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The
History of Lee County Montrose Township Beckley, Charles A., farmer, Sec. 9; P. O. Montrose; Mr. Beckley was born in Lawrence Co., Ohio, in 1831; his father, Solomon Beckley, was a pioneer of Lee Co.; he came to Farmington, Van Buren Co., in 1841, and removed in 1844, to Montrose, where he engaged in mercantile business for one year; he then purchased the farm now owned and occupied by his son Charles; he was a member of the Presbyterian Church for fifty years, always contributing liberally to the support of the Gospel. Ever laboring in the cause of education, and in all projects for public improvement; he was formerly a Whig; a Republican after the organization of that party, and strongly Antislavery in his views; he was a lawyer by profession. He planted a fine orchard on his farm in 1846; its fruit was about the first evidence of the fact that apples may be successfully cultivated in this portion of Iowa. Mr. Solomon Beckley died in 1874, at the age of 82 years; his wife, Mrs. Laura Beckley, still survives, at the advanced age of 85 years. Mr. Charles A Beckley married in 1855, Josephine Simmons, a native of Ohio; born in 1834; they have had eight children; four now living - Henry S., Mary I., Laura C. and Louis S. Mr. Beckley was Township Clerk for the years 1872 and 1873; is Assessor for 1879. Mr. Henry Simmons, a brother-in-law of Mr. Beckley's, resides with the latter; he was born in Ohio in 1832; came to Iowa in 1844, and to Montrose in 1851; was educated at Yellow Springs College, Des Moines Co. He enlisted in 1861, in the 2d Iowa Inf.; remained with his regiment two years; participated in the battles of Fort Donelson, Pittsburg Landing, Corinth, Iuka, etc.; was promoted to a acptaincy in the 55th U. S. C. Inf.; was discharged at Baton Rouge, La., December, 1865; he went to Montana in 1866, and engaged in mining; he lost his sight by an explosion in the mines, in 1870, and returned; is now an occasional contributor to several newspapers, under the nom de plume of Petros. Graham, William, farmer, Section 12, P.O. Montrose Reed, Robert, retired farmer, Section 26; P.O. Sandusky; Mr. Reed was born in Ohio, in 1804. Married Sarah Kennedy, a native of Ohio; born in 1804; had eight children; five now living - David, Hannah, now Mrs. Pickerill, Mary, now Mrs. Campbell, of Ohio, Nany, now Mrs. Edward Curtis, of Montrose Tp., and Rebecca, now Mrs. H.H. Wilson; Mrs. Reed died 1875. Martha married Mr. L. Harbine; died 1856; Ruth married Mr. Grimes; died 1871; James K. died 1876; David, born in Ohio in 1831, married 1860, Louisa Husted, a native of Iowa; has five children - Gertrude, Arthur, Susan, Hattie and Herbert. Mr. David Reed resides in Section 27; has 200 acres of land. Sawyer, William, farmer, Section 9; P.O. Montrose. Sawyer, Silas N., farmer, Section 9; P.O. Montrose; owns 70 acres; was born in Ohio in 1842, and came to Lee Co. with his parents in 1850, and to Montrose in 1865. He married in 1868, Laura A. Le Fever, a native of Montrose, born in 1846; they have two children - Frank H. and Addie Grace. He purchased the farm he now owns in 1868. Mr. Sawyer enlisted in March, 1862, in Co. I, 17th I.V.I.; was at the battles of Corinth, Iuka and Jackson; was captured at the battle of Lookout Mountain; was imprisoned first at Belle Isle; then transferred to Andersonville, where he remained nine months; was then removed to Charleston, thence to Florence and Wilmington and paroled after being a prisoner fourteen months; was discharged the 15th of April, 1865. Sawyer, Thomas, farmer, Section 9; P.O. Montrose; was born in Warren Co., Ohio, in 1813. He married in 1836 Eliza Snodgrass, born in Dauphin Co. Penn., in 1815; Mr. Sawyer came to Lee Co. in 1850, and located in Pleasant Ridge Tp.; removed to Montrose and settled on the farm he now owns in 1865. Has seven children - Mary J. (now Mrs. C.L. Carpenter, of Sandusky, Iowa), Martha S., Silas N., Blanche A. (now Mrs. R.H. Younkin), William, Elizabeth (now Mrs. Letts, of Clay Co., Ill.), and Priscilla B. Mr.. Sawyer was elected to the Legislature in 1856, served one term. Mr. Sawyer is a member of the Presbyterian Church; he was chosen by the Presbytery of Iowa as a delegate to the General Assembly which met at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1866. |