Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 80

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

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J OHN L. HATFIELD, a retired farmer, of Indianola, was born in McArthur, Ohio, November 13, 1838, a son of Isaac and Mary (Clark) Hatfield, born near Clarksburg, Harrison county, Virginia. The place was named in honor of the Clark family, of which Mrs. Hatfield was a member. The father died in his native State, in Febru- ary, 1842. The mother, born in 1802, came with her children to Iowa about 1866, and died at the home of her son, Amos C., at an ad- vanced age. Mr. and Mrs. Hatfield were the parents of seven children, namely: Arville, de- ceased in infancy; Jonas S., who was a me- chanic, of Pleasantville, Iowa, until his death, April 20, 1895, leaving a family; Emily, widow. of Jeremiah Speed, and a resident of Marion county, this State; Harriet, who became Mrs. Miller, died in Kansas; Amos C., a retired farmer, of Pleasantville, Iowa; James H., a farmer, of New York, Wayne county, Iowa; and John L., the subject of this sketch. The Hatfield family are of English descent, and lo- cated in this country just after the close of the Revolutionary war. The Clarks are descended from Scotch ancestry. Our subject's grand- father fought in the war of 1812, and partici- pated in the siege of Fort Meigs and other im- portant battles.

John L. Hatfield attended the public schools of his native county, and at the age of eighteen years entered the Ohio University, completing the classical course there in 1862, receiving the degree of A. B., and later re- ceived the degree of Master of Arts. Imme- diately following his graduation he enlisted as a private in Company B, Ninetieth Ohio Volun- teer Infantry, and served in the Army of the Cumberland. Mr. Hatfield became Orderly Sergeant of his company; was promoted Sec- ond Lietenant in January, 1863; and became First Lieutenant, January 1, 1864. By reason of failing health he was compelled to resign his commission August 5, 1864.

Returning to his parental home Mr. Hat- field served as superintendent of schools of his native city for one year. Entering the Missouri and Arkansas Conference he obtained charge of a colored congregation and school of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in Little Rock, Arkansas, in which he continued one year. For the following two years he was pastor of the Methodist Churches at Oregon, Utica and Trenton, Missouri, and while in the latter city was elected professor of Latin in the Ohio University. He returned to his native State and served twelve years as a member of the faculty of that university, which is the oldest educational institution west of the Alleghany mountains. It was chartered in 1804, and is under the jurisdiction of the State. On account of ill health Professor Hatfield purchased and located on a farm in Warren county, Iowa, in 1882. After a year's residence there he came to Indianola, where he has ever since re- sided.

February 27, 1867, at Athens, Ohio, our subject was united in marriage with Miss Helen M. Carpenter, a native of that city. In addi- tion to the common schools, she attended the Ladies' Seminary at Oxford, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Hatfield have had five children, as follows: George E., a graduate of Rush Medical College, Chicago, is now a practicing physician at La- cona, Iowa; Edward T., a graduate of the law department of the State University of Iowa, is

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an attorney in Indianola; Lena, a graduate of Simpson College, in the class of 1895; Flor- ence, attending the same institution; ^ and Grace, deceased in infancy. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In his political relations Mr. Hatfield affiliates with the Republican party.

EVI H. SURBER, M. D., a well known practicing physician of Indi- anola, Iowa, was born in Washington county, Virginia, August 19, 1849, and by his parents was brought to Warren county in 1852. He is therefore numbered among its pioneer settlers. His father, Isaac S. Surber, was born in the same county in January, 1819, and was there married to Miss Margaret J. Mountain, a native of Washington county, born in April, 1818. Their family consisted of four sons and four daughters, and three of the latter are now deceased, two having died in infancy, while Mary Jane be- came the wife of Mr. Carter, and died in November, 1874, near Atlantic, Iowa. Eras- tus, the eldest, now follows farming near Cherryvale, Kansas; Jesse C. is a farmer of Warren county, Iowa; Isaac L. carries on agricultural pursuits at Somerset, Iowa; Ruth is the wife of Joseph Copeland, a farmer of Madison, Nebraska. Erastus and Jesse C. both served for three years in the Union army during the late war, the former a member of Company I, Eighteenth Iowa Infantry, and the latter of the Seventh Iowa Cavalry.

The history of frontier life in Warren county is familiar to Dr. Surber. He was reared to manhood upon his father's farm and acquired his education in the district schools of the neighborhood. Not desiring, however, to make agricultural pursuits his life work, he deter- mined to enter the medical profession, and in 1875 became a student in Simpson Centenary College, of Indianola, pursuing a scientific course of two years. He then entered the office of Dr. C. W. Davis, under whose direction he pursued his medical studies for

two years, when, in 1875, he became a student in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, where he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in the class of 1877. In December of the same year he entered upon the practice of his chosen profession in Cool, Iowa, where he remained until March, 1892,- the date of his arrival in Indianola. The Doctor is well and favorably known through- out Warren county, and is recognized as a very successful physician and surgeon.

On the 17th of October, 1878, at Cool, Iowa, Dr. Surber was united in marriage with Miss Frank H. Young, who was born in Iowa, and is a daughter of David and Margaret A. Young, early settlers of Warren county. One child graces . this union, Nellie M., who was born August 16, 1879, and is now attending the city schools of Indianola. The parents are worthy and faithful members of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church.

In his political affiliations the Doctor is a stanch Republican, and is now serving as a member of the Indianola City Council. He has also served as County Physician for the poor. He is prominently identified with sev- eral social orders, being a member of the Masonic fraternity, of the lodge and the en- campment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Modern Woodmen of America. He belongs to the War- ren County Medical Society, and to the Iowa State Medical Association, and has excellent success in his professional work, building up a fine practice in Indianola and vicinity.

R ICHARD T. ELSON, an honored res- ident of Indianola, was born in Mar- ion county, Indiana, March 14, 1843, a son of Cornelius J. and Eliza A. (Thomas) Elson. The father was born in Ken- tucky in 1820, and the mother was born in Jefferson county, Indiana, in 1823. They were married at LaFayette, in the latter State, in December, 1842. They were the parents of

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eight children, namely: Richard T., the sub- ject of this sketch; David T., a retired business man of Malvern, Iowa; Mary E., wife of Henry Smith, a mechanic of Denver, Colorado; Joseph N., a farmer of Smith county, Kansas; Lucy B., wife of Henry B. Allen, a fruit-raiser of Pawnee, Nebraska; John W., a farmer of Smith county, Kansas; Eliza A., now Mrs. George W. Vinsonhaler, of Longmont, Colorado; and Cornelius Grant, a farmer of Decatur county, Kansas. David T. was a member of the Fif- teenth Iowa Infantry during the late war, and served through the entire struggle. The par- ents of our subject located in Marion county, Iowa, in 1855. In 1874 they removed to Kan- sas, where the father died in 1878, while the aged mother now resides with the family of our subject.

The latter received such early educational training as the schools of the State afforded, but, being of a studious turn of mind, he sup- plemented the work of the country schools by careful and systematic private study, thus fit- ting himself for teaching, although he did not take up that work until after the war. He en- listed in August, 1861, as a private in Com- pany G, Tenth Iowa Infantry, and served three years and two months. The greater part of his military service was under the command of General Sherman. His first engagement was at New Madrid, Missouri. The next move- ment was in General Pope's command, which started down the river to occupy Vicksburg, but they did not reach their objective point by reason of the stirring events brought about at the battles of Pittsburg Landing and Shiloh. They then joined General Grant's army in the siege of Corinth. There Mr. Elson was pros- trated with· disease, and sent to the hospital, returning to his regiment in time to take part in the battle of Corinth some months later, but was not sufficiently recovered to stand the heavy duties imposed by the active operations in the field. He was therefore returned to the hospital, and saw no more active service. Rejoining his regiment at Kingston, Georgia, in July, 1864, Mr. Elson was mustered out at

Louisville, Kentucky, in the following Sep- tember. But the disease incurred has been permanent in character, and prostrating in de- gree, so that he is to-day almost a physical wreck. He receives a small pension in recog- nition of his disabilities. Although his regi- ment re-enlisted, Mr. Elson was obliged to leave the service at the expiration of his term.

He returned to his parental home in Marion county, and, after recuperating until the win- ter of 1865, he engaged in teaching, following that work for nine or ten years and spending his vacations on the farm. Finally Mr. Elson embarked in mercantile pursuits at Pleasant- ville, Iowa, but four years afterward sold his stock and established the Pleasantville News, conducting the paper and filling the office of Postmaster for six years. He then removed his machinery to Milo, Warren county, and founded the " Motor," which still exists. Fail- ing health then compelled his retirement, and, after a year spent in that city, Mr. Elson opened a furniture and undertaking establish- ment at Lacona, where he remained three years and then retired from business. In December, 1892, our subject was appointed Deputy Clerk of the District Court, in which position he is now serving his second term. He has always taken a great interest in politicial af- fairs, as an ardent and uncompromising Repub- lican, and is a man of prominence and influence in the councils of his party. His name has often been mentioned in connection with promi- nent officers, among which are those of State Senator and County Auditor. In his social re- lations Mr. Elson is a member of the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Grand Army of the Republic.

The Elson family have long been estab- lished in America. The paternal great-grand- father of our subject was a soldier in the war of the Revolution and our subject was named in honor of this noble patriot, whom he re- members distinctly. A great-uncle, John El- son, is now living in Ohio, at the ripe old age of eighty-seven years. He recently honored

Milton Wilson.

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our subject with a letter written by his own hand, without the aid of glasses.

Mr. Elson was married January 1I, 1865, to Miss Julia A. Thompson, born in Loudoun county, Virginia, August 28, 1842, a daughter of Morris and Lydia A. (Russell) Thompson. When a child she accompanied her parents to Ohio, thence to Illinois, and from there to Warren county, Iowa, in 1858. The family consisted of two sons and two daughters, as follows: Julia A., wife of our subject; L. M., farming the old homestead in Belmont town- ship, Warren county; J. W., a merchant and proprietor of a hotel at Lacona, Iowa; and Anzie B., now Mrs. Clevenger, of Des Moines. Mr. and Mrs. Elson have no children of their own, but have reared an adopted daughter, Viola, now Mrs. Fee, of Kansas. Mr. and Elson are prominent and active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Indianola, and manifest great interest in the social and regular meetings of their chosen religious home.

ILTON WILSON has been a resi- dent of Madison county, Iowa, since 1856, when he located in Madison township, entering land from the general Government. On his arrival he went to the place and lived there for six weeks with- out a house, setting up boards against a pole in the form of a roof, and thus securing a place in which to live. He then built a small shanty, in which he spent one of the coldest winters ever known in Iowa. He later erected a more comfortable house, in which he resided until 1875, when he moved to the village of Earl- ham, where he has since continued to reside, though he is still operating his farm of 460 acres. He was born near Milton, Wayne county, Indiana, December 11, 1825. His father, Seth Wilson, was a native of South Carolina, but went to Ohio with his parents at the age of two years, and from there to Wayne county, Indiana, when he was about eighteen years of age. Jehu Wilson, the grand- 32

father of our subject, was born in Pennsyl- vania, and is supposed to have been of Scotch descent. In early life he removed to South Carolina, thence to Ohio, and later (1818) to Wayne county, Indiana, and there died. He was a member of the. Friends' Church, with which body the entire family are connected. Seth Wilson married Martha Elizabeth Thorn- burg, a native of North Carolina, born in 1806. In her girlhood she removed with her parents to Ohio, and later to Indiana, and located in Fayette county. Her father, Henry Thorn- burg, is supposed to have been born in North Carolina. The marriage of Seth Wilson and Elizabeth Thornburg took place in Wayne county, Indiana, where they continued to re- side until 1860, when they removed to Madison county, Iowa, and located on a farm in Madison township, but later removed to Earlham, where the father died at the age of eighty-seven years, and the mother May 30, 1895, in her ninetieth year. They were members of the Friends' Church, and lived the quiet, happy life pecul- iar to that people. They were the parents of eight children, two sons and six daughters, as follows: Milton, Eliza A., Caroline M., Henry, Eunice C., Rebecca T., Sarah H., and Maria E.

Milton Wilson, our subject, was reared in his native county and educated in its public schools, which he usually attended in the winter months, while assisting in the labors of the farm in other seasons of the year. He remained at home, assisting his father, until his marriage, October 18, 1852, with Miss Sarah J. Murphy, a native of Henry county, Indiana, born November II, 1831, a daughter of Robert and Sarah (Burgess) Murphy, the former a native of North Carolina and the lat- ter of South Carolina. Robert Murphy was of English descent and reared in his native State, from which he removed to Henry county, In- diana, at a very early day in the history of the latter State. John Burgess, the grandfather of Mrs. Wilson, was a native of South Caro- lina, of English descent. He also removed to Indiana in a very early day. Mrs. Wilson is the tenth child of a family of twelve children,

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and was reared in Henry and Wayne counties, Indiana, and graduated at the high school in Milton. She has always been prominent in educational work and is at present a member of the School Board of Earlham, Iowa, and also a member of the board of trustees of the academy in the same place. To Milton and Sarah Wilson were born six children: John, died in infancy; Flora M., now the wife of Professor C. M. Pinkerton, of Fairbury, Ne- braska; Mahala E., who for five years served acceptably as Postmistress of Earlham, is at home; Robert S. is engaged in merchandising in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Hon. Isaac K., home secretary of the Iowa Savings and Loan Association, of Des Moines, represented Madi- son county in the Legislature, being elected on the Republican ticket; and Mattie C., who died in childhood.

Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are members of the Friends' Church, in which they take especial interest, and endeavor to walk closely in the footsteps of the Master. In politics he is a Republican and served as a member of the County Board of Supervisors of Madison coun- ty, Iowa, for six years. He was a member of the board when the county court-house was destroyed by fire, and in the building of the present court-house took an active part. While naturally a conservative man, he is en- terprising and progressive, and never hesitates to do that which will best advance the inter- ests of his adopted county and State.

ARON V. PROUDFOOT .- This gen- tleman is a representative of one of the pioneer families of Warren county. His grandfather, Rev. Thomas Proud- foot, located in this county in 1854. He was born in Fauquier county, Virginia, February 20, 1803. In 1821 he was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Robinson, and they had ten children. "Uncle Tommy " Proudfoot will be remembered by all the old residents of Warren and Clarke counties. His was an ex-

emplary life, his only object being to do good to mankind, and sixty-four years of his event- ful life were spent in the service of his Lord and Master as a communicant in the Methodist Episcopal Church. His house was always open to the ministers and others interested in the salvation of men. His place at religious services was never vacant except for a good cause. He gave liberally of his means, and it seemed that his whole being was permeated with the one desire-the conversion of the world. . The last twenty years of his life were devoted to the ministry, as strength would permit. He died as he had lived, a consistent and devout Christian, his last audible words being, " I am going home." His death oc- curred at the home of his youngest son in Des Moines, Iowa, January 25, 1890. Grand- mother Proudfoot was her husband's counter- part and helpmeet in all his Christian labors. She departed this life at New Virginia, Feb- ruary 10, 1880, at the age of eighty-one years.

These were the parents of Jacob Proud- foot, the father of our subject. He was born in Virginia in 1822, and was there married, in 1843, to Miss Cyrena Van Scoy, born in Vir- ginia in 1827. After their marriage they came to Clarke county, Iowa, locating near the pa- rental home, where they still reside. In Sep- tember, 1893, they celebrated their golden wedding, all of their seven children save one being present. Mr. Proudfoot is a man highly esteemed for his integrity and uprightness of character; a faithful and consistent Christian, following in the footsteps of his sainted father gone before. His wife is also a lady of ex- emplary life, an active laborer in every good work, devoted to her family and domestic duties, yet wielding a quiet influence for good in her daily walk and conversation. Their seven children are as follows: Hester A., wife of Joseph L. Tedrow, a real-estate dealer of Hastings, Nebraska; Leah, who resides with her parents at Liberty, Iowa; Overton T., a farmer of Warren county; William Dean, engaged in railroading and fruit culture at Walla Walla, Washington; Samuel N., chief

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dispatcher on a division of the Iron Mountain Railroad, with his residence at Little Rock, Arkansas; Charles F., in the railway mail serv- ice, running from Burlington to Council Bluffs, has his home at Osceola, Iowa; and Aaron V., the subject of this sketch. Four maternal uncles of our subject were soldiers in the Union. army, and one, Jacob Van Scoy, was killed in the battle of Missionary Ridge. Aaron was named for one of these uncles. The Proudfoot family are of Scotch-Irish ancestry, the great grandfather of our subject having established the family on American soil, coming from the highlands of Scotland. The Van Scoys are of German ancestry.

Aaron V. Proudfoot was born June 13, 1862. He attended the public schools of Lib- erty, where his father was engaged as a black- smith, and at the age of nineteen years entered Simpson College in Indianola, pursuing a special course. His first work of mature man- hood was in the office of Messrs. Creighton & Hayes, where he had charge of a set of abstract books for nine years, when the firm sold out to Hall & Hartman, Mr. Proudfoot continuing in the employ of the new firm until elected to his present office in 1892. He is one of the pro- gressive Republicans of Warren county, and is accorded a prominent position among its lead- ers. He was chosen chairman of the county central committee in 1889, serving acceptably in that position until 1894. At the general election of 1892 he was the choice of his party for the position of Clerk of the District Court, and so acceptably did he discharge the duties of that important office that he was re-elected in 1894, and is now serving his fourth year.

Mr. Proudfoot was married, in the Meth- odist Episcopal church of this city, May 10, 1885, to Miss Louie L. Posegate, a native of Indianola. She was educated in the city schools, and took a special course in music at Simpson College, being accomplished in both vocal and instrumental music. For ten years she was a member of the choir in the Method- ist Episcopal Church in this city. Our subject and wife have two children: Charity Marie, born

September 26, 1889; and Paul Dean, born April 7, 1891. Mr. and Mrs. Proudfoot are active workers in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

S AMUEL A. MCELROY, who is serv- ing as County Treasurer of Warren county, Iowa, and makes his home in Indianola, is a native of the Buckeye State. He was born on the 9th of June, 1836, in Trumbull county, Ohio, and is a son of John and Mary Ann (Watt) McElroy. The father, who was born in Washington county, Pennsyl- vania, in 1795, died in Warren county, Iowa, in May, 1892, in the ninety-fifth year of his age. His wife, who was born in county Derry, Ireland, in 1805, now lives with her son Rob- ert, and has almost completed her ninetieth year. They had a family of six sons and four daughters, all of whom are living, with the ex- ception of the eldest and youngest child, Eleanor and George Watt. They died on the same day, the former at the age of twenty- three, the latter at the age of three, and were buried in the same grave at the old Ohio home. William is the eldest of the living children, and now follows carpentering in Milo, in Warren county, Iowa; Robert is engaged in farming in the same county; Isabella is the wife of Isaac Lamb, who resides near Beatrice, Nebraska; Matthew B. is a carpenter of Indianola; Sam- uel is the next younger; John I. is a plasterer by trade and resides in Indianola: Mary E. became the wife of Stephen Easley, an agri- culturist of Alexandria, Thayer county, Ne- braska; and Margaret J. is the wife of J. H. Fitch, who follows farming near Bedford, Taylor county, Iowa. One of this family, John I., served throughout the Civil war as a defender of the Union cause.

The gentleman whose name heads this record was a child of two and a half years when his parents removed to Holmes county, Ohio. He there remained until 1850, when at the age of fifteen he came to Marion county, Iowa. The days of his boyhood and youth were passed upon a farm and he was early

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inured to the arduous labor of developing wild land. His education was mostly acquired in his native State, supplemented by a few terms' attendance at the public schools of Ohio. Be- ing crippled from his early youth, his misfor- tune necessarily prevented his attendance at school, though he afterward pursued a private course of study under a Mr. Thornburgh in bookkeeping and commercial law, thus fitting himself for a practical business life. He was also under the instruction of private tutors for a time and in this way, and through reading and observation, has become a man of broad information, keeping well informed on the is-' sues of the day and the current topics of dis- cussion.

In 1864 Mr. McElroy married Miss Jennie Lindsay, a native of Ohio, who came to Iowa with her parents, Samuel and Maria Lindsay. They first located in Knoxville, then came to Warren county, and her mother is now living in Indianola. During the war of the Rebellion, the father, who was then a member of the State Legislature, resigned his official position and put aside the pursuits of peace for those of war, serving with the Union army with the rank of Lieutenant. He died July 31, 1895. He was for forty years an elder in the United Presbyterian Church.

For six years following his marriage Mr. McElroy remained on the old home farnı in Marion county, and then came to Warren county, where he purchased a farm, making it his place of abode until 1891. He still owns 200 acres of rich land in Lincoln township, but for the past four years has resided in Indianola, enjoying a justly merited rest from business cares. He was a progressive and en- terprising agriculturist and his labor brought to him a comfortable competence.

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Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 80

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