USA > Iowa > Lee County > Story of Lee County, Iowa, Volume II > Part 4
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When the war broke out he went to California by way of the Isthmus route and was accompanied by Nicholas Evers. The trip to the coast was made on the boat Champion to the Isthmus. He then crossed Panama by rail and embarked again on a vessel carry- ing a cargo of fruit. On the second day out of Acrapulco the ship was wrecked, and Mr. Hubenthal was picked up by the Golden Gate steamer and on that vessel proceeded to San Francisco. There he secured employment at his trade and also worked at his trade in Sacramento. He lived on the coast for the greater part of seven years and eight months, during which period he visited several states and five times crossed the plains. On one trip across the country to the coast he was accompanied by Captain James Daugherty of Keokuk. On these trips he often stopped at prominent points along the route and worked at his trade, being thus employed in Salt Lake City and in other places. He met all the usual experiences and hard- ships incident to travel over the desert and through the mountain passes, but he was stout-hearted and possessed the courage and strength of young manhood. For a time he prospected for gold in Montana, going there from Salt Lake City with a train load of flour and other supplies, his destination being Virginia City. Flour had been selling for a dollar and a quarter per pound and other com- modities were almost equally high. On the Bannock mountains the party was overtaken by a terrible storm. It was a typical blizzard and the snow fell to a great depth, the storm raging for forty-eight hours. Mr. Hubenthal lost all of his flour and the teamster lost thirty-two oxen. The flour would have brought Mr. Hubenthal three hundred and thirty-six thousand dollars. He made his way back to Salt Lake City, determined to try again and make a new start. His health remained unimpaired and this stood him in good stead. At Salt Lake City he joined Major Bradley, afterward governor of Nevada, and went with him to Lower California. He was engaged in the butchering business at several points in Nevada. In connec- tion with partners he located and partially developed a silver mine, Vol. II-3
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without however giving up the butchering business, which he carried on in connection with his mining interests.
In 1870 Mr. Hubenthal returned to Keokuk, where he has since made his home, and for an extended period he was connected with the butchering business in this city, gaining thereby a well earned and well merited competence, enabling him to provide a good living for his family.
On the 9th of October, 1856, Mr. Hubenthal was married to Miss Anna Arnold, who was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, and came to the United States in 1850, having a sister living in Fort Madison. Mrs. Hubenthal passed away November 22, 1908, leaving a daughter, Anna Amelia, who was born at the homestead in Keokuk, April 13, 1874. After attending private and public schools she became a student in the Normal College of Dixon, Illinois, and on the Ist of January, 1911, she married Paul Luedtke. In politics Mr. Huben- thal is a stanch democrat, unfaltering in his advocacy of the party. and he is a member of the German Evangelical church, to which his wife also belonged. He has never had occasion to regret his deter- mination to try his fortune in the new world, for here he has found the opportunities which he sought and through their improvement has at length reached a position among the men of affluence in Keokuk.
ISAAC LEAZER.
Isaac Leazer has resided in Cedar township for forty years and is well known throughout the county. He still lives upon his farm on section 15 but has practically retired from active labor. His birth occurred in Washington county, Pennsylvania February 25, 1831, and he is a son of George and Margaret ( Miller) Leazer. of Pennsyl- vania Dutch stock. The father was from Baltimore, Maryland, and the mother from Washington county, Pennsylvania. They removed to Coshocton county, Ohio, when their son Isaac was but ten years of age and remained there for many years. They came west the year after their son had located in Lee county and made their home in Wayne county, Iowa, until they passed away. Both lived to be more than eighty years of age. The father followed farming throughout life and was highly respected wherever known. He and his wife were Dunkards in their religious affiliation. In their family were seven sons and one daughter, all of whom have passed away except the sub-
MRS. ANNA AMELIA LUEDTKE
SIDE VIEW OF THE HUBENTHAL HOME
THE CHARLES HUBENTHAL HOME, KEOKUK Built in 1857
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ject of this review and a brother, Robert, who resides at Corydon, Wayne county.
Isaac Leazer was taken by his parents to Coshocton county, Ohio, when but a child and there grew to manhood. He was attracted by the favorable reports which he heard of the western country and as a young man came to lowa, locating near Farmington in Van Buren county, lowa, in 1858. He later came to Lee county and worked by the month for about two years, after which he rented land in Harrison township for some time and subsequently purchased the farm where he now resides. This comprises eighty acres of fertile land and is situated on section 15, Cedar township. It is under a high state of cultivation and is one of the best developed places in the locality. Mr. Leazer made all of the improvements himself, except the erec- tion of the house. He always followed progressive methods of agri- culture and his well directed labors secured him a competence which enables him to now live retired.
Mr. Leazer was married February 24, 1858, in Croton, this county, to Miss Jane Kelley who was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, May 5, 1836, a daughter of Daniel and Sarah (Doman) Kelley. The par- ents removed to Lee county, Iowa, in 1840, locating near Farmington, where Mr. Kelley entered land. He became the owner of two hun- dred and forty acres which he improved, but later sold his farm and made his home at Farmington until his death, which occurred in 1869, when he was sixty-nine years of age. His widow survived him for many years, passing away in February, 1908, at the remarkable age of ninety-eight years. She retained the full use of her faculties to the last and was the oldest woman in the county. She was a member of the Christian church but Mr. Kelley was a Seventh Day Adventist in religious belief. They were the parents of five sons and four daugh- ters, those besides Mrs. Leazer being: Joshua P., a resident of Van Buren county ; Joseph, a resident of Lee county; Lewis C., John W. and George J., all of Wayne county; Mrs. Catherine Whitmore, of Salt Lake City; Mrs. Susanna Robertson, of Oklahoma; and Mrs. Hannah Sawyer, deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Leazer are the parents of seven sons and two daugh- ters as follows : Mrs. Susanna Vestaline Finger, a resident of Mount Pleasant, lowa; Hamlin, a farmer residing near La Crew, Iowa; Cordelia, now Mrs. Kincade, living nead Donnellson, this county; Charles G., a farmer of Cedar township; Edward C., of Washington county, this state; Horace, a farmer of Van Buren county ; Raymond, living near Hillsboro in Cedar township; Clarence, who carries on farming in Cedar township; and Clyde, who lives at Cottonwood,
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Cedar township, and operates the home farm. There are also seven- teen grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Mr. and Mrs. Leazer are members of the Presbyterian church and do much to aid in the furtherance of its work. Mr. Leazer has always stalwartly supported the republican party and believes that its policies are best adapted to secure the prosperity of the country. He has served in a number of local offices and is one of the influential men of his locality. His public spirit has never been questioned and his incorruptible integrity has won for him a high place in the estimation of his fellowmen.
THEODORE F. BALDWIN.
Theodore F. Baldwin, for many years engaged in the lumber business in Keokuk, was born in Newark, New Jersey, August 8, 1834. In 1846 his parents, Moses Ward and Sarah (Van Riper) Baldwin, removed with their family to the middle west, settling at Salem, Henry county, this state. In 1865 they went to Mount Pleasant, and there on the 12th of April, 1875, Moses Ward Baldwin died. His widow survived him for more than a quarter of a century, passing away at the advanced age of eighty-nine years, on the 30th of No- vember, 1900. She was a real daughter of the Daughters of the Revolution, for her father served in the war for Independence.
In early manhood Theodore F. Baldwin displayed laudable am- bition and unfaltering energy and in his business career he learned to readily discriminate between the essential and the non-essential, so that his efforts were most wisely directed and crowned with well merited success. His early scholastic training was received in an academy at Salem, but in 1852, when only seventeen years of age, he joined the army of adventurous seekers who journeyed across the plains to California in search of gold. He traveled with an ox train but as only the sick or infirm were allowed to ride in the wagons Mr. Baldwin made most of the journey on foot from Iowa to the coast. There were eight men with the wagon train and Mr. Baldwin is today the only survivor of the number. They crossed the Missouri river near the present site of the city of Omaha and from that time on did not see a single habitation until they reached California. Mr. Bald- win met with varied success during the period of ten years which he spent on the Pacific coast. Three times he journeyed to and from California by water, crossing the Isthmus by rail. The last trip was
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made in 1862, when he returned to enlist for service in the Union army.
Before leaving the west he had raised part of a company of vol- unteers but learning that the California regiments would not be in active service he immediately ceased his efforts in that direction and took passage for New York. He enlisted at Fort Donelson, Tennes- see, joining Company D, Fourteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, com- manded by Colonel W. T. Shaw. The first important engagement in which he took part was at Shiloh. All day he fought with his regi- ment at the historic spot afterwards designated as the Hornet's Nest, and at that point the entire regiment was captured at six o'clock on the afternoon of the 6th of April, 1862. For three months he was imprisoned in the Confederate prison at Macon, Georgia, and then was paroled at Huntsville, Alabama, to the Union lines and later was exchanged at St. Louis. Soon thereafter he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant and served as acting quartermaster of his regiment throughout the remainder of the struggle or until Novem- ber, 1864. He participated in a number of engagements besides Shiloh, including the battles of Pleasant Hill, Cain River, Yellow Bayou, Tupelo, Pilot Knob and others, and in 1864 he was honorably discharged by order of the war department of the United States government.
Mr. Baldwin at once returned to his home in Salem, and soon thereafter he was united in marriage to Miss Martha L. McGavic, a daughter of Samuel and Phoebe (Huber) McGavic. Two chil- dren were born of this marriage, Martha Phoebe and Caroline May.
Not long after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin removed to Pella, Iowa, and seven years later came to Keokuk, where he estab- lished a lumberyard for the conduct of a wholesale business, forming a partnership under the firm name of Hosmer & Baldwin. That association continued for three years, at the end of which time Mr. Baldwin entered into partnership with M. L. Magoun, the relation- ship terminating a year later. In 1878 Mr. Baldwin purchased an interest in the firm of Taber & Company, wholesale jobbers and man- ufacturers of lumber, and the partnership was continued for seventeen years, or until 1895, at which time Mr. Baldwin disposed of his hold- ings. Later for two years he acted as manager of the Carson & Rand Lumber Company. He then retired altogether from active business and is now enjoying a well earned and well merited rest at his pleas- ant home at No. 123 High street. Aside from his local business inter- ests, Mr. Baldwin has conducted lumberyards in different parts of Iowa and Missouri, his business interests becoming extensive. He
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was also one of the original incorporators and stockholders of the Mississippi River Power Company. His has been an active and use- ful life, crowned with substantial results, which are the direct out- come of intelligently directed effort and perseverance. He has read- ily discerned business opportunities and has so improved his advan- tages that he stands today among the prosperous and influential citi- zens of Keokuk-his success well earned by methods that neither seek nor require disguise.
As a republican Mr. Baldwin has taken a somewhat active interest in public affairs and has labored untiringly to promote the welfare and upbuilding of his city and section. He served for a number of terms as a member of the city council and was among those instru- mental in the establishment of Rand Park, acting as chairman of the committee having this work in hand. He was also chairman of the board of health at the time the memorable epidemic of smallpox broke out in Keokuk and his work in that trying hour was most com- mendable and beneficial. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity and also to Torrence Post, G. A. R., and to the Loyal Legion. The family attend the Presbyterian church. Mr. Baldwin is an American of the truest type. Of mingled Dutch and English ancestry dating back to a pre-Revolutionary period in this country, he has lived practically in every part of the United States but the far north and has been an active participant in many of the epoch-making events of its history. Coming to Lee county at an early day, he has seen many changes and through all these years he has enjoyed the respect and esteem of his fellowmen. Honesty has been his policy throughout life and success has come to him through his own unaided and honorable efforts.
RAYMOND S. PEASE.
Among the progressive and well known farmers and cattle raisers of Lee county must be numbered Raymond S. Pease, who resides on section 22, Cedar township. He was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, June 15, 1850, a son of Boyd E. and Margaret J. (Black) Pease, the former of whom was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, November 10, 1821, and was a son of John Pease. The mother was a native of the same county and was born in 1828 of Irish parentage. She was married to Boyd E. Pcase in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1849, and in 1853 they came to Lee county. Towa, with their two children. Mr. Pease purchased one hundred
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
and sixty acres of land on section 22, Cedar township, and devoted his time to its cultivation. He and his wife became the parents of ten children, the eight younger being natives of Lee county. The family record is as follows : Raymond, Alfred, Mary, Franklin B., Edward, Emma, Hattie, Fannie G., Boyd E. and Ada B.
Raymond S. Pease was three years of age when brought by his parents to Lee county and received his elementary education at the Center school. He subsequently graduated from the Primrose select school. He remained at home until his marriage and then removed to the farm where he now resides. He has lived upon this place for twenty-two years and is accounted one of the progressive and well-to- do agriculturists of the county. He raises registered hogs and cattle and, as he is thoroughly familiar with the business, he is meeting with success in this enterprise. He is president of a bank at Salem, Henry county, Iowa, and also of a bank at Mount Hamill, Lee county. His connection with these financial institutions indicates his business abil- ity and knowledge of commercial conditions.
Mr. Pease was united in marriage to Miss Clementine Hanna, a daughter of Miles and Sarah A. (Bonar) Hanna, the former born in Indiana, September 14, 1821, and the latter born February 5, 1826, in Ohio county, Virginia. She was a daughter of James and Lydia (Reeves) Bonar, the mother's family coming originally from New Jersey. Mr. and Mrs. Bonar had the following children : Melissa, born February 19, 1814; Wesley, September 12, 1815; Emily, Feb- ruary 20, 1817; Clementine, May 7, 1819; Maude, February 26, 1822; Mary, November 14, 1824; Sarah A., February 5, 1826; George H., January 25, 1828; Carolina S., December 25, 1831 ; Phoebe Z., June 10, 1834; and Harvey O., March 3, 1836. Miles Hanna came to Lee county with his parents and was married at Danville, Des Moines county, Iowa, March 23, 1847, to Miss Bonar, who had set- tled in this state about 1838. He passed away January 24, 1892, but she survived a number of years, dying April 7, 1914. The children born to their union were as follows: Isabell, who was born April 29. 1849, and who died May 29, 1908; James G., born February 17, 1853; Clementine, born May 2, 1856; John L., who was born Septem- ber 9, 1858, and died December 20, 1913; and Mary Z., who was born November 16, 1863, and died July 29, 1865. Mrs. Pease was educated at Big Mound, Iowa, and at the Primrose select school. She remained at home until her marriage. She has become the mother of five children : Miles B., who was born September 13, 1885, and married Irene Hamilton; William R., now a resident of Min- neapolis, Minnesota, who was born December 26, 1887, and married
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
Pearl Castile, by whom he has a daughter, Harriet Agnes; Florence A., who was born June 13, 1892, and is the wife of E. A. Mager- kurth; Lena C., whose birth occurred July 30, 1894, and who is at home; and Carrie E., born January 15, 1897, likewise at home.
Mr. Pease is a democrat in his politics and has been quite active in township and county affairs. His open and straightforward life commends him to the respect and esteem of all who know him and he is one of the valued citizens of the county.
JAMES REEVES.
James Reeves, deceased, was for many years an honored resident of Montrose, having located here in November, 1863. He was born in Dresden, Ohio, on the 4th of October, 1829, and was a son of James Reeves, Sr., who was undoubtedly a native of the same place. His mother, however, was born in Germany. She bore the maiden name of Lucy Woodring and was comparatively young at the time of her death She lost her mind as the result of a serious illness and was sent to an asylum, where it was reported that she died. But her son Philip, who was then living in Montrose, returned to Ohio and with a cousin. John Knox, visited the asylum, where he found the mother, and as she was able to answer his questions was convinced of her iden- tity. He secured permission to bring her to Montrose, where her death occurred. On leaving the asylum she was totally blind. The father died in Ohio. He was married a second time. The children by his first union were: William, who enlisted in an Iowa regiment during the Civil war and, being wounded, was brought to Montrose, where he died in 1863; Oliver, who died in Kansas; Philip W., who passed away in Montrose ; John Wesley, whose death occurred in Cal- ifornia; and James, of this review. There was one daughter by his second marriage, Mrs. Sarah Ellen Hand, who died in Kansas.
James Reeves passed the first seventeen years of his life in his native state and there acquired his education. In early life he learned the trade of house carpenter, joiner, cabinet-maker and undertaker and became an expert workman. On leaving Ohio he removed to Wisconsin and was married in Ozaukee county, that state, to Miss Jennie May Daggett, a native of Charlotte county, New Brunswick. She was born in a little town on the coast overlooking the beautiful bay and was fifteen years of age on the removal of the family to Wis-
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
consin. Her paternal grandfather, Aaron Daggett, was a lifelong resident of St. Andrews, New Brunswick, and followed the trade of a cabinetmaker. He was twice married and had children by each union. His first wife was Lucy Hillman and to them were born four sons, Aaron, Thomas, Seth and Leonard. At the time of his second marriage his son Aaron left home and went to sea, after which all trace of him was lost until his half-brother William found him in Halifax years later. At that time he was very wealthy and William would not make himself known.
The Daggett family is of French Huguenot descent. Seth Dag- gett, the father of Mrs. Reeves, also learned the carpenter's trade and engaged in the manufacture of furniture and caskets, working prin- cipally in mahogany. In early life he was united in marriage to Miss Abigail Young, who at that time was only nineteen years of age and a very beautiful girl. She died in Fredonia, Ozaukee county, Wis- consin, in 1876, at the age of sixty-six years, and he passed away at the same place in 1855, at the age of fifty-five years. Their children were : Allen; Mrs. Selma Turner; Isaac Albert; Mrs. Reeves; Mrs. Euphenia Bradford, whose husband was killed in the battle of Cor- inth; Mrs. Hannah C. Taylor, whose husband was also a soldier in the Civil war; Hillman G., who was one of the first to enlist in the First Wisconsin Cavalry and is now deceased; Abbie, the wife of George Bolton; Emeline L., the wife of John B. Harvey, of Evans- ton, Illinois; and Albert Seth and Mrs. Silvandra Henry, twins.
When the country became involved in civil war Mr. Reeves was very anxious to enlist at the first call for troops, but having a family of small children, his wife pleaded with him to remain at home, but the roll of the drum, the music of the fife made his heart swell within him and he could not be content to remain at home. He said to his wife : "May, I don't think I will ever be any good at the bench again if I do not go to the front," and she responded : "If you think that way, James, you go right over and give your name to your brother- in-law, Edward Bradford (enrolling officer), and go down south and set yourself up for a target." It is needless to say that Mr. Reeves needed no second invitation. He enlisted at Madison in Company K, Sixteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and at once went to the front. He was wounded by a ball in the right thigh at the battle of Shiloh and was first taken to the field hospital and later to Camp Dennison, Ohio. Learning of this, Mrs. Reeves started out to find him and finally located him at Camp Dennison. Securing permission from headquarters, she brought him home, where with the aid of the family physician she nursed him back to health.
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As previously stated, Mrs. Reeves was a girl of fifteen years on the removal of her father's family to Wisconsin and this change of resi- dence was made in order that the children of the Daggett family might be given better educational advantages. Leaving their old home in New Brunswick, they sailed for Boston and on the trip encountered some very severe storms. At one time it was thought that all would be lost. After spending a day and night in Boston they took the train for Albany and by canal proceeded to Buffalo, New York, where they arrived eight days later. They then pro- ceeded on the Little Niagara across the lakes to Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin. By wagon they then made their way to Ozaukee county, where Mrs. Reeves grew to womanhood. After her marriage she remained a resident of that state until 1863, when the family came to Montrose. Here Mr. Reeves opened a shop and carried on busi- ness quite successfully until his death, which occurred on the 19th of May, 1891, his remains being interred in the Montrose cemetery. He was reared in the Congregational church and lived an upright. useful life, commanding the respect and confidence of all with whom he was brought in contact. He possessed a fine barytone voice and his wife was also a beautiful singer, as are their three children. In politics he was a whig and later a republican. Fraternally he was identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. At his death he left three children, namely : Lena L., now Mrs. P. W. Bowen, of Mon- trose; Addie, now Mrs. C. D. Leffler, of Marysville, Missouri; and George M., who married Myrtle Harrison and resides in Quincy, Illinois.
JOHN C. DANOVER.
John C. Danover is engaged in farming on section 17, Pleasant Ridge township, where he resides, and also owns and cultivates an eighty acre tract situated on section 27. He was born November 17. 1867. a son of Jacob and Sarah (McKee) Danover, and is the first in order of birth in their family of four children, the others being as follows: Florence B., who was born February 21, 1869, and resides with her father ; Eva A., who was born December 18, 1870, and is the wife of Arthur McCabe, a farmer of Wayne county, this state; and Georgia F., who was born December 10, 1877, and makes her home with her father.
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