Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 162

Author:
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1360

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MBROSE PELLETT .- To this gen- tleman is due that tribute of respect and admiration which is always given -and justly so-to those men who have worked their way upward to positions of prominence through their own efforts, who have achieved success through their own labors

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and by their honorable, straightforward deal- ing commanded the esteem and confidence of those with whom they have been thrown in contact. He is to-day serving as Clerk of the District Court of Cass county, and makes his home on his farm, called Elmwood, near At- lantic, Iowa. He is also connected with the agricultural interests of the county, where for a quarter of a century he has made his home.

Mr. Pellett is a native of Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, born January 23, 1845, and a son of Jason and Phoebe (Rogers) Pel- lett. His father was a native of the same county, and was a son of Hezekiah and Sarah (Powers) Pellett. The grandfather was born in Canterbury, Connecticut, and was a son of Jesse and Anna Pellett. The family is one that dates its origin in America from earliest Colonial days, having been established in the New World probably between 1630 and 1660, by ancestors who crossed the Atlantic from England. The paternal grandmother of our subject, Sarah Powers Pellett, was born in New London, Connecticut, and was a daugh- ter of Hazard and Hannah Powers, the ances- try of the former being traced back to Nicholas Powers, who came to the United States in 1642. At an early day Hezekiah Pellett re- moved with his family to Pennsylvania, where he followed the occupation of farming. Jason Pellett was there reared to manhood and mar- ried Miss Rogers, a native of Otsego county, New York, and a daughter of Daniel Rogers, who was born in Connecticut and came of a family of English lineage, which also dates its history in the New World from an early period in its settlement. In 1853 the parents of our subject removed with their family from Penn- sylvania to Manitowoc county, Wisconsin, and settled on a tract of wooded land which was developed into a good farm. They are now residents of Cass county, Iowa, and are highly esteemed people, having many warm friends. In their family were eight children, three sons and five daughters, and, with one exception, all reached adult age.

Ambrose Pellett was the second in order of

birth in this family and was eight years of age when the family removed to Wisconsin, and upon the old homestead there his boyhood days were passed. He aiding in clearing and culti- vating the farm and later engaged in lumber- ing, but at length he sold out and returned to the occupation to which he had been reared. In 1870 he came to Iowa, locating in Cass county, and for four years and a half was ell- gaged in farming in Brighton township. His first farm he then sold and purchased a tract of land on section 33, Pymosa township, near the city of Atlantic, whereon he still resides. This place comprises 150 acres of land and its well tilled fields and the neat appearance of its many improvements indicate the careful super- vision of the owner, who follows general farm- ing and stock-raising. In addition to his farm- ing operations Mr. Pellett spent a portion of his time for fifteen years as a traveling sales- man, selling agricultural implements. During ten years of that period he was the representa- tive of D. M. Osborn & Company, manufac- turers of harvesting machines at Auburn, New York, and sold these machines throughout southwestern Iowa."

In 1867 Mr. Pellett was united in marriage with Miss Ellen M. Chapman, a native of Maine and a daughter of Benjamin F. and Margaret I. (Marshall) Chapman, the former a native of New Hampshire and the latter of New Brunswick. The ancestry of this family is traced back to Edward Chapman, who landed in Boston about 1640 and is of English descent. Mrs. Pellett is the second in a family of four children, and by her marriage she has become the mother of three children: Elmere H., who was born in Gibson, Wisconsin, Au- gust 5, 1868; Frank C., who was born on the farm in Pymosa township, July 12, 1879; and Clarence A., who also was born on the same farın, August 8, 1889.

The family is identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Pellett serves as Trustee and takes an active part in church work. His political support is given the Re- publican party, and on its ticket he was elected

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to the office of Township Clerk, in which ca- pacity he served for eight years, while in 1892 he was elected Clerk of the District Court. In 1894 he was re-elected, and is now serving in that capacity, proving a most acceptable and capable officer.

HOMAS SHANNON WYCKOFF .- Prominent among the substantial farmers and leading citizens of Linn township, Dallas county, Iowa, is found the gentleman who is the subject of this article. His identity with Dallas county and Iowa covers a period of fifteen years, the date of his arrival here being 1880.

Mr. Wyckoff is a native of Tuscarawas county, Ohio, born September 14, 1828, and is a descendant of two distinguished families. His grandfather, William Wyckoff, moved to Har- rison, Ohio, in 1806, was in the war of 1812, and was a Justice of the Peace for forty-five years without a break. Mr. Wyckoff's first American forefathers came from Germany and settled in New Jersey, about 1690 or 1700. His grandmother, Rachel (MacKinsey) Wyckoff, was a sister of Alexander Slidell MacKinsey, the captain of the Sumner at the time of the inutiny, in which Captain MacKinsey took three of the leaders and hung them to the yard-arm. On arriving home he was arrested, a court martial held, etc., but his course was fully approved and popular opinion was in his favor. Thomas Shannon, the other grand- father, moved to Tuscarawas county, Ohio, in 1806, and his great-grandfather Shannon died in Guernsey county, Ohio, at the advanced age of 107 years.

When the subject of our sketch was sixteen years of age he removed with his parents to Fulton county, Illinois, where a few years later he commenced farming for himself, and was thus occupied at that place until 1852. The gold "fever " so prevalent throughout the country during the few years immediately fol- lowing the discovery of gold in California,

claimed him as a victim, and we next find him on the Pacific coast, where he spent ffve years. Returning to Fulton county, Illinois, at the end of that time, he resumed farming; but not long, for in 1861 we again find him en route to California, where another five years rolled around. Illinois, however, still had its attrac- tions, and in 1866 he went back to Fulton county, where he carried on agricultural pur- suits until his removal to Iowa in 1880, as already stated. During his ten years on the West coast he made a considerable sum of money. The greater part of that time he ran a large pack train, having an average of seven- ty-five mules in his train or "pack," as it was called. For a number of years that was a profitable business in the mining districts of the "Golden State."

In'1880, having disposed of his property in Illinois, Mr. Wyckoff came to his present loca- tion on section 2, Linn township, Dallas county, at that time purchasing the farm upon which he has since lived. He first bought a half section, the purchase price being $7,200. His land is well cultivated and improved, and its general appearance is indicative of the prosperous and progressive farmer.

Mr. Wyckoff was married February 9, 1849, to Miss Rheuann Parry, a native of Illinois and of Welsh descent. Their union has been blessed in the birth of three children: Andrew Jackson Wyckoff, who is now engaged in farm- ing on section 2 of the same township in which his father lives; also James K., and Jennie. Andrew J. Wyckoff was married December 19, 1884, to Miss Ida Wygle, a native of Wiscon- sin, and they have three children, namely: Jennie A., born September 23, 1885; Thomas Lester, June 2, 1888; and Oliver Dean, No- vember 3, 1890.

While he has never been active in politics or sought official preferment, Mr. Wyckoff has always taken an intelligent interest in public affairs and kept himself posted on the same. He is a Democrat. Fraternally, he affiliates with Wiscotta Lodge, No. 158, F. & A. M., at Redfield, and with Linden Lodge, K. of P.

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He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but finds a more convenient place of worship at the Friends' Church.

J OHN CONRAD WEISER, the founder of the American branch of this remark- able family, was a son of Jacob Weiser and a grandson of Jacob Weiser, Sr. He was a native of Gross-Aspach, Wurtem- berg, and in this village his ancestry lived from time immemorial. He was a baker by trade, and attained the military rank of Corporal. He married Anna Magdalena Uebele, who bore him sixteen children, seven of whom died in infancy. His wife died May 31, 1709, and the same year Mr. Weiser joined one of the "Queen Anne " colonies, taking with him eight of his children. He left the land of his birth for England, June 24, 1709, and reached New York June 13, nearly a year later, in the col- ony ship. There were ten ships in this flect, carrying about 4,000 emigrants, 2,000 of whom were German. These Palatinates were led by Robert Hunter, the provincial governor of New York, and "at the head of this colony stood John Conrad Weiser," says the Schwaebische Merkur and Kronik.

Five chiefs of the Mohawk Indians who liad visited England in 1709 for the purpose of ask- ing aid against French aggression, agreed to grant lands adjacent to the present thriving towns of Newburg and New Windsor, New York, for the use of these Colonists, and it was the intention of good Queen Anne that they should settle there. But Governor Hunter and Robert Livingston, the latter a rich pro- vincial landlord, determined to rob the Colo- nists of these valuable lands, and at the same time benefit by their labor. The unsuspect- ing and confiding Germans were taken to Liv- ingston's manor, an annual ground rent was imposed, and $33 was exacted per capita as passage money. Had their plans carried, this would have netted the men-mongers more than $200,000. Commissioners, or slave drivers, selected by the governor, were placed over

the Colonists, who were expected to pay this tax by "burning tar" and "raising hemp." For a time the Colonists served under this bondage; but a rebellion was brewing, and the prime mover in that rebellion was John Con- rad Weiser, their Schultheiss (Magistrate) and Corporal; and this rebellion resulted in the emancipation of the Colonists in 1713.

The Germans now remembered their Indian friends and sent Mr. Weiser, the first of seven deputies, to arrange with them for the prom- ised land. The valley of the Schoharie was opened for their entrance for a consideration of $300 and this was the territory originally intended by Queen Anne for the Colonists. About 150 families now moved to Schoharie. Mr. Weiser, who married his second wife in 18II, moved with his family to Schenectady in the fall of 1813, and the following spring moved into the Schoharie country. The dis- tress among the Colonists at this time was great. In.speaking of it, Mr. Weiser's son, Conrad, writes: "One borrowed a horse here, another there; also a cow and some harness. With these things they joined together until being supplied, though poorly. They Broke ground enough to plant corn for their own use the next year. But this year our hunger was hardly endurable. Many of our feasts were of wild potatoes (Ochmanada) and ground beans (Otagraquara), which grew in abundance. We cut mallows and picked juniper berries. If we were in need of meal, we were obliged to travel thirty-five to forty miles and beg it on trust. One bushel was gotten here and another there, sometimes after an absence from one's starving family for two or three days. With sorrowful hearts and tearful eyes the morsel was looked for, and often did not coine at all !"

The people had taken possession of the Schoharie lands without consulting Governor Robert Hunter, and this very much enraged " his excellency," who, after warning the Colo -. nists to vacate, proceeded to sell the lands to rich Albany and New York capitalists. This act of Governor Hunter aroused public sympathy

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in favor of the poor settlers. The colonists now sent three deputies to England to obtain a grant from George the First for not only the Schoharie lands but more in addition, and Mr. Weiser was the leader of these deputies. They embarked secretly from Philadelphia, in 1718, but soon fell into the hands of pirates, who robbed them and the crew of their money and supplies, and then permitted the vessel to proceed. Mr. Weiser was three times tied up and flogged, but would not confess to having money. Finally William Scheff, another deputy, told the pirates that he and Weiser had a purse between them, which had already been given to the pirates, and then they ceased their torture, and thus the Colony's money was saved. The vessel now put into Boston to replenish the depleted supply of provisions, and then proceeded safely to England. Here new obstacles awaited them. It was difficult to reach the king. The third deputy, Walrath, despaired of their work and sailed for New York, but died on the voyage. Their money gave out and before they could hear from the colony Mr. Weiser and William Scheff were thrown into prison for debt. Fi- nally money reached them, they were released from prison, petitioned anew, and gained some concessions over Governor Hunter, who had been recalled and was doing all in his power to fortify his own position. The best lands, how- ever, went to the capitalists. Mr. Weiser re- mained in England till November, 1723, and made a hard fight to accomplish the wishes of his people. The other deputy, William Scheff, returned home in 1720, and died shortly after.

Mr. Weiser returned to his people from England a disappointed man at not having ac- complished more for their good. At this time William Keith, Baronet Governor of Pennsyl- vania, was visiting at Albany, and hearing of the dissatisfaction of the Germans, and know- ing their worth as a people, he was not slow to make them familiar with the freedom and advantages accorded their people in Pennsyl- vania.

In the spring of 1723 a road was cut to the

Susquehanna river, and when Mr. Weiser re- turned from England he led a party of sixty families over this route and down the river to Tulpehocken, where the settlement was made. Later he visited New York, but returned to Pennsylvania, where he died in 1746, and it is supposed he lies buried in the old graveyard of Tulpehocken.

John Conrad Weiser, known in history as Conrad Weiser, a son of the original emigrant, is the most historically prominent member of this family that has lived in any age. He was born at Astaedt, Germany, November 2, 1696, and accompanied his father to America. In November, 1710, he was put with the Maquas Indians (Six Nations) by his father, for the purpose of learning the language. Speaking of this experience, he says: "I went accord- ingly, on my father's request. I endured a great deal of cold in my situation, and by spring my hunger surpassed the cold by much, al- though I had but poor clothing. On account of the scarcity of provisions amongst the In- dians, corn was then sold for five and six shil- lings per bushel. The Indians were oftentimes so intoxicated that, for fear of being murdered, I secured myself among the bushes." Young Weiser was seventeen years old at this time, and remained with the Indians for eight months. This was a rough schooling for one so young, but the foundation was laid for a career that should redound not only to the fame of the individual, but also to the glory of his country.

In 1714 Conrad Weiser, as we shall here- after call him, left his father's house and made his home at an Indian town eight miles south of Schoharie. Here he lived until he left for Pennsylvania, in 1729. Speaking of his mar- riage, he says: "In 1720, while my father was in England, I married my Anna Eve; and was given in marriage by the Reverend John Fred- erick Haeger, Reformed clergyman, on the 22d of November, in my father's house, at Schoharie." Their children were Philip, Anna Madlina, Maria, Frederick, Peter, Christopher and Jacob (twins, who died in infancy), Eliza- beth, Margaret, Samuel, Benjamin (who died

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in infancy), Jabez (who also died in infancy), Hanna and Benjamin. The first four children were born in New York, and the remainder in Pennsylvania. It is not known definitely who his wife was, but it is supposed that she was an indentured orphan girl, whose parents had either died or been ignored in consequence of her indentured condition. Such cases were common in America at that time.

In 1729 he removed to Pennsylvania, lo- cated at Tulpehocken, where he gradually ac- quired nearly 1,000 acres of land and farmed it. His principal life-work, however, was that of Indian interpreter, and his reputation in this line was national. In 1731 he accompanied Shekallamy, an agent of the Six Nations, to Philadelphia, where he met Governor Gordon, who at once saw the real worth of the man and insisted on his taking forty shillings as pay for his services as interpreter, although noth- ing had been asked.

Mr. Weiser may be regarded as the of- ficially recognized interpreter of Pennsylvania from 1732, the year of the birth of Washing- ton, until his death. He had the faculty of retaining the full confidence of the Indians whenever treaties were made, and he never per- mitted himself to be used as a tool for the fur- thering of the selfish ends of the whites to the detriment of the red man. In a work of his life and letters published in 1876, the author says: "William Penn and Conrad Weiser are two men at least of whom the Indians think and speak well. It is not too much to say that the pacific spirit of Penn was perpetuated by Weiser, and that the fair name of our com- monwealth touching our treatment of the In- dians is as much owing to the policy of the latter as to the amiable mind of the former." He also acted as interpreter for the Provinces of Virginia, Maryland, and New York, in their dealings with the Six Nations.

On February, 1737, he was sent on his first important mission to Onondagua, New York, a distance of 500 miles, to bring about a treaty between the Province of Virginia and the In- dians. In 1741 he was made a Justice of the

Peace, and his fearless execution of the duties of this office brought down on him the wrath of the wicked. On one occasion some parties to whom justice had been meted out stealthily approached his house at night, barred the win- dows and doors from without, and fired the house. The family, however, awoke and broke through the obstruction, thus saving their lives.

We now find that Mr. Weiser is required to sign all treaties made with the Indians, and this chiefly at the request of the red man. His name appears on such papers along with that of Franklin, the governor of the Province, and prominent men of the day.

But we must not lose sight of the fact that Mr. Weiser was an intensely religious man. When Count Zinzendorf arrived in America he accompanied him to Bethlehem as inter- preter when he preached to the Indians, and later he spent three months instructing the missionaries Pyrlacus, Brettner and Zander, who were sent to preach the gospel to the Iro- quois and the Six Nations. When we con- sider that this was gratuitous work given at a time when every moment of Mr. Weiser's time was occupied, we can understand how zealous he was in his religion.

In April, 1744, Woodward Arnold and James Smith were murdered by the Indians. Mr. Weiser was sent at once by Governor Thomas to demand of the chiefs at Shamokin that the guilty be brought to justice. His re- quest was speedily complied with and the mur- derers sent to Philadelphia, where they were hanged.

Mr. Weiser was the interpreter at the great council held at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from June 22, 1744, to the latter part of July. Gov- ernor Thomas was present as well as com- missioners from Michigan and Virginia. At the end of the proceedings, a deed was executed in which the Indians released all rights to cer- tain lands lying in Virginia and Maryland, for a consideration of merchandise valued at 300 pounds. The Indians insisted that Mr. Weiser should sign this deed with his Indian name,

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which was "Tarachawagon." He was always opposed to the sale of liquors to the Indians, and speaks of the traffic as an "abomination before God and man."

From August II, to October 28, 1748, he made a remarkable journey to Ohio for the purpose of executing a treaty between the provinces of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Vir- ginia, and the Indians.

At the breaking out of the French and Indian war, in 1754, Braddock and Washing- ton were the principal figures in the field; Benjamin Franklin, the leader of the Pro- vincial Cabinet, and Conrad Weiser was Su- perintendent of the Indian Department. He received his Commission as Colonel from Gov- ernor Morris, October 31, 1754. A carte- blanche letter accompanying this commission from the governor, said: "I heartily commend your conduct and zeal, and hope you will con- tinue to act with the same vigor and caution that you have already shown; and that you may have a greater authority I have appointed you a Colonel by a commission herewith. I have not time to give you any instructions with the commission, but leave it to your judg- ment and discretion, which I know are great, to do what is most for the safety of the people and the service of the crown." He com- manded the Second Battalion of the Pennsyl- vania Regiment, and also a regiment of vol- unteers from Berks county.

The career of Colonel Weiser in the French and Indian war forins a vital part of any work touching on that subject. For six years he was as brave a soldier as ever repelled a foreign enemy or fought for the protection of home or loved ones against a savage foe. He began to feel the decline of advancing years, and the active life of a soldier hastened the end, which carne July 13, 1760. His wife survived him by almost twenty-one years, her death occur- ring June 10, 1781. Of the children of Colonel Conrad Weiser, his second daughter, Maria, married in 1745 the Rev. Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, a Lutheran minister of wide fame. Phillip was born September 7, 1722. He was

wounded nigh unto death at the battle of Brandywine, during the Revolution.

The Honorable Daniel Ermentrout, a speak- er of wide reputation, in an oration delivered at Reading, Pennsylvania, and other points, on the German in American history, has this to say of Colonel Weiser: "This Conrad Weiser was a remarkable man. From the time of his coming to Berks county to the time of his death, a period of thirty-one years, he was the protecting genius of the Pennsylvania set- tlements. The Tulpehocken settlement, after Braddock's defeat in 1755, was the scene of the most frightful massacres. History tells us that in one week in the Tulpehocken district, at the foot of Blue Mountain, 32 men, 21 women and 17 children-70 souls-were mur- dered in the most frightful manner; 21 houses and barns burned, and cattle destroyed or car- ried off. Under the energetic action of Conrad Weiser and his friend, Captain Spyker, the settlers armed and the Indians were driven back. On November 13, 1793, General Wash- ington, accompanied by General Joseph Hu- ston and other distinguished persons, stood at the grave of the German man, Conrad Weiser, and said: This departed man, in a most dif- ficult period, rendered many services to his country: posterity will not forget him.'"

The Philadelphia Times, speaking editor- ially of the propriety of raising a $25,000 fund for the erection of a monument to the memory of Colonel Conrad Weiser, says: " Weiser was the accepted interpreter and peace-bearer of the Six Nations. As an Indian agent he ran no sutler's supply tent, and as a wise man, whose policy was the very crown of honesty and integrity, he dealt with the Susquehanna, the Delaware and minor tribes with such won- derful tact and discretion as to make them always friendly to the whites in the then Leb- anon and Schuylkill reservations. Now it is proposed to erect a costly monument to his memory. This is tardy justice to a distin- guished character, for Weiser was all that and more, too, in the generation in which he lived. Destiny required the iron hand and the iron

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will to rule. The sword became the pruning hook, but the Indians made it the tomahawk at Wyoming, after Weiser was gathered to his fathers. He was more than the faithful, earnest, honest interpreter and agent. His was the true, unyielding type of Pennsylvania German, of an ancestral stock provident of descendants that long since made the State blossom as the rose, and gave to it men of dis- guished attainments and marked honor. Hence it is that the Berks Germans propose a Conrad Weiser day for November 2 next, and the Reading Board of Trade supplements this niovement with a plan to raise a $25,000 monument fund that somewhere in the future shall speak for Weiser in the Penn Square of the city, where his trading-post once opened its doors to the Six Nations and their allies."

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Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 162

Author: Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1360

Author:
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1360