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 63
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ager. Again re-entering the employment of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, he was made their agent at Battle Creek. Ida County, and from there, three years later, transferred to Mapleton. Six years service in that city was finished before his removal to Turin, he taking possession of the latter office, November 15, 1886. Ile was commis- sioned as Postmaster of Turin, May 2, 1882.
Mr. Roberts was married July 4, 1862, to Miss Anna M. Osgood, a native of Brookline. Vt., who was born July 28, 1811, and is a daughter of John S. and Jane ( Orgus) Osgood. Her father, a native of the same State, was born July 24. 1812. Iler mother was also born in the Green Mountain State in November, 1811, and died October 11, 1886.
Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have had two children: Ettie Isadore, was born November 7, 1869, at Chelsea, lowa, and was married April 25, 1888, to William F. Reynolds, of Austin, IH. The second child, Annie Osgood, was born October 7, 1879, at Battle Creek, lowa, and died ten days later. In their family is an adopted child, Osgood Roberts, who was born June 2, 1879, whom they have had since he was about a year and a half old.
RANCIS M. NORWOOD, who is engaged in carrying on a farm in West Fork Town- ship, on seetion 25, came to Monona County August 23, 1867, having purchased a place the previous spring, without seeing it. There was a small house upon it and about forty acres of the land was broken at the time of his settlement. Here he has made his home ever since.
Mr. Norwood was born in Tompkins County, N. Y., May 26, 1818, and was reared to manhood in that portion of the Empire State. In early life be adopted millwrighting as a business and remained in his native county until the winter of 1844-15 when he moved to Cattaraugus County. Two years later he removed to Warren County, Pa., where he remained until the spring of 1851. Returning to Cattaraugus County, he there remained until the spring of 1867, when he came to Monona County. spending some three months on the road hither.
1Ie floated down the Allegheny River on a flatboat to Pittsburg and down the Ohio to Cairo, Ill., from which point he came by steamboat via St. Louis, up the Missouri River to Council Bluffs. Having purchased tickets from St. Louis to Onawa Lauding, on their arrival at the Bluffs it was found they were the only passsengers coming North and, to save expense, the captain of the boat hired a team which brought Mr. Norwood and his family across the country to this county.
Mr. Norwood was married in Tompkins County, N. Y., August 5, 1838, to Miss Mary Bush, a native of that county and the daughter of John and Betsy Bush, They have had a family of thirteen children : Eugene F., born June 4, 1839, died in the Ander- sonville prison-pen, he having enlisted and served in Company F, One hundred and Forty-seventh New York Infantry; Elmora F .. born April 29, 1841 ; Verona A., February 6, 1843; Delos M., No- vember 22, 1841; George M., November 11, 1846, Lorilla A., August 20,1848; Margaret A., August 13, 1850; Betsy M., November 19, 1852; Alonzo P. and Lorenzo P. (twins) January 9, 1855 ; lohn J .. February 22, 1857 ; Alice May, January 1, 1859, and William F., March 10, 1861. Mr. Norwood is an educated and intelligent gentleman and acted as correspondent for the Onawa Gazette for a number of years. In November, 1867, he was elected .Justice of the Peace of the township, and has ac- ceptably filled that office up to the present time, with the exception of about two years, and in the cases brought before him only one of his decisions has been reversed by a higher court.
OSES ADAMS, one of the pioneers of Monona County, is now a retired farmer living in Onawa. He came to Monona County April 20, 1858, and made his resi- dence upon section 16, Franklin Township, and actively engaged in agricultural pursuits until the year 1882. In the spring of the latter year he re- moved to Onawa to spend the remainder of his days. Ile was born May 28, 1824, in Kennebee . County, Me., and is the son of Jedediah and Mary
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(Adams) Adams, natives also of the Pine Tree State. Ile received a good practical New England district-school education, and was reared upon a farm, remaining with his parents until 1814, when he came West, and settled in Illinois. In various counties of that State he made his home until the fall of 1857, when, after a trip to the home of his birth. he came to Iowa, and remained through the winter in Keokuk County. The following spring he came to Monona County with a breaking team of four yoke of oxen and a covered wagon, and was engaged that summer in turning the tough prairie sod.
Mr. Adams was united in marriage August 15, 1863, to Miss Olive B. Lord, a native of Maine. who was born March 24, 1831, and who is the mother of three children: Andrew, born May 19, 1864, who died January 31, 1880; Adelia, born September 18, 1865, who died October 15, 1865, and Adelia, born November 9, 1867, now the wife of Allan B. Kiler, of Onawa. Mr. Adams has taken a great interest in the upbuilding and development of this county.
OIIN B. COMLY, M. D., of Mapleton. born in Winnebago County, Ill., May 5. 1860, is a son of Charles and Mary ( Ludwig) Comly, of Pennsylvania. Ilis father was born October 22, 1814, and his mother January 5, 1816. They were married December 8, 1836, and removed to Illinois in the spring of 1854, settling on a farm in Winnebago County, where they still reside. On the father's side they trace their ances- try back to HIenry Comly, who came to Pennsyl- vania with William Penn in 1682, and whom, his- tory states, was the secretary of that noble Quaker leader. lle died in 1684, leaving one son, Henry, also, and from him the Doctor is of the eighth gen- eration in deseent. The family has increased until it is quite numerous in and around Philadelphia. They are all members of the Society of Friends.
Dr. Comly was reared on a farm, and received his early education in the common schools and the high school at l'ecatonica, Ill. In 1877 he entered
a drug-store as clerk, where he remained one year, after which he read medicine in the office of Dr. D). Newell. In the fall of 1881 he matriculated in the medical department of the State University, at Lonisville, Ky., from which he was graduated Feb- ruary 28, 1884. Returning to Northern Illinois he engaged in the practice of his profession at Ridott, Stephenson County, where he remained until Janu- ary 1, 1888. The spring and summer of that year he spent in attending lectures at the various medical institutions in Philadelphia, and on February 11, 1889, opened his office in Mapleton. lle is a mem- ber of Stephenson Lodge, No. 61, I. O. O. F., at Freeport, 1H.
G EORGE J. MYERS, a business-like and en- terprising farmer of the town of Lake, re- siding on section 29, was born in Hawkins County, Tenn., July 8, 1825, and is the son of Jacob K. and Martha Myers, the former a native of Wrythe County, Va., born October 9, 1799, and the latter of Hawkins County, Tenn. When George was about two years of age his parents removed to Monroe County, Ind., where our subject worked at home upon the farm, and attended the district school. In 1845 they all removed to Marshall County, Ill., where September 1, 1853, George J. was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Hendrick, and on the 23d of the same month removed to Clarke County, Iowa, where he entered some two hundred acres of government land, and built him a house. Ile opened up a farm, and tilled the land until the spring of 1859, when he traded a part of it for a farm in Adams County, where he lived eight years. Ile then returned to Clarke County, where he made his home until the spring of 1874, at which time he came to Monona County, and rented a farm. He soon purchased one hundred and twenty acres of wild land, on which he ereeted a house, and improved about sixty acres of it, which he afterwards traded for his present homestead of eighty acres. February 18, 1867, Mrs. Myers de-
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parted this life. leaving a family of six children and her husband to mourn their loss. She was born June 6, 1832. The following is a record of het children: Marion B. was born October 26, 1854; Mary F. September 22, 1856; Martha 1. January 30, 1859; Jacob Ellsworth October 13, 1861 ; Katie 1 .. March 11, 1861, and James S., born November 29, 1866. May 27, 1868, George J. Myers married Miss Annie Melntosh, a native of Ohio, who was born March 19, 1838, and who is the mother of one child: Florinda B., born May 11, 1869.
INSLOW A. GREENE, the well-known editor of the Onawa Sentinel, and one of the letaling journalists of the county, came to Onawa in May. 1868, and, in co-partnership with ('. 11. Aldrich, of whom he purchased a half interest, carried on the paper known as the Monona. County Gurette, for about two years. Purchasing his part- ner's interest, he occupied the editorial tripod alone for about a year, and then disposed of the business as shown elsewhere. While engaged in the restau- rant business, he started the People's Press, a his- tory of which is given in the annals of Onawa and Mapleton, and remained in connection with that journal until the fall of 1873. From that date until 1881, he gave his entire attention to operating the restaurant, but in the latter year was engaged as local editor of the Gazette, which position he filled for about two years. In 1883, he removed to Whiting and established the Sentinel at that place, which he sold two years later to W. H. Won- der. Returning to Onawa, he instituted the Onawa Sentinel, which he ran alone until January 1, 1887, when John II. Jones was admitted to a partnership. and the firm thus formed have carried on the paper ever since. A history of this journal is given else- where in the pages of this ALBUM.
Mr. Greene was born in Geauga County, Ohio, July 3, 1833, and is the son of Amplias and Lovina (Fox) Greene. His father was born in New York in 1802, and his mother in New Hampshire. Febru-
ary 22, 1804. and both removed with their parents to the Western Reserve, Ohio, among its earliest pioneers. In that locality they resided until over- taken by death, the father in 1872 and the mother in 1871.
The subject of this epitome, the eldest son and fourth child in a family of ten, was reared upon the farm, assisting his father in his agricultural labors and attending the subscription schools of that day until some fourteen years of age. Ilis father being in somewhat limited circumstances, Winslow was thrown upon his own resources at an early age, and taught school with which to obtain the means to attend the college at Oberlin. While in the latter institution, which he soon entered, he worked at whatever he could get to do around the city, at eight cents per hour, and thus managed to earry himself through several terms. On complet- ing his studies, he adopted teaching as a profession and followed it for upwards of fifty terms, both in Southern Ohio and at Council Bluffs, being the principal of the High School at the latter place one year. He commenced teaching in the latter city on coming to Jowa, in 1864, in an old frame build- ing on Stutsman Street near the present Methodist Church edifice. He was the first principal in the first brick schoolhouse built in Council Bluffs, and upon the completion of the first High School build- ing, near the Presbyterian Church, was transferred to the Iligh Sehool, of which he was principal about one year. It was in that city that he began his newspaper eareer, as local editor of the Nonpa- reil. It was by accident that he became a newspaper man, On account of dissipation, his predecessor was discharged. and at the earnest solieitation of Col. J. W. Chapman, who was then the editor of the Nonpareil, Mr. Greene very reluctantly con- sented to aet as local editor a week or two, until some other person could be found. But the work proved to be pleasant to him, and satisfactory to the proprietors of the paper, and he remained with that journal several months until being called to Sioux City on business for the paper, he stopped over in Onawa a day, to visit his friend Dr. A. S. Billings, and, at the solicitation of friends, who knew something of his newspaper record on the Nonpareil, he concluded to buy a half interest in
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the Monona County Gazette. as stated above. While he is very much interested in the newspaper work, he looks back upon his school work as really the most satisfactory work of his life.
Mr. Greene was united in marriage, December 24, 1868, with Miss Julia A. Sanford. This lady was born in Haverhill, N. Il., August 13, 1849. They are the parents of five children: Nellie, born February 17, 1870, died August 26, 1870; Eva L., was born .June 15, 1871; Florence, born September 30, 1873, died March 29, 1874; Mabel, was born October 3, 1875; Charles. August 20, 1877; and Anna, born April 11, 1880, died June 14, 1880.
Le YCURGUS GODSEY, one of the extensive stock-raisers of the town of Lake, residing on section 2, township 85, range 46, is one of the influential men of this section of the county. Young, active and energetic, and full of ready business tact, he seizes the opportunity of the mo- ment and turns it to his own profit and emolument.
Mr. Godsey was born in Putnam County, Mo., February 23, 1854, and is the son of A. 1. and Margaret E. Godsey. At the age of eleven years he removed with his parents to Mills County, this State, and grew to manhood, surrounded by home influences upon the parental farm. He received his education in the district schools and remained at home until his marriage, which took place on the 30th of December, 1878. Upon that day he was united to Miss Ada Roe, the daughter of Da- vid and Catherine Roe, a native of Fremont County, Iowa. He rented a farm in Mills County. where he and his young wife settled down to housekeeping, and there made their home until the fall of 1880. Determined to find a larger field for his efforts and extend the scope of his business, he came to Monona County with the first frosts of that year and settled on the Baxter Whiting land on section 2, where he now lives. He is extensively engaged in the raising of stock, giving the most of his attention to Hereford cattle and the various grades of the same. Since coming here he has met
with great success, and is ranked with the solid men of the township.
Mr. and Mrs. Godsey are the parents of four children, all boys, who bear the following names: Isaac, Frederick, Darwin and Nicholas.
ILLIAM THERAWLINGS, who is makingla specialty of thoroughbred English Shire. and Norman: Percheron horses, on his farm on section 9, Center Township, where he has about thirty fine representatives of these excellent strains, settled in this county in August 1868, in the town of Kennebec, where the village of Castana now stands. He had come here from Grant County, Wis., and made his home in Kennebec Township for about four years, when he sold out and located on the place where he now resides. This latter was entirely wild land when he bought it. but he has now about one hundred and twenty acres of it un . der the plow, ten acres in native timber, and four in a planted grove, the balance being in pasture.
Mr. Rawlings was born in Cornwall, England. November 12, 1841, and is the son of John and Mary Rawlings. When he was about four years of age the family eame to America, locating for a time in Racine County, Wis., where the father car- ried on a farm for about three years. and then re- moved to Grant County, in the same State, where he died September 30, 1864. At the age of eigh- teen years, our subject left his home and started to learn his father's old trade, that of a miller, at Platteville, which he followed for about two years and a half. In the spring of 1862, he went to C'ali- fornia, and was there engaged in teaming until June 1865, when he returned to Wisconsin, and for the next two years was variously employed. Hav- ing no means but a pair of strong arms and a will- ing spirit, he came to Monona County, to found his fortune, and his success has kept pace with his hopes. In a few short years he has built up a pleasant home, and has surrounded himself with all the comforts of life, the result entirely of his own efforts.
Mr. Rawlings was united in marriage, February
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21, 1869, with Miss Emma Carritt, a daughter of Thomas R. and Mary Carritt, a biography of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. By this union there has been born to them the following five chil- dren: John, November 25, 1870; Thomas A .. May 8. 1871; Minnie A., May 9, 1879; Judson lay, July 1, 1884; and Susan Belle. September 29, 1887.
OIIN BAGBY. Among the general farmers and stock-raisers of Sherman Township, the gentleman whose name heads this sketch, occupies a prominent and influential position. llis fine property, which consists of some four hun- dred acres of most excellent land on section 24, is well and handsomely improved, and a large portion is brought under cultivation, and, together with his extensive stock interests, places him among the wealthy and well-to-do people of the county.
Mr. Bagby, the seventh child in a family of twelve born to his parents. first saw the light near Wheeling, W. Va., October 6. 1834. lle is the son of Elijah and Rebecea (Sales) Bagby, both of whom were born in West Virginia, the former in 1796, and the latter in 1800. They were married amid the mountains and valleys of that wild, yet beauti- ful section of our union, in 1820, but when our subject was still a small child, removed to Ft. Wayne. Ind. in the neighborhood of that busy city, the latter was reared and made his home with his parents, until some sixteen years of age, when, with the adventurous spirit, characteristic of the American people, he pushed ont in the world to battle for himself. The great West coming into prominence just about that time, attracted his at- tention and he came hither, locating at Plattsmouth, C'ass County, Neb., where, for three years, he was engaged in running the ferry across the turbid Mis- sonri. In 1853 he removed to llarrison County, lowa, and built him a cabin near the Monona County line, and during the winter carried on hunt- ing and trapping, attending to his farm duties dur- ing the summer months. He is credited with having built the first bridge across the Little Sioux River, and was prominently identified with
the upbuilding of Harrison County. In 1869, he abandoned the wilder sports on account of the growing scarcity of game, since which date he has given his entire attention to agriculture. Fi- nally he came to Monona County and settled upon the extensive farm upon which he now resides.
Mr. Bagby was united in marriage in April, 1856, with Miss Lucia Bengin, a native of Illinois, and by this union has been the parent of nine children, only three of whom survived infaney-William, Elvira and Calvin. William married Miss Belle Hoag, in 1887; and Elvira became the wife of C. McCue, January 1, 1889.
C HRISTIAN L. CHRISTIANSON came to Monona County in the spring of 1879, and settled in Soldier Township on seetion 31, where he still resides, carrying on general farming and stock-raising. On coming here he purchased some nnimproved land and built the house he now occupies, which is 20x32 feet in size and a story and a half high, that summer, and broke about twenty acres of land, and fenced the eighty aeres.
Mr. Christianson first opened his eyes July 10, 1841, at the home of his parents, Christian and Sigri (Thompson) Christianson, in a beautiful valley of Norway. lle was reared to manhood in his native land, and there received a fair education. May 12, 1865, he sailed for America in search of the favors of fortune. Landing upon the soil of the great Republic, he came to Chicago, Ill., arriving there July 10, and made his home in that metropolis of the Northwest, where he found employment working at the carpenter's trade. There he re- mained until the spring of 1879, when he came to Monono County as above stated. Ile has been quite successful since coming to this country, and has raised himself from comparative poverty, to a position among the well-to-do farmers of the county. Ilis farm, although small in dimensions compared with some others, is highly cultivated and well improved, and is most beautifully situ- ated.
Mr. Christianson in due time was united in mar-
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riage in the Kingdom of Norway, with Miss Helena Hansen, a native of that country, and the daughter of Hans and Catherine Hansen. By this union they have had a family of seven children, born upon the following dates: Lena Amalie, July 22, 1860; Ludwig W., February 11, 1864; Cellia C., June 19,1867; Christian, September 18,1869 ; George II. September 19, 1871; Albert. born June 5. 1874, died in infancy; and Albert, born January 22, 1 878.
C HALMERS A. MILLER, one of the intelli- gent and well educated citizens of Center Township, who is extensively engaged in agricultural pursuits, came to Monona County in October 1869, from Story County, Iowa, and at first located on section 17, having purchased one hundred and twenty acres. Upon this he remained until 1873, when he removed to his present home on section 3, where he has a most excellent farm, embracing three hundred and twenty acres, one hundred and twenty-five of which are devoted to cultivation, the balance being in pasture and mead- ow, except about nine acres, which are covered with natural and artificial groves. His house, which is one of the neatest and most tasty in the neighborhood, commands a beautiful view, and is highly eligible as a residence.
Mr. Miller was born April 11, 1845, in Carroll County, Ohio. His father, John A. Miller, a na- tive of Virginia, who was born about 1809, came to Jasper County, Iowa, in 1854, where he died the same year. His mother, Mary Miller, was born in Ohio in 1810, and with her husband came to Towa in 1854, and died in Monona County, October 28, 1887, at the residence of her son John, in the Soldier Valley.
Chalmers was one of a family of nine chil- dren born to his parents, the others being Eph- raim, Albert, Solomon, Joseph. Eliza, llannah, John J., and Ruth M. He came in childhood to Iowa with his parents, and the year succeeding his father's death, with his mother he settled in Story County: this was the spring of 1855. There he remained until May 16, 1863, when he enlisted
in Company G, Seventh Iowa Cavalry. and served three years upon the Western plains. The regiment fought in several battles and won the lasting grat- itude of the people of the West, and our subject was mustered out at Leavenworth, Kan., and hon- orably discharged at Davenport, lowa, May 17. 1866. Returning to the farm in Story County, he there remained about a year, when he was married, February 28, 1867, to Miss Jane Kirkendall, a na- tive of Ohio, who was born December 9, 1813, and is the daughter of James and Rebecca" Kirkendall, and soon came to Monona County. Having re- ceived an excellent foundation for his education in the district schools of Ohio and Story County, lowa. and being of a studious temperament. improving bis time, he finished with a course at a commercial college at Des Moines, and for the first few years of his residence here was engaged in teaching school. March 3. 1888, he met with a serious accident while crushing corn fodder. bis sleeve catching in the gearing and crushing his hand, fortunately the left one. to such a degree that amputation was necessary.
Mr. and Mrs. Miller have had a family of eleven children-Harvey O., John C., Olive A., Lena E., Effie, Mary E., Ruth, Richard G., Ruey, Robert and Hugh II. Richard G., born March 4, 1881. was drowned in the water tank into which he fell while playing, June 25. 1884. Robert died in infancy.
OSHUA G. WILLIAMSON, an old and highly-respected citizen of the town of Lake. having his fine home on section 5, came to this county in the spring of 1873. 1Ie set- tled, at first, on a farm which he had purchased in Maple Township, but the title proving defective. or in dispute, he traded it for the farm where he now lives. The same summer, as the land was unbroken and unimproved, he turned the sod up on abont forty acres. The next year he got up a house, into which he and his family moved in January, 1875. The land around was as wild as it was before a set- tler had come to the county. and his place was no different from the rest. By the exercise of hard
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work, patiene, and considerable judgment, the im- provements now are counted among the best in the township, and the farm noted as being highly cul- tivated and prodnetive.
Mr. Williamson is a native of Huntingdon County, Pa., born January 1, 1822, and is the son of Iliram and Susan (Graffius) Williamson. He was reared upon a farm among the hills and valleys of the Keystone State, and remained at home until the spring of 1860. In the spring of that year he rented a farm in the same county, which he tilled for five years, and then moved West, set- tling in Winnebago County, Ill. Renting a farm in that locality, he recommenced his labors, and two years later came to terms with the owner and purchased it. In 1872 he soll out, but remained there for another year, raising a erop on a piece of rented land. At the end of that time he came to Monona County, as above noted.
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