Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 71

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

USA > Iowa > Memorial and biographical record of Iowa > Part 71

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mrs. Edwards still resides at the home place with her sons. She is a member of the Chris- tian Church, is well known in the community where she has lived so long, and is greatly es- teemed by all who know her. In 1870 she had the misfortune to have her right leg broken. It was not rightly set at the time, and for years gave her no little suffering. About four years

ago amputation became necessary, and since that time she has used a cork limb.

The sons, like their worthy father, are Re- publican in their political affiliations. U. S. G. cast his first presidential vote for the lamented Garfield. This son is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows.

ARTIN LUTHER NINE. - This gentleman is another one of the wor- thy and esteemed citizens of Virginia township, Warren county, Iowa, who look to Preston county, West Virginia, as the place of their birth and the home of their fore- fathers. He was born August 7, 1849, son of David and Margaret (Martin) Nine, the third in a family of eight children, two of whom were daughters. Of this number six survive, viz. : Peter F., a farmer of Garrett county, Maryland; Martin L .; Eva Elizabeth, wife of William F. Wotring, of Preston county, West Virginia; John M., Preston county; Cynthia, wife of Thomas Griffith, Somerset county, Pennsylvania; and David C., on the old home- stead in Preston county.

David Nine, the father, was born in Pres- ton county, West Virginia, December 23, 1822, son of Christian Nine, a native of Pennsyl- vania. In early life the latter crossed the Cumberland mountains into West Virginia, and there became interested in agricultural pursuits. He married a Miss Whitehair, a na- tive of the Old Dominion, and they became the parents of eleven children, of whom seven were sons. He lived out his three-score years and ten, and died, and is buried in Preston county. Grandmother Nine at the time of her death was eighty years of age. While Christian Nine was successful as a farmer and business man, his son David, our subject's father, was even more successful, his life also being passed in the quiet of agricultural pursuits. David Nine acquired a large property and left a fine estate. He departed this life at his home in Preston county, September 30, 1895, and in the Wesley Chapel cemetery, in Union town-

446

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL

ship of that county, his remains are interred. He was for many years a devout member of the Lutheran Church, exerted an influence for good in the community, and at his death a life of great usefulness was ended. The Chris- tian lady whose life was blended with his for many years, and whose maiden naine was Mar- garet Martin, was of German parentage and birth, and accompanied her parents in their emigration to this country. Her death oc- curred in 1878. She named her son Martin Luther, while her husband named all the other children.

· Martin Luther Nine received his early schooling in the log school-house near his home. Later he completed a high-school course and was a student in the West Union Normal and Terra Alta Normal, and has dur- ing his whole life been of a studious nature; and his range of knowledge has been largely increased by travel and close observation. After his graduation in the high school he taught for several years in the same room in which he had been a student, and he taught one term after coming to Iowa-the Valley school, in Squaw township, Warren county. His vocation, however, like his father's and grandfather's before him, has been that of farm- ing. It was in 1881 that he came to this State, and since then he has made his home in Virginia township, Warren county.

March 30, 1881, was consummated his marriage to Miss Margaret Ervin, daughter of Elias Ervin, who has been a resident of War- ren county for seventeen years. Their nuptials were celebrated at the home in which they at present reside. Mrs. Nine is an amiable and charming woman and is the mother of four in- teresting children, namely: Garfield Lincoln, born February 12, 1883; Beulah V., October 17, 1885; Lula Blanche, September 22, 1887; and Ray Clinton, December 29, 1890.

When Mr. Nine took possession of his present farm it comprised eighty acres, with good residence and a portion of the land under cultivation. He has since added to the origi- nal tract by the purchase of 120 acres of ad-

joining land, the whole making a most de- sirable farm.

Mr. Nine's political views harmonize with the principles of the Republican party, with which he has affiliated since he cast his first vote for General Grant for president. Although he himself has never sought official preferment, he has been honored with such in a local way, and has served acceptably as a member of the School Board, as Road Supervisor and as Township Assessor. He was first elected As- sessor in 1887, has been re-elected, and is still the incumbent of this office. . He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and of the Masonic order, at New Virginia.

EORGE W. TAYLOR, as a resident of Warren county, Iowa, for nearly thirty years, is entitled to rank among its pioneers. It was in 1866, just after the clase of the Civil war, that he came West, arriving in Squaw township, this coun- ty, in April. During the following summer he assisted his brother, Matthew A. Taylor, in the erection there of a frame house, 16 x 24 feet, two stories, its location being on section 6, on a tract of raw prairie land that had been the property of their father. This tract of land, 540 acres in extent, had been entered by Mr. Daniel Braucht. Mr. Taylor came to his pres- ent farm, in Virginia township, in the spring of 1867: here he has eighty acres. His log cabin was the second one in the neighborhood; indeed, it was the second house of any kind in this now thickly settled community. This rude cabin was sixteen feet square, had a white oak floor, was lighted by two windows, and had its stovepipe run up through the roof. Its total cost was the sum of $25. But in the past quarter of a century marvelous changes have been wrought in this section of the coun- try, and in pushing forward and helping to bring about this development Mr. Taylor has done his part. He now has a valuable farm and a comfortable home.

Mr. Taylor was born in Halifax township,

447

RECORD OF IOWA.

Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, July 26, 1843, the son of William and Eliza (Braucht) Tay- lor, he being the third in their family of eight children, -five sons and three daughters,-all of whom survive. Of them we make brief record, as follows : Bebecca, wife of Jacob Sultzbauch, Millersburg, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania; Matthew A., who has been a resident of Squaw township, Warren county, Iowa, since 1866; George W., whose name initiates this review; Hiram W., a resident of Coffeyville, Kansas, formerly of Warren coun- ty, Iowa; Mary, wife of James Lebo, owns and occupies the old homestead in Pennsyl- vania; Winfield S., a farmer of Virginia and Squaw townships, this county; William I., Dauphin county, Pennsylvania; and Emma, widow of the late Eli Huff and a resident of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Huff has been twice married, her first husband having been Albert Lyter. William Taylor, the father of this family, was born in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1808, and died there in January, 1890. His life was characterized by honesty, industry and simplicity; he was a lover of humanity and had an abiding faith in God. A monument in Jacobs' church ceme- tery marks the spot where were interred his mortal remains, and beside it is another grave and another stone, betokening the last rest- ing place of his wife. She was born in 1813 and died in 1880. For many years she was a devoted member of the United Brethren Church; her life was adorned by Christian graces, and by her sweet and winning ways she won the love and esteem of all who came within her influence.

Mr. George W. Taylor was reared in his native county and was just budding into young manhood at the time the war clouds gathered and burst upon the country. On the Ist of September, 1864, he enlisted at Halifax, Penn- sylvania, as a private in Company G, Two Hundredth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and, after a three weeks' rendezvous at Har- risburg, went to the front, where he proved himself a brave, true soldier. March 25, 1865,

in the battle of City Point, he was wounded by a minie ball which struck him on the top of the head. The enemy had broken through the line; he was shot at short range, and the wound was a serious one. He was honorably discharged two months later, May 25, at Alexandria. After the grand review at Wash- ington, in which he was a participant, he returned to his home in Pennsylvania, and the following year, as already stated at the begin- ning of this sketch, he came out to Iowa, where he has since maintained his residence. Politically he has been a Republican ever since he cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln. He is identified with the Grand Army of the Republic and the M. E. Church. He has been Superintendent of his Sunday-school for three years, and has been an officer and teacher in the church ever since he came to the State. He gives largely of his means for the cause of Christ and helps to build churches.

On February 12, 1867, occurred one of the most important events of Mr. Taylor's life, that being the date of his marriage to Miss Louise M. Hatfield, a daughter of Enoch and Nancy (Fackler) Hatfield. Mrs. Taylor was the seventh born in a family of ten children, and is one of the six that survive, -all daugh- ters. Two of Mrs. Taylor's brothers starved to death in the Andersonville prison! Enoch Hatfield, her father, was born of English par- ents and was reared in Pennsylvania. Early in life he followed the trade of miller, but later gave his attention to farming. He con- secrated his life to the cause of Christ. He was a great singer and church-worker, and by incidental exposure contracted a cold which terminated in consumption, which caused his death at the age of forty-seven years. Mrs. Taylor's mother was born in Pennsylvania and lived to be seventy-three years of age. Both parents died in the Keystone State. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor are as fol- lows : H. C., born November 7, 1867, is engaged in farming on land adjoining his father's; Maud Alice, born November 20, 1869, is the wife of Mr. Charles Butler, their home

448

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL

being on his father's estate in Squaw township, Warren county; Edwin, born May 25, 1873; William Hatfield, October 18, 1875; Harvey R., May 28, 1880; and Harry E., February 28, 1882.

e LIAS MILLS .- Among those who faithfully defended their country in the hour when destruction seemed imminent is numbered this gentleman, a respected and well known resident of Liberty township, Warren county, Iowa. For nearly a quarter of a century he has resided in this locality, and since 1847 he has been a resident of the State. Mr. Mills is a native of Indiana, his birth having occurred on the 26th of March, 1839, in Warren county, that State. His parents were Peter and Mary Mills, and their family numbered eleven children, four sons and seven daughters, but only three are now living, namely: Jane, wife of Ira Hart, of Ne- braska; Elias, who was the eighth in order of birth; and Rachel, wife of Elisha Wright, of Washington. The father of this family was a native of North Carolina, and there wedded Mary Stanley, who was born in the same State. Emigrating Westward they located in Indiana, and in 1847 became residents of Jefferson county, Iowa, where the mother died. She was a member of the Quaker Church and left the impress of her earnest Christian character upon her children. The father died at the home of our subject in Lucas county. His political support was given the Republican party.

Mr. Mills of this review was a child of only eight years when with his parents he became a resident of Iowa. Shortly after the death of his mother, when he was only ten years of age, he was bound out to Joel Paxton, for whom he was to work until his twenty-first year. He fulfilled the terms of the contract; when he left that gentleman he was the possessor of two suits of jeans clothes and fourteen dollars in money. He was a young man of five feet, eleven inches, weighing 160 pounds, and

entered with zest upon his business career, re- solved to make the most of his opportunities and to advance on the road to success as rap- idly as possible. After working for one season in Lucas county, Mr. Mills enlisted among the boys in blue of Company C, Thirteenth Iowa Infantry, joining the service at Chariton, in September, 1861. The regiment rendezvoused at Davenport, and in October left that city for the front, going to Jefferson City, Missouri. He took part in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, those of the Atlanta campaign and other en- gagements, and at the close of the war was honorably discharged, in 1865. At the battle of Atlanta, Georgia, on the day when General McPherson fell mortally wounded, Mr. Mills received a wound from a minie ball in the right hip, and was incapacitated for service for about three months, being in the hospital at Rome, Georgia, during that time. He then rejoined his regiment at a point about twenty miles below Atlanta, and continued to faith- fully follow the old flag until hostilities had ceased and the preservation of the Union was an assured fact.

On the 3d of April, 1864, while home on a veteran furlough, Mr. Mills married Miss Eliza- beth Edwards, a native of Indiana, and a daughter of Abel Edwards. They became the parents of eleven children, namely: W. H., who was born September 2, 1866, and is a farmer of Liberty township; Lucy E., who was born May 8, 1868, and is the wife of Ira Sones, of Otter Creek township, Lucas county, Iowa; Eli, who was born November 12, 1869, and died September 11, 1870; Charlie L., who was born August 22, 1871, and on the 22d of Au- gust, 1895, married Carrie Caviness, of Ring- gold county, Iowa; Laura E., who was born May 18, 1873, and is now a teacher; Abel E., . who was born December 12, 1874, and is at- tending the Highland Park school; Norval R., who was born December 2, 1876, and is a student in the same school; Elvin, who was born September 20, 1879, and died on the 8th of October, following; Herman E., born July 17, 1881; Janet A., born February 2, 1883;

449

RECORD OF IOWA.

and Jesse, born July 14, 1884. The mother of this family, who was born June 26, 1846, died November 8, 1884.

On the 12th of April, 1891, Mr. Mills was again married, his second union being with Mary Breece, who was born February 2, 1863, in Appanoose county, Iowa, and is a daughter of Preston and Martha (Gray) Breece. One son and two daughters were born of this union but are now deceased.

In his political views Mr. Mills is a stalwart Republican, having supported that party since casting his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln. . He has served as Town Trustee several times and has also been School Direc- tor. Socially he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and to-day is recognized as the same valued citizen who, at the coun- try's call for troops, donned the blue and shouldered the musket in defense of the Union.

3 ACOB LAMB .- There are probably few men in Warren county, Iowa, who are better known than this gentleman. For over a quarter of a century he has had his abiding place on his present farm, on section 18, of Liberty township, and for nearly twenty years has given much of his time to the busi- ness of auctioneer, his genial presence figuring at most of the sales throughout this part of the country. Whenever it is known that Jacob Lamb is to cry a sale a crowd is sure to be present. As one of the prominent fac- tors in his community and as a man in every way worthy of the high esteem in which he is held, it is fitting that biographical honors be accorded him.

Jacob Lamb was born in Tuscarawas coun- ty, Ohio, September 7, 1837, son of Jacob and Mary (Williams) Lamb. Jacob Lamb, Sr., was thrice married. By his first wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Adams, he had children as follows: John, Adams, Han- nah, George, Hiram, Lawrence, Alexander, Elizabeth. She died in Ohio, and for his

second wife he wedded Miss Mary Williams, who bore him five children, namely: Susan, wife of George Ross, of Laclede county, Mis- souri; Margaret, wife of John Lawyer, Liberty Center, Iowa; Catherine, who died at the age of twenty-one; Jacob, whose name forms the heading for this article; and Mary, the de- ceased wife of a Mr. Snodgrass. Mrs. Mary Lamb, the mother of our subject, died when he was a child of two years. She was a member of the United Brethren Church, was a true Christian, and was loved by all who knew her. Her remains are interred in River Hill cemetery. The father's third marriage was to Mrs. Barnhouse, by whom he had two children: Lydia and Mary. The former died in childhood and the latter at about the age of twenty years. The worthy father of this large family was born October 15, 1798, and died in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, February 6, 1847.

After the death of his mother young Jacob was given over to the care of Mr. Hiram James, who, a few years later, became his guardian; and with this gentleman he remained until at- taining his nineteenth year. Then he started out in life for himself, came as far west as Bureau county, Illinois, and two years later removed to Fulton county, same State, where another seven years were spent, after which he returned to Bureau county. In the meantime he had married Miss Nancy Brown, a native of Guernsey county, Ohio, born March 16, 1831; and in Bureau county, June 2, 1867, his wife died. She was the mother of two children: Hiram Lawrence, born August I, 1862, is now a resident of Colorado; and Mary Belle, born August 20, 1864, died at the age of two years. January 13, 1870, Mr. Lamb married Miss Mary M. Pierce, a native of Gallia county, Ohio, and a daughter of William and Margaret (Martendale) Pierce, she being the second born in their family of thirteen children,-eight daughters and five sons. Mr. Pierce passed away some five years ago and Mrs. Pierce, now seventy-seven years of age, resides with her sons, Marion and James O. Mr. Lamb's children by his

450

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL

present companion are as follows: California, born October 26, 1870, died August 4, 1886; Virginia, born January 29, 1872, is the wife of J. H. Danly, of Colorado Springs, Colorado; Malinda, born October 12, 1873, is the widow of Merrill Thompson and has one child, Myrtle, born September 21, 1875; Reuben, September 6, 1877; Jacob F., March 8, 1881; and Karl S., September 5, 1883.

Mr. Lamb left Illinois in 1869 and came to Iowa, and that same year bought eighty acres of land, the place upon which he has since resided. As already stated, since loca- ting here, he has given his attention to agri- cultural pursuits and to auctioneering. He cast his first presidential vote for Lincoln and has ever since maintained his allegiance to the Republican party. The offices of Constable, Township Treasurer and School Director have been ably filled by him, and in all public mat- ters he takes a laudable interest. He is a member in good standing of the A. F. & A. M.

J AMES GILLESPIE is one of the sub- stantial business men of Chariton, Iowa, carrying on an establishment stocked with all kinds of general merchandise save dry goods. He opened his store for busi- ness on the 8th of March, 1894, in a building 180 x 60 feet, where he handles a full line of groceries, provisions, flour, feed, shelf and heavy hardware, farm implements and car- riages and wagons. He has built up a good trade, receiving from the public a liberal pat- ronage, which he well deserves. He is a wide- awake and enterprising business man and Chari- ton numbers him among her valued citizens.

The record of his life is as follows. He was born in Jefferson township, Guernsey county, Ohio, November 9, 1836, and is of Irish descent, his grandfather, James Gillespie, having emigrated from the Green Isle of Erin to the New World when eighteen years of age. Our subject now has in his possession an old hunting rifle which was owned by his grand- father and used in fighting Indians and in hunt-

ing in the forests of Pennsylvania and Ohio; he was a soldier in the war of 1812. The par- ents of James Gillespie were John and Mar- garet (Taylor) Gillespie. The former was born in Pennsylvania, April 10, 1810, and the latter, a few years his junior, was a native of Licking county, Ohio. She died in Belmont county, Ohio, in the early spring of 1864; and the father, who long survived his wife, passed away in Chariton, April 16, 1884, at the advanced age of seventy-three years. They had a family of four sons and two daughters, the eldest of whom is the well-known merchant of Chari- ton. He was followed by John T., a farmer of Lucas county, Iowa; Thomas, who follows farming near Springfield, Missouri; William, who is living on the old family homestead in Ohio; Mary, who died in young womanhood; Nancy, who became the wife of William B. Campbell, an agriculturist of Lucas county.

During his childhood days James Gillespie attended the pioneer schools of Ohio and conned his lessons while seated on a slab bench. The floor was of puncheons and light was admitted into the room through three or four little panes of glass, 8 x 10 inches. In such a way Mr. Gillespie acquired his literary train- ing. His school days were interposed with the hard labor of clearing a tract which was cov- ered with timber, for those were the days when Guernsey county was a frontier settlement. He worked in the morning and evenings and on holidays, and often was obliged to miss the regular school sessions when the work of the farm was pressing. He resided in Guernsey and Belmont counties, Ohio, until 1882, and farming was his life work until he embarked in merchandising in Chariton, as before stated.

On the 29th of February, 1860, in his na- tive county, Mr. Gillespie married Miss Clar- issa, daughter of Dr. William Anderson, and a native of Caddis, Harrison county, Ohio, born March 18, 1840. When two years old she re- moved with her parents to Guernsey county. For many years her father was a successful practicing physician, a gentleman of education and professional ability. Mr. and Mrs. Gilles-

451

RECORD OF IOWA.

pie have a family of eight children. The eldest, Dr. John A., is a medical practitioner who has recently completed a course of lec- tures in the Chicago College of Physicians and Surgeons; he is also a graduate of the Eclectic College of Physicians and Surgeons. For five years he engaged in practice in Coin, Iowa, where he built up a fine business. Margaret Matilda, the next of the family, is the wife of A. G. West, a farmer of Ringgold county, Iowa; Mary E. is the wife of O. E. Brewer, a sales- man in the Gillespie store of Chariton; Lillie Zenetta is engaged in teaching school; Will- iam Anderson is a student and a clerk in his father's store; Nathaniel Taylor is also in school; Rosella died March 3, 1891, at the age of nineteen years, eleven months and twenty days, and Sarah is the youngest.

Mr. Gillespie was reared in the faith of the Democratic party and has since been one of its stalwart supporters. He is a law-abiding cit- izen, has never sued nor been sued, and was never summoned to court or served on a jury. He and his wife are members of the United Presbyterian Church, and he is an honorable, straightforward, business man, whose well- spent life merits the high regard in which he is held.

H. GRATER is another one of the respected pioneers of Warren coun- ty, Iowa, and, like many of the best men scattered throughout the West and occupying useful positions in various spheres of life, he looks back to Ohio as the place of his birth.

W. H. Grater was born in Licking county, Ohio, October 1, 1835, son of James M. and Sarah (Tuttle) Grater, he being the ninth in their family of ten children, six sons and four daughters. James M. Grater was a native of Massachusetts, a man of fine physique, com- manding presence, and more than ordinary in- tellectual attainments. For many years he sailed the waters of the Atlantic, and he also trav- eled much on land, visiting various climes and

countries and many of the States of the Union. He lived to the ripe old age of eighty-four years. As early as 1844 he visited Indiana, where he finally settled. On many of his trav- els he was accompanied by his wife, whose amiable disposition and beautiful Christian character were an inspiration to all who knew her. She died at the age of sixty-four years.

From such parents the subject of our sketch naturally inherited good principles; and when he early started out in life for him- self, although he was equipped with only a common-school education and with no capital whatever, he had the impress of a Christian mother's training and possessed to a marked degree the good judgment for which his father was noted. It was in 1856 that he left home to make his own way in the world and came to Iowa, his objective point being Warren county. Lawrenceburg, a hamlet of Liberty township, was a progressive place in the '50S, and in it he cast his lot for some years. He secured employment with Mr. Condit, a large landholder and mill-owner, whose mill was lo- cated on section 7. In this mill Mr. Grater proved himself a competent and trusted em- ployee, and subsequently he conducted it for some time on his own account. During the early years of his residence in Iowa he earned sufficient money to buy a farm, which in later years he disposed of. Now he owns a fine farm on section 28, Liberty township, on which he has made his home since 1887.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 71

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