USA > Iowa > Jasper County > Past and present of Jasper County, Iowa, Vol. II > Part 21
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On January 19, 1902, Charles Custer was united in marriage with Millie Bond, the daughter of S. A. and Lydia Bond. In politics both he and his brother are Republicans. John W. Custer married Tennie Coffey, the daugh- ter of William Coffey, who resides in Monroe.
C. B. Wright, the third member of the firm, was born July 13, 1864, in Morrow county, Ohio, and is the son of Joseph P. and Victorine (Jackson) Wright, the father born in the state of New York and the mother in Con- necticut. These parents were married in Ohio and are now both deceased, the father dying in Jasper county, Iowa, and the mother in Ohio.
As a young man Joseph P. Wright, mentioned above, farmed until the breaking out of the Civil war, when, on August 9, 1862, he enlisted in Com- pany A, Ninety-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving as a brave and efficient soldier until he was sent home on account of sickness. Among other engage- ments in which he took part was the battle of Arkansas Post. After the war he began a mercantile business in Bloomfield, Ohio, which he conducted until the spring of 1870, when he came to Monroe. He purchased land south of town, where he lived until 1874, when he moved onto a farm north of Monroe. In 1879 he bought a farm a mile east of Belleview church and here his death occurred in 1891 at an advanced age. The elder Wright was a splendid Christian gentleman, loyal to all the best that life holds. A sincere worker in the Methodist Episcopal church, he served it in nearly every capacity except
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pastor. He was also deeply interested in educational work and was for years assessor of his township. He died beloved by all who knew him.
C. B. Wright, his son, is the only surviving child of his parents. He came to Monroe in 1892 and entered the grocery business, becoming a mem- ber of the firm of Moore & Wright. This continued until the fall of 1893, when the firm became Wright & Talmadge, and later he was in business alone for one year, having bought out Mr. Talmadge, then his grocery merged with the general store of Custer, Wright & Company.
On February 14, 1889, Mr. Wright was united in marriage with Mary Custer, daughter of Aaron Custer. Both are members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Monroe, Mr. Wright being one of the stewards. He is prominent in fraternal circles, being a member of Fairview Lodge No. 194, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Monroe, of which he is past master. He is also a member of Jasper Lodge No. 168, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Monroe, of which he has been a member many years, also of Mon- roe Encampment No. 60, of which he is past chief and past noble grand. He also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, having been banker of that order for a number of years. He was formerly a member of the town coun- cil and was trustee of Fairview township for six years.
Besides his mercantile business, Mr. Wright is also president of the Monroe Telephone Company, the large and rapidly growing success of which has been due to his efforts and able management.
CYRUS NOLIN.
The career of the well known and highly respected gentleman whose name forms the introduction to this sketch illustrates forcibly the possibilities that are open to men of earnest purpose, integrity and sterling business quali- fications. A well spent life and an honorable career constitute the record of Cyrus Nolin, who was born in Fairview township, Jasper county, Iowa, on January 7, 1858, and here he has been content to spend his life, being still a resident of this locality. He is the son of George W. and Susanna ( Harcourt) Nolin, the father born on the banks of White river. Indiana, May 16, 1829, and the mother was a native of Green county, Wisconsin, having been born near Monroe in 1837. Grandfather Nolin lost his parents when quite young. His father was married before and his mother married after the death of George W.'s father. The latter was the only child of that union, and he was
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brought up by his uncle, John Crist, but he left his uncle's home at the age of sixteen years and started in life for himself. He had thus spent thirteen years with his uncle, since he was three years old when taken to his home in Wisconsin. At the age of twenty-one George W. Nolin came with a party of friends and relatives to Jasper county, Iowa, in 1850. and located at Monroe. He first worked in the blacksmith shop of Jacob Kipp and Louis Hummel, and he became an expert blacksmith and gunsmith. He soon bought eighty acres five miles east of Monroe and paid twenty-five per cent interest on the money he borrowed to enter the land from the government. In those days game was plentiful here, the country being wild and unsettled, and George W. Nolin became a famous hunter. He is said to have killed more deer than any man in this locality, being an expert shot. He located a shop on his farm and divided his attention between the two. At the time of his death, July 28, 1886, he owned one hundred and seventy acres. He was a natural mechanical genius and his services as a blacksmith and gunsmith were in great demand. He was a strong advocate of anti-slavery, and the fugitive slave law was the only law of his country he refused to obey, he and his neighbors materially assisting slaves. After the Civil was he was a J. B. Weaver man and followed him in politics.
Cyrus Nolin was the oldest child by the first marriage of George W. Nolin, his first wife dying at the age of nineteen years. He subsequently mar- ried Mary Jane Thorne and to the second union ten children were born. The maternal grandparents of the subject, Daniel and Jane (McCall) Harcourt, came to Jasper county in 1850. This family was of English descent, as the name implies, and Daniel Harcourt was a cousin of Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Cyrus Nolin attended the Oak Grove district school. Being the oldest son, he managed the farm and much responsibility and hard work fell to his lot when a boy, but he was thrifty and learned to be a mechanic from his father, and he has done some very skillful work. When a young man he took up land in Kansas, but he later returned to Iowa, not liking the Sunflower state so well as his own. He then worked at the carpenter's trade for three .years at Newton. Then leasing a coal mine four miles south of Monroe, he operated that for three years. His next venture was to buy one hundred and sixty acres, five miles east of Monroe. He rented his land in 1900 and opened a blacksmith shop in Reasnor, this county.
Mr. Nolin became an active silver Democrat in the campaign of 1900. He got up the largest political gathering ever seen in Reasnor. He was a leader in local Democratic affairs and was township committeeman for some time. After managing his shop three years he returned to the farm. He has
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been very successful in a business way, being a man of progressive ideas, a hard worker and a good manager, and he is now the owner of five hundred and seventy-one acres of valuable land in Jasper county, which he keeps under modern improvements. In the spring of 1910 he moved to Monroe, where he has since lived retired in his beautiful home, having come here for the bene- fit of the schooling for his children.
Mr. Nolin was married on June 7, 1882, to Robena Marshall, who was born near Glasgow, Scotland, July 10, 1862, the daughter of Robert Marshall, who came to Jasper county in 1865. To this union have been born the follow- ing children: Robert G., who married Elsa Butin, died on the 24th of November, 1909, at the age of twenty-four years ; William H., who is a farmer in this county, married Grace L. Jarnagin; Elvin M. married Cattalina Fennema ; Mary is at home with her parents.
WILLIAM HENRY FRANCE.
A painstaking, twentieth-century farmer of Elk Creek township is Will- iam Henry France, who is a native of the "Show Me" state, which may account for his ability to demonstrate to all spectators his skill in husbandry. He was reared upon the farm and from his earliest years the sight of herds of cattle, sheep, hogs and horses was a daily occurrence. Youthful experiences are the strongest, and accordingly the lessons of the farm thus taught from infancy found a secure lodgment in his understanding No young man could have better equipment for the duties of the farm than he received. There was the sound judgment of his father and there were the sleek herds and the beautiful fields of growing grain. In addition to all this he was given a good common school education and in every way fitted for his future successful life upon the farm. Another thing, he selected a splendid woman to share his joys and sorrows, his triumphs and defeats, which come in the course of the years to everyone, and thus equipped he began the battle of life on his own account, and so it is not surprising that success has attended his efforts all along the line.
William H. France was born in Mercer county, Missouri, on December II, 1858, but most of his life has been spent in Iowa. He is the son of Orville Henry France and Margaret Worth Clary France, the father born in Fulton county, Illinois, on May 23, 1834, and the mother near Louisville, Kentucky,
MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM H. FRANCE
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on August 1, 1834. The latter came to Fulton county, Illinois, with her parents, Richard and Ann Clary, from Kentucky in early life and there she grew to womanhood and received her education. The father of the subject also grew up and was educated in the state of Illinois, and there they were married. He began life as a farmer in the Prairie state, but soon after his marriage left there and moved to Iowa, where he remained two years, then went to Missouri where his son, William Henry, of this sketch, was born on a rented farm. Not long afterwards the family went back to Illinois and resumed farming, remaining there until 1869, when they came again to Iowa, locating in Jasper county, the father buying fifty-four acres in Elk Creek township. Here he got a good start and, by good management and persistent effort, prospered, later adding to his original purchase until he owned two hundred and fifty-four acres and there he farmed on a large scale and raised considerable live stock of various grades. In 1894 he sold out and moved to Clark county, this state, where he owned three excellent farms, which he subsequently sold and then moved to St. Charles, Iowa, where his wife's death occurred in 1906. Then he sold out and removed back to his old boyhood community in Fulton county, Illinois, and this is his present place of abode. He has been successful in his life work beyond the average farmer and now in his old age is enjoying the comforts of life as a result of his former years of activity. Politically, he is a Democrat and in religious matters belongs to the Methodist Protestant church.
To Orville H. France and wife four sons and three daughters were born, of whom the subject of this biographical review was the fifth in order of birth : the others are, Mrs. Mary M. Pahr, deceased; Ella Belle, deceased : Mrs. Roxy L. Bucklew, Alfonzo W., Leonard W., and a son who died in infancy.
William H. France, of this sketch, attended the district schools of Illinois and Iowa, and he began assisting with the work on the farm when a mere child ; at ten years old he began driving a team and a few years later found him a regular farm hand in the harvest fields. He remained under his paren- tal roof-tree until he was married. He then purchased forty acres, which forms a part of his present farm and he has continued to reside here to the present time. He is now the owner of one hundred and sixty acres, which he has kept well tilled and well improved. He has built all the buildings which are now to be seen on the place, and they are substantial and convenient, in fact, everything about him indicates good judgment and a fair measure of prosperity.
(61)
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Mr. France was married on April 2, 1884, to Almina Bedora Smith, who was born in Lincoln county, Ohio, on March 21, 1860. She was the daughter of John J. Smith, who first came to Jasper county, Iowa, in 1854. Mrs. France was a woman of many commendable characteristics, and she was called to her reward on November 24, 1909. One son, Loren Wilson France, whose birth occurred on March 28, 1887, was the only child born to the subject and wife. and he is now assisting his father on the home place.
HARLAN MEREDITH.
Agriculture has been an honored vocation from the earliest ages and as a usual thing men of honorable and humane impulses, as well as those of ·energy and thrift, have been patrons of husbandry. The free out-of-door life known to the tiller of the soil has a decided tendency to foster and develop that independence of mind and self-reliance which characterizes true manhood, and no truer blessing can befall a boy than to be reared in close touch with nature in the healthful, life-inspiring labor of the fields. It has always been the fruitful soil from which have sprung the moral bone and sinew of the country, and the majority of our nation's great warriors, renowned statesmen and distinguished men of letters were born on the farm and were indebted largely to its early influence for the distinction which they attained. From the farm came the Merediths, one of the honored and representative families of Jasper county, of whom Harlan Meredith, one of Linn Grove township's most progressive young agriculturists, is a worthy member.
Mr. Meredith was born in Sugar Creek township, Poweshiek county, Iowa, August 21, 1879, the son of Robert and Alice Rachel (Sheridan) Mere- dith, both natives of Indiana, the father born at Westfield, on July 13, 1846, and the mother in Henry county on March 17, 1850. The father moved from Indiana with his parents about 1863 to Poweshiek county, Iowa, and there he grew to manhood. It was about three years later, in 1865, that Alice R. Sheridan left the Hoosier state and came to Poweshiek county, Iowa, where she met and married Robert Meredith in October, 1868. Their parents had settled on adjoining farms, so the parents of the subject practically grew up together from childhood. Robert Meredith was a very industrious and thrifty young man and a large degree of success always attended his efforts, and as the years passed he has accumulated valuable and desirable lands aggregating eight hundred and fifty acres, mostly in Poweshiek county; this he has placed
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under excellent improvements and a high state of cultivation. In 1880 he and his family moved to Lynnville, Jasper county, this state, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land near the town, and there the elder Meredith prospered, added to his holdings from time to time and became known as one of the leading farmers and stock raisers of this part of the county. In 1909, having accumulated a competency, he and his wife retired from active life and moved to California, where they established their permanent home, turning the farms here over to the son, Harlan, of this review, who has full charge of them, and he has operated the same in a manner that reflects much credit upon his ability, keen discernment and progressive ideas.
In 1890 Robert Meredith started on a trip around the world, which he completed in a year and six days. Upon his return he embodied his interest- ing experiences in a book entitled "Around the World on Sixty Dollars." It attained a large sale almost immediately after publication, having been issued in a number of editions, and it has been placed in many schools over the country for its educational interest. It is well and entertainingly written, having a pleasing literary finish and conception and is a most worthy contribu- tion to the travel literature of the world. It goes without saying that to make such a trip proves the individual's grit, tact, diplomacy and other attributes of a sterling nature. He stopped quite a while on the Sandwich Islands, where he worked as overseer of a sugar plantation, and he also made an extensive visit to the Holy Land and to Greece. Such a trip is usually made by tourists at the cost of several thousand dollars, and for one to accomplish the feat, by expending only sixty dollars above what he earned during the trip, cer- tainly is criterion enough of his resourcefulness. He is now engaged in the real estate and orange growing business in California. Robert Meredith has always been a very progressive man along educational lines, and each of his children excepting the youngest is a graduate of Penn College and has had one or more years in some Eastern institution.
The son, Harlan Meredith, grew up on the home farm and was educated in the Lynnville high school and Penn College at Oskaloosa, of which institu- tion he is one of the directors. He also spent two years in Columbia Uni- versity, New York city, taking a course in law, but he has never practiced the profession for which he prepared himself, but returned to Lynnville, Iowa. in the spring of 1907 and has since been engaged in the management of his father's extensive farming interests. He has remained unmarried and his younger sister, Lucile, keeps house for him. There were seven children in the family of Robert Meredith and wife, named as follows : Clara, deceased ; Mary Anna married Benjamin L. Miller : Rosella married Harry J. Dutton ;
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Harlan of this review; Lucile; Ralph Bartlett was next in order of birth; Roberta is the youngest.
Harlan Meredith carries on general farming on an extensive scale and he feeds a large number of cattle annually. He and his father own several tracts of unimproved lands in California and Old Mexico.
This family belongs to the Friends church and are known for their high sense of honor, hospitality, genial natures and steady habits.
A. D. GILLESPIE.
The most of people who have never lived on a farm think that it does not require any special skill to conduct the operations of husbandry. They are accustomed to think that the driving of a team of horses to a plow or harrow, a reaper or a wagon, the scores of other duties connected with general hus- bandry do not require a finished education or a high degree of intellectual activity. Neither does it to conduct a grocery store, a hotel or a foundry. In both cases it does require, however, a thorough knowledge of the subject. The farmer must know how to sow his grain, the best varieties and whether it is in good condition, when to cut his wheat and his grass, when it should be cured, when it is ready to stack, whether it has gone through the sweating process and is ready to thresh-in fact, he must know a thousand such things, without which he is certain to lose heavily, a thing he cannot afford to do, because the farmer's profits are some years small and he must figure very close to the grain if he is adequately repaid for his expenditure of hard labor. Such a farmer is A. D. Gillespie, of Rock Creek township, Jasper county.
Mr. Gillespie was born in Mobile, Alabama, in 1846, the son of George Washington C. and Virtue (Turner) Gillespie, the father born in Tennessee and the mother in England, from which country she came to America with her parents, George and Mary Turner, who located in Philadelphia where they lived for a period of ten years, then moved to Alabama. The paternal grand- parents lived and died in Tennessee.
The parents of the subject came to Iowa in 1848 and located at Burling- ton, coming to Knoxville, Marion county. in 1851, and in 1864 they moved to Jasper county, locating on forty acres which they purchased in Rock Creek township. Here the elder Gillespie set to work with all his courage and soon had a good home and a comfortable income, adding to his original purchase from time to time until he became the owner of two hundred acres of excellent
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land on which he lived until his death in 1891, his widow surviving until 1906 when she passed away at the age of eighty-two years. They were highly respected in this part of the county and in fact, wherever they were known. Their family consisted of eight children, six of whom are living. Politically the father was a Republican.
A. D. Gillespie was reared on the home farm which he worked when a boy and attended the public schools in the winter months, later taking a course at Grinnell Academy. He has spent his active life on the home place, having been about eighteen years old when he came here, and he and his sister Mary are still operating the homestead, having kept it well improved and well tilled. He raises a diversity of crops and raises considerable live stock. Mr. Gillespie has remained unmarried. Politically he is a Republican.
SAMUEL W. SHAW.
Among the enterprising and progressive farmers of Fairview township, Jasper county, is Samuel W. Shaw, owner of beautiful "South View Farm." He has long been actively engaged in agricultural pursuits in this locality. although he is a native of the old Keystone state, and the years of his residence here have but served to strengthen the feeling of admiration on the part of his fellow men owing to the honorable life he has led and the worthy example he has set.
Mr. Shaw was born in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, May 4, 1848. He is the son of Thomas R. and Rebecca (Robertson) Shaw, both natives of Pennsylvania, the father born in Allegheny county. November 9, 1809, and the mother's birth occurred on July 12, 1812. They grew up, were educated and married in their native state, and there they became the owner of a farm of one hundred acres. In 1866 they moved to Jasper county, Iowa, and bought two hundred and fifty-five acres just east of the town of Monroe, on the old state road from Oskaloosa to Des Moines. The elder Shaw was a successful farmer, making a specialty of raising wheat. He was a Republican and he served his district as school director. He and his wife belonged to the Presby- terian church. His death occurred on October 14, 1894, on the home farm where the subject now lives. He reached the advanced age of eighty-five years, and was able to do considerable work up to the last. His wife preceded him to the silent land in 1893. They were the parents of six children, an equal number of sons and daughters, namely: W. Hamilton, who is living in
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Monroe; Mary Ellen, who died in Pennsylvania; Matthew was killed during the Civil war, being a soldier in the Union army. Company B, Sixty-first Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry ; Mrs. Maggie Davidson is deceased ; Samuel W. of this sketch, was fifth in order of birth: Mrs. Mattie Monlux is living in Garner, Iowa.
Samuel W. Shaw attended the district schools in Pennsylvania and one winter in Iowa. He grew up on the home farm and remained with his father until the death of the latter. He managed the place after old age overtook the elder Shaw, and he always kept it well cultivated and well improved. He now owns the place, which consists of one hundred and seventy-two acres beautifully located less than a half mile from Monroe. He has long made a specialty of thoroughbred Poland China hogs and Shorthorn cattle.
Politically, Mr. Shaw is a Republican, but he has never been an aspirant for office. He and his family belong to the Presbyterian church.
Mr. Shaw was married on October 22, 1885, to Cora Ink, who was born in Knox county, Ohio, March 25, 1859, the daughter of Abram Ink, a farmer, who came to Mt. Vernon, Iowa. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Shaw, namely: Mrs. Eula McDuff ; Florence; Wallace is deceased ; William and Raymond.
JOHN VANDERMAST.
Although born under another flag, in a country of widely different cus- toms and surrounded by environments to such as we of America are unused. John Vandermast, the well known, popular and enterprising publisher of the Monroe Mirror, has been true to the duties of citizenship, faithful to every trust reposed in him and well worthy the high regard in which he is held. A plain, straightforward, unassuming gentleman who, as a newspaper man, has sought to make his paper one of the most reliable, newsy, instructive and read- able in this section of the Hawkeye state, and one would judge from the ever- increasing circulation, the steady growth of his business in a general way and from the many laudatory statements of his hundreds of patrons that he has succeeded admirably well. He seems to have ever had the good of this local- ity at heart and has advocated and supported every movement calculated to benefit the same in a material, civic or moral way, and he therefore enjoys the good will and esteem of all classes.
Mr. Vandermast was born in the Netherlands on October 13, 1848, and he is the son of Walter and Joanna Hermina (Ieselaai) Vandermast, both
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born in Holland. The family traces its lineage back for seven hundred years. On the walls of the ancient walled city of Gouda may be seen to this day the name "Vandermast." Certain chronicles of the twelfth century tell of a Vandermast, a great magician, who was able to materialize the departed.
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