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 76
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ASPER BOUSLAUGII, the son of Joseph R. and Margaret (Thomas) Bonslaugh, was born in Darke County, Ind., November 17. 1841. He removed in his childhood with his parents to Ohio, and Illinois, and in 1855 to Polk County, lowa. In the fall of 1859, he ac- companied his father and brothers to Monona County, and was engaged in working on the farm at the breaking ont of the Civil War. November 13, 1862, he enlisted in Company E, Sixth lowa Cavalry, at Old Mapleton, lowa, but after a two
months service, re-enlisted in Company E, Thir- teenth United States Regular Infantry, in which he served three years. Mr. Bouslaugh was mustered out and discharged with his regiment at Fort Riley, Kan .. November 13, 1865.
Mr. Bouslaugh was married May 29, 1866, to Miss Martha A, McClarrey, a native of Indiana, who was born May 29, 1850, and is the daughter of William McClarrey, who is a native of Kentucky, resident of Maple Township, this county, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume.
Mr. and Mrs. Bouslaugh have a family of seven children, as follows :- George G., Newton N., Wilham W., Chancery C., Paul P., Leona L., and Eliza E.
RANCIS MARION HOLDEN, who is en- gaged in farming on seetion 10, Jordan Township, was born near Primrose, Dane County, Wis., July 9, 1853,and is the son of Ira and Phoebe (Phillips) Hoklen. His father was born in New Hampshire in 1800, and was reared to man- hood in his native State, where he was engaged in agriculture until about 1840, and then moved Westward and settled in Wisconsin. In the latter State he was married in 1851, and made his rosi- dence in Dane County, until coming to this county in 1863, and here made his home until overtaken by death, in the fall of 1885. The mother of our subject was born on the shores of the lake, in Mich- igan, in December, 1829, and was the daughter of Alonzo Phillips, and the mother of three children- Francis M .; Lillian J., who died October 23, 1887; and Winfield Scott, whose death took place in 1881.
Franeis M., the eldest child of his parents, at the age of ten years came to Monona County with them, and December 20, 1863, the family located in Soldier Township. Here our subjeet grew to manhood and by persistent efforts and perseverance. managed to obtain a common school education. At the age of twenty years, renting a farm on seetion 18, St. Clair Township, he commeneed life for him- self and there, and in Sioux Township, carried on farming operations for about four years. Remov- ing to Kennebec Township, he purchased one hun-
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dred and sixty acres of land on section 32, where he made his home until 1885, when he sold out to F. L. Day and moved to his present location, and now has some eighty acres of land, sixty of which is under cultivation.
Mr. Holden was married on September 5, 1873. to Miss Nancy E. Montague, the daughter of George and Fannie (Andrews) Montague, who was born in Indian Territory. They are the parents of live children, born on the following dates : Lottie Stella, March 29. 1875: George Albert, November 12, 1877; Francis Eldridge, July 21. 1880; Bessie Maud. October 25, 1882; and Alice, February 12, 1889.
2 EWELL A. WIRTING. the leading hard- ware dealer of Onawa, and one of its most prominent and wealthy citizens, is one of the early pioneers of Monona County. He came here in 1856 on account of the interest which he had in some seven thousand acres of land hekl by him and his brother Charles E. After remaining a short time he returned to Alabama, but the next year came back to Monona County arriving in this place April 24, 1857. He says that upon that day there was snow upon the bluffs on either side of the river. and that the spring was so backward that there was no feed for the stock until May, but they had an abundant crop that year. He tried farming for about a year, but finding out that that calling was not his forte, he came to Onawa and engaged in the mereantile business, in which he continued about four years. After that he did but little. ex- cept looking after his landed interests, until January 1, 1868, when, in company with Stephen Gerrard he established his present hardware business. After the death of his partner he purchased the latter's interest, and since that date has carried on the business alone, and is the leading merchant in that line, in the village.
Mr. Whiting was born in the town of Butternuts, Otsego County, N. Y., March 4, 1823, and is a son of Charles and Lorinda ( Eveleth ) Whiting, both of whom were natives of Princeton, Worcester County. Mass. When our subject was about a year old, his parents removed to Wayne County, N. Y., and in |
1837 to Lake County, Ohio, and in the latter he grew to manhood, receiving his education in the district schools, at the Western Reserve Seminary, at Kirtland and at Oberlin, Ohio. After teaching school for about a year, in 1815, Mr. Whiting re- moved to New Market, Madison County, Ala., where his brother, Charles E., was then living, and there engaged in wagon-making and in the mer- cantile business with his brother, and in that village remained until 1855. In 1853 Mr. Whiting came to Iowa and then purchased eleven hundred acres of land near Marengo, lowa County, which he afterward sold. preferring to invest his money in land in Monona County. In company with his brother. Charles E., in the fall of 1856 he erected a saw mill on section 20, Franklin Township. the machinery for which was brought up the river on boats. They operated this latter until October 1857. The father of our subject died in 1872, in Ohio, where the mother is still living, aged ninety years.
Mr. Whiting was united in marriage April 9, 1551, to Miss Eliza Criner, a native of Madison County, Ala., who was born March 11, 1833, and is the parent of three children-Eva M., Charles I .. and Estella.
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6 HOMAS KENNEDY, deceased, at one time one of the prominent and active members of the farming community of Sherman Township, was a native of Ireland, having been born in County Mayo, December 25, 1834. On attaining the age of sixteen, he left the Emerald Isle. and crossing the stormy ocean, landed on the free shores of America, at New York. After re- maining there a short time with his uncle, he went to Pennsylvania. and from there to Cleveland, Ohio, remaining in the latter place some two or three years. Determined to adopt farming, he re- moved to Adams County, Ill., where he followed that line of business for several years, when, mov- ing into the village of La Prairie, he engaged in contracting for the boring and excavating of wells. While a citizen of the latter place, in February, 1864, he enlisted as a recruit in one of the famous
MONONA COUNTY.
Illinee regiment- and -vrved in the defense of his adopted country and flag, until the close of the war. On being discharged, he returned to his home in Hlinois, and shortly after, removed to Fayette County, where he was engaged in farming for about four years. In February, 1870, he came to Monona County, and settled in Sherman Town- ship on a farm which he purchased on section 19. Mr. Kennedy, who was a very industrious and thrifty man, added to his farm, and at the time of his death was the owner of one hundred and forty- eight acres of land.
Mr. Kennedy was married December 16, 1850, to Miss A. Melsina Thompson, a nalive of Nashville, Tenn., who became the mother of four children, of whom Martha is the only survivor. She departed this life October 2, 1868, in Fayette County, Ill., and January 6, 1870, Mr. Kennedy contracted a second matrimonial alliance, the lady being Mrs. Cinderella Cronk, nee Bennett, a native of North Carolina.
Mr. Kennedy November 29, 1882, was seriously and mortally injured by a fall upon the ice, and after suffering for three days, died December 2, following, at his home in Sherman Township.
OHIN THOMAS, of Kennebec Township was well known to many of the oll settlers; his grandparents were Moses Daniel and Sarah Thomas, who emigrated from Wales to Rackingham, Richmond County, N. C., prior to the Revolution, and Mr. Thomas served in the Rey- olutionary Army.
Henry Thomas, son of Moses Daniel, and father of the subject of this sketch, married his cousin, Esther Thomas, in Richmond County, N. C., and in 1833 emigrated with his family to Noxubee County. Miss .. into the paradise of the Creek In- dians, who have a legend that here was the Garden of Eden where the first Indians located. Their children were-Daniel. William, Henry, Elijah, Joseph, Robert, John, Jane, Rachel, Amanda, Har- riet and Catherine. Ile opened a plantation and
raised cotton, shipped down the Tombigbee to Mo- bile, and had acres of peaches, which were dis- tilled into peach brandy, then a necessary aid to good digestion. John Thomas was born in Rich- mond County, N. C., December 10. 1821, and was married in May, 1813, to Eliza Jane Dunn, who was born March 4, 1821, and who was the daughter of William and Sophia Dunn, of Greensboro, Ala.
Mr. Dunn was State Lecturer of the Masonic fraternity, held in high esteem, and when he died was buried with all the honors of the brotherhood, and the Masons sent his widow and danghters, Eliza Jane and Elizabeth, to Gainesville, Ala., where the children were educated at a female academy.
Mrs. Dann died in Noxtibee County, Miss. Mr. Dunn's beautifully silk-worked satin apron fell to Mrs. Thomas, and after her death it went to her sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Townsend, of Logan, Utah. Mrs. Townsend's husband is a son of the noted builder and hotel manager Townsend, who built and for years managed the Townsend House in Salt Lake City, and the first hotel at Garfield Beach, Great Salt Lake.
Ilenry Thomas, with all but one of his children, left the Creek Nation in Mississippi in March 1845, and hired teams to take them to Memphis, where they took the steamer "Osprey" up the Missis- sippi to Nauvoo, where they joined the saints, and with the exodus in 1846 crossed Iowa, and went into what was called Winter Quarters, in the Omaha Nation, on the site of the town of Florence.
In 1847 all of the rest of the family went over the plains to Salt Lake, and John moved to Coun- cil Bluffs, thenee to St. Joseph, Mo., in the spring of 1848. returning to the Bluffs in the spring of 1853, and moving to Preparation in the fall of that year, where he lived until August, 1855, when a number of them left and settled on the Belvidere Bench and wintered there. In 1857 he moved on the Beaver, where he lived until April, 1863, when be moved to the Bluffs. This Beaver farm was afterward occupied by W. A. Dorward. In Dc- cember he moved to Little Sioux, and was engaged in making yokes and bows for the overland emi- gration to Colorado.
In the spring of 1865 be moved up into Kenne-
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bec Township and rent land of W. W. Ordway, on what is now called Everett's Bench, moving to his homestead near Castana in May, 1866, and where he has since made his home. Mrs. Thomas died Jannary 3, 1887, and hundreds of the oldl set- tlers will long remember her generous and hospit- able ways and the good cheer which she provided so bountifully.
Their children were-Sophia E., born in Noxu- hee County, Miss., January 26, 1845, married J. B. P. Day, November 22, 1861 ; Cynthia P., born in Winter Quarters, January, 1847, died near Council Bluffs, May, 1853; John II., born in Coun- ril Bluffs in the spring of 1818, died at St. Joseph, Mo .. in 1849; Lizzie C., born in St. Joseph, July 26, 1850, married A. R. Ilerrington, December 30, 1866; James R., born in St. Joseph, Mo., April 11. 1852, married Mary A. Fitzpatrick September 20, 1888; Rachel A., born in Council Bluffs, Novem- ber 11, 1853; Eliza, born in Preparation, Febru- ary 14, 1855. died at Little Sioux, January 14, 1865; Melissa E., born at Belvidere, February 12, 1856, married August Norman, August. 1882; Mary II., born at Belvidere, May 26, 1858, mar- ried C. H. Gilmore, May, 1582; Martha K., born at Belvidere, May 26, 1858, married J. T. Ander- son, February 18, 1882; David W., born at Belvi- dere, April 1, 1861, married Emma Morris, Sep- tember 10, 1888; Diantha M., born at Belvidere. October 31, 1862; Nellie G., born in Kennebec, June 11, 1865.
Of late years Mr. Thomas has been engaged in preaching in Kentucky and Tennessee during the winters and spending the vacations at the old homestead in Monona County.
ELS B. OLSON. Among those who have been so prominently identified with the de- velopment of Fairview Township, and who have so materially aided in bringing about its present prosperity, there is, perhaps, none who is a better representative than the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. He was born in the cen- tral part of Norway, about seventeen miles west of
the city of Christiana, October 21, 1833, and is the son of Ole and Carry (Nelson ) Olson.
The father of our subject was a farmer, and in assisting to carry on the farm and in securing a common-school education, Nels passed the morning of life. When about fifteen years of age the lat- ter came to the United States in company with his oldest brother, Ole, and commenced work on a farm. Ile was also engaged in laboring on the eon- struction of the railroad between Rockford and Freeport, Il. For his first two seasons' work on the railroad he never received one cent, the con- tractor defrauding the men. The next two years we find him working in the lead mines at Blue Mound, Wis., at fair wages. From the latter place the brothers went to La Crosse County, Wis., and engaged in farming, renting a piece of land and working it, though with limited means. In the fall of 1858, our subject pre-empted eighty aeres of land in that locality, upon which he resided at the breaking out of the war.
October 8, 1861, filled with the love of his adopted country, he enlisted in Company M. Eighth Missouri Infantry (Zouaves), in which he remained about a year. At the expiration of that time the company, which was one of the flank ones, in the re-organization of the regiment was distributed among the other companies, and thus Mr. Olson became a member of Company C. IIe bore a gal- lant part in many of the sanguinary engagements of the war, receiving the baptism of fire at Ft. Ilenry. He was at Ft. Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Pea Ridge, Haines' Bluff, the seige of Vicksburg, Jackson, Chattanooga, Mission Ridge, Dallas, Res- eea, Kenesaw Mountain and the siege and capture of Atlanta. During the battle at Jackson a large shell burst in proximity to his hea I, stunning him severely, from the effects of which he has never completely recovered, and as he grows older feels the effects of it more and more. In the fall of 1864 he was sent to Rome, Ga., where, October 8, he was mustered out of service and received his final discharge.
Mr. Olson returned to La Crosse County, Wis., and from there, in April, 1867, he came to Monona County and purchased three hundred acres of land on section 15, Fairview Township, in partnership
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with his (thed @ low, 1 L. Strand. Upon this he settled in April. 1868. In the division of the property, which then took place, Mr. Olson took one hundred and fifty acres, part of which forms his present farm, and upon which he built a small house, some 16x22 feet in size. le is now the proprietor of three hundred and twenty aeres, two hundred of which are under cultivation, and upon which he has a large and commodious house, good outbuildings, and four acres of grove. Mr. Olson was married November 25. 1865. to Miss Mary Strand. and they have had a family of twelve chil- dren-Olaf G., Lawrence. Daniel N., Clara ( who died when about ten years of age). Nellie, Willie, Ida, Corio (deceased ). Goodwin, Theodore, Albert, and Lorinda. Olaf G. is married, and is a clerk in the United States Clothing House, at Sioux City, Iowa. The balance are living at home.
OHN A. OLSEN, who is engaged in farming on section 17. Willow Township, was born in Norway. June 17. 1855, and is the son of Andrew and Mary Olsen. In his youth he received a fair education in the land of his birth, and there made his home until 1881. Being in ex- tremely limited circumstances, and seeing no chance for him to better his condition under the institu- tions of his native land, he determined to come to America. and in the fall of that year started for the Great Republic. On landing on these shores he came at once to Monona County, and for some two years was engaged at farm labor in Spring Val- ley Township, where he acquired a knowledge of the English tongue and the American methods of business. At the expiration of that time, in part- uership with Peter Peterson, he purchased the farm upon which he now resides, and at once com- menced its improvement, fenced it. and ereeting a small frame house, some 14x18 feet in dimension. Ilere he made his home until the fall of 1888, when, having purchased the interest of his partner, he erected a larger and more comfortable residence on another part of his farm, to which he removed, and there he has since made his home.
Mr. Olsen was married March 3, 1883. to Miss Meta Peterson, the daughter of Peter and Maren Martenson. Beginning with absolutely nothing, Mr. Olsen is justly proud of his success under the ben- eficent institutions of his adopted country, and is now the owner of some two hundred and twenty acres of Jand. which is well stocked and adorned with handsome and comfortable buildings. His success in life is the result of his own energy and industry, and is highly creditable to him.
ILLIAM MCCANDLESS,a prominent mem- ber of the farming community of the town of Lake. living on section 9, is a represen- tative of that shrewd, level-headed race, known as the Scotch-Irish.
Mr. MeCandless was born in the north part of Treland, Christmas day, December 25, 1826, and is the son of lames and Mary MeCandless. He re- mained with his parents, enjoying the educational facilities of the National schools, until he reached the age of eighteen years. At that time he immi- grated to America and settled near Albany, N. Y. There he remained for about four years. after which he visited his native land, having all of a Celt's love for the Emerald Isle, and staid there about a year. Returning to America, after a short time spent at Albany, he removed to Ohio, where for four years he was engaged in contracting and building. rail- roads. In November, 1857, he came to Jowa and settled in Johnson County upon a farm which he made his home for something like seventeen years. and then came to Monona County. locating on sec- tion 9, in the town of Lake, where he now resides. This was in the fall of 1871. The land was totally unimproved at the time of his settlement on it as was most of that in the neighborhood. He at onee entered upon it> cultivation to bringing the prairie sod under subjection to the uses of man and has succeeded in placing it in a high state of cultiva- tion.
Mr. McCandless and Miss Elizabeth Fee, the latter the daughter of William and Mary Fee, were united in marriage and are the parents of twelve
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children, as follows: William. James, Maria, Mary. Andrew, Samuel. Martha. Elizabeth. Amanda, Harry, Herbert, Antonette, all living except James, who was accidentally shot, in Johnson County, April 3, 1873. The circumstances of the unfortu- nate event are about as follows: Ile, with three of his brothers and a young man named Frank Robertson, were out chicken hunting together. James was down upon one knee and in shooting at a chicken missed it entirely. Robertson being behind him and seeing the miss. threw up his gun and shot, and James rising just as the gun went off. received the whole load at short range in the back of his head, killing him instantly.
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VORY LEACHT, deceased, who was a prominent resident of Grant Township, and one of its pioneers, located in that portion of the county in 1867. His father, Rev. Henry Leach, was born in Portsmouth, N. H., in April, 1787. and within the sound of the Atlantic surge, grew to manhood. Most of his schooling he had mastered himself, and at the age of twenty years, commenced teaching school. lle was ordained minister of the Free Will Baptist Church, and labored in the "Vineyard of the Lord," in New Hampshire and Maine, for about forty-four years. Ile died at Smithfield, Me., in 1854. At Vassalboro, Me., he was married about 1808, to Miss Nancy Stephens, a native of that vil- lage. born January 29, 1792, who left a family of nine children, of whom four are living: Albert, on the old homestead. Elizabeth, Frances A, and Jen- nie M.
Ivory Leach. the eighth child of his parents, was born in Smithfield, Somerset County, Me .. Novem- ber 5. 183t. In his youth he received a good practical common-school education, and grew to manhood in the county of his birth. At the age of nineteen he was apprenticed to a carriage-maker, but at the end of a year quit the business on ac- count of ill-health, and for sometime after was va- riously engaged. Attaining his majority, he adopted the trade of a millwright, which he followed
for some three years in the neighborhood of his home. In 1855 he went into a cottonmill at Lo- well. Mass,, as a watchman, and in that and a sash and door factory, in the same place, remained until August. 1861. when he enlisted in the second company of Berdan's Sharpshooters, and with that famous body of men, participated in all the engage- ments of the Army of the Potomac. Before York- town and in the consequent campaign through the Peninsula at Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill, Fair Oaks, Seven Pines and Malvern Ilill, he did a gallant service, The company returned from Harrison's Landing to re-enforee Gen. Pope and suffered some loss in the second battle of Bull Run, and at An- tietam and Chancellorville. followed the headquar- ter tlag of the noble Fifth Corps into the thickest of the action. Becoming sick and disabled. June 20, 1863, our subject was mustered out and dis- charged, and returned to his home in Maine, and for two years, though in ill health, labored at mill- wrighting. In March. 1866, he came to Iowa, and after spending a year in carpenter work, in Powe- shiek County, landed in Monona County. January 27. 1867. Tle was for years extensively engaged in the rearing of bees and in the production of honey. for which business he had fitted up his place in a superior manner. He was appointed Postmas- ter of Ticonie in 1882, and served until June, 1889.
Mr. Leach was married October 15, 1863, to Miss Hannah Connick, a native of New Brunswick, born January 4, 1837, and a daughter of William and Naney ( Wilson) Connick. By this union they had a family of seven children, of which the fol- lowing is a record: Edward A., was born in Lo- well, Mass., November 23, 1864. is a type writer by profession in Sioux City. Bertha L., born in Oakland, Me., June 23, 1866, is teaching school in Humboldt County. Cal .; Henry W., born in Mo- nona County, Jannary 6. 1870, is a type writer in St. Paul; Jessie May. born October 2. 1874, and Etta Belle. July 15. 1877, are living at home. Two children died in infancy.
Hlow little we know when our summons may come. when we are called to the "pale realms of death," and how it behooves us to leave no oppor- tunity unimproved. to leave behind us the record
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of our lives. When Mr. Leach gave the data from which the above sketch was compiled, he was ap- parently in excellent health, but on October 5, 1889, he died of rheumatism of the heart.
- RANK M. DORWARD. the present County Treasurer, is an excellent representative of the younger class of agriculturists of the county, who are doing so much, by their intelli- gent and enterprising efforts, to develop the con- siderable resources of the county, he. until lately carrying on intelligently and with considerable business tact and energy, agricultural pursuits on his farm, on section 13, Belvidere Township.
Mr. Dorward was born in Dodge County, Wis., April 29, 1852, and is the son of William A. and Eliza S. ( Andrews) Dorward, a sketch of whom appears in connection with that of our subject's el- der brother, Samuel S. At the age of thirteen years, with his parents he came to lowa, and with them settled on section 13, Belvidere Township. This was in the spring of 1865. He received in his youth a common-school education, and grew to manhood in this. his adopted home, and has won the respect, esteem and friendship, of a wide circle of acquaintances throughout the county. At the age of twenty-two years he rented a farm adjoin- ing his father's, upon which he remained some two years, engaged in tilling the soil. At the expira- tion of that period, he went to Freeport, 1H., where he studied with his brother, one winter. Return- ing to this county he again took up life's duties in a practical form, carrying on his father's farm for about four years, but in 1880, purchasing one hun- dred and nine acres of land on section 15, Belvi- dere, he improved it and made his residence there for four years. In 1881, he sold this land and re- moved to section 13, where he carries on the peaceful avocations of a farmer's life on one hun- dred and twenty acres of land which he rents of his brother George, preferring to do this, and lease his own property of eighty acres on section 3, Cen- ter Township. This latter is improved and fenced and was purchased by him in the fall of 1886.
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