History of Monona County, Iowa - 1890

History of Monona County, Iowa
Chicago: National Pub. Co., 1890

C - D

Unless noted, biographies submitted by Dick Barton.

FRANCIS C. CASE, Sr., deceased, was born in Indiana in 1813, and grew to manhood in that State. His first wife was formerly a Miss Mary Hawk, by whom he had five children. Mr. Case came to Monona County about the year 1853. He was an active and progressive citizen of this county, and at the election April, 1858, was chosen by the qualified electors to fill the important office of Sheriff, but before assuming its duties, April 19, 1858 , was called on to pass "into the silent chamber of death."

December 25, 1856 , he was united in marriage with Miss Esther R. Davis, a sketch of whom is given in this Album, who became the mother of one child, Francis C. Case, Jr., who is still a resident of the county.

JAMES M. CASE

Though peacefully following the vocation of a farmer's life upon his splendid 200-acre farm on section 23, in Sioux Township , the subject of this sketch has seen the hardships and endured the trials and dangers of life on the tented field. He is a native of Greene County , Ind. , born July 13, 1840 , and is the son of Francis C., and Mary Ann Case. A sketch of his father who was one of the pioneers of this county and one of its most prominent citizens, may be found elsewhere in the pages of this volume. His mother was born near Lexington, Mo., June 11, 1814, and was married in Jackson County in the same State, about 1833, and is yet alive, having had a family of eight children, of whom five are living.

When James M., the third child, was about one year old, the family removed from Indiana to Illinois , and in a couple of years came to this State locating at Fort Madison , Lee County . A short time thereafter they removed to Montrose, and three years later to Keokuk. After living in the latter place about two years and in Des Moines several more, they came to Council Bluffs in 1850, and to Monona County in 1853, and located upon a farm on section 5, Franklin Township , just west of the city of Onawa . There the father died and the family was broken up. All these years James was growing to manhood and, in 1862, taking up life's burden, he went to Harrison County, where he was engaged in farming for about year, and then, in response to the many calls for men to suppress the rebellion, December 27, 1863, he enlisted in Company L, Fourth Iowa Cavalry and was forwarded to his regiment as a recruit, and participated in the engagements at Guntown, Lexington, Mine Creek, Selma, Tupelo, White River, Osage, Lock Creek, Okalona, St. Francis River, and Columbus, Ga. One of the best authorities in the State says "that the Fourth Cavalry was one of the bravest and most successful Iowa regiments in the field, and its services were of the utmost value to the Union arms." Mr. Case was mustered out, with the regiment, at Atlanta , Ga. , August 8, 1865 , and received his discharge at Davenport , August 24, 1865 , and received his discharge at Davenport , August 24, 1865 . At once returning to the quiet life of a farmer, he took up his home in Clay Township , Harrison County , where he remained until the fall of 1881, and then removed to a farm upon which he now resides, and which he has since occupied.

Mr. Case was married April 19, 1866, to Miss Dorinda Martin, a native of West Virginia, and daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca Martin, and by this union had a family of eleven children, as follows: Friend, William F., Ida, Herbert, Emma, Oscar, Mary, deceased, Martin M., an infant that died unnamed; Bern and Effie A.

GEORGE W. CORK, a retired agriculturist, came to Monona County in the spring of 1869 and settled on a farm on section 10, Belvidere Township, where he was actively engaged in farming until March, 1887, when he came to Onawa and there he has since been living a retired life. He at first purchased some two hundred acres which were partially improved, to which he added from time to time until he owned one thousand acres. He has since disposed of a portion of this but is still the possessor of some seven hundred acres, which are well improved with good buildings, and watered by the Little Sioux and Maple Rivers. This is one of the finest stock farms in the country, he having devoted himself extensively to that interest, and had the reputation of being one of the heaviest hog raisers in the county.

Mr. Cork was born near Chilicothe, Ross County, Ohio, January 27, 1822, and is a son of John and Rebecca (Raby) Cork, natives of Virginia. His parents had emigrated to Pennsylvania and Ohio in an early day and settled in Ross County, where they remained until 1834, when they took up their residence in Union County, where the father died in 1843, aged forty-nine years. The mother died in Delaware County, the same State, at fifty-eight years of age. George W. Cork, the grandfather of our subject, a native of Virginia, of German descent, died in Ross County, Ohio, about 1836, aged seventy-five. His wife, Susan, died in Marshall County, Ill., at the age of eighty-five.

Our subject removed with his parents to Union County when about twelve years of age, and was reared upon a farm, receiving his education in the subscription schools of the period and helped clear up the farm, which lay in the heavy timber common to that region. He remained at home until attaining his majority when he purchased a tract of land and engaged in clearing it up and making it into a farm. There he remained until 1851. Selling out, he then removed to Henderson County, Ill., and engaged in farming and made his home until coming to this county in 1869.

Mr. Cork was married, February 22, 1844, to Miss Lydia Yarrington, a native of Carroll County, Ohio, born September 15, 1825, and daughter of Ephraam and Elizabeth (Hendricks) Yarrington, natives of Pennsylvania. Her parents were early settlers of Carroll County and moved to Union County about 1838. In 1853 they emigrated to Bureau County, Ill., where they died, the mother in 1857, and the father in 1870.Mr. and Mrs. Cork have had a family of eleven children: John N., born April 21, 1845, who died August 30, 1858; James H., born June 12, 1846; Eusebia, August 9, 1847; Thomas J., November 6, 1848; Solomon H., January 20, 1850; Francis M., December 9, 1857; Theodore, May 18, 1853; Mary, August 15, 1856; George W., April 21, 1858; William S., born December 3, 1859, who died January 9, 1872, and Ephriam R., who was born February 10, 1864, died December 7, 1871. Mrs. Cork united with the Methodist Church at the age of twelve years, but on the conversion of her husband, in Illinois, they both associated themselves with the United Brethren. Since coming to this county they have again taken an active part in the Methodist church affairs, and Mr. Cork was the first Superintendent of the pioneer Sabbath school of Arcola, in 1869.

SAMUEL CUNNINGHAM, of the firm of Cunningham & Gray, dealers in hardware, lumber, sash, doors, lime, brick & cement, at Blencoe, Iowa, is among the leading merchants of that thriving little town. He is a representative of that shrewd and thrifty people known as the Scotch-Irish, descendants of the Cameronians, who settled in the North of Ireland when fleeing from persecution in their native home amid the braes of Scotland. He was born in Ireland, April 1, 1844, and is the son of Samuel and Martha Cunningham, the former of whom died in in the Emerald Isle in 1869. The mother of our subject came to America in 1869, and died about 1873.

Mr. Cunningham was reared at home and availed himself of all the means of education offered in the days of his youth. Early in 1867, he determined to seek in free America a larger field for his efforts, and crossed the ocean, and, on landing upon Columbia 's shores, came at once to Monona County, arriving here on the 4th of February. He purchased a farm on section 17, Sherman Township, which, after cultivating some seven years, he sold to James McIntyre. Upon a farm on section 10, in the same township, which he then purchased, he carried on farming until 1883, at which date he sold out and started in his present business, in company with A. O. Gray.

Mr. Cunningham was married June 11, 1874, to Miss Nancy Glenn, also a native of Ireland, and an acquaintance of his youth, who came to the United States in early life, and is the daughter of John Glenn, of Sherman Township, a sketch of whom may be found in this work.

AARON A. DAVIS is one of the old settlers of Monona County who came from their New England home and have so materially aided in the development of this section of the State. He is a resident of Kennebec Township , living on section 28. He first came to this county April 29, 1857, and located on section 8, coming from Hallowell , Me. , by way of Mt. Pleasant , Oskaloosa, and Lewis , Iowa . He remained upon that claim during the winter, but in the spring of 1858 moved to section 19. There he made his home until December, 1862, having purchased the land of the county, it being in the Swamp Land grant, for $1.25 per acre. From there he removed to the southeast quarter of section 28, but, May 13, 1864, took up his residence on the northwest quarter of section 28, which has since that time been his home. He has now a fine farm of five hundred acres of land, and is largely engaged in the cattle business, having commenced in that line about 1859. In 1877 he commenced grading and rearing Short-horn cattle, and in 1880, Hereford stock, and has now a herd of one hundred and forty head of high grades and thoroughbreds.

Mr. Davis was born in Kennebec County , Me. , August 19, 1827 , and is the son of Aaron H. and Abby (Pilsbury) Davis. His father was a native of New Hampshire , who removed to Maine with his parents when about twelve years of age, and was a seaman by profession. He was a captain of a vessel during the war of 1812-15, and drew a pension for his services from the Government in his later years. About 1825 he gave up the sea and settled upon a farm near Richmond , Me. , where he died in May, 1885. The mother of our subject, a native of Massachusetts , was taken to Hallowell , Me. , by her parents when a small child, and died at Richmond , November 29, 1882 , at the age of ninety years.

The subject of this narrative, until he was about fourteen years of age, attended a district school near his father's house, after which he spent about two years in the Hallowell Academy . Starting in life for himself, he followed the sea for about eight years, his first voyage being to the Pacific Ocean , Australia , and the islands of Oceanica. He was at San Francisco at the time it was taken possession of by Commodore Sloat during the war with Mexico , and has been as far north as latitude 57, twice. He holds an American Seaman's Protection, which is numbered 214 and dated May 30, 1845 . This serves a sailor in foreign ports from impressment as an English seaman, and officially testifies to his American birth. Growing tired of a roving life, he finally abandoned a seafaring life, and settled down in his native county, where he followed the carpenter's trade until coming west, in 1857.

When Mr. Davis first came to this county he was in very limited circumstances, having been compelled to borrow the money with which to bring his wife to their new home, where she came in September, 1857. For several years they endured many hardships. The first cow that Mr. Davis ever owned he earned by building a bridge over the Soldier River, in St. Clair Township, whither he went to work, leaving his wife at home with Indians camped all about. He followed bridge carpentering for the county for some time, taking his pay in Swamp Land certificates, but finally settled down to farm life. The elegant residence which adorns his place is, for the most part, the work of his own hands, the finer portion of the carpentering being entirely so. This is one of the finest farm residences in the county.

Mr. Davis was married, January 20, 1850 , to Miss Abbie Gray, a native of Lincoln County , Me. , who was born September 28, 1827 , and is the daughter of Henry and Abbie (Chase) Gray, both whom were natives of Lincoln County . Her mother, who was born in 1807, went to the island of Hayti with her husband, who was also a sea captain, and there died on the 6th of May, 1867 . Capt. Gray returned to this country, and his next voyage took out a metallic casket in which to bring home the body of his wife, but, owing to the Rebellion then raging, was unable to do so, and left the coffin until his next trip. The insurrection continuing, he was never able to obtain the corpse, and finally died in that island, at the port of Petite Gonaive .

Mr. and Mrs. Davis are the parents of five children, whose births took place on the following dates: Clarence E., January 14, 1853 ; Harry G., October 18, 1856 ; May B., December 26, 1860 ; Ella A., June 5, 1863 ; and Arthur H., August 10, 1867 .

ISAAC DAVIS, one of the pioneer settlers of Monona County , and still a resident upon the land which he occupied on coming here in April, 1855, on section 34, in the town of Franklin , was born in Columbiana County , Ohio , May 2,1827 , and is the son of Isaac and Edith (Richards) Davis. His father, who was the son of Isaac Davis also, was a native of Virginia who had moved to Ohio in an early day, and engaged in farming. Later in life he had removed to Quincy , Adams County , Ills., and from there to Lee County, Iowa, where he died in 1839. The mother of our subject was a native of Ohio , and died in this county in August, 1866.

Mr. Davis remained at home with his mother until 1855, when he came to Monona County , and took up a claim, and has since made his home in this section of the State. He was married July 4, 1866 , to Miss Jennie F. Quinn, a native of County Antrim , Ireland , whose parents are still residents of the "Emerald Isle." By this marriage there have been nine children added to their family, who bear the following names: Edith A., Mahlon E., Jennie B., Bertha M., Maggie A., Esther R., Frances, Ruth J., and Bernerd H., all of whom are still living at home.

When Mr. Davis came here he entered his land, about eighty acres, and some forty acres of timber, which has since been washed way by the river, and returned to Lee County for his sister, Esther, now the widow of Hon. Stephen Tillson, living in this county, who accompanied him here in October.

OLIVER DAVIS, a respected and esteemed farmer of the town of Lake , having his home on section 6, came to this county in June, 1865. At that time he settled in Kennebec Township , on a small farm which he purchased, and there made his home until 1880. In the latter year he sold the place and purchased the farm of two-hundred and forty acres where he now lives. This was at the time without any improvements.

Mr. Davis was born in Lee, Strafford County , N. H., February 21, 1821 . When he was about nine years of age his parents, Mr. S. and Mrs. L. Davis, removed to Somerset County , Me. , where he grew to manhood. In the district schools of the time and place he imbibed the elements of a good common-school education, and assisted his father in carrying on the farm until the fall of 1850, when the excitement over the discovery of gold in the rich placers and gulches of California lured him to that far off land. He was engaged in searching for the golden dust with some success until June, 1853,when he returned to Maine . During his absence his mother had died, and for the first year after his return he carried on the old homestead farm, but growing dissatisfied he sold out and moved to Dane County , Wis. , where he engaged in farming for about ten years. Having heard of the fertile region lying in the great Missouri bottom, in 1865 he left his home in the "Badger State" and drove across the country with an ox-team, and after an extended trip located in Kennebec Township, this county.

In Palmyra , Me. , November 10, 1850 , Mr. Davis and Miss Rebecca P. Lowell were united in marriage. They have a family of four children, born as follows: Lydia J., November 21, 1851 ; Franzisker E., June 10, 1855 ; Alderado S., January 1, 1857 ; and Lois A., April 22, 1859 . Mrs. Davis is a daughter of Thomas and Eliza Lowell, and was born in Stafford County , N. H.