ALLUM, ISAAC—Deep River Twp—pg 707. Section 24, P.O. Deep River. His ancestors came from England. His father was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in June, 1796, farmed all his life, and died April 2, 1868. Isaac was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, November 30, 1828. Was educated in his native county, and worked for his father until twenty-four years of age. After marrying he farmed for two years in Pennsylvania, then emigrated to Jasper county, Iowa, where he bought fifty acres, and farmed for seven years. Having lost his wife, at the expiration of this time, he returned to Pennsylvania and enlisted in the Fifth heavy artillery, but after three weeks service in a fort near Washington, was equipped as infantry and placed in company K, of the Two Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania volunteers. He participated in numerous skirmishes against Gen. Mosby, and received his honorable discharge July 6, 1865. In March, 1870, he emigrated directly from his father’s home to his present place. He married December 21, 1852, Miss Lucinda Parsons, who bore him the following children: Theodore V. (born October 16, 1853, married Nancy Atwood), Rebecca J. (born December 6, 1855, died April 6, 1857), Jas. E. (born March 22, 1858, died November 5, 1866), unnamed (born November 15, 1859, died immediately), Isaac Francis (born November 5, 1860) and Delila Alice (born January 5, 1863). Mr. Allum’s first wife died, and he married Miss Sarah A. Swart, of Greene county, Pennsylvania, who was born March 29, 1842. The result of this alliance has been: Sarah Florence J. (born March 1, 1865), Penina Arabella (born December 10, 1866), Eliza Ida M. (born September 6, 1869), John M. (born August 26, 1872), Minnie O. (born October 7, 1875), Emma Effie (born July 3, 1877), and Asenah Ann (born August 5, 1879). Mr. Allum owns a good farm of 120 acres, and six acres of timber. His place is well stocked, and virtually free from debt.

ARMSTRONG, HARRY G.—Deep River Twp—pg 707-8. Postmaster at Deep River, and dealer in general merchandise. His father, A.C. Armstrong, emigrated West in the spring of 1855, and after stopping eight months in Battle Creek, Michigan, came directly to this county, and in conjunction with Albert Morgan and others, laid out the plat of the village of Dresden. He built the first house ever erected in the town. It was twelve by ten feet, and has since been moved about three miles west of town, where it now stands on Thos. Harris’ place, a monument of the early settlement of the county. Harry was born in Rutland county, Vermont, May 4, 1848. He was raised on a farm, and enjoyed the advantages of an ordinary district school, which he regularly attended during winter, farming in summer, until he was twenty years old, when he married Miss Fidesta M. Hart, of Deep River township, on March 11, 1868. Mrs. Armstrong was born in Cedar county, Iowa May 23, 1850. To them were born three children: Hattie H. (born June 4, 1869), Alice A. (born April 4, 1871), and Abel C. (born April 2, 1874, and died October 30, 1875). Mrs. Armstrong died November 12, 1875, and on the 13^th of March, 1877, he married Miss Hattie M. Dawley, of Rutland county, Vermont, who was born among the mountains, May 24, 1851. She has borne her husband one child, Herbert H. (born October 18, 1879). Mr. Armstrong owns his comfortable home, and is full proprietor of a thriving business. He was the first to put the telephone to practical use in Dresden, by connecting his store with his dwelling. He has served his township in the capacity of clerk, and enjoys the confidence of his many patrons as a gentleman of undoubted business integrity.

ARMSTRONG, AARON W.—Deep River Twp—pg 708-9. Section 26, P.O. Thornburg. His ancestors were Scotch, and his great-grandfather (Robert) came from the land of his nativity to America, and shortly afterward entered land, became the first settler, and raised the first crop in east Tennessee, and died a few years subsequently. His father (Aaron) was born in upper east Tennessee, August 3, 1787; farmed all his life in Knox county, Tennessee; held the office of major in the War of 1812, and died in the fall of 1860. Aaron was born in Knox county, March 20, 1835; was educated there, and lived and worked for his widowed mother until he was twenty-six years old, when he enlisted in company G of the Sixth Tennessee infantry, entering the Union army at Columbus, Kentucky, April 10, 1862; he was promoted rapidly from private successively through the positions of corporal, sergeant, and sergeant-major, serving eighteen months, when he was changed to the Ninth Tennessee cavalry, in which he attained the offices of lieutenant and captain. He participated in several skirmishes, and at the expiration of his term of service returned to farming on the old homestead. During the winter of 1865-6, he came to Iowa, stopping at Victor six weeks, when he went to Omaha, Nebraska; and at the end of seven months he went to Phelps county, Missouri, thence, in March, 1867, to his present place, and commenced the improvement of his farm. He married in Monmouth, Warren county, Illinois, April 28, 1874, Miss Emma Eiffort, of Henderson county, Illinois, who was born in Henderson county, November 25, 1849. The fruits of their union have been: Cora A. (born February 3, 1875), Ada J. (born May 11, 1876), Laura I. (born December 22, 1878), and Harry E. (born August 4, 1879). Mr. Armstrong owns a fine farm of 220 acres of improved land, besides two and a half acres of timber. His place is in splendid condition; well stocked, and entirely free from debt. His house is one of the best appearing and most comfortable residences in Deep River township; and personally he is in easy and natural possession of the charming instincts of the true Southern gentleman.

AXTELL, SILAS S.—Deep River Twp—pg 709. Section 20, P.O. Tilton. His great-grandfather came to America during the colonial days, and his grandfather was born in Pennsylvania, where his father (Jesse) was also born, about 1814, and married, in Indiana, Mrs. Munger (nee Miss Mary Brewer), who was born in 1809, in New York, where her first marriage occurred. His grandfather moved to Ohio before his father was two years old. His father fought in the Texan War two years, where he lost his health and was discharged; he settled in Indiana, and died in September, 1871. Silas was one of five children, the next oldest of whom (Daniel) died in a government hospital, after having passed untouched through twenty-seven battles and skirmishes. Silas was born in Noble county, Indiana, July 25, 1848; educated in Kendallville, Indiana; worked for his father until he was nineteen years of age, then went to Michigan, where he worked on a farm by the month for two years, when he immigrated to Iowa, arriving in Deep River township, this county, August 29, 1869. In the following spring he went to Keokuk county, where he worked by the month until the next year, when he rented a farm where Thornburg now stands; here he farmed for the succeeding five years, at the expiration of which time he bought eighty acres where he now lives, and moved to it on the 28^th of February, 1877. He subsequently added to his property two other adjoining pieces of land, forty and eighty acres respectively. Mr. Axtell married in Keokuk county, Iowa, on the 5^th of March, 1873, Miss Mary J. Nelson, of Washington township, Keokuk county, who was born in Knox county, Illinois, October 21, 1850. The children are: Jesse Franklin (born December 5, 1873), Charlie E. (born January 6, 1876) and Louis D. (born June 10, 1879). Mr. Axtell owns 200 acres of good land, and is enterprising, industrious and prosperous.

BARTELS, GEORGE—Deep River Twp—pg 709-10. P.O. Deep River, and he lives in the village of Dresden. He is the only tinner in town, and keeps constantly on hand a full line of tinware. His parents were born in Anhalt, Germany; the father (Charles) in 1776, and the mother in 1786. George was born in the same place, February 18, 1822; he learned the trade of coppersmith in Prussia when fourteen years old. Upon coming to this country, in 1869, he set up in the business of coppersmithing, in Muscatine, Iowa; from there he moved to his present place, March 1, 1877. He married in Germany, June 18, 1850, Miss Charlotte Becker, of Hochheim, Germany, born October 20, 1822. They have had four children: Louisa (born April 3, 1853; married June 22, 1874, to William Diatz), Gustavus (born May 3, 1855), Charlotte (born September 20, 1858) and Alvina (born January 14, 1861). Mr. Bartels owns his present business house and home, and is free from debt. He is not only a successful business man, but a scholar of no mean attainments, having educated himself to speak fluently in four different languages.

BARKER, AUGUSTUS K.—Deep River Twp—pg 710. Section 2, P.O. Deep River. He was born in Morgan county, Ohio, December 4, 1842; was raised on a farm, and educated in part in his native county. In 1859 he went to Reading, Michigan, where he learned his trade as a mason, and remained until April 7, 1861, when he enlisted in company E of the Fourth Michigan volunteers. He participated in the battles of Bull Run, Bull Run No.2, Siege of Yorktown, Chickahominy, Mechanicsville, Gaines’ Mill, Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, Turkey Bend, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, second Fredericksburg, Wilderness, Gettysburg, Cold Harbor, and many others, besides numerous skirmishes. After receiving his honorable discharge January 28, 1864, he re-enlisted, and was again honorably discharged, April 4, 1865. He then lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, until April 8, 1867, when he entered the United States regular army for an enlisting term of five years, and served until he was the third time honorably discharged, June 30, 1871. He then returned home, and has since been chiefly engaged in farming and threshing, and occasionally working at his trade. He married, March 18, 1874, Sarah J. Black, of Victor, Iowa, who was born in Bureau county, Illinois, February 24, 1848. Mr. Barker owns fifty-four and twenty-six-one-hundredths acres of farming land, in splendid condition, and ten of timber. He has served his township as school director, and is an energetic and successful gentleman.

BARRETT, EDWARD E.—Deep River Twp—pg 710-11. Section 30, P.O. Tilton. His great-grandfather, Moses Barrett, was born in London, in 1719, was educated for the ministry, came to America and was ordained an Evangelist of the Puritan type, and married Mary Dow, of the family of Dows from whence sprang the famous Lorenzo Dow—she died of measles, October 6, 1813, at the age of eighty-seven. He was associated with David Brainard in Christianizing the Indians, and for that purpose took a trip to London to solicit funds from the British Government to aid in setting up free schools among them. His grandfather, Daniel Barrett, read the entire Bible before he was five years old—was in the service of his country under Gen. Washington at White Plains, and married, in August, 1782, Rebecca Bosworth, from whom sprang seven sons and six daughters, all of whom lived until they attained an average age of about seventy-two years. One of the sons, Elisha D., graduated from Williams College in the same class with the late American poet, Wm. Cullen Bryant, and is now ninety-one years old. His son, Lysander, the father of Edward, was born the 6^th of November, 1800, and still lives, vigorous in body and intellect, and able to read without the use of spectacles. The subject of this sketch was born in Hampden county, near Westfield, Massachusetts, on the 14^th of January, 1833; raised a farmer, and first attended the Academy of Glade Run, Pennsylvania, and when nineteen years old started to Kittanning Academy; taught public school when twenty; emigrated to Iowa in 1856, and sold tombstones in Keosauqua, Van Buren county, for two years. He then returned East and taught school in Pennsylvania until he married. He again taught school, in the intervals of his business as a farmer, both in Pennsylvania and Van Buren county, Iowa, until he moved to Montezuma, in 1864, where he lived for the next six years. In 1870 he bought and moved to his present farm home. Mr. Barrett married, in Indiana county, Pennsylvania, April 29, 1859, Miss Annie Tomlinson, of Granville, Ohio, who was born in Granville, November 21, 1840. He owns 120 acres of good farming land, and is free from debt.

BLIESENICK, AUGUST F.—Deep River Twp—pg 711. Section 3, P.O. Deep River. His ancestors were all Germans. His father was born in Prussia, about 1796, was a weaver, and died about 1867. August was one of nine children, and born eight miles north of Berlin, Prussia, August 8, 1827. He crossed the Atlantic in 1854, and after being in New York City one year, went to Pennsylvania, where he remained nearly three years, when he moved to Ohio, and worked at his trade, tailoring, in Cleveland, until September, 1864, when he emigrated to his present place, which he bought in 1861. He married, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, February 12, 1857, Levina Biddleman, of Pittson, Pennsylvania, who was born in Warren county, New Jersey, May 24, 1820. The result of their marriage has been as follows: Augusta E. (born January 21, 1858), Leonard (born November 29, 1859, deceased), Romelia J. (born September 28, 1861) and George R. (born May 25, 1863). Mr. B. owns 104 acres of good land, including ten acres of timber, and he is an honest, unassuming gentleman, and hard-working farmer.

BURDINE, Rev. Dr. HUGH—Deep River Twp—pg 711-12. P.O. Deep River, and resides in the village of Dresden. He was born in Morrow county, Ohio, February 22, 1831, and raised a farmer boy. He conceived an early ambition to make something of himself, and especially aspired to a good education. Being poor, and having his mother as well as himself to support, in spite of his hard struggles, at first he could make but slow progress. By untiring effort he won the privilege of attending two terms at the high school in Delaware, Ohio, and five months at the Martinsburg (Ohio) Academy. Besides this he enjoyed no school advantages, but wore out many books in his pocket, which he kept constantly with him for study in the intervals of his work. His studies at this time were all directed toward fitting himself for the ministry, and he entered the Ohio Central Christian Conference in the fall of 1860, having been converted when sixteen years of age in the M.P. Church, from which he transferred his membership in the spring of 1853. His first appointment was to Veil’s Church, in Delaware county, Ohio, where he spent a successful year. After serving other charges he left that Conference, and is at present connected with the Iowa Conference. He was regularly ordained in September, 1863. Dr. Burdine acquired his medical education by his own unaided efforts, save only enjoying the brief privilege of reading medicine with Dr. Ira Brown, of his native county. In 1868 he left Ohio, and, after stopping three months in Crawford county, Illinois, where he was detained by an accident which resulted in the loss of his right eye, he arrived in Keokuk county, Iowa, about the 20^th of March, 1869. He lived there for the next five years, when he moved to his present place, and immediately entered upon the practice of his medical profession. The doctor married Miss Rhoda A. Harris, of his native place, September 20, 1853. Mrs. Burdine was born April 6, 1833, and was converted when but thirteen years old. Their children are as follows: Ira C. (born April 24, 1855, and married Miss Anna Richey, of Deep River township), John H. (born November 7, 1856), Rachel E. (born November 7, 1858), Hugh P. (born March 20, 1861), Wm. E. (born December 7, 1864), Charlotte O. (born March 17, 1870), and Luella (born September 1, 1874), besides three dead.

BUTCHER, WILLIAM—Deep River Twp—pg 712-13. Section 10, P.O. Deep River. His grandfather Butcher was a native of Ireland and emigrated to America in the colonial days. Was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and was drowned in the south branch of the Potomac River, while on a retreat with the American army. William’s father was born in Virginia, in February, 1800, and William was born in Gallipolis, Ohio, March 11, 1824. He was raised a farmer boy and educated by his mother, who was a lady of culture. His father was crippled, and he being the oldest son, much of the support of the family devolved upon him until he was twenty-four years old. He then married, and receiving some assistance from his father in the shape of a few sheep, and a sow and pigs, with some stock of his own, consisting of two cows, two horses and a wagon, he set up in the business of farming for himself in Winnebago county, Illinois, his father having moved to that county in 1844. In 1875 he emigrated to this county, arriving at Malcom on the 24^th of February. Then he rented a farm about three miles north of Malcom for one year, when he bought and moved to his present place, taking possession on the 3d of March, 1876. He married the 9^th of January, 1848, Miss Ann A. Dillsaver, of Winnebago county, Illinois, who was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, November 18, 1827. Four children have been born to them: Almon G. (born January 5, 1849, married June 31, 1878), William O. (born January 17, 1851, married January 1, 1878), Alfred M. (born April 18, 1856), Sarah E. (born October 22, 1858; died in March, 1861). Mr. Butcher owns 240 acres. Has been elected to the offices of school director, road supervisor and township trustee, the duties of which positions he has discharged with fidelity and acceptability.