of Government land in Pottawattamie County. At the time of his coming to this country, he was a very poor man, but at the time of his death possessed one of the finest homes in Western Iowa, which included six hun- dred and forty acres of well improved land. He had visited America, about 1840, and bought him a home in Trumbull County, Ohio, but after four years of hard work to improve this place, he went back to England for the purpose of marrying, and as his wife did not like the idea of coming to America, he sold his farm in Ohio, and placed the money in the hands of the "Phalanx Society, " for safe keep- ing. But it did not prove a very safe deposit, as the institution shortly after- wards collapsed, and he never realized but three hundred dollars.

His wife the mother of Mrs. Orr, Susan (Hand) Crossley, was a native of England, and died in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, February 7, 1862, and the father died February 19, 1881.

Mrs. Orr remained at home with her father, in Pottawattamie County, until the date of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Orr were the parents of three children- William L., born January 3, 1878; Fannie L., born November 10, 1879; Bruce L., born October 29, 1881. Fannie L., died February 15, 1889.

Our subject, while yet in the prime of young manhood, and surrounded with all that men call dear in life; the possessor of a beautiful home, a loving wife, and a family of interesting and intelligent chil- dren, and when all bid fair for a long and useful career, his barques was suddenly dashed against the breakers of an unseen shore, and he was called upon to leave his earthly surroundings, taking in exchange

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the spiritual realm; passing from the scenes of earth October 15, 1882, just as Nature was putting on her robes of beauty, tinted with amber and gold, all that was mortal of John A. Orr, was laid away, in Linnwood Cemetery, La Grange Towrship, and his life was a monument unto himself, being a loyal citizen, a lov- ing husband and a kind father.

Let it be said in this connection, of the widow of our subject, the late Mr. Orr, that she possesses rare business abil- ity ; is refined and cultivated, yet unlike a majority of her sex, has a keen business sagacity, which enables her to superin- tend her farm of more than a thousand acres. in a successful manner. Her busi- ness methods are spoken of in the most praise-worthy manner, by all within her community. There are few ladies, even further advanced in life, who could con- trol so large an estate, with the profici- ency with which this good woman does that left her by Mr. Orr.

In her religious belief Mrs. Orr is a firm believer in spiritualism. No lady in the community, is more highly appreciate l, for her many graces than is this one-the widow of Mr. John A. Orr.

Le ORENZO D. BUTLER (deceased), one of the early settlers of Harrison County, and a man who, in his day, was prominently identified with the inter- ests of the county, came to Twelve-Mile Grove in the month of February, 1851, where he purchased a claim which he sold the following spring, and purchased another on section . 15, Boyer Township. He built one of the first mills in Harrison .

County, it being a combined grist and saw mill. It was on the site of the present Woodbine Roller Mills. In 1855 he started a general store at the mill, and his wife was post-mistress until the railroad days. Mrs. Butler named Woodbine from her old home in England.

Mr. Butler was engaged in mercantile business at Woodbine, also handled lum- ber, and suffered great loss from fires. He was originally a Mormon, but severed his connection with that church in 1851.

He was married in Birmingham, Eng- land, in 1848, to Ann Binnall, and they were the parents of eleven children- Mary A., Frank A., Agnes J., Thomas W., Edmond, Emma, Lorenzo D., James, Ellen E., Frederick and Albert B.

Mrs. Butler was born in England, Oc- tober 24, 1824. Her father, Thomas Bin- nell, with his family, came to America in 1848 with Mr. Butler and settled at Coun- cil Bluffs, where his wife died of cholera shortly after their arrival.

AVID E. BARNUM, deceased, one of the pioneer band who found their way to Harrison County in 1854, claimed one hundred and sixty acres of land in Boyer Township, and in January, 1855, he built a frame house, which was built upon a basement, and during the hard winter of 1856-57 they occupied the basement.

Mr. Barnum was born in Greene County, N. Y .. June 8, 1834. He remained there until he was sixteen years of age, and then went to live with an uncle at Ft. Waye, Ind, Five years later he came to Iowa; believing in that gracious saying that "it is not good for man to be alone,"

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he made the matrimonial proposition to a fair maiden of Harrison County, by the name of Lovinia Palmer, and September 21, 1856, the most charming season of the year, such proposition was accepted, for it was upon that day they were united in marriage. As a result of this marriage union, eleven other Barnum's came to dwell in their household and to be pro- vided for by their tender watch-care. Their names are as follows: Nancy C., deceased, Albert E., Mary E., Alpha O., deceased, George W., Alma H., deceased, Quincey, deceased, Ottoe H., deceased, Otis D., deceased, Willard and Charles.

David E. Barnum, of whom this memoir is written, passed from earth June 14, 1890.

Lovina (Parmer) Barnum was born in London, Canada, in 1836. and removed with her parents to Hancock County, Ill., when she was six years of age, and from there to Walworthi County, Wis., where they lived until 1854, and then came to Harrison County, being early settlers at Bigler's Grove.

G EORGE W. ABRAMS came to Har- rison County in 1854. He was born in Cayuga County, N. Y., and moved with his parents to Wabash County, Ind. There were four families came to Council Bluffs, and all finally settled in Harrison County-B. Abrams and family, Robert Ramsey and family, Horace Abrams and family, and Seymour Abrams and family.

B. Abrams, the father of our subject, settled in Bigler's Grove, on section 19, where he paid five hundred dollars for a claim a man held on two hundred and

eighty acres. Here the father lived until 1878, when he passed from the scenes of earth.

Our subject's mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Crossett, born in New York in 1803. 'Our subject was one of a family of seven children, and while he was yet living at home he entered a piece of land in Magnolia Township, which he im- proved, but he never lived upon it. He was married to Miss Sarah Vore in Harris Grove in 1857, and they are the parents of five children-Amanda J., Charles M., William L., Cynthia and Clara, all of whom are living.

Mrs. Abrams was born in Athens County, Ohio, and came with her parents to Harrison County in 1855.

AMES M. LATTA, who has been a resident of Harrison County for a quarter of a century, and who is now a resident of section 15, Cal- houn Township, forms the subject of this sketch.

He was born in Crawford County, Pa., September 22, 1934, and is the son of John and Mary (McConahey) Latta. The father was of Scotch ancestry, born in 1801, and had a family of four daughters and three sons, of whom our subject was the oldest child. When he was about ten years of age his parents emigrated to Carroll County, Ohio, and a year and a half later to Iowa. They first located at Des Moines and drifted about the State, living in Washington, Monroe, Page, Mills and Harrison Counties. From Page County they moved to Cass County, Neb., then moved back to Iowa, and subse- quently to Washington County, Neb,,

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where the father died, October 27, 1884. The mother is still living at the advanced age of eighty-eight. When in Cass County, Neb., our subject in the autumn of 1862, enlisted in Company B, Twenty- ninth Iowa Infantry, and served until June 17, 1865, receiving his discharge at Davenport, Iowa, June 17, 1865. He at once came to Mills County, Iowa, and from there to Harrison County as above related.

November 16, 1865, just after he re- turned from the war, he married Anna J. Kendall, a native of Illinois, born Feb- rnary 17, 1837. She was the oldest of a family of nine children, born to William W. and Martha (McFarland) Kendall, who were of Scotch descent.

Mr. and Mrs. Latta are the parents of six children, as follows: William W., James Harry, John C., Walter L., Frank F. and Anna P.

Politically, our subject is a firm sup- porter of the Republican party, "voting as he shot !" Both he and his wife are mem- bers of the Presbyterian Church, and he is a member of Fuller Post, G. A. R. at Logan.

OSEPH H. MURPHY, a farmer re- siding on section 21, of Union Township, has been a resident of Harrison County since 1875; he came in the spring of that year to St. John's Township, where he lived for six years and then removed to Taylor Town- ship, where he leased a farm one year, and then rented in Union Township. One year after he removed to the last named township, he purchased the farm he now lives upon, which consisted of eighty

acres, which is now under a high state of cultivation. This place cost him $13.75 per acre.

Mr. Murphy was born in Washington Township, Putnam County, Ind., Sep- tember 15, 1837. He was the son of Isaiah and Margaret (Williams) Murphy. The father was a native of Maryland, and the mother of Ohio. They reared a family of eleven children, of whom our subject was the third-Sarah A., deceased, Nancy, Joseph H., James M., Louisa, deceased, Alma D., Lenox K., Jane, Mattie, Han- nah and William.

Joseph H. Murphy was united in mar- riage April 15, 1866, to Lydia E. Wilson, daughter of William A. and Martha F. Wilson, who had ten children, named as follows: Mary J., Sarah E., Lydia E., Daniel M., John A., Nannie, William S. J. H., Alice and Martha A.

Mr. and Mrs. Murphy are the parents of ten children-Mattie A., Mary L., Maggie V., Della S., James L., Carrie N., Will- lam W., Nettie A., Jennie F., Rolland E.

Politically, Mr. Murphy exercises his right of franchise by voting with the Democratic party. In religious matters, Mr. and Mrs. Murphy are believers in the Universalist faith.

Mr. Murphy remained at home with his parents until twenty-two years of age, working on his father's farm. He then hired out on a farm for which he received $18 per month. We next see him driv- ing an ox-team from the Hoosier State to a point near Des Moines, Iowa. He re- turned to Indiana that fall and split rails for his father during the winter. The next four years of his life was spent at work on a farm for one man. Again we see him working as a railroad-track re- pairer, and from there we trace him through the next four years, the summers

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of which, was spent on a farm, and the winters of which he spent in getting out stave timber, which brought him up to the time he came to Harrison County.

ENRY D. LEWIS, a resident of Morgan Township, came to Harri- son County in 1881. He was born in Otsego County, N. Y., May 15, 1862, and is a son of Henry D. and Frances (Kidder) Lewis, natives of Eng- land, now both deceased. The fath- er's name was Henry W., and the mother's parents' names were John and Mary Payne, of Charing, England. Our subject was the only child born to his parents. His father was a farmer and mill owner.

Henry D.'s early life was passed in Mor- ris, Otsego County, N. Y., where he received an academic education. After his father's death in 1873 he cominenced working for himself on the farm, and also learned the carpenter's trade. Upon com- ing to Harrison County, he went to work on a farm for his uncle, M. H. P. Kidder, and later worked a short time for the Sioux City and Pacific Railroad Com- pany. He also worked six months for Mr. Mickel. In 1866, he purchased a farm he now owns, consisting of two hundred and sixty acres, on section 27, of Morgan Township. On this place in 1888, he erected a fine farm house at an expense of $1,500. He now has one of the most desirable homes in Harrison County. His farm is all fenced with one hundred and ten acres under cultivation. He attends to general farming and stock raising.

Mr. Lewis was united in marriage, November 13, 1884, to Miss Clara L. Pugs-

ley, the daughter of J. O. and Lydia (Noyes) Pugsley, whose biography appears elsewhere in this work.

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis are the parents of three children, born as follows-George D., April 17, 1886; Mariam Lee, February 23, 1888; and Frances L., October 10, 1890.

Politically, Mr. Lewis is identified with the Republican party. He has been Town Clerk of Mondamin for six years. He is a member of the Sons of Veterans Camp at Mondamin. He is well known through- out his township, being a whole-souled, genial man. He is always foremost in every public enterprise, and everything seems to be a success with which he is associated. In addition to his farm labors as superintendent of one of the finest farms on the Missouri River bot- toms, he also assists Messrs. Gamet & Ogden, in their store at Mondamin.

HOMAS MACFARLANE, a drug- . gist doing business at Mondamin, is a native of Ohio, and came to Harrison County in 1878. He is a son of John and Mary A. (Mulholland) Macfar- lane, of Scotland and Ohio respectively. There were two children in the family, William and Thomas. Thomas was born January 14, 1852, at Washington, Ohio, where his early education was received. Later on, he attended the .Normal School at Normal, Ill., then took a course in Rush Medical College at Chicago, and graduated from the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery in 1876. After prac- ticising two or three years in Yates City, Ill., he went to Wichita, Kan., and re- mained a year or so and then came to Lit-

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tle Sioux, Iowa, and from there to Mon- damin. He bought the Williams drug store in 1881, and now handles grain, stock and agricultural imple ments, and con- tinues to practice medicine. He enlisted at Portage City, Wis., as a member of the Second Wisconsin Infantry in 1863, at the darkest hour of the Civil War. He was discharged for disability, and in a few months, re-enlisted at Janesville, Wis., in the First Wisconsin Heavy Artillery, and was at the second battle of Bull Run and Antietam, where he was wounded in the left arm, and discharged at the close of the war.

He was united in marriage to Miss Phœbe Silsby in 1881. She died in 1884, at Little Sioux, and four years later Mr. Macfarlane married on September 16, 1888, Sadie L., daughter of T. M. C. and Hattie Logan, of River Sioux, and as a result of this marriage union one child was born-Rex.

Politically, our subject affiliates with the Democratic party. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge, and also the Grand Army of the Republic.

LFRED B. PUGH, one of the successful farmers of Union Town- ship, residing on section 6, has been a resident of Harrison County for a third of a century. He first settled on the John Rogers place, La Grange Township, where he leased land for one season, and then purchased fifty acres, comprising a part of his present farm. At that time, he was living with his parents; his father purchased near by, and the land is a part of his present farm. Our subject remained with his father until he

had reached the years of his majority .. He built a log cabin upon his land, and kept bachelor's hall there for one year, and in 1862, added one hundred acres to this farm. He broke and grubbed until he has eighty-five acres of that land under cultivation. His log cabin was torn away, and he erected a house, 16x24 feet, with a wing, 14x16 feet on the site of his old cabin home, which was burned in Febru- ary, 1872. Since then he has added to his house, and built a barn, 30x40 feet, with a granary, 16x18 feet; a carriage house, 20x24 feet; put in a pair of scales; dug three wells; erected a wind-mill and made numerous other improvements. His pre- sent farm comprises two hundred and eighteen acres, ninety-seven of which are under cultivation. The place has an or- chard of six hundred bearing trees, which are a source of annual revenue to our sub- ject.

Mr. Pugh was born in Campbell County, Va., March 27, 1840, the son of David and Eliza (Hutchinson) Pugh, who were the parents of ten children-Reis G., de- ceased; Mary J., deceased; Martha A., deceased; George, deceased ; Charles, de- ceased; John T., deceased; Esther, Alfred B., Jonathan G. and Harriet, deceased.

Our subject with his parents moved to Greenbrier County, the old Dominion State, where he remained until they came to Harrison County.

Our subject was united in marriage November 8, 1863, to Nancy L. Knight, daughter of Houston and Elizabeth Knight, natives of Indiana, who reared a family of eleven children, our subject's wife being the seventh. Mr. and Mrs. Pugh are the parents of the following chil- dren-Charles D., Mary J., Martha A., William G., deceased; Andrew C., de- ceased; Aubrie B., John W., deceased;

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Jessie H., Bessie H., deceased and Frank, deceased. Four of these children are liv- ing in Iowa and one in California.

Our subject has passed through four grasshopper seasons, two of which were destructive; also had his crops injured by hail storms.

He is a member of the Odd Fellows or- der, Logan Lodge, No. 355 and both he and his good wife are acceptable members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Harris Grove, and are active members of the same.

Mr. Pugh has possessed a much greater tract of land since his residence in the county, which has been distributed among his children as follows : each of his daugh- ters he has given seventy acres and sold to his son-in-law seventy acres.

He has had many reverses in the way of sickness, which has cost him many hundreds of dollars.

Politically, he is a Democrat, and is now on his fourth term as Justice of the Peace. He is a Notary Public ; has been Treasurer of the School Board and held other offices of minor import.

b ARRISON YOUNT, whose home is on section 5, of Douglas Town- ship, and whose farm is meandered by the Big Picayune Creek, came to Harrison County in the autumn of 1869, when he rented a farm in Calhoun Town- ship, where he lived one year and then rented a farm in St. John's Township, re- maining three years and then went to Cincinnati Township, where he was a renter of land for six years, and then farmed in St. John's Township again two years, after which hoping to better his

condition, he moved to Boyer Township, where he rented a year and then bought his present farm on section 5, which was eighty-seven acres of improved land.

Our subject was born in Tippecanoe County, Ind., July 22, 1840, and in 1844 his parents removed to Wapello County, Iowa, where they lived about three years and then removed to Jefferson County, Iowa, where our subject remained until the breaking out of the Civil War. August 8, 1862, he enlisted in Company G, Thirtieth Iowa Infantry, being mustered into the service at Keokuk, and went to St. Louis, was there one month, and went to Helena, Ark., and from there to Vicks- burg, and was soon sent to a hospital on account of loss of speech, and was not with his company again, not having the use of his voice for three years sufficient to articulate above a whisper. He was mustered out of service at Davenport, Iowa, July 8, 1865, and returned to Jeffer- son County, where he engaged in farming and running a threshing machine, which last business he followed for thirty-six years only missing the years he was in the army. He commenced to go with a threshing machine when only twelve years of age, when threshing machinery was in a very crude state, and hence may be called a veteran grain thresher.

He was united in marriage to Miss Sarah C. Stewart in Jefferson County, Iowa, October 10, 1861. By this union three children were born-Elizabeth, born August 8, 1862; John W., November 14, 1866; Harrison E., May 4, 1872. Eliza- beth died in Keokuk, Iowa, October 10, 1864.

Mrs. Yount was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, February 1, 1845, her par- ents coming to Jefferson County, Iowa, when she was ten years old; she remain-

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ing at home until the date of hier mar- riage. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Andrew Yount, the father of our subject, was born August 11, 1816, and was reared in Tippecanoe County, Ind., and was one of the pioneer band who first entered the wilds of Jefferson County, Iowa, in 1844, when Iowa was yet a territory. He en- gaged in farming in 1867 eighteen miles from Burlington, in Henry County, where he lived the remainder of his days, dying September 5, 1883.

The mother of our subject died January 29, 1816, and reared in Tippecanoe County, Ind., and died in Jefferson County, Iowa, September 2, 1861. Her father was Levi Stewart born in Montgomery County, Md., in 1805, and left there when twenty years of age, for Virginia, and was there married to Miss Mary E. Meachelfresh, December 1, 1831, and they were the par- ents of thirteen children, Sarah C., being the eighth child. The family removed to Jefferson County, Ohio, and remained until 1854, when they came to Jefferson County, Iowa, where the father died Jan- uary 24, 1878. Mary E., died in Harrison County, May 5, 1886.

Politically our subject votes with the Republican party.

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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 78

Author: National Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.) Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago, National Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1150

Author: National Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, National Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1150