USA > Iowa > Fayette County > Past and present of Fayette County, Iowa, Volume II > Part 75
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Though foreign-born, Mr. Scott early gave unmistakable evidence of his loyalty to his adopted country and in the dark hours of the great Rebel- lion he assisted in the defense of the national government. In June, 1864, he enlisted in Company A, Forty-fourth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and faithfully served in the ranks until September following, when he was honorably discharged.
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Politically, Mr. Scott has been affiliated with the Republican party, in the success of which he has been actively interested. He gave efficient and satisfactory service as postmaster of Wadena, in which position he served through several Republican administrations, earning the commendation of his superiors in the department and the good will of the patrons of the office. Religiously, Mr. Scott is a member of the Congregational church, to which he gives a generous support of his time and means. Standing "four square to every wind that blows," Mr. Scott has always been found on the right side of every moral issue or other question looking to the betterment of the general conditions of the community and because of his estimable personal qualities and genuine worth he is deservedly popular among those with whom he is acquainted.
WILLIAM EZRA HOWARD.
From a sterling old family of the Keystone state, and he himself a man of many estimable qualities, as his long and useful life in Fayette county will attest, comes William Ezra Howard, one of the comfortably sit- uated farmers of Pleasant Valley township. His birth occurred on October 13, 1849, in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, and he is the son of John and
- Mary (Alcorn) Howard, both natives of Pennsylvania, in which state they grew to maturity and where they were married in 1840, and farmed there until 1853, when John came to Pleasant Valley township, Fayette county, Iowa, being among the pioneers of this locality. He selected a site for their future home in section 33, built a log cabin and stable and made prepara- tions for his family, whom he had left behind. In 1854 he returned to the East for his family and they soon were engaged in developing their new home in the West. His first land cost him one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre ; adding to his first tract, he became the owner of a very valuable place of two hundred and twenty-three acres. He was a hard working man and cleared a great deal, and he became well known among the first settlers here, and was highly respected by all who knew him; he devoted his entire life to farming and was rewarded with success. His death occurred on November 17, 1900, and that of his good wife on October 2, 1908; they were a fine old couple and reached advanced ages. John Howard was one of the most noted hunters in the state of Iowa in his earlier years. He also frequently went on hunting expeditions in Minnesota. He was a stanch Republican, and his wife was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
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To Mr. and Mrs. Howard the following children were born: Sarah Jane married C. A. Lyon and lives in Knox county, Nebraska; Harvey is de- ceased ; William E., of this review; Lucinda is deceased; Thomas lives in Elgin, Iowa; Elizabeth married M. Stansbury and lives in Sioux City, Iowa; Enos and Inez are twins ; the latter died in 1864; Enos married Mahala Con- nor, is farming on part of the old place in Pleasant Valley township and they have the following children: John and Clark, both deceased; Thomas, who married Anna Wilson and lives with his father on the old place, has one son, Archie E .; Inez, the fourth child of Enos Howard and wife, married John Shaffer, of Illyria township; Reuben, the fifth child, is living at home.
William E. Howard, of this review, received only a limited education in the home schools, and he remained on the parental acres until he was twenty-two years of age. In February, 1872, he went to Knox county, Nebraska, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres more. He improved it and lived on the same until 1888, when he sold out and bought a part of his father's old homestead in Pleasant Valley township, this county. He is now the owner of a very productive, attractive and well managed farm of one hundred and thirty-three acres, he having made all the improvements on same.
While living in Knox county, Nebraska, Mr. Howard was married on April 15, 1877, to Emily M. Burgess, of Winneshiek county, Iowa. She is the daughter of William and Jane ( Poole) Burgess, her father being a native of Ireland and her mother of Virginia. They came in an early day to Iowa, later lived for some time in Minnesota, thence moved to Knox county, Ne- braska, and from there to Wyoming, where they died.
Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. William Howard, named as follows: Mary J. married Frank Boyle, of Pleasant Valley township, and they have two children, William E. and George H .; Lucinda married George Stansberry, of Illyria township, and they have six children, Grace P., Iva, George, Evelyn, Ezra, Emily E .; John married Elsie Smith and they live in Illyria township and are the parents of two children, John and Ezra C .; William T., of Pleasant Valley township, married Jenette Peterson and they have one son, Charlie ; Harvey, a farmer in Illyria township, married Eunice Miller, and they have one child, Leota Malvina ; George Enos married Anna May Learn and lives with his father; Frank is also living at home.
Since 1888 William E. Howard has lived on his present place in Pleas- ant Valley township, carrying on a general farming business in a very suc- cessful manner. He is well known as a breeder of Shorthorn cattle, draft horses and Poland-China hogs, all of which find a ready market, owing to
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their superior quality. Farming has been his life work and he has been amply rewarded.
Politically, he is a Republican, and has held several local offices, including that of school director.
GEORGE W. GILBERT.
Among the honored old pioneers of Fayette county, Iowa, the subject of this sketch occupies a conspicuous position. A life of good purposes and unimpeached integrity has won for him the unbounded confidence of all who know him and he is eminently entitled to representation in a work of this nature. Mr. Gilbert is a native of western Canada, where he was born on the 28th day of February, 1841, and is the son of William and Rebecca (Pratt) Gilbert. He is of stanch Irish stock, his grandfather Gilbert having come to America from the north of Ireland. On the maternal side his ances- tors were English, his maternal great-grandfather having been born in that country, as was his son, who was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, later locating in Canada, where his daughter, the subject's mother, was born. The old Revolutionary veteran referred to was the father of twenty-three children and lived to the remarkable age of ninety-three years. He was three times married and the subject's mother was born to the first wife. The grandpar- ents were all tillers of the soil and were energetic and enterprising people, standing high in their respective communities.
William Gilbert was born in New York city, February 18, 1810, and his wife, Rebecca, first saw the light of day in Canada on February II, 1821. The former died in 1889, at the age of seventy-nine years, and the latter in 1862, at the age of forty-one years. William Gilbert lived in his native city until he had reached his majority, when he went to Canada, where he mar- ried about 1838. The family moved to Rockford, Illinois, about 1847, where they resided until about 1864, when they came to Fayette county; Iowa, and located at Eldorado. In the winter of the following year they moved to Charles City, this state, where they lived eight years. At the end of that time they went to northern Minnesota and took up a claim adjoining the Chippewa Indian reservation. When about seventy-five years old, William Gilbert: went to live with his daughter, Mrs. Lois Davis, at Saginaw, Mich- igan, where his death occurred, his remains being taken to Rockford, Illinois, for interment. After the death of his first wife, he was again married, while residing at Rockford, and by the second union he had two sons, four children
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having been born to the first union, namely : The first-born died in infancy ; George W., the subject of this sketch; Rebecca, who lives at Lansing, Michi- gan ; and Lois, now deceased. The children of the second union were Theo- dore, a resident of Badora, Minnesota, and Henry, who lives at Detroit City, Minnesota. Their mother is now living in California. William Gilbert was an idustrious and energetic man. He was by trade a carpenter, joiner and millwright. In political sentiment he was an abolitionist and took an active part in politics after the war. He was widely known and in whatever com- pany he happened to be was perfectly at home, being himself somewhat of an entertainer. Through his energetic habits and wise management, he was al- ways in fair pecuniary circumstances. In church work he was active, being prominent in the Baptist society, and he was ever found in support of move- ments for the benefit of the community.
George W. Gilbert was reared in the paternal home and in his youth attended the public schools of Rockford, Illinois. His studies were inter- rupted, however, by the sounds of impending conflict, which was then about to burst over the nation, and when the President's call for volunteers was issued, he responded promptly, enlisting at Rockford, at the age of nineteen years, in Company D, Eleventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry. The command first went into camp at Bird's Point, Missouri, where they remained during the winter of 1861-62. Subsequently the regiment took part in the battles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, followed by Shiloh, these being the most important battles in the history of the regiment. During the battle of Shiloh, the subject was detailed to the boat "City of Memphis" to help care for the wounded, and during the thickest of the fight he helped carry many dead and wounded soldiers from the field. General Grant designated him as a nurse on the boat mentioned, which position he retained for four or five weeks, then becoming the steward of the boat. He had charge of about fifty nurses and the boat was kept busily engaged transferring sick soldiers from the South, usually carrying six hundred and seven hundred sick and wounded men at each trip. After this he was detailed as a cook in the Cairo hospital, but soon afterwards was himself taken sick with smallpox and confined in the same hospital. On his recovery he was made chief cook, which he retained for some time. He then rejoined his regiment and was discharged from the service because of physical disability. When he entered the service, Mr. Gil- bert was a strong and robust man, but when he left the army he weighed but ninety-five pounds.
After the completion of his military service, Mr. Gilbert returned to his former home at Rockford, where he remained about a year and then came to
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Fayette county, Iowa, in June, 1865, locating in Auburn township. During the following ten years he was successfully engaged there in the tilling of the soil, but in 1876 he came to West Union, where he has since lived. Being an expert mechanic, he was for a number of years kept busily employed, by of recent years he has been practically living retired from active labor. He is a man of splendid personal qualities and is well liked in the circles in which he moves.
On February 25, 1866, Mr. Gilbert was married to Elizabeth Dewey, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Dewey, her birth having occurred Novem- ber 2, 1844, near New Richmond, Montgomery county, Indiana. The Dewey family was originally from Maryland, going from that state first to Ohio, and thence going to Indiana. They were farming people and occupied a promi- nent position in their community. Of their eight children, Mrs. Gilbert was the fourth in order of birth, she being a twin to a brother who is now deceased. The Dewey family arrived in Fayette county in 1856, coming from Indiana with four yoke of oxen and two horse teams, locating near Eldorado. To Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert have been born two children, namely: Maud, born Aug- ust 28, 1871, became the wife of Earl Ostrander, of this county, and they have a boy, Jesse, now two years old; Olive, born May 19, 1877, is the wife of Carl Ostrander, and they have one child, Edith Elizabeth, three years old; Carl and Earl Ostrander are twins.
Mr. Gilbert is a stanch Republican in his political faith, and has held sev- eral township offices, being at present a justice of the peace, in which he is giving eminently satisfactory service. He has long taken an active interest in agricultural matters, being a member of the Fayette County Fair Associa- tion. On the fair grounds is a typical log cabin, in which are kept many valuable and interesting relics of the early pioneer days and which is always the center of interest for visitors. This cabin Mr. Gilbert himself built and presented to the Old Settlers Association for the specific purpose to which it is devoted, and he was appointed the superintendent of the building, a position he still retains. Mr. Gilbert is the possessor of a number of interesting old relics, one of them being an old map and railroad guide that was published in 1845, before the state of Iowa was admitted to the union. It is an interesting relic and by contrast emphasizes the wonderful development which has taken place in the state. Mr. Gilbert is also the owner of the celebrated cabin which was used during the first presidential campaign of Benjamin Harrison, having been made for the Harrison Club of West Union. Several attempts have been made to destroy or steal the cabin, it having been in all the towns of the county, but it is still intact and has been made use of a number of times by
(91)
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the Modern Woodmen and others at different times. Fraternally, Mr. Gilbert is a member of Post No. 48, Grand Army of the Republic, at West Union, and was at one time commander of the Veterans' Association of Fayette county. Religiously he is a Baptist, holding membership with the church of that de- nomination at West Union. He and his wife are living quietly and unosten- tatiously in their comfortable home at West Union and they enjoy the friend- ship of a large circle of acquaintances. They give a cordial welcome to all who enter their home, the spirit of true hearted hospitality being ever in evi- dence.
PHILIP LAUER.
That the plenitude of satiety is seldom attained in the affairs of life is to be considered a most beneficial deprivation, for where ambition is satisfied and every ultimate end realized, if such be possible, apathy must follow. The men who have pushed forward the wheels of progress have been those to whom satisfaction lies ever in the future, who have labored continuously, al- ways finding in each transition state an incentive for further effort. Mr. Lauer is one whose well directed efforts have gained for him a position of desirable prominence in his community and his energy and enterprise have been crowned by a gratifying measure of success, so that now he is enabled to enjoy a surcease from active labor and live in comfort and ease.
Philip Lauer was born in Germany in 1840 and is a son of Peter and Dora (Beal) Lauer, both of whom were natives and lifelong residents of the Fatherland. Philip was reared to the years of youth by his parents and at- tended the splendid schools of his native land. At the early age of fifteen years he came alone to the United States and first located in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, where he learned and followed the trade of a carpenter. In 1860 he came to Iowa, locating in Winneshiek county, where he acquired a tract of two hundred and forty-seven acres, to the cultivation of which he devoted himself. He made many improvements and gave much attention to the raising of cattle and hogs. He remained there until 1898, when he bought two hundred and thirty-five acres of fine land lying north of Eldorado, Fayette county, to which he moved the following year, and this has been his home since. He has here followed a general line of farming and stock raising and his efforts were rewarded with marked success. He also owns another tract of twenty acres which he had bought before leaving Winne- shiek county. He has looked carefully after the material welfare of his
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children and has bought and given to his sons tracts of one hundred and sixty, and one hundred and thirty-eight and one hundred and three acres re- spectively. During the past few years he has practically retired from active labor.
In 1862 Mr. Lauer was united in marriage to Gosen Kaster, whose death occurred in January, 1910. They became the parents of twelve children, namely : Henry, Charles, Philip H., John P. (deceased October 16, 1910), William P., Peter, Fritz, Maggie, John and Elizabeth, the two last named also being deceased.
Politically, Mr. Lauer is a stanch Republican, and he has served six years as township trustee and two terms as school director, and while living in Winneshiek county he was trustee for nine years and school director for many years. He is a member of the Lutheran church at Eldorado, being the oldest member of the society and the first person married in it. He has taken a deep interest in the welfare of the community in which he lives and gives an unreserved support to every movement calculated to benefit his fellow man morally, educationally, socially or materially. He is a stockholder in the Farmers Insurance Company, of which he has been treasurer for the past twenty-seven years, much of the success of the company being due to his in- fluence and efforts in its behalf, it being one of the solid and beneficial insti- tutions of the county. Personally, Mr. Lauer is genial and companionable, enjoys wide acquaintance and has a large circle of warm personal friends, who esteem him for his ability and genuine worth.
PATRICK O'HARRAN.
One of the highly respected and worthy representatives of the Emerald Isle, now living in Fayette county, Iowa, is Patrick O'Harran, who was born in Ireland about 1836, the son of Patrick and Bridget (McNamara) O'Har- ran, the mother dying in Ireland, where she was born and reared, but the father came to America about 1844 and settled at Utica, New York. His son, Patrick, of this review, joined him here in 1846, having remained in his native land the meanwhile. Owing to the fact that the latter was only about ten years old when he came to Utica, he did not engage in regular work for some time, but he finally went to work on a farm near that city, after receiv- ing his education in the public schools there. His father was a drayman in Utica. After remaining in that city ten years, the subject came West, locat-
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ing in Illyria township, Fayette county, Iowa, in 1856, buying eighty acres of land there which he developed into a good farm by hard work, remaining there until 1908 when he moved to West Union, after laying by a competency by general farming operations, and he has since lived retired.
Mr. O'Harran was married in Janesville, Wisconsin, to Maggie Manahan, who proved to be a faithful helpmeet, and this union resulted in the birth of three children, all living at this writing, namely: John, Mary Ellen and Charles. The daughter is the wife of J. J. Fennell, whose sketch is to be found elsewhere in this work.
Mr. O'Harran and his family are faithful members of the Catholic church. The subject is a Republican in national politics and has taken much interest in local affairs, at one time serving very ably as constable of Illyria township.
ANDREW M. CLARK.
Prominent among the enterprising farmers and representative citizens of Eden township is Andrew M. Clark, a native of Canada and an honored mem- ber of an old and respected Scotch family which settled at Woodstock, On- tario, in the year 1857. Andrew Clark, Sr., the subject's father, was born near Glasgow, Scotland, April 3, 1833, and married in that city, in June, 1857, Jane Orr, following which he sailed for Canada. In August of the same year located at Woodstock, Ontario, near which place he purchased land and en- gaged in farming, though formerly a seafaring man. After spending twelve years in Ontario, he disposed of his agricultural interests and, in the fall of 1870, in company with the Murray and Lindsay families, migrated to Fayette county, Iowa, and purchased eighty acres of land two and a fourth miles east of Waucoma, which he improved. and on which he lived and prospered until his retirement from active life in the fall of 1901. On leaving the farm Mr. Clark took up his residence in Waucoma, where he made his home until his death, on February 8, 1909; his wife, who survived him, is still living in that town. This excellent couple were highly esteemed in their various places of residence and all who knew them spoke in high praise of their many sturdy characteristics and estimable qualities. Prior to coming to Iowa they were Scotch Presbyterians, but after settling in Fayette county they united with the Congregational church at Waucoma, to which Mr. Clark remained loyal to the day of his death, his widow being still a valued member of the organiza- tion. Their children, eight in number, are as follows: David A., a miller
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of Langford, South Dakota; Jennie S., wife of E. A. Smith, of Waterloo, Iowa; Andrew M., whose name introduces this sketch; Thomas J., a farmer living near Tagus, North Dakota; Jessie A., who lives in Waucoma with her mother ; John H., a farmer of Eden township, now. operating the family home- stead; Frank R., a hardware merchant at Farley, Iowa, and Viola B., who married A. H. Bender and lives at Glenville, Minnesota.
Andrew M. Clark was born March 25, 1865, at Woodstock, Ontario, and at the age of five years was brought to Iowa by his parents, from which time to the present his life has been largely identified with the development and prosperity of the part of Fayette county in which he now lives. He remained at home assisting his father on the farm until his eighteenth year and in the meantime acquired a practical education in the district schools which he at- tended during the fall and winter seasons as long as he continued under the parental roof. At the age indicated he severed home ties and began the struggle of life for himself, first as a farm hand at monthly wages, and later went to Dakota, where during the three ensuing years he was employed by his brother as engineer in the latter's flouring mill. Returning to Fayette county at the end of that time, he worked one year on the homestead and then rented another farm in the same township, which he continued to cultivate during the seven years following, meeting with gratifying success the meanwhile.
Mr. Clark, in June, 1901, purchased the farm in Eden township, and, under his labors and judicious management, it is now one of the best improved and among the most valuable farms in this part of the county. It is known as the old Dunn farm and consists of ninety-four acres of fertile land, three and a half miles northeast of Waucoma on the northern boundary of the county, the locality having long been noted for the productiveness of its soil and the value of its agricultural and livestock interests. On moving to the farm Mr. Clark found it in anything but prosperous condition, the buildings being in poor repair, the fences run down and the soil only indifferently culti- vated, but with his characteristic industry and energy he went to work and remedied these defects, with the result that his labors were soon manifest in the series of improvements which were inaugurated and in due time car- ried to completion. He rebuilt the house and converted it into a comfortable and attractive residence and by successful tillage of the soil brought the land to the high state of cultivation for which the farm has since been noted. In all that enters into the make-up of the enterprising and progressive modern American agriculturist, he is easily the peer of any other farmer of the town- ship, and his beautiful and attractive country home, surrounded with every evidence of prosperity and content, bespeaks the presence of one who believes
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in the nobility of his vocation and who leaves nothing undone to minister to the comfort and happiness of those dependent upon him.
Mr. Clark's married life dates from July 14, 1891, at which time he was united in the holy bonds of wedlock with Alice Thompson, daughter of Rufus and Elizabeth Thompson, who were among the early settlers of Eden town- ship, where the mother is still living, the father having died some years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have no children of their own, but they have taken great interest in the young people, among whom they have many warm friends in the neighborhood of their residence.
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