USA > Iowa > Jasper County > Past and present of Jasper County, Iowa, Vol. II > Part 16
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later, Mr. Livingston sold out and came to Fairmount, buying out the gen- eral store there. For two years he was in partnership with George Volk, then A. J. Porter bought Mr. Volk's interest and he and Mr. Livingston were partners one year, when J. M. Porter bought the subject's interest. Two years later Mr. Livingston bought the interest of J. M. Porter and has since conducted the business by himself, and is enjoying an ever-growing trade. He has a neat store and always carries a full and up-to-date stock of goods. He has recently greatly increased the stock, and he supplies an extensive country trade.
Politically. Mr. Livingston is a Democrat. He is giving most satisfac- tory service as postmaster at Fairmount, which position he has held since 1901. He is a member of the Methodist church.
On September 28, 1908, Mr. Livingston was united in marriage with Ida May Porter, a native of Des Moines and the daughter of J. M. Porter and wife. They have one child. Ray Porter Livingston, born December 20, 1903. Personally, Mr. Livingston is honest and genial and is well liked by his hundreds of customers.
LEVI M. CHURCHILL.
The subject of this sketch is one of the progressive young agriculturists of Fairview township, Jasper county, whose well improved and productive farm ranks with the best in his locality, having been well tilled and well managed by Mr. Churchill and brought up to its present high state of excel- lency by him. His success has been won entirely along lines of well estab- lished customs, for he realized at the outset that "There is no excellence without labor."
Levi M. Churchill was born in the community where he still resides and where, in fact. he has spent his life. on September 24, 1877. He is the son of H. L. Churchill, a well known farmer and stock man, of this county, a complete sketch of whom appears on another page of this work, to which the reader is respectfully referred. The subject has three brothers and one sister living.
Mr. Churchill was reared on the farm where he worked when a boy. He attended the Capital Prairie district school and the Monroe high school, later took a course in the Iowa Business College at Des Moines for two years. Returning home when he was twenty-one years old, he farmed on the home place for a year, and the following year he began farming for his
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father on one hundred and twenty acres adjoining the home place and eighty acres of the home place. In 1902 he was married and moved onto one of his father's farms a half-mile north of Fairmount. He has been very suc- cessful as a general farmer and stock raiser. He feeds large numbers of cattle from year to year. He raises thoroughbred, double standard Polled Hereford cattle, and his fine stock are much admired by all.
Politically, Mr. Churchill is a Republican, and he belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America. He is a member of the Baptist church.
Mr. Churchill was married on December 24. 1902, to Florence E. Mar- tin, who was born in Sarpy county. Nebraska, July 1. 1882. the daughter of Jacob Martin. This union has been without issue.
THOMAS M. JONES.
One of the popular, neighborly and public spirited families of the north- western part of Jasper county is that represented by the subject of this biographical record, a people who look not to the accumulation of material wealth as the sole reason of existence, being content when they know that others have been made happy and that they have been of some service to humanity and the community in general.
Thomas M. Jones, of the vicinity of Baxter, was born in Fulton county, Illinois, March 11, 1854, where he grew to manhood and received his educa- tional training and took up farming for a livelihood, which he has continued to follow to the present time. He came to Iowa in 1891 and has since remained here. He is the son of Washington and Elizabeth (Hurl) Jones, the former dying in Illinois and the latter, who was born August 26, 1825, is living at Ottumwa, Iowa, being now advanced in years. There were three children in the Jones family, namely : Joseph lives in Arkansas; the second, a son, died in infancy ; Thomas M., of this review, is the youngest.
Thomas M. Jones grew up on the farm and was educated in the common schools. On February 21, 1875, he was united in marriage with Melinda E. Drummond, who was born in Vermillion county, Indiana, January 3, 1857. When six months old her parents took her to Illinois, where she grew to womanhood. She was the daughter of John and Eliza ( Hasty ) Drummond. The former, who was born in Indiana, enlisted for service in the Union army from Illinois, made a gallant soldier and died while in the service on August 10, 1865. The mother, born in 1834, died in Illinois in 1901. There were
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five children in the Drummond family, namely: Melinda E., wife of Mr. Jones, of this review ; Mrs. Mary Anderson lives in Canton, Illinois; Mrs. C. E. Beard also lives in Illinois; Mrs. Livona Coakley is residing in Inde- pendence township, Jasper county ; Hubert lives in Seville, Illinois.
To Mr. and Mrs. Thomas M. Jones eleven children have been born as follows: Mrs. Mary E. Bartelle, born January 4, 1876, is living in Collins, Iowa; Mrs. Melinda E. Miles, born in Jasper county, October 7, 1877, lives in Los Angeles, California ; Mrs. Belle Tracy, born October 26, 1879. lives at Collins; John lives near Collins; Clet, born in Illinois, January 5, 1885, is living in Jasper county ; William Louis, born June 24. 1887, also lives in Jasper county ; Mrs. Maud E. Haley, born October 29, 1889: Hubert D., born December 23. 1891, lives at home ; Ira W., born August 4, 1894, lives at home; Frank, born October 5. 1896, lives at home; Vilda May, born February 23. 1900. There are fourteen grandchildren, all living.
Politically. Mr. Jones is a Democrat. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Baxter, and both he and Mrs. Jones to the Yeomen at Collins and the Rebekahs at Baxter. This family is known for its hospi- tality and friendliness.
FREDERICK ORLAND RORABAUGH.
One of the most enterprising of the younger agriculturists and stock men of Mound Prairie township, Jasper county, is Frederick Orland Rora- baugh, who was born in this township. July 27, 1882, the son of John M. and Julia (Kelly) Rorabaugh, the father a native of Pennsylvania and the mother of New York City. The father came to Jasper county in an early day with his father, Israel Rorabaugh, and they bought several hundred acres in Mound Prairie township, becoming leading farmers here and among the most influential citizens in the pioneer days. For a full history of this well-known old family, the reader is referred to the sketch of John M. Rorabaugh, appear- ing complete on another page of this volume.
Frederick O. Rorabaugh grew up on the home farm and when but a boy he assisted with the general work there, and the training he received has stood him well in hand in his subsequent life work. He received a very good education in the rural schools of his native township, which he attended during the winter months for a number of years. He has been contented to remain in this locality and his life has been devoted to agricultural pursuits, and. judging from the excellent start he has at such an early age, one must
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conclude that the future holds large things in store for him as a tiller of the soil and a stock raiser, for he has been taught to have system about his affairs, performing every detail exactly as it should be performed, never following slipshod methods. He began by renting his father's farm of one hundred and eight acres, which he has kept well improved and well tilled, carrying on general farming and stock raising.
Politically, Mr. Rorabaugh is a Republican and, fraternally, be belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Improved Order of Red Men.
Mr. Rorabaugh was married on October 30, 1907, to Mary Jane Hum- mel, who was born in Fairview township, this county, reared and educated here. She is the daughter of John M. Hummel, one of our early settlers and a highly respected citizen. Two children have been born to the subject and wife, John Orland and Glenwood.
JOHN M. RORABAUGH.
Very largely to his own efforts is the success of John M. Rorabaugh, well known agriculturist of Mound Prairie township, Jasper county, attrib- utable, for he has been a man of resourcefulness and self-reliance all his life, preferring to depend upon no one to do his planning or his work, and, being ambitious and industrious, he has forged to the front in the face of obstacles.
Mr. Rorabaugh was born in Clearfield county, Pennsylvania, May 24, 1848. He is the son of Israel and Phoebe (McQuillan) Rorabaugh, both natives of Pennsylvania, the father born in 1819, and there they grew up and were married, and in that country Israel Rorabaugh followed lumbering. He hewed out frame timber and rafted it down the Susquehanna river. In 1860 he emigrated with his family to Jasper county, Iowa, and located in Mound Prairie township. He had come here previously, in 1857, and bought one hundred and forty acres, after which he went back to Pennsylvania. Later he bought one hundred and sixty acres more and in 1892, having accumu- lated a competency, he retired from active life and moved to Colfax and there he made his home until his death, in 1902, his widow surviving until 1905. He and his wife were members of the United Brethren church in early life, but after coming to Colfax they joined the Methodist church. He was a Republican and for some time he served his community as justice of the peace. His was a large family, twelve children, of whom John M., of this sketch, was the second in order of birth.
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John M. Rorabaugh attended the public schools in Pennsylvania and Iowa. At that time there was only one school in the township here and the subject had little chance to get an education. During the winter he worked at the old stage station, located where his house in Colfax now stands. He worked for his board so that he could attend school. When he was fifteen years of age he began working out as a farm hand. When he was twenty- three years old he bought eighty acres in Mound Prairie township. He improved this and added to it until he now owns two hundred acres of excel- lent land. He has met with a large measure of success as a general farmer. He retired from active life in the spring of 1911 and moved to Colfax. Polit- ically, he is a Republican and he belongs to the United Brethren church.
Mr. Rorabaugh was married on December 3, 1871, to Julia Kelly, who was born on East Fortieth street, New York City, December 15, 1852, the daughter of Patrick Kelly, a quarryman by occupation. In the fall of 1864 the Kelly family moved to Knox county, Illinois, and in 1870 they came on to Mound Prairie township, Jasper county, lowa, locating on a farm, and there Mr. Kelly lived the rest of his life, dying in 1888.
The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Rorabaugh : Mrs. Phoebe Elizabeth McCracken; Thomas Francis; Frederick Orland, who lives in Mound Prairie township, is represented in a separate sketch in ths volume; and Mrs. Mary E. Baker.
WILLIAM B. MCKINNEY.
The gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch was born January 17, 1839, at Noblesville, Indiana, the son of David and Rachel (Garrett) Mckinney, both natives of North Carolina. The family came in 1834 to Indiana and purchased land and settled in Hamilton county, that state. For more than twenty-five years Mr. Mckinney, Sr., carried on suc- cessful farming in the Hoosier state, at the expiration of which time he sold out his interests in Indiana and came to Iowa, locating first in Jasper county, in 1846, but a year later he purchased a large tract of land near Galesburg, where he lived until his death, which occurred in 1873, at the age of seventy- one years. He was among the early settlers in this county, and was a man of fearless and upright character. He was broad-minded and public spirited and commanded the respect and confidence of the community in which he lived, having held many and various township offices, being justice of the peace at Galesburg for a number of years. He was twice married. his first wife,
MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM B. MCKINNEY
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mother of the subject, dying at the age of twenty-seven years in Indiana. To this union there were born four children, of whom William B. was the young- est, the others being as follows : Margaret, now the widow of William Autry, living near Galesburg; Alfred, living in Washington; Mary, now the widow of Henry Hammer, living in Des Moines, Iowa. Mr. Mckinney's second marriage was to Adaline Hammer, to whom seven children were born, namely : James W., who was a lecturer, now deceased: Elizabeth F. died at the age of thirty-five; Henry, deceased; Gideon died on the home place near Galesburg, leaving a family; Ellen Ora, who married Thomas Hinshaw, is now deceased; Rosanna, now Mrs. T. Farmer, living on a farm near Parsons, Kansas; Rachel, now Mrs. George Landmesser, living on a farm in Pocahon- tas county, Iowa.
At the age of nineteen years, William B. Mckinney started out to make his own way in the world by farming and teaming. In 1862 he entered his country's service by enlisting in Company D, Tenth lowa Regiment, and at the expiration of his first term of enlistment he re-enlisted and served with distinction until the close of the war, being mustered out at Little Rock, Arkansas. He participated in twenty-seven battles, among them being Cham- pion's Hill, Corinth, luka, and many others, and went with Sherman on his celebrated march to the sea. He was twice wounded, the first time in the temple during the battle of Corinth, and on the 16th of May, 1863, at the battle of Champion's Hill, he was shot in the breast and severely wounded, and carries the bullet in his body to this day, it being too near the heart to al- low of an operation. While lying wounded upon the field, he was taken pris- oner by the enemy, but ten or fifteen minutes later he was re-taken by the Union forces. He says that was the longest ten minutes he ever experienced. He was sent to the hospital and it was not until in October that he was able to rejoin his regiment, at which time they engaged in the battle of Lookout Mountain.
On December 14, 1865, Mr. Mckinney was united in marriage to Lydia Hammer, daughter of Henry and Francis ( Blackburn) Hammer. To this union were born eight children, of whom the first two died in infancy. The others are: J. E., now deceased : Nancy E., now Mrs. Schuyler Morris, lives on a farm in Kellogg township: William died in infancy; Hetty died when a small child: Ella, who married Francis Kasta. died, leaving one child, a girl; Alfred is living at Seattle, Washington.
In 1890, at the age of fifty-four, Mr. Mckinney's wife died. and ten years later, on July 15. 1900, he married Rebecca F. Gettys, widow of Joseph
(58)
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Gettys, who was a soldier in the Civil war, a member of Company D, Fortieth Iowa. She was the daughter of Robert Wilson and Johanna ( Demar ) Wil- son, her father a native of Delaware and her mother of Kentucky. Her par- ents were married in Indiana, but later moved to Arkansas, coming to Kellogg township, Jasper county, Iowa, in 1854. where they purchased a quarter sec- tion of land. The father died here in 1890, as also did her mother, only a few months apart. To this union there were born ten children, namely : Ann Jane, deceased; Sarah Irene twice married. first to a Mr. Huffman. after- wards to a Mr. Adams, both farmers in Kellogg township. She is now deceased; Charlotta V., widow of Steven Morris, lives in Kellogg township : William, a farmer of Kellogg township, now dead: David lives on a farm in South Dakota; Fletcher N. is in the dairy business in Oregon: Eliza, widow of Cyrus Calliston. of Kellogg township; two died in infancy.
Mrs. McKinney's first marriage occurred in 1856, and after living in Kellogg township for a few years the family moved to Kansas, where Mr. Gettys died in 1895. She is the mother of eleven children, namely : Mary Isabel Lockard lives in Kansas: Amanda Jones lives in Oregon : Emmerata Gaff, now deceased, lived in Kansas; J. Elsworth lives at Trouro, lowa : Robert, a Methodist Episcopal minister located at David City, Nebraska : Wilbur, also a minister of the Methodist church, living in Oklahoma: Walter lives in Kansas: Edward lives at Ofallon, Illinois: Minnie Snider lives in Newton, Iowa: Maud Campbell lives in Denver, Colorado.
Mr. Mckinney is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Garrett Post, at Newton, and is also identified with the Masonic lodge in Newton. In 1866 he purchased his first land, which consisted of eighty acres in Kellogg township. Later he added eighty acres more to this, which tract he sold in 1886. afterwards buying one hundred and sixty acres in Newton township. After farming this land for about twenty years, he sold it and purchased two hundred acres in Kellogg township. which he sold a few years ago and retired from active labor, buying a nice home with twelve acres of land adjoin- ing it just outside the city limits of the city of Newton. He has made this his residence ever since. He is a very good man, highly respected and esteemed by all with whom he comes in contact. and he and his good wife are active and zealous in all that pertains to the welfare of the community in which they live. Mrs. McKinney is a loyal member of the Woman's Relief Corps, of Newton. Politically. Mr. Mckinney is a Democrat, but has never been an aspirant to public office. although he has been school director and road supervisor in his district a number of times. Although having ceased from active labor on the farm. Mr. Mckinney is not content to be idle, but is engaged in making private loans of his own money.
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HARRY WILSON PORTER.
The gentleman whose name forms the caption of this sketch is one of the progressive young business men of Jasper county. He has not sought any royal road to the goal of prosperity and independence, but began in a legitimate way to advance himself, and the high regard in which he is held indicates the possession of attributes and characteristics that entitle him to the highest esteem.
Harry Wilson Porter was born in Fairview township, this county, Jan- uary 10, 1881. He is the son of James M. and Virginia R. (Bitting) Porter, the father born in Decatur county, Indiana. March 13. 1850, and the mother was born in Des Moines. Iowa, January 13. 1857. His paternal grand- parents, Caspar and Martha (Sidwell) Porter, were born in Decatur county, Indiana, the former on February 27. 1827, and the latter on April 17. 1829. Caspar Porter was a blacksmith by trade and he conducted a shop for some time in Shelbyville, Indiana. He and his wife were members of the Christian church. The death of Caspar Porter occurred in 1864 at Shelbyville.
Simon Bitting, the maternal grandfather of the subject, came to Des Moines, lowa, in 1848 when the place was a mere village and he was the first person to conduct either a boarding house or hotel there. He was also the first person to deliver the first newspaper, the Register-Leader, which is still published there.
James M. Porter, father of the subject, was the only child in his family to survive infancy and his mother died when he was nine years old and his father when he was fourteen. Thus he was thrown out into the world on his own resources when quite young, and although the discipline was hard it was good training for later life. When his mother died in 1859 the father of the subject came to Jasper county, Iowa, to live with his grandparents, John and Sarah Porter. who had emigrated with team and wagon to Fairview township in 1858 and there he grew to manhood and attended the district schools, later went to college at Pella. Iowa, and to a business college at Des Moines. Thus having obtained a good education, he started out in the business world as clerk in a drug store in Des Moines, where he remained two years, then returned to Jasper county and began renting his grandfather's place. a part of which he finally bought. In 1901 he traded his farm for the elevator and grain business at Fairmount. this county, and has continued the grain and coal business to the present time, enjoying a very satisfactory business. his trade covering a wide territory. His family consists of two
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sons and one daughter, Mrs. Ida M. Livingston, Fay, and Harry Wilson, of this sketch.
The subject attended the public schools in Fairview township and the Iowa Business College at Des Moines. He then took a position as clerk in the Des Moines National Bank, where he worked five months, then in August, 1906, he came to Fairmount, Jasper county, and engaged in the coal and grain business as a partner with his father under the firm name of J. M. Porter & Son. They have been very successful handling coal and buying and selling grain, their trade being constantly on the increase.
Politically, the subject is a Democrat, and he has served his district as school director.
Harry W. Porter was married on December 31, 1905, to Mary Mc- Gregor, who was born in Des Moines. She is the daughter of James Mc- Gregor, a well known contractor of that city. To this union two children have been born: Don Sheldon Porter, born March II, 1907, and Vern Wil- bert, born October 11, 1909, died May 21, 1910.
Personally, Mr. Porter is a young man of much business promise, a genial. frank, straightforward young man whom everybody likes.
GERSHOM VANCE.
Living in section 2, Palo Alto township, adjoining Newton township, is Gershom Vance. There is not a finer or nobler character in all of Jasper county than this old man, now rounding into his seventy-fifth year. A man to whom the word "friendship" means everything that the term implies, he is a man in truth, a "friend in need and a friend indeed," a man whom any one may feel proud to call friend. Steadfast and loyal in his friendships, although they have oftentimes entailed sacrifice on his part, kindly in his judgments and charitable withal, the world is a better place because Gershom Vance has lived in it. Although well advanced in years, he is hardy and active and still retains much of the buoyancy and enthusiasm of youth, and has a wonderfully retentive memory. He springs from a hardy race, his mother living to the ripe old age of ninety-two years: his father's people were also long lived and hardy. He does not now wear glasses and he can crack a hickory nut with his teeth. His grandfather, Robert Vance, was a captain in the war of 1812. By birth an Englishman, he came to this country in his early manhood and located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Here he
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engaged in the coal business and was one of a company who first developed the second vein of coal. He married an Irish lassie and to them were born four sons : Andrew, John, William and Samuel. Andrew was a prosperous dry goods merchant in Pittsburgh and a large land owner; John and Samuel were prosperous farmers near Pittsburgh and William, the third son, who was the father of the subject, came west in the early pioneer days and located where Muscatine now stands. When a boy he learned the cooper trade and followed that business until he came west. He married Rachel Vanata, of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, daughter of James and Elizabeth Vanata. She was one of twelve children and was born in 1813. To them were born eight children, six being born in Pennsylvania. In 1836 the family came west, induced thereto by the representations of a brother of Mrs. Vance, John Vanata, who had come to the west about two years previous. He left home at the age of fifteen years, and enlisted as a soldier at Pittsburgh, the com- pany being sent to the frontier. They went to Cincinnati, took a boat up the Mississippi and landed at Oquawka, at a block house there.
When the Vance family came west they built a log house twenty-four feet long and sixteen feet wide, with a partition across the middle, and here the family lived for a good many years with John Vanata, who, with William Vance, carried on trade with the Indians, trading beads for valuable furs, etc. They also had a wood yard, and part of the time worked on one side of the great Mississippi, and part of the time on the other. They had built a tem- porary shack on the Illinois side of the river for shelter, and here it was, being detained longer than they had reckoned on, that Gershom, the subject of our sketch, was born, on November 4, 1836, at what is now Andalusia, Rock Island county, Illinois, and being a "stranger in a strange land," they called him Gershom. He was the seventh child in the order of birth, those who preceded him being as follows: Andrew, who lived and farmed in Mercer county, Illinois, and died there in his eightieth year, was born in 1820. In 1851 he went to California to seek for gold, going overland by teams. Being well impressed with the country, he remained there until 1871. when he returned to Mercer county, Illinois ; James, born in 1822, lived and farmed in Mercer county, Illinois, dying at the age of seventy-eight; Eliza, born in 1824, died at the age of thirty-two. She was the wife of Anthony Nash, a farmer of Davis county, Illinois; Robert, now in his eighty-fifth year, is living in Oklahoma. For many years he carried on farming in Davis county, Iowa. He also went to California to seek his fortune in the year 1850, going by water via New York, but returned in 1853; Mary, born 1829, was married to a man by the name of Hudson, and departed this life at the age of eighty,
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