Johnson County << 1893 Index
Poweshiek County
Iowa County

Portrait and Biographical Record of Johnson, Poweshiek and Iowa counties, Iowa
Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1893.

D

Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Dick Barton.

PETER DELESCAILLE, the subject of this sketch, is the oldest and best-known jeweler in Poweshiek County , Iowa . He was born in Belgium , eight miles east of the battlefield of Waterloo , April 3,1825 . His father, was Nicholas, also born there, who entered the Belgian army, taking part in the battle of Waterloo , being under Wellington and Blucher, and taking his honor with the rest when victory was won. The occupation of his father was that of farming, and his last days were passed in Belgium . The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Jane J. Roman, and she was born in the same place. Both were of French descent and Roman Catholics.

Our subject was the eldest of the family of six children and the only one who is in America . He was reared in Belgium and educated in the French language, and when sixteen years of age left school to learn the jeweler's and fine cabinet-making trade, the latter including fine clocks. The delicate workmanship required in these occupations always had great attraction for him, and in after years this knowledge served to while away the long hours of a prisoner's life. In 1856 our subject came to America , landing in New York April 26, having left Antwerp in the sailing craft "Frances B. Cutting." They were forty-seven days on the journey, having a severe time and encountering storms on the way. Reaching New York , he proceeded to Iowa City , where he worked at his trade until 1857, when he went to Brooklyn , remained one and one-half years, and in the fall of 1858 located in Montezuma, built a shop and began to manufacture clocks and do repair work.

Nothing was too difficult for our subject to do. and every kind of utensil and machine was given him for restoration. Among the many things he did was the invention and patenting of an invalid wagon. Our subject, August 13, 1862 , enlisted in Company C, Twenty-eighth Iowa Infantry, and was mustered in at Iowa City and took part in the battles of Port Gibson, Champion Hill and Vicksburg ; was transferred to the Gulf, and in the battle of Sabine Cross Roads fought hard all day and was the last to leave the field, and if every one had fought as bravely as he, victory would have perched on the Union banners. He was captured immediately after being wounded in the right arm, the ball passing through that member. His undaunted spirit led him to defy his captors, who in wrath procured a rope, which they placed about his neck, when a boy of sixteen informed the commander, who came out and made them desist. Taken to Talty , Tex. , he was made to walk all the way and was repeatedly stoned on the passage. While in prison he employed himself in the manufacture of horn pipes with a pocket knife during the thirteen months of his imprisonment. It may be said that when he went to the war he took with him a kit of tools, which was often found useful. He was released at the close of the war and returned home poor in purse, but went manfully to work and has been able to acquire property since.

Mr. Delescaille has a full line of jewelry and does more repairing and better work than anyone else in the city. He has been here longer than any other jeweler and is by far the best known in the county. He is constantly surprising his friends with ingenious workmanship, his cabinet-organ clocks being especially praised. The kit of tools which he bore with him through his loyal service in the army has been restored to him by the officers of his regiment.

Our subject was married in Belgium to Miss Mary T. Daegwitt, who was born there, and died in Montezuma on the 19th of December, 1879 . She was the mother of four children, namely: Julius, in the lumber business in Minnesota ; Annie, Mrs. Fish, living in Minnesota ; Mary, living in Kansas City ; and Frank, living in Marshalltown . Mr. Delescaille was married a second time at Montezuma, in 1881, to Mrs. Sarah Moriety, of New Jersey , and an early settler of Iowa . Our subject was at one time quite active in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is an honored member of Wisner Post, G. A. R. The doctrines of the Christian Church are in harmony with his views and his name is upon its books. Politically, he is a Republican, straight and unqualified, giving hearty support to the candidates of that party.

Mr. Dennis was married at Iowa City, October 30, 1844, to Agnes J. McConnell, a native of Greenfield, Highland County, Ohio, who was born April 25, 1825. Her father, John McConnell, was a native of Virginia, and her mother of Pennsylvania. The latter died at Valparaiso, Ind., in 1839. The maiden name of her mother was Margaret Byers, who died before the father came to Iowa, he coming in the same year, however, 1839, and dying in 1845. Mrs. Dennis was the fourth child and third daughter of her parents, and was a girl of fourteen when she reached this State.

Our subject settled upon the farm where he now lives in the same year that he married. He built a log house, which he occupied for a year, and then erected a very nice frame building. He was one of the first to locate in Clear Creek Township. Leaving his family in 1850, he struck out across the plains for California by way of Salt Lake City, and engaged in mining there for two years, when he returned home via Graytown to New York City. Mr. Dennis built a frame house in 1840, and this is thought to be the first frame structure erected west of the Iowa River. The family certainly may be numbered among the very early settlers of Johnson County. When they arrived here they had but $76 in money, and of this $50 went for a pair of oxen, and $15 for a one-third interest in an old wagon and plow, with which they started to farming.

Our subject now owns nine hundred and five acres of fine land in Johnson County, most of which has been improved by him. At one time he owned a tract of twelve hundred acres, but disposed of a portion of it. Mr. and Mrs. Dennis are the parents of six children, four daughters and two sons: Mary, wife of the Rev. C. M. Howe, pastor of the New Mexico County Presbyterian Church; Josephine, wife of Milton Remley, whose sketch will be found on another page of this RECORD, residents of Iowa City; Edwin E., who married Anna Tantlinger, of Clear Creek Township; Hattie, wife of Henry B. Heberling, living with our subject; and two, Wilber J. and Ada L., who died in infancy.

Mr. Dennis is a Republican in politics, and his house was the polling place for many years, he furnishing dinners to voters. He kept a tavern at his house from 1850 to 1861, which was during that time a stage station. Our subject is supposed to have been the first Town Clerk of Clear Creek Township; he was Justice of the Peace for many years, a Township Trustee, and a member of the Board of Supervisors, in fact, he has held almost every office in the township. He is not a member of any church, but is a good-hearted, generous man, giving liberally to any worthy cause brought to his notice.

Isaac V. Dennis, our subject, is a very agreeable and sociable gentleman and an experienced farmer, who resides on section 6, West Lucas Township, Johnson County, Iowa. He was born upwards of seventy years ago, November 13, 1822, in Clermont County, Ohio, being the son of John Dennis, a native of the same county in Ohio as the son, a prominent man of Clermont, a manufacturer of oil and a wool carder, who died in 1837, in his native place. The father was a native of Pennsylvania, who settled at an early day in Ohio, his people coming from Virginia.

The mother of our subject, Mary A. (Voorhees) Dennis, was a native of Pennsylvania and died in Johnson County, Iowa, in 1890. (See sketch of her brother elsewhere in the RECORD for a history of her father.) The father and mother of our subject were the parents of two sons and one daughter, all of whom grew to maturity: Bryan, living in Johnson County; Sarah A., wife of A. J. Bond, of Storm Lake; and our subject. The latter was the second child and son. He received a common-school education in his home district and came to Johnson County, Iowa, in 1839, when a youth of seventeen, his mother, brother and sister accompanying him. He at last went on the farm where he now lives, this being the first land sold in the State. He and his brother came out of a town to the farm, and they broke the first fifty acres that were plowed west of the Iowa River. The Government had caused a furrow to be plowed all the way to Dubuque for the purpose of making a road, which was know as Dillon’s Furrow.

Our subject was married in 1843 to Elizabeth Fellows, a native of New Hampshire. Her father, a native of the same State, was born in 1796. His father came to Johnson County in his eightieth year, and was the oldest man in the county, and the first man to died in it. He had his coffin made from a walnut log, which his neighbors cut and split, her father helping to make this puncheon box, there not being a board nearer than Muscatine and Dubuque. Her father entered land from the Government and finally died April 23, 1863. Mrs. Dennis’ mother, Polly (Foss) Fellows, was born in New Hampshire May 6, 1797, and died August 25, 1870. She was the mother of two daughters, Mrs. Dennis being the elder. Her sister, Mrs. Smith, a widow, resides in Buffalo, Neb., Mrs. Dennis being the only one of her family in Johnson County.

Mrs. Dennis came to Johnson County in 1838 with her parents and sister and a lady cousin, there not being twenty-five people in the entire county, not more than five houses in Dubuque, and but two in Muscatine. They settled on Indian land. Our subject settled upon the land where he now resides in the year 1843. He built a log house, 10x12 feet, in which four persons lived for one year, and had little or no furniture during that time. The first bread they had after coming to Iowa was made of buckwheat, which they ground in a coffee-mill and sifted through muslin. His father-in-law went to St. Louis for a Nigger Coffee-mill, the first in the county, and people came thirty and forty miles to have their corn ground. Our subject built the first frame house in Johnson County, selling wheat for thirty-five cents a bushel to buy lumber at $10 per thousand, hauling it from Muscatine. This house yet stands upon the farm.

During the war Mr. Dennis raised a company, of which he became Captain, and was mustered into the service at Iowa City September 9, 1862, doing guard duty in Missouri. He served seven months, and on account of sickness was compelled to resign. He is connected with Post No. 8, G. A. R., at Iowa City. He draws a pension of $20 per month.

Mr. and Mrs. Dennis have five sons and one daughter, viz: Emma, wife of A. W. Davis, of Janesville, Wis.; George F., married to Abbie Tidd, living at Los Angeles, Cal.; Lucien I., born November 11, 1853, single, at home; William D., born December 1, 1856, at home; Samuel R., born January 22, 1859, Superintendent of the Plano Works, at Plano, Ill., and married to Julia Burke, of Oxford, Johnson County, Iowa; and U. S. Grant, born November 22, 1864, a natural artist, with superior power as a painter. Our subject and his wife has six grandchildren.

Our subject has a well-improved farm of two hundred and sixty acres, which his sons cultivate, he having retired from active work. Mr. Dennis printed the first Democratic paper published in Johnson County, the Argus, at Iowa City, it having an existence of about eighteen months. But he is now a stanch Republican, rooted and grounded in that faith, and is Township Trustee, an office he has held for many years; he also held the office of Supervisor for a great many years. The records of the Historical Society at Iowa City show that our subject paid the first taxes paid in Johnson County, the sum being fifteen cents.

Larimer Douglas, an energetic and successful general agriculturist residing upon section 26, Graham Township, Johnson County, Iowa, has tilled the fertile soil of the State for more than forty years, and reaping annually a bounteous harvest from his farm of three hundred and forty acres, has gained a comfortable competence, and is well known as a substantial citizen of wide practical experience and of sterling integrity of character. Our subject was born in Butler County, Pa., February 16, 1830, and was the son of William and Mary (Brown) Douglas, who, emigrating to Iowa in 1852, were among the early agriculturists of Scott Township, Johnson County. William Douglas was of Scotch ancestry, and was born April 1, 1803. His wife was a native Pennsylvanian and a few months her husband's junior, having been born January 11, 1804. Father Douglas lived but a few years after leaving the Quaker State, and passed away November 9, 1859, deeply regretted by all who knew him. He was an upright man, a kind friend and an excellent citizen. His wife survived him until September 14, 1891, having then been a widow for over thirty years.

Our subject was educated in the public schools of Butler County, Pa., and had attained his majority before he located in Iowa. For some years after his arrival in Johnson County, he remained in Scott Township, but has long been a permanent resident of Graham Township, and largely identified with the upbuilding of this part of Johnson County. Mr. Douglas was married in Iowa City March 18, 1865, to Miss Mary Trotter, a daughter of Samuel B. Trotter, a native of Ohio, and an energetic and enterprising man. His wife, Mrs. Martha G. (Sanford) Trotter, was born in the State of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Trotter removed from Trumbull County, Ohio, to Johnson County, Iowa, in the spring of 1839, and were among the representative pioneers who faced the privations and struggles of life in the frontier Territory of Iowa. Mrs. Trotter was one of the first white women in Johnson County, and, possessed of courage and heroic endurance, was often called upon in those primitive days to assist the suffering and needy, and was in verity a Mother in Israel to the unfortunates of the land.

Mrs. Douglas was born in Cedar Township, Johnson County, Iowa, April 24, 1841, and was reared to womanhood in her birthplace, enjoying in her childhood such advantages for an education as the district schools afforded. Our subject and his estimable wife are the parents of eight living children: James, Ella, Mary, Addie, Martie, Frank, Nellie and Robert. Two little ones died in early childhood. Mr. and Mrs. Douglas attend the Presbyterian Church, and are active in the promotion of benevolent enterprises. The entire family possess the confidence and esteem of the general public and have a host of old-time friends. Mr. Douglas has never been a politician, but has with faithful ability given most satisfactory service as Township Trustee. Devoting the best efforts of his life to agricultural pursuits, his busy industry has been rewarded, and in the coming evening of his days he can with pleasing retrospect compare the unbroken prairie which first yielded to his culture with the golden fields of present summers, and in the valuable improvements of the farm, the excellent barns, the comfortable and commodious family residence behold the fulfillment of the ambitions of his early youth.

William Douglass, a prominent agriculturist and highly respected citizen, owns a finely- improved farm of two hundred acres located upon sections 11 and 12, Scott Township, Johnson County, Iowa, and first came to his present locality when Johnson County was almost an unbroken prairie, sparsely settled and containing few improvements of any pecuniary value, except in the young villages and pretentious towns, which were, indeed, far between. Our subject was a native of Butler County, pa., and was born May 28, 1832. He was reared in his birthplace, and was early trained in agricultural duties upon his father's farm, at the same time receiving the advantage of instruction in the district school of the home neighborhood. When he was nineteen years old he was apprenticed to a builder, and learned the carpenter's trade in Pittsburgh, Pa., remaining in this latter city for two years; then journeying to Johnson County, Iowa, he received employment in Iowa City for a brief time.

Mr. Douglass next made his home in Magnolia, Putnam County, Ill., and worked at his trade for a few months, then returning to Johnson County. In the spring of 1856, he again went to Putnam County, Ill., and sojourned there until December, 1857, when he once more sought employment in Johnson County, where he profitably engaged in business for nearly two years. In the fall of 1859, our subject took his departure for Magnolia, Ill., and located there for five years, at the expiration of which time he accepted employment at his trade in Iowa City, where he was constantly busy for the succeeding six years. During the winter of 1869, he went to Atlantic City, Iowa, and found ready employment as a carpenter for one year. His next abiding-place was in Varna, Marshall County, Ill., where he remained for the following twelve years. From 1874 until 1882 Mr. Douglas was the able and popular proprietor of the American House in Varna, but in February, 1882, sold out, and finally returned to Johnson County, since the latter period his permanent home.

For over a half-score of years our subject has profitably engaged in farming in Scott Township, where his parents, having emigrated from Butler County, Pa., came so many years ago, and in 1854, located upon a homestead where the father, James Douglass, passed away in November, 1859. The mother, Mary (Brown) Douglass, lived to be almost ninety years of age, surviving her husband until September 14, 1891. Mrs. Douglass was a native of Butler County, Pa., and was highly esteemed by a large circle of friends. She was the mother of ten sons and daughters, of whom William was the fourth in order of birth. Our subject was united in marriage in Magnolia, Ill., December 27, 1857, with Miss Lucinda S. Dent, a native of Putnam County, Ill., and a daughter of James and Dorcas Dent, natives of Morgantown, Va. Mrs. Douglass was born in Putnam County in 1836, and was reared and educated in her birthplace. Mr. Douglass and his estimable wife are the parents of eight children. The brothers and sisters who have gathered in the pleasant home are: Mary E., wife of William E. Ferguson; William E.; Hattie M., wife of Harley Struble; James B., Belle, Strother D., Frank L. and Charles. These sons and daughters, having worthily attained to manhood and womanhood, receive the respect and high regard of all who know them, and each and all occupy positions of usefulness and influence. Mrs. Douglass is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and active in the religious work of that denomination, and, together with her family, is prominent in matters of social enterprise and benevolence. Our subject is not a politician, and his immediate interest in local and national issues is apparent mainly in the casting of his vote for the best man for the place. Cheerfully doing his allotted daily duty, and a provident man and excellent manager, caring with fidelity for his family, he is liberal in his views, and, an upright and progressive citizen, has without show or ostentation steadily won his upward way to assured prosperity and success.