USA > Iowa > Johnson County > Leading events in Johnson County, Iowa history, biographical > Part 31
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RALPH K. LUSE
The Luse family were early identified with Johnson county interests, and played an important part in pioneer days, in the affairs of the newly settled community. Ralph K. Luse is a son of Stephen and Mary Ellen (Kepford) Luse, the worthy pioneer couple, and was born in Lett township, Washington county, Iowa, in 18 -. Stephen Lnse was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, March 4, 1823, and his wife was a native of the same state. They were of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, and were married in November, 1878, in Iowa. She had come to Johnson county in early youth, and prior to her marriage was a school teacher. She was a daughter of John Kepford, of North Bend district, near North Liberty. Mr. Luse came west to Johnson county in 1851, remained there but a short time, then crossed the plains, in company with Jacob Wenn, Thomas Combs, and James H. Windrem, as will be mentioned in the sketch of the last named gentleman, to be found in this work. Mr. Luse and the others of his party endured many
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hardships and dangers on this trip. They started with ox teams and provisions from Council Bluffs, where they joined a large party, and upon arriving at Salt Lake Mr. Luse left his ox team and walked the remainder of the way to California. He spent twelve years mining for gold and then returned to Iowa, where he became interested in farming and became the owner of land in Oxford township. He and his wife had two children : Ralph Kepford, of this sketch, and Clare V., baby girl, deceased. This worthy couple won the highest respect and esteem from their neighbors and associates, and were im- portant factors in the life around them. They are remem-
RESIDENCE OF RALPHI K. LUSE
bered whenever attention is drawn to the early history of Johnson county, and to the heroic lives of the pioneers.
Ralph Kepford Luse was brought to Johnson county in infancy and received his education in the common and high schools of Oxford, which is still his home. He has always been more or less interested in agricultural operations, and has be- come owner of some seven hundred acres of the best Iowa farm land. He is a stockholder in Oxford State Bank, and in the Eastern Iowa Telephone Company. He is prominent in fraternal affairs, being a member of the Masonic order. He is affiliated with the Knights Templar of Iowa City and the Con- sistory and Shrine at Davenport. He has taken an active in- -
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terest in political and publie matters and in 1905-06 served as mayor of Oxford. He has also served as a member of the council. In public life he has stood for clean government and in his private life has been upright in his dealings with his fel- lows. Ile has taken a prominent place as one of the most enterprising and popular citizens in Oxford township.
Mr. Luse was married November 8, 1905, in Davenport, Iowa, to Mabel Gould, of Washington county, Iowa, daughter of George Gould, now of Johnson county, and two children have blessed this union, Harold C. and Clare.
JACOB A. GEORGE
Among the most prosperous of the native sons of Johnson county may be mentioned Jacob A. George, who has been in- terested in a number of business enterprises and has been an industrious and successful farmer for many years. He was born October 2, 1848, and is a son of Martin and Nancy ( Bow- man) George, highly respected as early pioneers and active in promoting the early growth and upbuilding of their com- munity. The father was born in Cumberland county, Pennsyl- vania, January 1, 1811, and died June 17, 1872, and the mother, who was born January 6, 1814, died March 26, 1882. Both are buried in North Liberty cemetery. Both were devont mem- bers of the Lutheran church and keenly interested in church work. The father was a blacksmith in early life and in 1846 came to Iowa, spending a short time in Iowa City. after which he returned to his old home in Pennsylvania, having mean- while taken up a farm on Section 20, Penn township. After spending six months in his native place, he again came west. sold his farm to Samuel Miller (father of Judge Miller), and bought another place in East Encas township, also the stone mill in Iowa City, which he conducted for a time. Ile sold this property and purchased property in North Liberty, where he embarked in business as a merchant. He eventually sold out there and purchased a farm in Section 7, where he spent his declining years. Of the eight children born to this family but four now survive: Jacob A., Nancy V., Martha E., and Emma M.
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After the death of his father, Jacob A. George rented the home farm, which he later purchased, and still ocenpies. On December 25, 1877, he was united in marriage with Martha Zellar, daughter of Nicholas Zellar, Sr. The children born to this union were: Cadence O., born August 23, 1879, who mar- ried Jesse Ham and lives in Iowa City; Martha E., born Janu- ary 28, 1881; and Grace Ellen, born February 10, 1889, at home.
In company with J. F. Price, Jacob A. George bought the steam saw mill of L. W. Chamberlain (known as the George and Andrle Mill) and moved it to North Liberty, where they
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RESIDENCE OF JACOB A. GEORGE
used an engine to operate it and conducted it as a saw mill, cane mill, and feed grinder. He has planted every tree in his orchard, and also every tree on his place and has erected all of the buildings on the place excepting the kitchen of the old home. He has put up good fences and several hundred rods of tiling. In 1892 he erected a handsome farm residence. He is a member of the Lutheran church, of which he is an elder, and in politics is a demoerat. He operates 188 acres of land, which constitute one of the fertile farms of the township, and also owns other fine farms, which he rents out. His property is located on Sections 18, 20, and 7 of Penn township, and com- prises about 450 acres altogether.
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Mr. George is a most enterprising farmer and is an excel- lent business man as well. He is vice president of the North Liberty Savings Bank, the other officers being: R. H. Wray, president, and Dr. David Stewart, first vice president. His daughter, Miss Eda George, served nearly ten years as the deputy clerk of Johnson county, filling the position with abil- ity and faithfulness. She spent four years under Ed Koser, two under J. J. Warner, and nearly five under F. B. Volk- ringer. She was a favorite among the employes at the court house, well known for her accuracy and careful handling of the county records, and her presence there is missed by many. She is now in Colorado Springs.
Below we give, somewhat in detail, the maternal ancestry of Jacob A. George. Nancy Bowman was a daughter of Abra- ham and Martha (Messner) Bowman, and was born January 6, 1814. Abraham Bowman was born December 12, 1788, and died April 21, 1846, and his wife, who was born April 26, 1788, died January 9, 1855. Children were born to them as follows : Jacob and Nancy, twins; Martha, Mrs. Fred Mentzer, born October 23, 1815; Samuel, born August 31, 1817, and Francis, April 8, 1819; Jolm ; Abraham ; Catherine; Mary.
Mr. Bowman broke his land with oxen and did this work for several of his neighbors, also made many trips to Bloom- ington and exchanged grain for needed commodities. When he first came to Johnson county deer, wild turkeys, and prairie chickens were still plentiful. He was a typical pioneer. He was a public-spirited and useful citizen, and when he bought part of the Samuel Miller and Allbright places, he made a public highway and gave the same to the county. In 1847 he erected a log house, which he weather-boarded and made warm and tight. He improved his farm of 280 acres, set out a fine orchard and put up substantial buildings, continuing to in- prove the place until his death. This place is now occupied by his daughter, Mrs. J. W. Beecher. He and his wife were mem- bers of and helped erect the Lutheran church edifice. Three of his children now survive: Catherine E., John, and Ellen (Mrs. Beecher).
Jacob Bowman was married at Newvale, Pennsylvania, De- cember 22, 1842, to Margaret J. Giffin, Rev. John Heck, officiat- ing, and an uncle, John McCrea, and Miss Martha Logan
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being witnesses. They began housekeeping in Bloserville, and in 1846 came with their two children to Johnson county, arriv- ing there May 6th. They located on a farm two miles south- east of North Liberty, where there was a double log cabin and a well. Mrs. Bowman died November 10, 1892, and Mr. Bow- man in - . He had been a carpenter and blacksmith in early life, and in 1836 had gone to Louisiana, where he engaged in bridge building and carpenter work for two years, then re- turned to Pennsylvania. He conducted a store at Bloserville, that state, for a time. The eldest child of himself and wife, Martha J., is deceased : Catherine E. married C. H. Bane, of Cedar Rapids ; John F. lives at Keokuk ; Mary Ellen is Mrs. J. W. Beecher, and the fifth child was Emma D.
GEORGE HUNTER
A volunteer of the Civil War from 1862 to the close of hos- tilities in 1865, George Hunter's name stands honorably upon the list of his country's defenders "in the times that tried men's souls." He is a native of Ohio, from which state he removed with his parents to lowa in 1850, where his father bought land in Johnson county and continued in the business of farming until his death in 1876. George attended school in the first public schoolhouse built in the township where his father resided, and also for a time in the Iowa City schools ; but his educational efforts were interrupted by President Lin- coln's call to arms, and in the summer of 1862 he enrolled his name on the roster of Co. F, Twenty-second Iowa Volunteer Infantry. After a season of drill at Camp Polk, his company went to St. Louis, thence to Raleigh, Missouri, then in battle at Ft. Nelson, Champion Hill, where his company had charge of prisoners and hospital, in all 400 prisoners, and in 1863 joined Grant's army in the siege of Vicksburg. From that point they were ordered to Louisiana, thence to Texas, thence back to Louisiana, and finally to Washington to check Early's advance on the national capital. Thereafter this veteran com- pany operated in the Shenandoah Valley, and finally, on July 22, 1865, Mr. Hunter was honorably discharged at Savannah, Georgia, whence, with the consciousness of duty well done, he
George Herunter Family & Friends
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77681 Given by George Hunter Company 3 22 Youra Vol Infantry
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came back to the old farm, where he is now located. Between the lines of this brief outline might be written unnumbered descriptions of weary marches, of days and nights of hunger and anxiety, of dreadful combat, of the grim companionship of death, of the martial obsequies of comrades, and all the fearful elements of war ; but these are memories that lie in the subconscious mind of every veteran of that mighty conflict, and George Ilunter, like the rest, is mindful of their horrors.
On the old farm where the happy days of childhood were spent, George Hunter took up the homely burdens of life and was glad for the days of the plowshare and the pruning hook.
RESIDENCE OF GEORGE HUNTER
In September of the year following his return (1866) he was united in marriage with Miss Esther F. MeCrory, and two sons were given them as seals to their union : Glenn S., married and living near Fort Madison, Iowa, has five children, Esther, Laura, Elizabeth, Glenn, and Rura; and George M., married Minnie Buck, have one child, Geneva Esther, and living with his father. His beloved wife died November 1, 1909, and the veteran saw amid his tears a vision of the shining shore and the final reunion.
Adam Hunter, father of our subject, was a native of Ire- land, born in 1796, and his wife, Elizabeth Morrison, was a native of Pennsylvania. When seventeen years of age the elder Hunter came to America and entered the grocery busi- ness in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. In 1826 he removed
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to Ohio, where he engaged in farming, and in 1850, as before stated, came to Iowa City. Eleven children were born to this pioneer couple, of whom only four are now living. Their names are: James, residing in Iowa; George, our subject : Lemuel, living in Iowa City. Mother Hunter died in 1891.
George Hunter is a democrat; was county supervisor for six years, and has held other township and county offices. He attends the Presbyterian church and is a member of the G. A. R. He has just joined the Masonic order. No man is more thoroughly respected. His declining days are filled with the fruits of that peace he fought so nobly to secure, and mankind whispers, "It is well."
JAMES BRIDENSTINE
James Bridenstine, now living retired from active life, at North Liberty, Iowa, is a self-made man and has been engaged in several different enterprises in the community where he still resides, having been successful in all through industry and good management. He was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, March 3, 1829, son of Jacob and Sophia ( Houck) Bridenstine, and the only survivor of the family. The father was born February 7, 1799, and died September 21, 1836, in comparatively early life. He and his wife had one daughter, Rebecca, born July 14, 1827, and died in 1828.
Left fatherless at an early age, James Bridenstine early learned the habit of self-reliance. He spent part of his youth on a farm and at the age of eighteen years began learning the trade of wagon-maker. After he had served his apprentice- ship he worked for a few years at his trade, and also became an expert carpenter. In 1852 he came west, bringing his household goods from Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, to what is now Muscatine, Iowa, but then known as Bloomington. They were taken by a team to the railroad, loaded on a car over an inclined plane, later put on a canal boat, taken thence to Pitts- burg and down the Ohio on the steamer "Persia" to Cairo, Illinois, thence up the Mississippi river to St. Louis, where they were put aboard another steamer and taken to Musca- tine. Thence they made the rest of the journey by wagon.
MR. AND MRS. JAMES BRIDENSTINE
James Bridenstine
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Mr. Bridenstine had relatives and friends expecting his ar- rival, and for the first year he worked by the day, then worked at the trade of carpenter, and when able to do so purchased forty acres of land as a start towards a farm. He built a house and shop and worked at the trade of wagon-maker, and later began farming on his forty acres and rented other land. Later he purchased sixty acres more, subsequently added two tracts of eighty acres each, in Penn and Madison townships, which he operated until retiring from the farm in 1901. There has been a remarkable increase in the value of this land since it was purchased by Mr. Bridenstine. He purchased his first forty aeres for $87.50, and other farms at prices varying from
RESIDENCE OF JAMES BRIDENSTINE
$18 to $30 per acre. The last of this land which he sold was sold to John Lininger for $90 per acre, and the latter sold it to George Ranshaw, the present owner, for $125 per acre. Mr. Bridenstine proved an able and industrious farmer and brought his land to a high state of development, erecting suit- able and substantial buildings as needed and carrying on his work in a manner to insure the best results.
Mr. Bridenstine became well known in the community where he lived so many years and made many warm friends there. He served as trustee and road supervisor of Madison township, and was active in church work. He joined the Church of God in 1851 and became an early member of the
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Bethel church in Penn township, which in earlier years he served as deacon and elder.
On March 4, 1851, Mr. Bridenstine married Susan Hoover, daughter of John and Anna Hoover, who came to Iowa in 1852. She died August 4, 1871, having borne her husband six children. She was born July 25, 1827. Mr. Bridenstine mar- ried again, March 14, 1872, Mrs. May J. (Work) Bane, who was the widow of John W. Bane, who was killed in the army. The second wife died May 25, 1890, having borne Mr. Briden- stine five children. His third marriage took place March 22, 1894, when he was united with Mrs. Cornelia ( Butler) Tucker, widow of James S. Tucker, who had ten children by her for- mer marriage, five of whom survive. By his first wife Mr. Bridenstine had children as follows: Sylvester J., of Seattle, Washington, has one living child; Martin, of Kalona, Iowa, has two children ; John William, of California, is married and has five children : James S., married and living in California ; Mary Ellen died at the age of two years ; Elmer H. is a farmer. The following children were born to Mr. Bridenstine by his second marriage : Burton Vance, clerk in the Citizens Savings & Trust Company's bank, in Iowa City, is married and has four children ; Minnie Belle is the wife of C. E. Myers, of Kansas : Nellie Sophia is the wife of Albert Hiekle and they also reside in Kansas; Walter L. in Madison township, and Harvey S. are farmers who are married and live in Clear Creek and Madison townships.
GILBERT ROBINSON IRISH
Poetry, thrilling with emotion, places her sweetest garlands on the mounds of the pioneers, while history, passionate with the facts of their sacrifices, carves her scrolls upon their shafts. Out of the hosts of the world's heroes and heroines the sons and daughters of mon have selected the pathfinders, and on their brows have entwined the laurels of victory with the immortelles of remembrance. No student of progress will doubt the justice of this judgment. From the closing portals of Eden to the caravels of Genoa the generations of Adam and Noah have gone forth to "multiply and replenish the earth"
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SYBEL TILL
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and to "subdue and have dominion." All dangers of adven- ture, all arts of peace, all conquests of war, all empires of dis- covery have been the factors of their quest. Moses and Joshua, Alexander and Casar, Napoleon and Wellington, Washington and Grant have been the captains of their armies ; the Romans, and the Britons, and the Saxons, and the Cava. liers, and the Puritans have been the vanguards of their civi- lizations ; the Norseman, and the Italian, and the Portuguese, and the Frenchman, and the Tenton, and the Englishman, and the Yankee have been their navigators; on the pages of their necrology are inscribed the names of Balboa, and De Soto, and Pizzaro; of Marquette, and La Salle, and Lewis, and Clark, and Fremont, and Pike. Who can challenge the pride of the families entitled to write their names in such a com- pany? The world's meed has been placed upon the heads of its conquerors ; but perhaps the tenderest strains in the gamut of its praises have been sung to the memory of its partizans of peace, the pioneers. In America their names have been placed in the niche of honor. Their weapons have been the plowshare and the pruning hook ; their propaganda the school house, the press, and the church ; their fields "the orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wildwood." The dove-cote bas dis- placed the eagle's eyrie, and the lamb has inherited the wolf's pasture under their agis. Broad commonwealths, thriving cities, happy homes, prosperous people attest the texture of their tasks. Standing, as we do, on civilization's last frontier, awaiting the nuptials of the Occident and the Orient, witness ing the realization of the world's dream of international fra- ternity, we are bound to take note of the vast bulk of the pio neers in the fruitions that confront ns. What signifies it that their feet are on the world's apex and that their prospect dwindles into the sunset perspectives ? They are the conquis- tadores. The battle is won. The world is a unit. History will be their memorial.
Iowa, in the midst of the constellation of American states, boasts of her army of hardy forbears whose hands have trans- formed her prairies, blackened by the vagrant fires of sav- agery, into productive farms, emerald groves, and industrious cities. On the long roll of the regiments are written many il- lustrious names, whose original bearers have hearkened to the
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call of the Eternal Captain. Peace be to their memories. Their posterity have risen up to call them blessed. Johnson county claims the proud honor of a goodly company of these immortals. The pages of this history will bear witness to their deeds. Among the honored names therein recorded, how- ever, none can lay claim to higher principles of citizenship or greater merit for tasks well performed than that borne by the subject of this sketch, Gilbert Robinson Irish. As a family, the Irish household plays an important part not only in the local history of the county and state, but in the affairs of the nation as well. The object of this and the series of sketches which accompany it, is to present the relations of this family. with the events of its time for historical preservation.
GILBERT R. IRISH HOMESTEAD
John Irish, of Duxbury, Plymouth Colony, who came from England in 1631, was the founder of the family in the United States. He was one of the volunteers against the Pequods, and for that service was granted by the government land which he located at Sacconett Neck, Rhode Island, in 1637. John Irish's wife was named Elizabeth, but the descendants of the family in Johnson county are unable to recall her maiden name or any facts concerning her progenitors. The line of descent from John and Elizabeth Irish to our subject is as follows : 1st, John Irish, Jr., and Deborah Irish ; 2d, Jedediah and Mary Irish; 3d, Jedediah and Sarah Irish : 4th, Jedediah and Susannah Irish : 5th, Jonathan and Ruth Irish ; 6th, Fred-
FREDERICK M. IRISH
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erick M. and Elizabeth Irish; the latter being the father and mother of Gilbert Robinson Irish, our subject. The wife of John Irish, Jr., was Deborah Church, a sister of Captain Church. Both families were natives of Rhode Island. The first mill for grinding English and Indian corn and provided with stamps for beating the latter in Plymouth Colony was built on Stony Brook, on lands of John Irish, Sr., by George Pollard and William Hillier in 1637; and it was provided in their charter that they were to "take one pottle for grinding each bushel, and that no other mill should be built as long as they continued to grind all the grain brought to them."
Frederick Macey Irish, the father of Gilbert R., was born at Hudson, New York, March 13, 1801. His wife was Eliza- beth Ann Robinson, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Robin- son, and her birthplace was Westchester. Her family were Quakers, descendants of Rev. John Robinson, of Leyden, Hol- land. When a mere lad Frederick Macey Irish went to sea from Nantucket, and for a time was engaged in the whale fish- ing industry. In 1826 he had extended his voyaging to the Sandwich Islands. Later he was engaged in pilot service in New York. In 1834 he removed to Terre Haute, Indiana, and established a foundry there. In 1839 he made his last move, this time locating near Iowa City, Iowa, where he pursued the business of farming until his death in 1875.
Gilbert R. Irish was born at Terre Haute, Indiana. He was a very small boy when his mother took him to New York, where both remained while the father made the westward trip to locate a new home in Iowa. In 1840 mother and son made the long journey to the new home, where they safely arrived after the usual arduous experiences. Mr. Irish's first tutor was his mother, who for ten years gave him such educational training as she could; thereafter he had for his teacher Dr. Reynolds, a popular pioneer educator of Iowa City. Mr. Irish freely acknowledged, however, and with some pride, that his education was largely the result of his own efforts, abetted by the experiences of his early days - a training which fitted him for the unique position which he has occupied in Johnson county history. Answering the question as to his occupation, Mr. Irish, in his quaint way, declared: "Since the age of eighteen, first and always a farmer." His agricultural bent
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led him into kindred lines, and at one time he took up horti- culture as a specialty at Peoria, Illinois. In the distribution of his stock, Mr. Irish made frequent trips from Peoria to St. Louis by boat. He is credited with the introduction of many of the fruit trees grown in the vicinity of his Peoria enterprise. While a resident of Illinois, from the latter part of the fifties up to 1863, he taught school. His knowledge of school work led to his election, on his return to Iowa, to membership in the school board of Lucas township from district number eleven. In 1867 he was chosen secretary of the board, a position which he held for many years.
Probably Gilbert R. Irish held the record for continnous service as justice of the peace in Johnson county. He held this office for thirty-five years. In the administration of the affairs of this position he acquired a unique reputation. Ho was punctilious in rendering his annual reports. When the peaceable character of his constituents practically left the of- fice without any business from year to year, he would discuss the general topics of the day in his annual reports with char- acteristic humor. An incident showing the ready wit as well as the innate sense of justice of the man is told by some of his old friends: In a case wherein a citizen appeared before him charged with a certain offense, the sympathies of the court were strongly with the defendant on account of his general reputation for honesty, sobriety, and good citizenship. The counsel for the prosecution introduced volume after volume of state and supreme court reports to establish the ruling of other judges on the various points of testimony, and to wind the matter up made a voluminous plea for the conviction of the defendant on the authorities quoted. After listening to it all with some degree of impatience, Justice Irish said: "This court overrules the supreme court in its decisions in these mat- ters and declares the defendant not guilty."
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