USA > Iowa > Poweshiek County > History of Poweshiek County, Iowa: a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. II > Part 71
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On the 6th of January, 1898. Mr. Robbins was united in marriage to Miss Angeline Dec, of Sheridan township, Poweshiek county, and by this union five children were born, namely: Gilmore; William McKinley and Charles Madison, both of whom are deceased ; Harry, Claire; and Wilma Angeline.
It is nearly thirty-five years since Mr. Robbins came to Poweshiek county and entered a business in which he showed an adaptability which soon began to pro- duce gratifying results. Even as a young man he was an excellent judge of stock and his reputation is practically state wide. " He has witnessed great advance- ment in stock interests and has assisted very materially in the encouragement of the production of better grades of stock and in the application of modern meth- ods of feeding and handling cattle. His business has always been conducted on a thoroughly honorable basis and no man ranks higher in commercial integrity. He is not a member of any religious denomination but politically, gives his ad- herence to the republican party as the one which, in his opinion, is the best adapted to guide the ship of state along channels of permanent prosperity.
DENNIS BRYAN.
The most superficial observer as well as earnest and discriminating student quickly learns that the Bryan family has long figured conspicuously, promi- nently and honorably in connection with the annals of Poweshiek county and it is, therefore, meet that mention of Dennis Bryan be made upon the pages of this volume. He was born near Jamestown, Ohio, on the 23d of June, 1832, a son of Alanson and Esther (Mendenhall) Bryan, who were also natives of that county, the former having been born February 4, 1808, and the latter January 12, 1809. They were married November 14, 1827, and on the 12th of October.
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1849, they arrived at Oskaloosa, Iowa, having traveled across the country with teams from Ohio, leaving their home in that state on the 10th of September.
Extended mention of the parents is made in connection with the sketch of Bedy Bryan on another page of this volume. About 1868 they removed to Ham- ilton county, Iowa, where the mother died in 1874, after which the father came to Poweshiek county to live with his children. In 1849 he made a trip to Oska- loosa where he purchased two hundred acres of land lying in Poweshiek county. Upon this farm he established his family and remained the owner of the land until he went to Hamilton county. From time to time he entered other tracts until he became the owner of nearly fifteen hundred acres in Jackson, Scott and Pleasant townships, of which he gave to each of his living children one hun- dred and twenty acres.
There were eleven children in the family: Morrison G., who died in Ohio in the winter of 1848; John M., of California; Rachel, who became the wife of Joseph Boni and died in Washington ; Dennis : Bedy, now living retired in Mon- tezuma; William A., of California; Rhoda, who died in Ohio; Neri E., of Cali- fornia : Mrs. Talitha Harner, of Montezuma ; Andrew A., of Montezuma ; and James J., who died in childhood. Andrew was a soldier in the Tenth Iowa In- fantry during the Civil war, while Neri was a member of the Eighth Iowa Regiment.
Dennis Bryan was a youth of seventeen when he accompanied his parents to Iowa and remained upon the home farm until 1852 when he was married near Oskaloosa. He then began farming upon his own account and in 1855 he re- moved from Mahaska to Poweshiek county and settled upon a tract of one hun- dred and twenty acres given him by his father, its location being about a mile north of Montezuma, in Scott township. He added to that, becoming the owner of one hundred and sixty acres, upon which he placed substantial improvements. Year by year he carefully tilled the soil and made the property a very productive and valuable one. For forty-seven years he lived upon the place and then re- tired from business life, taking up his abode in Montezuma in November. 1902.
In 1852 Dennis Bryan was married to Miss Sitnah A. Pierson, who was born in Logan county. Ohio, May 12. 1833 and in 1850 accompanied her parents to Oskaloosa, Iowa. She died upon the home farm in Scott township Novem- ber 18. 1868. The children of that marriage were: Rosalie Araminta, who was born March 11. 1854. and died February 11. 1860; Lydia E., the wife of E. P. Michener, of Lee county, Iowa ; Alice May, who was born May 24, 1858, and married Edwin Michener, her death occurring some years later in California ; Francis H., of Pasadena, California, who married Nettie Sanders and has three children : Minnie Isadora, who was born November 18, 1862, and is now de- ceased : and Lindler N., who was born February 2. 1865, and who married Mary R. Evanston, of Minnesota, and has four children. Having lost his first wife. Dennis Bryan was married on the 23d of November, 1870, to Mrs. Cedella Martin, who was born in Tippecanoe county. Indiana, in 1835, and was reared in Illinois and came to Poweshiek county in 1868. She is a daughter of Levi Shaw and widow of John H. Martin, by whom she had one daughter, now Mrs. Laura M. Hatch, of Los Angeles, California.
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Mr. Bryan united with the Methodist Episcopal church in 1866 and has since guided his life by its teachings, being an upright, honorable Christian man whose sterling worth and good deeds have commended him to the confidence, respect and good will of all who know him.
W. G. BAIR.
The prosperity of any community, town or city depends upon its commercial activity, its industrial interests and its trade relations, and therefore among the builders of a town are those who stand at the head of business enterprises. Prominent in that class in Malcom is numbered W. G. Bair, proprietor of the W. G. Bair Lumber Company, one of the most extensive concerns of its kind in Poweshiek county. Iowa claims him as her native son, his birth occurring in Ladora, Iowa county, on the 23d of March, 1876. His parents, George W. and Phoebe Ann ( Close) Bair, were natives of Ohio although of Pennsylvania parentage, and as children came to Jowa with their parents, the family homes being established in Iowa county in the '50s. The father engaged in farming until his retirement from active life, and at one time also conducted a hotel at Ladora. He and his wife now make their home at Washington.
W. G. Bair spent his boyhood on his father's farm, near Ladora and at- tended the country schools until he was fourteen years of age, when his parents took up their abode in the town and there he graduated from the high school with the class of 1896. In 1897 he completed a commercial course in the Iowa City Business College, and at once accepted a position as bookkeeper for A. L. King, conducting a lumber, furniture and undertaking establishment at Ladora. He was employed in that capacity until 1902, at which time the money which he had carefully saved enabled him, in connection with E. B. Cook, to purchase the business, which was then conducted under the firm style of Bair & Cook for one year. He next entered into a partnership with E. W. McKnight, under the name of Bair & McKnight, which association was continued for two years, at the end of which time Mr. Bair sold his interest to Mr. King and came to Malcom, arriving in this city on the 26th of September, 1905. Here he pur- chased the grain, lumber and coal business of F. P. Hubbard & Son which he at once reorganized as the W. G. Bair Lumber Company, Mr. Bair being the sole owner and manager, although his wife and two sons are interested in the business.
From a small beginning the business has grown with a rapidity that is almost surprising. its trade being built up along progressive and substantial lines until today it ranks among the foremost enterprises of Malcom. It carries a heavier stock than any other concern of its kind in Poweshiek county and its banking for one year amounts to over two hundred thousand dollars, while it employs from eight to twenty men. The prosperous condition of the business is due entirely to the well directed efforts of Mr. Bair, who in the conduct of his affairs has strongly manifested keen discrimination, sound judgment, executive ability and excellent management, supplemented by an unbending integrity, 11n-
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abating energy and industry that never flags. In 1910 he established a stone business at Ewart, which is operated in connection with the business at Mal- com, and he also engages in the manufacture of cement blocks, in which direc- tion his efforts have likewise met with substantial results. He is interested, too, in farm lands in Canada and Minnesota.
The year 1899 witnessed the marriage of Mr. Bair to Miss Maude Wing. a native of Iowa county, Iowa, and a daughter of L. E. Wing, and unto this union have been born two sons: Harold and Ronald.
Mr. Bair holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and is well known in fraternal circles in this community, being a Royal Arch Mason, while he is also identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. In his life he has exemplified the term progress and in his intelli- gent appreciation for and utilization of opportunities is found the secret of his success. He has become widely known through the extent of his business in- terests and is regarded as one of the most prominent business men of this community.
MILFORD F. BABB.
Among those who have chosen as their life vocation that occupation which Washington once described as the "most useful as well as the most honorable" a man could follow, is numbered Milford F. Babb. He was born in Henry county. Illinois, on the 26th of September, 1854, and is a representative of a family which had its origin in Germany. His grandparents were natives of Virginia. who in early life removed to Ohio and subsequently to Illinois, while both passed away in Poweshiek county, Iowa. Their son, Joseph Babb, the father of our subject, was born in Ohio on the 9th of November, 1826, and throughout his active life engaged in agricultural pursuits, although during his last years he lived retired. He came to Poweshiek county in 1869 and purchased four hun- dred acres in Jackson township, which he brought under a good state of cul- tivation. He passed away on January 8, 1910, and is yet survived by his wife, Mrs. Nancy J. (Marple) Babb, who was born in Bureau county, Illinois, May 29, 1835. In their family were the following children: Milford F., of this re- view; Mary, who married S. E. Jacobs, of Galesburg, Illinois ; George, a resi- dent of Jackson township; Harvey E., of Union county ; Della, the wife of Alvin Ellison, of Montezuma ; Cynthia, who married Fred Ludeman, of Chicago, Illi- nois ; and two who passed away in infancy. The father of this family was a soldier of the Civil war, enlisting in September, 1864, as a member of the Fourth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. and serving until the close of hostilities. In June, 1866, he returned to Illinois and there made his home until February, 1869, when he came to Iowa. He was a member of the Grand Army Post at Montezuma and of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which his widow also belongs. In politics he was a republican.
In 1869, when fifteen years of age, Milford F. Babb came to Poweshiek county, and in Jackson township he has since continued his residence except
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for three years when he lived in Montezuma. lle has continued to live for the past twenty-five years on his present farm, which consists of one hundred and seven acres, located on section 18, Jackson township, and here he has engaged continuously in general farming and stock-raising. The substantial degree of success which is today his indicates the close application and unfaltering in- dustry which have characterized his efforts in this direction, for he has made a close study of agriculture, has cultivated the cereals best adapted to soil and climate, has practiced rotation of crops and has employed in the management of his affairs the most practical and progressive methods.
On the 14th of October, 1875, Mr. Babb was united in marriage to Miss Mattie E. Lester, who was born in Mahaska county, Iowa, on the 25th of Janu- ary, 1857, a daughter of Alexander and Ellen Jane (Graham) Lester. Her father is now deceased and her widowed mother makes her home in Deep River township at the age of eighty-two years. Mr. and Mrs. Babb have no children of their own but have in their home a young man, Emmett Havens, whom they have reared since he was a little lad of three years.
They are earnest Christian people, holding membership in the Methodist Episcopal church of Montezuma, and occupy a high place in the regard and esteem of all who know them. Mr. Babb has fraternal relations with the Masons and with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in the latter organization belongs to the subordinate encampment and Rebekah lodges. He gives his political support to the republican party but has never sought nor desired public office. His has been a life of continuous activity, in which has been accorded due recognition of earnest labor, and today is one of the substantial and valued citizens of Jackson township.
N. M. HARRIS.
N. M. Harris who for many years has been known as one of the prominent business men of Poweshiek county but is now living practically retired at Grin- nell, is a native of this county, and was born in Deep River township November 24. 1859. He is a son of Thomas and Maria (Mayo) Harris, record of whom appears elsewhere in this work.
Reared upon his father's farm, he acquired his early education in the dis- trict schools and at the age of seventeen entered Iowa College which he attended for three years. After leaving college he became a partner in the grain and lumber business of T. Harris & Company, of which his father was the head. For about two years he managed a branch concern at Vandalia, Missouri, and then returned to Montezuma and assumed charge of the business at that point, continuing in this position for twenty-nine years and being assisted in the dis- charge of his responsibilities by John McDonald. his brother-in-law. In 1910 he severed his connection with the grain and lumber business, closing out his in- terests to O. C. King & Company, of Quill Lake, Canada, but retaining the business which had been established at Barnes City and Clarendon, Iowa. He
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is president of the Thornburg Bank of Thornburg. Keokuk county, Iowa, and is also an extensive landowner of Minnesota and Texas.
In 1881 Mr. Harris was united in marriage to Miss Effie Daniel, of Mexico, Missouri, a daughter of Andrew B. and Matilda (Greenwade ) Daniel, both of whom were born in Kentucky. Four children came to bless the union of Mr. and Mrs. Harris, namely: Harry Mayo, who graduated from Iowa College in 1908 with the degree of A. B. and is now assistant cashier of the Citizens Nat- ional Bank of Grinnell ; Bessie B., who is living at home; Pearl M., who is now a student in the sophomore class of Iowa College; and Effie Olga, now attend- ing the public schools.
In politics Mr. Harris is in full sympathy with the progressive element of the republican party. He has never sought political honors but he has served most acceptably as city clerk of Montezuma and as deputy county auditor. He has filled the office of chairman of the republican county committee and has often been selected as a delegate to county and state conventions. His voice is always in behalf of honest government. No man represents more clearly and ably the advanced ideas as to the application of business methods in the affairs of county, state and nation. Fraternally he is connected with Monte- zuma Lodge, No. 238, K. P., and he and his estimable wife are sincere mem- bers of the Methodist church. Since 1902 he has made his home in Grinnell. A member of one of the most respected families of the county, he worthily rep- resents the name, and now in the prime of life, financially independent and happy in his family and friends, he is accorded the respect and confidence of all who know him.
WILLIAM E. CHEDESTER.
By the practice of self-denial in his early manhood and by the application of good business principles William E. Chedester acquired sufficient capital to purchase one hundred and ninety-four acres in Washington township. This land he has developed into an attractive farm which is a pleasing evidence of his industry and perseverance. He is a native of Monroe county, Iowa, born April 10, 1873, a son of Benjamin F. and Mary (Gleeson) Chedester, the former born in West Virginia and the latter at Quincy, Illinois. The father came to Peoria, Illinois, and engaged in work on a farm, later moving to Quincy, where he was married. Soon afterwards he took up his residence at Daven- port, Iowa, where he worked in a meat market for several years. Subse- quently he purchased a farm and devoted his attention to agriculture and stock-raising until his death which occurred in April, 1906, his wife having been called away twenty-six years previously. Politically he gave his support to the republican party and religiously he was identified with the Methodist church. At the time of the war he served in an Illinois regiment in behalf of the Union and was for many years a valued member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
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The fifth in order of birth in a family of eight children, William E. Chedester grew up in the paternal home and received his education in the public schools. He worked on his father's farm until 1892 and then came to Grinnell where he was employed by the month until 1901 when he began farming upon his own account upon the place where he now lives. He has prospered in his labors as is indicated by the well kept appearance of his farm and the modern appliances which he uses in his work. His home is thoroughly comfortable and the barns and outbuildings are substantial and furnish ample shelter for stock and grain.
On the 23d of February, 1898, Mr. Chedester was united in marriage to Miss Allie B. Kingdon, a daughter of Charles and Carrie (Legg) Kingdon, of Grinnell. Four children have been born to this union: Edith, Brainard, Gurdeon and Lois, all of whom are at home. In his political views Mr. Chedester is independent. He votes according to the demands and exigencies of the times, being governed in the selection of candidates by their character and ability rather than by the political party they represent. Fraternally he is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America. From his boyhood a diligent and capable worker, Mr. Chedester has never found pleasure in idleness and at all times has willingly assumed a responsibility when by so doing he could advance his own interests and the interests of those about him. He rightfully belongs among the representative and progressive citizens of Washington township.
THE SANDERS FAMILY.
For the last fifty years one of the best known of the substantial families of Poweshiek county has been that of Nathan Sanders. Of this family there are two sons, Joseph Howard and David Albert, still living in Grinnell, while a third, George Lucius, has in recent years removed to California. A personal history of the members of this family merges itself in greater part into the history of their common enterprise-a large stock and dairy farm near Grinnell, in which the brothers, together with their sister Elmira, were associated for many years with the utmost harmony, having a common treasury from which each drew for his own needs at will.
The parents, Nathan and Betsey (Shedd) Sanders, were born respectively in the years 1800 and 1805, in the town of Mason, Hillsboro county, New Hampshire. Nathan Sanders was a woodworker and millwright by trade. For a few years previous to 1836 he owned and operated a farm at Alstead, New Hampshire. In 1836 he removed to New Ipswich, New Hampshire, where, in company with his brother George, lie engaged in the manufacture and sale of tinware under the firm name of N. & G. Sanders. A few years later a branch business was established at Concord, New Hampshire. The business at Concord became the main branch of the firm and the New Ipswich establishment was discontinued. In the early '6os the business was sold. The home in New
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Ipswich was also sold. After a few years' residence with a married daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Jewett, at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, they removed to Grinnell in 1867 and here lived until they passed away in 1887. Five children-Caroline Elmira, Silas Luman, Joseph Howard, George Lucius and David Albert-also came to Grinnell.
Nathan Sanders was one of the leading citizens of New Ipswich. For many years he was one of the select men of the town and during most of the time was sealer of weights and measures. When a young man he became a strong temperance advocate and during the years of slavery agitation was an abolitionist.
The family first became represented in Grinnell in the fall of 1863, when two of the sons of Nathan Sanders came to what was then the terminus of the Rock Island Railroad, looking for a good business location. These brothers, Silas Luman and George Lucius, liked the prospects and decided to remain. Not finding any other residence available for their purpose, they bought the hotel then known as the Reed House. In March, 1864, another brother. Joseph Howard, came, followed in April of the same year by a sister and brother, Caroline Elmira and David Albert. In 1867 the father and mother, Nathan and Betsey Sanders, came to live with the sons and daughter already located in Grinnell. The hotel, known under the new management as the Sanders House, was run but a few years, being sold in the early 'zos, for the Sanders brothers. foreseeing the rapid and continuous settlement of the rich prairie lands of the county, appreciated that the large business opportunities were in agricultural lines. From that time on until 1902, when the business was sold, the interests of the family were identified with the pioneer development of the nation's richest agricultural state. They owned and operated eleven hundred acres three miles from Grinnell, the most of which was bought in 1866 for five dollars and a half an acre. The main lines of business were dairying and cattle feeding. It was the largest dairy farm in the history of the county. The improvements and equipments were as complete and adequate as were anywhere to be found, and no visitor at Grinnell had seen all the town's interesting features unless he had inspected this farm. As a live stock farm it had few equals either in the amount of business done or the efficiency of its operation. The feed yards accommodated a hundred head of steers. The dairy barn stabled upwards of one hundred and fifty head of stock and held two hundred and fifty tons of hay. From eighty to one hundred cows were milked. The output of butter rose as high as five hundred pounds a week and was marketed in the mining camps of Colorado at remunerative prices. Of all kinds-cattle, hogs, horses, etc .- from four to five hundred head of stock were kept, for which there was ample stable room. To the stable room, the addition of cribs and granaries. with feed-grinding outfits and the latest improved farm machinery. made the establishment a model farm. Sanders Brothers sold the home place in 1902 but still own property near Grinnell.
The following are some of the main facts concerning the personnel of the Sanders family. Silas Luman Sanders died in 1869, soon after moving to Iowa, and his wife died a few years later. He had been married in 1864 to Miss Jane Taylor, of Denmark, Iowa. Two children were born to them: the elder.
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Elizabeth, married S. Clay Gilbert of Minneapolis, Minnesota ; and the younger, George Luman, died in 1901 aged twenty-two years.
Joseph Howard Sanders was united in marriage to Miss Betsie Azuba Taylor, of Manchester, Vermont, August 13, 1866. He, together with his brother Albert, was in active management of the farm until it was sold in 1902. Since then he has lived practically retired in Grinnell. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Sanders are Annie Josephine and Nathan Edwin Sanders.
George Lucius Sanders was a resident of Grinnell from 1863 until 1908, when he removed to Modesto, California. Together with other duties he did the buying and selling for the firm. He was a member of the school board, a director of the First National Bank and deacon in the Congregational church. He was married December 12, 1871, to Miss Mary Steele, of Grinnell, who clied at Modesto, California, in 1908. Their two children are: William Steele Sanders, of Grinnell; and Charles Lucius Sanders, of Modesto, California.
David Albert Sanders still lives at Grinnell. In 18So he married Miss Hester Byden Clifford, of Oneida, Illinois. In 1891 he gave up active participa- tion in the farm management, which had been shared jointly with his brother lloward. His poor health necessitating a change of climate, he went to Benton- ville, Arkansas, but returned to Grinnell in 1893. Mrs. Sanders died in 1908. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Sanders are: Hester Elmira, Fannie Ellen and Mary Clifford Sanders.
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