TAYLOR, WILLIAM—Deep River Twp—pg 747-48. P.O. Deep River, and resides in Dresden. Was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, February 21, 1822. In the fall of 1830 his father moved into Belmont county, Ohio, where he bought a farm on which the son remained until his thirty-third year, when he moved to a farm of his own in Guernsey county, Ohio. Here he remained until the spring of 1869, when he immigrated to Iowa, settling on a farm of 378 acres in Lincoln township, this county. In March, 1875, he moved with his family into Dresden. He married on October 19, 1848, Maria Barnes, of Belmont county, Ohio, who was born May 20, 1828. She bore him children as follows: Sarah E. (born September 9, 1849; died July 25, 1871), Francis L. (born January 20, 1852), John W. (born January 20, 1854), Ann Eliza (born March 20, 1856, who died September 29, 1875), Mary A. (born August 16, 1858), and Jennie E. (born December 12, 1860). His wife died November 22, 1863, and on March 27, 1866, he married Harriet Wherry, of Guernsey county, Ohio, who was born August 31, 1835, and she bore him: Maria (born December 29, 1866, who died the following month), James S. (born April 14, 1868, who died November 20, 1876), Adaline C. (born October 27, 1869), Martha E. (born November 11, 1871, who died December 5, 1876), Andrew D. (born September 12, 1873, who died October 27, 1876), Charlotte B. and Cinderella M. (twins, born August 17, 1875). Mr. T.’s second wife died September 29, 1876, and he married a third time, on December 6, 1877. His third wife, formerly Mrs. Kelley, of Dresden, was born October 6, 1841, and had one child by her first husband, Leonard (born June 27, 1865). On one or two occasions Mr. T. has been elected to township offices.

VAN FOSSEN, JAMES W.—Deep River Twp—pg 748. Section 2, P.O. Deep River. Was born in Frederick county, Maryland, March 2, 1831. When he was six months old his parents moved to Morgan county, Ohio, where he was raised on a farm and educated. When fifteen years of age he learned the trade of blacksmithing, and in the fall of 1855 he immigrated to Iowa, and commenced the improvement of his present place, all but 54 acres of which is the gift of his father-in-law. During the spring of 1857 he returned to Ohio, where he plied his trade for seven years, and in 1864 finally made his permanent settlement upon his farm. He married in Morgan county, Ohio, September 5, 1855, Cordelia Barker, who was born in Brown county, Ohio, March 10, 1833. She has borne him the following children: Elmer H. (born February 7, 1856), Everett C. (born October 22, 1857), Albert I. (born September 15, 1859), Orvilla Lucetta (born August 21, 1862), Augustus A. (born October 4, 1865) and La Sharon (born August 18, 1869). Mr. Van Fossen owns 148 acres of farming land and 12 acres of timber. His farm is well stocked and in excellent condition.

WAINWRIGHT, EDWARD—Deep River Twp—pg 748. Section 32, P.O. Thornburg. His grandfather was a native of England, where his father was born in 1824. Edward was also born in England on the 29 of August, 1847. His father immigrated with his entire family to the United States when Edward was four years old, arriving here July 2, 1851. They farmed in Morgan county, Ohio, where Edward worked for his father until he was twenty-one years, when he went to Winnebago county, Illinois, and farmed there for one year, when he immigrated to Iowa and worked a rented farm in Keokuk county for about nine years. He then commenced improving his present farm and moved to it in the spring of 1879. Mr. W. married, on the 27^th of December, 1874, Miss Catharine Strasser, of Prairie township, Keokuk county, Iowa, who was born in Ohio, July 4, 1848. They have one child, Thomas Franklin (born December 1, 1875). He owns 90 acres of land, which is in splendid condition.

WASSER, L. EDWARD—Deep River Twp—pg 748-9. Section 19, P.O. Deep River. His ancestors on his father’s side were from Germany, and his mother was of Puritan stock. His great-grandfather was born in Pennsylvania, which State was also the birthplace of his grandfather, who was accidentally killed on a steamboat on Schuylkill River before the birth of his father, which occurred in Pennsylvania, December, 1826. He (the father) for a while, followed butchering in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, and was subsequently proprietor of the Great Western Hotel, in Great Western, Pennsylvania, and afterward of the Wasser House in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. During the first troubles with the Mollie Maguires, he was elected Sheriff of Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, no other man being willing to serve on account of the dangers of the office, and has walked the streets of Pottsville (the county seat) with revolver in hand night and day, being constantly exposed to perils during the entire term of his office. This was previous to his entering the hotel business. He emigrated directly from Lewisburg to Cedar county, Iowa, in 1866, where he farmed for six years and then moved to this county, and after renting a farm for two years, he bought and moved to the present estate. He married, in 1849, Miss Susan Persing of Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, who was born near Paxsinos, July 2, 1828. She bore him the following children: Joseph S. (born October 10, 1850; married December 25, 1873 to Miss Alice Kiser), Clara L. (born February 10, 1853; married December 18, 1873 to Julius Victor Frederick Biddleman), Oris E. (born August 6, 1854), L. Edward (born June 4, 1857), Hayes W. (born June 9, 1858), Ruben S. (born November 17, 1860), Eliza J. (born November 3, 1863; died July, 1865), Henry W. (born March 31, 1865; died September 1865), William C. (born February 18, 1867), Edith A. (born February 11, 1870), Maggie M. (born October 6, 1872) and Geo. W. (born December 18, 1875). The father died suddenly May 17, 1878, and was followed by his wife, who also died suddenly March 6, 1880. The subject of this biography was born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania. Having received his primary education chiefly at the high-school in Tipton, Iowa, he attended the Burlington Business College, and Telegraphic Institute, where he graduated. Upon leaving college he taught penmanship with good success. During the winter of 1879 and 1880, he taught the district school of Dayton township, Iowa county, after which he returned to farming. Mr. Wasser married, in Cambridge, Illinois, September 8, 1880, Miss Alice Fickling, who was born in 1860. He is the executor of the family estate, comprising 104 acres of excellent farming land, and will probably himself be its permanent proprietor.

WHITNEY, NEWTON—Deep River Twp—pg 749-50. P.O. Deep River. Lives in the village of Dresden. He was born in Poultney, Rutland county, Vermont, the 26^th of September, 1822, and was raised a tanner and currier, but afterward followed shoemaking and farming alternately for a number of years. In 1849 he traveled to California, spending six months in making the journey, when he engaged in mining operations with good success for about six months. He also sold goods both among the miners and in San Francisco for about nine months. After living about eighteen months in California, sixty-five days of which were spent on the Pacific Ocean, he left, and after considerable other traveling, returned home in the spring of 1852. The next fall he made a trip to this State and bought 135 acres of land from William Whitlock, and entered forty acres more adjoining from the government. Leaving his land in the care of his agent, D.C. Baker, he returned East, where he remained until in the winter of 1855-6, when, in company with his brother Myron, he immigrated to Iowa. The two brothers commenced business as merchants in Dresden, and built the first business house in the township, which still stands, a monument of their pioneer experience and enterprise. In the fall of 1858, their co-partnership was dissolved, Newton buying and running the business alone until the following spring, when his brother returned from a visit East and bought out the entire establishment. Newton has followed farming ever since. He married, September 26, 1857, Miss Catharine Dillon, whose father had shortly before emigrated from Claresville, Ohio, and settled in Deep River township of this county. By this lady he had five children, one only of whom is still living: Elmetta E. (born November 23, 1858, and died the 24^th of September, 1867), Franklin E. (born September 12, 1860), Eletha N. and Elena, twins (born June 2, 1864, and died—Elena, January 23, 1871, and Eletha, January 28, 1871) and John (born June 8, 1868, and died January 19, 1871). The three deaths last mentioned were occasioned by scarlet fever, and that of Elmetta resulted from the spontaneous combustion of coal oil contained in a tin can which the child was at that time handling. Her clothes caught fire, and being badly burnt from head to foot before assistance could reach her, she suffered intense agony for about twenty-eight hours, when she expired. Mr. Whitney’s first wife died on the 10^th of July, 1870, and he again married on the 21^st of March, 1872, choosing for his second wife, Miss Margaret Love of Malvern, Ohio. The result of this union has been one child, Ion (born April 5, 1874). Mr. Whitney deals quite largely in hogs and other stock, and besides his present very pleasant home, he owns three town lots, sixty acres of good and well cultivated land in Deep River township, and forty acres in Polk county, near Des Moines.

WOLF, SAMUEL—Deep River Twp—pg 750-51. Section 22, P.O. Deep River. Was born April 4, 1828, in York county, Pennsylvania, where he was raised on a farm. When nearly eight years of age his father moved to Huntingdon county, where his education was finished. His father was a shoemaker, and at seventeen Samuel commenced learning that trade, after completing which he went to Ogle county, Illinois in the spring of 1847, where he plied his trade (in Buffalo and Dixon) for the next five or six years. Shortly after marrying, he commenced farming, at which he continued but three years, when he went to Polo, where, with his brother, Henry, he was established in the shoe business until the spring of 1867, when he immigrated to this county, and in the following fall he bought and moved to his present place. Mr. Wolf married, July 30, 1853, Ellen Deyo, who was born in Delaware county, New York, March 7, 1831. Their children are: George (born March 24, 1854; died December 6, 1854), Henry Martin (born January 28, 1856; married, December 19, 1878, Lida Evans), Alexander (born March 14, 1857; married, July 3, 1879, Phebe Mulnix), Sarah Elizabeth (born January 11, 1859; died about March, 1860), Laura Ellen (born September 4, 1860), Benjamin (born April 13, 1862), Emeline (born September 1, 1863), Angeline (born August 19, 1865) and Franklin (born May 11, 1869; died in infancy). Mr. Wolf owns eighty-two and one-half acres of good farming land, in fine condition, well stocked, and free from debt. He was road supervisor during 1877, and is at present serving as school director.

WOLF, GEORGE—Deep River Twp—pg 751-2. Section 22, P.O. Deep River. His grandfather, who was born in Germany, immigrated to York county, Pennsylvania, and probably settled on a farm in Helm township about the time of the Revolutionary War. Both his great-grandfathers (Wolf and Letiman) fought in that war. His grandfather was born in Germany about 1772; was a farmer, and died in 1863. His father was born in Helm township, York county, Pennsylvania, in 1798; was a shoemaker and farmer, and died during the summer of 1874. George was born in the same township May 23, 1832. He learned the tanner’s trade, and attended school in his native place. When fourteen years old his parents moved to Illinois, where he served three years learning shoemaking. Upon the completion of his time of apprenticeship George went to Dixon, where he worked as journeyman for one year, when he returned to Buffalo and worked for his brother Samuel, who was also a shoemaker, for four or five years. He then went to Polo, where he spent the next ten years, butchering in summer and shoemaking during winter. In 1866 he immigrated to Iowa, and after living through the fall in the district school-house, settled upon his present place. He married in Polo, Illinois, September 10, 1857, Miss Hester L. Myerly, of Ogle county, Illinois, who has borne him children as follows: Charter O. (born May 26, 1858), Alfraetta (born October 24, 1859), Wm. (born July 12, 1861; died September 12, 1862), unnamed female (born December 9, 1863, deceased), Maggie (born September 12, 1868), Viola (born June 15, 1870), Edgar (born December 11, 1872), Flora (born May 24, 1875), Nora (born March 26, 1880), and an unnamed male (born May 26, 1880). Mr. W. owns 162 ˝ acres of good farming land.