History of Monona County, Iowa; containing full-page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, Part 55

Author:
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, National Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 666


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 55


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throughout the entire war, being promoted from rank to rank until he fairly won his commission as Captain, a title which he retained until his death. After the War of 1812-15 he removed to Ohio, and took up a tract of land in Lorain County. In 1838 be removed to Logan County. in the same State, where he was engaged in farming until his death. Ilis first wife died in early life, and in Lorain County, Ohio, about 1820, he married Miss Elizabeth Smith, a native of Vermont, who was born October 7, 1748, and who died February, 12, 1871. By this union they had but one child, Edwin. the subject of this sketch.


Edwin was about eleven years of age when he removed to Login County with his parents, and there grew to manhood, receiving, in youth, a good common-school education. In 1847 he left the pa- rental root-tree and came to Jowa, locating in Clayton County, where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of wild land, and brought it under cultivation, and upon which he remained until 1856. Selling out he removed to Shelby County. where he was engaged in farming until 1865, the date of his coming to Monona County. Here he has resided ever since. He has a fine farm of one hundred and twenty acres, eighty of it under ex- cellent cultivation, with a neat and tasty residence and good barns and sheds upon it, and a considera- ble quantity of good stock. Our subject was married, in Clayton County, Iowa, March 16, 1848, Miss Abbie Rounds, a native of Muskin- gum County, Ohio, who was born September 28, 1829, and is a daughter of John and Catherine (Hover) Rounds. Her father was born in Rhode Island, March 30, 1798, and died in Monona County, March 10, 1877. Her mother was born in Virginia, October 17, 1798, and died in Monona County, June 15. 1869. They were married in Ohio, whither they had gone in early life, and had a family of five children, of whom Mrs. Prichard was the third.


Our subject and his wife have had a family of ten children, of whom the following is a record: Catherine E. was born in Clayton County, Iowa, February 20, 1849, and married B. K. Harrington October 19, 1870, and is living at Lemars. Mi- nerva Jane was born in Clayton County, May 2,


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1851, and was married, October 19, 1870, to A. D. Tylor, and resides at Sloan. Jared was born Octo- ber 15, 1852, in Clayton County, married Miss Sarah Hewitt in 1877, and lives in Woodbury County. . lohn, who was born July 31, 1855, in the same place, married Miss Ida Nichols, and lives at Ticonic. George, who was born June 20, 1858, in Shelby County, died there August 22 fol- lowing. Jacob A., a lawyer at Smithfield, was horn December 13, 1859, in Shelby County. Will- iam, living at home, was born in Shelby County, July 16, 1863. Elcanor, born in Monona County, December 29, 1865, was married, November 20, | 1886, to 1. B. Wintermyer, of Smithland. Abbie. born here, .June 3, 1869, lives at home. Edwin, born July 11, 1875, died March 13, 1878.


AMU'EL CUNNINGHAM, of the firm of Cunningham & Gray, dealers in hardware, lumber, sash, doors, lime, brick and cement, at Blencoe, lowa, is among the leading merchants of that thriving little town. He is a representative of that shrewd and thrifty people known as the Scotch-Irish, descendants of the Cam- eronians, who settled in the North of Ireland when fleeing from persecution in their native home amid the braes of Scotland. He was born in Ire- land, April 1, 1844, and is the son of Samuel and Martha Cunningham, the former of whom died in in the Emerald Isle in 1869. The mother of our subject came to America in 1869, and died about 1873.


Mr. Cunningham was reared at home and availed himself of all the means of education offered in the days of his youth. Early in 1867, he determined to seek in free America a larger field for his efforts, and crossed the ocean, and, on landing upon Co- lumbia's shores, came at once to Monona County, arriving here on the 4th of February. He pur- chased a farm on section 17, Sherman Township. which, after cultivating some seven years, he sold to .James McIntyre. Upon a farm on section 10. in the same township, which he then purchased, he carried on farming until 1883, at which date he


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sold out and started in his present business, in company with A. O. Gray.


Mr. Cunningham was married June 11. 1874, to Miss Nancy Glenn, also a native of Ireland, and an acquaintance of his youth, who came to the United States in early life, and is the daughter of John Glenn, of Sherman Township, a sketch of whom may be found in this work.


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ILHELM GANTZ, an active and intelli- gent farmer, living on section 15, Frank- lin Township, came to Monona County in 1865, and rented a farm. Soon after he purchased forty acres of land, to which he has added forty acres adjoining since. He erected a log house upon his farm, into which he moved and spent that winter, and in which he made his home until Angust, 1880, when he finished the neat frame cot- tage in which he now resides.


Mr. Gantz is a native of Prussia, Germany, and first saw the light of day April 22. 1831. He is the son of Carl and Christina Gantz, who were farmers in that kingdom. Ile acquired in bis youth the principles of an education, and was reared to manhood on his father's farm, where he learned the business of farming, that has been so beneficial to him since. November 5, 1859, he was united in marriage with Miss Frederica Miller, a native also of Prussia, who was born December 31, 1832, and with his young wife, in the fall of 1862, sought in the New World the fortune and the chance to rise that were denied him in his native land. Crossing the boisterous Atlantic, after a tedious voyage, they landed at New York City, and thence proceeded to Buena Vista, Ohio. Work of all character was scarce, but he found employ- ment in a stone quarry, in the environs of that village, and labored there for about a year, at the expiration of which he came to Monona County, as mentioned above.


Mr. and Mrs. Gantz have had one child that died in infancy. Both he and his wife are consistent and


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zealous members of the Lutheran Church, at On- awa, and merit and receive the respect and esteem of all with whom they come in contaet.


OIIN T. SMITIL. In one of the pretty farm houses in Hartford County. Md .. was born January 1, 1831, a child who received the name which stands at the head of this sketch, who in after years became one of the pioneers of Ashton Township, in this county, where he has made his home since 1865, on section 12.


Mr. Smith is the son of Reuben and Naney (Farmer) Smith, who were engaged in farming and fruit raising in that section of Maryland. His pa- ternal grandfather was a Spanish creole, born in Louisiana, near New Orleans, and was one of the first that settled down on the Chesapeake Bay. llis maternal grandfather, was a native of Shrop- shire, England, who came to America about the year 1800.


John T. received a good common school educa- tion in the days of his youth and remained at home until attaining man's estate. Starting out in life for himself he came Westward, and located for sometime at McConnell's Grove, Ind., about twen- ty-live miles west of Lafayette. From there he went to Chicago, and thence to St. Louis, Mo. From the latter city, he came to Monona County, in 1865, and here took a homestead of eighty acres of land on section 12. Ashton Township, to which he has since added some forty acres on section 13. With him came a man by the name of James Wil- liams, who soon became discouraged, and re- moved to Dubuque. Mr. Smith immediately broke about forty aeres of land, and erected a log cabin, and commeneed the development of his place.


During the War of the Rebellion, Mr. Smith was in the employ of the Government, having charge of the corrall at Ridgeway, Kan., during 1862. In 1863, he had charge of a government train, and in 1864, commanded the post train at Ft. Scott. In the spring of 1867, he crossed the plains for Denver, Col., for B. Stratton, a freighter, in whose employ he continued about three months.


The succeeding year he was engaged in the same line of business for himself. and then came back to the farm. His crop that year was considerably in- jured by the grasshoppers, so, renting his farm, he returned to Denver, and in that city and Omaha made his living for about a year and then returned to Monona County. where he has since made his home.


John T. Smith was united in marriage in May, 1858, with Miss Lydia Taylor, a native of Black- hawk County, lowa, who died in 1860, leaving one child, Charles O., who is engaged in farming in Wright County, Minn.


BOHN S. EGGLESTON. one of the enter- prising firm of Joslin, Eggleston & Son, who are carrying on a large and increasing trade in general merchandise at Maple Landing, was born in Essex County, N. Y., June 8, 1831, and is the son of Rodney and Eliza Eggles- ton. When he was about seven years of age, he was taken by his parents to Hamilton County, Ohio, where he acquired the elements of a good practical common school education. In the fall of 1844, with the family, he removed to Sangamon County, Ill., where he grew to manhood. At the age of twenty-one years he went to Logan County, in the same State, where he was engaged until the fall of 1853, in learning the tinner's trade. Return- ing to Sangamon County, on the death of his father, for three years he carried on the farm, but in 1856, on the death of the surviving parent, re- moved to Douglas County, Ill.


But the sable pall of civil war rolling over our country, in response to a call for men with which to repel its dark tide, Mr. Eggleston enlisted, December, 1, 1861, in Company I, Fifty-fourth Illinois Infantry, and was mustered into the service at Jonesborough. After campaigning through Ken- tueky and Tennessee, the regiment of which he was a part, being a portion of the Sixteenth Army Corps, took a part in the famous siege of Vieks- burg. On the re-organization of the armies of the Tennessee and Cumberland, the Fifty-fourth


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was assigned to the Seventh Corps and took part in the campaign against and capture of Little Rock, Ark., where they had a sharp engagement with the rebel. Gen. Price, capturing about sixteen hun- dred prisoners. During the winter our subject assisted in the erection of Ft. Steele. and then vet- eranized. going home on the usual thirty-day fur- lough. On re-assembling at Mattoon, Ill., the commander of their regiment received a telegram to come to Charleston, Coles County, where there was trouble. The settlers on Big Creek, being mostly Copperheads, knowing that the boys, a part of their regiment at Charleston, had no guns, their arms being at Mattoon, came into the town with shot guns covered up in their wagons. It being court week the soldiers were in the court-house yard waiting for the train, when fire was opened upon them by these cowardly traitors, from nearly ever corner of the street, killing nine of them and wounding as many more. On the arrival of the rest of the regiment, a short time after, they found that most of the farmers had got out of town with the exception of three that the citizens had captured, who were turned over to the mili- tary authorities. One of these made a break for liberty, and endeavoring to run into the store of a loyal man, the latter came forward to close the door, when our soldiers fired, killing them both. After staying there a few days and capturing thirty-six of the copperheads, who were sent to Blackwell's Island, the boys started south, and on their arrival at Cairo, were sent to Puducab, Ky., after the rebel, Gen. Forrest. After this, in an en- gagement that took place in Arkansas, eight com- panies of the regiment, after a fight which lasted all day, losing thirty-six killed and fifty wounded, were captured by Gen.Shelby who started with them for Texas. For four days they marched night and day with nothing to eat. but he finally turned the prisoners loose, parolling them, his men taking all their clothes, leaving many of them without shoes. They were five hundred miles from the Union lines, from which they were separated by a coun- try desolated by war, but Mr. Eggleston and two others, after incredible hardships, reached Pilot Knob in six weeks, the first of any to arrive at that point. At Benton Barracks, St. Louis, they were


properly exchanged, and January 1. 1865, again reported for duty. and Mr. Eggleston participated in the skirmish at Pine Bluff. The war being over he was mustered out of the service, receiving his discharge at Springfield, 111., October 15, 1865. Hte returned to Douglas County, where he had left his family, and where he lived until April, 1866, when he started by team for Monona County. He landed here May 12, and for the first year he was em- ployed in hauling slabs and bark to the steamboat landing at Tieville and continued at the sawmill in various capacities until the spring of 1869. After working on a rented place, he removed to his own farm on section 15, 83, 46, where he remained un- til February, 1885, when he sold out and engaged in the mercantile business at Maple Landing.


Mr. Eggleston was married, November 11. 1851, in Sangamon County, Ill., to Miss Mary JJividen, a native of Jackson County, Va., and the daughter of Ezekiel and Martha (Hendricks) Jividen. They have two children : Alice V. now Mrs. George R. Joslin ; and Charles F. a member of the firm of Joslin, Eggleston & Son.


LMON L. ADAMS, who is engaged in farm ing and stock-raising on section 28, Frank- lin Township, is a native of Mercer County, Pa. He is the son of John and Sarah (Skinner) Adams, and was born July 26. 1849. Ilis parents were natives of the State of New York, and were lineal descendants of Puritan colonists, who settled in Massachusetts in the early part of the seventeenth century, and were of En- glish descent.


Mr. Adams remained a resident of the Keystone State engaged in receiving his education in its dis- triet schools until the fall of 1861, when he came with his parents to Iowa, and settled in Floyd County. There the father purchased a farm which he carried on until his death, May 30, 1884. The mother of our subjeet passed away from this earth July 20, 1872, at the age of fifty-seven years.


Almon L. Adams was the seventh in the family of nine children born to his parents, the others be-


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ing: Alvin, deceased; Adelia. deceased ; Allan, Arelia. Adison, Acelia, Amelia, deceased, and Amanda, deceased. He remained at home until he had attained the age of twenty, and had acquired besides the rudiments of an education, a thorough knowledge of the art of agriculture. In 1869. starting out for himself, he went to Bon Homme County, Dak .. and engaged in farming and freight- ing between that point and Sioux City. Two years later he removed to Monona County, and that sea- son was engaged in running a threshing machine, but soon settled down to agricultural labor on his own account. Hle is now the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of tine land which he has brought to a state of excellent culture, and has well im- proved it.


Mr. Adams was united in marriage December 25, 1873, with Miss Mary E. Jewell, a native of Frank- lin Township, the third child born in the county. her birth taking place January 7, 1857, and who is the daughter of William and Betsie (Dates ) Jew- ell, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in these pages. By this marriage there has been a family of three children -- Joseph A., born October 7, 1874; Gny B., November 24, 1876; and Oak E .. Feb- ruary 26, 1883.


AMUEL STEPHENS DORWARD, of Bel- videre Township, is numbered among the solid men of this county, and is an excel_ lent citizen who has made for himself an honorable record and hosts of friends. A native of Siddlesham, Sussexshire, England, he was born No- vember 19. 1841, and is the son of Rev. William A. and Eliza S. ( Andrews) Dorward.


Rev. William A. Dorward was born in Montrose, in the county of Forfar, Scotland, February 8, 1813, and grounded his education in the common schools of that village within sound of the waves of the North Sea. At the age of eighteen years, having served an apprenticeship at the tailor's trade, he left his native land and went to London, England, where he was employed as a journeyman for a few years. and then removed to Portsmouth, in the same


kingdom, where he taught school. Naturally of a studions temperament, he had by " burning the midnight oil," and a close application educated himself highly, although no collegian At the age of thirty years he entered the ministry as a dissent- ing clergyman and preached in England for sev- eral years. In 1849 he came to America, landing in New York, and from there came to Dodge County, Wis., where, managing the farm, bis boys doing the work, he taught school until 1865, in which year he removed to Monona County, locat- ing on section 13, Belvidere Township, where he took one hundred and sixty acres of land. Mr. Dorward was soon ordained as a Baptist minister, and preached in this State at Spirit Lake, Harlan and Villisea, and at several places in New York State. Jannary 14, 1888, he was called to his re- ward and is buried in Belvidere Cemetery. Ile was married in Portsmouth, England, April 27, 1835, to Miss Eliza S. Andrews, a native of that city, born August 20, 1808, and was the parent of ten children : Eliza A., deceased; Emma J., Wil- liam Il., Isaae T., who died in the army, Samuel S., Mary (deceased), Ann H., Walter G., George A. and Frank M.


Samnel S. Dorward was early put to school in his native land, but at the age of some eight years came with his parents to America, settling in Dodge County, Wis,, where he grew to manhood, receiving a good practical education in its common schools. At the age of fifteen years he commenced work at farming, which he followed until August 15, 1862, when with an intense love for his adopted country he enlisted in Company E, Twenty-ninth Wiseon- sin Infantry, and in November of that year left the State capital for the seat of war. After campaign- ing through Arkansas and Mississippi with his gal- lant regiment, he participated in the battle of Port Gibson, where he was severely wounded in the left thigh, and after spending three months in the gen- eral hospital at St. Louis, was honorably discharged September 30, 1863, and returned to his home. One year later he came to Monona County, landing here the first of October, 1864, and located on his present farm. and has since that date made this his home. He is now the owner of a large and well improved farm of two hundred and eighty acres.


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and is extensively engaged in stock-raising on see- tion 13, Belvidere Township.


December 8, 1867, Mr. Dorward was married near Arcola, this county, to Miss Elvira Blackburn, a native of Lawrence County, Pa., who was born June 2, 1849. The lady is the daughter of John S. Blackburn. one of the pioneers of this county, who was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, Au- gust 21, 1822. At the age of twenty-five years he removed to Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in a sawmill, and from there came to Iowa, for some years running a sawmill in Marion County. In 1857 he removed to Monona County, settling on the Little Sioux River, seven miles east of Onawa, where he built the first water mills in the county, and made the first flour December 25. 1857. To this he soon added a sawmill. He was also en- gaged in farming and stock-raising, and at present makes his home in Florida, whither he went in 1881. June 22. 1847, he married Miss Belinda Field, a native of Beaver County, Pa., who was born October 31. 1823, and became the mother of five children : Elvira, John. A. (deceased), Benja- min F., Eva A. (deceased), and George.


. Mr. and Mrs. Dorward have had a family of five children born to them upon the following dates: Ralph S .. April 16, 1870; Emma J., September 28, 1872: Samuel M .. November 18, 1874; William B., December 18, 1878, and Hattie E., February 7, 1885. Samuel died May 27, 1876.


IRAM HARLOW, deeeased, a respected and well to-do citizen of the past, who resided in Sherman Township, was born in Sher- burne, Rutland County, Vt., in 1803, and was reared and educated among the Green Moun- tains of his native State. In 1833 he was united in marriage with Miss Lueina Eldridge, a lady whose birthplace was at New Haven, Addison County, in the same State. She was born September 11, 1814, the day upon which was fought the battles of Plattsburgh and Lake Champlain. The young couple removed to Stowe. Lamoille County, where Mr. Harlow engaged in farming for some twelve


years. They then removed to St. Lawrence County. N. Y., where his wife died in 1852, and two years latter he brought the family to Wisconsin. There they made their home until 1863, when he removed still further West and 'located in Burt County, Neb., whence in 1867 he came to Monona County. Here he made his home until overtaken by death. March 9, 1888, at Blencoe. He had a family of seven children-Paulina' E .. Nathaniel ( .. Lydia. lliram .1., Albia, Adelia and Emily L.


n ATHANIEL C. HARLOW, an industrious and prosperous farmer of the town of Sher- man, having his home on section 17, is the second child of Hiram and Lucinda (Eldridge) Harlow, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. He was born at Stowe, Lamoille County, Vt., August 15, 1837. Reared among the moun- tainous scenery of his native State, he there breathed in the spirit of liberty and independence that is so marked a feature in his disposition, and in the excellent select schools of that portion of New England, acquired the rudiments of a good educa- tion. Sheltered by the roof-tree of the home of his birth, he remained with his parents until he was seventeen years of age, when he struck out for the Michigan pineries. Working in the lumber camps through the winter, and sailing on the lakes during the summer months, for a portion of the time, lie spent eight years of his life in that portion of the Union. In the spring of 1864 he removed to Burt County, Neb., where he engaged in farming, but in 1865 came to Monona County, where he has re- sided ever since.


In the dark days of the Nation's trouble, when the rebels in the South threatened our national life, Mr. Harlow with the patriotism born of his New England parentage, enlisted in Company A, Twenty- seventh Wisconsin Infantry, and participated in all the hardships and campaigns of that noble regi- ment, until December, 1865, when he received his discharge.


Mr. Harlow was married, October 30, 1859. in Casco, Wis., to Miss Margaret M. Carmody, a na-


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tive of Brooklyn, N. Y., and daughter of Michael and Margaret Carmody, who died near Blencoc, Iowa, November 9, 1881, having been the mothet of six children-Frank L .. who married Miss Kate Davis, of Oswego, Kan., in August, 1888; Henry II., who married Miss Lizzie Tees, of Blencoe in March, 1883; Will S., Clarence E., Burt E. and Lottie M. Mr. Harlow was again married March 20, 1883, to Mrs. Sarah E. Caywood, nee Johnson. a native of Kalamazoo, Mich., and daughter of Isaac and Katie Johnson.


OHN HAGEE is successfully engaged in farming in Ashton Township, having his home on section 25, where he has some three hundred and sixty aeres of valuable land. Giving most of his attention to the rearing of stock, he has but about fifty acres of his farm under cultivation, the balance being devoted to pasture, and to the raising of large quantities of grass and hay. He came to Monona County in 1861, from Louisville, Ky, on Captain Throck- morton's boat, and landed at Cook's Landing, May 1. le at once purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres to which he removed in Septem- ber and has there made his home ever sinee. At that time there were very few settlers located in Ashton Township, most of those who had settled in earlier days having removed to other parts of the county, or other sections of the State.


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Mr. Hague is a native of England, and was born December 17, 1825. Ile is the son of Thomas and Mary ( Mosley ) Hague, both of whom died in Eng- land, the latter about 1830, and the former 1874. HIe was one of a family of nine children, four of whom died in infancy, the others being Martha, Hannah, William, and Elizabeth. He has one brother and one sister living in this country, the former in Brown. Noble County, Ind., and the latter the widow of William Marshall, in the county seat of this county, Onawa.


In 1848 Mr. Hague came to the United States, landing at New Orleans, La., in May of that year.


From that port he went directly to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was employed in a woolen mill for some two years. From there he removed to Louis- ville, Ky., and was the overseer in a large woolen mill at that point for eleven years. In 1861 he came to Monona County, as related above.


March 17, 1859, Mr. Hague was united in mar- riage with Miss llannah Ransley, the daughter of Mark and Sarah ( Booth) Ransley, natives of Eng- land. Her father was born March 10, 1809 and died in Manchester, England March 1, 1838. Her mother also died in that country in 1838. Mrs. Ilague, the eldest child in her father's family, was born November 5, 1831, the others being George, born .July 7, 1833; John, September 3, 1835; and Mary in 1837, who died in 1838. After the death of her parents Mrs. Hague was taken by her aunt, the sister of her father, Mrs. Samuel Shaw, the boys being placed under protection of other friends. Mr. and Mrs. Shaw and Hannah came to America in 1816, landing at Boston, Mass., and for twelve years the latter lived in Portsmouth, N. H., and was there married and removed to Louisville, Ky., with her husband.




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