USA > Iowa > Appanoose County > Past and present of Appanoose County, Iowa : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. II > Part 23
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Barrack E. Turner was reared at home, acquiring his education in the district schools. After his marriage, which occurred in 1886, he began farming for himself and for six years cultivated land which he rented. In 1892. however, he invested his savings in a farm of his own, buying a tract two miles south of Moravia, upon which he has since resided. He
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owns three hundred and seventy-five acres which is conceded to be one of the best improved farms in Taylor township and in its management has displayed that excellent judgment and resourceful business ability which are the secret of his success.
On the 27th of February. 1886, Mr. Turner married Miss Cora Gordon, a daughter of William and Susan ( Bryant ) Gordon, natives of Kentucky, who moved from that state to Illinois and thence to Iowa, settling here about the year 1865. Mr. and Mrs. Turner have four children. Fairic. Frank. Flossie and Virgil. All of these children are still with their parents. the two latter being students in the Centerville high school.
Mr. and Mrs. Turner are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Turner is serving as trustee. He is a progressive in his political beliefs and is interested in everything pertaining to the advancement of the section, and movements for the public good never seck his aid in vain. Moreover, in his career he has demonstrated the value and worth of un- flagging perseverance, determination and unsullied business integrity and he enjoys in full measure the respect and confidence of all with whom he has had business or social relations.
WALTER R. MORRISON.
Walter R. Morrison resides on section 26, Union township, where he owns and cultivates two hundred and thirty-nine acres of rich and pro- ductive land. It was upon this farm that he was born August 21. 1878. his parents being Irvin Andrew and Amanda (Nolan) Morrison. The father was also a native of this county, born in 1847. his parents having been among the first settlers of this section. They came to Jowa from Pennsylvania, while the Nolan family were originally from Kentucky, arriving in Appanoose county about 1851. The year following their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Irvin A. Morrison settled upon the farm where their son Walter now resides and there they lived until the spring of 1907. when they turned the operation of the farm over to their son and estab- lished their home in Unionville, where they are still living, the father having put aside business cares. In politics he has always been a democrat and for many years he served as township trustee. He is one of the well- known and highly esteemed residents of this section and he and his wife are valuable members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Walter R. Morrison was reared at home, acquiring his education in the public schools and working in the fields when not busy with his text-
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books. He was married in Peoria, Illinois, on the 12th of August, 1902, to Miss Pearl Stigall, a daughter of James Stigall, a prominent farmer of Cass county, Illinois. Mr. Morrison was employed in the Parlin & Orendorf Plow Factory at Canton, Illinois, at the time of his mar- riage, and there remained for a year and a half after his marriage, continuing his work in the plow factory. On the expiration of that period he removed to Peoria, where for two and a half years he was employed in a boiler shop. In December, 1906, however, he returned to the home farm and the following year took charge of its operation, being now busily engaged with its further cultivation and development, annually gathering good harvests, for his methods are both practical and progressive.
To Mr. and Mrs. Morrison have been born three children, Roscoe, Lenora and Viola. In politics Mr. Morrison is a democrat and at the present writing is clerk of Union township. He has never been very active as a politician, yet is ever loyal to the principles in which he believes. Both he and his wife are members of the United Brethren church and in its teachings he finds the guiding spirit of his life. He is now serving as superintendent of the Sunday school and takes an active interest in other departments of the church work. He is justly accounted one of the progressive, enterprising and highly esteemed young men of Union town- ship.
JOHN C. McDONALD.
The real builders and promoters of Appanoose county have largely been the men who came into the region when it was unbroken prairie, and utilizing its natural resources transformed the unimproved land into rich and productive fields. In a history of the pioneer development of any state certain family names stand forth prominently, by reason of the influence, which the lives and activities of the men, who bore them, had upon general progress and advancement. In Appanoose county the name of McDonald has been an honored and respected one since pioneer times and the work which the early settlers did in development, the present generation is carrying forward in expansion. Among the most notable members of the family at the present time is John C. McDonald. one of the substantial, prominent and influential business men of Cincinnati, Iowa, as well as one of the most public-spirited and progressive of its citizens. The record of the family in America extends back many years, to William McDonald, who founded the family in the states, coming in early times
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trom his native Scotland to Mercer county, Pennsylvania, where he made a permanent location. From him was descended Daniel McDonald, the progenitor of the family in Iowa and the father of the subject of this review. He was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, March 10, 1814, and there grew to maturity, acquiring his education in the public schools. He married Miss Mary Stewart, a native of Ireland, and afterward re- sided with his wife in Mercer county for a number of years. In 1852 he moved west to lowa, locating first in Lee county, where he engaged in farming for two years. In 1854 he moved to Appanoose county and there located upon the present site of the village of Cincinnati, which has now grown to be one of the prosperous communities of Appanoose county. The father of our subject took up a tract of raw prairie land, broke the soil and began the work of development, which he carried forward stead- fastly and along progressive lines until his death, holding a high place on the list of honored lowa pioneers of the past.
John C. McDonald was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, July 13. 1845. He has been a resident of Iowa for sixty years, having come to Lee county in 1852, while his residence in Appanoose county dates from 1854. He was eight years of age at the time his parents located here and acquired a limited education in the pioneer schools. From child- hood he aided in the hard labor of breaking the soil and in the making of a farm. and he continued active in this fine until 1863, when he enlisted in the Federal army. He joined Company E. Seventh Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, and as a private was sent west and fought the Indians on the plains, taking part in many sharp skirmishes and displaying so much courage and coolness in the face of danger that he earned promotion, being dis- charged on the 17th of May, 1866, as sergeant major. With this creditable military record he returned to the farm in Iowa and resumed his work, aiding his father in the operation of the homestead. He married in 1870 and he and his wife began their domestic life upon a farm upon which Mr. McDonald carried on general agricultural pursuits for ten years. In 1880. however, he turned his attention to business affairs and has since been a substantial factor in the commercial development of Cincinnati, where he makes his home. He and his brother engaged in the furniture and undertaking business for two years and afterward added to their activities by selling timber, taking their father also into partnership. In 188; John C. MeDonald purchased his father's and brother's interests and continued to conduct the enterprise alone, until he formed a partner- ship with another brother, under the firmn name of J. C. McDonald & Brother. This association continued for some years, the partners gradually extending their activities to include almost every phase of business in the
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town. They organized and promoted the Citizens Bank of Cincinnati, with W. S. McDonald as cashier, John C. McDonald being also a high official. He continued active in the banking business for a number of years, but eventually the institution changed hands, although Mr. McDonald still re- tains his connection with it as a stockholder and director. He is a man of enterprise and marked force of character and there is no movement formulated in the township for the benefit of the community along lines of substantial upbuilding that does not receive his indorsement and hearty support, his labors being a cooperant factor in the work of improvement.
Mr. McDonald has been twice married. In 1870 he wedded Miss Mary Boyles, a native of Ohio, born in Belmont county, and a daughter of John Boyles, of that section. She died on the 30th of March, 1895. and in 1896 Mr. McDonald married Miss Alice Reed, a native of Jackson, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. MeDonald are well known in religious circles and hold membership in the Congregational church.
Mr. McDonald is prominent fraternally, holding membership in the Masonic order and in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Living in Jowa for sixty years and in Appanoose county for fifty-eight. he is one of the best known citizens of this locality, being widely recognized as a man of tried integrity and worth, of business enterprise and unfaltering determination, true to the traditions of his pioneer ancestors. His fellow townsmen honor and respect him and wherever he is known he has a wide circle of friends. Moreover, he deserves mention in this volume as one of the veterans of the Civil war, to whom the country owes a debt of gratitude that can never be fully paid.
ALVIN F. PIXLEY.
Throughout practically all the years of a long, quiet. straightforward and upright life Alvin F. Pixley has worked at the trade of a blacksmith and has now the distinction of being the oldest blacksmith and veterinary surgeon in Centerville. He began working at his trade at an early age, interrupting his labors only for his period of service in the federal army during the Civil war, and now, at the age of seventy-one. is still active and vigorous, his prosperity being the visible evidence of a well spent and useful life. If success means a career in which the chief activities have been honorable and worthy ones, in which the aims have been high and the ambitions upright and the final reward a comfortable competence. widespread esteem and many friends-then Mr. Pixley may be pronounced
A. F. PINLEY AND FAMILY
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a distinctly successful man, and his courageous service during the dark days of the Civil war is only another strong addition to his many claims to prominence and respect. He was born in Canandaigua, Michigan. Aug- ust 3, 1841, and is a son of Joseph and Aurelia ( Hale) Pixley. On the paternal side the family is of English origin and the maternal line is of Irish and English stock. The father of our subject was by trade an edge tool blacksmith and sharpened by hand the picks which were used in grind- ing Hour. He became rapidly so skilful in this occupation that his reputa- tion spread throughout the surrounding districts and picks were sent to hin from a distance of over one hundred miles to be sharpened. Although both he and his wife were natives of upper Canada, most of their lives were spent in Hudson. Michigan, where the mother passed away in 1889 and the father in 1890.
Alvin F. Pixley acquired his education in the district schools of Michi- gan, attending classes when he could be spared from his father's shop. At the age of fifteen he began learning the trade of an edge tool black- smith and for four years followed it also learning to shoe oxen, as horses were not used there at that date. In 1861 Mr. Pixley was twenty years of age and just beginning to become known as a blacksmith and to achieve some degree of prosperity, but at his country's call he did not hesitate to sacrifice his personal interests and on the 7th of November. 1861. enlisted in the Eleventh Michigan Volunteer Infantry, serving three years without a furlough in the Army of the Cumberland. He was in the thick of the battles at Stone River. Tullahoma, Elk river, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Ringgold. Buzzards Roost. Resaca, Peach Tree Creek and the siege of Atlanta. During the latter siege his term of enlistment expired but he volunteered to stay until the city fell. In the army he served as regimental blacksmith and had charge of ninety mules and twenty-five horses as well as numerous wagons to keep in repair. He was wounded three times at Murfreesboro and was mustered out at Chattanooga, Tennessee, with honorable discharge. It is to men like Mr. Pixley to whom the country owes the preservation of the Union and the upholdling of the national integrity, and this debt can never be forgotten and never fully repaid.
After his discharge Mr. Pixley returned to Michigan but in 1866 left the state and went to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where for seven years he worked as a railroad blacksmith for the Sioux City Railroad and in the Northwestern shops. In 1873, equipped with all the skill which natural ability and varied and thorough experience and training could give him. he came to Centerville, opened a blacksmith shop and has worked at his trade here continuously since that time-a period of almost forty years.
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His work in caring for the feet of horses suggested inquiry into the discases of animals and, being a versatile, able and intelligent man, he soon became interested in veterinary surgery, studied it thoroughly and thirty years ago began his work along this line, being now a registered practitioner. In both lines of his activity Mr. Pixley has gained prominence and success and his shop on the rear of his residence lot on Drake avenue is well patronized by everyone in Centerville who has need of the services of an expert blacksmith. Mr. Pixley is not only skilled in his trade and well versed in the underlying principles of veterinary surgery but he is also an energetic, straightforward and upright business man, who adheres con- stantly to high standards of business integrity and whose high sincerity of purpose has never been questioned in forty years.
On the 20th of November, 1860, Mr. Pixley married Miss Harriett Palmer, a daughter of Robert and Mahala (Young) Palmer, both born east of the Green mountains in Vermont, of Good Yankee stock. The father was a cobbler by trade and made with his own hands all his children's shoes. Later the family moved into Ohio and then to Michigan, where the father died in 1852. His widow came to Harrison county, lowa, driv- ing through with teams and spending five weeks upon the journey. She bought a farm in Harrison county, two and a half miles from Magnolia, and upon this property resided until her death in 1879. Mr. and Mrs. Pixley have three children. The eldest, Ellis Arthur, a graduate of Center- ville high school, is a clerk in the Centerville postoffice. He has the dis- tinction of being a veteran of the Spanish-American war, having served as musician of Company E, Fifty-fourth lowa Volunteer Infantry. carning promotion to the rank of first sergeant before the close of his service. He married Mary Dunlap, of Mount Pleasant, lowa, and they have one child. Arthur, aged twelve. Bert, the second son born to Mr. and Mrs. Pixley, is also a graduate of the Centerville high school and is now acting as city mail carrier. He resides on a farm in Center township with his wife, who was in her maidenhood Miss Cora Reddig. They have two children: Mary. who is eight years of age; and Robert. aged eight months. Clarence the youngest child born to Mr. and Mrs. Pixley, is a graduate of the same high school. He is following the profession of an electrical engineer and resides at home. Mr. and Mrs. Pixley are members of the Christian church, both having joined that religion at the age of eighteen.
Mr. Pixley is well known in the Grand Army of the Republic, being a charter member of John L. Bashaw Post. No. 122, of Centerville. He served as commander for one year, for four years was officer of the day and served for one year as vice president. He is now in the fourth year of his activity as surgeon and in the tenth year of his service
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as chairman of the relief committee. His wife shares this interest with him also, being well known as a charter member of Women's Relief Corps, No. 32, of Centerville, which was organized twenty-six years ago. She has held every office except that of chaplain and treasurer in the organization and is now serving her third term as guard.
On the 20th of November, 1910, Mr. and Mrs. Pixley completed the fiftieth year of their married life and at their home at 201 Drake avenue observed their golden wedding anniversary. They invited to the celebra- tion all the members of the Grand Army post and the Women's Relief Corps besides their numerous friends in Centerville. Ninety-six people responded to the cordial invitation and spent the afternoon with Mr. and Mrs. Pixley in social conversation and in delightful reminiscences of early times. At five o'clock refreshments were served and at seven the ladies of the Relief Corps gave the bride and groom of half a century ago an old fashioned charivari. Mr. and Mrs. Pixley received a number of valuable presents from the Grand Army of the Republic, the Women's Relief Corps and from their children and acquaintances. One hundred postcards reached them during the day from friends who could not attend and. indeed, everyone who had ever had the pleasure of knowing these charming, genial and lovable people took a great pride and pleasure in remembering them with gifts and good wishes upon their wedding anni- versary. Mr. Pixley has reached the age of seventy-one and has earned retirement but is still laboring, displaying in all of his activities the same quiet intelligence, uprightness and courage which distinguished him upon the southern battlefields. His life has been well spent, for in all of its relations he has been true to high and honorable principles, working his way upward through the years to final triumph and counting his truest suc- cess in the love and confidence of his many friends.
THOMAS E. HOPKINS.
The farming interests of Union township find a worthy representative in Thomas E. Hopkins, who is living on section 22. He was born in Han- cock county, Tennessee, April 9, 1843, and is a son of Adam and Nancy E. (Guess) Hopkins. The grandfather, Zabez Hopkins, went from French Broad to Hancock county, Tennessee, about 1804, when his son Adam was but four years of age, his birth having occurred in 1800. Nancy E. Guess was a native of Alabama and spent her girlhood largely in that state. She later removed to Tennessee and there became the wife of Adam Hopkins.
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In 1849 they left the south and came to lowa. settling in Union township, Appanoose county, and the following year Mr. Hopkins' parents also ar- rived in this county. A few months later, however, the grandmother of our subject died and the grandfather afterward went to Decatur county, Iowa, where he made his home until his demise. While Mr. and Mrs. Adam Hopkins were en route for Appanoose county the latter was taken ill with cholera on the boat up the river and died after a day's travel out fron Keokuk, her grave being made at Zelma, Iowa, in 1849. Adam Hop- kins continued on his way and established his home on the farm on section 22, Union township, on which his son Thomas now resides. He devoted his life to general agricultural pursuits and stock-raising and also worked at the trades of cabinet-maker and wheelwright. His was an active and useful life and he passed away at the venerable age of eighty-five years. His children were ten in number: Polly Ann, who died in Arkansas; Mrs. Orlena Martin, a widow, residing in Union township: Mrs. Margaret Strunk. deceased; Helen Minerva, who died before the removal of the family to lowa; Roanna, who died in this county in early life; Jabez, who was killed by lightning in 1860; James F., Perry and Commodore, all now deceased; and Thomas E.
The last named has resided in Union township since 1849, or for a period of more than sixty-three years, he and his sister being among the oldest residents of the township. He was but six years of age at the time of his arrival here and throughout the ensuing years he has largely followed farming and stock-raising. He has also shipped stock quite extensively and he has become well known as a breeder of mules, owning to good jacks. He has also raised horses, cattle, sheep and hogs and his live-stock interests have proven an important and profitable feature of his business. His place comprises one hundred and sixty acres of land that is rich and productive. his property being known as the Green Valley Stock Farm, conducted under the firm name of T. E. Hopkins & Son.
In the fall of 1865 Mr. Hopkins was married to Miss Elizabeth Drake. who was born in Ohio in 1846 and when five years of age came to this county with her parents, George and Mary Ann (Stiles) Drake. The father died in California and the mother in Kansas. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins have been born the following named: Andrew Jackson, who died at the age of three years; Sarah Jane. the wife of William Under- wood, of Unionville; Rosetta, the wife of John Burnette, of Kay county, Oklahoma: Ida, the wife of David Caylor, of Union township: Charles. at home: and Estella, the wife of Henry Herman. of Udell township.
Mr. Hopkins has been a lifelong democrat and his fellow townsmen, appreciative of his worth and ability, have called him to most of the town-
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ship offices. He was clerk for many years, has been assessor and has been officially connected with the schools, serving his district as secretary of the school board for thirty consecutive years, during which period he has given ample evidence of his deep interest in the cause of education and his desire to improve the schools. He is a supporter of the United Brethren church. His has been a well spent life, active and honorable in its purposes, and fruitful in its results. He has won individual success and at the same time has labored effectively and earnestly to promote the welfare of the community.
JOHN FRANKLIN GRAY, M. D.
A history of the medical fraternity of Appanoose county would be in- complete were there failure to make mention of Dr. John Franklin Gray. who is engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Moravia. Throughout the years of his connection with the profession he has made steady progress and has proven his knowledge and capability in the excel- lent results which have attended his labors. He came to Moravia in 1906 and has since devoted his attention to the performance of his professional duties. He is a native son of Iowa, born in Monroe county, September 20. 1873. his parents being Samuel and Mary A. ( Griffin ) Gray, the former a native of County Derry ( Londonderry) Ireland, and the latter of Zanes- ville, Ohio. The parents of our subject were married in Monroe county. whither her mother had come as a girl with her parents and to which the father had emigrated as a young man. After settling in lowa, Samuel Gray devoted all of his time to farming and still resides upon his home farm five miles north of Albia, having reached the age of eighty-seven. He is very proud of the fact that in the course of a long career he has never been involved in a law suit and has never been a witness nor a juryman, preferring ro accept the losing end of an argument rather than to have re- course to legal proceedings.
Dr. John F. Gray was reared at home and acquired his education in the public schools. This was supplemented by a three years' course at Penn College in Oskaloosa, Iowa. His medical training was received at the Iowa State University at lowa City, from which he was graduated on April 1, 1902, with the degree of M. D. Following his graduation he was made physician in charge of the mines belonging to the White Breast Fuel Com- pany at Hilton, Iowa, and he acted in this capacity for five years, doing able work and gaining valuable experience. In 1906 Dr. Gray came to
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Moravia and has since built up an extensive practice here. The consensus of public opinion regarding his professional skill is altogether favorable, for it is well known that he is most careful in the diagnosis of cases and never neglects anything which will be of value in checking disease and promoting health.
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