Appanoose County >> 1913 Index

Past and present of Appanoose County, Iowa: ... 
L. L. Taylor, editor.  Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1913. 

Douglas Township

Biographies submitted by Alice Wayne Daniels.

Page 412
This township was organized in 1858 and held its first election in October of that year. Its southwestern lines are broken unevenly, by Center township taking part of the southwest corner. Taylor township is to the north of it, Center and Sharon on the south, Walnut on the west and Udell on the east. Much of the township was originally covered with timber and it is watered by the Chariton and Soap creeks. There is some good tillable land, however, and many farms are improved with modern residences and outbuildings. Coal underlies the hills, but here are no towns. The Wabash, Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroads cross the township. Good schools and churches prevail.

John White, Sr., lived in Pennsylvania before coming to Iowa. There he married Jane Pierman, a native of Kentucky. In the fall of 1848 he settled in this township, having made the trip by team and bringing with him one hundred dollars in cash. He entered a large tract of land and by energy and industry accumulated thirty-two hundred and twenty acres of land in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. Mr. White died in 1877. He was the father of John W. White, of Centerville.

A. E. Tucker, a native of Iowa, came to Douglas township with his parents, Francis and Millie (Cruse) Taylor, in 1849. A. E. Tucker married Izora T. Andrews, a daughter of Silas Andrews, who came to the county in 1851 and settled in Taylor township, to which place Mr. Tucker afterward removed.

L. W. White was born in Appanoose county in February, 1854, of parents who were early settlers. He married Jennie Ulm, of Appanoose county, in 1873.

Peter Koontz was an early settler in this township. He was a native of West Virginia, removed to Ohio and from thence to Iowa in 1856. He became prosperous in his ventures in this township, beginning with practically nothing. In 1861 he became a private soldier in the Civil war and lost his right arm in battle.

James Hamilton came here about 1861 from Guthrie county. He owned several hundred acres of Appanoose land at one time and held responsible township offices.