USA > Iowa > Monona County > History of Monona County, Iowa; containing full-page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county > Part 46
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that locality. At the age of eighteen years he commeneed to work in a carding-mill after which he engaged in farming. In February, 1865, he removed to Jasper County, Iowa, and from there, one year, later to Boone County. Subsequently he spent several years in the various cities and towns in the western part of the State, engaged in butchering in the year 1868-9. Never having met a lady of his choice, Mr. Morehead has remained in single blessedness. In politics he is a stanch Republican and has held a number of offices.
ILLIAM N. HATHAWAY. Among the early settlers of Monona County, who have by their own exertions and business tact risen to comparative wealth through the growth and development of this section, may be mentioned the gentleman whose name heads this sketch, a resident of section 20, Kennebec Township.
Mr- Hathaway came to what is now Monona County in the fall of 1855, and bought for $250 the claim of a man who was nearly starved out. Returning to Pottawattamie County, from which he had come, he there spent the winter, and in March, 1856, returned to his claim, ou section 20, and commenced breaking the sod. In June he planted it in corn. chopping the sod with an ax, and dropping the grain into the hole thus made. Without any further attention, when harvesting time came around, this averaged about fifty bushels to the acre. Mr. Hathaway is now the owner of about two thousand acres of land in Monona County, of which only one hundred and sixty is under the plow. The balance is in meadow or pasture, except that which is covered with timber both native and planted. Ile is devoting consid. erable attention to stock interests, keeping about one hundred head of cattle and pasturing some- thing like four hundred head belonging to other parties during each summer.
Mr. Hathaway was born in Wilbraham. Hampden County. Mass., August 27, 1817, and is the son of
William and Mary (Hyde) Hathaway. His father. a native of Connecticut, was born in 1790, and his mother in 1792, in Massachussetts. They were married in 1816, and raised a family of four chil- dren-William N., Mary E., Charles and Anson E. The latter died March 4, 1889, in Van Buren County, Mich.
In his youth. our subject received his education in the schools of Ware, Mass., and in the district schools of New York State, he removing to the latter with his parents when seven years old, and for three years making his home in Cayuga County. The family then removed to a farm near Ithaca, Tompkins County, in the same State, where they lived until the fall of 1836, when they emigrated to Kalamazoo County, Mich. A year and a half later they removed to Van Buren County, in the same State, where the father died, October 9, 1838, the mother following him in death in 1852.
After the death of his father, Mr. Hathaway took charge of the old homestead, purchasing the inter- est of the other heirs, and continuing to carry it on until 1853, when he disposed of it and came to Pottawattamie County, Iowa, whence he removed to Monona County, as above stated.
Mr. Hathaway was united in marriage April 9, 1843, with Miss Rachel Sweet, a native of Canada, who died April 24, 1883, having been the mother of the following children: George A. was born .January 25, 1844; Edwin I., April 27, 1846; Julia A., August 21, 1847; Alice 1, January 18, 1849; Louisa, July 8, 1853; Julius M .. April 17, 1855: Ada O., April 12, 1857; William H., April 10. 1859; Francis N., March 24, 1861; Mary E., No- vember 27, 1863; and one that died in infancy. Edwin, Julia and Alice lost their lives December 24, 1853, in Pottawattamie County, the house of Mr.Ilathaway, with its contents, being destroyed by fire, the children perishing in the conflagration. March 10. 1857, while Mr. and Mrs. Hathaway had gone over to their new log house, to put up a stove, Louisa,a little child about four years of age, set fire to her clothes at the open fireplace and was also burned to death. January 31, 1885, Mr. Hathaway was for the second time married, wedding Mrs. Janet Whitfield, nee Case, a native of Cayuga County, N. Y., who was born February 6, 1830.
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Since coming to this county, Mr. Hathaway has made his home here constantly, with the exception of a year spent in California. In the spring of 1863, he and his family removed to the Golden State, where he purchased a small vineyard and fruit farm of about forty acres and there made his home until the spring of the following year, when he returned to Monona County.
OHN G. TAYLOR, the well-known proprie- tor of the City Livery Stable at Onawa, came to Monona County October 18, 1877, and purchased a small farm two miles west of Whiting. Here he was employed in agricultural pursuits for about a year. At the end of that time he sold out. and rented land for the succeeding two years, but then purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land upon section 28, Lincoln Township, which was entirely unimproved. This he cleared up, broke. and upon it ereeted a dwelling-house, but in 1884, feeling dissatisfied with a farmer's life. he traded it for the livery stable and stock, and moved into Onawa October 8, of that year.
Mr. Taylor was born July 20, 1851, in St. Law- rence County, N. Y .. and is the son of Lyman and Eunice (Austin) Taylor. ITis father, also a native of St. Lawrence County. was born November 23, 1851, and grew to manhood in that mountainous part of the Empire State, and there was married, May 3, 1847, his wife having also been born in that county February 14, 1828, In 1851 the family removed to Winnebago County, Ill., where the father engaged in farming. There the latter and his wife remained until June 18, 1878, when he removed to Onawa, and there died June 23, 1887. Ilis wife, the mother of John G., is unfortunate in being afflicted with a nervous affection and sick- ness dating back to 1883, which has had the effect of produeing aberration of her mind, and she is now being taken care of in the State insane asylum at Independence.
The subject of this memoir received his educa- tion in the common schools, and when old enough engaged in farm labor. Ile was married October
8, 1872, at Freeport, Ill., to Mrs. Eliza .J. (Locke) Sterner, who was born in Allegany County, N. Y., July 1, 1814. April 7. 1858, she married W. W. Sterner, a native of Bucks County, Pa., a black- smith and wagonmaker, who died at Pecatonica, Winnebago County, Ill., October 18, 1869, he hav- ing moved to that point. lle left four children : Emma J., who was born October 22, 1859; Ida M., September 3, 1861; Ilattie A .. September 25, 1864, and George L., November 27, 1866. Mr. Sterner, in August, 1861, enlisted in Company A, Thirty-fourth Illinois Infantry, and on being sent to Chattanooga, Teun., was assigned to do duty as a blacksmith, and there remained during his term of service.
Mr. Taylor remained in Winnebago County until 1877, when he came to Monona County. Ile and his wife are the parents of four children: John W., who was born January 23, 1876; Frederick E., August 19, 1878; Frank Garfield, January 1, 1882, and Mirza A., September 12, 1885. Mrs. Taylor is the daughter of William A. and Phi- lena (Knowlton) Locke, both of whom were born in Connecticut, the former in 1810, the latter in 1809. They were married at Centerville, Alle- gany County, N. Y., in March, 1836, and eleven years later removed to Wisconsin, where they set- tled on a farm near Lake Geneva. In 1851 they moved to Winnebago County, Il., where the father died, September 17, 1864. The mother died at Edgar, Clay County, Neb., July 23, 1886.
ALDEN B. PULLEN, the most promi- nent carpenter and builder in the vil- lage of Onawa, and the leading undertaker, traces his ancestry back to William Pullen, who was born at Vasselboro, Me., January 21, 1774. who was a prominent Inmber dealer of that lo- cality and a representative in the Massachusettts Legislature when Maine was a part of the Old Bay State. Ile died at China. Me .. January 5, 1841. He had married Abigail Steward, August 1, 1793, who was also a native of the same place, born February 7, 1775, and died August 13, 1819.
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She was the mother of ten children: Patience, born March 5, 1795, died December 10, 1873; James, born May 23, 1797, died December 28, 1825; EL- mira, born October 1, 1799, died September 10, 1881; Cecelia, born Jannary 21, 1802; died August 8, 1862; Abigail, born December 29, 1804, died September 9. 1863; Laura, born April 18, 1807, died September 23, 1886; William, born July 30, 1809, died June 20, 1872 ; Daniel, as below; Charles, born November 3, 1814, died August 20, 1884; and Cyrus, born July 13, 1817, died March 3, 1818.
Daniel Pullen, the father of our subject, was was born at China, Kennebee County, Me .. July 28, 1812. After attaining man's estate, he became a millwright, which business he followed all his life. He was married November 24, 1825, to Miss Mary A. Dudley, a native of Leeds, Me., who was born May 5, 1812, and was the daughter of Will- iam and Experience (Wing) Dudley, of English descent. ller father died about 1840, and her mother in 1862, the latter having reached the age of seventy-six years. Daniel Pullen died July 21, 1849, having been the father of nine children : llar- riet A., born February 6. 1837; Marquis D., June 16, 1838; Cynthia, August 29. 1839; Sarah C' .. January 2, 1841 ; Daniel W., May 24, 1842; Mel- vina, September 15, 1843; Abbie E., May 11. 1845; Malden B., February 6, 1847; and Ephraim B., February 10, 1849.
Malden B. Pullen spent his time in attending school until reaching his sixteenth year, when he was apprenticed to learn the carpenter's trade, and served for some three years. As a journeyman, he remained with the same employer until August, 1869, when he came west, and at Omaha, Neb., worked in the car shops of the Union Pacific Rail- road. After remaining in that city two years, in 1871 he came to Onawa, where he has since been employed at his trade. In connection with the latter, in the summer of 1880, he added the under- taking business, which he still follows.
Our subject was united in marriage, December 29, 1881, with Miss Julia E. Whiting, a daughter of Ilon. Charles E. Whiting, one of the pioneers of this region and one of its most prominent citizens, a sketch of whom is given elsewhere in this work.
Mrs. Pullen was born in Newmarket, Ala., January 2, 1850, and came to Monona County with her par- ents when some six years of age. She received her education in the common schools of this county, and in Knox Seminary, at Galesburg, Ill., and followed school teaching for some five terms pre- vious to her marriage.
Mr. and Mrs. Pullen are the parents of three in- teresting children : Myrick W., born January 25, 1883; Gail C., September 6, 1884; and Keat A., July 4, 1886.
TEPHEN ROBINSON, an extensive stock- raiser living on section 7, Kennebec Town- ship, came to Monona County in November. 1888, from Omaha, Neb., and engaged in the stock business in company with E. C. Smith, the latter being the owner of some thirteen hun- dred acres of land here. They keep on hand about seventy-five head of horses, six hundred head of cattle. and two hundred hogs.
Mr. Robinson was born in the Province of On- tario, Canada, August 9, 1839, and is the son of Ilenry and Catharine (MeMalion) Robinson. His father was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1815. and came to America at the age of fifteen years and settled in Canada. He is a farmer on an ex- tended scale, and is now living in Manitoba. The mother of our subject was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, and came to America with her parents about the year 1830. She died in Canada in 1881.
Our subject attended school in his native prov- inee, both in the lower departments and in the Kingston College, in which latter institution he re- mained about two years. Engaging in teaching school, which he adopted as a profession, he con- tinued until his twenty-seventh year, having ex- cellent success in that noble branch of life's work. In 1866 he came to the United States, and after spending a short time in Butler County, Iowa, went to Omaha, where he engaged in contracting on bridge work. in grading, etc., until November. 1888.
In 1866 Mr. Robinson, after settling at Omaha,
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MONONA COUNTY.
returned to his home in Canada, where. April 25, of that year, he was united in marriage with Miss Minerva J. Clapp, a native of the Dominion, and then returned to Omaha, taking up his residence. They have had a family of eight children, five of whom are living. Their names are as follows: Eleanor C., Judson M., and May. all deceased; Ada C. Cory D .. Willie S., Grace and Charles W.
IIRISTIAN GANTZ, an enterprising and energetic farmer of Franklin Township, who has his home on seetion 13, 83, 46, is a na- tive of Prussia, Germany, and first drew the breath of life on that classic soil, March 25, 1835. beneath the roof of the home of his parents, Charles and Kastena Gantz. In the Fatherland he was nurtured, received his education and there grew to manhood. Early in 1872, deciding that in the free land of America there was a greater field for his efforts, and being free from military service, he crossed the broad Atlantic to the United States, landing at Castle Garden. In 1858, like many of his countrymen, he was placed in the Prussian army, and served three years. In 1866 he again entered the same service, and in June, 1870, at the outbreak of the Franco-German War, he for the third time assumed his place in the ranks and par- ticipated in the campaign which ended in Sedan and the capture of Paris. On being discharged he came to this country and settled in Monona County. For the first three years here he was employed in sawmills, then, renting land of the Ilon. Addison Oli- ver engaged in farming. For five years he made his home on that farm, but in 1882, purchased ninety- six acres of land, on which he now lives, and which he has well improved; has a neat house and has erected a good barn, thirty feet square. He is somewhat engaged in stock-raising, having on hand at the present seven head of horses, ten of cattle and twenty hogs.
Mr. Gantz was married, September 29, 1861, in the Fatherland, to Miss Carlina Hier, a native also
of Prussia. He is the parent of ten children, Will- iam, llerman, Minnie. Lucinda, Lila and five that died unnamed in infancy.
With the characteristic energy of his race Mr. Gantz has throve since coming here, owing to his diligence in business, enterprise and judicious economy, and is rapidly assuming a prominent place among the more well-to-do farmers of the county. lle is duly appreciated by his friends and neighbors, for his upright and earnest integrity of character and the general even tenor of his ways.
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AMUEL HARRISON, a leading and enter- prising farmer of Lincoln Township, has his home on section 4, 84, 46, where he has resided since first coming to Monona County, January 28, 1875. At that time the land was in an entirely uncultivated condition, and as wild as when these bottom lands were roamed over by the Indian, and his hardly less savage congener the wolf. Mr. Ilarrison has made great improve- ments upon his land, and has brought a large por- tion of it under cultivation, and developed a splen- did farm. and to-day ranks among the well-to-do agriculturists of that section of the county.
Mr. Harrison is the son of John and Martha Harrison, and was born in Spencer County, Ind., April 17, 1825. In his early days he received the elements of his education in the rough log cabin schools of that locality, and made his home with his parents until December, 1816, when he started out in life for himself upon a farm which his father gave him. This was in the heavy timber that cov- ered a large portion of that State, and had but about fourteen acres cleared. Going to work with a will, he managed to cut down the heavy trees and 'grub out the underbrush, thus reclaiming its soil to the uses of man, and remained upon that place cultivating the soil until March, 1853. Sell- ing out his property and taking the boat at Owens- boro, Ky., where he made a short visit with his sister, he came by way of St. Louis to Mills County, this State, landing at what was then known as
IFFNEW
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R. G. FAIRCHILD
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MONONA COUNTY.
Jackson's Wood Yard. He purchased a farm in that county, upon which he remained about three years, which he then sold and changed his business buying a sawmill, which he operated for about three years more, and then returned to agricul- tural pursuits. Eight years later he disposed of his interest there and came to Monona County.
Mr. Harrison was united in marriage in Orange County, Ind., December 1, 1846, with Miss Amelia Ventis, a native of that county and the daughter of Reuben and Rhoda (Webb) Ventis, and by this union is the parent of eleven children, as follows: a child that died in infancy; William K., John V .. Mary V., James O., Lewis B., Nancy E., Samuel J .. Edward M., Anna M., and George L.
April 17, 1889, Mr. Harrison was bereft of his wife, who passed into "The valley of the shadow of death," leaving a disconsolate family, who sadly committed her body to Mother Earth.
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R OBERT G. FAIRCHILD, a prominent and influential farmer of Franklin Township, having his residence on the southeast quarter of section 17, where he settled in the spring of 1873, was the first merchant in Mo- nona County. He came here in April, 1856, when there were but few people in the county, and local. ing at the little village of Ashton. on the 6th of June following opened the first store. He continued the only merchant in that place until the spring of 1858, when he removed to the county seat, Onawa, occupying a rented building. He had built a store building the year before but was not able to occupy it as he had rented it to W. 1. Cooper until the fall after his removal. The business continued en. 1 tirely under his own control until the summer the railroad was built to that now prosperous town. when he admitted a partner in the person of George A. Douglas and under the firm name. Fairchild & Douglas, the business was carried on until 1870. Selling out his interest. Mr. Fairchild made his home in Onawa, engaged in looking after farm- ing and stock matters, until removing to his present residence in 1873, One of Monona County's
earliest pioneers, he has seen it grow from the beginning to its present prosperous and wealthy con- dition, and has been an active agent and powerful factor in its development. He is the owner of one of the fine farms of the county, having five hun- (red and twenty acres, three hundred and twenty acres of which is in his home farm. The latter, which is in a state of high cultivation. is excellently improved, with a high class of buildings and one of the finest farm residences in the county. a view of which, with its surroundings, is given elsewhere in this work. The house was ereeted in the winter of 1883-1884. Our subject is extensively engaged in stock-raising to which he devotes a large share of his time and attention, and has met with most unqualified success.
Mr. Fairchild's birthplace was Remsen, Oneida County, N. Y .. his advent taking place September 7, 1828. Ile is the son of Samuel and Eleanor (Roberts) Fairchild, natives of Schoharie and Oneida Counties respectively. Hle was reared upon his father's farm, receiving the elements of an ex- cellent education in the district schools of that lo- cality, and at the age of seventeen entered a store
in Chautauqua County, as a clerk, where he laid the foundations of the mercantile education that has proved so beneficial in after life. Closely applying himself to business, he remained there until August, 1855, when in search of a locality in which to establish a business of his own. he went to Des Moines, lowa. The following spring he came to this county with a stock of goods as above stated and has been identified with this locality and its interests ever since. He was one of the original members of the Monona Land Company and was largely instrumental in the upbuilding of Onawa. In 1860 his parents eame to the county and here made their home until their death, which occurred, the father's in December, 1866, and the mother's November 20, 1887. They were the parents of thirteen children, nine of whom live to maturity.
Mr. Fairchild was united in marriage March 25, 1861, with Miss Helen F. Meech, a native of Monk- ton, Vt., who was born May 4. 1839. They have been the parents of one child, Dean M., born March 21, 1866. Mr. Fairchild in his political views is a stanch adherent of the principles formu-
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MONONA COUNTY.
Iated in the platform of the Democratic party. is quite active in loen! matters and is a member of the township board.
As one of the old settlers of the county and one of the representative citizens.his portrait deserves a place in this work and it is given to the readers in another place.
OHN R. MCINTYRE. a well-known farmer. residing on section 21, Spring Valley Town- ship, was born in Rappahannock County, Va., July 4, 1823, and is the son of David and Lydia (Hlittle) Melntyre, the former born near Cincinnati. Ohio, and the latter in Virginia. When our subject was quite a small boy his father died. The mother closed up her husband's business. for he was a merchant, removing with her family to Boud County, Ill, where she was again married and there died.
John R. MeIntyre, the second in a family of six children, removed with his mother to linois, where he remained until 1841. In the spring of that year he came to Iowa, locating in Lee County, in which section he remained until the fall of 1848. In the meantime, August 29, 1843, he was married to Miss Elmira Fry, a native of Greene County, Ind., who was born May 12, 1821. In 1848 he re- moved to Appanoose County, and two years later to Mills County, in each of which he was engaged in farming. Three years later he removed to Ilar- rison County. and from there, in 1878, came to Monona County, and settled on the farm where he now lives. He now owns about one hundred and eighty acres of land and is successfully engaged in carying on general farming and stock-raising. He and his wife are members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. In politics, he is apt to vote for the best man, al- though he usually classes himself among the Demo- crats.
Mr. and Mrs. McIntyre have had a family of eleven children born unto them as follows: Will- iam H., born, July 1, 1844, died September 11. 1862; Thomas J. born. October 17, 1816; David
B., born. February 2, 1848, died the fall of the same year; Joseph M., November 4, 1850; Edna. July 13, 1853; George E., March 24, 1856; John R., April 17, 1858; Amon, December 7. 1860; Eliza J., March 11, 1863; Alvin, July 14, 1865; and James N., February 8, 1868.
Jacob Hittle, the maternal grandfather of Mr. MeIntyre, was born in Pennsylvania of German ancestry, and during the Revolutionary War was a soldier in the Continental Army. and fought under General Washington in several battles. At the elose of the conflict he removed to North Carolina, where he was married, and thenee to Virginia, where he died in 1835. at the age of ninety-five years.
6 ERTIU'S B. SKIDMORE. Among the most worthy citizens of Lincoln Township is the subject of the present history, whose resi- dence and farming property is situated on section 8. 84, 46. Ile came to Monona County in the fall of 1867, and after spending the winter at Onawa, removed, in the spring of the following year, to the farm where he now lives. lle purchased the land on coming here in the autumn, but as there was no house or other improvements upon it, he was forced to delay taking his family to the place until he had built a dwelling. There were only a few people living in the township at that time and but one schoolhouse within its limits which latter was lo- cated on the southwest corner of section 16. Ile at once entered upon the cultivation of his land, breaking up the prairie sod, and, by continual labor, has brought his three hundred and twenty acres, or a large share of it, into a high state of tilth, and to day is the possessor of a highly fertile and pro- ductive farm.
Mr. Skidmore is a native of England and was born February 16, 1831. When about ten years of age he crossed the ocean in company with his parents. Isaiah and Emily Skidmore, and with them took up his residence in Waukesha County, Wis. In 1850, in the excitement attendant on the dis- covery of gold in California, although but sixteen years of age, he was led by the spirit of adventure
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MONONA COUNTY.
to that Eldorado, but after one year's experience of the hardships of a mining camp, returned to his home in Wisconsin. In the spring of the follow- ing year, the reports from Australia filling his ! mind with visions of wealth to be acquired in that singular land, he made a voyage to the " Island Continent," where he remained until the spring of 1860. Returning on a visit to his parents, he stayed with them about twelve months, and then removed to Cole County, Mo., where he made his home until coming to Monona County, as noted above.
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