USA > Iowa > Jasper County > Past and present of Jasper County, Iowa, Vol. I > Part 59
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72
H. S. MORRISON.
Standing with the best citizens of his county and state and a man whose sterling worth and inherent human kindness endears him to all who know him is H. S. Morrison. Jasper county can boast of no better all round man; no more affable, courteous gentleman than he. He was born in Orange county, New York, November 27, 1851, his father, H. S. Morrison, Sr., and his mother, Harriet Mariah Jackson Sherman, being also natives of that great state. The father was born August 31, 1809, and died April 22, 1854, at the age of forty-six years, dying in New York when the subject of this review was but three years old. The father was principally a farmer, although he kept a store for a brief period. The mother, born September 15, 1814, shortly after the death of her husband in 1856, removed with her family to Wisconsin, where the business of farming was carried on until 1863, when the family came to Iowa, settling in Scott county. Here land was rented and farming re- sumed, the sons doing the work. In the fall of 1869 another move was made,
622
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
this time to Jasper county, the family settling upon a farm ten miles northeast of Newton, upon which they remained until 1891, at which time the subject of this sketch and a brother, together with the mother, moved into Newton, where they have remained ever since. The mother died January 25, 1901, while making her home with her children
It was something like forty-one years ago when Mr. Morrison, the sub- ject of this sketch, came to Jasper county, and settled on one hundred and sixty acres of raw prairie. Newton was then but a small town and wolves were plentiful, but he went to work with a stout heart and built a small house. By untiring and earnest effort, he and his brothers came to own over one thousand acres of land in the county. At one time, the years of 1873-4. he operated a threshing machine in the county.
Mr. Morrison is one of nine children, five boys and four girls, of whom four are living, Mr. Harrison being the youngest of the family. The living ones are : John W., who resides in Wisconsin, aged seventy-one years. He has retired from active business. He was a soldier in the Northern army dur- ing the Civil war: Catherine E. Wallace, aged sixty-six, wife of John Wallace, retired farmer, resides in Springfield. Pennsylvania; Sarah E. Brown, aged sixty-two, wife of James M. Brown, a retired business man and Civil war veteran, resides in Newton ; the next and last is Mr. Morrison, of this history.
Upon September 9, 1891, Mr. Morrison was united in marriage with Mattie Pickens, daughter of James and Eliza (Gordon) Pickens, both of whom were natives of Ireland, her parents having married in Ireland, and coming to America in 1868. landing at New York. From New York they came to Scott county, Iowa, where they remained for nine years, after which they came to Jasper county, settling upon purchased land northeast of Newton.
In 1899, Mrs. Morrison's father died, at the age of sixty-eight years. Her mother is still living, making her home with a daughter, Mrs. David Paul, of Grinnell, Iowa. Mrs. Morrison is one of six children, namely : Mary A. Morrison, born April 1, 1855, died December 24, 1902. She married a brother of the subject of this review; Margaret H. Paul, wife of David Paul. retired. resides in Grinnell, born March 4. 1857: Thomas A., born May 14, 1859, resides in Newton: Eliza G. Bergman, wife of Henry G. Bergman, a horse dealer of Newton, was born November 5. 1861 : Hannah Lyman, wife of J. Fred Lyman, a farmer, was born December 14. 1863, and resides in Rockwell City, Iowa: Mattie B., wife of the subject of this sketch, was born July 7, 1868.
To Mr. and Mrs. Morrison have been born four children, all boys and all living at home : Horace Henry, born August 28. 1892: Leland P .. born
623
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
October 21, 1895: Charles William, born July 28, 1899: James Gordon, born May 16, 1905.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Morrison are members of the First Presbyterian church of Newton, Mrs. Morrison being also a member of the Ladies' Aid Society and the Woman's Missionary Society. She is a teacher in the Sun- day school, an earnest worker in the church and a most interesting and estim- able woman. Mr. Morrison is also a teacher in the Sabbath school and for sixteen years has been ruling elder in his church. He is also a member of Newton Lodge No. 59. Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and of Gebal Chapter No. 12, Royal Arch Masons. Always an active temperance worker, he is a member of the Anti-Saloon League, has served as director, secretary and treasurer of county schools and justice of the peace of his township. He is also vice-president of the Farmers Mutual Fire and Lightning Insurance Company.
At one time Mr. Morrison engaged in the hardware business in Newton for eight years, selling out to go to California. He remained there but one year, however, when he returned to Newton. He traces his family back to the Revolution and is eligible to join the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution.
CAPT. JACOB ROOKER WITMER.
Jacob R. Witmer was born near Safe Harbor, Lancaster county, Penn- sylvania, the son of J. S. and Mary (Parker) Witmer. This family is of Swiss descent, the great-great-grandfather, John Witmer, having been born in that country in 1688. He came to America and located in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1728. The Captain's great-grandfather was Michael Wit- mer and his grandfather was Herman Witmer. Mary Parker, mentioned above, was the daughter of Abram and Elizabeth (Ebby ) Parker, both natives of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania.
Captain Witmer was one of a family of ten children, an equal number of sons and daughters, three besides himself coming to Jasper county.
Captain Witmer was reared in his native state and educated in the public schools. He came to Jasper county, Iowa, in 1866 and here launched in the lumber business, running a saw-mill and maintaining a lumber yard, and here he resided until his death. He was married here to Lizzie Kendig, daughter of John and Maria (Kaufman) Kendig, pioneers of Sherman township, this county, who came from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, the father being now
624
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
deceased. The wife of the subject was called to her rest on February 6, 1900, when fifty years of age. The following children were born of this union : Emma married Peter Pink, of Sherman township; Minnie is the wife of George Sapp, formerly of Colfax, now of Sunnyside, Washington; Mary is the wife of Hamilton Sumpter, of Acton, Iowa; Lincoln Witmer, who is engaged in the lumber business at Kennewick, Washington, served two years in the marine service of the United States in this country and two years in the Philippine Islands; Cora married Milo Kapel, of Tacoma, Washington ; Jacob lives at Denver, Colorado; Cristal, who has remained single, lives in Des Moines, Iowa.
Captain Witmer's war record is a notable one. Scarcely had news of the firing on Fort Sumter been received when he offered his services in defense of the flag, enlisting in April, 1861, and serving throughout the conflict and even a year after the surrender, not leaving the service until in April, 1866. He served as a private in Company B, Seventy-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and as second lieutenant of Company E, Two Hundred and Four- teenth Volunteer Infantry, of that state and he was mustered out as first lieu- tenant of his company. He was in the Army of the West and took part in the battle of Perryville, Kentucky; later he was transferred to the Army of the Potomac and served with it in the Shenandoah valley. He was captain of a company of one hundred soldiers that guarded the prison where Captain Wertz was confined, and in the absence of his captain, the subject acted as provost marshal at Annapolis, Maryland.
E. M. S. MCLAUGHLIN.
The name of E. M. S. Mclaughlin, of Newton, needs no introduction to the professional circles of central Iowa. Selecting the law as his sphere early in life, he has devoted his energies to that, ignoring other aspirations to make himself what he is today, a thorough master of legal science in all its ramifications. The common law, the statutes of Iowa, the history, progress and growth of jurisprudence, as well as the higher and more abstruse prin- ciples of equity, are all completely at his command, constituting him a leader at the bar, which position is readily conceded him by his associates.
Mr. McLaughlin was born in Hamilton county, Iowa, November 4, 1869, the son of Angus and Catherine (Sells) Mclaughlin, the father a native of Ohio and the mother of Pennsylvania, the paternal grandparents being natives of Scotland and the maternal grandparents of Pennsylvania. Angus Mc-
E. M. S. McLAUGHLIN
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTON LENOX TILBEN FOUNDAT INE
625
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
Laughlin spent his active life engaged in agricultural pursuits, and is at present living retired in Los Angeles, California. He came west to Iowa in 1855, and entered land in Hamilton county, which land he improved, trans- forming it from the wild prairie to a fine farm, the same still being in pos- session of the family. At one time he was the owner of four hundred and twenty-six acres, which, since his retirement, has been added to by the sub- ject and his brothers until they now own jointly nine hundred and fifty-nine acres in one body, all well kept and valuable land, situated in one of the most favored agricultural sections in the state.
Angus McLaughlin is a man of exceptional intelligence and sterling innate characteristics. He was always much interested in educational mat- ters, also politics, having served the Republican party in many capacities, having been supervisor of his county for two terms besides holding other offices, always with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of all con- cerned. His wife died on February 22, 1909, at the age of seventy years. In an early day the father made a trip across the western plains to the Black Hills and to Colorado, where he mined gold for a year. He is now making his home with his daughter, Elizabeth A. Mclaughlin, an osteopathic phy- sician of Los Angeles. His other children are : J. J., a veterinary surgeon of Blue Earth, Minnesota ; A. A., of Des Moines, is attorney for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company : E. M. S., of this review; W. M. is an at- torney at Des Moines and ex-city solicitor of that place; Maud M. is the wife of D. D. McGillivary, an attorney of Lowden, Iowa.
E. M. S. Mclaughlin remained on the home farm until the fall of 1889, then attended the Northern Iowa Normal School at Algona for one term, teaching the winter term of school. The following August he entered the Iowa State College at Ames for a four years' course, teaching during the win- ters. He made an excellent record and was graduated from that institution with the degree of Bachelor of Electrical Engineering, on November 10, 1894. Then he again taught school and worked some at his chosen calling.
On February 26, 1896, Mr. Mclaughlin was united in marriage with Minnie A. Parmenter, of Polk county, Iowa, and the daughter of Edward and Anna Parmenter, of Ohio. They came to Iowa in an early day and spent their active lives in farming; the father is now deceased, but the mother survives. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. McLaughlin, Ruth and Ralph, both of whom are at home and in school.
After his marriage Mr. Mclaughlin lived on his farm for three years, after which he entered the law department of Drake University, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He applied himself
(40)
626
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
very assiduously to his studies, becoming exceptionally well equipped for his life work, and in 1900 he opened a law office in Newton, which he has since maintained, doing a general practice in all courts and building up a large and constantly increasing clientele. He has met with a large measure of success, being a careful, painstaking, tireless and honest advocate and exceptionally strong in the trial of cases. His reputation extends far beyond the limits of his county and has placed him in the front ranks of his professional brethren in this section of the state which has long been noted for its high order of legal ability.
Mr. McLaughlin has long been active in the affairs of the Republican party and is at this time chairman of the county central committee. His advice and counsel is freely sought in campaigns by candidates and political leaders. He was formerly a member of the Newton Business Men's Asso- ciation. Fraternally, a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, he is state consul of that organization, and served as its delegate to Indianapolis in 1903 and at Milwaukee in 1905, and he was delegate to the head camp at Buffalo in June, 1911. He is also a member of the Brotherhood of American Yeoman, being its delegate to the grand conclave at Colorado Springs in 1903. He was also sent to Minneapolis in 1909 as a member of the national law committee and is at this time chairman of the national committee of appeals and grievances of said order. He is a member of the Delta Lodge No. 53, Knights of Pythias, of Newton. Personally, Mr. Mclaughlin is a very pleasant gentleman, courteous, genial, obliging, straightforward and unas- suming.
JOSEPH R. SITLER.
To say that a man has been true to himself all his days, is to pay him a very great compliment, but to add to this that he has been a good father, kind and considerate husband, brave soldier and a man whose citizenship has been without taint or flaw is to place that man high among his fellows. Yet these things may be truthfully said of Joseph R. Sitler, the subject of this review.
Mr. Sitler was born in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, May 19, 1832, being the son of George Sitler, a native of Pennsylvania, and Sarah ( Robins) Sitler, a native of New York. He is one of eight children, of whom but four survive, as follows: Mr. Sitler, of this review, the eldest ; Henry F., born in 1836, resides in Dodge City, Kansas, of which city he has been one of the pioneer settlers and builders. An old cattle man and railroad contractor, he
627
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
has been one of the most important factors in the upbuilding of his home city, a portion of it being upon land which he formerly owned as a cattle ranch : Jessie R. Sitler, born in 1840, resides in Bliss, Oklahoma, and is engaged in the grain business ; Frank J. was killed at Axtell, Kansas, in 1909, by falling from a loaded straw wagon; he was born in 1845; Ida Wright, widow of Rev. Byron Wright, a Methodist minister, resides in New York City: Anna, wife of Rev. Orin B. Coates, died at the age of twenty-six years, one week after her marriage, her death being as tragic as it was pitiful. Her husband of one week enlisted in the army and when the news of his enlistment was brought to her, she fell to the floor in a swoon, from which she never revived. The young husband went to the front a broken-hearted man. Two brothers of the subject died in infancy. Of Mr. Sitler's parents it may be said that they were hardy, God-fearing people of culture and refinement. The father was a farmer and was a stalwart among his fellow men. Neither ever removed from Penn- sylvania. Both are now deceased.
The military record of Mr. Sitler is as remarkable as it is creditable. Few men, even though they took part in that great civil war, were compelled to undergo the misery, hardship and privation through which Mr. Sitler passed. Modest and retiring in manner, he gave only some of the more strik- ing details of his varied army experience to the biographer, but it is easy to "read between the lines" and gather the full purport of what he passed through. On October 6, 1861, in company with forty-four neighbor boys, he enlisted in the Second Pennsylvania Cavalry, and was placed in the department of the army guarding Washington. For six months he took part in the famous chase after Mosby and his men, after which he was transferred to the Army of the Potomas. He took part in the second battle of Bull Run and was in the great battle of Gettysburg. Here it was he acted as first lieutenant of provost guards, the captain being absent, and, hurrying here and there, super- vising, directing and reporting to his superiors, he was under fire for hours. He saw the famous charge of rebel General Pickett. The next battle of im- portance in which he took part was that of Mine Run, Virginia, and for days thereafter was under fire. Then came the terrible battle of the Wilderness and the desultory fighting along the Rapidan river during which battle he was again in command. Before the battle of the Wilderness he was sent home to recruit men for the army, recruiting one hundred men from Crawford county, Pennsylvania, in one month. On April 26, 1864, along with four hundred men who had been home on furlough, he re-enlisted and was soon in the thick of the fight, two days thereafter being detailed with a scouting party to watch the actions of the rebel cavalry along the Rappahannock river. On the night
628
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
of May 7, 1864, following the battle of the Wilderness, he was captured and marched to General Lee's headquarters, where he was kept for twelve days in company with forty-four officers and fourteen hundred other prisoners, with no rations except what they were able to buy for themselves. Next they were marched to Lynchburg, Virginia, a distance of sixty-five miles, two crackers being issued to each prisoner before starting. Some of the men got none. At Lynchburg the men were robbed of everything they possessed, and were then taken to Macon, Georgia, to the rebel prison camp. Here they were kept until July 10, when they were taken to Savannah, and then to Charleston, South Carolina. Here it was that they were confined to the jail yard and the Northern prisoners were exposed purposely to the Northern artillery fire in order that an exchange might be enforced, but none was made. October 9, 1864, they were taken to "Camp Sorghum," South Carolina, so called for the reason that the rations consisted of a pint of corn meal each day and all the sorghum molasses they could use. From Camp Sorghum they were taken across the river and put in the asylum prison at Columbia. Then a number of moves were made to Raleigh, North Carolina, to Wilmington, South Caro- lina, and to many other places in the vain attempt to avoid the fast approaching Northern army, but finally at Wilmington, Mr. Sitler, along with many others was paroled. Here occurred one of those striking and romantic incidents so frequent in the great war. Standing among the Northern troops was a tall, commanding looking man, who eyed the subject of this sketch as he moved about among the other wretched prisoners. Suddenly, something familiar appealed to him and he clasped the thin hand of the prisoner. It was his brother, Jesse, at that time an adjutant of the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania. After a long siege in the hospitals, finding him unable to serve further, the authorities gave Mr. Sitler an honorable discharge as first lieutenant and he returned home.
Mr. Sitler was commissioned to serve on court martial duty twice, first after the battle of Gettysburg and second at Annapolis. Maryland. This was an exceptional honor to be given a line officer and he was the junior member of the court both times.
Mr. Sitler is a member of Garrett Post No. 16, Grand Army of the Republic, of Newton, of which he has been adjutant since 1895. He has also been commander of the post. He came to Jasper county August 2, 1866, and has resided here ever since with the exception of one year spent in Dodge City, Kansas. On February 16. 1864, he married Carrie Spalding, daughter of Rev. Josiah Spalding, who bore him the following children: Harry, born March 1, 1867, residing in Jasper county ; Anna, born January 12, 1869, is
629
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
unmarried, and resides with her father at home; one child died in infancy, the wife and mother dying soon after.
On March 2, 1881, Mr. Sitler was married to Rebecca Goodrich, daughter of Levi Goodrich, a native of Maine. She still survives and is the considerate and loyal companion of Mr. Sitler, being a sweet-faced woman of rare ac- complishments. Both Mr. and Mrs. Sitler are members of the Congrega- tional church of Newton and Mrs. Sitler is prominent in temperance work, being an active member of the Anti-Saloon League.
Mr. Sitler is a large land owner, besides owning elegant city property and being interested in the Jasper County Mutual Fire and Lightning Insurance Company, of which he has been treasurer for seventeen years. Few men are better known and none are more respected. In politics Mr. Sitler is a Re- publican.
CAPT. FELIX WOODARD COZAD.
A romantic glamour clings about the life history of Capt. Felix Woodard Cozad, gold digger of the days of the "forty-niners," loyal soldier and officer in the great Civil war and now retired business man of Newton, Jasper county, who, although well past his eightieth milestone, is hale and hearty, as straight as a pine, and as alert as most men of fifty. He comes of a hardy New England ancestry. His grandfather was born just at the close of the Revolutionary war, and when he was nine years old he was playing with three younger brothers when a band of Indians surprised and captured them, carrying them away into captivity. The youngest, unable to keep up, cried bitterly and was promptly brained with a tomahawk. The others were held captive four years before they were rescued by their father. They had by that time become so attached to the Indians and the Indians to them, that it was with great difficulty that the father persuaded them to go home with him.
Captain Cozad was born in Lewis county, West Virginia, February 17, 1827, being the son of Jacob W. and Beedy (Beaman) Cozad, the father born in the same county as the subject and the mother in Vermont. She died when the son Felix W. was four years old, and the father being left alone with three small children, remarried, his second wife being Phoebe Beeman, who was a sister of the first wife. By the first marriage there were born these chil- dren : Jacob C., now deceased ; Cecelia, the widow of Jacob Pifer, lives in Buckhannon, Upshire county, West Virginia, the home of her birth; and Felix W., of this sketch. The second marriage resulted in the birth of Clara,
630
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
who married Luther Black, and died in Colorado, whither she had gone for her health; David is now living in Butler county, Ohio; Francis Marion, who has not been heard from for twenty-five years; George W. died in Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1882. The death of the father of these children occurred in 1845, while yet a young man, only thirty-eight years old.
Soon after attaining his majority, early in 1849, Captain Cozad, of this review, engaged in the manufacture of carriages in Cincinnati. Later in that year, attracted by the stories of treasure and adventure coming from the far West, he set out by way of the isthmus of Panama for the new Eldorado. The holidays of 1849-50 were spent on the isthmus at a point not far from where the present great canal is being built. In January, 1850, he embarked on a sailing vessel up the Pacific coast, arriving at San Francisco on April 8th fol- lowing, the landing there being made upon the bare shore, there being no wharf of any kind there at that time. Securing his mining outfit, he plunged into the interior wilds of that region, finally locating in Trinity county, where he remained two years, spending three years in all in the gold diggings, during which time he met with far greater success than many others of the great army of prospectors. In June, 1853, he returned to Cincinnati and in 1854 came to Newton, Iowa, being among the pioneers of this region, and here engaged in the mercantile business, which he continued until 1862, when Lin- coln issued his call for three hundred thousand volunteers, whereupon Mr. Cozad closed out his business and in four days' time raised a company of one hundred men, of which he was elected captain, this being Company D, For- tieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He was soon at the front, proving to be an efficient and gallant officer, remaining until the close of hostilities, being hon- orably discharged on March 27, 1865, ten days prior to the actual close of the war. While he did not participate in any of the great battles of the war, he took part in many lively skirmishes and was in the famous siege of Vicks- burg. During the last year of his service he was taken sick with chills and fever and forced to enter the regimental hospital, and from there he was sent home, this illness causing him to tender his resignation a few days before the close of the war. According to his comrades, he made a very efficient officer.
In 1856 Captain Cozad was united in marriage with Sarah A. Scott, a native of Richmond, Virginia, and this union resulted in the birth of three children, as follows : Ida V., born February 14. 1857, who married George B. Mccullough, now residing in Jefferson, Iowa; Charles B., born in April, 1859, engaged in the drug and jewelry business in Adel, Iowa, married Laura Cowman, and he has been postmaster at Prairie City for years; Cecelia C., born February 14, 1862, died when four years old. The wife and mother
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.