USA > Iowa > Warren County > History of Warren County, Iowa : from its earliest settlement to 1908; with biographical sketches of some prominent citizens of the county > Part 43
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His father, James Barnett, was reared in the Old Dominion and in 1847 removed with his family to Iowa, settling first in Virginia township. Warren
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county, where he remained but a short time. There were comparatively few settlers within the borders of the county at that time and there were still many evidences of Indian occupancy. In the summer seasons the prairies were starred with millions of wild flowers and in midwinter were one dazzling unbroken sheet of snow. Only here and there had a settler established his home and begun the work of development and improvement.
James H. Barnett was only two years of age when brought by his family to this county. He was reared upon the home farm here and was educated in Simpson College, but in 1864 at the age of eighteen years-being the youngest to enlist from Warren county-he put aside all business and personal consider- ations and joined the Union army as a member of the Forty-eighth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged and returned home.
Mr. Barnett made arrangements for having a home of his own by his marriage in Iowa, on the 13th of October, 1867, to Miss Mary C. Crosson, who was born, reared and educated in Mahaska county, Iowa, and is a daughter of Joseph C. Crosson, who was a native of the Buckeye state, his birth having occurred at Dayton, Ohio. He was reared, however, in Indiana, and was married there. He came with his family to Iowa and settled in Mahaska county where he spent his last years. His death occurred during the child- hood of Mrs. Barnett. Mr. and Mrs. Barnett commenced their domestic life upon the farm, for he had purchased raw land which he broke and improved and as time passed he added to his possessions until he owned three hundred and eighty acres of valuable land adjoining the fair grounds. There he erected a good residence and all the necessary barns and outbuildings for the shelter of grain and stock. He also feneed the place and set out an orchard and an attractive feature of his farm was a grove of three hundred chestnut trees so that his farm became known throughout the county as Chestnut farm. He also planted many pine, spruce and arbor vitae and made one of the most attractive farms of the countryside. He brought his fields under a high state of cultivation, producing such crops as were best adapted to the soil and climate and in addition to the tilling of the soil he engaged in importing, breeding and dealing in Percheron and other horses for twenty-five years. In this connection he was widely known throughout Iowa and he handled some of the finest stock produced in the state.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Barnett were born a son and daughter: LeMar C., a young man of good education and excellent business ability, and in charge of the farm which is divided equally between mother and children; and Alice, the wife of George F. Hunt, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Mr. Barnett was aetive in many affairs of importance to his community. He was elected to and filled numerous local offices of honor and trust and in 1888 still higher political honors were conferred upon him in his election to the state senate where he served with distinction for one term. acting on various important committees and aiding in shaping the constructive legislation of the committee rules. He was an active member of the Odd Fellows lodge at Indianola. serving through all of the chairs and was past grand. He was also a member
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of the Grand Army Post and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He possessed keen business discrimination and unfaltering energy and won not only a valuable property through his intense and well directed energy, but also by reason of his honorable methods, left to his family the priceless heritage of an untarnished name. During the last ten years of his life he was in ill health, yet managed to superintend his business interests until his last illness. Fol- lowing his demise, Mrs. Barnett, assisted by her son, took charge of and cared for the farm and managed the business interests and she is still living on the old homestead which is situated in Lincoln township. In the death of Mr. Barnett the county lost a representative and valued citizen, his associates a faithful and trustworthy friend and his family a devoted husband and father, his best traits of character ever being reserved for his own fireside.
CHRISTIAN SCHREIBER.
Christian Schreiber is now practically living retired in Indianola, deriving his income, however, from good business property and other investments. His life record is a notable example of the self-made man of foreign birth who improves the opportunities offered in the new world for business advancement and by the utilization of his advantages and by persistent, untiring effort wins a goodly measure of success. He was born in Germany in 1851, his parents being Christian and Rosina (Hokl) Schreiber. The mother came to the United States in 1884, and died in Forest, Illinois, at the age of seventy-two years. The family numbered nine children, all of whom came to America, and one brother, Jacob Schreiber, is now a blacksmith of Indianola.
Christian Schreiber acquired a common-school education in Germany, and learned the trade of blacksmithing there. Favorable reports reached him concerning America and its business conditions, and, believing that he could more rapidly acquire a competence in this country than in the old world, he sailed for the United States in the fall of 1871. In the spring of 1872 he became a resident of Indianola, where he has since remained. As his financial resources were limited, rendering immediate employment a necessity, he entered the shops of Joseph Jacoby. He afterward worked for John Olive. and later opened a shop on his own account in 1878. continuing the business for almost three decades, or until March, 1907. He was an expert workman in his line, was industrious and secured a large patronage, which in course of years made him a prosperous citizen. In 1907 he began dealing in automobiles, but is practical- ly living retired, owning good business property and other interests which return to him a gratifying annual income. He is also the owner of an attrac- tive modern home here.
In 1874, Mr. Schreiber was married to Miss Martha A. Hahn, who was born in Germany in 1857, and came to the United States in 1871. with her grand- mother. The marriage was celebrated in Indianola, and unto them have been born five children, namely : Lizzie, the wife of Otto Smith, by whom she has
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three children, Mr. Smith being associated in business with our subject; Lena, who is the wife of S. G. Myer, a lawyer of Des Moines; Christina, the wife of Carl Minier, who follows farming, ten miles north of Indianola ; Cecil, at home ; and Martha, deceased.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Schreiber are faithful members of the Presbyterian church, and he is also connected through membership relations with the Odd Fellows, the Yeomen, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His political endorsement is given to the republican party but honors and emoluments of office have had no attraction for him. He has preferred to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs. There is in the anxious, laborious struggle of the business man in the workaday world some- thing that is of interest to the thoughtful student. for the course which he follows indicates methods that may be honorably pursued in the achievement of success. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to seek a home in the new world, for here he found the opportunities which he sought and, realizing that energy and activity are the basis of all success, he worked long and persistently to achieve the prosperity which has at length crowned his labors.
LYMAN B. PRITCHARD.
Lyman B. Pritchard, who since January 15, 1907, has occupied the posi- tion of elerk of the district court at Indianola, has been a resident of Warren county since the spring of 1869. The steps in the orderly progression which mark his life are easily discernible. He was born in Washington county, Indiana, in 1849. His father, Francis Pritchard, was a native of North Caro- lina and came of a family of Welsh origin, although representatives of the name were numbered among the early residents of the old North State. Francis Pritchard was a farmer by occupation and on leaving North Carolina removed to Indiana, settling on a farm in Washington county. In his agri- cultural pursuits he was systematic, methodical and successful and as the years passed, through the capable control of his business affairs, he became prosperous. He was also a member of the Society of Friends and in early life gave his political support to the whig party but on its dissolution joined the ranks of the new republican party, with which he affiliated until his death in 1897. His life span covered seventy-five years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Esther Trueblood, is a native of Indiana and is now living at Darlington, that state, at the advanced age of eighty-three years. She comes of English ancestry and, like her husband, is devoted in her loyalty to the Friends church. This worthy couple were the parents of eight children, six of whom are yet living.
Lyman B. Pritchard, the eldets, was reared upon the home farm and at- tended the country schools in early boyhood, while later he pursued an academic course. The year 1869 witnessed his arrival in Warren county and
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he began work here as a farm hand in the employ of a cousin in Washington township and was also employed by others. He likewise engaged in teaching school to a limited extent and later turned his attention to merchandising in Ackworth, conducting his store there for about fifteen years. In the spring of 1892 he removed to Milo, where he engaged in merchandising for eleven years, or until the 1st of January, 1903, when O. E. Copeland appointed him to the position of deputy in the office of elerk of the district court. He acted in that capacity for four years and became thoroughly familiar with the duties of the office, so that he was well qualified to assume the responsibility when in the fall of 1906 he was elected clerk of the district court and is the present incumbent. He has been accurate and faithful in office and has made a creditable record.
On the 18th of April. 1876, Mr. Pritchard was married to Miss Madie Morgan, who was born in Tennessee, her parents being Jonathan and Jane (Culbert) Morgan, who removed to Kansas prior to the civil war and both died in Leavenworth. Mr. and Mrs. Pritchard have one child. Jessie E., now the wife of Dr. J. I. Thompson, a dentist of Centerville, Iowa, and their chil- dren are two in number, Maurine and Mona.
Since age conferred upon him the right of franchise Mr. Pritchard has always been a stalwart supporter of the republican party and various fratenal organizations number him among their valued representatives. He is identi- fied through membership relations with the Masons, the Eastern Star, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Mystic Toilers, while both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He manifests a contagious enthusiasm for every cause or interest which he supports, and an unfeigned cordiality and interesting personal traits of character have gained for him many warm friends in the county where he has now made his home for almost forty years. He has witnessed much of its growth and progress and has ever been a champion of those movements and measures which tend to advance its interests in material, intellectual, political, social and moral lines.
M. A. TAYLOR.
M. A. Taylor, an honored veteran of the civil war now living retired in New Virginia. Iowa, claims Pennsylvania as his native state, being born near Harrisburg, on the 2d of June, 1841. His parents, William and Elizabeth (Braught) Taylor, were also natives of Pennsylvania and of Scotch descent. They spent their entire lives in Pennsylvania.
Our subjeet was reared and educated in much the usual manner of boys of his day and early became interested in the trouble between the north and the south arising from the question of slavery. His patriotism being aroused he joined the boys in blue, enlisting in August. 1861, at the age of twenty years, in Company D, Forty-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He took
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part in the battles of Cedar Mountain, Virginia; Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Resaca and Peach Tree Creek. Georgia, and the siege of Atlanta. At Cedar Mountain he received a gunshot wound which confined him to the hos- pital for eight months, and at Gettysburg he was wounded by a shell, but not seriously. He entered the service as a private but was promoted to the rank of corporal and did sergeant duty for awhile. When his term of enlistment expired he received an honorable discharge and was mustered out at Atlanta in September, 1864.
Returning to his home in Pennsylvania, Mr. Taylor remained there until the spring of 1866, when he came to Iowa and purchased eighty acres of un- improved land in Squaw township, Warren county, upon which he lived for eighteen years. He then bought a farm of one hundred and twenty acres and made that his home for twenty-two years, but in 1906 he retired from active farming and has since lived retired in New Virginia, purchasing one of the nicest homes in the village.
Before leaving Pennsylvania, Mr. Taylor was married October 12, 1865, to Miss Mary Lebo, who is also a native of that state, and they became the parents of seven children, of whom one died in infancy. Those living are : William G., a farmer of Virginia township; Rebecca, the wife of James Gar- rison, a farmer of Squaw township; Ada. the wife of Lloyd Reed, of Jack- son township; Ira A., a farmer of Squaw township; Nora, the wife of Fred Reddish, a farmer of Nebraska; and Dell, the wife of Walter Mitchell, a busi- ness man of New Virginia.
For many years Mr. Taylor affiliated with the republican party but is now independent in politics. He is a strong temperance man and does all in his power to promote the cause of temperance in his locality. He has served as school director and justice of the peace but has never cared for political honors, though as a publie-spirited and enterprising citizen he gives his support to any measures which he believes will advance the general wel- fare. He now holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal church at New Virginia and he assisted in building the church at Medford. where he served as trustee and treasurer. He is a man honored and respected wherever known and has a host of friends throughout Warren county.
GARDNER W. BRIGGS.
Gardner W. Briggs, who owns and operates a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Linn township, was born in New York on the 15th of March. 1831, and is a son of Ezekiel Briggs. a native of Rhode Island. His paternal grandfather, Ephraim Briggs, was born in the same state and was descended from an old English family, which was early established in the new world. He aided the colonies in their struggle for independence as a soldier of the Revo- lutionary war and lived to the age of eighty-five years. His wife, who bore
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the maiden name of Nancy Burlingame, died at the advanced age of ninety- four.
Ezekiel Briggs made farming his life occupation and being thoroughly opposed to slavery he affiliated with the abolition party. In early manhood he married Miss Abby Young, a native of Rhode Island, born in the town which was also his birthplace. Her father was Christopher Young, a native of the same state and a farmer by occupation. Some of his sons were soldiers of the Revolutionary war. Ezekiel Briggs died in 1862, at the age of seventy- five years, and his wife passed away in 1868, at the age of seventy-one. Their children who are still living are Gardner W., of this review; Sylvester F .; and Adeline Rosier.
Gardner W. Briggs is indebted to the country schools for the educational advantages he enjoyed during his youth and he remained at home until twenty-eight years of age, aiding his father in the work of the farm. In 1859 he went to Minnesota and for seven years was engaged in farming near Cascade in Ohustead county, but at the end of that time returned to New York and purchased the old homestead, where he continued to reside for a year and a half. Selling that place in 1868, he came to Warren county, Iowa, and located on his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Linn town- ship, which he has since placed under a high state of cultivation and improved with good and substantial buildings, which stand as monuments to his thrift and enterprise. . He has been very successful in the management of his farm- ing interests and has seenred a comfortable competence.
On June 13, 1854, Mr. Briggs was married in New York to Miss Elizabeth Hungerford, who was born in that state on the 15th of October, 1834, a daugh- ter of John Hungerford. Four children bless this union, all of whom are still living, namely: Elmer E., now a resident of Colfax, Iowa; Hubert S., of Los Angeles, California; Clare E., who married Boyd Buffington and resides in Fort Worth, Texas; and Mrs. Mary E. Aborn, of Omega, Oklahoma.
Having prospered in business Mr. Briggs is now able to live somewhat retired and for the past six years he and his wife have spent their winters in California. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and he gives liberally of his means to the support of that and other denominations. He is identified with the republican party and as a wide-awake, progressive American citizen he never withholds his aid from any enterprise which he believes will prove of public benefit.
JOHN A. NOTESTINE.
No one is more deserving of representation in the history of a country than he who has defended its interests on the field of battle; no one is more deserving of mention in the record of a community than one who has been identified with its prosperity, growth and development through many years. To this class of men John A. Notestine belongs, for he was a soldier of the
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Union army during the darkest hour in the history of the nation and in Warren county has borne a most helpful part in the work of general progress and im- provement. For many years he was identified with agricultural pursuits and also figured prominently in financial cireles as a representative of the banking interests of Milo, but is now living retired in well earned ease.
His birth occurred in Juniata county, Pennsylvania, October 26, 1833, his parents being John and Mary (Wimer) Notestinc. He had one brother, Samuel, who is now deceased, and a sister. Jane, the deceased wife of David Barber, a resident of Peoria county, Illinois. John Allen Notestine, however, was the youngest of the family. His father was a native of Perry county, Pennsylvania, where he made his home until his marriage, when he removed to Juniata county, the same state, where he died at the age of sixty-five years, at which time his remains were interred in the cemetery at the county seat of Juniata county. His political allegiance was given to the democracy and his support of the party was ever most stalwart. He belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church and his life, upright and honorable in all its connections, was therefore in harmony with its professions. His wife belonged to the German Lutheran church and passed away at the age of thirty-four years.
The Notestine family was founded in America by the great-grandfather of our subject, who became a resident of Pennsylvania, where John Notestine. the grandfather, was born, reared and made his home. The maternal grand- father was also a native of Perry county, Pennsylvania, and served his country as a soldier of the war of 1812, under General Scott. He had two brothers who were in the service, one of whom lost his life in the battle of Lundy's Lane. Many representatives of the ancestry of our subject were connected with the military interests and different wars of the country. His great-uncle, John F. Rice, was a brave and valiant soldier of the war of 1812. He was born in Juniata county, Pennsylvania, in 1790, was the son of Peter Rice and a grand- son of Zachariah Rice, who lived in Chester Springs, Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, during the period of the Revolutionary war. He married Elizabeth Hartman and they had a family of twenty-one children. From an old ledger which contains accounts and memoranda kept by Zachariah Rice from 1776 to 1780, it is learned that General Washington stopped with this family for many weeks and that their farm was used as a hospital for the sick and wounded soldiers who were fighting for liberty. Zachariah Rice owned a mill and store and became quite wealthy. In 1795 they removed from Chester county to central Pennsylvania, while different members of the family settled in Cumber- land, Perry and Juniata counties. The family has always been noted for longevity and also for the number of their progeny and their descendants are today found in every state in the Union.
John F. Rice, the great-unele of Mr. Notestine was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, August 22, 1789. In 1813 he was a resident of Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, and volunteered for nine-months' service in the war of 1812, under command of Captain Rogers and Colonel William Greene. The regi- ment rendezvoused at Bellefonte, now Center county. Pennsylvania, and took up the line of march early in April, 1813, arriving on the 22d of the month at
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Erie, Pennsylvania, where they remained in camp until Perry's fleet was ready to sail. The fleet consisted of only two brigs, the Lawrence and the Niagara. and a number of gunboats. Mr. Rice had volunteered in the land force, but Commodore Perry came into camp and in a speech offered twenty-five dollars in hand for volunteers on board the vessels for only one cruise. Mr. Rice was the only man in Captain Rogers' company who vohmteered. Speaking of his experience, he said :
"I went on board the schooner Scorpion, under command of Captain Christian Champlin. of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, remained on that cruise three days and returned liking the service on the vessels better than on the land. I indneed others to accompany me and when Commodore Perry came again for volunteers, ten others offered to go. I was in the battle of Lake Erie on board the Scorpion. Commodore Perry was on the Lawrence and when it was cut to pieces and all were killed but twelve men, I saw the Commodore leaving in a rowboat and going to the Niagara, being rowed by two comrades, Jacob Tool and Alexander Metlan. I heard the discharge of the cannon but did not see the ball strike his boat, but I saw him jerk off his eoat, stuff it into the hole the ball made and then fly to the oars himself and go in safety to the Niagara. On reaching the Niagara, he inquired of Captain Elliott. its commander, why the boat was not brought into action and Elliott answered that the wind was against him. A Captain Brown then approached and said, 'Commodore, take my advice-take command of this vessel yourself and try and break through the lines, open fire from both sides of them and then bring up or draw up your gunboats into action and you will gain the victory.' Perry did exactly as Captain Brown advised. I heard all this, for I was on the Scorpion and we had been ordered to escort him around to the Niagara for fear his boat would be sunk and he be drowned. The Niagara now sailed directly through the British lines and when almost between the Queen Charlotte and another vessel, the Niagara opened fire from both sides with fifteen guns each, doing terrible damage to both vessels. The noise was something terrific. We had several cannon each on the gunboat and when we opened fire on the British. the fleet was soon compelled to hoist the white flag. James Sims was the first man to board the Queen Charlotte and he got five hundred dollars reward. which had been offered by Perry to the first man aboard the British fleet. I was under Colonel Johnson, who killed Tecumseh. I saw him do that, for I was not far away. Colonel Johnson's horse had just been shot and the Colonel himself had been wounded when I saw Tecumseh rush up to him with a pistol drawn to shoot, but Colonel Johnson pulled out his own pistol from his left side, arose in his stirrups and shot Tecumseh dead." John F. Rice was the last survivor of Perry's fleet. He died at Shelby. Ohio, aged ninety years. five months and sixteen days.
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