Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 76

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

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RECORD OF IOWA.

coming to his present farm, in March, 1891 .. His comfortable home is located on section 2 1, Belmont township. Mr. Talbott, as did his good, Christian father, votes the Republican ticket, and is aggressive in his political convic- tions. He cast his first vote, while at Little Rock with his regiment, for our martyred Pres- ident, Abraham Lincoln. He affiliates with the Grand Army of the Republic, being a mem- ber of Post No. 275, at Milo.

Mr. Talbott was married October 1, 1878, to Miss Saddie Briggs, a native of Washington county, Ohio, and a daughter of J. S. and Rachel Briggs. Her parents located in Lee county, Iowa, in 1851, and during the war lived in Cedar county, Iowa, coming to War- ren county March 3, 1867. J. S. Briggs, the father of Mrs. Talbott, was a native of Ohio, and he lived to attain the age of seventy-four years, his death occurring in Utah. His mar- riage to Rachel Patterson was consummated in Athens county, Ohio, and his widow is still living, being now (1895) eighty years of age. While Mr. Briggs and. his family were residing in Cedar county, Iowa, Edwin Coppoc made his home there. He was one of John Brown's men and was hung at Harper's Ferry. Our subject and wife have three children, namely: R. Wayne, born September 21, 1879; Grace Iowa, March 1, 1882; and Jessie Kate, April 8. 1884. Mr. and Mrs. Talbott are members of the Methodist Church.

MORY MILLER, D. D., LL. D., Presiding Elder of the Des Moines District, Des Moines Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, is a gentleman whose name is well known in Iowa, and whose life has been such that it has en- deared him to the people with whom he has been associated and to whom he has minis- tered.

Dr. Miller was born at Mt. Pleasant, West- moreland county, Pennsylvania, December 23, 1834, his parents being Samuel and Mary (Eichar) Miller, both natives of the Keystone

State. In the Miller family were nine sons and one daughter, and of this number seven are still living, viz .: David S., William E., Sam- uel, Henry Bascom, Alexander J., Emory, and Eliza A., wife of William S. Holleck, editor of the Dayton Herald, Dayton, Tennessee. William E. was Chief Justice of Iowa for a term of years when Judges Wright, Cole and Beck were on the bench, filling out Judge Dillon's term and subsequently being elected to the office. He was also the first Colonel of the Twenty-eighth Iowa Infantry in the late war. Alexander was Lieutenant of the Sixth Iowa Infantry, was promoted to Lieutenant- Colonel, and acted as Brigadier the last year he was in the war. His service in the army covered a period of three years. The eldest

brother, David S., is a farmer. Samuel is a master machanic and Bascom is at present shipping clerk in the Buckeye Machine Works at Salem, Ohio. The brother, Clark, who died in 1893, was a lawyer. The father of this large and highly respected family was an iron foundryman in Mt. Pleasant, Pennsyl- vania, and in 1854 moved from there to Iowa, locating on a farm near Iowa City, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits the rest of his life, and where he died April 30, 1881, at the advanced age of eigthy-four years and ten months. His wife survived him until 1890, when she died, at the still more advanced age of ninety-three. Both were devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Dr. Miller's paternal grandfather, Henry Miller, was a native of Virginia and of German origin. He was the father of eight children, spent many years of his life in Pennsylvania, and died there at the age of eighty-five years. He was a pottery manufacturer.

Of the Eichars, Dr. Miller's relatives on his mother's side, we record that they figured as early settlers of Staten Island. Henry Eichar, the Doctor's grandfather, was born on Staten Island, his father, Daniel Eichar, having pur- chased it from the British Government and brought the ancestors of the Vanderbilts and others from Holland and colonized the island.

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When the British army landed on Staten Isl- and in Revolutionary days, the inhabitants were driven away by the soldiers, and in the hurry of their departure Mr. Eichar lost his papers and deed, and thus it happened that his heirs were never able to prove their claim to this now valuable property. Moreover, they were Mennonites and were opposed to war and op- posed to taking an oath, and never even tried to recover the island. Henry Eichar was then a small boy, and with his parents and the rest of the family located at Detweiler's Mills, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, where he lived until about eighty years of age, and then moved to Cass county, Ohio. He attained the remarkable age of nearly ninety-nine years. Notwithstanding his religious creed, he felt it his duty to go out in protection of his country during the war of 1812, had his knapsack on his back and was all ready to start; but when he reached the gate a messenger informed him that the war was ended. By trade he was a wheelwright. Personally he was of medium height, with broad shoulders, fair complexion and blue eyes, and in his manner was quiet and dignified; and at the age of ninety-nine, with- out any disease whatever, he quietly passed away.

Having thus briefly referred to the family history of Dr. Miller, we now turn for a sketch of his own life. His birthplace and the date have already been given. The first nineteen years of his life were spent at his native place, his time being occupied in work on the farm and in his father's foundry, and in attendance at the common schools and Mt. Pleasant Col- lege. Then he entered the theological semi- nary at Evanston, Illinois, and began prepar- ing himself for the work of the ministry. In 1858 he commenced preaching in the vicinity of Iowa City, Iowa, and in the fall of that same year entered the Iowa Conference, and has preached in Iowa from that time up to the present, with the exception of one year in Missouri and two years in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has had charges at Burlington, Muscatine, Clinton, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Des Moines

and many other places, and for nine years was at Davenport. He has been Presiding Elder altogether eleven years.

November 13, 1860, Dr. Miller was united in marriage to Miss Polly H. Millar, daugh- ter of William H. and Rebecca (Stienbergen) Millar, of Muscatine county, Iowa. Five children were born to them, one son and four daughters: Eva B., Besse, Grace, Mary and William E. Grace and Mary died in infancy and Besse when a young lady. Eva B. mar- ried C. L. Nourse, a prominent attorney in Des Moines, and they have two sons: Emory Miller and Roderick. William E. married Miss Foley Barnett. He is engaged in the practice of law at Bedford, Taylor county, Iowa.

Dr. Miller's political views are those advo- cated by the Republican party, with which he casts his franchise. During his ministerial career he has many times performed the mar- riage ceremony and has frequently officiated on funeral occasions, always ready to respond when called upon and always using the right word at the right time. . The Doctor is also noted as an author. Probably the most pop- ular among his many works is "The Evolu- tion of Love," which has received much fa- vorable mention from the press, both in Eng- land and America. From a prominent writer in a London monthly, we clip the following: " This is one of the most remarkable books which have come into our hands in recent years. Its speculative power is great; its range of thought is wonderful; it is luminous in style, and its grasp is firm and tenacious. He discusses with great lucidity some ef the most difficult problems in philosophy and

theology. % ** Old truths ap- pear in a new setting which gives them a more profound significance. The doctrine of creation seems to take on a newer meaning; the old, old perplexing question of the exist- ence of evil and its meaning seems to assume a more hopeful aspect. The atonement, on which so much has been written that one might suppose nothing fresh could be said, seems to attain to a larger fullness in the light of the

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evolution of love. The doctrine of eschatology

obtains a fuller statement. They are the old doctrines in a larger setting. The book de- serves the most careful study."

RITTIN VANNESS, of Milo, who has witnessed this beautiful little city de- velop from a wind-swept prairie that knew no habitation on its snow-clad heath, was born in Seneca county, Ohio, April 2, 1845, a son of George and Sarah (Brittin) Vanness. He was the eighth of their thirteen children, six of whom survive, namely: Ab- ner, a resident of Kosciusko county, Indiana, served his country in the late war from Ohio; Elinor, wife of William Sheely, also of Kosci- usko county; Leah, wife of Fipps Waldo, a farmer of Clinton county, Michigan; Albert, a farmer of McPherson county, Kansas, was a member of Company D, Forty-fourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry; Brittin, the subject of this sketch; and Josiah, a farmer of Warren county, Iowa. Nathan, the eldest child, emigrated to California alone in an early day, and while there enlisted in the First California Regiment of Volunteer Infantry, and it is supposed that he lost his life in the service, and lies at rest in an unmarked grave in Southern soi®. George, a member of Company K, Forty-ninth Ohio Infantry, died in the hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, in the fall of 1862. Letitia de- parted this life when seven years of age; Mary, the wife of Thomas Hover, died in Kosciusko county, Indiana; Sarah Jane, deceased, was the wife of Hiram Harbaugh, a farmer of that county; Willie died at the age of about two years; and Orlando, who also died when two years old.

George Vanness, Sr., the great grandfather of these children, came to this country from Germany, locating in Ohio in the last century. In the forests of the Territory, when "Tippe- canoe " (William Henry Harrison) was gov- ernor of the wilds of Ohio, he erected a log house and made a clearing sufficient to allow the sun to shine on his home. He spent the

remainder of his life there, being the father of a large family. His son, George, the father of our subject, succeeded to the Territorial farm. He was born there February 8, 1800. He witnessed railroad and telegraph lines span the borders of his native State, saw her honored in the selection of "Tippecanoe " for President, -many other sons of the State having also been elevated to the presidency from what was once an unbroken wilderness, -and saw her develop and rank second to none in the union of States. Mr. Vanness was an old-time Whig. He was called to the spirit world in the eighty-sixth year of his age, his death occurring in Kosciusko county, where he had moved in 1862. His wife was born in Champaign county, Ohio, April 20, 1813, being of Dutch descent. Her parents died when she was quite young. She now resides with her son Abner, in Kosciusko county, at the ad- vanced age of eighty-two years, having lived to send her sons to battle for their country's flag, in which contest they truly and nobly. performed their part.

Brittin Vanness, the subject of this sketch, received the benefit of the common schools, and early in life he learned the use of the woodman's ax. September 5, 1861, he was enrolled as a member of Company K, Forty- ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, at Tiffin, Ohio, under Colonel Gibson and Captain Patterson. He was then but sixteen years of age. The first night after his enlistment was spent at Cincinnati, where the company boarded a boat for Louisville, Kentucky, and from there went by rail to Elizabethtown for winter quarters. Mr. Vanness participated in the first battle of Pittsburg Landing, the second battle of Corinth, retreated to Louisville, and next took part in the battles of Stone River and Chickamauga. At the latter .engagement he received two flesh wounds, which, however, only incapac- itated him from service for a few days. No- vember 25, 1863, at the battle of Missionary Ridge, he was wounded by a musket ball just an inch below the elbow. A small piece of the sleeve of his coat went into the wound, re-

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sulting in anchylosis of the wrist and fingers, and necessitating eventual amputation, the operation having been performed February 9. 1891, by Dr. John Cooper, of Des Moines, and Dr. Samuel Cooper, of Milo. Mr. Vanness now carries an armless sleeve as the result of this terrible wound. When sufficiently re- covered he was taken to Chattanooga and later to Nashville, having spent about one year on the sick list. September 21, 1864, he was mustered out of service, after which he joined his parents in Kosciusko county, Indiana, they having removed there during his absence in the service of his country. In 1871, Mr. Vanness located on a rented farm in Union township, Warren county, Iowa. November 2, 1877, he purchased seventy acres in section 9, same township, but since the fall of 1892 he has been a resident of Milo. He also spent a period of nine years in O'Brien county, this State.

August 8, 1865, at the home of Rev. Miller, of the United Brethren Church, our subject was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Hover, a native of Kosciusko county and a daughter of James S. and Elizabeth (Lucas) Hover. The father was born in Logan county, Ohio, and died in Kosciusko county, Indiana, July 24, 1869. The mother, a native of Highland county, Ohio, departed this life in. Kosciusko county, in July, 1847.

In his political relations Mr. Vanness is a stanch Republican, and his first presidential vote was cast for General U. S. Grant. He is a member of the G. A. R. Post, No. 275, of Milo. Mr. and Mrs. Vanness attend the Meth- odist Episcopal church. We note with pleas- ure the record of a soldier and his wife who have always been honored in communities where the infinite wisdom of God saw fit to locate them.

J AMES HENRY ROGERS, a leading banker of Guthrie Center, Iowa, is a native of Essex county, New York, born on the 22d of February, 1844. His parents, Lorenzo N. and Sarah E. (Newton)

Rogers, are of English descent, and were born in Vermont. By their marriage, which was celebrated in the Green Mountain State, they became the parents of four children, but only one son and a daughter reached maturity. The latter, Hester A., is now the wife of J. F. McLuen, a resident of Des Moines, and a min- ister of the Baptist Church. The paternal grandfather of our subject was a soldier in the war of 1812 and served in the defense of Platts- burg, New York, while the maternal grand- father was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, aiding the Colonies in their struggle for inde- pendence.

When about six years of age James H. Rogers removed with his parents to St. Law- rence county, New York, where he grew to manhood, receiving his education in the St. Lawrence Academy. After his graduation he began life on his own account as a teacher, which position he followed for some ten years. For three years he pursued the study of law at Potsdam, New York, but never entered upon its practice. In 1870 he arrived in Guthrie county, Iowa, locating at Guthrie Center, where he has since made his home.

For four years Mr. Rogers served as Coun- ty Recorder, holding that office from 1874 un- til January, 1879, and was also Deputy Coun- ty Auditor for two years. On leaving the of- fice of Recorder, he bought his present interest in the Center Bank, a private banking institution of Guthrie Center, and in the ad- ministration of the monetary affairs of the in- stitution is associated with H. K. Dewey. This is the oldest bank in Guthrie county, having been established in 1872, and is also one of its most solid financial concerns. It transacts a general banking business, receiving deposits, loaning money, making collections, etc. Mr. Rogers gives his attention largely to the ab- stract and real-estate business, owning a com- plete set of abstract books of all lands and town lots in Guthrie county, and these being corrected monthly.

On the 10th of January, 1875, was cele- brated the marriage of Mr. Rogers and Miss

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Laura C. Taylor, a native of Hancock coun- ty, Illinois, where she resided until about the age of fourteen years, when she accom- panied her sister, Mrs. J. A. Lyons, to Guth- rie county. Three children have' came to bless this union of our subject and his wife, namely: Edward William and Edith Hester, twins, and Irene Taylor, -all still under the pa- rental roof. The two elder are now students at Grinnell, Iowa.

Politically Mr. Rogers is a stanch Repub- lican, and a recognized leader in the councils of his party. He attends the Presbyterian Church, of which his two elder children are members, and for ten years has been a Trustee of the church, giving liberally of his means toward the support of the gospel. He is prom- inently identified with every interest for the welfare or upbuilding of the community, and by all who know him is held in the highest confidence and esteem.

ILLIAM GUTHRIE .-- The biogra- pher is here permitted to touch upon the life history of one of the pio- neers of Iowa, a man who has a varied experience and who is now engaged in a general-merchandise business in Guthrie Center.

Mr. Guthrie was born in Tuscarawas coun- ty, Ohio, April 4, 1830, son of William and Mary Guthrie. He is the youngest of their family of nine children and is the only repre- sentative of the family now living. His mother was left a widow a short time before the birth of our subject and as she had but limited means and a large family, homes were found for her children in other families. When only eighteen months old William was taken by strangers, and has never known much of his family history. He remained with his foster parents in Tuscarawas county until he was sixteen years old. Then he went to Indiana and launched out in life on his own responsi- bility. For two years he worked at whatever he could get to do, after which he decided to

learn the trade of blacksmith and served an apprenticeship at this trade. In 1850, at the age of twenty, he was a victim of the Cali- fornia gold fever and went overland to the Pacific coast. His experience on this trip was thrilling in the extreme. For twenty-two days he was without a mouthful of bread. The company with which he traveled numbered forty when they started out, and twelve of the party died on the trip; four were drowned at one time and the other eight died from diarrhea and exposure due, in part at least, to short ra- tions. Arrived in California Mr. Guthrie en- gaged in mining at Placerville, with the miner's usual luck, and after four years spent in the Golden State he returned to Indiana, the re- turn trip being made by water and in twenty- two days. His journey across the plains covered a period of five months. Mr. Guthrie has many interesting reminiscences connected with that memorable trip across the plains, then called in our school geographies the Great American Desert. Little did he think then that the Great American Desert would within his life-time blossom out into fertile farms and be dotted over with happy homes; yet such is the case. Had it not been, however, for the aggressive spirit of the brave and hardy young men of '49, and the years immediately follow- ing, the great wealth of the West must have laid dormant.

On his return to Indiana, after his experi- ence in California, Mr. Guthrie married Miss Catherine Williams, who has since been his companion and helpmeet. In 1855 he brought his wife to Jasper county, Iowa, and located on a farm, but after a short experience in farm- ing there he moved into the town of Clyde, opened a blacksmith shop, and until 1880 was engaged in work at his trade at that place. In 1880 he came to Guthrie county. He bought a farm in Victory township, this county, on which he made his home for seven years, and at the end of that time sold out, moved to Guthrie Center and invested in his. present business, and here he has resided ever since. He handles a full line of general merchandise,

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including dry goods, groceries and provisions, flour and feed, hardware, etc., and occupies three store rooms, owning the buildings in which his business is located.

Mr. and Mrs. Guthrie have had nine chil- dren, four of whom died in early childhood. Those living are as follows: Eugene Fremont, who is ably assisting his father in the business above referred to; Mary Ann, now Mrs. Bates, is a resident of California; Sadie, now Mrs. Stowell, is a resident of Des Moines, Iowa, her husband being City Clerk of Des Moines; Alvina, at home; and Minnie, wife of W. F. Salmón, resides at Newton, Jasper county, Iowa.

In his political views Mr. Guthrie is inde- pendent, and he is not connected with any church organization. He has had a broad and practical experience with men and affairs, knows how to attend strictly to his own business and allow others the same privilege, and is free from what may by some be termed the hampering influence of politics and religion. Genial and whole-souled, he makes friends with all with whom he has any dealings what- ever.

J OHN EMANUEL MOTZ is one of the honored pioneers of Guthrie county, arriving in 1860, at which time there were but two or three log cabins on the present town site of Guthrie Center, and only one house on the road between that place and Panora, a distance of eight miles. He has thus witnessed almost the entire development of the county, in which he has aided very materially.

Mr. Motz was born in Woodward, Haynes township, Center county, Pennsylvania, on the 13th of October, 1822, a son of James and Rebecca (Mark) Motz, also natives of the Key- stone State, born in the same township where our subject's birth occurred. After the father's death, at the age of forty-four years, the mother remarried, and passed away in Guthrie Center, well advanced in years. John E. was

one of a family of seven children and under the parental roof remained until reaching man's estate. He had but limited educational ad- vantages, pursuing his studies in the subscrip- tion schools, and learned the tailor's trade with his father, which occupation he followed for some years. Later he opened a restaurant, and finally engaged in general merchandising, beginning business with a capital of $300 and good credit, but owing to the mismanagement of his partner the venture proved a failure, though Mr. Motz paid off every dollar of the indebtedness. He was also Postmaster of Woodward for seven years.

In 1859 Mr. Motz went to Ohio to visit an aunt who had promised him assistance in start- ing again, but seeing the country, he decided it was too old and would require too much capital to put in a salable stock, and so he determined to come to Iowa. At four o'clock on the 24th of April, 1860, he arrived in Guthrie Center, very much discouraged at the prospects, the country being mostly virgin prairie. He had lost $2,600 on his Eastern property and on reaching this place had only $250. The family moved into a little cabin with one window of two panes of glass and a leaky roof. He began work at his trade, but soon went to Des Moines and invested his money in a stock of goods. His brother, Daniel L., who had accompanied him, pos- sessed $100. which capital they invested in a brick building, 22 x 36 feet, and two stories in height, being the first brick business building in Guthrie county. This they filled with gen- eral merchandise, and thus our subject obtained a start in this locality. He purchased his brother's interest soon after the latter entered the army, in 1861, and from that time Mr. Motz has steadily prospered, being to-day the heaviest tax-payer in Guthrie Center, where he at one time owned thirteen buildings, and at the present time still has nine. In 1881, at a cost of $20,000, he erected the Opera Block, which required 428, 000 bricks.

During the war there was a local fight on the location of the county-seat of Guthrie

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county, which was then Guthrie Center; but as the western portion of the county had sent the first company of one hundred men-mostly voters-to the war, this weakened the vote to the extent that the eastern portion, represent- ing the relocation at Panora, had the balance of power and consequently the county-seat was moved there. Mr. Motz, being public-spirited, at once pledged a suitable building for the county offices if the seat of government should be returned to Guthrie Center. This cost him $1,200, but secured its return. While the offices were located in his building the new court-house, just about completed, was de- stroyed by fire, believed to have been the work of incendiaries. Mr. Motz then took a con- tract to build another one, agreeing to receive such means as the commissioners could furnish and carry the balance until the county could pay it. In this enterprise he lost $2,600 be- sides his own and his brother's labor during the entire time the building was in progress. He was also injured while at work on the county house, from which he has never recovered, though he has spent a great deal of money in treatment.

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Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 76

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