USA > Iowa > Madison County > History of Madison County, Iowa, and its people, Volume II > Part 57
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In May, 1864, Mr. Ratliff married Miss Matilda C. Danner, who was born in Ohio but came to this county with her parents, Michael and Elizabeth Danner, when but a child. Mrs. Ratliff died in October, 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Ratliff were the parents of nine children and eight of the number grew to maturity :
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William E., who was his father's partner in the real-estate and insurance business and who is still conducting that business; Frederick G., who is engaged in the insurance business in Sioux City, Iowa; Nellie, who married J. C. Mardis, of Des Moines, and who is now deceased: Bertha M., now Mrs. J. C. Mardis, of Des Moines ; Lena Leoto, now Mrs. Elmer Weston of Fresno, California ; Ralph E., of Omaha, Nebraska ; Jessie Louise, now Mrs. A. B. Herron, of Twin Falls, Idaho ; and Robert R., of Waterloo, Iowa. Lillian died in infancy.
Mr. and Mrs. Ratliff were both members of the Presbyterian church and took quite an active part in its work. Mr. Ratliff was identified with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, in which orders he was well known and popular. His political allegiance was given to the demo- cratic party and he was one of the leaders in its councils. He and his son Wil- liam built up an extensive business as real-estate and insurance men and the son is now prominent in that line of work. The name of Ratliff has always stood for integrity in business dealings and for public-spirited citizenship.
JOHN DE BOK.
John De Bok, of Lincoln township, is the proprietor of the Tilville Stock Farm and although he has resided in the county but a comparatively brief period he is already recognized as one of its leading farmers and stock breeders, and is meeting with substantial success in the management of his affairs. Iowa claims him as a native son, his birth having occurred in Summit township, Marion county, on the 26th of October, 1863. His father, Dingeman De Bok, was born in Holland, March 11, 1832, and when sixteen years of age crossed the Atlantic to the United States. He made his way to Marion county, Iowa, where he began farming and he also dealt extensively in lands, owning at different times a number of valuable farms. He was married, March 2, 1855, to Hannah Postma, who was born in Holland, April 15, 1838. When but four or five years of age she was brought to America by her parents, who settled in Marion county, Iowa. Her death occurred July 15, 1905, but Mr. De Bok survived until April, 1910. In their family were ten children: Jane, born February 19, 1856; Yetske, April 10, 1858; Elizabeth, December 29, 1860; John; George, born February 21, 1866; Johanna, July 8, 1867; Sarah, August 23, 1869; Mary, July 21, 1871 ; Charles, March 16, 1874; and Henry, October 24, 1876.
John De Bok passed his youthful days in the manner of most farm lads and remained upon the old homestead to the age of twenty-three, when he started out in life on his own account, following the occupation to which he had been reared. For an extended period he resided in Red Rock township, Marion county, and spent one year each in Polk and Mahaska counties, Iowa, and two years in South Dakota. He then came to Madison county, Iowa, and purchased a farm of six hundred and forty-two acres in Lincoln township. Here he engages in general farming and he also makes a specialty of raising registered Polled Angus cattle. He is today one of the prominent farmers and cattle breeders of the county, and his methods, which are at once scientific, practical and progressive, are bringing to him substantial success. His farm is improved with excellent Vol. II-28
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buildings and supplied with all modern equipments, and the latest machinery is used to facilitate the work of the fields.
Mr. De Bok married Miss Maggie Postma, a native of Marion county, Iowa, and a daughter of Albert and Gertrude ( Hoeckstra ) Postma, who were natives of Holland but spent their last days in Marion county, Iowa, dying during the early girlhood of their daughter Mrs. De Bok, who by her marriage has become the mother of ten children. Dee, who was born April 7, 1886, and is a farmer of Crawford township, married Edna Rhodes and they have one child, Zylpha. who was born June 11, 1914. Elizabeth, born April 21, 1888, died May 28, 1893. Gertrude, whose birth occurred December 9, 1892, is the wife of Clifford Herrall and they have one child, Delbert, born May 22, 1914: William, born April 3, 1895, Elsie, born December 16, 1896, Alfred, whose birth occurred December 30, 1899, Edith, born July 22, 1903, Ruby, whose natal day was April 2, 1906, Howard, born March 17, 1909, and Gail, born August 21, 1912, are all at home.
Mr. and Mrs. De Bok became members of the Evangelical church at Red Rock, Marion county. In politics he is a progressive republican, but not an office seeker, as he prefers to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs, and his close application, sound judgment and capable management have brought him gratifying success, gaining him a place among the foremost farmers of the dis- trict in which he lives.
DEXTER HOWARD.
Dexter Howard, who was one of the earliest settlers of Madison county, was born in New York in 1822 and when thirty years of age made the overland journey to this county by wagon. He entered a claim from the government and lived upon his farm until his death, which occurred in 1887 when he was sixty- five years of age. He brought all of his land under cultivation and as he was energetic and industrious he was rewarded by bounteous harvests. In the days before the herd law went into effect he let his stock run on the open prairie and raised a large number of head annually. He continued to engage in farming and stock-raising until called to his reward and was highly respected by those who knew him.
On the 24th of September, 1852, the third marriage certificate in Madison county was issued, authorizing the marriage of Dexter Howard and Elizabeth Moore. The bride was born in Scott county, West Virginia, on the IIth of November, 1831, a daughter of Henry and Tracia (Lloyd) Moore. Her father was born in that state in 1794 and served in the War of 1812. In 1834 he re- moved with his family to Indiana, where he resided until his death. Subsequently his wife and children came to Madison county, Iowa, arriving here in 1852. Mr. Howard was very active in all community affairs and helped to build the first Church of Christ erected in Winterset, which was then but a small village. He possessed the courage and resolution characteristic of all true pioneers and as obstacles arose his determination increased to accomplish his purpose in spite of them.
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In 1895 Mrs. Howard became the wife of John B. Lamb, who took up his residence in Des Moines county, Iowa, in 1848 and in Madison county four years later. For twenty-one years he worked in the old Buffalo Mills. At the time of the Civil war he gave indubitable proof of his patriotism by enlisting in Com- pany E, Forty-seventh Iowa Infantry for service in defense of the Union.
When Mrs. Lamb first came to this county, in 1852, she resided in Winter- set, which was but a small settlement. The log house in which she lived after her marriage was one of the first built in Webster township and both it and its fur- nishings were extremely crude compared with those of the present day although at that time they were considered very good. There were all kinds of game in abundance and as houses were still relatively far apart, her home was often the stopping place for hunters. In the early days when the usual breadstuff was corn- meal, wheat flour was a luxury and she baked the first biscuit in the county. It was no uncommon thing for her to walk twelve miles to Winterset and the first time she rode to town, she rode in a wagon behind an ox team and sat on a beam across the wagon box. She did much spinning and made all of the cloth used in the clothing of the family, as well as did the sewing for the family. There was no phase of pioneer life with which she was not acquainted and the many priva- tions that are inseparable from life on the frontier served merely to make the greater her power of endurance and to make yet stronger her naturally forceful character. She has always been a devout Christian, is a member of the Church of Christ and is held in the highest honor by all who know her. She is the oldest living settler in the township and makes her home with a grandson. Two of her children are residing in this county, Mrs. Nathan Binns and Mrs. Matt Johnson. To her and to her generation the county owes a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid, for it is due to such as she that it now enjoys abounding prosperity and all the comforts of civilization.
WILLIAM J. GRACEY.
Although William J. Gracey is still living upon a farm on section 33, Ohio township, he has retired from active life and is enjoying a period of leisure. He was born in Boone county, Illinois, on the 11th of February, 1841, a son of James Taggart and Alipher (McGahey) Gracey. The father was born in North Caro- lina, of Irish ancestry, and the mother in South Carolina, also of Irish stock, but their marriage occurred in Boone county, Illinois. In 1856 they located in Ohio township, Madison county, Iowa, where the father entered one hundred and twenty acres of land on section 34. He devoted the remainder of his life to its cultivation and both he and his wife passed away upon the homestead.
William J. Gracey remained under the parental roof until the outbreak of the Civil war and attended the public schools in the acquirement of an education. After he became old enough he worked upon the homestead during the summers and thus early became familiar with agricultural pursuits. On the 26th of Sep- tember, 1861, when a young man of twenty years, he enlisted at Osceola, Iowa, in Company I, Fifteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, under Colonel Read, and he participated in the battles of Shiloh, Bolivar, Tennessee, and Iuka, Jackson and
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Corinth, Mississippi, and was also under fire in a number of skirmishes. On the 23d of February, 1865, he was mustered out at St. Louis and honorably discharged from military service, after which he returned to Madison county, Iowa, where he resumed farming. In 1868 he removed to the farm where he now lives and in 1869 purchased forty acres. He subsequently added eighty acres and now owns a good farm of one hundred and twenty acres. The advance in the price of land is illustrated by the fact that he paid five dollars an acre for the first forty acres, ten dollars for the next forty and sixty dollars for the last forty acres that he purchased. He operated his farm until 1900, when he rented it to his son and he and his wife are now living in honorable retirement upon the homestead. He was a general farmer and stock-raiser and as he was industrious and enterprising and as he avoided extravagance he added to his capital from time to time and now has sufficient of this world's goods to insure him of comfort during the remainder of his life.
In April, 1868, Mr. Gracey married Miss Rebecca E. Bratton, a daughter of Jacob and Mary Ann ( Hunt ) Bratton. To Mr. and Mrs. Gracey have been born the following children. Mary Levisa married John Goodrich, a farmer of Clarke county, this state, and they have six living children, Jesse, Lillian, Rosa, Elmer, Ray Frank and Harry. Emery, a farmer of Clarke county, married Miss Emma Sinn and they have three children living, Lester, Lewis and Harold. Alonzo, a farmer of Ohio township, married Ada Scott, who died leaving a son, Clel- land. Following her demise he was again married, his second wife being Miss Lillian Marquist. Frank, an agriculturist of Ohio township, married Miss Susie Jones, by whom he has four children, Doyle, Pansy, Merrill and Benton. Bert, born March 10, 1880, resides upon the homestead with his parents. He married Miss Grace Jones and they have three children, Glenn, Isabelle and Blanche. Herman, born April 16, 1882, is now farming near Osceola, Iowa. He married Miss Gertrude Hock and following her demise wedded Miss Emma Steaman. He is the father of two children, Cleo and Dale.
Mr. Gracey is a democrat and for four years was a director of school district No. 6. He is a sincere Christian and holds membership in the Church of God at Prairie Grove, as does his wife. He was one of the organizers of the post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Truro and continued to belong to that organization until it surrendered its charter. For forty-seven years he and his wife have lived upon the homestead and they have many interesting reminiscences of events and conditions of the early days in this county. He hauled lumber from John Smith's sawmill at Prairie Grove to build the first courthouse in Os- ceola and with Tom Glascow played the violin for a dance in the courthouse when it was completed. As Mr. Gracey was in his younger days one of the best known. violinists of Madison county, his services were in demand in St. Charles, Win- terset, Murray, Osceola and other places and he sometimes played for as many as five dances in a week. His wife picked blackberries on Squaw creek and took them into Osceola, but the people there did not know that they were edible, hav- ing never seen any before. She had used them in Ohio and when she found them growing wild in Clarke county recognized them. For many years Mr. Gracey and his wife were numbered among those who in doing well the work that fell to their lot in the development of their farm aided in the advancement of agricultural interests of the county. They are now living retired, however,
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and their son Bert farms the homestead. He raises a good grade of shorthorn cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs, which he feeds and sells, and he also carries on general farming, meeting with deserved success in both phases of his work.
ACHILLES M. MEACHAM.
Achilles M. Meacham, who is engaged in farming on section 26, Jackson township, was born in Sangamon county, Illinois, on the 2d of December, 1838, the youngest of nine children born to Andrew and Elizabeth (Jones) Meacham. The birth of the father occurred in North Carolina on the 14th of March, 1790, and that of the mother on the 14th of May, 1797. The father accompanied his parents on their removal to Illinois when but ten years of age and after reaching man's estate became the owner of land in that state. He also conducted a store for two years in Sangamon county. In 1840 he removed to Warren county, Illi- nois, and engaged in merchandising near Lancaster. He was an active republican and served as justice of the peace for many years. He was in early life an exhorter and preacher of the old school Baptist church, but late in life became a member of the Christian church. He had a brother who was a minister of the gospel. Andrew Meachem passed away on the 30th of October, 1876, and was survived by his widow for more than two years, her demise occurring on the 19th of January, 1879.
Achilles M. Meacham began the acquirement of his education in an old log schoolhouse in the neighborhood of his home and recalls the building and its furniture vividly. The seats were slabs, the desks were made of rough boards and the house was heated by a fireplace. He remained at home until he was twenty-one years of age and then began farming in Warren county, Illinois. where he lived until February, 1878. In that year he came to Madison county and purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land near Pitzer, in Jackson town- ship. He raised cattle and hogs extensively and found that occupation very remunerative. In 1901 he sold that place and removed to a small fruit farm in the vicinity of Winterset, where he resided for seven years. In 1908 he removed to his present farm on section 26, Jackson township, which comprises fifty-three acres of land.
On the 28th of July, 1859, Mr. Meacham married Miss Clarinda McMillan, who was born in Brown county, Ohio, on the 6th of May, 1840, and is a daughter of John and Harriett (Glaze) McMillan. Her father was born in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, on the 26th of August, 1816, and her mother in Brown county, Ohio. The latter is living in Denver, Colorado, at the advanced age of ninety-six years. The father of Mrs. Meacham was taken by his parents to Brown county, Ohio, in 1818. He became a member of the Christian church in 1836 and on the 27th of July, 1842, began preaching. In 1843 he was ordained elder. The year 1856 witnessed his removal to Hancock county, Illinois, and under his ministration several churches were erected in Hancock and Warren counties. In 1869 he removed to Winterset and became the owner of land in Lincoln township. He continued active as a preacher and remained in Winter- set, until 1906. In that year he went to Denver, Colorado, and in 1907 took up
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his residence in Mountain View, Oklahoma, where he passed away on the 14th of December, of that year. He helped to organize the western Illinois conference and was quite prominent in his denomination. Fraternally he was a Mason and an Odd Fellow. His marriage occurred in 1837 and to him and his wife were born eleven children, of whom Mrs. Meacham was the second in order of birth.
Mr. and Mrs. Meacham have thirteen children: Albert A., born April 3, 1860, who is farming near Emory, Montana, and who has five children, George, Ona, Susan, Beulah and Nellie; John A., born September 14, 1861, who owns one hundred and sixty acres of land in Jackson township and who has two chil- dren, Earl and Ervin; Ziba, who was born on the 20th of March, 1863, and is residing in Colorado; Harmon E., born November 20, 1864, who is residing at Kalispell, Montana, and who has five children, Rex, Fred, Virgie, Jack and Homer; Elza Walter, Ira A., Carrie and Charles S., all of whom died in infancy ; Eva, the deceased wife of George Cross ; Earl G., deceased; Floy D., the wife of E. Darnell, a farmer of Nyhart, Montana, by whom she has two sons and a daughter, Glenn, Bessie and Charles; Frank R., born April 3, 1883, who is resid- ing at Idaho Falls and who has a daughter, Grace A. ; and Virgie I., the wife of Lloyd Wright, of Jackson township, by whom she has a son, Hugh.
Mr. Meacham is a member of the Christian church and has held office in the same. Fraternally he is connected with the Masonic order, having joined the now extinct lodge at Pitzer. He transferred his membership to the lodge at Winterset and is well known in that body. Although he has no desire for public office he manifests a commendable interest in community affairs and is willing to cooperate in worthy movements.
C. E. SOUTHWORTH.
C. E. Southworth is the owner of a well improved farm property in Grand River township within the city limits of Macksburg. He is well known in con- nection with the live-stock industry, making a specialty of raising pure bred reg- istered Poland China hogs. The district in which he lives knows him as an enterprising, wideawake and alert business man.
Mr. Southworth was born near Bloomington, illinois, on the 19th of April, 1866, a son of Gillet and Adeline (Smith) Southworth, both deceased. He was taken to Iowa in early childhood and when but four years of age went to live in the home of Ransom Moon, one of the early settlers of Grand River township. He was reared to farm life with the usual experiences of the lad who devotes his time to the work of the fields, the duties of the schoolroom and the pleasures of the playground. When nineteen years of age he began working as a farm hand by the month for Jerry Wilson, but was ambitious to engage in business on his own account, and as soon as possible began farming for himself. Five years ago he sold one hundred and sixty acres of land in Grand River township and pur- chased his present farm of forty-seven acres within the city limits of Macks- burg. He has since resided upon this place, on which is a comfortable residence. It was the only building upon the place when Mr. Southworth purchased the property, since which time he has added other improvements. He makes a
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specialty of raising pure bred registered Poland China hogs and each year holds a sale, which is attended by people coming from considerable distances as well as those nearby. He raises quite a goodly amount of fruit and both he and his wife are most energetic, industrious people, owing their success entirely to their own well directed efforts.
On the 15th of August, 1891, Mr. Southworth was married to Miss Mamie L. Rowe, who was born in Davis county, Iowa, August 18, 1873, a daughter of Henry Rowe. They have become the parents of two children, Bonnie and Henry R., the latter yet at home. The former is the wife of Gardner Crawford, a farmer of Grand River township, and they have three children, Beulah, Jim and Elizabeth.
Mr. Southworth has filled the office of assessor of the village of Macksburg for five years and is actively interested in the welfare of the community, cooperat- ing in various plans for the public good. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is loyal to its teachings and purposes. Almost his entire life has been passed in Iowa and the greater part of it in Madison county, where he is now widely and favorably known.
JAMES V. KIRK.
James V. Kirk, living on section 30, Monroe township, has long occupied his present farmi, which comprises four hundred acres of rich and valuable land that responds readily to the care and labor which he bestows upon it. He was born in Morrow county, Ohio. August 8, 1843, a son of William B. and Rebecca T. (Vaughn) Kirk, natives of Columbiana county, Ohio. They were members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, of which sect the family have been represen- tatives for three hundred years. The parents removed to Iowa when their son James was serving in the Civil war and settled in New Sharon, Mahaska county, where both the father and mother passed away.
James V. Kirk was reared in Ohio and in November, 1863, when but twenty years of age, he responded to the country's call for troops, his patriotic spirit being aroused by the attempt of the south to overthrow the Union. He donned the nation's blue uniform and marched under the stars and stripes to the front as a member of Company E, Thirty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. With his command he participated in the engagements at Lynchburg, Cloyd Mountain, Winchester, Perryville, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek and Beverly. During the last named engagement he was captured and spent two months in Libby prison, after which he was exchanged. He was mustered out at Wheeling, West Vir- ginia, and received an honorable discharge at Columbus, Ohio.
While on a furlough Mr. Kirk came to Iowa, to which state his parents had in the meantime removed. Making his way to Madison county, he here purchased two hundred acres of land, after which he returned to the front and completed his term of service as one of the valiant soldiers of the Civil war. He then came again to Iowa and spent several years in trapping in the northern part of this state and in Minnesota. He also made one trip as a freighter across the plains to Virginia City, which was then the capital of Montana. In 1872 he took up his
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abode upon his land in Madison county. The year before he had hired forty acres broken. For two summers he lived in a tent and then built a frame house sixteen by twenty feet, which continued to be his home until 1908, when he erected his present large and substantial residence. He has been very successful as the years have gone by and is now the owner of four hundred acres of land which he has brought to a high state of cultivation, making his property one of the good farms of the county.
On the 15th of April, 1875, Mr. Kirk was married to Miss Martha Hamblin, who was born in Columbia county, Wisconsin, a daughter of Simeon and Eleanor (Thompson) Hamblin, who in 1854 settled in Monroe township, this county, where their remaining days were passed. Mrs. Kirk was educated in the dis- trict schools and at Winterset and for eight years capably engaged in teaching. Mr. and Mrs. Kirk have had no children of their own but reared a little girl, although they did not legally adopt her. She was known as Katherine Kirk and is now the wife of Glenn Conway, a resident farmer of Monroe township, by whom she has two children, Lloyd and Russell Kirk.
Mrs. Kirk is a member of the Methodist church. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kirk have a wide acquaintance in Monroe township and other parts of the county. He has devoted many years of his life to farming, and industry and perseverance have been the foundation of his present gratifying success.
WILLIAM HOWARD KIVETT.
William Howard Kivett occupies the old homestead of the family in Grand River township. He was born August 5, 1854, in Morgan county, Indiana, and was brought to Madison county in his mother's arms during his infancy. He is a son of William and Annie ( Ellmore) Kivett, who were married in Morgan county, Indiana, November 20, 1846. The father was born in North Carolina in October, 1826, and the mother was born near the Mammoth cave in Kentucky on the 20th of December, 1827. They came to Madison county in 1855, settling on a farm in Grand River township, where they owned a good property. The land was naturally rich and productive and, owing to the cultivation bestowed upon it, became a valuable farm. The father there made his home until his death, which occurred February 13, 1915. The mother survives and occupies the old homestead with her son William Howard. After coming to this county William Kivett taught school and was otherwise actively identified with the development and improvement of the county. He voted with the democratic party but did not seek nor desire office and held only the position of justice of the peace. He was a lifelong member of the Baptist church and his actions were always guided by his Christian faith and belief.
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