USA > Iowa > Jasper County > Past and present of Jasper County, Iowa, Vol. I > Part 42
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Fraternally, Mr. Hart is a member of Modern Woodmen Camp No. 182 at Newton. He and his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal church of . this city and are liberal supporters of the same.
CHARLES C. McCONKEY.
To the strong, defeats are but mile-stones on the highway to victory. This truth seems to have been borne out by Charles C. McConkey, one of Jasper county's progressive citizens and an honored representative of one of her old pioneer families, members of which have done a great deal in various ways in contributing to the general development of this favored section of the great Hawkeye state. Mr. McConkey has never permitted obstacles to down him or turn him aside when once he has determined upon a legitimate course of action, and therefore he has succeeded in his life work.
Mr. McConkey was born May 18, 1872, in this county, and he is the son of Cobane and Sarah J. (Read) McConkey, early settlers of Jasper county. The paternal grandfather was Samuel McConkey. Cobane McConkey was a
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native of Ohio, born near Hopedale, Harrison county. When a young man he went to Virginia and was married there, by Alexander Campbell, the founder of the Campbellite church at Bethany.
Cobane McConkey devoted his life to farming and in 1853 he brought his young wife to Scott county, Iowa, where they engaged in farming two years. He then moved to Jasper county and bought one hundred and twenty acres of good land in Newton township, which he retained up to the time of his death, having improved it into a splendid farm. He spent his last years in retirement in Newton and died there in 1896 at the age of seventy-four years. He was a good man and had the respect of all who knew him. His widow survives, making her home with her daughter. Mrs. Sumner E. Gates, just north of the city of Newton.
The son, Charles C., was one of ten children, two of whom died in in- fancy : the others are Margaret I. Gates, widow of Summer E. Gates, a prom- inent Jasper county citizen, his death having occurred in 1900; their sketch appears elsewhere in this work. Jane MeConkey, who became the wife of Frank Graham, is now deceased : Alice married John Munn. of Newton town- ship: Edward died when seventeen years old; Mary died at the age of nine- teen ; Lillie married Bert Beatty, of Newton township : William remained sin- gle and died when twenty-nine years old.
Charles C. MeConkey attended the common schools, also Hazel Dell AAcademy two years. He began life for himself when about sixteen years of age, doing various things whereby he could earn honest money, but most of his labors were confined to the farm. He learned the carpenter's trade when a young man, which he has followed practically ever since.
On June 28, 1893. Mr. MeConkey was united in marriage with Alice Stuver, who was born in lowa in October, 1874. the daughter of Joseph and Sarah ( Palmer ) Thomas. When but a small child she was legally adopted by Aaron and Josephine Stuver, who had no children of their own. She has two sisters living. Mrs. Sarah Davis and Mrs. Zon King, both in Colorado. When but a girl of sixteen she taught school two years, being married at the age of eighteen. Not long after they were married Mr. and Mrs. McConkey moved to Brule county, South Dakota, where they purchased a quarter sec- tion of land, which they disposed of a few years later and returned to Jasper county, locating on the old home place, which Mr. McConkey farmed for two years, then moved to the city of Newton and followed the carpenter's trade until the desire for a change again seized him; thus three years later he moved his family to Chickasha, Grady county, Oklahoma ; but he returned to Jasper county in 1909, since which time he has been following his trade, being
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very successful as a contractor and builder. He is regarded as a high grade workman and his contract jobs are always turned out quickly and well done.
Mr. and Mrs. McConkey are the parents of four children, namely : Charles Harold, born in August. 1905; Bertram, born in 1897, died in in- fancy : Edward, born in May. 1902 : Margaret, born in May, 1909.
Mr. McConkey has been very successful in a business way and he is now the owner of three hundred acres of valuable land in Kaddo county. Okla- homa. Fraternally, he belongs to the Masonic lodge in Newton, and he is also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. in Brule county. South Dakota, and of the Relief Association of Oklahoma, No. 59. He and his wife are members of the Congregational church.
ANDREW J. BROKAW.
Abram Brokaw, the grandfather of the subject, was born in New Jersey in 1773, the son of Caleb Brokaw, who was a lieutenant in the war of the Revolution, and a brother of Caleb, named Isaac, served as private in the Revolutionary war. Abram Brokaw was married to Mariah Stryker, a native of New Jersey, in the year 1791, and to them were born fifteen children. In the year 1822 the family removed from New Jersey to Ohio and settled in Jefferson county, that state, and there Abram Brokaw departed this life in the year 1826.
John A. Brokaw, the father of Andrew J., was the seventh child born to Abram and Mariah Brokaw, and was born July 4. 1804. At the age of seventeen he learned the shoemaker's trade and began working for himself. When the family moved to Ohio, he went with them, but eighteen months later he went back to New Jersey. A year later he returned again to Ohio and remained there until after the death of his father, when he took his mother and went back to New Jersey. Upon this trip he married Caroline Bush, a native of New Jersey, having been born in that state on June 20, 1809. In 1831 John Brokaw took his wife and family, consisting at that time of two children, and again removed to Jefferson county, Ohio, but one year later he moved to Knox county, in the same state, and there he remained, working at his trade and farming until his death, which occurred on January 17, 1893. at the venerable age of eighty-nine. At the time he arrived in Knox county. his entire worldly possessions consisted of one horse and a wagon and three dollars and twelve and one-half cents in money. By industry and thrift he
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acquired quite a handsome campetence. His wife, Caroline Brokaw, the mother of Andrew J., died at Mt. Liberty, Knox county, Ohio, in 1878. This couple were the parents of thirteen children, as follows: Sarah, born in 1829, died in 1852, was the wife of Henry Slack; Maria was the wife of Peter Sprack- len, born February 21, 1831, died 1855 : Effa, born February 26, 1833. mar- ried George Barr in 1853, and is now living at Manilla, Crawford county. lowa, her husband being deceased; Elizabeth, wife of D. L. Brackenridge, was born in November, 1834, and died in Tama county, Iowa, December 23. 1872: a daughter, born January 25, 1837, died in infancy ; Phoebe .\., born June 17, 1838, married Frank Lambert in 1859. and lives in Manilla, Craw- ford county, Iowa : Caroline, born January 27. 1842, married John Bird, Sep- tember 7. 1865, and lives at Mt. Vernon, Knox county, Ohio; Mary L .. born in February, 1843, married Smith Gearhart in 1865, and lives at Mt. Liberty, Knox county, Ohio ; Andrew J., the subject of this review, born June 6, 1845 ; William B., born August 8. 1847. lives in Richland county, Ohio; Abraham G., born February 4. 1850. lives in Manilla, Crawford county, Iowa ; John B .. born July 25. 1852, lives at Hollywood. California, has a real estate business in Los Angeles, that state : Marcus, born July 8. 1855, died in infancy.
Andrew J. Brokaw, who was the ninth child born to John and Caroline Brokaw, received his early educational training mainly in the country schools in Knox county, Ohio. At the age of twenty-two he started out to work for himself, and a few years later. 1870, he came to Jasper county, Iowa, and worked as a farm hand around at different places, making his home the meanwhile with a sister. Phoebe Lambert, at that time living on a farm in Newton township, this county. For a little over four years he continued working thus, at which time he was united in marriage with Mrs. Elizabeth Bishop, who was the widow of Miles S. Bishop and the daughter of Marcus A. and Lydia ( Nichols) Morton, her father being a native of Massachusetts, born at Middlebury, that state, and her mother a native of Vermont, born at Wellford, that state. The family came from Massachusetts in the year 1832 to Licking county, Ohio, and settled on a farm not far from Granville. that state. Here they lived until the year 1848, when they removed to Wood county, in the same state, where they engaged in agricultural pursuits until the death of the husband and father, which occurred on December 18. 1855. The next year, the family, consisting of the mother and children, came to Iowa, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land just north of Newton, in Newton township, in the neighborhood of Farmer College. Here the mother departed this life on October 14. 1860. There were ten
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children in this family, as follows: George, born November 7, 1830, lives in Wood county, Ohio; William W., born May 22, 1832, died May 19, 1901, at Newton, leaving a family of three children. He owned a feed yard, the first one of its kind established in Newton, where Simpson's feed yard is now located; Hiram M., born January 8, 1834, died at Winterset, Iowa, in 1875, leaving four children ; Sarah, wife of George Bacon, was born Decem- ber 18, 1836, lives at Horton, Kansas : Elizabeth, wife of Andrew J. Brokaw, was born November 1, 1838; Silas W., born April 21. 1840, died in 1906 at Council Bluffs, lowa, leaving two children : Elias .\ died in infancy ; Lydia E., born December 9, 1844, married James Trussel, and died in 1865, leaving five children: Julia, born September 14. 1846, wife of Thomas Helphrey. lives in Chicago: Mattie, wife of John B. Johnson, was born April 22, 1848, died at Council Bluffs, Iowa, March 12, 1880, leaving three children.
At the time the Morton family came to and located at Farmer College the country was very sparsely settled. there being only three houses between their place and the village of Newton. In 1859 Elizabeth Morton married Miles L. Bishop, a young farmer, who died in 1870, leaving her with five small children, namely: Eva, born November 12, 1860, is the wife of John MeIllece, and lives in Webster county, Nebraska, where they own a farm of three hundred and twenty acres ; George M. and Charlie, twins, born June 5. 1862. George lives in Scott county, Iowa, and Charlie lives at Baxter. Iowa, where he is engaged in business. He also owns land in North Dakota : Hattie L., born June 7. 1864, married Frank Truman, lives at Lemoyne. Wood county, Ohio: Delbert E., born July 20, 1866, lives in Des Moines, Iowa. On February 2. 1875, Mrs. Bishop married Andrew J. Brokaw, and to them were born three children, namely: Mina, born March 7, 1877, married Charles Earl in 1899, lives in Rock Island, Illinois; J. A., born December 8, 1880, married Ethel Taylor December 9. 1907, lives at Newton, Iowa, and a boy who died in infancy.
In 1901 Mr. and Mrs. Brokaw sold the home farm, where she had lived since a girl for over forty years, and purchased property in Newton. Their home is located in the southeast part of the city, where they have three acres of land. They also own a small tract of timber land in Kellogg township. Mr. Brokaw retired from active life when he left the farm in 1901. His family is of French extraction, while Mrs. Brokaw is of Scotch descent on her mother's side and English on her father's. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church in Newton. active and zealous in all the branches of that institution.
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WV. M. GUESSFORD.
The methods of W. M. Guessford, well known real estate and insurance man of Newton, who for many years was a leading farmer of Jasper county. have always been progressive, and he is quick to adopt new ideas which he believes will be of practical value in his work. Indolence and idleness have been entirely foreign to his nature and owing to his close application to his business and his honorable methods he has won the prosperity that he richly merited, while he enjoys the friendship and esteem of the people throughout the county.
Mr. Guessford was born in Adair county, Kentucky, November 20, 1848. He is the son of William D. and Emily J. ( Smith) Guessford, both natives of Kentucky. The father emigrated to Missouri in 1850, coming on to Iowa in 1856. locating four miles south of Newton where he remained until seventeen years ago, when he moved to Newton and died here in October. 1906. He devoted his life to farming and his efforts were crowned with abundant success. He was a good citizen, but plain. and retiring, seeking no public honors. The mother of the subject passed away when he was but seven years old, in 1855. preceding her husband to the grave over half a cen- tury. They were the parents of six children, four of whom are living, namely : Mrs. Louise Booyer, of Viola, Illinois; Mrs. Anngemona Springer, of Har- lan, lowa: D. M., of Summer, Nebraska; and W. M. of this review. The father of these children married a second time, his last wife being Lucy Evart, a native of New Jersey, this union resulting in the birth of five chil- dren, four of whom are living, namely: Joshua and Leander, both of New- ton ; George lives southeast of Newton ; and Ida lives in Newton.
W. M. Guessford grew to maturity on his father's farm and assisted in the general work about the place. He received a very good education in the public schools, and he has made farming his chief life work, following the same with unabated success for a period of thirty-five years in Jasper county, having maintained a very desirable, productive and well improved place ten miles southeast of Newton. Seven years ago he gave up farming and moved to Newton where he has since engaged in real estate and the insurance business with singular success, having succeeded in building up a very satisfactory patronage. He is well informed on the various grades and range in prices of real estate in this locality and his scrupulous honesty in all his dealings with his fellow men has given him an excellent standing in the business world, so that he has both the good will and the confidence of all who know him.
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Mr. Guessford is the owner of two valuable farms, one of eighty acres a mile south of Newton, and one of one hundred sixty-seven and a half acres near Colfax.
On September 29, 1869, he married Catherine I. Blakely, a native of Ohio. She was the daughter of Z. W. and Elizabeth Blakely, who came to Jasper county, Iowa, in 1866.
The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Guessford : Cora ; Edward lives east of Newton; Mrs. Lucretia Donald lives in Wayne county, Iowa, near Corydon; Elmer lives near Cambria, Wayne county, Iowa : James R. is associated with his father and is also in the auction busi- ness ; Earl C. is employed in the First National Bank of Newton. Mr. and Mrs. Guessford are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, Mr. Guessford being a teacher in the Sunday school ; their children also belong to this church. Mr. Guessford is an enthusiastic worker in the church and Sunday school and has held every official position in the church. Fraternally. he belongs to the Woodmen of the World.
HON. ELI E. DOTSON.
Herein is recorded the life history of a man who has been long, actively and prominently concerned in the affairs of Colfax and vicinity, one who dur- ing his life has been a practical and progressive teacher, an able and successful farmer, an efficient servant of the people in his state's legislative halls, and is now a prominent banker and business man of Colfax, a man whom the people trust implicitly, because they have seen him tried in so many situations in life -Hon. Eli E. Dotson.
Eli E. Dotson was born in Edgar county, Illinois, on February 20, 1847, and was brought to Jasper county, Iowa, in June, 1848, by his parents. He is the son of Charles A. Dotson, whose sketch see in this work. He was reared on the home farm, two and one-half miles north of Colfax, and attended the common schools. Then, showing a fondness for books and education be- yond that of most farm boys, he attended Grinnell College. For several terms he taught school in Jasper county, and for a time in Colfax, and in this capac- ity became well known, and because of his forceful personality and mastery of his profession he exerted a strong influence for good on the pupils who came under his instruction. He became the owner of a large tract of land west of Colfax in Washington township, and resided on the farm from 1876 to 1897, during which time he prospered. In 1897 he moved to Colfax and
Sincerely yours
D
Dotson
THE NEW YORK {PUBLIC LIBRARY
1. TOM LENOX T. DIE FOUNDATIONS
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now resides there. but still manages his farm of five hundred acres personally. with the same capability which he exercised when he lived upon it. At the organization of the First National Bank of Colfax Mr. Dotson became vice- president and later cashier, and his ability has had much to do with the prog- ress and prosperity of that institution, one of the soundest of Jasper county's banking establishments.
Mr. Dotson is a Republican in politics and early held the offices of town- ship clerk, trustee, member of the school board, and other local offices. In 1879 he was elected to the lowa Legislature from Jasper county, and re-elected in 1881. He served in the sessions of 1880 and 1882, and in the latter session was chairman of the committee on schools, which was in that session one of the most important committees, as several significant laws in regard to educa- tion were considered by the Assembly. Here Mr. Dotson's experience and reputation as a teacher had equipped him to render efficient service. Mr. Dot- son has been chairman of the county central committee and has long been very active in county and state politics. In fraternal relations he is a member of the Masons, of the Mystic Shrine, and of the Knights of Pythias.
In 1868 Mr. Dotson was married in Jasper county to Mary Ellen Hurst, the daughter of Alfred Hurst, of Jasper county. She bore to him the follow- ing children : Ulysses, now principal of schools at Salem, Oregon : the Rev. Charles .A., of Portland, California, pastor of the Christian church ; Doctor Eli E., of Corning, Oregon ; Seymour H., and Sarah Belle, the wife of Ed Bolen, of Poweshiek county, lowa. Mr. Dotson was married a second time to Anna Triplett, of Jasper county. To this marriage one child was born, Hugh L .. of the United States navy, on the flagship "Tennessee" of the North Atlantic squadron.
Mr. Dotson is well known to the people of Colfax, and they fully realize the value of his services to the community and the worth of his character. For this reason words of encomium are unnecessary, beyond saying that he is known in such a way as to create respect for the man who has builded his life so admirably.
RALPH ROBINSON.
Ralph Robinson, who died July 21, 1911, was for many years the able editor of the Newton Journal. He was born in Washington county. Penn- sylvania. September 11. 1830. But little information is before the writer regarding the early history of the Robinson family. We learn. however,
(30)
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that they originated in the north of Ireland and were all Protestants, and by occupation small farmers and weavers. The paternal great-grandfather was quite a leader in his community, and was at one time master of the grand lodge of the Orangemen of Ireland.
The family was numbered among the early Methodists of Ireland, and John Wesley, when in the neighborhood, visited the subject's grandfather, to whom he wrote a number of letters. Large families have always been characteristic of the Robinsons. In his great-grandfather's family there were fifteen children : in his grandfather's thirteen, and in his father's family nine, consisting of seven sons and two daughters. Of these last. two brothers and one sister are now living.
William Robinson, father of the subject. was brought to this country when a young nian, together with two others bearing the same name as he. by an uncle whose name was also William Robinson. This uncle was a unique character, of liberal education and a bachelor. The object of his life was to free Ireland, and he came to America with the determination to make a fortune and eventually use it in bringing about the accomplishment of the aim of his life. He possessed a remarkable memory and in all his numerous business transactions never kept a book, depending on his memory for every- thing in this line. He was always very reticent, and never conversed with relatives or friends of his business transactions unless obliged to do so. It is believed that he accumulated a fortune of some two or three million dollars. and was doubtiess preparing to devote it to the object for which it was made. when he was seized with a stroke of apoplexy and died without leaving any information to his relatives or friends of where his accumulations were in- vested, and the lawyers in the large cities where his interests were supposed to be. being discreet enough to keep silent after his death, neither Ireland nor his relatives received any benefit from his large fortune.
The father of the subject was one of a pair of twins, the tenth addition to the family. He settled in Washington, Washington county. Pennsylvania. where he opened a small weaving shop. and early in life married Margaret Bushfield, of Greensburg. Westmoreland county. Pennsylvania. Energetic and industrious: a man of keen intelligence and judicious management, he prospered in business, and at the time of his death, which occurred in Wash- ington, Pennsylvania, in 1834. he was a wealthy man. While engaged in weaving, he employed many apprentices. Having always been a Methodist. he was among the first to join the Methodist Protestant church after the division of the Methodist Episcopal church, and was a very devoted member of the denomination. To aid the cause, he made it a point to "graduate"
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preachers from among his apprentices at the weaver's bench, and in that way he added a dozen or more ministers to the pulpit of the church, the most prominent of them being Doctor Mcclintock, of Philadelphia.
Since coming to this country the Robinson family has been largely engaged in business enterprises, more particularly in the weaving, paper and iron business. One of the subject's uncles built the Benwood Iron Mills. at Benwood, three miles south of Wheeling, West Virginia, and a brother was extensively interested in paper mills, owning an interest in several large concerns. Quite a number of his immediate family have been newspaper publishers. His eldest brother, Samuel, was for a time connected with the Washington ( Pennsylvania ) Reporter. His brother, James G., in company with D. R. Locke ( the famous "Nasby"), first published the Advertiser, at Plymouth, Richland county, Ohio, afterward the Mansfield Herald, at Mans- field, Ohio, and then the Bucyrus Journal.
Subsequently the subject of this sketch purchased Mr. Locke's interest in the last named paper, after which he and his brother published it for sev- eral years. Another brother. William T., learned the printer's trade in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and first published the Republican at Knoxville. Illinois, then the Journal at Leon. Decatur county, lowa, and is now publishing the Opinion at Glenwood, lowa, having been a publisher for nearly forty years. When the senior Mr. Robinson died, in 1834. the subject was a child of four years, and his mother was left a widow with seven chil- dren. Soon afterwards financial reverses came, and in 1837 the family re- moved to Beverly, Washington county, Ohio, from which point the children began to scatter. In 1840 the mother and three children removed to Morris- town. Belmont county, Ohio, thence to Cambridge, and finally returned to Beverly, where she died in 1841.
Very early in life the struggle for existence began with the subject of this sketch. At eleven years of age. he having determined to learn the trade of a printer, we find him at Meadow Farm, Muskingum county, Ohio, where he found a place with the Rev. Cornelius Springer, who was then publishing the Western Recorder, Methodist Protestant paper. There he remained about two and one-half years, after which he worked for a time on the Zanesville Aurora, and from there went to Wheeling. West Virginia, where he entered the office of the Wheeling Times, then under the management of James E. Wharton. In that office his term of apprenticeship was completed, after which he attended school in Wheeling for two terms.
We next find Mr. Robinson a teacher in the public schools for one year. This profession, however, did not suit his taste, for while he desired to be a
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