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History of
Cass County, Iowa W Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Dick Barton. Among the more prominent and substantial class of citizens we do not fail to mention A. M. Wakefield, who is a native of Newport, Kentucky, and was born on the 24th of July, 1851. The family came to Cass county in 1853, and located in Atlantic township. He was reared and educated on a farm in Franklin township, and remained at home until he had reached the age of twenty-three years, when he purchased a farm in Union township, and broke the land and commenced the stock business. His business has increased, until it attained proportions, which placed him among the foremost stockmen in western Iowa. He ships stock to all parts of the country, and has shipped for the part year most of his stock to Chicago and Nebraska. Mr. Wakefield has three hundred and eighty acres of good cultivated land, most of which is in pasture. His farm has an orchard attached, and he has commenced the improvements of his place, and in the course of a few years has farm will be one of the best in the county. Mr. Wakefield was married in January, 1884, to Harriet Cook, a native of Ohio. Mr. W. is a member of the I. O. O. F., being Inside Guard of that Lodge. p370: Albert Wakefield was elected to the office of county surveyor in the fall of 1865, but on the 1st of January, following, when all the new officers were sworn in, he failed to qualify, and the board of supervisors appointed F. H. Whitney to fill the vacancy. This he did until the first of the following year, when he was succeeded by T. J. Jordan, who was elected for the unexpired term in the fall of 1866. A. Wakefield was again elected county surveyor in 1867, but seems to have served for about a year and a half, when he was succeeded by S. Hamblen. Albert Wakefield was born in Somerset county, Maine, on the 1st of January, 1828 his parents being John and Emma (Downing) Wakefield. He received his education in Maine, and when eighteen years of age he commenced the occupation of school teaching in his native State. He remained there until 1850, when he moved to New Jersey, and there taught one year, when he went to Connecticut, and in the spring of 1851, he came to Davis county, Iowa, and was there engaged in teaching two years, or until 1853, when he came to Cass county, and has since made it his home. On his arrival at his new home he found Judge Bradshaw, the first judge of Cass county, keeping postoffice at Indiantown, and Lewis had just been located, while the the county seat was placed there. Mr. Wakefield located on sections 13 and 24, in Atlantic township, where he owned 600 acres of fine land, portions of which he sold to each of twenty-five different persons. In the spring of 1855 he built a saw mill on Turkey creek, and began its operation the spring following, while his older brother became millwright. But before many months the brother sold his interest to A. G. McQueen, afterward a general in the civil war. Albert Wakefield sold his interest in the spring of 1875, and in the summer of that year went to farming. He had gone to California in 1862, and taught school until the summer of 1865. He went to Missouri in the spring of 1866, and taught school near St. Joe, for one term, and after the war he took a trip through Kansas, with a view of locating, but not liking the country, he came to Cass county and purchased the lots of Grove City, where he has since lived. He was married on the 1st of January, 1858, to Miss Ellen Northgraves, a native of Covington, Kentucky, but when quite young moved to Ohio, where she was reared. In the spring of 1856 she taught the first school at Hamlin's Grove, Audubon county, and in the fall of that year, taught the first school in Franklin township, which stood about a half mile northwest of the present site of Wiota. She afterwards taught the school of Turkey Grove, Atlantic township. Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield have three children: Emma, and Carrie and Clara, twins. Emma was married in January, 1884 to Fred Schain, and now lives four miles south of Atlantic. Mr. Wakefield owns eighty acres of land in Grove City, and raises Norman horses, Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs. At the second elections in the county, in 1855, Mr. Wakefield was elected county surveyor, and so served one term. He was notary public about eight years, and has held the office of township treasurer for fourteen terms. His farm is one of the finest in the county, and his orchard is the largest in this part of the country, containing about one thousand apple trees, one hundred cherry trees, and a large number of plum trees, and also has a fine vineyard of over two hundred vines. Mr. Wakefield and family are prominent members of the Methodist Episcopal church. p835: During the latter part of May, 1853, G. W. W. Wakefield and Albert Wakefield settled on the south part of section 24, broke prairie, and built a house. Albert Wakefield was born in Somerset county, Maine, on the 1st of January, 1828 his parents being John and Emma (Downing) Wakefield. He received his education in Maine, and when eighteen years of age he commenced the occupation of school teaching in his native State. He remained there until 1850, when he moved to New Jersey, and there taught one year, three months, when he went to Cincinnati, and in the spring of 1851, he came to Davis county, Iowa, and was there engaged in teaching two years, or until 1853, when he came to Cass county, and has since made it his home. On his arrival at his new home he found Judge Bradshaw, the first judge of Cass county, keeping postoffice at Indiantown, and Lewis had just been located, while the the county seat was placed there. Mr. Wakefield located on sections 13 and 24, in Atlantic township, where he owned 600 acres of fine land, portions of which he sold to each of twenty-five different persons. In the summer of 1855 he built a saw mill on Turkey Creek, and began its operation the spring following, while his older brother became millwright. Before many months the brother sold his interest to A. G. McQueen, afterward a Brigadier General in the civil war. Albert Wakefield sold his interest in the spring of 1865, and in the summer of that year went to farming. He had gone to California in 1862, and taught school until the summer of 1865. He went to Missouri in the spring of 1866, and taught school near St. Joe, for one term, and then he took a trip through Kansas, with a view of locating, but not liking the country, he came to Cass county and purchased the lots of Grove City, where he has since lived. He was married on the 1st of January, 1858, to Miss Ellen Northgraves, a native of Covington, Kentucky, who, when quite young moved to Ohio, where she was reared. In the spring of 1856, she taught the first school in Audubon county, at Hamlin's Grove, and in the fall of that year, taught the first school in Franklin township, Cass county, a half mile northwest of the present site of Wiota. She afterwards taught the first school of Turkey Grove, Atlantic township, two terms in 1866-7. Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield have three children - Emma, Carrie and Clara (twins). Emma was married January 1, 1884, to Fred Schain, and now lives four miles south of Atlantic. Mr. Wakefield owns eighty acres of land in Grove City. At the second election in the county, in 1855, Mr. Wakefield was elected County Clerk, and served one term. He was notary public about eight years, and has held the office of township treasurer for fourteen consecutive terms. He also held the office of county surveyor four years, beginning in 1866 or 1868, (one term by election and one by appointment). His farm is one of the finest in the county, and his orchard is the largest in this part of the country, containing about one thousand apple trees, one hundred cherry trees, and a large number of plum trees, and also has a fine vineyard of over two hundred vines. GEORGE W. WAKEFIELD, the son of George W. W. and Mary (Clare) Wakefield, was born near Bloomfield, Davis county, Iowa, June 26, 1853, and in the following year, when he was but an infant, his parents moved into Cass county. He was reared here on these beautiful prairies and has grown up, so to speak, with this his adopted home. When he had attained a suitable age he commenced attendance upon the primitive schools of that transition period, in the rude log cabin that is seen by so many eminent men in the glamour that memory throws around their early days, as their only alma mater. Here George received the elements of his education, going to school during the short days of winter, and in the summer helping on the farm, for in pioneer days, all had to labor for the advancement of the family. Shortly before he had attained the full years of manhood, he felt inclined to start out on life's pilgrimage, alone, working for his own hand, and giving his father some fifty dollars for three months of his tine, he purchased a team of his father for two hundred dollars, on credit, and rented a part of his father's farm, and fed cattle in partnership with his father and brother. This he continued for three years, and having succeeded well at his first venture, he purchased a tract of land lying south of Anita, containing one hundred and twenty acres, which he had broken a year later. Here he built a good dwelling house, and a barn, set out a grove and made some other improvements. This place he still owns. During the hard times of 1876, and the failure of crops in this locality that ensued, he was obliged, by adverse circumstances, to sell off his personal property, and went to work, heroically, to make enough to pay off the indebtedness against his farm. After working out, by the month, for three years, and renting the place to the best possible advantage, he succeeded in clearing off the mortgage on the 1st of October, 1879. He now borrowed some money to buy some young cattle and some corn, and commenced to feed. Mr. Wakefield has transacted one of the largest businesses in the cattle and stock line in southwestern Iowa, and some of his deals were simply enormous. Great natural shrewdness, excellent business ability, coupled with industry, perseverance and energy soon raised him to a position of easy competency and comfort. In 1881, finding that cattle had become so high that there was but little money in the handling of them, and great risk, he retired from the business. He then purchased some four hundred acres of land, in Edna township, which was then in a wild state, but, now he has about three hundred acres under cultivation, has erected a fine cottage surrounded with neat barns and other outbuildings, and the place looks thrifty and prosperous. George W. Wakefield and Lizzie Boggs were united in marriage on the 26th of June, 1882, at Red Oak, Montgomery county, Iowa. The lady is the youngest daughter of Henry Boggs, of that place. Of this union there is one child, a sunny, winsome lass, whom its happy parents call by the name of Maude. Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield are among the most prominent people in the township, if not the whole county. JOHN A. WELSH was born in Mt. Vernon, Knox county, Ohio, September 17, 1850. His parents were Thomas H. Welsh, a native of Pennsylvania, and Elizabeth (Sweet Hamill) Welsh, a native of Canada. The former died when John was about four years of age, in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. The latter is now living with her sons. They remained in Ohio till 1858, when the family removed to Bureau county, Illinois. They lived there until the spring of 1874, at which time he came to Cass county and bought the northeast quarter of section 26, Brighton township, then wild land. This farm is watered by a living stream, Spring Branch, and is now all under cultivation. Mr. Welsh was educated at the Buda high school in Bureau county. He taught school some, during the time that he was obtaining his education. He was afterwards engaged in clerking in Buda, and later, in surveying, on the Buda and Rushville branch, of the C. b. and Q. Railroad. He continued the latter occupation one year, then worked upon the farm of E. S. Hamill, one year. After this he was employed as book-keeper in the dry goods house of B. F. Waite, in Buda, then in a bank of deposit and collection, where he remained about four years. He then came to Cass county. Mr. Welsh was married November 21, 1872, to Mary F. Bruner, a native of Pennsylvania, and daughter of I. J. and C. D. Bruner. They have two children - Charles E. and Ada B. Mr. and Mrs. Welsh are members of the Baptist church. Mr. Welsh is a Republican in politics. He is president of the township school board and director, in his district. WILLIAM C. WELSH, son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Sweet) Welsh, was born in Knox county, Ohio, September 18, 1855. He lived in his native State until 1859, then removed with his parents, to Bureau county, Illinois, where he was reared and educated. He was employed as clerk in a store in Buda, in Bureau county, from 1870, then engaged upon the railroad for three years. After this he was engaged in mercantile business until he removed to Cass county in the spring of 1878. He settled at that time, on the farm where he now lives, in the northwest quarter of section 25, of Brighton township. It was then unimproved. Mr. Welsh is engaged in stock raising, and is at present, intending to make a specialty of Holstein cattle. He was married in Buda, Illinois, to Katie P. Murphy, September 6, 1875. She is a native of Pennsylvania. They have two children - E. Fay and George G. Mr. Welsh is a Republican, politically. Dec. 22, 1853, H. Whipple moved into a log cabin not far from the present site of the bridge across Troublesome creek, just north of Atlantic. He had great difficulty in getting across the creek, as there was no bridge. In order to get a crossing made, he built a log-heap fire on either bank, to take the frost out of the ground so that he might dig it away and make a crossing. The second night that the family were there, Mrs. Whipple stayed all night in the cabin with no company but her two small children. Mr. Whipple had gone to Iranistan for lumber with which to make a floor; and did not get home until the next day. The cabin had no door-shutter, and Mrs. Whipple set the kitchen table up to stop the aperture, which it did not quite do. The wolves came around the house and put in the night snapping and growling over the meat rinds which had been thrown out. They made night hideous, and Mrs. Whipple being unused to such things could not sleep. Indeed it was no wonder, for the family were just from a thickly settled part of Ohio, where wolves did not annoy folks in their own homes. It was six months after Mrs. Whipple began keeping house in their cabin, before she saw another woman. Mr. Whipple being a cooper by trade, made the first barrels that were made in the county, more than twenty years ago, and some of those barrels are still in the county, in a good state of preservation and continue to do good service. HIRAM WHIPPLE, one of the early settlers of Cass county, was born in Windsor county, Vermont, January 28, l814. He is a son of Oliver Whipple, who was married in Worcester County, Massachusetts, to Mary Fassum, by whom he had nine children, eight of whom lived to an adult age. Mrs. Whipple died in Vermont, and Mr. Whipple was again married. By this union there were nine children. Oliver Whipple died in Vermont at the advanced age of ninety-six years. He was elected a member of the Legislature, and held several local offices. Hiram Whipple grew to manhood in Vermont. He was there married in 1840, to Hannah F. Cram. Two children were born to them Ñ Oscar H., who was killed in July, 1870, by an accidental shot, and Helen F., wife of Stanley S. Baldwin, of California. In 1842 Mr. Whipple emigrated to Clermont county, Ohio, where he was engaged in farming, also as agent for a large grain and stock firm. In the fall of 1853, he came to Cass county, Iowa, and settled upon section 5, township 76, range 36, near Atlantic. At that time there was no village at Atlantic, Lewis, or Griswold, and the prairies were wild and unbroken. He remained upon the place where he first settled four years, then sold out and purchased land four miles south of Atlantic. In the spring of 1882, be moved to Atlantic, and in September 1884, came to Griswold where he is engaged in selling fancy goods and notions. Politically, Mr. Whipple is a Democrat. Samuel Whisler submitted by Janice Buker In 1855, Samuel Whisler, a native of Pennsylvania, emigrated from Wayne county, Indiana, and made a settlement on section 16. He improved a farm where, where he made his home until his death, which occurred November 17, 1876. He was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on the 24th of May, 1811, and when six years of age his parents moved to Columbiana county, Ohio, where he grew to manhood, being reared on a farm and educated in public schools. When a young man he was engaged in clerking in a general store, and was later engaged in the business for himself. He married Elizabeth R. Pike, a native of Ohio, in 1837. In 1851 they moved to Indiana and located on a farm, where he lived until 1855, when he sold his place and started with teams for Iowa. He settled on section 16, Edna township, where he built a small log cabin, and lived there until a few years before his death. There were six children in the family - Hugh, William L., John T., Mary A., Matilda J. and Robert M. Mr. Whisler united with the Christian church at Churchill, Columbiana county, Ohio, and began preaching in that denomination, and a few years after he came West, was ordained and preached regularly until his death. Robert M. was born in Stark county, Ohio, on the 7th of February, 18148, and when seven years of age came to Cass county, and was there reared to manhood He was married in 1883 to Mary Lloyd, a native of England. He now lives upon the old homestead, and his mother now makes her home with him. He is engaged largely in the stock business, principally cattle and hogs, and has a large quantity of grazing land. W. J. WOODWARD, of the firm of L. O. Reinig & Co., is a son of Jehu and Jane ( Marshall ) Woodward, pioneers of Cass county, who came here in 1856, and settled on a farm near Lewis. W. J. Woodward was born, January 18, 1844, in Trumbull county, Ohio. He came here with his parents in 1856, remaining with them on the farm until 1870, excepting one year in the army. He then engaged in the grocery business in Lewis, which he continued till 1876. In September, 1880, he purchased an interest in the business of the firm above mentioned, since which time he has been engaged in mercantile trade. Mr. Woodward was united in marriage, July 15, 1871, with B. J. Strong, a native of Oneida, Madison county, New York. They have two children - Theodore W. and Adolph S. Mr. Woodward is a member of the I. O. O. F.
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