History of Warren County, Iowa - 1879

History of Warren County, Iowa
Des Moines: Union Historical Company, 1879.

Biographies submitted by Dick Barton.

ALLEN, JONATHAN, farmer, Sec. 34; P. O. Lothrop; born in Clinton county, Missouri, January 11, 1836; lived there and in Gentry and Davies counties until he came to this county with his parents in the fall of 1847; was married in this county to Miss Mary A. Hutchings, a native of Ohio, in 1855; they have a family of seven children living: Eliza A., Lettie J., Alfred A., Whitley H., Matilda O., Mary M., and Sarah F.; owns a farm of 170 acres.

ALLER, WILLIAM, farmer, Sec. 5; P. O. Commerce; born in Canada in 1828, and first came to the United States in 1845, and lived in Vermont, and returned to Canada in 1846 and remained but one year, when he came to the State of New York and made it his home till he came to this county in 1856, and has lived here since, except three years, when he made his home in Des Moines, where he followed the carpenter's trade, and a short time in 1862 that he spent in the mountains; was married in New York State to Miss Ann Dougherty, a native of Ireland, in the year 1850; they have a family of five children living: James, Mary a., Sarah, George, Jane, and two deceased: William and John F.; owns a farm of 120 acres. Mr. Aller, when he came to this county, came to Iowa City by rail, and to his present home by stage, and landed his family with three "bits," or 37-1/2 cents in his pocket - the only money he possessed - and started life in this county with that amount of cash capital and made what he now owns by honest labor and economy; there were times in his pioneer life in this county that he worked two days for one bushel of corn to eat; the first year that he came he planted six bushels of wheat, and reaped but five, and the following season he fathered but one barrel of corn from seven acres of ground, and five acres of oats he harvested and stacked, and shortly after a prairie fire destroyed it, with all the hay that he had prepared for his stock during the winter. The next season yielded crops that were more encouraging, and from that time he has been very successful.

ANDERSON, C. L., farmer, Sec. 15; P. O. Hartford; born in Maryland, March 22, 1827; when only a few years of age his parents moved to Ohio, locating in Knox county; there he was raised on a farm: in the fall of 1850, he came to Iowa, and settled in Allen township, Warren county, which was then Polk county: he went to Hartford in the spring of 1852, and in 1855 was married to Miss Ellen Morgan; she died in the year 1860; on the breaking out of the Rebellion, he enlisted in the first company from Warren county, he being the first man from his township (Richland). On the organization of the company, he was elected 1st Sargent, which position he held until May, 1862, when he was commissioned 2d lieutenant of the company; he was in some of the hottest and most closely-contested battles of the war; he had many narrow escapes, having been marked by the rebel bullets three different times, one of which came near being fatal, being shot through the arm and body, November 5, 1862, in a hot but short engagement; after laying in the hospital for some weeks, he was granted a leave of absence: when again fit for duty, he returned to his command and remained with it until a few days after the siege and fall of Vicksburg, when on the 12th of July, 1863, he was taken prisoner by the enemy at Jackson, Mississippi; he remained in their hands nearly twenty months, being in Libby prison for nine months; the balance of the time he was at Macon, Georgia, Charleston and Columbia South Carolina, as well as other and less noted places of rebel torture and starvation; while at Columbia, he made his escape, and for three long weeks endeavored to reach the Union lines by traveling at night, and hiding in some secluded place during the day; but at an evil hour, when nearly worn out by fatigue and hunger, but still inspired by the love of liberty, the fatal moment came, and he was again in the hands of the enemy; about the first of March, 1865, he was exchanged near Wilmington, N. C. He was sent around to Anapolis, Maryland by ocean, and from there to Washington, District of Columbia, where, on the 12th of March, 1865, he was honorably discharged; he immediately came home, arriving there on April 16th, one day after the death of President Lincoln; July 30, 1865, he was married to Miss Ann F. Hancock, a native of Ohio: soon after his marriage, he purchased a fine farm of 138 acres near Hartford, upon which he still resides; they have a family of two sons and one daughter; Charles M., Stella P. and Ernest; one deceased, Delmer L.

ANDERSON, W. H., farmer, Sec. 6; P. O. Spring Hill; he is a native of Ohio, born Sept. 7, 1819, and lived there till he came to Mahaska county, this State, and remained for about 18 months, and then came to this county in the fall of 1856. He was married in Ohio, Nov. 16th, 1846, to Miss E. K. Findley, a native of that State; they have a family of seven children living: a. S., S. C., J. P., R. E., W. W., Linnie P., and Martha Eldora, and four deceased. He was county treasurer one term, during the years 1876-7, and has held various township offices. He owns an improved farm of 200 acres.

ANGLSBERG, A. C., farmer, P. O. St. Mary; born in Germany June, 1852; in company with his father, Stephen Anglsberg, he emigrated to America, locating in Wisconsin, where they lived until 1871, when they removed to Winneshiek county, this State, remaining there four years; they then came to this county; Mr. Anglsberg is unmarried, having, nevertheless, family cares; his family consists of one sister, father and mother, whose respective ages are sixty-three years, and a grand-mother, whose age id ninety-nine years.

APPLEGATE, A. J., Dr., physician and surgeon; born in Trumbull county, Ohio, in 1830, and was raised there on a farm; emigrated to Iowa in November, 1856, and to this county in 1857, and engaged in farming and teaching school, and at the same time pursuing his medical studies; he enlisted in the 34th Iowa Infantry, and was afterward appointed Acting Assistant Surgeon U. S. A., and served until the close of the war, and since that time he has been engaged in the practice of his profession; he married Miss L. J. Hamilton, in 1865; she was born in Ohio.

ARMSTRONG, R. S., druggist; born in Rutland, Vermont, in 1850, and moved to Michigan in 1853, and to Indiana in 1863, and learned his present business in Elkhart, Indiana; he married Miss Laura E. Van Pelt, in October, 1873; she was born in Ohio; their family consists of two children: Mabel, aged two and one-half years, and Harry, an infant son.

ARNOLD, R. G., farmer, Sec. 14; P. O. Norwalk; born in Ohio, in 1840; he was raised a farmer, and when nineteen years of age came to Iowa and engaged in farming; he continued this occupation for two years, and then enlisted in Co. F, 34th Iowa Infantry, August 16, 1862, and served three years; when he entered the army, he went from Wayne county, and after his discharge from the service he came to this county in September, 1865; owns 320 acres of improved land; he married Miss Clara Black, in 1871, a native of Ohio; they have one son, Arthur.

ASH, MICHAEL, farmer, Sec. 25; P. O. Summerset; born in Loudan county, Va., June 24th, 1810, and when about seven years old his parents emigrated to Alleghany county, Maryland, where he lived until about 28 years of age, and followed the lumber business. He went back to West Va., and in the year 1838 married Miss Sarah Hass, of Hampshire county, that State; he then went to Indiana and lived until his coming to this county, which was in November, 1852. They have a family of six children living: William, John, Abram, Sarah (now wife of E. J. Yount), Martha (now wife W. A. Dowell, of Cass county, Iowa), and David, and five deceased. He owns an improved farm of 200 acres.

ASHWORTH, J. R., farmer, Sec. 17; P. O. Norwalk; born in North Carolina in 1831, and came to Indiana when quite young, where he was raised, with the exception of two years that he spent in Missouri; was married in Indiana, to Miss Sophia Miller, a native of Ohio, in 1851; they came to this county in October, 1853; they have a family of ten children living: Frank, Alice, Enoch J., William A., John, Laura, Fannie, George W., Annetta and Clara; four deceased; he enlisted in the late war in Co. H, Thirty-fourth Iowa Infantry, Aug. 19, 1862, and served two years and three months; was at the siege of Vicksburg, Arkansas Post, Fort Morgan, Donelson, and other engagements; owns a finely improved farm of 276 acres.