The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 96

Author: Flickinger, Robert Elliott, b. 1846
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Fonda, Iowa, G. Sanborn
Number of Pages: 1058

USA > Iowa > Pocahontas County > The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 96

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His wife died in 1871 leaving a fam-

ried Elizabeth Gillis, widow of Ed- ward Anderson, and she died in 1899 at the old home in Canada. She left two children by her first husband and six step children.

Elizabeth in 1886 married Samuel L. Horsman, owner and occupant of a Jennie Henderson married S. E. well improved farm on sec. 7, and has Hamilton, a carpenter and is located a family of seven children, James, at Los Gatos, Cal. John, Myrtle, Glenn, William, Edith and Martha Belle.

Catherine and George still occupy the old homestead.

Maggie married J. A. Wonderlich, a Parradee, owner and occupant of a painter, and lived at Havelock. In good farm on sec. 11. They have a 1901 she died leaving a family of six family of six children, Mary, John, children, David, Kate, Jennie, Nina, Rose, Ruth, Susan and May.

George in 1893 married Blanclie Miller, lives on his own farm in Palo Alto county and has three children, Eleanor, Agnes and Ellis.

William works the home farm.

John in 1898 married Ella, daughter of A. B, Harmon, lives in Palo Alto county and has two children, Pearl and Roy.

James in 1901 married Eva May Harmon and lives on his own farm near Plover.

Janet in 1902 married Ilarry Mc- Fadzen, a farmer, and lives near Plover.

Charles in 1898 married Myrtle Bar- rick, lives on sec. 5 and has one child, Hazel.

Henderson, George (b. 1834; d. family of five children. Harry A. 1892), an elder brother of James, was married Catherine Geddes, lives on a a native of Fifeshire, Scotland, where farm near Plover; Nettie married he grew to manhood and in 1858 mar- Henry Shrouf and also lives on a farm ried Cecilia Somers. Later that year near Plover; Bert, Ernest and Leslie. he came to Canada and accepted em- Mr. Hilton, after the death of his first wife, married Cora Northrop,and their family consists of three children ployment as a weaver during the next eight years. In May 1866, he came to Powhatan township and se- Maud, Alma and Lois. cured a homestead of 160 acres on the Jolliffe, John Blake (b. 1845), own- er and occupant of a homestead on the net sec. 2, since April 25, 1866, is a native of England, a son of James He and Mary Ann Blake Jolliffe, who než sec. 26. He improved and enlar- ged this farm to 240 acres and occu- pied it until his death in 1892.

Bessie.

James lives in Palo Alto county.

William has been in the U. S. navy during the last five years, and served under Admiral Dewey at Manila.

Hilton, Joseph D., resident of Pow- hatan since 1873, is a native of Maine. In his youth he moved to Wisconsin, where he enlisted and rendered a period of military service, during the civil war. At its close he returned to Wisconsin and married Alice Per-

rington. In 1873 with wife and two children, Harry and Bert, he located on the sw} sec. 5, Powhatan township. He improved this farm with good buildings, increased it to 240 acres and occupied it until 1900, when he moved to Burlington, Wash. A few years ago his first wife died leaving a

Catherine in 1886 married Louis

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PIONEER HISTORY. OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

came to this country when John B. assemblies. He is a member of the was about ten, and located in the Methodist church. province of Ontario, Canada. He His family consisted of twelve chil- dren, of whom Emma, the sixth was brought up on a farm, and when he became of age, came to Pocahon- died at 18 in 1897, soon after the re- tas county and secured a homestead moval of a great tumor that weighed in Powhatan township. During the 100 pounds, Two others died before first season he lived a short time un- her, Cerinda at 15 in 1890 and Ida in der a wagon box and did some break- childhood.

Rose Ella in 1890 married George

ing. During this and the next few years he realized what it was to be on Kinsey, a farmer, and has five chil-

the frontier. He was seven miles dren, Mary, Eva, Charles, Nellie and west of the Des Moines river and, Edna.

with the exception of Robert and Mary in 1896 married Henry Tansey Edward Anderson, two miles south on and located on a farm in Wright coun- 15, he was the furthest west of any ty. They now live near Plover and of the settlers in that vicinity; and have one son, Lee.

those at the Little Sioux river were Albert in 1894 married Annie Grat- thirty miles distant. At first he zen, a farmer, lives near Mallard and worked for Judge Slosson, Henry Jar- has four children, Roy, Bessie, Sadie vis and Perry Nowlen, and occasion- and Mabel.

ally went back and slept on his claim Sarah in 1892 married Daniel Miller to hold it. During the second sum- and located near Des Moines, where mer he put in a small crop, cared for she died in 1898, leaving three chil- and harvested it, having a boarding dren, Etta, Ray and Glenn. In 1900 place in a little cabin two miles dis- Sarah married Henry L. Roush, a

tant. Potatoes that cost $2.00 per farmer, located near Plover and has bushel at the nearest market consti- one daughter, Hazel.

tuted the principal article of diet, and the only money available was the pelt liam and George are at home. of the muskrat.

Ina, a teacher, Hattie, Clara, Wil-

Jolliffe, James J., a younger

Oct. 14, 1867 he married Jane, brother of J. B , in 1869 located in the daughter of Rev. Frederic Metcalf, of Old Rolfe settlement and previous to Des Moines township, and built first the advent of the railroads was inti- a sod shanty and later a log house. mately connected with many of the The latter was covered with a board leading events of that place. Per- roof that always leaked when it rained ceiving at an early day, that the habit and both were very humble and un- of drinking was on the increase satisfactory abodes. During the among the young men, he united with years that have passed since that J. J. Bruce and others in organizing a date he has added acre to acre, so that Good Templar's lodge at that place. he is now the owner of 782 acres of In connection with its work and vari- valuable farm land and the old home- ous other social gatherings in the stead has been improved with fine north part of the county, he delivered buildings, fences and groves. From a a number of temperance addresses, by very humble beginning he has attain- which he is still remembered. Believ- ed a very high degree of success on ing that the saloon is the greatest the farm. He has rendered many enemy of the nation, church and years of faithful service in the various home, he has stood ready to antagon- township offices and has been a leader ize it with voice and pen. His faith in song in religious and various other in God, in the growing influence of

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POWHATAN TOWNSHIP.

the church and the intelligence of the four years in the army. He then en- American people, leads him to believe tered the detective service of the that the saloon, the only institution government. that now openly defies justice,

In 1865 in Cataraugus county, N. Y., violates with impunity police regula- he married Samantha Harris and soon tions, desecrates the Sabbath and con- afterward located on a farm in Ford tinually dishonors God, will soon be county, Ill. He served as sheriff of forever abolished. Ford county eight years. In 1883 he

In 1878 he married the only (Ella) located on a farm of 183 acres in Pow- Sharpe girl in Humboldt county, an hatan, occupied it during the next event he has never had occasion to seven years, moved to Rolfe and three regret and located near Bradgate.

years later to Madison Lake, Minn.,

His family consists of seven chil- where he died in 1894. His first wife dren. Frank, Ethel, Charley, Warren, died in 1873 in Illinois, and in 1874 he Harvey, Clark and Mary. married Maggie Matthews. His fam-

Lind, Marcus (b. 1820), owner and ily by his first wife consisted of three occupant of a farm on the nwł sec. 16 children, Lewis E. owns and occu- from 1867 until his decease in 1897 was pies a farm near Mallard. Samuel W. a native of Denmark. He went to in 1890 married Mary E. Fessenden Australia and there met and married and located on a farm in Powhatan. his wife who was a native of Scotland. In 1900 he moved to McHenry, N. D., After their marriage they returned to where his wife died leaving a family Denmark and Scotland, then came of five children, Samuel, John, Grace, to America and located in Powhatan Clara and George. John H.is in Wash- township in the fall of 1869. She was ington. a member of the Presbyterian church MacVey, Thomas Lord (b. Aug. and died at 80 in 1900, leaving two 15, 1835), county recorder 1869-1874, is daughters, Mary and Margaret Mc- a native of Tariffville, Hartford coun- Donald, who still occupy the old ty, Conn. He was the fourth child of home:

Thomas and Elizabeth Lord Mac Vey.

Loughead, George N. (b. 1866), His father, of Scotch-Irish descent, postmaster, is a native of Greene came from the province of Quebec county, Wis., where he grew to man- to Portland, Maine, where he married hood. In 1887 he came to Pocahontas Elizabeth Lord, of English descent, county with his brother S. J. Lough- and soon afterward located in Con ead and bought 160 acres on secs. 3 and necticut. Thomas spent his boy 4, Powhatan township, which he im- hood on the farm and in the; woolen proved and occupied until 1892, when mills of his native town, where many he moved to Plover and became mana- children at that time helped to bear ger of the Counselman elevator. Feb. the family burden. At the age of 12 1, 1899 he became postmaster at Plov- he was bereft of his mother and, the er and is still serving the people in home being broken up, he was cast that capacity. upon his own resources. Finding em-

1n 1888 he married Jessie Kingdom, ployment for several years among the of Greene county, Wis., and she died neighboring farmers he managed to in 1891, leaving one child, Isabel. 1893 he married Ida Charlton. In provide for himself, aid two younger brothers and acquire a thorough Lyman, Samuel Bert (b. 1840; d. knowledge of carpentering.

In 1852 he became an agent for a

1894), was a native of Southampton Mass. He enlisted as a soldier at the prominent jewelry firm in Hartford, outbreak of the civil war and spent Conn., and spent the next three years

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PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

in western Pennsylvania and New the Tennessee river, thence across the York. Attracted by the oil excite- corner of Georgia, across the entire ment, he became an engineer in the state of Alabama, the corner of Miss- oil region and continued until the issippi, through Tennessee and Ken- panic of 1857 put an end to all busi- tucky to the Ohio. The country ness enterprises in that section. Ac- through which they had to pass was companied by two friends, Solomon infested with home guards and de- and Albert Fletcher, he traveled to tachments of the rapidly forming con- Rogersville, Tenn., where, finding em- federate army. They were stopped ployment on a large river bridge, he by the provosts at Fort Henry, then soon became a foreman and engineer under construction, and at several and so continued, until the storm of other places, but were allowed to pass secession was precipitated by the as- as persons enroute to Arkansas. They sault on Fort Sumpter. arrived at Paducah on the Ohio after

Previous to this date he had enjoyed a journey of six weeks and just a few no educational advantages, except a days before the battle of Bull Run. few months at the village school in Here Mr. MacVey sold the boat for his boyhood. He however formed the $75 and they separated, the Fletchers habit of reading some good book in liis returning to Pennsylvania and Mac- leisure hours, and, by persevering Vey to Connecticut, his native state, effort during these years of constant expecting to enter the service with labor with varying fortunes, had ac- some of his old companions. Finding quired a vast amount of general infor- they had already enlisted he returned mation and formed the habits of a to Crawford county, Pa., and became good student, so that in his later a member of Company K., 150th Pa. years he proved himself to be a man Volunteers, which formed a part of possessing considerable intellectual the famous Bucktail Brigade. His ability and even literary attainments, regiment saw some of the hardest fighting during the war, but his com-

He was an ultra republican and cast his first vote for Fremont. In Tennesee pany was detailed as President Lin- he became personally acquainted with coln's guard and so continued through- Andrew Johnson and Thomas A. R. out the war. He rose to the rank of Nelson, the crippled statesman, who first lieutenant and has several highly did so much at first to hold Tennesee prized mementoes of the "late un- in the Union, but afterwards went pleasantness," among which are his over to the confederacy. He was one commis ions as first and second lieu- of those who with pistol in hand, help- tenants, a picture entitled "Home on ed to make it possible for these men a Furlough," presented by Mrs. Lin- to make some of their last speeches coln after the assassination, and a cup against the ordinance of secession. decorated with the U. S. Coat of

When the news of the fall of Fort Arms, from the martyred president's Sumpter reached Rogersville, the men tea service. Two of his brothers were at work with him on the Slammon soldiers in the civil war and his father mill quit work to enter the confeder- served two enlistments.

ate army, and he and the Fletcher In the winter of 1863 he married brothers began the construction of Rebecca W. Noble of Carlisle, Pa., a flatboat to make their escape to the but remained in the army until June north. When it was completed and a 17, 1865, when he located in Chicago month's provisions were obtained they and engaged in stairbuilding. Here and their families began a long and his first child was born and named, perilous voyage down the Holston to Frank Lincoln, at the request of Tad

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POWHATAN TOWNSHIP.

Lincoln, who, with his widowed the first building in the township to re- mother, then lived in Chicago and oc- ceive a coat of paint and in 1902 it was casionally visited the MacVey home. still protected on the east side by the

In March 1866 Mr. MacVey visited shingles that were hauled from Boone the prairies of northwestern Iowa, thirty five years previous.

and tiled a claim for the ned sec. 36, During that spring he sowed by Powhatan township. That fall he hand his first crop of wheat, five acres and his family, making the journey that had been broken the previous from Ackley by stage coach and other year.

This work was done with a hired conveyances, located for the yoke of half-broken, unruly steers ob- winter in a part of the log house on an tained from Samuel Booth, and their adjoining claim (sw} sec. 25.) of Sam- frequent attempts to run away were uel Booth. He was then a skilled thwarted by riding the harrow, which mechanic but had a very limited out- was a wooden toothed affair belong- fit, the latter consisting of a wife, a ing to Jerry Young. At the end of sick baby, a bureau, four chairs, a the day's work the field was subdued cookstove, a canary bird and $105.00. and so were the steers. During that He immediately found employment summer he and W. D. McEwen ran a with John Rogers and later with breaking plow together, each furnish- W. H. Hait, who was then building ing a yoke of oxen and doing his own the first two story house in the coun- breaking.

ty.

He participated in the organization In March 1867, with a sled and two of the township, served as its first yoke of oxen, he went to Boone, 80 assessor and received four dollars for miles distant, for lumber to build a that service. This assessment was house. He paidgout all the money he made in one day, but it caused an had, $100 00, for lumber, which then ranged from $30.00 to $90.00 a thous- ed for home over the trackless prairie with streams unbridged save when

attack of snow blindness that kept him in a dark room several weeks. and feet, put it on the sled and start- It was largely due to his influence and effort that the name of the township was changed from "Nunda" to "Pow- covered with ice. The snow began to hatan" and later from "Jackson" to disappear quite rapidly under the in- "Powhatan" again. He served as

fluence of a spring thaw, and eleven one of the first school directors and days later he arrived home on foot, as county recorder six years, 1869-74. having experienced a "breakdown," a He made several of the first coffins used in the township, one being for the child of Samuel Booth about the fall of 1869. He carried the tools and part of the materials for it "stuck fast, " and having left piles of lumber at several different places along the route as the snow disap- peared and the oxen and sled at Mur- ray's on the east bank of the Des from Old Rolfe and made it in the Moines river near Rutland. The Strong school house by the light of a steers were brought home a few days lantern on a cold winter night.

later and the lumber was gathered up after the spring freshets had sub- sided. Hewed oak sills and frame

The first one was for Mother Lowrey in the spring of 1867.

From July 1871 to February 1, 1872, lumber were obtained from the native he was associated with James J. timber along the Des Moines river at Bruce in the publication of the Poca- hontas Journal (p. 286.), and his later contributions to the press of the

old Rolfe, and the first frame house, 122x20 feet and 12 feet high, in Pow- hatan township, was erected. It was county have done much to preserve

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PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

the early history of Powhatan town- teacher's examinations. She was a ready writer and a frequent contribu-

ship.

He was an enthusiastic Granger, tor to the columns of the Fonda master of Sumner subordinate lodge News, Fonda Gazette and North- western Hawkeye.

in Powhatan and twice a delegate to the state grange at Des Moines. He

She was a native of Cumberland, was for a number of years captain of Co., Pa., (b. 1835) the seventh child of the "Pocahontas Rifles" (1869-1874), Frank and Mary Brown Noble. Her a military company organized at Rolfe father was of Scotch-Irish ancestry and forming a part of the Iowa and her mother was a niece of Com- National Guard, and served as first modore Joshua Barney, of revolution- commander of the G. A. R. post ary fame, and a sister of Rev. George (Mill's) organized about 1884.

Brown, one of the founders of the

In 1886, the farm having been in- Methodist Protestant church. She creased to 320 acres and leased, he grew to womanhood at Carlisle, where moved to Knoxville, Tenn., and the she graduated from the high school next year to China, Louisiana, where and also from the ladies' seminary. he has secured considerable land.

She began to teach at sixteen, was

Here he has made his influence felt principal of the Plainfield, Pa., high to such an extent, by encouraging the school, and was teaching near Harp- black and enthusing the white voters, er's Ferry at the time of the raid of that the precinct, formerly demo- John Brown, whom she met at the cratic, has become republican. In home of Dr. Leonard. In 1862 she 1892 he was appointed U. S. commis- went to Washington to care for a sioner for the western district of brother, who had been wounded in the Louisiana and still holds this position. second battle of Bull Run. Here she met Thomas L. Mac Vey, who the next

He has several times been senior vice- commander of the G. A. R. depart- year became her husband.

ment of Louisiana and Mississippi

In Louisiana she engaged in teach- and was a delegate to the national ing among the French creolcs, who encampments at Pittsburg and Louis- appreciated her labors very highly. ville in 1894 and 95.

She loved to teach and was engaged In the spring of 1893 he was bereft in this, her favorite employment, of his wife, Rebecca W. Noble, who was when she was overtaken by her final one of the early teachers in Powhatan, illness, which came in the form of a teaching several terms in the pioneer stroke of apoplexy while at a public gathering. school house while it was located on the swł sec. 25., and her last term in her Possessing an indomitable will and own house on section 36 during the unflinching courage, she knew not the winter of 1873-74, the school house meaning of the word "fail," and suc- having been moved to another part of cess was usually assured to whatever enterprise she lent her aid. She was a

the township in 1873. Among her pupils were Thomas Rogers, Charles leader, who could arouse enthusiasm in E. Fraser, Mrs. W. D. McEwen, Mrs. the most indifferent and incite them Geo. Stevens, Mrs. Caroline Vaughn to action. She was a true and help- and Mrs. J. J. Jolliffe. She taught ful friend to the poor, and a lifelong several terms at Old Rolfe, was one of member of the Episcopal church.

the most competent teachers in the In 1896 Thomas L. Mac Vey married county, assisted Supt. Hathaway to Fannie Josephine Work, a native of conduct his institutes and was depu- Pennsylvania, and a teacher of many tized by him occasionally to conduct years' experience, first in Crawford

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POWHATAN TOWNSHIP.

county, Pa., then in Illinois, twenty farm. His orchard is one of the larg- years in Nevada and one, 1895, in a est and finest in the county. mission school among the Indians on McEwen Alexander, (b. 1845), one Douglas Island, Alaska. He is now of the pioneers of Pocahontas county living in very comfortable circum- and a leading citizen of Powhatan, is stances in Jennings, Louisiana. a native of Scotland, a son of Rev.

The success he has achieved has John McEwen. His father was a min- been largely due to his untiring in- ister in the established church of dustry, thoughtfulness and economy. Scotland and served 45 years as pastor He has been conscientious and fearless of the church at Dyke Forres, Mur- in advocating and defending the rayshire. In his youth he spent one rights of the people, and has made a yearin Canada, crossing the ocean good record as a citizen, soldier and with his sister Margaret, mother of public officer. He acquired consid- William D. McEwen, whose husband erable ease and elegance as a writer, though of the same name, was no rel- enjoyed the discussion of public ques- ative of hers. During that year all tions and won the esteem of the peo- the family were in America- his fa- ple in the several communities in ther, mother, four brothers, Peter, which he has lived. His family con- James, Donald and William, and sis- sisted of two sons, Frank and Lee. ters, Grace and Janet. His father

Frank L., (b. Ill., 1865,) on No- died in 1886, leaving a family of seven vember 24, 1893, married Elizabeth E., children-Alexander, Donald, Robert, eldest daughter of Gilbert N. Brown, Marjory, John, Mary and Henry.

a veteran of the civil war, who moved Donald, a surveyor in the British ar- from Butler county, Iowa, to Louisi- my, died in 1886, having spent thir- ana in 1884. After the marriage of teen years in India and passed his father in 1896 he returned to the through Soudan with the army under old homestead in Powhatan township, Gen. Chinese Gordon. Robert went which he now owns together with 160 to India, where he engaged in the in- acres in Louisiana. During the last digo trade and died at Edinburgh in seven of the nine years he resided in 1893. Marjory married John Smith, a Louisiana he was a member of the re- merchant at Hong Kong, China.

publican central committee of Cal- John became an assistant

to his

casieu parish, and a delegate to the father before his death and is now his state convention in 1892. He was successor as pastor at Dyke Forres. postmaster at China, during Presi- Mary married Rev. George Bisset of dent Harrison's administration and ap- the established church, and lives in - portioner of taxes in 1896. In 1899 he Edinburgh. Henry is superintend- became assessor of Powhatan, and in ent of the electric light plant in Glas- 1900 was a delegate to the Baptist gow. He received a medal for some state convention at Des Moines. His astronomical drawings from the Lon- family consists of four children: don Astronomical society at the Bernice Rebecca, Noble Le Suer, Ruth Brown and Gilbert Niles.

World's Fair in Chicago in 1893, and was made a member of the Royal As- tronomical society of London.

William Lee MacVey, (b. Oct. 10, 1867), in Powhatan went south with Alexander, the oldest member of his father's family in 1886; first to the family, having acquired a good Knoxville, then to China, Louisiana, education in Scotland came to Can- where he resided until 1898, when he ada, and in December, 1869, became a returned to Powhatan. He now owns resident of Des Moines township, this and farms 160 acres of the old MacVey county, where he found a home with

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PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

Henry Jarvis and taught school dur- tion of his children and had .the ing the next seven months in the Jar- pleasure of seeing two of them, Mar- vis school house, located near the jory and Susan, members of the first county line, south of McNight's Point. graduating class from the Plover high He then prepared a set of abstract school in 1899. books for W. D. McEwen at Old Rolfe,

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The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 96

Author: Flickinger, Robert Elliott, b. 1846 Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Fonda, Iowa, G. Sanborn Number of Pages: 1058

Author: Flickinger, Robert Elliott, b. 1846
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Fonda, Iowa, G. Sanborn
Number of Pages: 1058