Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 78

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

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On the 30th of October, 1872, Mr. Evans married Miss Sarah E. Roberts, who was born in Chenango county, New York, August 29, 1851. Her parents were E. E. and Mary (Bennett) Roberts, and their family numbered the following named: George F .; Sarah E .; James R .; William, who died at the age of one year; Prudence A .; one who died in in- fancy; and Thomas F. Our subject and his wife have had the following named children: Edward T., born January 23, 1874, married Miss Ida Montgomery, a native of Iowa, and they have one child. William J., who was born April 10, 1876. James E., born October 27, 1877, died April 27, 1879. Emma R., born January 4, 1880; John G., March 5, 1881; Edna M., October 15, 1883; and Harry F., born January 27, 1884, are all at home. The next two children died at birth. Lena V., born July 12, 1892, completes the family.

Mr. Evans is a wide-awake and enterpris- ing citizen, devoted to the welfare and best interests of the commmunity in which he re- sides. He withholds his aid and co-operation from no worthy enterprises, and brings to bear upon public affairs the same practical and enter- prising spirit which has gained him his success in his business.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL

A. WRIGHT, a highly esteemed citizen of Belmont township, War- ren county, is a native of Shelby county, Kentucky, born November 17, 1823, and is a son of Richard and Susan (Long) Wright. In the family were three chil- dren, the eldest of whom is our subject. Cyn- thia Ann, the second, is the deceased wife of Leonard Pollard, a resident of Jefferson coun- ty, Kentucky; and John T. died in his thirty- fifth year. The mother of this family passed away when our subject was only thirteen years of age, and the father afterward married Eliza Johnson, a native of Shelby county, Ken- tucky. After her death he wedded Miss Bun- derant, who is still living in Shelby county.

The early life of W. A. Wright passed un- eventfully in the usual manner of farmer lads. When a young man of twenty-six years, he de- termined to try his fortune upon the broad prairies of the West, and accordingly came to Warren county, Iowa, in 1849. He entered a tract of land in Union township, and afterward made a claim on section 12, Belmont towlı- ship. With the exception of a short period spent in the county of his nativity he has re- sided here continuously since. He can re- member when the wild prairie grass covered the site of the county seat and when the work of progress and civilization seemed scarcely begun. There were few settlers then and the cabin homes of these few were widely scat- tered. He has since seen them replaced by substantial and beautiful residences, indicating the thrifty, enterprising condition of the in- mates; has seen the wild land transformed in- to beautiful homes and farms; has watched with interest the growth of towns and villages; and has seen the introduction of the railroad, the telegraph and telephone. The wild flowers of the prairie have given place to the waving fields of grain, and the work of progress and development has been carried forward until the county of to-day bears little resemblance to that of forty-five years ago. No one has taken a more active interest or just pride in its progress and everything calculated to advance

the general welfare has received his hearty commendation and support. He has laid out upon his farm a town-site and the place is now building up rapidly, his son being engaged in merchandising, serving as Motor's Postmaster.

On the 30th of March, 1853, Mr. Wright was united in marriage with Miss Amy M. Hicks, a daughter of Abel Hicks and a native of Owen county, Indiana. To them were born sixteen children as follows: E. L. D .; Cyn- thia Ann, wife of C. R. Lamar, of Ottawa county, Missouri; Sarah E., wife of John D. Smith, of Belmont township, Warren county; Elizabeth E., wife of B. L. Hook, a farmer residing in Belmont township; T. F., the Post- master of Motor, and one of the prominent cit- izens of the community; William A., proprietor of a mercantile establishment and tonsorial parlors, of Sandyville, Iowa; Richard E., who is living in Belmont township, Warren county; L. W., who is living in Union township, War- ren county; Daisy M., wife of A. A. Sandy, a popular young school-teacher of Warren coun- ty; Grace D., wife of Miles Sutton, of Pal- myra township, Warren county; F. L. and Dove, at home: J. C. F., who died in infancy; Mary Jane, who died in her fourteenth year; J. A., who died at the age of twenty-one; and Walter R., who died in his seventeenth year. The family is one of prominence in the com- munity, and the parents and children have the esteem of all who know them.

Since the organization of the Republican party Mr. Wright has been a warm advocate of its principles. His first presidential vote was cast for Zachary Taylor. His seventy- two years rest lightly upon him, and though his hair is silvered over by the snows of many winters, he is young in interest, and is an en- tertaining companion and fluent conversation- alist, having many warm friends who delight to gather around his fireside. He still keeps well informed on the questions of the day, and is the same public-spirited and progressive cit- izen that he was in days gone by. His life has been well spent and he can look back over the past without regret.

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S® AMUEL OXENREIDER, well known to pioneers of Warren county, has indeed taken an active part in tlie growth of his county, and especially is this true of White Breast township, where he spent his boyhood and grew to man's estate. He has witnessed grand transforma- tions since his good Christian parents first came to Warren county, having seen a com- *paratively desolate region develop to fine cities; while the place where the wolf made hideous the midnight and early hours of the log-cabin settlers, now beautiful farms have found lodg- ment. There have come the benefits of good teachers and a society of culture. The city of Lacona was not laid out when Samuel arrived in this section of Warren county, and to-day fine business blocks adorn this section, good schools having replaced these rude houses of learning, while the sacred edifices of numerous religious denominations rear their domes sky- ward. In this development and growth the Oxenreiders have been no unimportant factors. When good teachers of our early schools were not numerous, Samuel Oxenreider, ever studi- ous, gave his services for thirty-eight terms to his section, and many of the young business men of Lacona and neighboring cities point to him as their teacher. Not a teacher of the classics, indeed, but of the common branches and at the common-sense seat of learning. He responded when our flag seemed endan- gered in our recent rebellion's strife, and joined Company G, Tenth Iowa Volunteer In- fantry, January 19, 1865, at Indianola, under Colonel Henderson. Mr. Oxenreider was im- mediately sent to South Carolina, and it was not long before he had a taste of " bush- whacking " warfare. He was at Fort Salke- hatchie, South Carolina, and at Waterbury, and was honorably discharged at Little Rock, Arkansas, August 18, 1865. He now enjoys the honor of being Adjutant of Post No. 309, G. A. R., and the Veterans' Association at Lacona.

Samuel Oxenreider was born in Morrow county, Ohio, March 31, 1844. His father,

whom so many of the old pioneers of Warren county will recall as Henry Oxenreider, was a native of Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, reared and educated there, and was early in life inured to farm labor. Leaving the old home, he found employment with a Mr. Gel- wix, of Berkeley county, Virginia. Unfortu- nately, at the expiration of several years' serv- ice, his employer's farm was put under the auctioneer's block. A cash compensation was quite out of the question, and he was offered a fine black slave as part payment, and he indig- nantly resented this proposition from purely Christian motives. After some parley, and after he had given up hope of compensation, he received a note that was never paid.

Subsequently Mr. Oxenreider sought mat- rimony, and chose as his wife Miss Margaret Everhart, born near Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia), the daughter of honest farmers, who were devout followers of Martin Luther. In 1828 Mr. and Mrs. Oxenreider crossed the mountains with a one-horse wagon into Ohio, pitching their tent in Wayne county, afterward going to Morrow county, where he erected a gristmill on Owl creek. He subse- quently traded this mill for 200 acres of wild land and then put up a sawmill on the south branch of Owl creek. In the spring of 1854 he purchased the home farm of Henry Fogle, in Warren county, Iowa. Mr. Oxenreider then returned home for his family, and, having dis- posed of his milling and farming interests, re- moved to his log cabin in White Breast town- ship. A frame addition was soon built to the log cabin, and, with the assistance of Mrs. Oxenreider, the home was rendered quite com- fortable. Ever a zealous worker for home and family, during the years which followed he earned a competence. A warm friend of all enterprises for public good, the winter of 1855 witnessed a gathering of a few settlers on the ice near Stewart's mill, for the purpose of erect- ing a house of education. The contract was awarded to E. G. Bartlett. Soon the few children of the neighborhood met in this struc- ture, which was erected on the southeast

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corner of section 28, and listened to words of wisdom from their teacher, a son of Mr. Oxen- reider. Many of the old pioneer neighbors know the sterling worth of this honest pioneer, and learned with great sadness of his demise, August 22, 1871. He now reposes peacefully in the Cochran cemetery. The good, noble lady who shared so many of the vicissitudes of life by his side survived him only a few years. She was called to her last resting place November 4, 1883, at the age of seventy-three years, and was laid beside her husband. Mrs. Oxenreider was much esteemed where known. They were the parents of fifteen children, namely: John W., a farmer of Lucas county, served his country in Company D, Thirty- fourth Iowa Infantry; Asenath, widow of a Mr. Clark, and a resident of California; Julia Ann, wife of James Hodge, of Humboldt county, California; Elias, who died from wounds received at Vicksburg during the late Rebellion, having been a member of the Third Iowa Regiment, Company G; Leander, a farmer of White Breast township; Elizabeth Warnick, deceased; David, residing north of Lacona; Henry, of Colorado, enlisted in Com- pany G, Tenth Iowa Infantry, Colonel Hen- derson, and received several wounds at the battle of Mission Ridge; Samuel, the subject of this sketch; A. J., a farmer of White Breast township; Sarah Cook, of Lucas county; Eliza J. Thompson; Mary A .; and George, deceased in infancy.

Samuel Oxenreider, the subject, was but ten years of age when he came with his parents to Warren county. Early in life he learned the use of the plow, and his education was re- ceived partly in his Ohio home and in the school in which his brother taught, and was fin- ished at Howe's Academy at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. During recent years Mr. Oxenreider has given his entire attention to farming. In 1865 he purchased eighty acres of land, to which he has since added until he now owns 380 acres. Politically this worthy son is a stanch Republican, and cast his first presi- dential vote for U. S. Grant. Officially he

has sought no preference at the hands of his party, and, although several times elected to positions of trust in the town, he did not qual- ify. He served as Town Clerk, however, and always took an important part in the work of his school district.

Mr. Oxenreider was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Cochran, a native of Benton county, Indiana, and a daughter of Captain J. W. Cochran. She accompanied her parents to Iowa in 1855. Mr. and Mrs. Oxenreider have had ten children, as follows: Leona (deceased at the age of three years), Myrtle (died at the age of three months), C. H., Lora E., Mary M., Sarah E., Belva L., Blanche, Daisy and Bessie.

ILLIAM A. WILLIS, one of War- ren county's honored pioneers, was born in Schuyler county, Missouri, July 23, 1844, a son of William Willis. Our subject was the second born of his parents' six children, viz .: James F., As- sessor of Morrow county, Oregon, was a soldier in the Tenth Iowa Infantry, Company G; William A., our subject; Elizabeth Jane, wife of Harrison Miller, a farmer of White Breast township, Warren county; Henry H., deceased in Adair county, Missouri, in 1869, was a member of Company G, Eighteenth Iowa Regiment; G. B., of Tracy, Iowa; and La Fayette, deceased in childhood.

William Willis, Sr., was born in Todd county, Kentucky, in 1815. He was reared and educated in that county, and on reaching man's estate married Mary Richison. He came to Warren county, Iowa, in 1846, and has ever since been active in its growth and de- velopment, having served as the first Town Clerk. While a resident of Davis county, in the days when Chief Keokuk and his noble warriors held sway in that section, Mr. Willis was surprised by a visit from some of the In- dians. Chief Keokuk had him called to the door, and fired at him, the bullet going wide of its mark, however, as the chief had been

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drinking " fire-water." With undaunted cour- age the old white settler took his gun from over the door, and had not the lock refused to work perhaps the noble chief would have met death. Some of the Indians, peaceably in- clined, interfered, and good feeling was again restored. Mr. Willis was known as a dead shot to the Indians as well as to the early settlers, and his markmanship was to be re- spected. He was ever honored in the community where he lived. In his political affiliations Mr. Willis was an old-time Whig, and was ever active in all work that tended to advance- ment in the county. He died from the effects of a stroke of paralysis, in Lucas county, Iowa, in 1886, and lies at rest in Willis cemetery. His wife, a native of Indiana, and a worshiper in the Baptist church, died in 1852, and was also laid at rest in Willis cemetery. After her death Mr. Willis married Margaret Hoskins, and they had four children: Susan E., wife of David Ferris; Eliza V., wife of John Fight, of Marion county, Iowa; John W., of Lucas county; and Nancy, wife of Edward Hunderdos, of Dallas township, Warren county.

William A. Willis, the subject of this sketch, resided with an uncle for some years, and at the age of sixteen years began the active battle of life. August 3, 1861, he enlisted in Company G, Tenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and was honorably discharged at Kingston, Georgia, September 28, 1864. In 1889 Mr. Willis purchased his present farm on section 22, near where his honored parents first entered land. He affiliates with the Repub- lican party, and is a member of the G. A. R. Post, No. 309, of Lacona.

September 8, 1872, our subject was united in marriage with Miss Mary Meyers, a native of Putnam county, Indiana, and a daughter of Joseph and Lucinda (Hodges) Meyers. She was the younger of their two children, and her brother, James H., resides in Marion county, Iowa. Her mother died when she was only five days old, and in 1853 she located with her father in Marion county .. Mr. and Mrs. Willis have had six children: Samuel W.,

James M. (deceased at the age of two years), William E., Ada R .; and the third and fifth children died in infancy. The family are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

J ACOB S. STARR, M. D., of Lacona, Iowa, is ranked with the pioneer physi- cians of Warren county, where he has won an enviable position as a practi- tioner. A review of his life gives the follow- ing facts:

Dr. Jacob S. Starr was born in Edgar county, Illinois, December 24, 1832, of poor but hon- est parents, Elijah and Rachel (Sears) Starr, he being the second in their family of six chil- dren, four of whom are living. William is a carpenter, of Lacona, and is well known in the town. Jane is the wife of John Owen and resides in Kirkville, Missouri; and Elijah W. is a popular merchant, of Medford, Oregon.

As his parents were poor Dr. Starr's early educational advantages were limited to the common schools, but he made the best of his opportunities and spent all his leisure time in study, having early determined to enter a pro- fessional career. When a young man he began the study of medicine under the instructions of Dr. Allen, of Clarke county, Missouri, and re- mained in his office nine months. During the winter of 1875-6 he was a student in the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons, at Keokuk, where he made rapid progress in his studies and attained a high standing in his class. It was not, however, until some years later that he opened an office for the practice of medicine, and when he did it was at Lacona, where he soon won the confidence of the people and built up a good practice and where he has ever since remained. His first office was in a build- ing which stood on the site now occupied by Mr. T. H. Murray's harness shop, and for a time he was in partnership with Dr. Wright. This office was destroyed by fire in 1888, and since that time he has occupied his present quarters. He has always been of a studious nature, has kept well abreast with the ad- .

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vancement his profession has made, and has re- tained the large practice which he early estab- lished here, the demands made upon his time and service often being too much for his strength. At one time while on his professonal rounds his horse stumbled and threw him with great force to the ground, the result being that the Doctor received a dangerous rupture, from which he has at times suffered greatly.

Dr. Starr was married March 20, 1855, to Miss Rosena C. Owen, daughter of John Owen, and a native of Hardin county, Kentucky. She is an amiable and accomplished lady and pre- sides in a charming manner over his pleasant home. Two children, Henrietta Jane and John W., were born to them, and both are well settled in life. The daughter was born in 1856, in Missouri, and has for some years been the wife of Dr. Robert Bartram, a graduate of the Keokuk Medical College and a prominent physician and surgeon, of Albia, Iowa. The son, born in 1858, is also a physician, and he, too, is a graduate of the Keokuk College of Physicians and Surgeons. For five years he was in the drug business in Lacona, then opened an office for the practice of medicine at Avery, Iowa, and two years later removed to his present location at Liberty Center, War- ren county. He married Miss Caroline Gra- ham, a daughter of David Graham, one of the pioneers of Warren county.

Politically the subject of our sketch har- monizes with the Democratic party on all national issues, but in local affairs he is liberal and prefers to vote for the man rather than the party. Both he and his wife are members of the Christian Church.

J. RODGERS, a popular business man and much respected citizen of Lacona, Iowa, is at the head of one of the finest furniture establishments in Warren county, and also is a funeral direct- or and embalmer. Of his life, nearly all of which has been passed in Iowa, we make rec- . ord as follows:

A. J. Rodgers was born in Fayette county, Indiana, March 24, 1842, son of Chesley and Martha (Gerrald) Rodgers, he being the young- est of their five children, and the others as fol- lows: Elizabeth Ann, who married C. W. Smith, now a resident of Des Moines, Iowa; Joseph N., a resident of Warren county; Will- iam C., also of this county; and one that died in infancy. Chesley Rodgers, the father, who late in life became a well-known figure in War- ren county, Iowa, was born and reared in Vir- ginia, his birthplace being in Greenbrier coun- ty, and his parents poor but respected people. When a boy he served an apprenticeship un- der his father to the trade of shoemaker, and made for himself the first pair of boots he ever wore. He was married in Virginia to Miss Martha Gerrald, like himself, a native of Green- brier county, and shortly, after their marriage they removed to Fayette county. Indiana, where he was engaged in farming until his re- moval to Iowa in 1849. His journey from In- diana to Iowa was made with three horses and a covered wagon, and he was accompanied by his wife and seven children. Travel in this way was slow and tedious; but the distance was covered in due time, the Mississippi being crossed at Burlington and the Des Moines at La Fayette, and June 19, 1849, the Rodgers family landed in Warren county. On his ar- rival here the father's entire cash capital amounted to only seventy-five cents. He at once entered some land, later bought a few acres more, and still later made a second en- try. Here he improved a fine farm of 120 acres, and on it spent the rest of his life. His age at death was eighty-seven years, eight months and nine days, and to the last, although nearly blind, he retained his mental faculties, and that genial cordiality which had characterized his whole life. When a young man he was an expert hunter. His unerring shot brought down many a bear and deer, to say nothing of the wild turkeys and other game, and in this way he did his part toward supplying the family lar- der. An old flintlock rifle which he bought in Indiana is still in the possession of one of the

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Rodgers boys, and it is needless to say is highly treasured. Mr. Rodgers' first wife died in Fayette county, Indiana, when the subject of our sketch was but six months old. Some time later he married Miss Esther Wise, a na- tive of Indiana, who bore him two children. Her death occurred some years before his, at the age of seventy-two years, eight months and ten days, and husband and wife rest side by side in Cochran cemetery, a monument marking the spot.

After the death of his mother, the subject of our sketch was turned over to the kind care of relatives, with whom he remained a few years. At the time he came with his father and family to Iowa he was seven years old, but young as he was he has a vivid memory of their pilgrimage to what was at that time re- garded as the far West. Reared on the fron- tier, his advantages were of a necessity lim- ited and he was early put to work. In the Higby school-house, a log structure, he learned his lessons. And here, too, at night he at- tended a writing school, paying for his lessons by shucking corn for a neighbor, and in this writing school received one of the prizes of- fered for the best penmanship. As he grew older he was of much assistance to his father in the farm work, and when he left home to do for himself it was as a farm hand for Mr. Ben- jamin Pennington, near Ackworth. Thus passed his youth, and when on the verge of manhood he found his native land over- shadowed by a heavy war cloud, and when the general call was made for volunteers he was among those who responded. His enlistment is recorded December 24, 1863, as a member of Company B, Thirty-fourth Iowa Infantry, and he joined his regiment at Matagorda, Texas. In the engagements at Gresham Plant- ation and Fort Blakely he was an active par- ticipant. An amusing incident is often related to him by his comrades, and runs -as follows: While the command was advancing the shot from the enemy fell thick about them. The boys were often ordered "Down on your levels!" but on two occasions young Rodgers remained

erect. Soon, however, he learned the folly of this recklessness, and on the next order " down " he gladly obeyed. In this act of dropping he came in contact with the gun, or, rather, the gun came in contact with his head, causing him to exclaim, "I'm hit!" So he was, but it was the gun that hit him. The "boys" oc- casionally remind him of the incident, and he heartily joins them in the laugh which always follows.

Mr. Rodgers was honorably discharged at Houston, Texas, August 15, 1865, after which he returned to his home in Iowa. He re- sumed farm work, later rented a farm near Ackworth, where he lived for twenty years. Then he spent two years in White Breast township, but returned to his former home, and then a few years later came back to White Breast township. He owned a half section of land near Lacona. June 16, 1893, he moved into town and established himself in the busi- ness referred to at the beginning of this sketch.

For his first wife Mr. Rodgers wedded Miss Mary I. Pennington, the daughter of his for- mer employer, Benjamin Pennington, she being a native of Ohio. The children of this union

are as follows: Martha T., wife of Samuel Landers, a jeweler of Lacona; Benjamin F., a resident of Milo, Iowa; George, at home; Harry, who died in infancy; and Watie M., wife of Dr. Hooper, of Milo. The loving wife and mother did not survive the birth of her last child, and she rests beside her little Harry in the cemetery near Ackworth. For his sec- ond wife Mr. Rodgers chose Miss Sylvia A. Keeney, a native of Indiana, and a daughter of Alva and Mary (Bryant) Keeney, and to them have been born two promising boys, Alva Chesley, born February 18, 1885; and Andrew C., May 6, 1886.

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Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 78

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