National, State and County Representation

Solon F. Benson, the successor of L. E. Campbell, was first elected County Treasurer in 1869, re-elected in 1871 and in 1873.  He made a popular and an efficient officer.  He is the son of John and Almeda (Green) Benson.  He came with his parents to Hardin county in 1856.  He is now engaged in the banking business in Union.

J. M. Boyd

James Mitchell Boyd is a native of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania. He was born eighteen miles north of Pittsburg, February 12, 1828. He is of Scotch, Irish and Holland ancestry. Robert Boyd, the grand-father on the father's side, emigrated from Ireland about 1785 when but 17 years of age. He first settled in Philadelphia, but afterwards removed to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. He was a farmer and Magistrate. He married Nancy Namdyne, a native of Delaware, a decedent of the earliest Holland emigrants to that State. They has a family of thirteen children. He served on the staff of Gen. Crooks as Judge Advocate in the war of 1812. He died during the late rebellion at a very advanced age.

James Boyd the father of J. M., was born near old “ Fort Sigonier,” Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, October 2, 1802. He engaged at an early age as a clerk in a store, which he continued during his minority. In 1823 he married Sarah Boyd, a decendent of a Boyd family who came to the United States in 1772. Her grandfather, John Boyd with his family, consisting of his wife and two sons, John and Abraham, engaged passage on a sailing vessel for the new world; after going on board, it was discovered that the two boys had contracted that dread disease smallpox; and the family was ordered ashore, the vessel sailing without them. But what seemed a hardship at the time, proved to be a very fortunate occurrence. That vessel was driven out of its course by a store; was nineteen weeks at sea; nearly all the passengers perished. The Boyds as soon as the boys recovered, took passage in another vessel, and arrived in safety some six weeks before the first vessel landed. Of this family, there were seven sons and two daughters. Four of the sons became leading Presbyterian Ministers. Robert Boyd the grand-father of J. M., by his mother's side, was a farmer and magistrate in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He married Hannah Mitchell, whose parents emigrated from New Jersey to Western Pennsylvania and settled in the valley of the Allegheny, about 20 miles above Pittsburg, about 1796. J. M. was the third child in a family of twelve children; seven of whom are now living. One of his brothers, Wilson, lost his life in the Arkansas campaign, in the first advance on Little Rock. He lived at home until he obtained his majority, working on the farm, with no educational advantages, save winter times in the old log school house. His minority was all work and no play. Three months after he became of age he determined to obtain a better education. He spent two terms in Washington College, and one term at Mansfield Normal School, preparing himself for teaching. He then devoted his time to teaching, until the summer of 1857, when he came to Iowa; and September 1 st of that year to Hardin county, settling in Jackson Township, where he bought half a section of school land, paying one-fourth down. It was a fine tract of land, and everybody said that he had made a fortune; but it was a poor one. As a sample of the effects of the financial crash of the fall of 1857, that land after forty acres were broken and well fenced, could not be sold for half the back payments. He taught school winters, and improved his land in summer. He buffeted with fortune up to 1862, when he was commissioned by Governor Kirkwood to assist in recruiting Co. F. 32d Iowa Volunteer Infantry. After assisting in recruiting the company, he entered the ranks as a private, but was appointed Sergeant, which rank he held throughout his term of service, although some of the time he has command of the company. At the close of his term of service, he was commissioned First Lieutenant, as a compliment, an honor he justly deserved at the beginning of his term of enlistment. He was on service in Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. His first engagement was at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where he was in the advance skirmish line of the right wing of the army. He was also engaged at Bayou Metaire, near Little Rock, Arkansas, and through the entire Red River campaign, under General Banks.

At the battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, they stood five infantry and two cavalry charges, being one of the severest engagements of the war. They withstood these charges without material loss, but were afterwards flanked on the right and left, in which they lost one-half their number. The army fell back to Grand E'Core, thence to Natchitoches and Alexandria, La., during which time Mr. Boyd had command of the company, carrying his gun and accoutrements, marching at night and skirmishing during the day. He was also at the battles of Lake Chicot, Miss., June 6, 1864; Tupelo and Old Town Creek, Miss., July 14 and 15, 1864; Nashville, Tenn., December 15 and 16, 1864, and during the entire last siege of Mobile, closing with the final storming of Fort Blakely, on the evening of April 9, 1865. Mr. Boyd made the final reports of the company, balanced the company accounts, and was mustered out at Clinton, Iowa, August 24, 1865.

At the close of the war he retired to a small farm in Eldora township, and in June, 1867, was appointed County Superintendent of Schools, and the same fall elected and served a full term. In January, 1870, he entered the Clerk's office as Deputy, and in June was appointed Clerk in place of Captain S. A. Reed, who resigned. In the fall he was elected to the place and re-elected in 1872, his term expiring in January, 1875. In the fall of that year he was elected Sheriff, and served by re-election until 1881.

Mr. Boyd was united in marriage to Miss Barbara J. Speers, a native of York county, Penn., and daughter of Geo. H. Speers, Esq., on the 2d day of October, 1860. She died May 29, 1867, leaving two children – Hannah Elizabeth and Sarah Angeline.

In politics Mr. Boyd has always been a Republican since the first organization of the party.

In religion he is a Presbyterian, having given liberally of his means to the church of his choice.

He was again married, April 9, 1872, to Mrs. Sarah J. Buckingham, whose maiden name was Howell, a native of Orange county, N. Y., and daughter of Lewis and Sarah Ann (Anway) Howell. The ancestry of both the Howells and Anways came from Wales, and were among the first settlers of Long Island. Her grandfather, Anway, and his three sons were all soldiers in the Revolutionary War, and Mrs. B. has now a bill of the old continental money in which the soldiers received their pay, dated ----, 1776. Her father, Lewis Howell, was born in Florida, Orange county, N. Y. Mr. Howell came to Iowa and settled west of Point Pleasant, in this county, in 1857. Miss Howell having some experience in teaching in her native country, engaged in teaching three weeks after landing here. She taught the first school in Tipton township, in a temporary log shanty, or pre-emption cabin, through the cracks of which the pestering little prairie snakes would frequently crawl. This was then the only school in all the southwest part of the county, embracing what is now the townships of Tipton, Sherman, Grant and Concord, there being no settlement for twenty miles west or southwest. There are now in those townships thirty-three (33) good and well furnished school houses, besides the fine new graded school building at Hubbard.

E. M. Campbell is a native of New York, and was born in Otsego county, February 14, 1843. His parents were Archibald and Clara Curtiss Campbell. E. M. was educated in the Paducah Academy, New York. In the fall of 1865, came to Hardin county, and located in Eldora, serving four years as Deputy Treasurer. He was then Deputy Clerk of the Courts one year, at the expiration of which term he went to Iowa Falls, where he engaged in the banking and real estate business with L. F. Wisner for two years. He then spent two years in traveling in Wisconsin and Minnesota, introducing a patent well-augur. He then located at Steamboat Rock, and engaged in the mercantile and grain business. In 1864 was married to Mary Wood, a native of Otsego county, New York. In 1876 he purchased a hotel building which he leased until 1880, when he took possession, and is now running the hotel known as the Western House. Mr. Campbell has led quite an active life. In politics he is a Republican.

L. E. Campbell was elected to the office of Treasurer in 1865, and re-elected in 1867, and served two terms.

L. E. Campbell is a native of Oswego county, New York, where he was born August 3, 1837. His parents are Archibald A. and Fanny (Curtis) Campbell, the former being a native of Vermont, and the latter of Connecticut. The father died in April, 1854, and the mother now resides in Richland, Oswego county, New York, and is in her 81 st year.

In 1854, L. E. came west, and made a trip through the States of Illinois and Wisconsin, returning in 1855 to New York, and attended school at the Belleville Academy, in Jefferson county, New York; came west again July 14, 1857; arrived at Steamboat Rock, September 13, 1857; worked in mill nearly one year for S. F. Lathrop, and assisted in building a grist mill; went into the mercantile trade in 1859, served as Township Clerk of Clay Township; was elected to the Board of Supervisors as the first member from the township, and served with the Board until his enlistment, August 11, 1862; and entered the service as 2d Lieutenant Company F, 32d Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry; was promoted to Captain of Company, October, 1864; was discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability August 10, 1865, at Montgomery, Ala.

Returned home and was married to Carrie E. Wright, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Fruster) Wright, August 27, 1865; was elected County Treasurer in the fall of 1865, and served four years, two terms, until January 1, 1870; moved to Chicago and went into the commission business, and remained until the Chicago fire, 1871; returned to Iowa, and since that time has been engaged in various businesses, buying grain, farming, etc.

John P. Cook

Hardin county became a part of the Second Congressional District, on its organization, and was represented in the 33d Congress from 1853 to 1855 by John P. Cook, of Davenport. Mr. Cook was a native of the State of New York, and in 1836 came West to Davenport. He was elected a member of Congress as a Whig, and held the views of that party until its dissolution. On the breaking up of the Whig party he affiliated with the Democratic party, the principles of which he labored earnestly to sustain and promulgate, even to the end of his days. His life has been one of great energy and industry. He was by natural instinct a true Western man – a wide-awake, thoroughly active pioneer, who never saw the time when he could lay aside the business harness, and, to all appearances, never wanted to. As a lawyer he had few superiors; was always ready, fluent and an able advocate, and with these qualities were combined energy, tact and industry; and for years past, and up to the day of his demise, no law firm in the Northwest has stood in better repute than that broken by his death. Mr. Cook died at Davenport April 17, 1872.

P. J. Cowan, County Treasurer of Hardin county, was born January 24, 1846, in Stephenson county, Illinois, and is a son of John E. and Maria S. (Judson) Cowan. His father was born in New Hampshire and his mother in Connecticut. His father, when only a child, was moved to New York, where he resided until he moved West in 1843, when located in Stephenson county, Illinois, where they still reside.

The subject of this sketch received only a common school education in the schools of his native town, attending one term at the graded school at Freeport, Ill. He was, principally, brought up on a farm, and at 17 years of age he enlisted in Company F, 17 th Illinois Cavalry, under Col. John L. Beveridge, and served two and one-half years, after which he was discharged. He then returned home, where he remained for one year. He then went to Kingston, Colwell county, Mo., where he was engaged in the Clerk's office for nine months. He then returned to Illinois, and in February, 1868, came to Hardin county, Iowa, locating at Iowa Falls, where he kept books for Pierce & Cowan one year and a half. He then engaged in the grain and agricultural business, and continued in the same up to September, 1869, when he was elected to the office of County Treasurer, which office he now holds, being elected to the second term. He was married October, 1869, to Miss Eliza M. Welty. She was the daughter of Daniel and Catherine (Slothwer) Welty. His family consists of two children – Perry C. and Lillian. In politics, he has always been a supporter of the Republican party.

Timothy Davis, of Elkader, Clayton county, next served the District from 1857 to 1859, or in the 35th Congress.  [as Representative in Congress from the Second District]

N. C. Deering was the successor of Mr. Pratt [Representative in Congress from the 4th District].  He was elected as a member of the 45th, and re-elected in the 46th and 47th Congresses.  He was an influential member.

Rev. W. A. P. Eberhart was born in Beaver, Beaver county, Pa., April 17, 1819. He is the grandson of John and Catherine (Mercer) Eberhart, who were respectively, son of the Duke of Wertemberg, and daughter of the Duke of Hesse Castle. His parents were John and Sarah (Power) Eberhart, his mother being a daughter of Gen. Samuel Power, of Beaver county, Pa., who was a member of the State Senate of Pennsylvania, for seventeen consecutive terms. There was a family of five children. The subject of this memoir, who in early life was educated in the schools of Beaver county, when twelve years of age, was apprenticed to a tailor, where he served for over four years, buying his last year for $50. When seventeen years old, he attended the academy in Beaver, where he fitted himself for civil engineering, remaining about eighteen months. He was then employed on the P. P. & E. R. R., where he took his initiatory step. This was the first or experimental survey of the road, this being in 1838-39. In 1840-41, he figured on the Erie extension canal. In 1841-42, he taught school in Phillipsburg. On April 11, 1848, he was married in Steubenville, Ohio, to Miss Mary Brownlee, a daughter of Jas. Brownlee, of Ohio. She was born in Wellsburg, Va., January 11, 1823. By this union there was one child. In the fall of 1843, went to Mercer county, Pa., where he embarked in the mercantile business with his brother. In 1847 he received an appointment under Edward Miller, assistant chief engineer of the Pa. Cent. R. R. of the Western Division, extending from Altoona to Pittsburg, Mr. Eberhart helping to lay out the great “Horseshoe Bend.” In the fall of 1848 he was elected City Surveyor and Engineer of Alleghany City, Pa., which position he held for five and a half years. In 1853 he was appointed assistance engineer on the Northern Central Pennsylvania Railroad, the work being suspended in the spring of 1854. Afterward he was a contractor on the C. & M. R. R., where he was successful, making $10,000, which he soon after lost in another undertaking. In the spring he was called back to the N. C. R. R. to take charge of that division, remaining there until the following fall, when he was employed on the P. & E. R. R., when he completed a division of the same. In 1859 he became a member of the Erie conference, and while on his first circuit, buried his wife. January 3, 1860, he again married Harriet Mason. By this union there were six children, viz: Albert G., Wm. M., Frederick W., Justin A. and Henry P. In 1861-62 he was chaplain of the 1 st Pennsylvania Artillery Reserve Corps. In 1871 he came to Butler county, Iowa. In 1873 he came to Union, where he has since remained. In 1881 he was elected to the office of County Surveyor. Mrs. Eberhart died November 10, 1881.

Henry Fidder, on the resignation of Mr. [Thomas] Bennett, in 1856, was elected to fill the vacancy, and was re-elected in 1857, and served until 1859.

Henry Fiddler, a native of Pennsylvania, was born on the 23d day of November, 1823. His parents were Abraham and Susan (Keller) Fiddler.

In 1838 the family removed to Richland county, Ohio, where, in 1846, Henry Fiddler married Francis George, daughter of Jacob George, and with the George family, in 1853, came to Iowa, stopping for the winter in Muscatine county.

On the 1st day of March, 1854, Mr. Fiddler started with his family for Hardin county, and on the 11th inst. [sic] located on section 29, Hardin Township, which land had been entered by Jacob George. March 24 th he started for Des Moines to pre-empt 120 acres of land on section 29. He only had one dollar in money, and this was just enough to pay the fee at the land office, he therefore subsisted on the charity of the pioneer settlers along his route. But on his return trip, he had three passengers who paid him one dollar and fifty cents each, and paid his expenses, and he therefore felt himself in good financial circumstances when he returned home. Mr. Fiddler then improved his land, and in 1855 resumed his trade – that of carpenter – and continued the same at Eldora where he erected the third frame dwelling in that place. At the election of 1856 he was elected Sheriff of the county, and served in that capacity for four years. In 1859 he took the first prisoner, Eli Osbourn (who was convicted for stealing bacon), to Ft. Madison. The trip required one month, which was a sixth part of the length of the sentence.

In 1856 when J. F. Brown and Robt. Porter were arrested for an attempt on the life of Mr. Marryweather, Sheriff Fiddler took them to Des Moines, at which place was the nearest jail, and in August of the same year he took another prisoner, Wm. P. Richardson, to the same place. He being arrested for stealing four hundred dollars at Hazel Green. Thus it can be seen that Mr. Fiddler is a conspicuous character in the pioneer history of Hardin county. He now resides on the 120 acres of land which caused his trip to Des Moines, and his home is supplied with all the necessaries of the best farm life.

Of the ten children, eight are now living; Jonathan, William, Jacob Y. and Mattie A., now Mrs. Jonas Simpson; Mary S., now Mrs. T. J. Belknap, Eldora E., Walter and Frances.

Morris Frisbie is a native of Tioga county, Pennsylvania, where he was born in 1829, but removed, when an infant, to Canton, in Bradford county, Pa., where he remained till 1853.  Mr. Frisbie learned the trade of jeweler with his father, and followed that business for ten years.  He came to Iowa in 1853, and located at Cedar Falls.  He came to Eldora in 1855.  He was engaged in the jewelry business here for two years.  In 1857 he removed to the town of Jackson, and engaged in farming.  He engaged in farming and school-teaching till the fall of 1873, when he was elected County Auditor of Hardin county, and returned to the village, where he has since resided.  Mrs. Frisbie was formerly Arlette Griffin.  She was born in Pennsylvania.  Mr. and Mrs. Frisbie have six children, viz.:  Morris J., Fred S., Mary A., Carrie R., Bertha R. and Sarah L.  The parents of Mr. Frisbie came to Hardin county in 1864.  His father died in the spring of 1874, and his mother in 1877. 

Z. Gilman, the successor of J. M. Boyd, is a native of New Hampshire.  He was liberally educated, and a graduate of a medical college.  In 1872 he located at Ackley and entered upon the practice of law with his brother, Fred Gilman, where he remained until elected to the office of Clerk of District Court in 1874.  He served with ability six years.  He now resides in Webster City, Hamilton county.

J. D. Gourlay is a native of Scotland, and came to new York at an early age.  He is a graduate of Union College, New York, and an accomplished scholar, but lacked that energy that would make a successful man.

George P. Griffith was elected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr. Shepherd [Surveyor of Hardin county], and served one year.  Mr. Griffith was an early settler of Hardin township, and taught the first school in that township.  He subsequently moved to Cerro Gordo county, and was elected County Superintendent of that county.  Returning to Hardin county he located at Iowa Falls, where he engaged in the hardware trade.  He died some years ago.

Asabel W. Hubbard

By the census of 1862 Iowa was entitled to six representatives in Congress. Hardin county, on the State being re-districted, became a part of the Sixth District. Its first representative from this District was Asabel W. Hubbard, from Sioux City. He was elected in the fall of 1862, and became a member of the 38 th Congress. He was re-elected a member of the 39 th and 40 th Congresses. He was a native of Connecticut, born in 1817. In 1836 he came West to Indiana, and in 1857 to Iowa, locating at Sioux City. He had been in the latter place only one year when he was elected Judge of the Fourth Judicial District. While a member of Congress he served on Committees of Foreign Affairs, Public Expenditures and Indian Affairs. He was very attentive to his duties while in Congress, and served his constituents and the State with unqualified satisfaction.

J. D. Hunter succeeded Dr. Cusack as Treasurer and Recorder, but during his term the offices were separated, Mr. Hunter retaining the position of Treasurer. J. D. Hunter is a native of Ohio. In 1859 he came to Eldora, and became editor and proprietor of the Hardin county Sentinel. In 1863 he was elected to the office of Treasurer and Recorder, discharging its duties one year, when he resigned for a position in the Government service in the Quartermaster's Department. On his return from the army he located at Iowa Falls, and, in company with J. M. Scott Croston, embarked in the grocery trade. He only remained in this connection a short time, when he sold out and went to Webster City, and purchased an interest in the Hamilton county Freeman. He is still one of the proprietors of that paper.

J. W. Jones succeeded Judge Smith in 1857. Judge Jones came with his parents to Iowa when it was Territory, locating in Des Moines county, from which place he went to Oskaloosa, and from there to the city of Des Moines, where he became acquainted with and married Catherine Saulsbury. In the spring of 1855 he came to Eldora, where he engaged in the mercantile trade. After serving one year as County Judge, he resigned the office, having received the Republican nomination for the office of State Treasurer, to which office he was duly elected. For some years he has been connected with a land office in Colorado. He intends, in the fall of 1882, to return to Iowa as one of the proprietors of the Clarinda Herald. Judge Jones is a man of fine personal appearance, pleasing in manner, and of great natural ability.

Erastus Pardee, the successor of Samuel Smith as Treasurer and Recorder, is a native of New York.  At an early day he emigrated to Michigan, and for a time he lived in Centerville, he was the candidate of the Whigs for the office of Probate Judge, but was defeated.  In 1855 he came to Hardin county, and located in Hardin City, where he engaged in the mercantile trade, being one of the two merchants in that town when it was a flourishing place, and one of the largest towns in Northwestern Iowa.  In 1856 he removed his stock of goods to Eldora, and for a time was in partnership with his predecessor in the office of Treasurer and Recorder.  This last mercantile venture was not a financial success.  In 1857 he was elected to the office of Treasurer and Recorder, and re-elected in 1859, serving a period of four years.  On the expiration of his term of office, he removed to Etna township, where he engaged in farming.  He afterwards moved to Ackley, and for a time was in the grain business.  He now resides in Kansas.

Ellis Parker, then a resident of Clay township, succeeded Judge Cusak [as County Judge of Hardin county in 1861].

Ellis Parker is a native of Gloucester county, New Jersey. He was born eight miles southeast of Philadelphia, February 11, 1805. His paternal ancestors came from England; settled in Massachusetts in the latter part of the seventeenth century. His maternal ancestors came from Ireland about the time of the Revolutionary war, and settled in New Jersey. The ancestors on both sides were Quakers, and although strong Federalists, were prevented by their peculiar faith from joining in carnal warfare. The father, Jacob Parker, was born in New Jersey, and was educated to labor on a farm. At the age of twenty-five he married Miss Martha Chew, the daughter of a New Jersey farmer. They had a family of eight children, Ellis Parker being the third child.

Young Ellis lived at home until he was seventeen years old, when his father died, and young Ellis was apprenticed to a blacksmith by the name of Thomas Parker to learn the trade. After a service of four years he abandoned the smithing business, as uncongenial to his tastes, and engaged in farming, which he followed for some twenty-five years.

He was married September 23, 1830, to Miss Sarah George, a daughter of an Ohio farmer, and for sixty years a Methodist preacher. She bore him four children: Francis Taylor, now living in Washington Territory; Martha D., now the wife of Christopher Tucker; Hiram J., now living in Boonesboro, Iowa; Mary, now the wife of Benjamin Robb. Mrs. Parker died January 13, 1847.

Having moved to Ohio with his parents he became a pioneer in settling up the wilderness of that State, and after his marriage continued as a tiller of the soil until 1836, when he moved to Illinois and settled at Walnut Grove, in McLean county. There he engaged in farming, which he pursued for eighteen years – working in winters at blacksmithing. In August, 1854, he moved to Iowa, and settled in Clay township, where he purchased a farm, and after a year spent in the cultivation of the soil, he was elected County Judge, and moved to Eldora. He refused to have the office a second time, but in 1861 was re-elected to the same position, and served through four full terms – delivering up the insignia of office the first Monday of January, 1870. In the following March he was elected Mayor of Eldora and held that office nine years in succession. As an officer of the city he rendered efficient and satisfactory service.

Politically he was ever a Whig, first voting for John Quincy Adams, and in 1850 was merged with his party into that of the Republican, to which he has ever since held allegiance. Mr. Parker was always an ardent admirer of human freedom, and a worker in the ranks of those who were destined to work out the problem of emancipation. Religiously he believes in Methodism, is a practical temperance man, and has never devoted his time in saloons, or in other resorts, or in idleness or crime.

Mr. Parker is a well-built and fair-featured man. He has a large and intellectual brain; is social in his relations with men; honest and trustworthy in the business affairs of life. He is much esteemed by the citizens of Eldora, and none among them bear a more honorable record.

Charles Pomeroy, of Fort Dodge, was the next Representative in Congress from the 6th District.  He was elected in 1868 as a member of the 41st Congress, and served one term.

Henry O. Pratt

In 1870 it was found the population of the State had increased to a number entitling it to nine Representatives in Congress.  In re-districting, Hardin county became a part of the 4th District.  It was first represented by Henry O. Pratt, of Charles City, in the 43d Congress.  Mr. Pratt was re-elected in the 44th, and thus served until March, 1877.  Mr. Pratt is a native of Maine.  He was admitted to the Car in Mason City, Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, in June, 1862.  Soon afterward a call was made for 600,000 men by the President.  He enlisted as a Private in Co. B, 32d Iowa Infantry.  He became completely broken down in health in less than a year, and was discharged in the spring of 1863.  The following summer, while regaining his health, he taught a small school in Worth county, Iowa.  His health being restored, Mr. Pratt commenced the practice of law at Charles City.  As a lawyer he is very candid in the trial of a case; he never tries to defeat the ends of justice, never resorts to clap-trap, and never forgets the dignity of his calling.  He is a fluent speaker, and excels as a jury advocate.  His record in Congress was creditable to himself and constituents.

J. D. Putnam was the first Clerk of the District Court for Hardin county, and was elected in March, 1853.  But little is known of Mr. Putnam save that he came to the county as agent of a mercantile firm, with a few goods which he disposed of and concluded to settle here.  He served something over a year, and was succeeded by J. D. Gourlay.

J. H. Reese was elected as the successor of Col. Stout [as County Recorder], in the fall of 1880, and commenced the duties of his office in Jan., '81.

J. H. Reese, the present Recorder of Hardin county, is a native of the State of New York, having been born in Schenectady, in that State, in 1845.  He removed with his parents to Rock county, Wisconsin, when twelve years of age, and thence to DeKalb county, Illinois.  He came to Ackley, Hardin county, October, 1867.  Mr. Reese was Mayor of Ackley for the years 1879 and 1880.  He also served as justice of the peace for several years.  In the fall of 1880 he was elected Recorder for Hardin county, and removed to Eldora the 1st of January following.  Mr. Reese was married to Miss Sarah Bolender, of Ackley, Iowa, January 1, 1874.

R. F. Ripley was the successor of Mr. Scott.  He was first elected in 1864 and re-elected in 1866, and served two terms, or four years.

Richard F. Ripley, was born in Maryland, January, 1830.  His father, Henry Ripley, removed from Maryland to Western Virginia, and thence to the Southern part of Ohio.  Mr. Henry Ripley came to Hardin county with his family in 1852, and settled in Jackson township.  R. F. did not come at the time his father came.  He was engaged in the drug business at that time in Ohio, and did not come till several years later, or, till 1857.  Owing to poor health he did not continue in the drug business after coming to Iowa, but was engaged, alternately, in farming and in teaching for several years, making it his home in Jackson township.  He then came to the village, his health having improved, and engaged as clerk in the drug store of Mr. Winchester, where he continued about three years.  He was afterwards appointed deputy clerk of the Court.  He was County Superintendent of Schools for a time, and also a clerk of the Court, and of the Board of Supervisors.  His health, never very firm, did not permit him to engage continuously in active business.  Latterly, he was engaged with Mr. W. Moir in the grocery business for about one year.

His wife was Miss Hattie E. Ball, daughter of Jasper and Polly Ball.  They have had two children -- both of whom are deceased.

E. S. Sawin, of Union township, was the first Recorder of the county, after its division from the office of Treasurer.  He was elected in 1864, and served two years.

J. M. Scott is a native of Oneida county, New York, and was born December 22, 1832.  His father was John Scott and his mother Cyrena (Jackson) Scott.  The family of his mother were the first west of Oneida Lake.  When they first settled there their nearest neighbor was eighteen miles distant.  J. M. Scott was brought up in a store, attending the common schools of his native State as the opportunity offered.  No other educational advantages were ever received by him.  Before coming west he was united in marriage to Ellen Graves, in Cataraugas county, New York.  In 1854 he located in Ottawa, Illinois, where he remained one year, when he came to Hardin county, arriving in Eldora August 7, 1855.  At Eldora he first engaged as a salesman in the establishment of James Speers, but soon after entered the office of Treasurer and Recorder as Deputy, under Samuel Smith, serving until the expiration of his term, and continuing under his successor, E. Pardie.  In 1858 he was elected Clerk of the District Court, and served one term.  In 1861 he was elected to fill out the unexpired term of James Speers, who died in office, and in 1862 was re-elected for the full term without opposition.  In the summer of 1864 he resigned and went South, where he was appointed inspector of horses in the quartermaster's department, serving in that capacity until the end of the war.  He then returned to Hardin county and located at Iowa Falls, where he engaged in mercantile trade about one year, when he moved back to Eldora and commenced buying and selling grain, in which business he continued until after the organization of the Hardin County Bank.  Elected Vice-President of the bank, he was made its manager, and continued as such until 1875, when he resigned and went to Chicago, where he now resides. 

James Speers was elected in 1860 to succeed J. M. Scott.  He was born in York county, Pennsylvania, February 25, 1829.  In 1842 he moved to Washington county, Iowa, and in March, 1855, to Hardin county, locating at Eldora, where he engaged in the mercantile trade.  He was married in 1854 to Maria George, a native of Richland county, Ohio.  Mr. Speers was a whole-souled, generous man, and well liked by the community in which he lived.  He died in Ohio, where he was taken for his health, on the 1st day of May, 1861.

J. Allen Spencer, born in Madison county, Vermont, Jan. 13, 1834, son of Nathaniel and Esther (Brown) Spencer.  Here he received a liberal education, having attended an Academy in his native town.

In 1853 he came West, spending the winter in Bureau and DeKalb counties, Illinois.  During the summer of 1854 he made a trip through the West, and spent that winter in Vermont.  In the spring of 1855 he came to Fort Dodge, remaining there until he came to Alden in the spring of 1857, having previously located a farm on section 30, which he began to improve.  He afterward ran the "Spencer" House at the village.  Mr. Spencer in addition to the office of County Surveyor has also been Assessor of the township a number of times.  He has taken an active part in the advancement of the village of Alden, and took an active part in locating the first mail route through that place.  He was married in November, 1861, to Fidelia Rogers, daughter of Jesse Rogers, of this place.  They have eight children living:  Frederick LeRoy, Nathaniel, Esther, Fanny E., Bertha Fidelia, Joseph Allen, Dora Agnes and Walter.

Maynard F. Stiles

In the fall of 1858, Maynard F. Stiles was elected to fill out the unexpired term of Judge Jones.  Judge Stiles was a native of Vermont, but at an early day moved to Rochester, N. Y., where he was employed as a clerk in a store.  In the fall of 1856 he located in Iowa Falls, where he engaged in the real estate business.  In 1857 he removed to Alden, where he resided when elected County Judge.  He was a man of fine ability, in politics a Democrat.  He died in Denver, Col.

Col. Job Stout succeeded Mr. Waldo. He was re-elected four times, and served ten years. [as County Recorder ]

Job Stout was born in Franklin county, Indiana, February 21, 1817. He traces his ancestry back some two years previous to the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers, Richard Stout being the first American emigrant, arriving in this country that much in advance of those who are now so greatly revered. Jonathan Stout, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and was taken by his parents to Kentucky when but three years of age, where he resided until 1812, when he removed to the Territory of Indiana, where he died in 1849. His wife, Nancy (Thompson) Stout, survived him seven years. Job lived at home until his twentieth year, working on a farm and sharing the advantages of the schools of the country. At the age of twenty his father gave him the choice to take eighty acres of land or a year's schooling: He shoes the latter. Immediately after leaving school he engaged in teaching, and at the end of two years he married Elizabeth Brown, a daughter of Christian Brown, a pioneer in the State. Mr. Stout moved West, and settled on the Wabash river, where he followed the coasting trade for three years, when, losing his health, he returned to Fayette county, where he purchased a steam saw-mill, which he ran until 1850, when he was elected County Auditor, and served as such, by re-election, until 1859. He then moved on a farm, where he resided until the breaking out of the rebellion, when he engaged in the recruiting service until July, 1862, when he enlisted as a private in the 69 th Volunteer Infantry regiment. On the organization of the regiment, he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel, and took command of the regiment. The first engagement was at Richmond, Kentucky, one of the severest engagements of the war, 7,000 Union troops being arrayed against 30,000 rebels. Col. Stout was severely wounded in this engagement, and had one horse shot from under him. He fell into the hands of the enemy, and was paroled, but not exchanged until November 19 th of the same year. The regiment participated at Chickasaw Bluffs and Arkansas Post. At the Bluffs the Colonel was again wounded. He subsequently shared in the siege of Vicksburg, after which he was on detached service, owing to the trouble from his wounds. His left leg was greatly withered and useless. The surgeons began a course of diet preparatory to hip amputation. During this preparation he was taken home, where he slowly recovered. In July, 1864, he took part in the Morgan raid, after which he was in the recruiting service until the close of the war.

Colonel and Mr. Stout have had ten children, eight of whom are now living – Jonathan, one of his sons, was in the pay department, while C. B. and J. J. were in the Third Indiana Battery, and served throughout the war.

After the close of the war, the Colonel engaged in the hardware business in Connersville, Indiana. In 1868 he sold out and moved to Iowa, and settled on a farm about two miles from Eldora. In 1870 he was elected County Recorder, and re-elected four times, serving until 1880. That he made a popular officer is attested by thousands who have had business with the office.

Col. Stout has a pocket-book, an heir-loom in the family, which is about two hundred years old. It was in the pocket of Jonathan Stout, a brother of the Colonel's grandfather, when he was killed on the heights of Abraham, at the battle of Quebec, fought under General Wolf. The pocket-book then came into the hands of Job Stout, the grandfather of the Colonel, and was carried by him through the Revolution.

Politically, Col. Stout was an old line Whig, giving his first vote for Gen. Harrison, in 1840. On the organization of the Republican party, he became a member, and has “fought it out on that line.” Religiously he is a Presbyterian. He is also a Mason, and has taken the degrees of the Commandery. He served in the Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter, and in the Grand Commandery, as the Grand Representative.

A. C. Swain, the present Clerk of the Courts of Hardin county, was born in the town of Windsor, Dane county, Wisconsin, in 1851.  His father was E. R. Swain, one of the early settlers of that county.  In 1861 the family removed to Beaver Dam, Dodge county.

Mr. Swain was educated in Wayland University, of Beaver Dam.  He camde to Boone county, Iowa, in 1868, and was engaged for some time as a clerk at Mongona, in that county.  In 1870 he went to Marshall county, and engaged in buying stock.  He came to Hardin county in 1874, and engaged in the hardware business at Menton.  He was elected Clerk of the Courts in the fall of 1880.  Mr. Swain is a thoroughly competent and popular officer.  He was married in 1876 to Miss A. E. Benson, born at Delihi, Delaware county.

James Thorington, of Davenport, was the next Representative in Congress from the Second District.  He was not a man of extraordinary ability, but was a good politician and wire-puller.  He is now a consul in one of the South American States.

William Vandever, of Dubuque, was elected a member of the 35th Congress, and re-elected to the 37th.  William Vandever is a native of Maryland.  In 1839 he came West, locating in Rock Island, where he remained until 1851, when he moved to Dubuque.  In 1855 he formed a partnership with Ben W. Samuels, of Dubuque, in the practice of law.  In 1858 he was elected a member of the 36th Congress.  He made a useful member of that body.  While serving his second term, he abandoned his seat in Congress, returned home, and raised the 9th Iowa Infantry, of which he was made Colonel.  In 1862 he was promoted a Brigadier-General, and at the close of the ware was brevetted Major-General.  Since the close of the war he has held several important public positions.

Samuel S. Waldo was the successor of Mr. Sawin [County Recorder], and was elected to the office in October, 1866.  He has settled some years in Iowa Falls, where he was engaged as a clerk in a general store.  He was a man of good business qualifications and made an excellent officer.  He was an active and influential member of the Congregational Church.  He is at present living at Conrad, Grundy county, Iowa.

Allen E. Webb was elected Sheriff in 1873, and served one term.  He made an efficient and popular officer.  Allen E. Webb was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, March 15, 1837.  He removed with his parents to Michigan, and in 1852 to Bloomington, Illinois.  On the 23d day of September, 1853, he arrived at Eldora, and for twenty years followed the Mason's trade.  After serving his term in the Sheriff's office, he embarked in the agricultural implement and lumber trade at Eldora, and subsequently in the hardware trade.  In 1880, in company with J. M. Christy, he opened a hardware store at Hubbard.  In January, 1881, he formed a partnership with J. S. Hadley, and is at present a member of the firm of Hadley & Webb, hardware dealers, of Hubbard.  In 1861 he enlisted in Company A, 12th Iowa Infantry, as a private; was elected Lieutenant by the Company on its organization, and was promoted Captain at the battle of Shiloh.  he was wounded at the battle of Corinth, October, 1862, and was honorably discharged at Washington, D. C., May 22, 1863.  In 1868 he was married to Miss H. E. Bailey, a native of Ohio, by whom he has had eight children, six of whom are now living.  He was an excellent soldier, and an excellent civil officer.

Stephen Whited, the present County Auditor, is a native of Michigan, having been born in Cass county, in that State, August 17, 1829.  In 1855 he came to Iowa, and located in Wright county, where he remained about two years, and from whence he came to Hardin county, settling in Alden in February, 1857, and locating in that township.  Much of his earlier life, after reaching manhood, Mr. Whited devoted to teaching, part of that time alternating farming and teaching in summer and winter.  He has taught many terms in Hardin county, and was principal of the Alden school when the graded system was adopted in that town.  In 1877 he received the Republican nomination for County Auditor, to which position he was elected, and re-elected in 1879 and 1881.  He is a thoroughly competent and popular officer, a cultured and intelligent man.  When first elected County Auditor, he gave the books of the office a thorough examination, together with the receipts and vouchers on file, and in so doing discovered the defalcation of his predecessor.  In so doing he received the thanks of the whole people of Hardin county.

William Vance Wilcox

W. V. Wilcox was elected in the fall of 1881, and is the present Sheriff.

William Vance Wilcox was born in Franklin county, Ohio, December, 1846.  His father is Edmond Wilcox, born in the State of New York, but went to Ohio at an early age, and came to Iowa with his family in the spring of 1854, and located in Big Grove Township, Johnston county, where he bought a hotel known as the Half-Way House, which was the stage station between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids; and at the same time was engaged in farming and the stock business.  He sold out in 1865, and removed to Iowa City.  He now resides in Eldora.

Sheriff Wilcox came to Eldora in 1868.  He served in the army during the rebellion, enlisting August, 1863, in the 8th Iowa Cavalry, and served till the close of the war.  On coming here in 1868, he engaged as clerk for Mr. J. C. Moorman, with whom he continued one year.  He The engaged in a general mercantile business, in the firm name of C. Wilcox & Sons; continued in the mercantile business and grain trade for several years.  He then engaged in the insurance business, which he followed until he was elected Sheriff in the fall of 1879, and again in the fall of 1881.  Mr. Wilcox is an active, energetic business man, and is not disheartened by reverses, of which he has not been altogether exempt.  He also makes a popular and efficient Sheriff.  His wife was Mrs. Frank Reed, formerly Miss Annie E. Parks. 

They have four children, three daughters and an adopted son.

Sheldon Greenleaf Winchester, pp. 376-377

The Third Constitutional Convention was held in 1857. S. G. Winchester, of Eldora, represented Hardin county in this convention, which assembled at Iowa City January 19, 1857, and adjourned March 5, 1857. Mr. Winchester is now one of the oldest settlers in Hardin county, and has lived an active life. In the organization of the Old Settlers' Society of Hardin county, in the summer of 1882, he took a very active part.

Sheldon Greenleaf Winchester was born in Chautauqua county, New York, July 17, 1830. His father, Arnold Winchester, was a farm; his mother, before her marriage, was Maria Ward, of New York State. Arnold Winchester moved with his family to Pennsylvania, and then to Ohio, while Sheldon was quite young. He spent eight years with his father in Washington county, Ohio, and at sixteen years of age, with eight dollars in his pocket, he started alone for the Far West, beyond the Mississippi. He went down the Ohio on a flat-boat, up the Mississippi as a deck passenger on a steamboat to Keokuk, and thence walked to Des Moines, now the Capital of the State, reaching there with two dollars in his pocket. That was in November, 1846. The garrison buildings and soldiers' barracks, vacated by the military the previous spring, were all the places of shelter for the few inhabitants of Des Moines. That section of the State was thrown open that year for pre-emption, the year Iowa assumed its sovereignty.

In 1847 young Winchester went to Fairfield, Jefferson county, and spent a few months in a store; then, drifting eastward, he landed in the Burlington Gazette office, engaging as an apprentice. His lungs were weak, the work was hard for him, and he went to Memphis Tennessee, and there spent the summer of 1848, returning to Iowa the autumn following. In the spring of 1849 he brought up in Winchester, Madison county; building the first house there after the county seat was located. He sold goods there one year, went to California across the plains in 1850, and spent five years, part of the time mining, part superintending a quartz mill and a saw mill, and for some time running a drug store. Returning again to Iowa, he selected a home in Eldora, where he has since continued to reside, recognized as one of its best and most enterprising citizens. During nearly the whole of this time he has engaged in the mercantile and real estate business. He has been successful in both branches, and has accumulated sufficient to render him comfortable the remainder of his days.

Mr. Winchester was the youngest member of the Constitutional Convention of 1857, and was chosen when barely eligible to the office. He represented eleven counties, the northern part of the State being sparsely settled, particularly west of the river counties and those adjacent. In that convention were some of the ablest men in Iowa. Among them were Judges J. C. Hall, E. Johnson and Francis Springer, and the Hons. J. F. Wilson, W. Penn Clark, R. L. B. Clark, George Ells and J. A. Paskin. Owing to his comparative youth and modesty, Mr. Winchester rarely participated in debate; but he was a good listener and diligent in committee, and rendered important service to the State in that body.

In 1861 he was a candidate for the lower House of the General Assembly, and defeated on a local issue. Ten years later he ran for State Senator, to represent Marshall and Hardin counties, but there was quarrel between the two counties. Both candidates were Republican, and Marshall county having much the larger number of voters, he again failed of election. He has always been a Republican, and has often stumped the county and other parts of the State during an exciting canvass.

On the 4 th of October, 1856, he was united in marriage with Mahala E. Ellsworth, of Eldora, and they have had seven children, four of whom are now living.

J. G. Yearick was elected [to the office of Sheriff in 1859, 1861 and 1863] to succeed Mr. Fiddler, and served eight years.  He made a very good officer.  After the expiration of his term, he left the county, and died in September, 1882.