History of
Fremont and Mills County, Iowa
Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1901.
E
William Eaton has through his own well directed efforts won a position among the
leading lawyers of southwestern Iowa. He owes his advancement to no outside aid or
influence, having depended entirely upon earnest and indefatigable labor for the success
which he desired. He resides in Sidney, where he has a large and representative
clientage, having for a number of years been connected with important litigation tried in
the courts of his district.
William Eaton was born October 9, 1849, near Denmark, in Washington township, Lee
county, Iowa. His father, Ebenezer Ansil Eaton, was born at Phillipston,
Massachusetts, November 8, 1810, and was a farmer by occupation. In 1838 he
emigrated westward, casting in his lot with the early settlers of Lee county, Iowa, and
there remaining until the spring of 1853, when with ox-teams he crossed the plains to
California. He was not
long permitted to enjoy his new home upon the Pacific coast, however, for his death
occurred in the Golden state in September 1854. In 1833 he had married Miss
Elizabeth Selfridge Rice, who was born July 11, 1817, at Templeton, Massachusetts, and
died in Henry county, Iowa, June 7, 1891.
William Eaton was reared amid the scenes of rural life and his experiences were those
which usually fall to the lot of farmer boys. He assisted in the cultivation of the
home farm until he started out to make his own way in the world. His parents were in
limited financial circumstances and he had only such opportunities as he could provide for
himself. He early manifested a love for study and availed himself of every
opportunity for the improvement of his mind. He read extensively and after
mastering the branches taught in the common schools he engaged in teaching, and with the
money thus earned pursued the scientific course of study taught in the Denmark Academy, in
Denmark, Iowa, where he was graduated in 1872. School teaching also provided him
with the necessary funds for pursuing his law studies. He entered the law department
of the Iowa State University, at Iowa City, and there remained until the time of his
graduation in 1874. The determination which he manifested in securing his education
indicated the elemental strength of his character and gave promise of future success.
After his admission to the bar he located in Sidney, Iowa, where he began practice
on the 2nd of October, 1874. In his profession he has been successful.
Thorough study has given him comprehensive understanding of the principles of
jurisprudence, and these he applies with accuracy to the points at issue. Financial
success has also been vouchsafed him in return for his labor and legal ability, and since
1882 he has invested largely in land and farming interests.
On the 4th of August, 1874, in Morrisonville, Illinois, Mr. Eaton was united in
marriage to Annie Elizabeth Grundy, who was born in Newark, England, in 1849, and in 1853
went to Bureau county, Illinois, with her parents, Henry and Ruth (Gladson) Grundy. Two children have been born unto Mr. and Mrs. Eaton: Elmer Eugene, born September
14, 1876; and Lillian, born December 21, 1879. In his church relations Mr. Eaton is
a Methodist, holding membership with the church of that denomination in Sidney. In
his political affiliations he is a Republican and is recognized as one of the active
workers of the party in this portion of the state. In 1892 he was alternate delegate
at large to the Republican national convention held in St. Louis, in 1890, and district
delegate to the Republican national convention in Philadelphia in 1900. In 1880 he
was appointed by Governor Gear as district attorney for the fifteenth judicial district,
to fill a vacancy, and was county attorney of Fremont from 1887 until 1890. In the
fall of 1893 he was elected to the state senate from the seventh Iowa district, comprising
Page and Fremont counties, and was re-elected in 1897, receiving both nominations by
acclamation. Mr. Eaton is a man entirely free from ostentation, straightforward and
reliable, and commands respect and confidence wherever he is known.
O. A. Edgerton, a member of the board of county commissioners of Fremont county, whose
success in business and fidelity to the duties of citizenship class him among the
representative residents of southwestern Iowa, he was born near Des Moines, this state, on
the 1st of June, 1860. His father, Owen Edgerton, was a prominent and well known
early settler of this state. He was born in Belmont county, Ohio, and belonged to a
good Quaker family noted for energy, honesty and piety. The days of his boyhood and
youth were passed near Richmond, Wayne county, Indiana, upon a farm and in the public
schools near his home he acquired his education.
During the early period of settlement in central Iowa he came to this state, and in
1867 took up his abode in Fremont county. He had wedded Miss Mary Rich and found in
her a most capable assistant and companion for the journey of life. She was born in
Randolph county, North Carolina, and her father also was connected with the Society of
Friends and died in Indiana. Upon arriving in Fremont county, Owen Edgerton made the
third settlement in Locust Grove township. All was new and primitive; nature had
bountifully provided for those who wished to secure homes but to the settlers remained the
arduous task of developing the land and making it productive through cultivation. In
1869 he sold his first farm and came to the homestead in Madison township. Devoting
considerable attention to stockraising, he found that he greatly augmented his income
thereby, and through his well directed efforts he became one of the substantial citizens
of this portion of the state. That he was universally esteemed is indicated by the
fact that he was known throughout the county as Uncle Owen. He possessed a sunny,
genial disposition, a jovial manner and pleasing address and these qualities won him many
friends. In public affairs he was a prominent factor and was regarded as one of the
reliable and
trustworthy citizens of his community. Having been initiated into the mysteries of
Masonry he advanced through the various degrees and became a Knight Templar. He was
reared in the faith of the Society of Friends and was a firm believer in the Creator and
the Gospel. To his family he was a loving and tender husband and father, to
his neighbors a faithful friend, and when death came to him a large majority of citizens
in this county felt a
personal loss. He passed away at the age of sixty four, leaving behind him an
untarnished name. Mrs. Edgerton still survives her husband and is living with her
son Owen A., who supplies her with all the comforts and conveniences of life. She is
now seventy-eight years of age, well preserved in mind and body and is a worthy Christian
woman, holding membership in the church of the Seventh Day Adventists. Mr. Edgerton
has had seven children: Eliza, the wife of H. Means, of Riverton township, Fremont county;
William at home; John M., who is engaged in cattle-raising at Guide Rock, Nebraska; Mary
M., now the wife of E. P. Blaisdell, of Missouri Valley, Iowa; Owen A., of this review;
Eli, who died at the age of twenty years; and an infant who died at the age of four
months.
Owen A. Edgerton spent the days of his youth on the home farm, working in field and
meadow or in the pastures caring for the stock. He procured his education in
Bloomfield, Iowa, and in other schools, and in 1879 went to Nebraska with a herd of
cattle, engaging in business there while yet in his teens. He has always been a man
of marked energy, careful in forming his plans yet determined in their execution, and his
success is attributable to his own labors. The homestead farm upon which he resides
is one of the best and most valuable in the township, being improved with a fine
residence, barns and all modern accessories and conveniences, including the latest
improved machinery. He also has eighteen hundred acres of land in Webster county,
Nebraska and a farm in Jewell county, Kansas, where he keeps large herds of cattle and
other stock. He has been extremely prosperous in his stock-raising interests, for he
is an excellent judge of stock and is perfectly familiar with the best methods of caring
for them so as to produce a healthful growth and keep them in good condition.
Mr. Edgerton was married in Madison, Nebraska, on the 8th of January, 1886, to Miss
Victoria Payne, a cultured lady, born in Sullivan county, Missouri, a daughter of John
Payne, a prominent and well known citizen of that county, who was born in Kentucky. Her father served as a member of the county board for a number of years in a most
credible manner, being elected to that office on the Democratic ticket. Mrs.
Edgerton acquired her education in Fremont county and in Omaha, Nebraska, and by her
marriage she has become the mother of two sons - Charles Owen, who is now fifteen years of
age, and John Glenn, who is in his twelfth year.
For a number of years Mr. Edgerton was a Republican in his political affiliations, but
like many progressive citizens he advocated the free silver platform advanced by the
Democratic party in 1896 and has since supported Bryan. He is now filling the office
of county commissioner and labors earnestly and indefatigably for the best development of
the county along material lines of progress. Socially he is a Mason, belonging to
the blue lodge and chapter, and his wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
He stands six feet in height and weighs two hundred pounds. He easily wins
friends, and moreover he has the happy faculty of retaining them as the years pass by.
Among the popular residents of the county he is numbered.
Hon. Francis M. Estes
One of the most prominent and influential citizens of Sidney township, Fremont county,
Iowa, is Francis Marion Estes, who has been prominently identified with public affairs of
the state for a number of years. He was born in Andrew county, Missouri, September 3,
1846, and was a son of Joel and Patsy (Stollings) Estes, the latter of Virginia and a
daughter of Jacob and Sarah Stollings. Her father was a minister in the Methodist church.
Joel Estes was born in Kentucky, May 26, 1806, and was a son of Peter Estes, whose birth
took place in Virginia on December 6, 1774, and his death on January 18, 1854, in
Missouri. He was the owner of three hundred acres of land. The name of his wife was Esther
Hiatt Estes, and they were parents of seven children. Both grandparents are buried in the
old cemetery near St. Joseph, Missouri.
The parents of our subject were married in Clinton county, Missouri, November 12, 1826,
and became pioneers of Andrew county, Missouri, where they lived and engaged in farming
until 1859, at which time Mr. Estes removed to Colorado and discovered what is now named
Estes Park, on October 15, 1859. This tract of land is one of the finest natural parks in
the northwest, containing between eighty and one hundred square miles. In 1866 Mr. Estes
went to Texas, and from there to Washington county, Arkansas, where he bought seven
hundred acres of land, which he sold three years later, and then returned to Colorado. In
this state he engaged in cattle raising, owning at one time eight hundred head of cattle.
He had been a man of great wealth, but the war caused him to lose many thousand dollars;
hence at the time of his death, December 31, 1875, his estate was small, and when divided
between his wife and eleven children did not place any in affluent circumstances.
The mother of our subject died August 6, 1886, at the age of eighty. The members of the
family who survived her were: Harden, who is an early settler and rancher in Baker county,
Oregon, where he owns several thousand acres of land, his home being in Baker City; Lovey,
who married Abraham Patterson and died at the age of twenty-eight years, leaving seven
children; Woodson, who served two years as recruiting officer in Chicago, was captain of
the Eighteenth Missouri Volunteers, and for a short time was commander at Arkansas Post,
in 1863 and died in 1894 from injuries which he received during the war, leaving three
children, one a surgeon at Astoria, Oregon; Newton, who was a ranchman in Washington
territory at an early day and died in 1894; Martha, who married Joseph Hiatt, of Sidney,
Iowa, and fifteen of their seventeen children living, and all are married but one; Jasper
W., who is a farmer in this county; Jesse, who is a farmer in Oregon, where he settled in
1858; Milton, who is living retired in Denver, Colorado; Sarah, who is the wife of W. K.
Hiatt, a farmer of this county; Mary Jane, who is the widow of John Ruffner, and resides
in Denver; Philena, who was the wife of Durand Neely, and died at the age of twenty-eight;
Francis Marion, the subject of this sketch; and Joel, a gold and silver miner of Colorado.
Our subject was educated in the district schools of Andrew county, Missouri, leaving
school at the age of thirteen years, although he continued at study for three yers longer
under the supervision of his brother, Milton. Mr. Estes considers time well spent that
increases knowledge, and is one of the men who will study, in some line, all his life.
Until he was twenty years old he remained t his home in Estes Park coming from Colorado to
Fremont county, Iowa, in the spring of 1866.
Mr. Estes was married August 30, 1866, to Miss Mary C. Hiatt, who was born in Peoria
county, Illinois, a daughter of Reuben and Nancy (Spence) Hiatt, all of Illinois, the
father being a farmer who had come to this county in 1851. Here he entered one hundred and
sixty acres of land and subsequently owned four hundred acres. Mrs. Hiatt died at an early
age and Mr. Hiatt married again. The two children of the first marriage were Page, who is
a resident of Boise City, Idaho, and Mrs. Estes of this sketch.
Immediately after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Estes began their domestic life on a
tract of land consisting of forty acres, for which Mr. Estes had paid five hundred
dollars. In 1870 a new house took the place of the old one, and save for the change in the
residences the family lives in the same place which sheltered the newly wedded pair so
many years ago. Mr. Estes has accumulated large tracts of land, at one time owning twelve
hundred acres in this county and nine hundred acres in Nebraska. His children have
profitted by his generosity, as he has given each one a good farm, and still retains four
hundred and twenty acres in the home farm. The farming and stock feeding done by our
subject have been successfully carried on, and he has had no difficulty in feeding as many
as fifteen car loads of cattle per year and two car loads of hogs. Formerly he has grown
as much as fifteen thousand bushels of corn annually, but for the past seven years has
turned his attention principally to horticulture, his apple orchards comprising ninety
acres.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Estes are as follows: Robert L., who is a farmer and
stock dealer near Sidney, wedded Mary Kauble, of Furnas county, Nebraska; Anna is the wife
of Edward Baldwin, of Scott township; Joel S., a graduate of the Thurman high school, is
now a hardware merchant of that place; Reuben M., is a pupil of the Iowa State University,
is a natural orator, and is desirous of attending Harvard College; Charles F., twin
brother of Reuben, is a farmer and stockman residing near Sidney; Giles is a student in
the State Normal School, at Cedar Falls, Iowa; and four others died in infancy.
An active member of the Democratic party, Mr. Estes has long been regarded as a leader
in his part of the state. He well represented his district in the state legislature for
the terms of the twenty-second and twenty-third general assembly and assisted in framing
the excellent laws for the maintenance of the normal schools. He was also the author of
the Australian system of voting adopted in the twenty-third general assembly. For twelve
years he was a justice of the peace, and so popular was he with couples wanting a marriage
ceremony performed that he was styled the marrying justice, having been called upon to
perform the ceremony sixty-five times during his years of service. Mr. Estes has been
president of the school board of Sidney township which has twenty schools under its
jurisdiction, and has held all of the local offices. Socially he has been for many years
connected with the Masonic order and he has long been a consistent member of the Primitive
Baptist church. Mr. Estes is a man who has had the prosperity of his country, his state,
his county and home, much at heart and has always worked with this interest in view.
Robert L.
Estes
A successful farmer and cattle-raiser, of
Sidney, Fremont county, Iowa,
who owns one of the finest tracts of cultivated land in Sidney township,
is Robert L. Estes, the subject of this sketch. He was born in this
township and county, in 1867, a son of the Hon. F. M. Estes, who is an
influential and prominent citizen of the county, well known throughout the
state. The latter is a native of Missouri, who resides on a fine farm in
the
northern part of this township.
The marriage of our subject took place on
September 30, 1888, when he
wedded Miss Mary Kauble, a daughter of Jacob Kauble, and a native of
Missouri. Three children - Woodson, Lee and Wilbur - have been born of
this union. Lee and Wilbur are deceased.
A prominent and active member of the
Democratic party, our subject has
filled some of the local offices and for several terms discharged
the
duties of justice of the peace in Sidney township. Both he and his
wife
are valued and consistent members of the United Brethren church, and
are esteemed by all their acquaintances.
|
