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 90
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where our subject spent the remainder of the winter. After which he went to Rock- port, Washington County, Neb., and there remained until 1868, and then came back to Douglas County, Neb., where he farmed for the first time. He rented in that vicinity until the fall of 1870 and then came to Harrison County, Iowa.
He was married in Washington County, Neb., March 5, 1868, to Miss Martha I. Wilson and they are the parents of eight children-Millie J., born August 4, 1869; Alfred W., March 12, 1872; Richard F., June 22, 1874; Alice E., October 6, 1876; Harriet I., April 1, 1879; John G., April 15, 1881; Katie L., January 15, 1884 and Gertie M., June 21, 1887. John G. died September 16, 1881.
Martha (Wilson) Chapman, wife of our subject, was born in Taylor County, Iowa, March 12, 1851, and in the spring of 1865, moved with her parents to Pottawattamie County, where they remained until fall and then moved to Florence, Neb., re- mained there until the spring of 1866, when they moved to a farm in the same county, remained one season and then moved to Washington County, Neb., where our subject's wife remained until the date of her marriage.
Mr. and Mrs. Chapman are both mem- bers of the Latter Day Saints Church; they united July, 1874. Of their family, Millie J., Alfred W., Alice E. and Harriet I. are also members of the same church. Mr. Chapman has held and still retains the office of township trustee.
The father of Mrs. Chapman, William A. Wilson, was born in Kentucky, March 24, 1821, and in 1835, with his parents moved to Indiana, where he remained un- til 1845 and then came to Taylor County, Iowa, and from there to Pottawattamie County in 1865. The same fall, he moved
to Florence, Neb., and in the spring of 1867, to Washington County, Neb., where he remained until 1869, then removed to Douglas County, where he died March 4, 1891. Sarah J. (Guill) Wilson, the mo- ther of our subject's wife, was born in Kentucky and died in Douglas County, Neb., November 14, 1866. They were the parents of ten children-five sons and five daughters, Mrs. Chapman being the third child.
W ILLIAM H. McQUEEN (retired) came to Harrison County in the spring of 1865, just at the close of the Civil War, and settled on section 9, of Taylor Township, where he purchased two hundred acres of wild land at $3.75 per acre. The same is situated on the Missouri Bottoms. Here he erected a rough frame house 16x20 feet, one story and a half high. The first year he broke only ten acres of his land, but the next year broke about forty acres. His original house served the purpose of a residence with an addition which he made to it, until 1875, when he built a story and a half frame house, 18x28 feet, and an ell 14x20 feet, with porch and pantry added. He has also a frame barn 16x30 feet. His home farm now consists of two hundred acres, all under cultivation. He has a farm of eighty acres in Jackson Town- ship, which makes him quite an extensive land owner. In 1885 he left the farm and went to Modale, where he engaged in general merchandising, in which he con- tinued until July, 1888, at which time he sold out his business, and has since lived a retired life. In 1888 he and his wife took a trip through Ohio, visiting his par-
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ents, who lived at that time in Carroll County. He also attended the Grand Army of the Republic Encampment at Columbus, and visited many friends and relatives in the Buckeye State. The sum- mers of 1889 and 1890 our subject spent in the Black Hills country, he having a son Charles C., who is a ranchman in Fall River County, S. Dak. Upon coming to this county our subject had but little means, but being possessed of a good edu- cation, he taught school winters and farmed summers. He passed through two sieges of grasshopper raids, and in 1868 they caused the total failure of crops. Mr. McQueen received $300 for teaching school, or he could hardly have existed in the country.
To acquaint the reader with our sub- ject's earlier life and his wife's domestic relations, it may be said that he was born November 26, 1829, in Carroll County, Ohio, then known as Jefferson County, He is a son of Elisha and Lydia (Tope) McQueen. They were natives of Wash- ington County, Pa .. The father was born August 9,1802, and died in Carroll County, Ohio, in February, 1890. The mother was born in 1805, and died at the same place in December, 1890. These two old companions on the road of life, having filled their mission well, passed from the scenes of earth during the same year. They reared a family of six children, our subject being the second child in the family of three daughters and three sons. He remained at home with his parents until October, 1848, when he commenced teaching school, and followed it for a number of years. He taught winters, and to school summers, for several years, and attended the academy at New Ha- gerstown, Carroll County, several years. There were two departments in this school,
and only had one change of teachers while he was there, and this was occa- sioned by the lady teacher getting mar- ried, after which our subject put one of his advanced pupils in charge. In 1859 he went to Canal Dover, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and took charge of his father-in-law's mercantile business, which he conducted until 1860, and that spring came to Poweshiek County, Iowa, and commenced teaching at Brooklyn, follow- ing the same until about the time he came to Harrison County. The last year he was there he was in the grocery busi- ness and bought and sold out three times. This was during Civil War times.
Our subject was united in marriage, in Carroll County, Ohio, October 25, 1853, to Miss Mary Walters, the daughter of Will- iam and Elizabeth (McKee) Walters, and to them have been born five children -- Elisha W., Amanda M., James L., Charles G., Frank W., all of whom are living.
Mary (Walters) McQueen was born near New Cumberland, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, August 17, 1836, and lived with her parents until the date of her mar- riage.
Our subject is a member of the Sons of Temperance, and was a member at Lees- ville, Ohio, in 1854, and was made a Mason at Urichsville, Ohio, in the fall of 1854. He now belongs to the Masonic lodge at Missouri Valley. He was made a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, . at Brooklyn, Iowa, in 1862, and now be- longs to the Mondamin Lodge. He was a charter member of the Masonic lodge at Brooklyn, Iowa, and was its first S. W
Mrs. McQueen is an acceptable mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is an exemplary christian.
Mr. McQueen, in his political choice,
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is a Democrat, and has held all the local township offices, except constable. Heis a Notary Public at the present time. In the campaign of 1876, he was a candidate cn the Democratic ticket for the office of County Recorder. The Republican ma- jority at that time was three hundred and thirty-four, yet through his ability and popularity, he was only defeated by twenty-seven votes.
Frank W., son of our subject, was born in Harrison County, Iowa, May 14, 1867. He received his education at the common schools, and attended the Commercial college at Omaha, during the summer and fall of 1833. He then came back to Mo- dale, and opened up a general store, carry- ing about $2,000 stock. He was married in Des Moines, Iowa, June 12, 1890. to Miss Linnie McGrew, daughter of Nath- an B. and Anna (Hickock) McGrew. Linnie (McGrew) McQueen, was born in Williams County, Ohio, November 19, 1868, and in 1882, her parents moved to Des Moines.
ACOB COX, a resident of section 12, St. John's Township, came to Har- rison County in the fall or 1854, and may well called a pioneer of the van-guard. He located on the site of his present home, where he took a claim of one hundred and sixty acres, on which he ereeted a log cabin 14x16 feet, provided with a board floor, but covered with "shakes" for roofing. He lived in this cabin a few years and then erected a frame house, which burned in January, 1862. He built another the same month, the same being a part of his present resi- dence, the new part being erected in 1883,
and consists of an upright one story and a half high, together with a commodious wing. Our subject's present farm com- prises three hundred and sixty acres in one square body.
Mr. Cox was born in Montgomery County August 26, 1820, and is the son of Abraham and Lydia (Reel) Cox. The father was a native of Tennessee and the mother of Virginia. When he was five years of age his parents moved from Ohio to Indiana and located in Putnam County where his father followed farming, his trade however being that of a hatter. The father died in Indiana in about 1848, and the mother in 1838, and when seven- teen years of age our subject commenced the labors of life for himself. He worked out by the year, receiving $100 for his ser- vices ; continuing at this sort of labor for about three years, and followed laboring by the day and month for four years, rented land for three years when he pur- chased an eighty-acre timber tract in Clay County, Ind., and resided there for five years, and cleared twenty-five acres from out the big forest, then he sold and fitted out a two-horse wagon and started for Pot- tawattamie County, Iowa, arriving Octo- ber 2, 1852, having been six weeks on the road. He remained in Pottawattamfe County long enough to raise one crop then moved to Harrison County.
Our subject married Sarah Fox,in June, 1842; she was a native of Indiana and died in June, 1853, leaving a family offive children-William H., born January 16, 1843; he was a soldier in the Civil War and died of disease there contracted, Septem- ber 7, 1863; James P., born May 30, 1845, lives in St. John's Township; Nancy, born November 11, 1847, married William Smith and lives in Allen Township; Cath- erine, born January 25, 1851, wife of Mr.
.
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Owens, living in Woodbine; and Caroline died aged one year.
For his second wife he married Hannah Frazier, November 28, 1865. She was a native of Putnam County, Ind., born August 28, 1838, and was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Frazier; she was the sixth child of a family of seven sons and seven daughters, eight of whom grew to manhood and womanhood.
Our subject and his second wife are the parents of ten children, seven of whom still survive-Minerva C., born August 9, 1857, is the wife of John A. Brown; John Isaac, born January 1, 1859, married and lives in St. John's Township; Sarah Eliza- beth, born March 15, 1861, married I. E. Houghton, and lives in Portsmouth, Shelby County; Alexander R., born April 4, 1863, is a conductor on the Sioux City & Omaha railway; Harvey H., born March 20, 1865, married and lives on the same premises with his father; Charles, born July 20, 1867, married and lives in Allen Township; Oscar, born October 30, 1869, died November 19, 1869; Ara A,, born November 6, 1871, and died September 25, 1876; William Fonrose, born February 28, 1876, still at home.
Mrs. Hannah (Frazier) Cox, came to Harrison County with her parents in May, 1855. Her father was of Scotch and her mother of English descent. The former died May 21, 1868, and the latter Septem- ber 12, 1867.
L YSANDER CRANE, who has been a resident of Harrison County since 1862, and is now a resident of Boyer Township, living about two miles south of Woodbine, will form the subject of this biographical notice.
He was born April 16, 1835 in Huron County, Ohio, and remained with his parents until he was seventeen years of age, and then went to Rock County, Wis., where he worked on a farm one season, and then returned to the home of his father and remained until he came to Henry County, Ill., in 1855; he remained one year and in October, 1856, went to Olmstead County, Minn., and there re- mained until the spring of 1872, then went to Jackson County, Minn., and lived until July of that year, and then came to this county. He had scarcely arrived in Harrison County, when the rumor came that the Indians were killing the people in the neighborhood he had just left in Minnesota. Their team being the last one that came down with the escort of soldiers, and the rumor above referred to was but the preface to one of the bloodiest tragedies recorded in the history of Indian warfare in Minnesota or Iowa, and is known as the "New Ulm Massacre."
The first night in Harrison County, our subject camped on Willow Creek, had but ten cents, and was just out of provisions, having only flour enough to mix with milk, which made a harmless, but not over hearty diet. The next day they reached -
Jeddo, where Mrs. Crane's father lived .
Mr. Crane settled near there, working by the day at what ever he could get to do, until winter, when he worked at blacksmithing for Mr. Dougherty, but having visions of the Eldorado of the West, Colorado Territory, Mr. Crane and his family went to that country where he conducted a ranch on the old Military Road, by the waters of the South Platte, about one hundred miles northeast of Denver. In February, 1864, having his fill of extreme Western life, he returned to Harrison County with the same teams
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with which they went. He now bought eighty acres of land upon which he still lives. His land was unimproved and he bought an old house of Mr. Dougherty. in Jeddo, and moved it to his place. This was a 14x20, one story structure, and served them until 1880, when he built his present frame residence, which is a two story building, 16x32 feet with a wing 14x 24 feet, together with a kitchen 10 x 24, one story high. His farm now consists of three hundred and seventy acres of as fine land as can be found in the far-famed Boyer Valley. He also has a stock farm in Nebraska of 320 acres. For several years he had nothing in the way of barns, except the typical Iowa stable, consisting of poles covered with hay, but in the fall of 1864 he bought an old store building in Jeddo, and moved it to his place and used that as a barn until 1884, when he tore that down and built a new barn 34 x 36 feet with 14 foot posts, and a basement the full size of the building.
Mr. Crane was married to Miss Calfer- nia P. Bell, April 12, 1859 in Olmstead County, Minn., and by this marriage union six children have come to bless their home-Loren H., born April 26, 1860; Jotham E., June 3, 1862; Sophronia E., May 11, 1867; Mary V., June 2, 1869; Herbert H., June 8, 1870; Ezra E., August 8, 1872. They have also reared Flora M. Bell, whose father and mother died, leaving her an orphan at the tender age of eighteen months. Her father was a brother of Mrs. Crane, and this child was born May 22, 1864, in Harrison County, and married W. P. Mikesell, and she now lives upon the same farm where she was born.
Jotham E., died by injuries received by being kicked by a horse, only surviving twenty-seven hours, his death occurring
May 5, 1885; Mary V., died July 20, 1869; Loren H., was married to Miss Jessie F. Morris, and they are now living in Van- dalia, Jasper County, where he is engaged in general mercantile business. They were married in Woodbine, October 31. 1885: Sophronia H., was married to Charles L. Ellison, January 30, 1887, and resides on a farm in Lincoln Township; Herbert H., graduated from Woodbine Normal in 1891, and is teaching, as is also Ezra E.
Mrs. Crane was born August 25, 1838, in Ashtabula County, Ohio, and in 1856, with her parents, went to Olmstead County, Minn., where she remained until she was married. She was a school teacher and taught at Jeddo in the fall of 1862, and there being no school funds on hand, she took her pay in provisions, such as was raised on the farm, except $1 which was paid to her in cash.
Her parents died in Harrison County, and of her father, William Bell, it may be said that he was born in Hartford, Conn., about 1791, and moved to Ohio at about the age of seventeen years, then to Minnesota, and from there to Harrison County, Iowa. He died April 6, 1867, and his wife, the mother of Mrs. Crane, who was Martha Wolcott, of Ohio, died March 20, 1881, at the home ofher daugh- ter.
Politically, our subject is identified with the Republican party, and for six years was Postmaster in Woodbine. For ten years was engaged in mercantile business with his son, L. H. Crane. This man and his family have had a checkered life, lived in many locations, seen much of the world, been visited by the Angel of Death, have always stood high in point of honor and integrity, and are now com- fortably situated after these long years of
71
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toil and hardship. During his short stay in Colorado, he lived in quarters provided as follows : He dug holes in the ground, set four posts and covered the sides with poles and the roof with earth, which served very well in that climate ; however no one ever spoke of it as being a marvel of architectural beauty. His business there was keeping freighter's teams, and he put up large quantities of hay, which sold at big prices. Mrs. Crane made bread, pies and other eatables which she sold to the teamsters, and thus with their united efforts, gave them a sufficient sum to buy their first humble home in Harri- son County.
NDREW R. COX, of St. John's Township, came to the county in 1854, and a sketch of his life will doubtless be read with interest in this connection. He is a native of the Buckeye State, being born in Ohio, June 22, 1827. His parents were Abraham and Lydia (Reel) Cox, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Ohio. They had a family of ten children-Martha A .; Isaac W., a resident of this county ; Han- nah, Mrs. Crowder, of Indiana; Jacob, a resident of this county; Andrew, of this county; Mary, Mrs. Reel, of Indiana; Henry B., of this county; Sarah M., Mrs. Gilkerson; Nancy and Elizabeth, who died in infancy.
The family moved to Indiana in 1827, locating in Putnam County, where the father was engaged at farming. Our sub- ject's early life was passed on the farm in that county ; obtaining a common school education at a time when the public school system was not what it is to-day. The
first attempt he made at business life was when he entered a grist mill, where he re- mained four years, during which time he learned much concerning the art of an "honest miller." We next find him tilling the soil, which vocation he has followed ever since. In 1845 he went to Illinois, remained a year. and returned to Indiana and bought the old home farm in Putnam County, which he tilled until the spring of 1852, when he came to Iowa, locating in Rockford Township, Pottawattamie County, where he lived upon his brother's farm, and was one of the organizers of Rockford Township. He bought a claim on Honey Creek consisting of two hundred and forty acres of deeded land, upon which he lived two years, and then came to this county, locating on section 13, of St. John's Township, where he now has a landed estate of between four and five hundred acres. A quarter section of this land is under cultivation, while the bal- ance is in pasture and timber land. He erected a rude log cabin, a half mile from his present residence, in which the family lived for two years. Mr. Cox also helped organize St. John's Township, and the first two elections were held at his house.
To acquaint the reader with our sub- ject's domestic life, it may be said he was married June 5, 1849, in Putnam County, Ind., to Miss Barbara J. Deal, the daughter of John and Sarah (Barnett) Deal, natives of Kentucky and Tennessee respectively and of German descent.
This marriage union was blessed by the advent of seven children-George T., born June 8, 1851; Peter R., July 21, 1853; Sarah (Mrs. Harsign), January 1, 1855; Lydia (Mrs. Mouts), January 12, 1857, now living in Nebraska; Nancy (Mrs. Mouts), January 27, 1858, now living in Nebraska; Mary (Mrs. William Jones), a
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resident of this county, November 30, 1860; Ella (Mrs. Fox), February 25, 1868, now living in this county.
Upon coming to this county, our sub- ject was of the
one first set- tlers in the Boyer Valley, and liis was the only house between St. John's and where Logan now stands. His near- est trading point was Council Bluffs, and their principal diet was corn-bread and cat-fish. Mr. and Mrs. Cox cameto Iowa overland, the trip consuming just thirty days time. It was in the month of April, when the streams were swollen beyond their banks and had to be forded in the absence of bridges. The Wabash, Illinois and Mississippi Rivers were crossed by boat, while the prairie lands were all but impassable.
J AMES MCCAULEY, a respected citizen residing on section 21, of Raglan Township, came to Harrison County in October, 1856, first locat- ing in Little Sioux Township. He worked by the month for three years on a farm. Upon arriving in the county Mr. McCauly only had $9.75 in his pocket, and being sick he parted with twenty-five cents of tliis for a bottle of Pain Killer, which at that time was considered a cure-all for almost every ailment.
He bought twenty acres of land, the contract price of which was $85. It was wild land, upon which he built a small frame house, and afterward bought a swamp land claim of one hundred and sixty acres. This land he commenced to improve, and lived there for fifteen years. He then built a small house, in which he lived a short time, and then erected the
house he now occupies, which is a first- class farm house. He also has a good barn, granery, and three hundred feet of cribbing. He provides his place with well water forced from the ground with wind power. He lias an orchard of three hun- dred trees, besides a goodly number of shade and ornamental trees. As tlie years have glided by our subject has added to his landed estate until he now has eleven hundred acres, three hundred of which is under the plow, and the bal- ance in meadow and pasture land. Many are the hardships endured by this man in order that he might possess this hand- some property. There was a time since he came to Harrison County when he had barely enough clothing to keep from freezing his fleslı. He had to go about twenty miles to mill, and nine miles to the postoffice, while Council Bluffs was the nearest market. He also passed through the great snow winters and the grasshopper years, which were seasons that tried men's souls in all parts of Western Iowa.
Mr. McCauley was born in the month of April, 1828, in Ireland. He is a son of Patrick and Bridget McCauley,. whose children were: John (deceased), Ann, Cornelius, Mary, Catharine (deceased), and James.
Our subject remained in Ireland until thirteen years of age, and then sailed for America, landing in New York, where he remained seven weeks, after which he went to work in a brickyard in West- chester County, N. Y. After four months he went to Long Island and worked in a gravel bank, which job was more honora- ble than easy or lucrative, and whether his introduction to labor in this country was not what he had looked for or not, the biographical writer can only conjec-
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ture, but at any rate he returned to Ire- land and remained there three years and a half, working hard all the time to get money with which to pay his $15 passage back to America. Upon his return to this country he worked on a farm for a time, also in a paper mill, and then went to Marble Head, where he worked at shoe- making four months. We next find him. in Albany with just money enough to pay his passage to Sioux City, Iowa, where he worked for a time on a farm, and then drifted to Harrison County.
Mr. McCauley was married September 11, 1859, to Elizabeth Morrow, daughter of Patrick and Elizabeth Morrow, natives of Ireland, who were the parents of ten children-Jane, William, Elizabeth, Anna, Hugh, David (deceased), David, Joseph (deceased), Salathiel and Matilda.
Our subject and his wife are the parents of twelve children, born and named in the following order: Elizabeth, born October 6, 1862; Anna, February 11, 1864; Mary (deceased), May 7, 1865; William (de- ceased), September 20, 1866; John (de- ceased), August 29, 1868; Mary, April 20, 1870; David, August 13, 1871; Joseph (deceased), March 15, 1873; Thomas, July 13, 1874; William J., March 14, 1876; Alice, May 3, 1878; Paul B., April 10, 1886.
Our subject and his family are believers in the Roman Catholic faith.
B ENJAMIN A. DIVELBESS, a farmer of section 4, La Grange Township, may well be counted a pioneer boy of Harrison County, for he came with Charles Carvalho in May, 1853. Mr. Carvalho took a claim and re-
mained there until the spring of 1854, this settlement being made at Bigler's Grove when our subject was only eleven years old. Carvalho moved to Harris Grove, La Grange Township, and purchased a claim of Michael McKinney, afterwards entering the land, and lived upon the same until 1861. They then crossed the plains with horse teams to California, taking a drove of cattle with them. Here Carvalho and our subject remained until the autumn of 1871, when Mr. Divelbess returned to Harrison County, and for one year rented land of Mr. Longman, in Jefferson Township, and in December, 1872, he came to the farm he is now living upon, having rented the same of Mr. Longman. In the spring of 1873 our sub- ject bought forty acres of wild land from William Orr, on section 4, of La Grange Township, but still continued to live on the farm that he had rented from Mr. Longman, and in 1878 he purchased the same. He has added to the improve- ments already on the place, and also to his land, until he now has three hundred acres. When he first came to the county Council Bluffs (then called Kanesville) was their nearest postoffice and trading point. Upon one occasion Carvalho had to make three trips there with ox-teams to get a plow; he obtained the necessary irons and had to do the woodwork after he got home. In the winter of 1854-55 he attended school in a house on what is known as the William Dakan farm, in Union Township, the same being a sub- scription school, and J. B. McCurly being the teacher.
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