USA > Iowa > Mills County > History of Mills County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc. > Part 77
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GERARD, NICHOLAS, miller, P. O. Glenwood; was born in Ger- many in the year 1820. His youth and early manhood were passed as a
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HISTORY OF MILLS COUNTY.
miller and factory man, until 1854, when he came to America, and located in this county in the fall of that year. In 1854 he joined with his brother in the milling business, but subsequently became sole proprietor in the mills. His business is successful and his trade large and increasing.
GERARD, J., farmer, P. O. Glenwood; was born in Prussia in 1824. He there grew to man's estate, and learned the occupation or trade of a miller. In 1854 he came to America, and in the fall of that year located in this county. He was married in 1870 to Miss Emily Rapp, also a native of Prussia. They are the parents of four children: Anna, Fred, Joseph, and Pale. His wife died August 20, 1879, and lies buried at the Lutheran cemetery in Oak township. The farm of Mr. Gerard com- prises 380 acres of land, and is one of the finest in the township. Begin- ning as a day laborer the success which he has attained marks what patient toil and frugality may accomplish.
HUTCHENS, JOHN, farmer, P. O. Glenwood; Mr. Hutchens was born in Sarah county, North Carolina, December 20, 1816. When three years of age went with his parents to Wayne county, Indiana, and here he was educated; the schools of his immediate neighborhood being con- ducted on the subscription plan. In 1841 he went to Andrew county, Missouri and improved a farm, on which he remained until 1854, when he came to this county. The farm on which he located comprises some 170 acres of land, all under excellent cultivation. He has been twice married. On October 5, 1838, he was joined in marriage to Miss "Nancy Brown, a native of North Carolina, who died November 16, 1855. By this wife he is the father of seven children, three of whom are now living: Isaac, Daniel and David. February 18, 1857, Mr. Hutchens married Mrs. Eliza A. Brower, a native of Thompkins county, New York, born Octo- ber 20, 1823. From this union there resulted the birth of six children, three of whom are living: Joel, Omar and John. Mrs. Hutchens was the mother of seven children by her first husband, William Brower, of whom three, Alma, Byron and George, are living.
MOFFITT, W. H., farmer and stock-raiser on section 24; born on the 6th of March, 1843, in Randolph county, North Carolina. In 1849 his parents came to Jefferson county, this state. In 1852 they went to Pottawattamie county, and in 1865 Mr. Moffitt came hither, and has been since that year, a continuous resident. The farm he now occupies was purchased in 1872. December 30, 1863, he was married to Miss Electa R. Anderson, a native of Illinois, born October 16, 1845. They are the parents of five children: Lewis A., born October 23, 1864, Olive N., born June 19, 1866; Ulysses Y., born May 11, 1868; Ira H., born June 12, 1871, and James A., born November 6, 1878. Mr. Moffitt is one of the most successful farmers in the county. P. O. Glenwood.
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HISTORY OF MILLS COUNTY.
MEADOWS, ISAAC, farmer and stock-raiser, P. O. Glenwood; was born March 13, 1813, in Washington county, Virginia, where he resided until mature. His youth was passed in agricultural pursuits, and hence his education was limited to the common school. In 1835 he moved to Saline county, Missouri, where he remained until 1853, when he became identified with Mills county interests as a resident farmer. He was mar- ried in 1842 to Miss Rhoda Warren, a native of Tennessee. His first wife to whom he was married in 1840, was Miss F. Cooper, who died in the year following. As the fruit of his second union there were born to him nine children, six sons and three daughters: Harvey, Nathaniel, Ben- jamin J., William, George, Sarah, Gilla A., Belle and Joel.
PRINDLE, LYMAN D., farmer, P. O. Glenwood; was born in Massachusetts, May 4, 1823. His education was received in the common schools of the old bay state. From that state he moved to Indiana, thence to Kentucky, and finally to Mills county in 1856. Subsequently to his coming he was married to Miss Mary J. Grant, a native of Ohio, by whom he has four children: Cornelia S., Charles D., Henry A. and Mary J. Mr. Prindle is another of Mills county's self-made men, having come with- out means, and gained a compentence. His farm has four hundred and thirty-three acres.
TURNER,ALBERT W., farmer, section 29, P. O. Henton; born August 22, 1845, in Lincolnshire, England. He immigrated to America with his parents when eight years old. He first located, April 3, 1853, at East Plattsmouth, in this county, and soon after went to St. Marys where he grew to manhood. When fifteen years old he went to Utah, where he engaged in teaming. He soon after became connected with Holliday's stage line, and served this company in different capacities for some time, and was afterward appointed express messenger. After traveling exten- sively through the west and south, he returned to Mills county, and en- gaged in farming. He was married December 31, 1869, to Miss Sarah Gowens, a native of East Plattsmouth. They are the parents of five children, four of whom are living: Oliver F., Lewis C., James A. and George W. By patient toil and frugality he has secured a good farm of one hundred and twenty acres, which is substantially improved.
WARREN, I. M., farmer and stock-raiser by occupation, P. O. Glen- wood; was born in Lafayette county, Missouri. where he was educated. In 1853 he came to Iowa and located near his present home. He was married in this county to Miss Julia Stranathan, a native of Illinois. They are the parents of eight children: five now living: Flara E., Charles R., Edwin M. S., Wilbur P. and Clyde N. Mr. Warren is an active member of the M. Church, to which he is a liberal contributor financially. He enlisted August 16, 1862, in company B, Twenty-ninth Iowa infantry, and participated in all the fortunes of that regiment, as narrated in its history
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in this volume. He owns a farm of three hundred and sixteen acres of land, all accumulated since coming to the county. He came poor, and by care and frugality has thus gained an honorable competence.
WALL, MAJOR W. R., M. D., this gentleman is a native of Knox- ville, Tennessee, where he was born February 28, 1828. His father died when Major Wall was quite young, leaving him in the sole care of his mother. At a quite early age he moved with his mother to Marion county, Indiana, where he attained his majority. When fourteen years of age he was apprenticed to a shoemaker to learn that trade. He followed this occupation until the breaking out of the Mexican war. He enlisted in Co. G. of the regular infantry April 12, 1847. He was stationed along the Rio Grande, and did efficient duty in various capacities until his mus- ter out in 1849. He then returned to Terre Haute, Indiana, and resumed his trade of shoemaker. While in this business he passed his spare time in reading medicine and law. In 1856, he was admitted to the bar, and during his legal practice he prosecuted vigorously the study of medicine. He also attended the Eclectic Medical College of Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 1858, began the practice of medicine, which he continued until the commencement of the last war. At an early day in its history he was appointed a captain of a company of state militia, but soon resigned to enlist in active service as a private, April 18, 1861, in company I, 8th In- diana infantry. At the organization of this company he was elected first lieutenant. The company disbanded at the expiration of three months, but was immediately reorganized with Dr. Wall as captain. He was aide-de-camp to General Rosecranz in the battle of Rich Mountain, and participated in numerous other engagements, among them Springfield, Fremont, Pea Ridge, Little Red river and many others of minor impor- tance. In the autumn of 1362, he resigned owing to ill health, and passed the year following in the practice of his profession. In August, 1863, he again enlisted as a Colonel in the Indiana Legion. He soon resigned that position and accepted a lieutenancy in the 9th Indiana Cavalry. December 9, 1863, he was promoted to a captaincy. He was in the battles of Pu- laski, Florence, Athens, Columbia, Nashville, Reynolds' Hill, Sugar Creek, and others. He was afterwards commissioned a major of his regi- ment, and placed in command at Vicksburg and Port Gibson. He was mustered out in September, 1865, and returned home to engage in the practice of medicine. In 1866, he engaged in railroad building as a con- tractor, and in the following year abandoned this business and came to Audubon county, Iowa, and two years later to Mills county. In 1871, he purchased his farm and began agricultural pursuits. His farm comprises two hundred and sixty acres, well improved. He was married Decem- ber 20, 1849, to Miss Elvira Scott, a native of Terre Haute, Indiana. They have had nine children, four now living: Mary L., Florence, Eliza-
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beth and Edward. He was married a second time to Miss Harriet Allis, May 26, 1871. They are the parents of three children: Emmaline, Wil- liam and Martha. Dr. Wall is a member of the Masonic order; and his life is an exemplary one, both from a moral and business point of view.
WILLIAMS, MARSHALL J., P. O. Glenwood; a son Dr. S. W. Williams. The doctor was born in Ashtabula county, Ohio, October 18, 1823; died June 8, 1880, of dropsy. Among the professional and business men of Mills county, whose names appear in this book. none have been more closely identified with its growth and prosperity than he. He was ever ready to extend a helping hand to all enterprises which promised to be beneficial to the citizens of the county. As a physician he was very successful; answering all calls promptly, either of the rich or poor. The doctor was a self-educated man, having at the early age of fourteen years gone to Cape Girardeau county, Missouri, where he acted in the capacity of clerk in a dry goods store for seven or eight years, his leisure hours being passed in reading medicine. After taking a course of lectures at the Louisville medical college, he commenced the practice of medicine in his former home. In 1850 he returned to the college and graduated at the head of his class; a short time after this he removed to Council Bluffs where he resumed the practice of his profession in connection with P. J. McMahan, a prominent physician of that place. In 1865, owing to failing health, he gave up practice and located on a farm near Glenwood, leaving his former profession entirely, except when called upon to consult with other physicians. In 1856 he was married to Janet Grierson, a native of Scotland, the result of this union being two daughters: Rowena, and Sarah E., wife of James Record, and a son, Marshall J., aged seventeen years.
GLENWOOD TOWNSHIP.
ARCHIBALD, O. W., M. D., superintendent Iowa asylum for feeble- minded children, was born in Stillwater, Nova Scotia, November 26, 1849. His early youth was passed in labor on a farm, and in attendance on the common school. When fifteen years of age he began to teach school, devoting his extra hours to study and self-improvement. At the age of nineteen he began the study of the science of medicine, with Dr. R. H. Mohr, of Fairfield, Iowa. In the fall of 1869 he entered the college of physicians and surgeons, at Keokuk, Iowa, remaining through the session. He then entered the Missouri medical college, of St. Louis; continued his studies there during the session of 1872-73, and graduated with honor at its close. After a practice of four months duration, he located at Mount
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Pleasant, Iowa, and was soon appointed assistant surgeon to the insane asylum in that city. This position he retained for a year and a half, and then entered upon the practice of general medicine. He came to Glen- wood in 1875, and in September of the following year was appointed to his present responsible position. Other facts of interest connected with Dr. Archibald, as a superintendent, may be gathered from the history of the asylum to be found on another page. He was married to Miss Adel- phia Sliver, May 18, 1872. They are the parents of two children: Mark R., deceased, and Maude M. Dr. Archibald needs no other eulogy than the condition of the institution of which he has control.
BENNETT, BARTON S., farmer and stock raiser, section 26, P. O. Glenwood; born October 14, 1837, in Hardin county, Kentucky. At an early age he moved with his parents to Granger county, where he remained until seven years of age, and then went to Holt county, Mis- souri, where he grew to maturity. His youth was passed in farm labor
and attending the common schools. In 1854 he went to Nemeha county, Nebraska, and remained there until 1863. He then went to Fort Kearney and resided there about five years. In 1867 he came to Iowa, and pur- chased the farm in this county upon which he now lives. Was married December 29, 1856, to Miss Ann Entwistle, a native of England, by whom he was the father of six children: Sarah E., Mary E., Eliza J., Charles Henry, Emma and Francis. He was married a second time Feb- ruary 26, 1881, to Mrs. Genevia Green, daughter of Joseph H. and Mary E. Brown. Mrs. Green was previously married to Mr. Samuel H. Green, by whom she was the mother of one child, Lulu E. Mr. Bennett now enjoys the posession of a fine farm of 120 acres, with a good dwelling house, substantial barn, and a large and productive orchard. His wife is a lady of culture and refinement, who devotes her time to making home attractive.
BYERS, M. H., county recorder, P. O. Glenwood; born January 12, 1846, in Noble county, Ohio. In 1851, in company with his parents he moved to Washington county, the same state, going from there in 1852, to Kansas City, Missouri, where he remained only one year, when he came to Glenwood. His early training was that of a farmer, his educa- tion having been received in the common schools. He enlisted for the suppression of the rebellion, January 4, 1864, in the twenty-ninth Iowa infantry, company B, and was with General Steele in his campaign to relieve Gen. Banks on the Red river. He was also at the seige of Mo- bile, and was with Sheridan in his campaign in Texas. He was mustered out of the service August 10, 1865, and returned to Glenwood, after which he held the position of clerk in a store for ten years. In 1878 he was elected recorder for Mills county, and re-elected in 1880. He was mar- ried December 1, 1870, to Carrie S. Daniel, of Mills county, Iowa. They have four children: Edith M., Bessie D., Nettie D. and Roscoe G.
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HISTORY OF MILLS COUNTY.
BARTHOLOMEW, JACOB, Glenwood, of the firm of Bartholo- mew & Hubbell, was born in Ohio, December 18, 1824. When sixteen years of age he removed with his parents to southern Illinois and remained about three years, after which he resided in Iowa county, Wisconsin, until 1850, when he sought the gold fields of California eight years of his life being passed in that portion of the west. He then returned to Wisconsin where he resided but a short time before going to Illinois where he resided until he came to Iowa, locating in Madison county. From thence he became a resident of Brownsville, Nebraska, where he remained until coming to this county in 1870. When twenty-three years of age he commenced learning his trade, and has followed it to the present time. Eleven years of successful business have shown him to be a mechanic of the first order. His enterprise has closely identified him with the merchanical interests of the town. He has been twice married; the first time to Judith A. Lin- gral of Kentucky, in 1860, who died in 1863. There were born to them two children: Josephine and Cornelia, the latter of whoni is deceased. His second wife was Frances Kettner a native of Illinois, to whom he was married in 1874. On the the fourteenth of March. 1881, he purchased the livery business of Chatfield & Blackmore which is already large and prosperous.
CILLEY, HORATIO G., lumber merchant, P. O. Glenwhod. Mr. Cilley is a native of South Deerfield, New Hampshire, where he was born November 1, 1841. He received but a common school education, and passed his early youth in farming. In 1863 he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and engaged in the lumber business until 1871, when he became a resi- dent of Glenwood and engaged in his former business of lumber merchant which he followed until 1879. Adding to this business that of farming and stock-raising. Mr. Cilley has proven his energy and business capability. He is now the manager of the Glenwood opera house, a fine structure of its kind, and with the erection of which Mr. Cilley was close identified. He was married in 1868 to Miss Julia A. Harrington of Cleveland, Ohio. By this marriage he has three children, one only, Horatio G., now living. He is a man of influence and worth, a lover of nature, a genial companion and thorough business man.
CRONEY, CHARLES A., editor Glenwood Opinion; was born in London, Madison county, Ohio, the twenty-second day of February 1840. In 1855 he came to Iowa with his parents; they located in Oskaloosa; there he spent his days in acquiring an education and a knowledge of the printing business. At the breaking out of the rebellion he responded to his country's call and enlisted May 23, 1861, in company H, Third Iowa infantry. He was with his company in all engagements in which they participated. Was mustered out June 14, 1864. In the autumn of 1869 he went to Seward, Nebraska; there he established the Seward Reporter.
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HISTORY OF MILLS COUNTY.
In the spring of '71 he moved to Des Moines of this state, and in 1877 came to Glenwood, where he has since made his home. He was married May 3, 1866, at Oskaloosa, Iowa, to Miss Amanda J. Salisbury. She is a native of Indiana. They have one child, Jessie G. Mr. Croney is a man of decided opinions, of. a retiring nature, and prefers the peace and quiet of his legitimate pursuits to the turmoil of public life. Politically he is of the republican faith and an able advocate of its principles ..
CONGER, JOSEPH, lumber merchant, P. O. Glenwood; was born in Knox county, Ohio, December 10, 1821, where his boyhood and early manhood days were passed on the farm until 1850, when he engaged in mercantile pursuits and followed them until 1855. In 1856 he came to Silver Creek, Mills county, and built the first saw-mill in that section of the county. In 1858 he removed to Ingraham township and resumed farming, which occupation he followed until 1872, when he removed to Glenwood and took the position of clerk in a store, where he remained until 1875, when he entered the firm of Hoch & Conger, lumber dealers. August 22, 1848, he was married to Harriet Wilkinson, of Cuyahoga county, Ohio. They have been the parents of one child, who died in 1875.
COOLIDGE, JOSEPH W., was one of the earliest settlers in this county, and for many years identified with its material interests and pros- perity. He was born in Bangor, Maine, May 31, 1814. Two years there- after he accompanied his parents to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he grew to man's estate, and was educated. At the age of fifteen years he began to learn the trade of a carpenter, working with his father, who was master of the carpenter's art. When twenty-one years of age he moved to Illi- nois, and located in Tazewell county, near the town of Mackinaw, where he plied his trade until 1840. In that year he moved his family to Cald- well county, Missouri, where they remained about eighteen months, and having become identified with the Mormon church, were driven from that state into Illinois, and located at Nauvoo, and here they remained until the spring of 1846. Mr. Coolidge, during his residence in Nauvoo, was a prominent member of the church whose faith he had espoused, and was an elder in the same. At the death of Joseph Smith he was administra- tor of the estate of that noted leader. In 1846, as has been said, he left Illinois for the west with the remainder of the Mormon population of Nauvoo, and located on the present site of Omaha, in Nebraska. After a residence of some eighteen months at this point he crossed the Missouri to Council Bluffs, and resided at that point nearly a year. He then came, in 1849, to Mills county and built what is now Gordon's mill, the first in the county. In 1851 he sold his mill and entered the mercantile business in the embryo city of Glenwood, as has been elsewhere narrated. Mr. Coolidge was long identified with the milling interests of western Iowa,
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and built several mills, all of them, however, not resulting in financial suc- cess. In 1860 he was appointed postmaster at Glenwood, which position he retained until his death, January 13, 1871. Mr. Coolidge was married to Miss Elizabeth Buchanan, December 17, 1835. Mrs. Coolidge is a native of Fayette county, Kentucky, where she was born July 1, 1815. In 1830 she moved, with her parents, to Tazewell county, Illinois, and there met and married her husband. They were the parents of eleven children, six of whom are now living: Henry P., Sarah, now Mrs. Tinkle; Timothy, William, George, and Mary. Mr. Coolidge entered the land on which Glenwood is situated, and surveyed the town plat.
CARTER, JOHN, section 23, P. O. Glenwood; the grandson of a revolutionary soldier, and a son of a soldier of the war of 1812; he first saw the light of day March 3, 1829, and Tennessee was his birthplace. At a youthful age he moved with his parents to Fayette county, Indiana. His time was spent until his eighteenth year in agricultural pursuits, when he moved to Gentry county, Missouri, remaining about nine years. After going to Monroe county, this state, he came, in 1852, to Mills county. He enlisted, in March, 1862, in company B, Twenty-ninth Iowa infantry, accompanied by his son, S. R., a lad of sixteen summers, and participated in the fortunes of their regiment, a sketch of which will be found elsewhere in this work. Mr. Carter was united in marriage Jan- uary 24, 1843, to Miss Amanda Thomson, of Gentry county, Missouri, who died October 4, 1854. By this union they had six children, three sons: S. R., E. B. and I. L .; three daughters: Martha, Catharine and Sarah. He was again married September 13, 1855, to Mrs. McCoupin, of Indiana. This union has brought four children: D. A., James, Ada M. and P. Mr. Carter is highly esteemed by his neighbors, and is a member of the M. E. church. He owns a fine farm, well stocked and nicely improved, on which is an orchard of eight hundred trees.
COLWELL, J. P., P. O. Glenwood; is a native Iowan, and was born in July, 1844, in Wapello county, where he remained twelve years, when he came to this county, settling in Glenwood, his father having died twelve years previous. Here he engaged in teaming and in the harness business, and for six seasons was engaged in hauling goods from the Mis- souri river to the mountains. He was united in marriage to his wife, Jane, in November, 1874. He is located on a snug farm with a comforta- ble house and a good orchard of three hundred trees. He is a kind hus- band and a good neighbor.
DILL, ANDREW, farmer and stock raiser, section 27, P. O. Glen- wood; born January 15, 1850, in Vinton county, Ohio, where he remained until fourteen years of age,'and then went to Whiteside county, Illinois. Four years later he came with his father to Mills county, Iowa, and the following year went to Nebraska, where he remained a short time and
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then returned. His youth was passed chiefly in mechanical pursuits, his father owning a foundry. He remained with his father until 1872, and then commenced business for himself. Was married December 31, 1872, to Miss Leathy, daughter of Judge J. F. and Mary M. Williams, a native of Holt county, Missouri. This happy union has brought to them three children: John, Mary M. and one yet unnamed. Mr. Dill is an active member of the Christian church, and a respected member of society. He owns a good farm of 160 acres, with an elegant dwelling house and superior facilities for stock raising, in which enterprise he is largely inter- ested.
DEACON, E. T., farmer, section 22, P. O. Glenwood; born January 31, 1828, in Burlington county, New Jersey, and there grew to manhood, receiving his education in the common schools. When fourteen years of age he was apprenticed with Louis Leeds to learn the trade of a black- smith, with whom he remained seven years. He had by this time accumu- lated means sufficient to go into business for himself, and thus continued for twelve years, when, owing to ill health, he engaged in farming. He came to Iowa in 1867, and located on the farm where he now resides. Was married January 4, 1852, to Miss Mary Jane Scott, a native of New Jersey. Was married a second time, November 22, 1856, to Ruth Ann Glover, of New Jersey. Seven children have been born to them, three of whom are now living: William B., Isaac Ellsworth and Laura S. Mr. and Mrs. Deacon are members of the M. E. church. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., and of the Centennial Life Association. His life has been one of trials and hardships. Death claimed for his own two promising sons, recently, who were looked upon as a help and comfort to Mr. and Mrs. D. in their declining years. He owns a neat little farm of 120 acres, well improved.
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