USA > Iowa > Taylor County > History of Taylor County, Iowa; from the earliest historic times to 1910, biographical sketches of some prominent citizens > Part 35
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JOSEPH SKINNER.
Joseph Skinner, who is carrying on general farming on section 20, Clayton township, his labors being of a practical and progressive character which have transformed his tract of one hundred and sixty acres into rich and productive fields, was born in La Salle county, Illinois, on the 28th of October, 1853. He is a son of Israel and Polly Ann (Dickson) Skinner, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania. They were married in the Keystone state and in 1840 removed to Illinois, becoming pioneer settlers of La Salle county, where Mr. Skinner opened up a farm and reared his family. Both he and his wife died there after many years residence in the county, during which time they were numbered among the respected and worthy citizens.
HISTORY OF TAYLOR COUNTY
Joseph Skinner was afforded good public-school advantages and was reared to farm life, early becoming familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. He remained with his father until after he had attained his majority, operating the home place for several years.
While still living in La Salle county, Mr. Skinner was married there on the 20th of January, 1881, to Miss Augusta Hudgens, who was born and reared in La Salle county. They began their domestic life on the old home farm and, fol- lowing the death of his parents, Mr. Skinner purchased the place and continued its further development and improvement until 1897, when he disposed of that property and came to Iowa. He had previously visited the state, purchased his present farm and in the following spring removed his family to the new home. Here he has since continued his work, has further improved his place and it is now equipped with all the accessories and conveniences of the model farm of the nineteenth century. It is pleasantly situated within two and a half miles of Bedford so that the advantages of town life are easily accessible while those of rural life are continuously enjoyed. He has made a specialty of the raising of pure Duroc Jersey hogs and is well known as a breeder and dealer in livestock. He has held various public sales, usually two each year, and he sells and ships stock to Illinois, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri. He was formerly engaged in the dairy business and was one of the promoters of the Creamery Company, operat- ing in Bedford.
Mr. and Mrs. Skinner have become parents of three sons: J. L., who is now a bookkeeper in the National Bank at Grand Rapids, Michigan; Herbert, who is operating the home farm and was married in Bedford January 17, 1909, to Miss Grace Rankin, who was born in Kansas but was reared in Iowa; and Wilber, who is a young man assisting in the operation of the home farm. The parents are members of the Bedford Methodist Episcopal church and their many good qualities of heart and mind are widely recognized. Politically he is a republican and officially identified with the schools of La Salle county but, since coming to Iowa, has taken no part in political affairs. He is, however, a public-spirited citi- zen, interested in everything pertaining to the welfare of the community and cooperating in many movements for the general good. He has been diligent and persistent in his business affairs and has won that success which is the merited and logical reward of earnest and well directed labor.
ALEXANDER C. BRICE.
Alexander C. Brice is numbered among the veterans of the Civil war and when he enlisted, was the youngest member of his regiment. Throughout his entire life he has been equally loyal and patriotic in his devotion to the general good and in civil office as well as in military life has demonstrated his devotion to his country. In his local connections he is well known as the senior partner of the Brice Company of Bedford, owning and conducting one of the finest grocery stores in southwestern Iowa. He has long been a resident of this part of the state and from pioneer times down to the present, has enjoyed an excellent
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reputation as a business man and citizen, being honored and respected by all who know him. He was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, about six miles from Dayton, July 1, 1844. His paternal grandfather, Alexander Cooper Brice, was a native of Virginia and became a minister of the Presbyterian church. He died in the Old Dominion at an advanced age after having devoted many years to redemptive work. His family numbered four sons and five daughters, including Washington Brice, who was also a native of Virginia. In early life, however, he became a resident of Montgomery county, Ohio, where he was reared. There he turned his attention in a business way to the raising of tobacco and in 1850 he removed westward to Lee county, Iowa, where his death resulted from a runaway accident in 1861, when he was forty-five years of age. In early manhood he had wedded Priscilla Martha Snodgrass, a native of Pennsylvania, who had also gone to Montgomery county, Ohio, at an early day. Her father was a native of the Keystone state, was of Holland Dutch descent and devoted his life to farming. He removed to Iowa in the fall of 1852, settling at West Point, Lee county, where he carried on general agricultural pursuits until his death when he was sixty-eight years of age. His widow long survived him, reaching the remarkable old age of ninety-two years. They had a large family, numbering eight daughters and four or five sons. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Washington Brice was blessed with four children: Alexander C., of this review; Samuel S., a resident of Taylor county, Iowa ; Belle, the wife of J. R. Sater, residing near Lenox, Iowa ; and Hattie, the wife of E. L. Osborn, of Montrose, Colorado. The mother sur- vived her husband for a long period and departed this life in 1894, at the age of seventy-nine. Both were consistent members of the Presbyterian church.
Alexander C. Brice lived in Montgomery county, Ohio, until six years of age and then came to Iowa with his parents, who settled in Lee county, where he remained until 1861. Constrained by a spirit of patriotism, he then offered his services to the government, enlisting as a member of Company C, First Iowa Cavalry, when not quite seventeen years of age. He served for five years, lack- ing one month and a half. He joined the army as a private and was mustered out as a sergeant. He was the youngest member of the regiment at the time of his enlistment and for two years after he went to the front, his command was engaged in fighting bushwhackers in Missouri and Arkansas. Later he partici- pated in the battle of Prairie Grove, Bayou Meter, Little Rock and in many other important engagements in the west. During one campaign he was for thirty-nine days under fire.
After the war Mr. Brice returned to Iowa and a year later went to Dallas county. Iowa, where he was engaged in the grocery and woolen goods business, his store being located in the county seat. After two and a half years he removed to Richmond. Missouri, where he engaged in building railroad bridges under contract and there lived for six years. He next came to Taylor county, Iowa, and was in the fruit business at Lenox. In 1890, he was elected county treasurer and served in that position for two years, after which he was appointed consul to Cuba by President Cleveland and continued in official service there until the outbreak of the war on that island. He then returned home to Bedford. Iowa, where he has since lived and, establishing a grocery store, he has since been its proprietor, while associated with him in its conduct are his sons, Elmer T. and
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G. B., under the firm name of the Brice Company. They have one of the finest grocery stores in southwestern Iowa, carrying a large and well selected line of staple and fancy groceries, while their annual sales reach a large figure.,
In 1866, Mr. Brice was married to Miss Elizabeth Berry, of Richmond, Mis- souri, and unto them were born three children: Alice J., the wife of Rufus Woodring, by whom she had four children, Elizabeth, Theressa, Rufus and Catherine, who is deceased; Kate H., who is the wife of George Bubb and lives in Parsons, Kansas, with their three children, Ruth, Bernice and Elsie May; and Elmer T. The wife and mother died in 1876, and Mr. Brice afterward wedded Miss Phebe Arabel Kenyon, a daughter of George W. and Ruth Elizabeth (Green) Kenyon. The four children of that marriage are: George Basil; Alexander C .; Esperanza ; and Calvin S., who is deceased. Mrs. Phebe Brice was called to her final rest in 1904. She was a devoted member of the Presbyterian church, to which Mr. Brice also belongs and he is a member of Taylor Lodge, No. 156, A. F. & A. M. Politically he is an earnest democrat but has never been very active as an office seeker. He has preferred to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs and at one time he owned nine or ten buildings in Bedford, where he still has a fine home property, together with eighty acres of farm land. A lover of the beautiful and especially as manifest in flower creations, he has a garden of over fifteen hundred varieties of flowering plants.
ANDREW HAMILTON.
Andrew Hamilton, a highly respected farmer whose undaunted enterprise, determination and diligence have carried him into important relations in the agricultural interests of the county, is now living on section 12, Ross township. He has eighty acres of land in his home place, another tract of eighty acres and in addition over three hundred acres in three well improved farms. His work has always been carried on in a practical manner yet in accordance with the most progressive spirit of agricultural life and what he undertakes he accomplishes, so that his resolution has always been an important and essential element in his prosperity. He has lived in Iowa since 1870 and in Taylor county since 1874, so that for thirty-six years he has been a witness of the growth and prog- ress of this portion of the state.
Mr. Hamilton is a native of Scotland, his birth having occurred in Lanark- shire, October 22, 1850. There he remained to the age of twenty years. He is a brother of J. M. Hamilton who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume, and the two brothers, together with the other members of the family, spent their youthful days at the old home in the land of hills and heather. Andrew Ham- ilton came to the new world in 1870 in company with a sister and at once made his way from the Atlantic seaboard to Iowa, settling first in Page county, where he joined his grandparents, who had located there four years previous. He then purchased eighty acres where he now resides, broke the sod and opened up the farm. There were no buildings nor improvements upon it at that time but with characteristic energy he began its development and later erected a good residence,
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also two barns and the sheds necessary for further shelter of grain and stock. There was not a stick of timber upon the place when it came into his possession, but there is now a fine grove of his own planting and also a good orchard, in- cluding the various kinds of fruit trees that are adapted to soil and climate. Year by year he worked on steadily and persistently and as he gathered his crops and placed them on the market his financial resources increased, enabling him to make further investment in land. He now has nearly three hundred acres which he cultivates, and he gave to his son a farm of eighty acres. The soil is rich and productive and he annually harvests good crops and also feeds and fattens cattle and hogs. His live-stock interests are an important source of revenue, in fact his animal sales of stock furnish him with a good income.
Mr. Hamilton has been married twice. In Taylor county in 1875 he wedded Miss Rena Moffatt, who was born in Iowa. They traveled life's journey happily together for about twenty-three years, but were separated by the death of the wife on the 22d of September, 1898. They became the parents of three chil- dren, of whom two are now living: Albert, a farmer of this township; and Maud, who married I. B. Coon and they had one child, who died in infancy. A daughter of the first marriage, Treva, died at the age of twenty-one years. In 1899 Mr. Hamilton was again married, his second union being with Miss Ida Poulton, a native of Iowa.
Politically, Mr. Hamilton is independent to the extent that he does not con- sider himself bound by party ties. However, he attempts to secure good men in office and has himself filled the position of township clerk. He has also been officially connected with the schools for several years and was overseer for more than twenty years. He belongs to the church of Christ and its teachings constitute the guiding force in his life. He has been a resident of Iowa for about forty years and the record which he has made throughout that entire period is such as to entitle him to the respect and confidence of his fellowmen. He is one of the prosperous farmers, stock-raisers and business men of Ross township and a man of sterling character and worth, widely known in Bedford and through- out this part of the state.
C. C. MOHLER.
Among the pioneer settlers of Taylor county who are engaged in agricultural pursuits is C. C. Mohler, who dates his residence in this county from 1856. Born in Morgan county, Ohio, November 5, 1840, he is a son of Leonard and Lucinda (Pletcher) Mohler, natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio, respec- tively. The father, who was reared and educated in his native state, was mar- ried in Ohio and engaged in farming in Morgan and Washington counties, that state, for some years. He later engaged in the manufacture of furniture in Zanesville, Ohio, being thus employed for about ten years. In 1855 he came to Iowa and entered land in Clayton township, Taylor county, to which he removed in the following year. His farm consisted of three hundred and sixty acres, which he at once put under cultivation. As an agriculturist he be-
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C. C. MOHLER
MRS. C. C. MOHLER
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came very successful and as he prospered he added to his property until at the time of his death he was the owner of several hundred acres. He and his wife both passed away on their farm, near Bedford.
C. C. Mohler was a youth of fifteen years when he arrived in Iowa. He had enjoyed good educational advantages, remaining a student in the common schools of his native state until twelve years of age. He then clerked in a store in Zanesville for some time, thus gaining good practical business training. After coming to Iowa he assisted his father in the cultivation of his fields and remained at home until twenty-one years of age, when he engaged in farming or his own account. In 1863. however, he responded to his country's call for aid and enlisted as a member of Company D, Forty-sixth Iowa Infantry, for one hundred days' service. He took part in much skirmishing and did guard duty in Tennessee and Mississippi. He remained with his regiment until 1864, serving out his full term of enlistment, and was then honorably discharged with the rank of third corporal.
After leaving the army Mr. Mohler returned home and was associated with his father on the farm for some time. He was then married and located in Jackson township, where he rented a farm for one year. Later he purchased the tract of land upon which he now resides and directed his energies to the further development, cultivation and improvement of his farm, consisting of one hundred and thirty-five acres of valuable land. When the property came into his possession the only abode upon it was a small log house, in which he lived for about two years and then erected a more commodious dwelling near the road. This has since been replaced by a large and attractive country home, equipped with all modern conveniences, and beautifully and tastefully furnished. He has erected two good barns upon the place and has planted a fine orchard, while the entire farm is surrounded by good fences that are kept in excellent repair. The place today indicates in its well-kept appearance the careful super- vision and practical methods of its owner, whose labors have transformed it from a comparatively unimproved tract of land into a splendidly developed farm. which ranks among the finest in the township. As the years have come and gone he has added to his realty holdings until his farm, which is located on section 20, Clayton township, includes about six hundred acres. At one time he owned eight hundred acres but has given some of his property to his children. He was also the owner of four hundred acres in New Mexico, which he has since sold. He deals quite extensively in stock, which branch of his business re- turns to him a most gratifying revenue. He possesses the only deer park in the county, covering five acres. It contains only four deer at present but he has had on hand in former years seventeen head at one time. Aside from the high place which he has won for himself in the agricultural circles of Taylor county, Mr. Mohler is also well known among the business men of Bedford as one of the promoters of the Bedford National Bank and has remained a stockholder and director therein since its inception.
On the 14th of September, 1885, Mr. Mohler laid the foundation for a pleasant home life in his marriage to Miss Martha Ellen John, a sister of Alex- ander John, who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume. In their family are three children, namely : Etta May, the wife of D. M. Gibson, of Clarke county,
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Iowa: Frank John, who is married and operates the north part of his father's farm: and Gertrude Alice, residing at home. They also lost three children, namely : Hattie J., who married Leroy Dowis, of Sheridan, Missouri, where she passed away; Harris H., who passed away when twenty-seven years of age, his death occurring in Kansas City while on his way home from New Mexico; and a daughter who died in infancy.
Mr. Mohler's religious faith is indicated in his membership in the Presby- terian church, of which he is serving as one of the deacons. Politically he is a stanch democrat, voting for Stephen A. Douglas in 1860. In 1864, however, he cast his ballot for Lincoln for president. He has been elected to several public offices, at various times, filling the position of township trustee, assessor and supervisor, and he has also been sent as delegate to various state and county conventions. In all matters of citizenship he is as loyal to his country as when he fought upon southern battlefields. In the business world he started at the bottom of the ladder, without any especially favoring advantages to aid him at the outset, and he worked his way upward until, through his unfaltering indus- try and persistent labor, he has reached an enviable place among the prominent and successful agriculturists of the county, the high degree of prosperity which he now enjoys coming to him solely through his own efforts.
THOMAS J. DAVIS.
Energy, industry and perseverance have characterized the life record of Thomas J. Davis, who is now practicing veterinary surgery in Gravity, where he has resided from the time of the establishment of the town. Born in Mans- field, Ohio. on the 19th of December. 1844, he is a son of Abednego and Almena (Barns) Davis, the former a son of Abednego Davis, Sr., and the latter a daughter of Thomas Barns, who was a prominent farmer of French origin. The father of our subject was born in Ohio in 1822 and came to Iowa in 1854, set- tling upon a tract of land which at that time was practically raw prairie. He broke the sod and brought his fields under a state of cultivation, devoting con- siderable time to general farming. He was an extensive sportsman, hunting wolves and wild cats, while for about thirty years he was a well-known auc- tioneer throughout the county, and he also followed the occupation of tombstone cutter and engraver. Aside from the subject of this review he had the follow- ing children : John, Francis, Abednego and Hannah.
Thomas J. Davis spent the days of his boyhood under the parental roof and at the usual age enrolled as a pupil in the school at Garden Grove, Decatur county, Iowa, where he remained until 1862. After completing his education he returned home and remained upon the old homestead until the year 1865. In the meantime he assisted his father in the cultivation of the fields and early learned lessons of value concerning the best methods of plowing, plant- ing and harvesting. In the year mentioned he took up the study of veterinary surgery under the direction of V. S. Nevin, this course covering a period of two years, and in 1867 he returned to the farm and assisted his father until
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1873. He then removed to Gravity, which town was founded in 1881 and there in partnership with Dr. McCullom, he established a drug business, which they conducted for about eight years. This was the pioneer enterprise of the town, theirs being the first store of any kind to be opened in Gravity. Later, how- ever, he severed his relation with Dr. McCullom and took up the practice of his profession and has since been engaged as a veterinary surgeon. He has become very well known in the community because of his skill and ability in his chosen work and also on account of his honorable business methods, and he now enjoys an extensive and constantly increasing patronage, which is a source of most gratifying revenue to him. He is also manager of the Mutual Telephone com- pany, and he and his wife own the old Harlan farm consisting of one hundred and sixty acres, while he is ranked among the leading and influential business men of the town.
It was in April, 1866, that Mr. Davis was united in marriage in Holt town- ship to Miss Mary Harlan, a daughter of George and Perry (Edgington) and a sister of Aaron Harlan, who passed away in 1909. Her parents were farming people who settled in Taylor county in 1855. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Davis was blessed by the birth of one daughter, Ida, who is the wife of Dr. Martin, of Pella, Iowa.
Since age conferred upon him the right of franchise Mr. Davis has given his political allegiance to the Democracy and has been very active in the affairs of that organization. He has been a delegate to the state conventions and on that ticket held the position of postmaster for four years. Public-spirited in an eminent degree, he is not only interested in the material welfare of the com- munity but has been deeply interested in the moral development as well, and has been one of the most prominent and liberal contributors in the building of practically every church in the town. His life has ever been in keeping with the principles that govern honorable and upright manhood and he occupies today a foremost place among the influential and valued citizens of Gravity.
CHARLES E. BROWN.
That Taylor county is an attractive place of residence, that her advantages are equal to those offered in other sections of the country and that her oppor- tunities are yet many are points which are all indicated in the fact that many of her native sons yet remain within her borders, finding here good business con- ditions which, carefully utilized, lead to success. Charles E. Brown is num- bered among the native sons of the county and is now carefully directing his labors in the lines of agricultural activity, having a valuable farm of two hun- dred acres which lies on sections I and 12, Jackson township. It was upon this farm that he first opened his eyes to the light of day on the 13th of June, 1873.
His father, Andrew Brown, was a native of Indiana and was a son of Elias Brown, who removed to Iowa with his family in the fall of 1854, taking up his abode on the land which is now the home of our subject. Andrew Brown was here reared amid the wild scenes and environments of pioneer life for at
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that time Taylor county was a frontier district in which the work of progress and improvement had been scarcely begun. He continued to assist in the work of the home farm until after the outbreak of the Civil war, when he joined the Ninth Iowa Cavalry and continued at the front through the period of hostili- ties. At length he inherited the old home farm and devoted his attention to general agricultural pursuits. He was married in this county to Miss Mar- garet Kemery, who was born in Lee county, Iowa. Beginning his domestic life on the old homestead he labored with untiring and indefatigable persever- ance to develop the property according to the ideas of modern, progressive agri- culture, carefully tilling his fields until they brought forth rich harvests, and also added substantial buildings to the place. Upon this farm he reared his family and made it his home until called to his final rest about 1899. His wife sur- vives him, still residing upon the old homestead. Their family numbered two sons. the elder being George W., who is maried and is a resident farmer of Taylor county.
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