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 79
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ANIEL ROCK, who owns a por- tion of sections 9 and 16, of Douglas Township, has been a resident and an honorable citizen of Harrison Connty since 1869, arriving in the spring of that year. He rented a farm on Pigeon Creek, in Cass Township, where he cul- tivated the soil for three years, during
which time he purchased eighty acres on section 16, on Douglas Township, upon which there was a small house and forty acres under cultivation. This house was occupied until 1888, when it was super- seded by a new one, 18x24 feet, with an addition 14x16 feet, built one story and a half high. As prosperity smiled upon his labors, and the soil yielded forth its boun- tiful harvests, he from time to time bought other lands, until he now possesses two hundred and fifty five acres of Harrison County's fertile soil, all of which shows the marks of industrious and intelligent husbandry.
To acquaint the reader more thorough- ly with the early years of him for whom this biographical sketch is written, we will ask him to go in imagination across the great ocean and to the inland county of Maid, Ireland, where our subject was born, and where grew the Shamrock rose. There we might have seen a youth spend- ing the first sixteen years of his life as a dutiful son. At that time he had visions of the New World, and desiring to get from under the thralldom of British tyr- anny, he came to America where he found work as a railroad grader in New York State, which he followed for thirty years, and was one whose brawny arms helped to construct the first railroad across the Alleghany Mountains.
About 1846 he left New York and went to Harrisburg, Pa., where he remained for several years, and learning of the new West, came to Clinton County, Iowa, and there lived until 1869, when he came to Harrison County. Since coming to Iowa, he has turned his attention to the cultivation of the soil.
He was married in Huntington County, Pa., to Miss Mary Doland, by whom he has reared the following children : Han-
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norah, John, Katie, Bridget, Edward and Mary.
Our subject was bereft of his wife, who passed from the scenes of this life in the month of June, 1875. Mr. and Mrs. Rock- both adhered to the faith as taught by the Roman Catholic Church. Politically, our subject believes in the principles of the Democratic party.
C HARLES VREDENBURGH,ares- ident of section 21, Jackson Town- ship, came to Harrison County in the spring of 1863, and first located in the town of Little Sioux. He came to this county a poor man, and rented land. He drove four horses to the county, coming four hundred and fifty miles. He rented land for three years, and then paid $400 for twenty acres of partly improved land, which he broke up and built a house upon, made other improvements and remained five years, when he bought the quarter- section upon which he now lives, paying $600 for the same. Here he built a house, 24x36 feet, one story and a half high, also a barn, granary, double-cribs, and dug a well over which he erected a windmill. He set out an orchard of three hundred and fifty trees and a grove of shade trees. He has since added to his farm until he now has two hundred and eighty acres, one hundred andtwenty-five of which are under the plow. The entire place is surrounded by a good fence, and everything about the premises shows him to be a man of thrift and order.
He was born in Wayne County, N. Y., September 27, 1832, and is a son of Henry and Almena Vredenburgh, natives of the Empire State, who had a family of eleven
children, he being the fourth in order. Their names were as follows: Charlotte, deceased, Lucinda, Mary, Charles, Elias, Anna, deceased, Elenor, Ruth, Caroline, deceased, .William, Elijah, deceased.
At the age of eleven years our subject accompanied his parents to Illinois: He was married November 17, 1864, to Amy A. Chase, the daughter of Amos and Sarah Chase, natives of Vermont, who were the parents of five children, all of whom are living-Abner, Amy, Asaph, May and Milton.
Our subject's wife was the first white girl born in the county. (See sketch of Amos and Sarah Chase.) She was born October 30, 1850.
Our subject and his wife are the parents of eleven children, born as follows - Almena, December 27, 1865; Ollie (de- ceased), June 17, 1867; Amos, December 20, 1868; Joseph, September 9, 1871; Norman, August 11, 1874; Mark, Febru- ary 11, 1876; James, March 22, 1878; May, October 20, 1880; Helen, November 17, 1882; David, August 2, 1884; Ruth, May 28, 1888. These children are all residents of Harrison County, at this time.
P ETER NOYES, (deceased), a na- tive of Ohio, came to Harrison County in 1867. He was born in 1816. The family came to Ohio at an early day; he was a stone mason and worked at his trade until the war broke out, when he enlisted in Company B, Thirty-sixth Ohio Infantry, and partici- pated in the engagements of South Mountain, Antietam and Bull Run. He re-enlisted in January, 1865, as a member
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of Company C, United States Veteran Volunteers. He was honorably discharged in January, 1866. at Albany, N. Y. After the war, he removed [to Wapello County, Iowa, where he remained one year and then came to Harrison County, and bought land on section 23, of Morgan Township, which is now owned by his son, W. S.
Mr. Noyes was married twice. By his first marriage, two sons were born-Asa E. and John R. Our subject's second wife was Margaret Haskett, by whom three children were born-Winfield S., Charles H. and Joseph S.
Politically, Mr. Noyes was a Republi- can, and held the office of Justice of the Peace for some years. He died February 22, 1887.
Winfield S., the son of our subject, is a native of Ohio, and came with his father to Harrison County in 1867. He was born in August, 1853, in Morgan County, Ohio. His mother, Margaret (Haskett) Noyes, is still living. After his father's death, he took charge of the home-farm to whichi he has added forty acres.
He was married in February, 1877, to Lillian H. Work, daughter of David and Lola Work, early settlers of the county. Their children are Asa Clyde and Alonzo B.
Our subject belongs to the Sons of Vete- ran Camp, No. 135, at Mondamin. Poli- tically, he affiliates with the Republican party.
ARMON D. OVERTON, of Mis- souri Valley, first came to Harrison County, in 1864, locating in Cincin- nati Township, where he ran a saw mill for two years, In 1866, he returned
to Omaha, lived two years, and then came back to Missouri Valley.
Our subject was born in Chautauqua County, N. Y., in the town of Loraine, March 25, 1831. He is the son of James D. and Betsy (Allen) Overton. The father was a native of the Empire State, as was also his mother. The history of the Overton family shows, that in the seventeenth century, three brothers came to America from England. One settled in the North and the other two in the South. The North branch of the family is the branch from which our subject de- scended. The grandfather, Joseph B. Overton, was in the War of 1812. The father of our subject was a shoe-maker and tanner, and had a family of seven children, our subject being the oldest. The father died in October, 1844, and the mother at Omaha, in 1867. Of the seven children, five are living. A brother died on Island No. 10, on the Mississippi River, in 1855, of yellow fever, and a sister died in New York. One brother is a minister in Council Bluffs, and one lives in Penn- sylvania. One sister lives in Hancock County, Ill., and the other lives in south- ern Missouri. The family came to Illi- nois when our subject was but nine years of age, and located on Spring Creek, Han- cock County, near Macomb. The father was a farmer in that section. Here our subject received his education, and re- mained with his mother, assisting in the support of the family, until 1852, when he went to St. Louis and engaged in steam- boating. He served as an engineer on the river until 1857, running on the steam- boat "Omaha." He made Sioux City his terminal point north. He made his first trip in 1856, and was serving as an assistant engineer at that time. He ope- rated the Omaha and Council Bluffs
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ferry-boat for about five years. Since coming to Missouri Valley, he has made that place his home but has been away much of the time himself, and has fol- lowed steam-boating much of the time, and also run a blacksmith shop in Mis- souri Valley. In April, 1891, he took charge of the water-works plant at Mis- souri Valley, where he still remains.
He was united in marriage December 15, 1855, at St. Louis, Mo., to Rebecca Cooley, a native of Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Overton are the parents of four chi !- dren, three of whom are deceased. Delia Hardman, their youngest child, is at home with them.
In politics, Mr. Overton supports the principles of the Republican party.
During four years prior to his engaging in the water works at Missouri Valley, he was employed at bridge work at Rulo, Neb., Nebraska City and Memphis, Tenn.
DDISON L. HARVEY, banker and real-estate dealer, at Logan, Iowa, is perhaps as well known as any man in Harrison County, where he has been actively engaged in business since the spring of 1857.
He is a descendant of Thomas Harvey of the old Green Mountain State, Ver- mont, who had a family of six, as follows : Spencer, Nathan, Thomas, Johnson, Delia and Freelove. The parents of these chil- dren came to Vermont at an early date and went through the laborious task of "clearing up" a farm from among the stones and forests of that rock-ribbed commonwealth.
Nathan, the father of our subject, was born in Vermont in 1802, and in his early
life, made a livelihood by farming, wool- carding, coloring and dressing cloths, afterward operated a hotel in connection with farming in the town of Smithfield, Madison County, N. Y., on the old turn- pike road, between Syracuse and Utica. This was before the days of railroads through that section, and he continued in the hotel business until after the advent of these iron highways, which virtually destroyed the profit of his business, which he abandoned, devoting his attention to farming, following that until 1854, at which time he came West to Jasper County, Iowa, where he resided several years and afterward came to Harrison County and died in 1864 in Magnolia, at the home of his son, the subject of this sketch. His wife, Auril T. Lyman, was a native of Connecticut, and the third of a family of eleven children. Her parents were Jesse and Theodora A. (Dewey) Lyman, and the following were their children : Joseph A., Samuel P., Auril T., M: ry, Sarah, Charles G., Jane E., Abigal, Wells T., Thomas A. E., and Hubert H. Our subject's mother came to live with her son, A. L., in 1861, and died at his home in Logan in 1885.
Speaking more particularly of our sub- ject, it should be said that when he was seventeen years of age he taught school in Madison County, N. Y., and for three years thereafter was engaged in clerking, after which he went to Rockland County, N. Y., where he engaged himself in a rail- road office for three years, at the town of Piermont, then the terminus of the New York & Erie Railroad. After serving three years in the service of the railroad com- pany he was impressed with the idea that the Hawkeye State afforded a broader and better field for a young man, with business qualifications, than did the Eastern States, so in 1856 he started for Iowa, with New-
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ton, Jasper County, as his objectivo point, where he engaged in merchandising. In the spring of 1857, in company with Will- iam Arthur, he came to Harrison County, Arthur locating in the old town of St. John, in the sawmill business, and after- ward bought the E. J. Ellis farm in the Soldier Valley, Jackson Township, Har- rison County, where he has since resided, while Mr. Harvey cast his lot with the good old pioneers of Magnolia, where, in company with Truman W. Woodruff, he started a general store. It will be remem- bered that this was just at the time of the great financial panic of 1857-8, but through shrewd business management they were enabled to pull through and pay their debts, after which they had nothing left, and consequently in the fall of 1859 went out of business. Mr. Har- vey then commenced transcribing records for Harrison County, which work he fol- lowed most of the time until January 25, 1860, when he was appointed Treasurer and Recorder of Harrison County, at the hands of County Judge D. E. Brainard, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Boner, who was elected in the fall of 1859. Proving himself efficient in the roll of a county officer, he was elected in the fall of 1860 to the same office and was re- elected two succeeding terms. It should be stated in this connection that the cam- paign previous to his election was a hotly contested one, that Mr. Harvey received only one majority, the county being largely Democratic.
After leaving the Treasurer's office he opened a real-estate office at Magnolia, and was soon in possession of a lucrative land business in which he is engaged at the present time in Logan.
September 1, 1867, he, in company with J. C. Milliman, established the Harrison
County Bank, which they operated until April 1, 1879, at which time A. W. Ford bought Mr. Milliman'sinterest, since which time the institution has been operated under the firm name of Harvey & Ford.
Our subject was married December 4, 1860, to Margaret Anna Miller, of Pier- mont, Rockland County, N. Y. She was born in 1835. The issue of this marriage was seven children, all of whom are living, except the first-born, named Theodora A. Those now living are: Charles A., Mar- garet A., George H., Harry L., Robert W., and Frank F., all of whom are at home, except Charles A., who married Fannie Barnhart, now residing at Logan, and Margaret A., who married Sears McHenry, banker at Denison, Iowa. Politically, Mr. Harvey is identified with the Repub- lican party, which is greatly indebted to him for the many well-fought political battle-fields in which he has been a prom- inent factor. He has been Cliairman of the Republican County Central Commit- tee seventeen years at different times, and has served four terms on the State Central Committee. His first vote for President was cast for Gen. John C. Fremont. While he does not aspire to become a party lead- er, yet his capabilities have become felt and seen, through many a heated can- paign in Harrison County, and who has his work all done before election day rolls round, and who was never known to work a poll on election day. At this time he is a firm advocate of the "Australian bal- lot system." He is a member of Chrys- olite Lodge, No. 420, of the Masonic order at Logan, and is also a member of Logan Lodge No. 355, I. O. O. F.
Having been an energetic business man for a long term of years, beginning when Harrison County had but a small popula- tion, and keeping pace with the progress
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of the county, our subject has made a large circle of acquaintances, both in his own and surrounding counties, and is well and favorably known throughout the State of Iowa. Being a good observer of daily events, as well as a great reader, he is well informed as to all that has transpired since his boyhood days in the old Empire State.
It matters not when one meets Mr. Har- vey, whether it be in his business rela- tions, by the side of his desk, in a public convention, when political favors are asked, midst the turmoil of business life, or within his own home-circle, in which he takes great delight, he always impress- es one with the thought of one character- istic, that of a natural-born, true gentle- man.
RITZ MANDELKO, a farmer liv- ing on section 33, of Calhoun Town- ship, came to Harrison County in June, 1867, and lived at Missouri Valley for two years, during which time he was engaged at bridge work on the railroad. In 1869 he bought a quarter section of land on section 4, of St. John's Township. Only twenty acres of it had been broken, but he at once set to work and improved it, bringing it under a high state of culti- vation. He erected a farm house, one and a half stories high 22x24 feet, with an addition of 12x24 feet, also provided good outbuildings, and remained on the place for eighteen years. In June. 1882, he bought the quarter section he now lives upon, there being forty acres of breaking and a small house upon the same. His home farm now consists of two hundred and fifty acres, one hundred and ten of which are under the plow, and fifty acres
of timber. He removed to this place in 1890, and that summer built a large frame house, and also two good sized barns.
Our subject was born in Prussia, Ger- many, July 16, 1845, and is the son of Charles and Sophia (Will) Mandelko, and is the eldest of a family of six children. In Prussia our subject's father was a day laborer, and Fritz attended the common- schools off and on, until sixteen years of age, and worked out, receiving $30 per year, and was compelled to work from before daylight nntil long after the sun sank to rest behind the German moun- tains, which indeed, is a great contrast with the principles advocated by those of our own country, who are clamoring for the "eight hour system." Our subject re- mained in his native land until the spring of 1864, when he looked upon the pictur- esque landscape, which had been a feast to his eyes from his earliest recollection, but thinking of the New World, and the ad- vantages to be gained in a land where all men are equal, he bid farewell to all these scenes and sailed for America. From New York harbor he came to Chi- cago where he worked as a section hand for one year, and then drove a team for a planing mill company, receiving $2. per day for his services. This was in 1855, and by strict economy he was enabled to lay by some money ..
He was married November 29, 1872, to Anna Bokelman, a native of Hanover, Germany, born February 21, 1855. She came to America in June, 1872. Mr. and and Mrs. Mandelko are the parents of twelve children-Fred, born July 2, 1873; Rika, November 3, 1874; Caroline, Au- gust 24, 1877; Henry, March 8, 1878; Mary, October 23, 1879; Sophia, October 21, 1881; Anna, August 26, 1884; Tilda, June 12, 1886; Robert and Rosy, (twins)
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February 8, 1888; Harry, January 20, 1889; Bartha, October 30, 1890.
Our subject and his family are all ac- ceptable members of the German Luth- eran Church. He is a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge at Missouri Valley. Po- litically our subject has always voted the Republican ticket, but for reasons satis- factory to himself, he affiliates with the Democratic party.
The parents of our subject came to our shores in 1866, lived two years in Chicago and then removed to Missouri Valley, but shortly afterward made their home with our subject. The father died April 21, 1899, aged sixty-eight years. The mother. still remains with them.
When Mr. Mandelko came to America he was obliged to borrow $40 of his uncle, with which to pay his passage across the ocean, but by hard work and economy, (which would discourage the average boy of to-day), this man has been able to lay up a competency and has never seen the "hard times," which some complain of, but has kept steadily at work, and now, when he is but a little past the prime of life, he is surrounded by the enjoyment of a charming home, in this his adopted country.
halting one year in Pottawattamie County, and then came to Magnolia. Amasa L., consequently, received his ed- ucation in the common schools of this county. He remained at home until twenty-three years of age, when he moved to his present home in Calhoun Town- ship, which he had purchased the year previous. It was wild land. and upon it he erected a log house 16x18 feet, which is still standing. He occupied this house until 1884, and then erected his present commodious farm house, the upright of which is 14x28 feet, with two good sized additions.
There are important events in every man's life, and perhaps none have a greater bearing on the success and future . happiness of a young man starting out in life, than the selection of a wife. It may be said in this connection, that in 1866 our subject took this view of the matter, for on November 22 of that year he was united in marriage to Lorain Lockling, a native of St. Joseph, Missouri, born in 1849, and the daughter of Artemus and Thirsa Lockling. Mrs. Merchant was the youngest of a family of four children, and came to Harrison County with her par- ents in 1851. Our subject and his wife have been blessed in their home circle by the advent of four children, Minnie M., born February 11, 1869; Jennie H., July 12, 1877; Lula L., March 31, 1882, and Mary I., November 27, 1886.
MASA L. MERCHANT, a resident - of section 16, Calhoun Township, came to Harrison County with liis parents, three years before the Politically, Mr. Merchant votes with the Democratic party. county was organized-in 1850. His fa- ther settled where he still resides, in Magnolia Township. Our subject was born in Hancock County, Ill., at Nauvoo, J OHN S. DECOU, a native of Nor- folk County, Canada, was born Au- gust 17, 1851, and when two years and eight months of age accom- March 11, 1844, and is a son of Lucius and Hortensia (Patrick) Merchant, and when he was four years of age his father fitted out an ox-team and started West, | panied his parents to Winneshiek County,
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Iowa, and in the spring of 1865 they removed to Harrison County, Iowa. He remained at home untilthe spring of 1891, with the exception of two years he farmed in Nebraska upon land which he finally sold, and purchased land on the Little Pigeon, which he traded for his present farm. He was united in marriage October 8, 1890, to Ruth P. Cramer, who was born in Delaware County, N. Y., July 15, 1854, and remained there until 1880, when she came to Harrison County. She is the daughter of Ambrose and Lydia P.Cramer. The father died in New York in 1862, and the mother in 1857. They were the par- ents of three children, Mrs. DeCou being the youngest.
Mr. DeCou is a member of the Odd Fellow's Order, entering the Lodge at Logan, March 21, 1879, and in February, 1880, took a card and helped to institute Woodbine Lodge, No. 405.
LLEN STOKER, who is a resident of section 27, Union Township, came to Harrison County in Feb- ruary 1869, and purchased a part of his present homestead, and then re- turned to Pottawattamie County, return- ing the following year to remain, and began breaking up the wild sod. He lived with his brother-in-law, George Spears, for about two years. The township at that time was very thinly settled, there not being over one hundred and fifty in- habitants, and their chief market was Logan.
To inform the reader concerning our subject's earlier years, his marriage, etc., it should be stated that he was born December 29, 1844, in Hancock County,
Ill., and is the son of Ellar and Margaret (Judd) Stoker.
The father was a native of the Buckeye State, and came to Pottawattamie County, Iowa, settling near Council Bluffs, in June 1846, where he died July 19, 1855, always following farming. His wife was born in Indiana. They were the parents of eight children, of whom seven still survive, Mr. Stoker being the third child. He attended the district school in Potta- wattamie County, acquiring a fair business education. His father died when he was about eleven years of age, but, being a faithful son, he lingered around the home hearth-stone until he had reached his majority, and then worked the old home- stead two years, teaching school winters. Upon leaving home his mother gave him a team of horses and a wagon and the sum of $100 in money. And with this small beginning he started forth in life to take his rank among men as the architect of his own fortune, and by good business habits and much hard labor he is now surrounded with a comfortable home, and is possessor of three hundred and ninety- five acres of land in Union Township, of which two hundred are under the plow, and the balance pasture and meadow land. He usually keeps seventy-five head of cattle, fourteen horses, and fifty swine. He built his present house in 1879, the upriglit of which is 16x24 feet and two stories high, to which an addition fourteen feet square and one story high has been added. His barn was erected in 1883, and is 36x42 feet, with twenty-foot posts. The whole premises show evidences of good management and our subject is looked upon as one of the intelligent agriculturists of the country.
He was united in marriage October 31, 1876, to Sarah E. Whitinger, daughter
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of Jasen and Mary J. (Howard) Whitinger, who emigrated to the county in 1857 or 1858. Her father was born in Indiana August 18, 1835, and came to Dallas County, Iowa, in 1853. He was married when twenty-four years of age. His wife was born in Illinois March 7, 1842, and raised a family of six children, of whom Mrs. Stoker, born February 24, 1859, is the eldest. Her people are living in Idaho, to which State they went in 1854. Mr. and Mrs. Stoker are the parents of seven children, who were born in the following order :- The first born died in infancy ; Ada M., October 15, 1877; Mar- garet J., October 3, 1879; Nellie L., Jan- uary 17, 1882: Marvin C., September 29, 1884, died December 14, 1890; Edith, born June 19, 1889; Lloyd A., May 1, 1889.
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