James A. Carson submitted by Dick Barton

James A. Carson is a retired farmer residing on section 12, Oregon township. For a long period he was actively engaged in general farming but when his labors had brought him sufficient capital he put aside the more arduous work of the fields and is now living in the enjoyment of the fruits of his former toil. He is a native of eastern Tennessee, his birth having occurred in Blount county on the 16th of May, 1841. His parents were Alexander and Jane (Weir) Carson. The father was born in Indiana and when a boy went to Tennessee. He had not yet passed beyond the period of youth when he enlisted for service in the war of 1812. He became a resident of Washington county, Iowa, in 1855, at which time he located in Oregon township but was not long permitted to enjoy his new home, for his death occurred on the 12th of May of the same year and his remains were interred in the Camp Ground cemetery. His entire life was devoted to general farming. His wife was born in Virginia and they were married in Tennessee. Following their removal to Iowa she continued a resident of this county until her demise in 1875, when her grave was made by the side of her husband's in the Camp Ground cemetery. Their family numbered eleven children: Thomas E., D. F. and Mary C., all now deceased; Alexander, who has likewise passed away; Emeline, the wife of John McCrory, of Illinois; Phoebe Jane, who has departed this life; Sarah, the wife of William Robinson, of Ainsworth, Iowa; L. W., who died while serving in the Union army in the Civil war; James A., of this review; and Harriet Ann and Andrew V., both of whom are deceased.

James A. Carson pursued his early education in the schools of his native county and came to Washington county with his parents when a boy of fifteen years. His father dying soon afterward, he and his brother were left to care for the widowed mother and her children. Following the death of his mother in 1875 he began farming the old home place in connection with his brother Andrew and the business relation between them continued until about fifteen years ago, when the partnership was dissolved. James A. Carson still continues to manage his farm, although it is operated by a young man whom he reared. He is now the owner of one hundred acres of land, which he has brought under a high state of cultivation and which in its well improved appearance indicates the careful management and progressive spirit of the owner. When he and his wife came to this farm there was not a sprout or anything growing upon the place. He has put up all of the buildings, which are of a substantial character and as the years pass he successfully carries on general farming, annually harvesting fine crops and marketing good stock. He has lived a life of well directed thrift, industry and perseverance and his labors have been fruitful, bringing him a substantial competence.

Mr. Carson was married on the 16th of April, 1878, to Miss Sarah Jane Hancher, who was born in New Athens, Harrison county, Ohio, a daughter of Robert and Catherine (Brokaw) Hancher. Her father was a native of Virginia, whence he removed to Ohio and later to Indiana. Subsequently he returned to the Buckeye state and came from Ohio to Iowa in 1876, locating in Louisa county. He was a lifelong farmer and he spent his last days in the home of his son-in-law, James A. Carson, where he passed away in June, 1908. For more than three decades he had survived his wife, who died on the 13th of March, 1877. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Hancher were seven children: John, deceased; Mrs. Carson; Daniel, living in Brownstown, Illinois; Manda, the wife of Frank Clarke, of Meadville, Pennsylvania; Martha Ann, who died in 1881; Robert F. C., a resident of Gladden, Iowa; Mary B., the wife of Charles Lovlett, of Washington, Iowa.

Mr. and Mrs. Carson have reared two children: Robert Carroll, who is now operating the farm; and Viola Hancher, now the wife of Howard McGatlin, of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Carson had but one child of their own, a son, who was born February 6, 1879, and lived but one week.

D. S. Cole submitted by Dick Barton

D. S. Cole, a photographer of Washington, who has here been engaged in business since 1865, has done much notable work in the line of his profession as representative of different railroad companies and also in connection with military movements in the Philippines. He had but recently attained his majority when he located his studio in Washington, his birth having occurred in Franklin county, Ohio, November 22, 1843. His father, David P. Cole, was born in New Jersey in 1813 and in early life learned and followed the blacksmith's trade. When a young man he removed to Ohio and later became a minister in the Methodist Episcopal church but did not abandon the trade which he had learned. In 1855 he came to Iowa and for many years carried on blacksmithing in Washington. His business activity was interrupted, however, by his service in the Union army in the Civil war. In September, 1861, he offered his services to the government and at the same time his son, D. S. Cole, joined the army. The father, however, was rejected on account of his age. He later enlisted in the Thirty-seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry, known as the Graybeard Regiment, serving his full time doing garrison duty at Columbus, Ohio, and at Rock Island, Illinois. He died in the soldiers' home in Marshalltown, Iowa, at the venerable age of eighty- six years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Martha Wright, was born in New Jersey in 1812 and they were married in Ohio. Her death occurred in Washington when she had reached the age of eighty-seven years. Their family numbered eight children: Emma C., deceased; Owen, Lucy and Benjamin, all of whom died in childhood; Mrs. Sarah J. Beaty, living in Washington, Iowa; D. S.; William K., a resident of Michigan; and C. O., now deceased, who for seventeen years was a machinist on Government Island at Rock Island, Illinois.

D. S. Cole was only twelve years of age when brought to Washington and in the common schools here he continued his education and also assisted his father in the shop, learning blacksmithing when quite young. His taste, however, was along more artistic lines and he took up the study of photography, establishing his studio in Washington in 1865. He has done much notable work in the line of his profession, spending five years in making views for the Northwestern Railway and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Company in Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas. In 1903 he was appointed by Secretary Root as official photographer for the Thirteenth Cavalry and spent a year and a half in the Philippines. He is an expert in his chosen line, thoroughly conversant with the most modern processes of the art and with clear understanding of the value of light, shade, form and color. He has in his possession many interesting views of the places he has visited and his mind is stored with pleasing, amusing and instructive recollections of his trips.

There is another chapter in the life history of Mr. Cole that is worthy of more than passing notice. In September, 1861, when he was yet a youth of seventeen years, he offered his services to the government, enlisting as a member of Company K, Thirteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He was with that regiment in all of the engagements up to and including the battle of Atlanta, in which he was captured on the 22d of July, 1864. He was then sent to Andersonville prison, where he remained until April 28, 1865, when he was released fourteen days after the assassination of President Lincoln.

Mr. Cole was mustered out at Davenport, Iowa, and then returned to Washington, where he has since made his home. On the 2d of November, 1867, he wedded Miss M. C. Auld, who was born in Brighton, this county, in 1848 and is a daughter of J. H. and Hannah Auld, who settled in Washington county in the early '40s. The death of Mrs. Cole occurred December 27, 1882. Three children had been born of that marriage: Henry, who died in infancy; Ivy I., the wife of F. V. Boyce, of St. Louis; and M. C., a photographer of Alliance, Nebraska.

Mr. Cole cast his first presidential ballot for Abraham Lincoln and has never wavered in his allegiance to the republican party since that time, for he regards its policy as most conducive to bring about needed reform and improvement and to secure the passage of necessary regulative and constructive legislation. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons and with the Grand Army Post at Columbus Junction, Iowa, and finds pleasure in the camp fires of that organization. His chosen life work has been one of intense interest to him, appealing strongly as it does to the artistic side of his nature, at the same time giving opportunity for the attainment of that success which follows as a logical sequence of laudable ambition and persistent effort.