Portrait and biographical album of Henry County, Iowa, containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, Part 77

Author: Acme Publishing Company, Chicago
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago, Acme Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 702


USA > Iowa > Henry County > Portrait and biographical album of Henry County, Iowa, containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county > Part 77


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W ILLIAM LITZENBERG. one of the lead- ing farmers of Henry County, resides on section 35, Marion Township. He was born at Clarksville, Greene Co., Pa .. Nov. 25, 1811, and is the son of John and Nancy (Prang) Litzen- berg, natives of Pennsylvania, though the mother was of German descent. They were the parents of eleven children, four of whom are living: David, a farmer living in Knox County, Ohio; Susan, wife of John Jackson, also resides in Knox County, Ohio; John, who still lives in Knox County, Ohio. The deceased are Elvina, Sarah, George, Simon, James Wesley, and one who died in infancy.


William, the subject of this sketch, remained at home with his parents until he was of age, and was educated in the common schools of his native State, and on reaching his majority he went to Washing- ton County, Pa., and bought a farm of 130 acres, on which he resided until 1865. with the exception of a period of between two and three years when engaged in other occupation than that of farming. On the 10th day of March, 1835, Mr. Litzenberg was married to Miss Charlotte Rush, and to them were born five children: Priscilla, wife of John Rose, was born Jan. 20, 1836, and now lives in Greene County, Pa. ; Elizabeth was born June 2.1, 1839, and is the wife of Iliram Horner; John, born March 17, 1841 ; James R. was born April 7, 1844, and died March 8, 1847; Hiram, who is now living on the old homestead in Washington County, Pa.


The mother of the above-named children de- parted this life Dec. 12, 1846. She was a devoted


and loving mother, a faithful wife, a true Christian woman. Mr. Litzenberg was again married, Dec. 16, 1846, to Amelia Tegard, a native of Pennsyl- vania. By this union were born unto them: Henry L., born Sept. 16, 1847, and died Nov. 21, 1851; Margaret II., born Jan. 27, 1850, and died Nov. 24, 1851; Mary Olive, born Feb. 7, 1853, is the wife of S. Powell, residing in Phillips County, Kan. ; Sarah, wife of Charles Swan, a resident of New London, Iowa. Mr. Litzenberg's second wife departed this life Dec. 12, 1859, and he was again married, Nov. 6, 1860, to Mary Long, a native of Greene County, Pa., born Dec. 16, 1830. To them were born four children : William, who is now a farmer of Henry County, Iowa : Ellen, the wife of Frank Skipton, a farmer of Henry County, residing near New Lon- don; Ada, who died Sept. 18. 1869, and Benjamin.


In the year 1869 Mr. Litzenberg sold his farm in Washington County, Pa., and emigrated to Henry County, buying 300 acres of land in Marion Town- ship, where he has since resided. Mr. Litzenberg has always been a man with a heart and hand open to all who came to liim in need, and no worthy object of charity was ever repulsed by him. He has been greatly prospered in his business relations, and it is all due to his energy and economy as a business man. He has always been a leading citizen wher- ever he has lived, whether in Iowa or Pennsylva- nia. In his early days he was a Whig, but has voted the Democratic ticket since 1860, and has always done bis part in all publie charities and enterprises, and many a poor man attributes his success in life to the timely aid lent him by Mr. Litzenberg when he needed a friend, and fully real- izes that "a friend in need is a friend indeed."


OIIN WHEELER, D. D. In looking over the written sketeles of the history of those we have honored and loved we are oft-times pained to find only the bony structures of characters that in life have shown themselves so rounded and beautiful, so complete in their fullness, so symmetrical in their development, that we scarcely recognize them from the meager touches of the pen. It is easy indeed to note the few statistics that sur-


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vive the best, so difficult to trace the spirit that ani- mated them, and see how it bent all influences to its own use in molding and shaping the character, and making the real man. The measure of one's life is not length of days, but wise use of opportunities, not strife for selfish ends, but steadfastness of pur- pose for the uplifting and upbuilding of our com- mon humanity.


By all such standards of measurement John Wheeler stood a man among men. English by birth, though so early Americanized that no memory of his native land survived, he was in all but birth a loyal and true American. His father, John Wheeler, Sr., a ship-builder by trade, as his fore- father had done before him, plied his trade indus- triously at Portsmouth, England. A devout and God-fearing race as far back as there is any knowl- edge of them, energetic and intelligent to a rare degree, they were fine representatives of the better class of English artisans.


But the spirit of the times then as now was lead- ing many from the cramped opportunities and nar- rowing prospects of English life to the broader and brighter ones in America, and John Wheeler, with Mary Kingswell, his wife, and their three children, of whom the subject of this sketeh was eldest, turned their faces toward the land of promise, landing in Baltimore, where a month later father and little ones stood at the open grave of the young mother-so soon was he to learn the bitter lesson that disappointment and grief are impartial deni- zens of all lands.


From Baltimore the father went on to Bellefon- taine, Ohio, with his motherless little ones, to rear a new home in a strange land. There the children grew up, sharing the hardships and privations of that early day.


Ten years later we find him running a country store, and also the post-ollice. In connection with the latter it was his duty to forward the mail to another point three days' ride distant. The ride was a dreary one even in pleasant weather, most of the way through dense forests, with little semblance to a road, and settlers' cabins few and widely sep- arated, but when winter set in the task of finding any one willing to be in the saddle six days out of seven, braving the terrors of the forest-and at


that early day they were real-together with the severity of the climate, the question of a mail car- rier became a serious one. One by one the avail- able men of the place tried it, and after one or two trips only a single man was left willing to under- take it. He started out bravely, but in a day or two returned, threw down the mail bags, crying like a child with fear and cold, and declaring that no one could do it. What was to be done? The Post- master was responsible for the delivery of the mail. To leave himself was out of the question. John, then a boy of fourteen, threw himself into the breach. His father hesitated, but the urgency of the case compelled him to accept the offer, and he reluctantly consented. The winter proved to be an unusually severe one, but week after week this fourteen-year-old boy never once failed in his duty. But what he suffered that winter none except him- self ever knew. It was not merely the physical suffering, sharp and severe as that often was, which he had to endure, but also the constant presence of peril as well. He was a boy of keen sensibilities, of strong religious bias, of quick and tender con- science, and day after day as he rode along in soli- tude his mind was tossed with questions of the future, beset with fears and racked with doubts. Naturally disposed to " write bitter things against himself," as he rode along every childish fault assumed the form and proportion almost of crimes. So indelible was the impress of this period upon his nature that to his latest years he could not pass a dense forest without a shuddering remembrance of it.


The Sabbath at home was the one bright spot of the week, when, confiding to his father as much as it was possible for such a nature to reveal to any one, he received from him such instruction and comfort as few fathers ever give to sons. The dis- cipline and conflicts of this winter were doubtless valuable though severe aids in developing the man of later years.


The circumstances by which he was surrounded offered no opportunities for acquiring a liberal edu- cation, and up to his twenty-first year he had but a few months' schooling, but deep within was the purpose to prepare himself for his life work by a thorough college education. With this end in view


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he became a student in 1835 at a Methodist semin- ary at Norwalk, Ohio, supporting himself by his own labors. Two years later he entered Alleghany College, at Meadville, Pa. Here he formed the acquaintance and gained the friendship of Prof. Matthew Simpson, afterward Bishop of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, and when two years later Prof. Simpson was appointed President of the Indi- ana Asbnry University, he took with him his pupil, giving him work as tutor while completing his eol- lege course, which he did in 1840, being one of the first class ever graduated in that institution, the entire class numbering but three, two classical : John Wheeler and T. A. Goodwin, with, in the language of the latter, "one poor scientific sand- wiched in between."


For nearly fifty years Asbury University has been sending out year by year its trained young men, and for nearly twenty its women too, and stands to-day rich in influence and endowment, rich in opportunities and in prospects, but richer far in memories of men, and not a few whose power has been felt and acknowledged in church and State throughout the length and breadth of our land, and some whose reputation and influence has been world-wide.


Two years later, having been in the meantime in charge of the Franklin Collegiate Institute at In- dianapolis, Mr. Wheeler was elected to the chair of his Alma Mater, a position he filled most suc- cessfully for twelve years. In 1854 he resigned« his position in the Indiana Asbury University, and went into business, but his love for his chosen pro- fession led him to again accept college work in pref- erence to commercial life, and he accepted the offer of the Presidency of Baldwin Institute, after- ward University, at Berea, Ohio, where he spent the next fifteen years, and where the heaviest work of his life was done. The change in the status of the institution involved heavy responsibilities, while the limited endowments and straitened circum- stances made the elosest caleulations necessary, and heavy demands upon the generosity of friends. Not- withstanding the pressure from these causes the school steadily grew, and assumed healthy propor- tions.


In connection with this work his keen eye saw


another line of influence, unheeded by any college in the land, viz: the numbers of young German- Americans who were practically barred an educa- tion of the higher grade, and the necessity to the church of having the means of meeting the emi- grant as he comes among us with his old-world sentiments, with ministers educated in the most thorough manner, and able to present the truth in the mother tongue. With this end in view he organized a German department in Baldwin Uni- versity, and later secured the necessary means to establish the German Wallace College, in connee- tion with the existing university. For nearly twenty-five years this school has been in successful operation, fully justifying in its work the hopes and faith of its projectors, a power for good in the German Methodist Episcopal Church, whose influ- ence can searcely be over-estimated.


The life and labors of Dr. Wheeler in Iowa com- menced in 1870, and were closed by death June 18, 1881. Five years of this time he was President of the Iowa Wesleyan University, during which time the influence of the institution was strength- ened and increased in many directions, ineluding the location of the German College, secured through his influence and labor in this place, one year in the pastoral work, and five in the Presiding Eldership, make up so far as records go his life in Iowa, but they give but slight indices of his faithful devo- tion to every interest committed to his trust. With him no opportunity was suffered to pass unim- proved, no known duty neglected. His motto: "I must work, night cometh," seemed a constant inspiration to him, not in the line of college work alone, but for every cause that looked to the eleva- tion of mankind. For every moral reform his sympathies were quick and lasting. In church work his heart went out especially toward the mis- sionary cause, and at two different periods of his life he was chosen and accepted the appointment to take charge of foreign fields, but each time a change in the plans by those in authority left him to com- plete his life work here in his adopted country. His appreciation of the value of the press led him to establislı a college paper at eaeli of the three eol- leges he served, viz: The Asbury Notes, College Gazette and Iowa Classics. In the cause of temper-


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ance he was both tireless and fearless. The training of his early life, and his experience at Asbury, alike lay in the line of colleges for men alone, and indeed up to that time the co-education of the sexes was hardly a mooted question ; but when appointed to the Presidency of Baldwin Institute he found himself at the head of a school in which for years had been educated on equal footing the sons and daughters of North Ohio, he confessed himself aston- ished at the high grade of scholarship maintained by both, thus educated in the same institution.


In the few months that passed before the change of grade he was thoroughly convinced of the value of such an arrangement. Later, at a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Indiana University, now "De Pauw," when the question was being hotly discussed as to the propriety of throwing open its doors to daughters as well as sons, his opinion was asked, and, to the amazement of some, he was found an earnest and unequivocal advocate of the movement, and we venture to say no more important step has ever been taken toward the per- manent snecess of that institution than was settled that day.


Circumstances doubtless do much to shape and develop the characters of men. The difficulties of his early life were not without their fruits. The warm, generous heart never ceased to feel for those who, like himself, were struggling against difficulties to obtain that preparation for life that would enable them best to fulfill its duties and meet its responsi- bilities, and no poor student ever songht counsel or aid from him in vain.


In the pulpit, or on the rostrum, his strong con- vietions, close research, wide information, ripe scholarship, and earnest representation of a subject, made him an impressive speaker, one who would challenge thought and create an abiding interest in


any theme to which he gave his attention. In these respects he had comparatively few equals. In his do- mestie life he was at his best, and to the home cirele brought freely and constantly his choicest gifts of mind and heart. It is not often that even good men's lives will bear unsullied too close scrutiny at their own fireside. But none who knew Dr. Wheeler in his own home could fail to yield him their ready reverence and love. He was so uniformly cour- teous and affectionate to each member of his house- hold, so watchful of their interests, so devoted to their training, especially to their religious instruc- tion, in such cordial sympathy with their plans, their joys or sorrows, as to make him the trusted and loved confidant of every member of the family circle, as well as its authoritative head.


He was twice married. His first wife was Miss Mary Yandes, of Indianapolis, who died in Sep- tember, 1854, leaving five children, of whom three sons survive. His second wife was Miss Clara S. Flulet, of Berea, Ohio, who survives him, with two sons and three daughters.


Briefly to sum up his character we may say: His wise foresight, his indomitable perseverance, his untiring industry, his scholarly habits, his gentle- manly bearing, his pure and irreproachable Chris- tian character, his unflinching integrity, and his scorn of trickery in church or State, were well- known characteristics of the man. In public life he sought no honors, he shunned no responsibil- ities.


As he had been found faithful in life so was he fearless in death, leaving as his dying testimony, " My Redeemer liveth," and adding with upraised hand, and solemn emphasis, the oath of a dying man. For such as he


" There is no death,


What seems so is transition."


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HISTORICAL 25


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HENRY COUNTY.


641


INTRODUCTORY.


HE time has arrived when ....... .......... it becomes the duty of the . people of this county to per- petuate the names of their pioneers, to furnish a record of their early settlement, and relate the history of their prog- ress. The civilization of our day, the enlightenment of the age, and the duty that men of the present time owe to their ancestors, to themselves and their posterity, demand that a record of their lives and deeds should be made. In biographical history is found a power to instruct a man by precedent, to enliven the mental faculties, and to waft down the river of time a safe vessel in which the names and actions of the people who contributed to raise this country from its primitive state may be preserved. Surely and rapidly the great and aged men, who in their prime entered the wilderness and claimed the virgin soil as their heritage, are passing to their graves. The number remaining who relate the in- cidents of the first days of the settlement is becom- ing small indeed, so that an actual necessity exists for the collection and preservation of events without


delay, before all the early settlers are cut down by the seythe of Time.


To be forgotten has been the great dread of mankind from remotest ages. All will be forgotten soon enough, in spite of their good works and the most earnest efforts of their friends to preserve the memory of their lives. The means employed to prevent oblivion and to perpetuate their memory has been in proportion to the amount of intelligence they possessed. The pyramids of Egypt were built to perpetuate the names and deeds of their great rulers. The exhumations made by the archeolo- gists of Egypt from buried Memphis, indicate a desire of those people to perpetuate a memory of their achievements. The erection of the great obelisks was for the same purpose. Coming down to a later period, we find the Greeks and Romans erecting mausoleums and monuments, and carving out statues to chronicle their great achievements, and carry them down the ages. It is also evident that the Mound-builders, in piling up their great mounds of earth, had but this idea-to leave some- thing to show that they had lived. All these works, though many of them costly in the extreme, give but a faint idea of the lives and characters of those whose memory they were intended to per- petuate, and scarcely anything of the masses of the


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people who then lived. The great pyramids and some of the obelisks remain, objeets only of euri- osity ; the mausoleums, monuments and statues are crumbling into dust.


It was left to modern ages to establish an intelli- gent, undecaying, immutable method of perpetuat- ing a full history-immutable in that it is almost unlimited in extent and perpetual in its action ; and this is through the art of printing.


To the present generation, however, we are in- debted for the introduction of the admirable system of local biography. By this system every man, though he has not achieved what the world calls greatness, has the means to perpetuate his life his- tory throughout the coming ages.


The scythe of Time euts down all; nothing of the physical man is left. The monument which his children or friends may ereet to his memory in the cemetery will erumble into dust and pass away ; but his life, his achievements, the work he has aecom- plished, which otherwise would be forgotten, is per- petuated by a record of this kind.


To preserve the lineaments of our companions we engrave their portraits, for the same reason we collect the attainable facts of their history. Nor do we think it necessary, as we speak only truth of them, to wait until they are dead, or until those who know them are gone; to do this we are ashamed to publish to the world the history of even those whose lives are unworthy of public record.


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agraphical.


SHE county of Henry lies in the second tier of counties west of the Mississippi River and the second tier from the Missouri line. It is bounded on the south by Lee County, on the north by Louisa and Washington, on the east by Des Moines and Lonisa Counties, and on the west by Jefferson and Van Buren Counties. It comprises an area of 432 square miles, being eight- een miles from east to west, and twenty-four miles from north to sonth. It is divided into twelve civil and an equal number of Con- gressional Townships. As at present divided we have Scott, Wayne, Jefferson, Canaan, Marion, Trenton, New London, Center, Tippecanoe, Balti- more, Jackson and Salem. The county is well watered, its principal stream being the Skunk River, which enters the county near the northwest corner, and after winding along its western border for about ten miles, trends off in a southeasterly di- rection, passing out of the county near the south- east corner. The principal tributaries of the Skunk River are Cedar and Big Creeks. The former enters it from the west, near the northwest corner of Salem Township, and after a winding course for a few miles, turns due north and empties into the river just below Rome. Big Creek rises in the eastern part of New London Township, and runs northwesterly through New London and Marion Townships, then turns south and finally southeast, emptying into Skunk River about two and one-half miles above Lowell. Water power is abundant on


Skunk River, which affords good mill sites at intervals of five to six miles throughout its ex- tent in this county. Ileavy bodies of timber are found on these rivers and their tributaries, affording an abundant supply to the whole county. Black and white oak and hickory are the principal growths upon the uplands, while along the streams may be found black and white walnut, red, burr and pin oak, linden, hackberry, white and sugar maple, hickory, elm, ash, honey locust, sycamore and cottonwood.


The natural scenery in this county is greatly diversified, there being gently undulating prairies, and heavy bodies of timber, especially along the streams as already stated, although being well pleasing to the eye. The only deposits of alluvial bottoms in this county are found on Skunk River, which is skirted by a narrow belt on both sides, seldom exceeding a mile in width. These bottom lands sustain a magnificent growth of timber, and when cleared and brought under cultivation are among the most productive in the county. The soil is usually a deep, black, sandy loam, admirably adapted to the growth of corn, sweet potatoes, and all other products requiring a dry and warm soil. Fruits of all kinds may be raised either on the bottoms or bluff lands, with more certainty of aunnal crops than on the prairies. The prairie land of this county is all that one could wish, the soil being deep and rich, well adapted to the pro- duction of all cereals, vegetables and grasses pecul- iar to this latitude. Nature has done mnuch for this country, and man has aided in bringing it under a high state of cultivation, so that to-day, after a lapse of little over fifty years, one finds its entire surface dotted over with fine farmhouses and barns, the whole presenting a picture that is indeed lovely.


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Early Settlements.


M UCH has been written of the pioneers of the West, and many words of praise spoken, but too much cannot be said commendatory of the brave men and women who left homes in the East, where they were surrounded by every evi- denec of civilized life, together with friends and kindred, and came into a new and almost un- known country, redeeming it from the wily red man, and preparing it for their children and children's children that should come after. Little more than a half century ago that portion of Iowa, "the beau- tiful land," now comprising the wealthy county of Henry, was an unbroken wilderness, inhabited by wild beasts, wild fowls, and no less wily red men. Its forest had not resounded with the woodman's ax, nor its prairie been upturned with the plow. All was then as it came from the hand of the Crea- tor.


All has now been changed. The trail of the red men is now laid with iron bands, over which speeds the locomotive with its train of palace cars, and in which daily are found representatives of almost every nation on the face of the earth. The wig- wams and log cabins have given place to palatial residences, fine school-houses and elegant churches. The howl of the wild beast no more is heard, but in


its place is heard the bleating of the sheep, the low- ing of eattle, and the neighing of horses.


The pioneers of the country are but John the Baptist harbingers of a coming civilization. Like John, they go into the wilderness and prepare for others; smoothing the rough places, filling up the valleys, eutting down the mountains and straight- ening the paths. The work necessarily must be a laborious one, requiring strong arms and brave hearts for its accomplishment. Toil and privations must be endured of which those coming after them could have no real or just conception.




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