William A. Madole, pp. 468-470

The importance that attaches to the lives, character and work of the early settlers of Hardin county and the influence they have exerted upon the cause of humanity and civilization is one of the most absorbing themes that can possibly attract the attention of the local chronicler or historian.  If great and beneficent results -- results that endure and bless mankind -- are the proper measure of the good men do, then who is there in the world's history that may take their places above the hardy pioneer?  Although not arriving in Hardin county as early as some, William A. Madole, of Grant township, has been a resident here through the locality's period of upbuilding and has played well his part in the same, ever manifesting an abiding interest in his adopted country and leading a life of meritorious industry and integrity, so that, now the twilight of life has enveloped him, he can look backward over a career well spent and forward with no apprehension for the future.

Mr. Madole was born in Manchester, England, November 8, 1837.  He is the son of William and Margaret (Balfour) Madole, the father a native of England and the mother of Aberdeen, Scotland.  The son, William A., came to this country when twelve years old and received a limited education here.  He emigrated to America in 1852.  He and his cousin were attending school, when the uncle of the latter, who was a sea captain, brought them to America on a sailing vessel.  Mr. Madole went to Plainfield, New Jersey, lived with his brother James for some time, and then the two went to live at Kingston, Canada.  He had an older brother in Toronto, Canada, and in 1854, the year of the cholera epidemic, the subject went to the last named city to visit his brother Robert.  One day after his arrival he received a telegram stating that his brother, James, had been seriously injured and he went back.  Two hours after he left his brother Robert, to make his return trip, the latter died on the street of cholera.  On the way down to the wharf with Robert they walked over a dozen corpses, victims of cholera, who had died in the streets.  A year or two later William A. and James moved to Sandwich, Illinois, where James engaged in the butcher business.  Remaining there until 1858, they left that place and came to Hardin county, Iowa, and located in Union township.  James traded for property two or three miles east of Whitten, William A. buying an adjoining farm.  The latter was married in 1857 in LaSalle county, Illinois, to Sarah E. Gifford, daughter of James and Centralia (Manchester) Gifford, both natives of Rhode Island or the state of New York.

William A. Madole lived in Union township until 1877, then traded for a farm in the southeastern part of Grant township and has made his home there ever since, becoming well established by reason of close application and good management.   His wife was called to her rest in October, 1903.  They were the parents of nine children, four sons and three daughters living and two deceased, namely:  Mary died when four years old; Lettie is home with her father; Althea, a twin sister to Lettie, died when one year and six months old; Maggie Jane married Sam Norton and lives in the south end of Grant township; William J. married Rose Miller, daughter of Jacob Miller of Union township, and they live in Hancock county, two miles west of Wodin; Charles is at home with his father; George W. married Nellie Gohring and they live in Franklin county, between Popejoy and Dows; Toby is at home with his father; Jessie Isabel is the wife of Charles Wickham and lives in Story county, south of Grant township.

Mr. Madole well remembers when the southwestern part of this county was so sparsely settled that in 1864 he went there for the purpose of placing some colts out to graze, and he saw only one or two houses after elaving the west line of Providence township, and he could find no place to get dinner.  The country was wild and undeveloped, there being considerable wild game here in those days, and the settlers had to go a long ways to do their trading and get their mail.  There were few railroads anywhere in the state.

Mr. Madole has been very successful as a general farmer and stock man and, having laid by a competency, has retired from active life, having sold his farm to his two sons who now operate it.

While living in Union township, Mr. Madole was a faithful member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, but he does not now attend owing to his advanced age; however, he is well preserved, hale, active and jovial, a man whom it is a pleasure to meet.

Clark E. Maine, pp. 494-496

It would not be an easy task to find a more progressive citizen in Hardin county than Clark E. Maine, substantial farmer and stock main, who, by an unusually active and industrious career, in which he has relied solely upon his own tact and judgment, has accumulated a very valuable landed estate and a competency, and is deserving of the favor in which he is held by all who know him.

Mr. Maine was born on March 21, 1859 , in Sussex , New Jersey , the son of Jacob D. and Elizabeth (Emery) Maine , both of that place. The father was an old-line Whig and prominent in public affairs, having been a member of the legislature and he held other offices, and he was a stanch Methodist. He was the son of Abraham and Elizabeth (Divas) Maine , also natives of that county, but of German extraction. They spent their lives on a farm and on their farm the first Methodist church was organized in that county. There were six children in their family: Jacob D., born in 1806, father of the subject; William, Abraham, John W., Frederick and Eveline, all now deceased. George Emery, maternal grandfather of the subject, was born March 15, 1788 , and married Elizabeth Hein, June 6, 1809 ; she was born June 10, 1786 . They were both natives of Sussex county, New Jersey , and they were the parents of these children: John H., born June 6, 1810; Hannah, born April 9, 1812; Jacob, born January 22, 1815; Elizabeth, born August 17, 1817; Margaret, born December 16, 1820; Nathan, born July 26, 1823; Mary J., born June 7, 1826; David, born April 28, 1829.

Jacob D. Maine, father of the subject, was educated in the common schools and he learned the carpenter's trade early in life and worked for John I. Blair, well known in New Jersey, later he bought a large farm in Sussex county, that state, and there he lived until his death, December 19, 1877, his widow dying on April 5, 1878. He first married Elizabeth T. Middleswarth, who was born November 24, 1809 , and died June 20, 1836 . Two children were born to them, Elizabeth, who died September 28, 1855 , and Mary, who married John Airs, of Sussex county, New Jersey . His second wife was Elizabeth Emery and they were the parents of these children: Delia, born October 1, 1839 , married Charles Starkhouse and is now deceased; Julia A., born December 4, 1841; Jane, born August 5, 1843; Nelson, born June 23, 1846, died when seven years old; Martha, born March 16, 1848, is deceased; Hannah, born May 5, 1850; Charles, born May 13, 1852, is a minister now living retired in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Eveline, born March 28, 1855, lives at Eldora, Iowa; George W., born November 17, 1856, is a minister in the Methodist church at Valiska, Iowa.

Clark E. Maine, of this review, was educated at Albion and Dexter , Iowa . He came to Hardin county, this state, on April 4, 1883, and located in Tipton township, and here he has applied himself to his chosen vocation with pronounced results, being now the owner of one of the model farms of the county, consisting of three hundred and fourteen acres, which is in a high state of cultivation and improvement and which yields abundant harvests under his skillful management. He has made all the present improvements, including his substantial and beautiful home. In connection with general farming he devotes special attention to raising blooded stock, short-horn cattle, Duroc-Jersey Red hogs and draft horses, all of which find a very ready sale owing to their superior quality.

Mr. Maine was married on January 1, 1887 , to Sadie C. Doty, who was born June 19, 1864 , in Pleasant township, Hardin county. She is the daughter of Peter H. Doty, who was born November 24, 1830 , in Orange county, New York , from which place he went to Sussex county, New York , where his early life was spent, his parents having been natives of that state. The father died in 1842 and the mother in 1851. They were the parents of four children: Margaret J., widow of Jeptha Meeker, of New Jersey , John, Hannah and Peter. Peter H. Doty married Mary E. Mead on November 25, 1854 . She was born in Orange county, New York . Soon afterwards they went to Indiana, where they remained a short time, then moved to Eldora, Iowa, locating in Eldora township, whence, after a brief residence, they moved to Union township, and on November 9, 1855, moved to Pleasant township, locating in section 32; their children were: George E., born September 30, 1857; Charles A., born February 26, 1860; Sadie C., wife of the subject; James F., born April 4, 1869; Martha, born April 27, 1872. Mr. Doty was always a Democrat, and held several local offices, including that of constable. His wife was a native of Connecticut . The mother was born in New Jersey , where they were married. The father died July 25, 1862 . They were well known and highly respected. Mr. Doty died April 7, 1909 , and Mrs. Doty's death occurred on April 29, 1906 .

Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Maine , namely: Elmer Scott, born August 16, 1890 , was graduated from high school at Hubbard in 1909 and has been teaching successfully in the district schools the past two years; he is a skillful electrician and mechanic by trade. Clarence Elwood Maine , who was born July 28, 1893 , is attending school at Iowa Falls .

Politically, Mr. Maine is a Republican and he was township trustee, school director for several years and treasurer of Tipton township for sixteen years. He and his wife are members of the Methodist church at Hubbard , Iowa . Mr. Maine has a modern home. He has his own private electric plant, from which his home is lighted.

Levi Marshall, pp. 650-652

Hard and laborious was the lot of Levi Marshall, now a venerable and well-known retired farmer and stock-raiser of Union, Hardin county, but his fidelity to duty won him the respect and confidence of those with whom he was thrown in contact, and by patient continuance in well doing he gradually arose from an humble station to his present high standing among the representative citizens of Union township, in the development of which he has placed well his part and seen grow from a wild prairie to one of the leading sections of the great commonwealth of Iowa.

Mr. Marshall was born in Henry county, Indiana, in 1834, and he was the son of Jesse and Mary (Pickering) Marshall, both born in eastern Tennessee, where they grew up and were married, and early in life moved to Indiana, bringing two children, Jane and William, and there they spent the balance of their lives.  They were life-long Quakers, and lived in the days when the Quaker faith was a birthright.   The father died when he was about sixty-three years old.  His wife was the daughter of Ellis and Deborah Pickering, and she was born in Greene county, Tennessee, May 10, 1805, and her death occurred at Union, Iowa, December 18, 1902, having lived well up towards the century mark.

Levi marshall spent his youth on the home farm and received such education as the early schools of the pioneer days afforded.  In 1858 he was married to Irena Pearson, daughter of Peter and Eunice (Hastings) Pearson.  Peter, who was the son of Nathan and Mary Pearson, was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, April 9, 1797, and died in Kansas at the age of seventy-five years, having spent his life as a physician and farmer.  The mother was born on December 1, 1803, and her death occurred in 1896, at the advanced age of ninety-two years; she was the daughter of William and Sarah Hastings.  They were the parents of ten children, namely:  Enoch married Rachael Brown and they are both now deceased; Isom, now deceased, married, first, Naomi Lamb, second, Amanda Basy, third, Eliza Stanley, fourth, to a woman in Kansas, name unknown; Nancy married Byron Lamb and they are both now deceased; William married Abbie George, who is living in California, he being now deceased; Mary married Aaron Lamb and they are both deceased; Lilburn, who is now deceased, married Esther DeGerald, and she afterwards married Isaiah George; Irena, wife of Mr. Marshall of this review; Stanton, who is living in Kansas, married Elizabeth Stanton, who died, and he married again, his last wife being Charlotte Wilson, of Union, Iowa; Louise died when young.

In 1861 Mr. Marshall came to Iowa and located in Winneshiek county; in 1868, seven years later, he moved with his family to Hardin county and located two and one-half miles south of where the town of Union now stands, taking up his residence on a farm in section 33, and here he developed an excellent farm, established a very comfortable home and continued to reside there until he retired from active work.   He assisted Jack Davis in laying out a part of the town of Union and he helped in raising the necessary amount of money to bring the railroad here and secure a depot in 1868.  He has been very successful as an agriculturist, transforming a raw prairie farm into one of the best landed estates in the township, placing modern and expensive improvements on the same.

Mr. Marshall has been a strong Prohibitionist, but he has never aspired to office, and now rejoices in the fact that his early dream of restraining the sale of liquor has come true.  He has always been of the Quaker faith, having for a number of years been identified with the local congregation as minister.

Eleven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Marshall, namely:  Jesse W., born June 16, 1860, married Anna White, and eleven children were born to them, six of whom are living, Walter, William, Carl, Benjamin, Ralph, Donald, Alfred, John, Howard, Harold and Mamie.  Eunice Etta, born March 20, 1882, married Waldo Bentley, now deceased, and they have the following children:  Frank, Ina, Clell, Roland, Vera, Joseph, John and Arthur.  Francis Edward, born March 26, 1864, married Pluma Hickman and they have one child, Clyde.  Charles Vincent, born August 23, 1866, married Anna Henry.  Orpha Jane, born September 27, 1868, married J. C. Manlove and these are their children:  Bernice, Edith, John, Theodore, Roberta.   Albert, born September 20, 1870, married Maud McClain and they have these children:   Vernard, Ward, Lee, Lela, Hazel, Glen and Madge.  Anna L., born January 19, 1873, married Clinton Wilson and they have these children:  Lyle, Fred and Aleen.   Minnie May, born May 28, 1875, married Fred Moore, they have these children:   Verl, Walter, Stanley, Blanche, Winnifred, Grace, Wayne, Irene and Edith.   Rollin Fred, born August 30, 1878, married Carrie Hunt, and they have two children, Genevieve and Oren.  Estelle, born Februrary 19, 1880, married Harvey Goodenow, and they have three children, Pauline, Leanore and Doloris.  Mary Edith, born July 26, 1883, married Harry Hollingsworth and they have one child, Wilfred.  Mr. Marshall is very proud of his fifty grandchildren.

George Marshman, pp. 595-597

The early agriculturists of Hardin county will ever be held in the grateful memory of the present and succeeding generations, and the husbandman who came here two score years ago, turned the wild prairie sod, erected a rude hut for himself and family, and opened the country, then roadless, for the higher advancement of civilization, well deserves the respect which is accorded him after he has passed the allotted span of life and been called to his reward.  Of such as these was George Marshman, long an influential citizen in Tipton township, who is now sleeping the sleep of the just, but the memory of whose numerous charitable and good deeds will never fade from the memories of those who knew him best.

Mr. Marshman was born October 27, 1828, at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, the son of George and Eliza (McGill) Marshman, the mother a native of Ireland and the father of Maryland.  He spent his youth in Pennsylvania, to which state the mother came when young, and there they were married and began life on a farm, later moving with other pioneers to near Galion, Ohio, where they spent the balance of their lives, becoming well known and always highly respected.  They were the parents of eleven children, all of whom are now deceased.

George Marshman grew to maturity in Pennsylvania and Ohio and had the advantage of a good common school education.  On March 12, 1862, he married Lydia A. Roberts, a native of Delaware county, Ohio.  She was the daughter of Charles and Maria (Shaffer) Roberts, the father a native of Delaware county, Ohio, and the mother of Luzerne county, Pennsylvania.  Mr. Roberts was a carpenter by trade and he located in Morrow county, Ohio, and lived there until his death, after which his widow moved to Iowa, where her death occurred.  They were members of the Baptist church, and their family consisted of ten children, four of whom are living, namely: Elizabeth, wife of D. D. Carter, of Hubbard, Iowa; Lydia A.,; Emma is deceased; Eliza M. is the wife of J. C. Ibeck, of Brookings, South Dakota; Allen B. Lives at Lake City, Iowa; Sarah Belle is the wife of D. R. Clark, of Hubbard, Iowa.  Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Marshman, namely: Mary Agnes, wife of Norman H. Austin, of Eagle Grove, Iowa, has one child, Agnes; G. G., who married Mary J. McCleary, is engaged in the real estate and insurance business at Hubbard, Iowa; and there are three children in their family, George F., Robert and Blaine; Charles A., who is a carpenter at Hubbard, Iowa, married Edna Ibeck, and they have three children, Grace, Charles C. and Edna F.; Grace E. married Alex. Whitney, of Eagle Grove, Iowa, and they have three children, Joseph L., Lydia M. and Everett A.; James A. is a stock dealer and operates a meat market at Hubbard, Iowa; he married Mary Caverhill, who died in March, 1904, leaving two children, William A. and Mamie M.

After his marriage, in 1879, Mr. Marshman and his wife came to Hardin county, Iowa, and lived one year west of Eldora, then located in Tipton township, where he bought a farm which he improved, established a beautiful and comfortable home and at his death left his widow one of the choice farms of the township, consisting of two hundred acres of very valuable land, lying two miles south of the town of Hubbard.  He had been very successful as a general farmer and stock man, being a hard worker and a good manager, and by his own efforts he climbed the ladder of success, starting with nothing.  He took considerable interest in politics and held all of the township offices; he was loyal to the Republican party, and he belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his widow is also a member, being prominent in the congregation at Hubbard, in which town she has resided since 1901.  The death of George Marshman occurred on August 12, 1900.  He left behind him the record of a life well spent.

Nereus Simon Martin, pp. 600-602

In studying the life history of Nereus Simon Martin, well known and popular citizen of Hardin county, who is now living in retirement in his pleasant home in New Providence, after a long and eminently successful and useful career, we find many qualities in his makeup that always gain definite success in any career if properly directed, as his has evidently been done, which has resulted in a life of good to others as well as in a comfortable competence to himself. 

Mr. Martin was born of an excellent family of the old Tar state, his birth occurring in North Carolina, January 25, 1848, and he is the son of Daniel H. and Belinda (Reece) Martin, the father having been born in Surry county, afterwards named Yadkin, North Carolina, January 1, 1821.  He was a minister in the Friends church, and with his wife and five children, T. A., Nereus S., Delphina K., Zenas L., and Penelope, came to Hardin county, Iowa, locating in Providence township, section 17, settling on the place now owned by his son, Nereus S., of this review, in 1859.  Here he found a wild country, but he braved the hardships and soon had a good farm developed from the raw prairie and a good home.  Daniel Martin's brother, Jesse, had come here a year or more previous and located this place for him and built a log cabin.  Daniel then took up the work of improvement with very gratifying results, and here he continued to reside with the exception of a few years spent at Albion and Hubbard, carrying on farming and his ministerial work at the same time, and he became well known and influential in this locality, being highly respected by all who knew him.  His death occurred in the spring of 1899 and he is buried in Honey Creek cemetery.  He was prominent in school matters, and for many years he taught school during the winter months in Hardin county and elsewhere.

On December 12, 1844, Daniel H. Martin married Belinda Reece, who was born December 7, 1821, the daughter of Thomas Reece and wife.  Mrs. Martin's death occurred in 1883 and she is buried in Honey Creek cemetery.  They were the parents of the following children:  Thomas Aquila, born November 3, 1845; Nereus Simon, of this review; Parmelia Ann, born June 1, 1850, died in North Carolina; Dalphina, born February 20, 1852, is deceased; Zenas Lindley, born July 27, 1855, is now in Cuba; Penelope, born January 11, 1858, is deceased; John Franklin, born June 18, 1862, is deceased; Melvin Greenwood, born March 24, 1873, is deceased.

Daniel H. Martin was the son of Simon and Ruth Martin, natives of the Carolinas, where they spent their lives on a farm.

The early education of Nereus S. Martin was obtained in North Carolina and in the district schools of Hardin county, Iowa.  In 1871 he married Anna Maria Wood, who was born in Dodge county, Wisconsin, June 10, 1850, a daughter of Jonathon F. and Charlotte Wood, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of New York.

Mr. and Mrs. Martin located in section 21, Grant township, Hardin county, and improved a fine farm from the raw prairie and became well established through industry and good management, and they lived there until 1891, when they moved to the old Martin homestead in section 17, Providence township, where they lived until 1909, when they retired from active life, moving to their fine, modern and attractive residence in New Providence.  They are members of the Friends church, Mr. Martin being identified with school interests and connected with the academy at New Providence; he has served many terms on the school boards in Grant township.

Nine children have been born to Mrs. and Mrs. Martin, namely:  Etta Charlotte, born May 5, 1872, married Levi Doan and they reside in California; Rosa Belinda, born August 8, 1873, married Thomas A. Tansey and they reside in Sherman township, Hardin county; Frederick D., born July 10, 1876, married Mettie Newby and they live in California; Roland F., born December 28, 1879, married Mary Fowler and they reside on the home place in Providence township, Hardin county; John N., born July 25, 1883, resides with his brother on the home farm; David Zenas, born July 21, 1887, died February 17, 1888; Anna D., born April 19, 1889, married Robert Moore and they reside in Providence township, Hardin county; Walter W., born September 29, 1890, is attending college; Mary Ruth, born January 1, 1896, is living at home and attending the district school.

Chester K. Mason, pp. 812-814

Conspicuous among the successful farmers and stock raisers of Hardin county and enjoying worthy prestige as a public-spirited citizen, is the subject of this sketch, whose life since coming to Hardin county has been useful and honorable and whose personality and influence have gained for him a large measure of popularity among his fellow men.

Chester K. Mason was born in Ogle county, Illinois, December 9, 1852, being a son of William and Charlotte (Williams) Mason.  When a lad about twelve years old he was brought to Hardin county, Iowa, and for several years thereafter lived at Iowa Falls, where his father and Captain Ellsworth were engaged in the livery business.  Later he spent three years in Grinnell, to which city his parents retired in their old age to live with a daughter.  After the mother's death, which occurred at that place, the father spent the remainder of his life with another daughter at Gault, dying in that town at the ripe old age of ninety-six years, five months and two days, being born September 16, 1810, and died February 22, 1907.

Chester K. Mason was reared to farm labor and early decided to make agriculture his vocation.  After the three years in Grinnell and Tama county, he took charge of a farm in Hardin county and continued the cultivation of the soil until 1879, when he purchased the place in Hardin township, where he has since lived and achieved such gratifying success as a tiller of the soil and stock raiser.  Mr. Mason's farm contains one hundred and sixty acres of fine land, for which he paid the sum of two thousand six hundred dollars, but with improvements since added and the rapid rise in real estate values in Hardin county, it could not be bought at this time for less than thrice the purchase price.  With the exception of about seven acres of timber, the entire farm is in cultivation or pasture, and the buildings and other improvements compare favorably with any other in the township.  In 1893 Mr. Mason erected a fine barn fifty by sixty feet in area, finished throughout in a most substantial manner and containing ample toom for fifty head of cattle, besides stalls for a large number of horses.  The building, which is admirably adapted to the purposes it is intended to subserve, is one of the best structures of the kind in the neighborhood and indicates the interest which the proprietor takes to provide comfortable shelter for his domestic animals.  In 1907 he rebuilt and greatly enlarged and modified his dwelling and, equipping it throughout with modern conveniences, he now has one of the best and most comfortable residences in the community, his outbuildings of various kinds being in keeping with those mentioned.  Mr. Mason keeps a large number of cows on his farm and for the purpose of providing them with a sufficiency of wholesome provender, he put up a large silo, which is stored to its full capacity each year.  From the sale of milk he realizes a large part of his income, his cows being the best blooded stock and selected with special reference to their value as milkers.  In addition to his cows, which average from fourteen to twenty during the year, he raises other high grade cattle which always command liberal prices, while his hogs and other domestic animals are of the best breeds and add very materially to his annual earnings.  As a farmer, Mr. Mason is energetic and progressive, and by keeping abreast of the times on all matters relating to agriculture he has, as already stated, realized substantial results and is now in independent circumstances with an ample competence laid up for the future.  While intent on promoting his own interests, he has not been indifferent to the interests of others, as it indicated by the part he takes in advancing the material prosperity of the community and the zeal which he manifests in all enterprises having for their object the moral uplift of his fellow men.  In his political allegiance he is a Republican; he has great faith in the mission as well as the principles of his party and for a number of years he has labored zealously to promote the latter and fulfill the former, being ready to make any reasonable sacrifice for the party's success and to give his best efforts to the candidates.  Though neither a partisan nor office seeker, he has been honored from time to time with local positions, among which is that of township trustee, in which he is now serving his fourth consecutive term.  Fraternally, he belongs to the Woodmen and Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in both of which he has been honored with important official trusts, holding at the present time the title of past grand in the latter society.

Mary Ellen Turner, who became the wife of Mr. Mason in the year 1880, is a daughter of Jesse Turner, one of the pioneers of Hardin county and for many years an honored resident of the locality in which he lived.  Mr. and Mrs. Mason have a family of six children, whose names are as follows:  Harry D., an engineer of Hardin township; Ralph J., who lives in Aurora, Illinois; William T., a student of Ames College, this state; Claude Chester, Eddie and Lois, the three last, with their parents, constituting the home circle.  Mr. Mason and wife are highly esteemed by their neighbors and friends, their lives being irreproachable and their influence ever on the right side of questions in which moral issues are involved.  They are Baptists in their religious belief and hold membership with the church of that persuasion at Iowa Falls.

Robert McBride, pp. 501-503

No more painstaking or up-to-date farmer could be found within the limits of Hardin county than Robert McBride, as a glance over his well cultivated and well kept fields will show, his place in Tipton township being in every respect a model twentieth-century farm.

Mr. McBride was born in Bureau county, Illinois , February 28, 1858 . He is the son of James and Martha (Alexander) McBride, both natives of Ireland , the father born in county Antrim and the mother in county Derry . She came to Canada as a child with her parents and there they died, after which she came to Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , with her brothers. James McBride emigrated to America in 1847 and located in Philadelphia, where he remained seven years and where he and Martha Alexander were married, after which they went to Bureau county, Illinois, where they lived on a farm until 1863, when they moved to Clinton county, Iowa, where they lived on a farm until 1866, when they moved to Hardin county, this state, securing a farm in Eldora township, southeast of Eldora. Remaining there three years, they moved to Tipton township, one-half mile west of Point Pleasant , securing a good farm of one hundred and sixty acres in section 9, but they did not move on this place until four years after they had bought it. There they remained until 1879, when they moved to Tipton township, where Mr. McBride still resides, having there a fine farm. His wife passed away in April, 1910. She was a good woman, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as is also Mr. McBride. Eight children were born to them, namely: Jane is living in Colorado; Martha lives in Johnson county, Missouri; Annie lives in Tama county, Iowa; Robert, of this review; William is farming in Buckeye township, this county; Sara died January 19, 1882, when eighteen years of age; Thomas died December 29, 1881, when fifteen years old; John is farming in Buckeye township, this county.

Robert McBride received only a limited schooling, but he has become a widely read man. He lived at home until his marriage, on March 18, 1885 , to Anna M. Montgomery, a native of county Cavan , Ireland , the daughter of Hugh and Maria (Lang) Montgomery, both natives of county Cavan , Ireland ; the father was a farmer and spent his life in his home country, dying in 1876. His widow came to America and died in Tama county, Iowa , in 1901; it was in 1880 that she brought her eight children to America , locating in Tama county. Six of the children are living, namely: William died in August, 1892; Maggie lives in Ames , Iowa ; Robert lives in Tama county, Iowa ; Anna M., wife of the subject; Sarah lives in Tama county, Iowa ; and there also resides Martha; Hugh died January 6, 1911 ; Eliza died September 17, 1901 .

To Mr. and Mrs. McBride seven children were born, namely: Martha is the wife of Henry Keilsmeier, of Hubbard , Iowa ; Lucy is the wife of Roy Redout, of Buckeye township, this county; Sadie, William, Thomas, Hattie and Wesley are all at home. They have all been educated in the home schools, Thomas attending school at Hubbard.

Since their marriage Mr. and Mrs. McBride have lived on their present farm in Tipton township. He has a well improved place and a very substantial and pleasant home and outbuildings. He has devoted his life to farming and stock raising and has been repaid with a large measure of success. He is known as a raiser of short-horn cattle, and for many years he has been a breeder of thoroughbred Jersey Red hogs, and he raises a most excellent grade of Percheron horses, all of his live stock finding a very ready sale owing to their fine quality.

Mr. McBride and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church in their neighborhood. He always voted the Republican ticket, but is now a Prohibitionist. He has never been an aspirant for any public office.

T. Y. McClure, pp. 84-85

T. Y. McClure was the first teacher in Hardin county.  He writes as follows:

"I began teaching in McLean county, Illinois, in 1846, as a young man, and taught five successive terms in the same little school house.  Some of my Illinois pupils moved to Iowa and formed nearly all of my first school in Hardin county, Iowa.  They understood my ways of teaching and progressed finely.  The first school in Hardin county was opened and carried on in the winter of 1852 and 1853 and arose in this way: There being no school at the time in the county, and quite a number of children of school age in the neighborhood, Jonathon Conger, living three miles southeast of the present town of Eldora, not then founded, offered to furnish room, fire and lights in his one-room log cabin, at the edge of the Iowa river roads, if I would call the children together nights for a general good time and for instruction in the different branches, particularly in reading, spelling and arithmetic.  We agreed to meet on two nights of the week and made it as interesting as we could.  This was in what was then Latham township, and was the first school in this county.

"The next winter William Bailey, living about half a mile north of Mr. Conger's, built the first school house in the county, in the woods, about half way between his place and Conger's.  The building cost, all told, twenty-six dollars.  The number of pupils the first winter -- 1863-64 -- was about fifteen and the term lasted three months.  I received seventeen dollars per month, boarded myself and cut the pole wood into length suitable for the box stove.  My salary was paid by taxation.  The children were from eight to fifteen years old and some of them came two miles to attend school.  I taught a second term in the same house.  There was no trouble in the school, but all was harmony.  The books used were McGuffy's readers, the Elementary spelling book, Smith's and Ray's arithmetics, Mitchell's geography, and Smith's grammar.  There were spelling matches and exercises in arithmetic on Friday afternoons.  The furniture of this school house consisted of box wood stove, slab seats, with legs put into auger holes.  The school work was done, perhaps, as thorough as is now done.  Samuel Smith finished a month for me when I was sick.  Mrs. Elizabeth Bailey, daughter of William Bailey, taught the school following me.

"We did not carry guns to school on account of Indians or wild game.  Wild animals were plenty, but not ferocious, to any dangerous degree.  There were wildcats, elk, deer, and occasionally a buffalo, and, in season, large numbers of wild fowl, as geese, ducks, cranes, prairie chickens and pheasants.

"When I taught the night school at the Conger house, I lived in the same house with William Bailey.  It contained one room.  One night when Mr. Bailey came home from hunting, he told me that there was a newcomer at the Conger house, from Ohio.  His name, he thought, was Lacetown, anyhow it was something the ladies wear on the edge of their dresses.  I later met the man, and found him to be Mr. Edgington.  As 'edging' was the common name for the ornamentation of the borders of ladies' garments at that time, Bailey was not far wrong.  I have written these memories of the pioneer days after the lapse of fifty-four years."

Alexander Wiley McDonald, pp. 656-658

[bio not yet transcribed]

Albert Munson McWhirter, pp. 552-553

[bio not yet transcribed]

Allen Meader, pp. 622-623

From a sterling family of the old Pine Tree state comes Allen Meader, a well known citizen of Eldora, Hardin county.  He was born at Ellsworth, Maine, October 18, 1840, the son of Allen and Sarah (Copp) Meader, the father of Welsh descent and it is believed that the mother was of French extraction.  The subject's early boyhood was spent on the farm, but later he moved to Ellsworth.  From the age of fourteen until he was twenty-one he worked in the pine woods and in the lumber of business.  In 1861 he began learning the blacksmith's trade at Ellsworth, but the Civil war interrupted his plans and he went out to defend his country, enlisting in 1862 in Company C, Twenty-sixth Maine Volunteer Infantry, and was in the Eastern army under General Fessenden.  He was a musician in the brigade band.  After he was mustered out he returned to Ellsworth and followed his trade until 1865.  In February of that year he and his brother, Daniel, came to Eldora, Iowa, where their uncle, T. G. Copp, resided.  The subject worked at his trade at Steamboat Rock for a few months, then opened a blacksmith shop at Eldora, where he has resided ever since.  He is regarded as a very skilled workman and has always enjoyed a liberal patronage.

In 1872 Mr. Meader and his brother-in-law, Melville Watts, built a large shop, a square north of the court house, where they manufactured cutters, sleds and other vehicles, and they continued to run this shop until 1885, in which year Mr. Meader was elected sheriff of Hardin county on the Republican ticket, which office he held until 1892, giving the utmost satisfaction to all, irrespective of party alignment and proving himself to be a very proficient public official.  In 1892 he bought an interest in a hardware store with a Mr. Whitney and continued to manage this with his usual success until about 1896, when Mr. Whitney was succeeded by Mr. Crockett, who in turn was succeeded by Mr. Gillman, who continued in partnership with Mr. Meader until in September, 1899, when they sold out to the Larsen Hardware Company, failing health having obliged Mr. Meader to relinquish much of the responsibilities of the business.

On August 1, 1865, Mr. Meader was married to Calista W. Watts, of Ellsworth, Maine, the daughter of Francis and Susan (Moore) Watts, and to this union four children were born, two of whom are living, namely: Fred Lewis lived to be nearly twenty-one years of age, dying in 1893; Charles died in infancy; Sadie S. and Harriet M.  The former married P. M. Sheffield and lives at Cedar Falls, Iowa.  The last named is still a member of the home circle.

Mr. Meader is a member of the Eldora school board, in which he has served at various times for about fourteen years.  Fraternally, he is a Mason and has attained the thirty-second degree, is a member of the Scottish Rite, Clinton (Iowa) Consistory; he is also a member of the Knights Templar at Iowa Falls.  He belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic.  Personally, he is a pleasant man to meet, affable, obliging, plain and unassuming, and is regarded as scrupulously honest.

Thomas Meader, pp. 1047-1048

A member of the honored pioneer families of Hardin county, the name of Meader has long been closely associated with the history of this section of the state, and the subject of this review, like his father before him, is numbered among the worthy and useful men who have made the vicinity what it is today.  In business he has always been known to be straightforward and reliable, is patriotic in citizenship, and his social relations ever wholesome.  He is esteemed for these commendable traits of character, together with his cordial disposition and genuine worth, but it is principally through the county clerk's office, in which he has long been a most efficient deputy, that he has become best known.

Thomas Meader was born August 16, 1870, in Eldora, Iowa, and he has been content to spend his life in his native community.  He is the son of Daniel C. and Agnes C. (Copp) Meader, a splendid New England family on both sides, the father having been born in Maine and the mother in Massachusetts, and there they grew to maturity and were educated.  Daniel G. Meader came to Iowa in February, 1865, locating in Eldora, being one of the pioneers here, living to see and take a leading part in the development of the locality.  He was one of the organizers of the old Eldora band, in which he was an efficient player.  He devoted his life principally to milling, being an expert miller and he operated a mill here successfully for twenty-five years.  His death occurred in 1905, at the age of sixty-nine years.  His wife is still living in Eldora, where she has a host of friends.  Their family consisted of six children, namely: George, of Eldora; Harry, of Chanute, Kansas; Thomas, of this review; Hattie is deceased; Jessie is the wife of Lewis Madden, of Alden, this county.

Thomas Meader was educated in the public schools of Eldora, graduating from the high school, and he has since done a great deal of home study and miscellaneous reading, having kept fully abreast of the times.  In order to prepare himself for a business career he took a business course in a school in Chicago, also went to a similar school at Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  Turning his attention to building, he learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed three years.  He then clerked in a store a year.  In August, 1896, he went to work in the county clerk's office and on January 1, 1897, he began his duties as deputy clerk for four years, performing his duties in a most commendable manner.  After his time had expired in this office he engaged in the tile business, and on September 12, 1910, he again became deputy county clerk, which position he still holds with much credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the people.

Mr. Meader was married twice, first in 1893 to Edith Chandler, who died in 1898 and who bore him twins, one dying in infancy and Edyth living.  On November 10, 1907, Mr. Meader was united in marriage with Ida McFarland, of Eldora, daughter Robert L. and Ada (Johnston) McFarland.  This union resulted in the birth of one child, Robert.

Fraternally, Mr. Meader is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen and the Maccabees.  Politically, he is a Republican and has long been active in party affairs, at one time being chairman of the county central committee for a period of nine years, during which he managed its affairs in a most able manner.

John Megan, pp. 1032-1033

The Megan family, with the American founder of which, and with one of whose sons, this sketch deals, is one of the best known in Hardin county.  Coming to this country a poor Irish emigrant, with no capital save a strong body, a ready mind and a persevering will, Owen Megan so prospered that at the time of his death he was one of the large landholders and prominent farmers of Hardin county, and his sons have emulated their father's character and in their success have followed in his footsteps.

Owen Morgan was born in Ireland in 1834.  At the age of fourteen he came to the United States and followed farm work in Ohio for three years, then went to Peoria, Illinois, where he worked on a farm.  Here, in 1857, he married Margaret Sullivan, who bore to him six children, Ella, John, Thomas, Mary, Mike and Dan.  In 1861 Owen Megan came to Hardin county and after renting for some time made his first purchase of land, consisting of three acres.  At this time the country was new and he had to drive three days to the nearest market to purchase household supplies.  There were no roads and no bridges; all was treeless rolling prairie, and in the winter, poles were stuck in the ground to guide the teamsters.  Mr. Megan followed general farming and stock raising, seemed to have a genius for prospering, and at the time of his death had increased his original small holdings to about eight hundred acres.  In politics he was a Democrat, and he and his family were always faithful to the Catholic religion of their fathers.  He died on December 14, 1894, and his wife died on the old farm on May 7, 1907.  Owen Megan was on the strong and unique characters of his community and was a man of much influence among his neighbors, while with his ready Irish wit he was always a welcome companion at any gathering.

John Megan was born in Peoria, Illinois, on August 9, 1860, and was one year old when his father drove across the state to Hardin county, Iowa, where he has since lived.  He attended the country schools and stayed on the farm with his father until he was twenty-six years old, when his father gave him one hundred and twenty acres of land, which had not a building on it.  John has put up all the present buildings and has just rebuilt his house.  He is a very capable and enterprising farmer and one of the substantial citizens of this township.

On June 1, 1892, John Megan was married to Catherine Kangley, of Hardin county, who was born on June 15, 1870, at East Dubuque, Illinois, the daughter of pat and Sarah (Myers) Kangley.  Catherine was one of three children.  To this union were born the following children: Nellie, on May 29, 1893; Sadie, on March 17, 1895; John R., on July 3, 1897; Catherine, on September 26, 1902; Daniel, on September 7, 1907, and Joseph, on December 20, 1909, an interesting and happy family of young people.  In politics Mr. Megan is a Democrat, but is not averse to voting for a good man on another ticket.  He and his family are staunch Catholics, and they stand high in social circles of their neighborhood.

Michael Megan, pp. 760-761

[bio not yet transcribed]

August Meier, pp. 808-809

[bio not yet transcribed]

George D. Mellinger, pp. 798-800

Among the citizens of Hardin county whose lives have been led along such worthy lines of endeavor that they have endeared themselves to their fellow citizens, thereby being eligible for representation in a volume of this nature, is George D. Mellinger, one of the most skillful of Ellis township's agriculturists.  There is added interest to his life record in view of the fact that he is one of the county's worthy native sons and has been content to labor in his native community and by doing so along praiseworthy lines has benefited alike himself and the community in general.

Mr. Mellinger was born in Hardin township, Hardin county, Iowa, on May 10, 1865.  He is the son of William and Dorcas (Wood) Mellinger, the father a native of Greene county, Ohio, and the mother born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  The both came west when young and were married in Hardin county, Iowa, in 1857, the father having grown up in Ohio and received a common school education, coming to Georgetown, Hardin county, in 1856, among the pioneers and lived there awhile.   Then he went to Dubuque, Iowa, where he lived until 1860, then returned to Hardin county and settled east of Iowa Falls, moving to another farm in 1874.  His first wife died in the spring of 1891 and in 1893 he was united in marriage with Mrs. F. L. Brittain, a native of Indiana.  In the spring of 1896 they moved to Franklin county, Iowa, and there the father's death occurred in April, 1900, at the age of sixty-nine years.  He was well known and highly respected wherever he lived.  He was a Republican and held a number of public offices.  He was a member of the Baptist church and his first wife was a Methodist.  He devoted his life to farming.  His family consisted of six children by his first wife, namely:  Hattie married Lindley M. Hanson, and they live in Iowa Falls; Mary married H. Montgomery, and they also make their home in Iowa Falls; John F., who is farming in Texas, married Elizabeth Elzig; George D., of this review; Ida was educated in the county schools in Hardin county and graduated from the Cedar Valley Seminary at Osage.  At the age of eighteen she was in the employ of the Sentinel at Iowa Falls, also worked on other newspapers; in 1890 she was graduated from the Cedar Valley Seminary, after which she was sent as a missionary to Ourfa, Turkey, and was at different places in that country for nine years; she also went to England and Ireland, and she lectured a great deal, but owing to heart trouble was compelled to give up her work.  She was instrumental in raising one hundred thousand dollars for the Friends of Armenia Society for widows and orphans of that famous massacre.   In 1898 she was united in marriage with Dr. Avedis Nakashuan, an Armenia physician.   He death occurred in 1899, leaving a daughter, four days old.  She was a talented, broad-minded, good and useful woman.  While she was in England she made her home with some lady authors who have since written a book of her life.  Minnie J. Mellinger, the youngest of the children born to William M. Mellinger and wife, married James Humphrey, a farmer of Ellis township.  She was educated in this county and taught school seven terms.  She married on July 2, 1894, her husband being a native of the vicinity of Abbott, Iowa, and the son of Henry and Elmira (Shaner) Humphrey, the father a native of Indiana and the mother of Hardin county, Iowa.  The father came here in an early day, and the mother died here in 1891; he lives near Eagle City, this state.  His family consisted of six children, John, Elizabeth, James, Martin, Joseph and Irvin.

George D. Mellinger, of this review, was educated in the home schools and he lived at home until he was twenty-one years of age.  On January 12, 1888, he was married to Louisa Gardner, of Mahaska county, Iowa, daughter of James and Mary (Pile) Gardner, the former a native of Rhode Island and the latter of Ohio.  He came to Lee county, Iowa, when eighteen years of age, and there he was married on June 20, 1865, after which he went to Mahaska county and later returned to Lee county and in 1870 came to Hardin county, locating in Hardin township, where he purchased a farm and his death occurred in October, 1907, at San Diego, California, where they had moved in 1903; his wife is now living in San Diego, California.  They were the parents of three daughters, namely:  Louisa, wife of Mr. Mellinger, of this review; Caroline married J. M. Oviatt, of Iowa Falls; Lillian G. married A. G. Hill, of Iowa Falls.  Both these families now live at San Diego, California.

Two sons have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Mellinger, namely:   Ralph G., born January 25, 1890, was educated in the high school and at college at Iowa Falls; he is living at home engaged in farming; James Raymond, born April 8, 1892, is at home.

After his marriage Mr. Mellinger lived in Hardin township for twelve years, then three years in Jackson township, and in 1904 they located in section 1, Ellis township on his present farm, known as the old Howard Marriage place, which contains eighty acres, all in a good state of cultivation, and on it stand good buildings.  Mr. Mellinger makes a specialty of raising Duroc-Jersey Red hogs and Durham cattle, all being greatly admired for their fine quality.

Always a Republican, Mr. Mellinger has taken considerable interest in the affairs of his locality and has held a number of the offices in Jackson and Ellis townships.  He belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America at Owasa, Iowa.   He and his wife started in life in a small way, but worked hard and have been successful.

Ido Franklin Meyer, pp. 387-390

Of high professional and academic attainments and ranking among the foremost educators of the state, Ido Franklin Meyer, the efficient and popular president of Ellsworth College, Iowa Falls, Hardin county, has achieved marked distinction in the noble work to which his talents and energies have so long been devoted, and, judging by the past, it is safe to predict for him a future of still greater usefulness and honor. Not only as a teacher and manager of schools has he made his presence felt, but as a citizen in the daily walks of life his influence has tended to the advancement of the community and the welfare of his fellow men, the several responsible positions to which he has been called from time to time bearing testimony to his ability to fill worthily high and important trusts. His name with eminent fitness occupies a conspicuous place in the profession which he adorns and his career, presenting a series of successes such as few attain, has gained for him much more than local reputation as a successful organizer and manager of educational interests, and he has justly earned the high esteem in which he is universally held,

Professor Meyer is a worthy scion of sterling German and English ancestors, but he was born in McDonough county, Illinois, on August 24, 1864. He is the son of Franklin F. and Mary Ann (Tomlinson) Meyer, the mother emigrating to this country from Manchester, England, and the father's parents from Alsace, Germany.

The son, Ido Franklin Meyer, was reared on a farm and there laid the foundation for a sturdy manhood which has stood him well in hand in subsequent life; he alternated farm work with primary educational work in the common schools of McDonough county, later attending a high school and then to the academy at McComb, Illinois. The principal at that time was Professor John L. Whittey, A. M., a graduate of Dublin University, a man fine in scholarship and rigid in discipline. One of President Meyer's classmates while here was Professor John E. Boodin, now professor of philosophy in Kansas University. It is to Professor Whittey that President Meyer owes much of his early inspiration for higher education; and it was while still in the academy that he formed the since unaltered purpose to devote his life to the work of school administration. After his graduation he remained five or six years teaching in the academy, assisting in its, management and discipline and in continuing his studies. Later he entered Hedding College at Abbingdon, then took a course at Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa, from which he was graduated in 1904, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy, and at Hedding he received the degree of Master of Literature in 1895. After leaving Grinnell he took a post-graduate course in the Illinois State University and graduated in June, 1905, receiving the degree of Master of Arts. He made a brilliant record for scholarship in all these institutions and thus became exceptionally well equipped for his life work. He was nineteen years of age when he left his father's farm and since then he has turned his attention to educational affairs almost exclusively. In 1895 he was elected president of Western Illinois Normal School at McComb and continued there in a manner most acceptable to the board, pupils and patrons until 1903, building up the school from an attendance of one hundred twenty-five to four hundred twenty-five students, drawing them from fifty counties of Illinois and from several other states. In 1903 he entered Grinnell College, having previously completed his work at Hedding. It was in, the fall of 1905 that he came to Iowa Falls as president of Ellsworth College, the duties of which he has worthily and satisfactorily discharged to the present time, building up the institution until it now ranks with the best of its kind in the Middle West, if not throughout the country, in many respects, principally in point of thoroughness in which the work is done. The growth of this college since he became its head is the highest testimonial that could possibly be paid to his ability and foresight as an executive and to his eminent standing as a broad-minded, scholarly and enterprising educator. Since taking charge of the responsible position which he now so worthily holds and so signally honors, the advancement of the college has kept pace with the leading institutions of the kind in Iowa, the attendance constantly increasing from year to year while the value of the college property has advanced very materially, and has assembled about him some of the ablest educators in the country, each member of his corps of teachers being specially adapted to the department to which they have been assigned, no pains or expense being spared in securing the best ability obtainable in order to keep the institution at the high standard to which it has been raised since the present administration has directed and controlled its policies and affairs. Its work is so thorough and its reputation so high that hundreds of students from various localities are attracted to its halls from year to year, satisfied that a degree from the institution affords the best and surest passport to a successful and honorable career in this world of industry or scholarship.

President Meyer has always stood for the highest grade of work in the class room, economy in the use of the public funds and thoroughness in all matters coming within the sphere of his authority. He exercises the greatest care over the buildings and grounds, looks after the comfort and welfare of students, and, being proud of the college and jealous of its good name and honorable reputation it is easily understood why he enjoys such great popularity with all connected with the institution and is so well and favorably known in educational circles throughout the country. Though having attained only the meridian of life, he has achieved very marked success, but not satisfied with past results, he is pressing forward to still wider fields and higher honors, although his place among the eminent educators of his generation is secure. He has ever pursued a straightforward course and his manly, independent spirit commands for him universal approbation. He has proved himself equal to every emergency in which he has been placed and to every position with which honored, and as a ripe scholar and gentleman of cultivated tastes and high ideals he fills a large place in the public view and enjoys to a marked degree the esteem and confidence of all with whom he comes into contact. He has been in great demand as a public speaker, especially in educational work and never fails to instruct and entertain his audiences in a masterly manner. His record in Illinois for efficiency in the normal school, mentioned above, which is widely known over that state, was highly commendable. There were only two buildings for use at Ellsworth College. He went to work with a will and since he came the library, Caroline Hall (the girls' dormitory), the heating plant and other extensive and valuable additions and equipment have been added. He induced Andrew Carnegie to give ten thousand dollars and the citizens of Iowa Falls twenty-five thousand dollars to the institution. When he came there was only a two years' junior course taught, now the work embraces a regular college course, in liberal arts, and the music department is of specially high grade, the course being given credit hour per hour at Oberlin. His idea is to perfect the work here, making this institution rank with the old line and modern eastern colleges. He has unified the community in the support of the school. As evidence of its local favor it may be mentioned that more than half the students now come from the locality that obtains its mail at Iowa Falls postoffice. The plan is to grow from within outward, and now many pupils enroll from other states, especially Illinois and Minnesota. He is heart and soul in the work thinks constantly of raising the efficiency and standing of the college. During the course of a year he addresses many teachers' institutes and fills many pulpits, and his ideas are utilized in many institutions, for his wonderful success in raising an academy to a high grade college, giving the degree of Bachelor of Arts, has been widely noted, and he is universally admired for this work as well as for his energy, persistency of application, his sociable and unassuming nature. He has kept fully abreast of the times and is a deep and profound investigator, always versed in the current affairs of the world in a general way as well as in scientific and literary lines. He is a member of the Methodist church and Masonic and Knights of Pythias fraternities.

On August 21, 1890, Professor Meyer was married to Justenia Susanna Blythe, of McComb, McDonough county, Illinois, daughter of William and Mary Blythe, of English ancestry. To Mr. and Mrs. Meyer two children have been born, Ivan I. and Harold B., both bright and promising youths.

Jesse B. Meyers, pp. 504-506

[bio not yet transcribed]

Augustus W. Mitterer, pp. 750-752

A. W. Mitterer, ex-sheriff of Hardin county, Iowa, and a prominent retired farmer in Eldora, was born in Tipton township, at the old village of Point Pleasant, on the 6th of September, 1860.  His birthplace was in the typical log cabin of pioneer days.  Hardin county was near the western frontier in 1860.  The parents of the subject of this article were Augustus G. and Anne Z. (Shipman) Mitterer.  The father was a native of Wurtemberg, Germany.  He came to the United States in 1846, and located in Virginia, where he followed the tanner's trade and also found his bride.  She was born at Waterford, in the Old Dominion.  They were married in Baltimore, Maryland, and in 1856 emigrated to Iowa, settling in Tipton township, Hardin county.  There their days were spent acquiring and enjoying the competence which comes from well-directed efforts, coupled with economy and frugality.  Father Mitterer had previously visited the locality in which the family located and bought forty acres of land adjoining the village plat of Point Pleasant.  This little hamlet, once a formidable candidate for the county seat on Hardin county, aides now only in the memory of early settlers.

Augustus Mitterer, Sr., was a successful farmer, having abandoned his trade on leaving the east.  He enlisted as a member of Company F, Thirty-second Iowa Infantry, and served throughout most of the Civil war.  He was a non-commissioned officer in his company.  He was discharged on account of disabilities incurred in service.  He held various local offices in the township, such as trustee and township treasurer, and was aactive in church and political affairs.  His political affiliations were with the Republican party, and he was an ardent Christian worker, having been one of the organizers of the first society of the Presbyterian faith, the church being organized at the old court house, which was later converted into a church building.  The father of the subject died on the 14th of September, 1893, at the age of seventy years; his wife survived him until October 15, 1905, when she passed away in Eldora at the age of seventy-seven.  They were the parents of nine children, two of whom died in childhood.  Those surviving in 1910 are named and located as follows:  Clara A. is the wife of E. E. Seeley, a retired farmer at Iowa Falls; Sarah A. married M. Cooper, a farmer in Buckeye township; Martha J. is the wife of William G. Hornung, of Tipton township; Augustus W., of this review, was the next in order of birth; Joseph S. is a farmer in Winnebago county, Iowa; Ernest F. is also engaged in farming in Winnebago county, and John L., the youngest of the family owns and cultivates the old parental homestead.

Augustus W. Mitterer, the subject of this biography, remained at the parental home until twenty-two years old.  His education was acquired in the public schools and at the academy at New Providence.  He began his independent business career as a farmer.  He continued a practical farmer until the year 1900.  He is still a farmer, in that he owns six farms, aggregating about fourteen hundred acres of farming lands in Hardin county.  The general superintendence of these, together with the care and labor in keeping up improvements, making rental contracts with tenants, looking after the taxes, insurance on buildings, etc., is sufficient to engage the full time of most men.  But aside from doing all this, and the multitudinous duties not here enumerated, Mr. Mitterer found time to engage in many other lines of business.  He was agent for six years for the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Association, and in 1895 he accepted the Republican nomination for the office of county sheriff.  His home was then at Hubbard, a town of five or six hundred inhabitants at that time.  But hislocation probably had much to do with his success in securing the first nomination.  The succeeding ones came without much effort until he had served eleven years in the office, five terms of two years each, when the time of election was changed by the Legislature, being extended to three years.

Mr. Mitterer has always been recognized as a leader in county politics, he being a zealous worker for the supremacy of Republican principles and the success of his party ticket.  He retired from the office of sheriff in January, 1907, since which time he has given his attention largely to his extensive farming interests; but has also kept in close touch with the political affairs in his native county.  He was an organizer of the Eldora Citizens' Savings Bank and a director in this institution, but is not now connected with it.

On the 2nd of April, 1895, Mr. Mitterer and Emma E. Harris were joined in marriage.  She is a daughter of S. H. and Catherine Harris, of Tipton, Iowa.  Mrs. Mitterer is a native of Illinois, but most of her life has been spent in Iowa.  She was a teacher in Hardin county at, or about, the time of her marriage.  Mr. Mitterer is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Alfred Modlin, pp. 1003-1004

The farm dweller has always been conceded some advantages over the city dweller, but until recently the disadvantages were often considered to outweigh them.  Now, with the establishment of good roads and schools in country districts, with the use of modern machinery, which has lightened the farmer's task, and in the era of prosperity, which has recently dawned upon the farmer, his position is beginning to be an enviable one.  Such it seems indeed to the man who has the pleasure of seeing the well regulated farm and the happy home life of Mr. Modlin.

Alfred Modlin was born in Blackford county, Indiana, on October 10, 1854.  His father was Mark Modlin, who was born in Indiana in 1816, and died in Kansas in 1895.  His mother was Mary (Ratliffe) Modlin, who was born in 1814 in Indiana, and died in Kansas in 1901.  They were the parents of the following children:  George, Martha, Sarah, Narcissa, Lydia, Nathan, Mark, Alfred (subject of this sketch), Mary and Elias.  In 1856, when Alfred was two years old, his parents moved to Grundy county, Iowa, and Alfred remained on his father's farm until he was twenty-two years old.  At that age, on August 16, 1876, he was married to Ida Adelle Walker, who was born in Henry county, Illinois, the daughter of James Forsythe Walker, who was born in Ireland in 1833, and Sarah Jane (Way) Waler, who was born in Vermont in 1840.  Mr. and Mrs. Walker were the parents of eight children who reached maturity:  Ida, Anna M., Lionel W., George Y., Matie E., Frank W., Bertha E. and Lizzie.  They moved to Grundy county when Ida was but nine days old.  Mrs. Walker died in Des Moines in 1907.

Alfred Modlin and his wife came in 1877 to the farm on which they have ever since resided.  This contains one hundred and sixty acres, and was then worth twenty dollars per acre, while now it is held at one hundred and fifty dollars per acre.  Mr. Modlin has followed general farming and has by his labor and good management improved his farm and made a comfortable living, while at the same time enjoying the comforts of a happy family work.  Mr. Modlin is a man of sterling character, whose strong qualities have made for him many fiends and given to him a position of influence in his community, where he is recognized as one of the leading men, and as a very capable farmer.

Mr. and Mrs. Modlin are the parents of the following children:  Robert Emery, who was born in 1877, and married Rose St. John, of Hardin county, and is now located on a farm two miles west of his parents; Howard Garfield, who was born in 1881, is living two miles west of his parents, and married Leonie Wheeler, who has borne to him two children; Morris Alfred and Robert; Alfred Kenneth, born in 1885, lives with his parents, unmarried; Chester J., who was born in 1891, is attending school in Eldora; Frank W., born in 1892; Harry Martin, in 1896; James Forsythe, in 1897.

Howard E. Moffett

To the average mortal so-called success is the reward of persistent striving and grim determination. It is sometimes gained through selfish rivalry and competition and frequently is attained through the aid of “pull,” preference and influence. So powerful and necessary seem these aids that the one who cannot command them is often disheartened at his prospects of success, but on the other hand there are some who have learned to achieve true success through the wisdom of which Solomon said, “Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor.” Howard E. Moffett, the well known editor of the Eldora Herald and one of Hardin county’s influential citizens, has achieved success without other aid than a strong mind and heart, backed by courage and hands willing to work. He was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, August 27, 1871, and is the son of William and Sarah (Tharp) Moffett. He lived in Cincinnati until 1883 when the family moved to Grundy Center, Iowa, and there Howard E. attended the public schools and later Coe College at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he made an excellent record and from which institution he was graduated in 1894. Along with his early education, he learned the printer’s trade. After leaving college he went to Ventura, California, where he turned his attention to newspaper work, editing a paper about two years. Returning to Cedar Rapids, he was employed in the printing business about three years; then he was called home to assist his father in the abstract business at Grundy Center, and there he remained about two years. At this period he was also deputy county treasurer of Grundy county for eighteen months. In 1902 he bought the Grundy Republican, which he managed successfully until 1907, during which time he built up the property, increased the circulation, made it more attractive in mechanical appearance, and when he sold out it was one of the best papers in central Iowa.

Then he spent two years in Ohio engaged in the newspaper business, but the damp climate of northern Ohio not agreeing with his health, in 1909 he came to Eldora, Iowa, and purchased the Eldora Herald of Oliver J. Smith and he has continued to own and operate the same in a manner that stamps him as an enterprising, alert, capable and modern newspaper man, building up the plant in every department. He has rendered this publication one of the best of its type in the state, his plant being exceptionally well equipped with linotype and other up-to-date machinery. His subscription list is rapidly growing and the advertising department put on a strong basis and the paper is a strong organ, -- a moulder of public opinion, -- its columns always filled with well written and timely editorials and containing the latest and best news of the day. He has now a fine place in the business circles of this locality.

The domestic life of Mr. Moffett began on June 27, 1900, when he was united in marriage with Eleanor Sturgeon, of Exira, Audubon county, Iowa, she being a lady of refinement and genial address and representing an excellent old family of the Hawkeye state. She is a graduate of the Iowa State Teachers College of Cedar Falls. To this union two children have been born, Josephine, born in 1902, and John William, born in 1905.

Mr. and Mrs. Moffett belong to the Congregational church, and fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mrs. Moffett is a member of the P. E. O. organization and also a member of local musical and literary clubs.

Hon. William J. Moir, pp. 472-474

William J. Moir, who is deservedly numbered among the most highly respected and truly honorable of Hardin county's pioneer professional men, was born in Banffishire, Scotland, October 19, 1824, and came to Lower Canada with his parents in 1830.  He received a limited education in the common schools and Derby Academy, Derby, Vermont.  He spent his early manhood in teaching school and taught for about eight years, summer and winter.  He had an ambition to enter a broader field and one for which he seemed to be by nature especially fitted.  He chose law as his profession, and studied with the Hon. C. H. Reeve, of Plymouth, Indiana, being admitted to the practice in 1856.

Believing that the great New West, as Iowa was then called, afforded better opportunities for a young man entering upon a professional career, he came to Hardin county, Iowa, landing in Eldora with a covered wagon, May 8, 1856, and has resided there ever since and been in the active practice of law for more than a half century, during which period he has been eminently successful and has been engaged in many of the more important legal battles of his county and district.  His career as a lawyer has always been one of dignity and hence he has been an ornament to his profession, as has been testified to by every judge and attorney practicing in the judicial district, as well as in the higher courts of the state.

Politically, Mr. Moir has always been an ardent supporter of the Republican party, in which he has held many positions of trust, all of which he has filled with credit and honor to himself and his party.  He served for twelve years as president of the Eldora school board; was always interested in the subject of education, and has sought out the best, most improved and advanced methods for conducting the public schools.  He was mayor of Eldora two terms; member of the board of supervisors of Hardin county two terms; was president of the Hardin County Agricultural Society two years, when his counsel was of much value in establishing the society which has proven so successful in many ways with the passing years.  He represented his county in the Iowa Legislature two terms (1861-1863) during the Civil war period.  He was a charter member of the board of trustees of the Iowa Industrial School, appointed in 1868, and remained in that position, with the exception of two years, until the board of control took charge of the institutions of the state in 1898.  He was for many years treasurer of the Industrial School, during which time he received and disbursed the sum of $1,228,557.25, for which he neither received nor asked for any compensation whatever.  He has ever taken great pride in this institution for the education and reformation of erring boys of Iowa, and the chapter on this institution will show what he has been able to do in the way of founding and maintaining the school.  If no other monument were to be erected to his memory, this institution, with its many beautiful buildings and vast acreage of land, will stand so long as the commonwealth stands, as a befitting memorial to his kindness and good judgment in all that has made it successful, while hundreds of boys now grown to mature manhood owe their present good conduct and successful lives to him of whom this notice is written.

Mr. Moir is a veteran in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Iowa, having joined Eldora Lodge No. 77 on January 27, 1857, and was grand patriarch of the grand encampment of Iowa in the thirty-seventh annual session held in Des Moines in 1887.  Up to this date (1911) he has been treasurer of the Eldora lodge for eighty-five terms, a record unexcelled, perhaps, in any state in the Union.

Whether one views this venerable gentleman in the role of an instructor, in his young manhood; as an active attorney of law; as one of the early lawmakers of Iowa; as an officer in educational institutions; as holding the highest chair in the fraternity to which he belongs, or as a kind of charitable citizen, he must be regarded as a man of great integrity, honor and value to the world in which he has now lived and labored for seven years past his four score years.

Of his domestic affairs let it be said that he was happily united in marriage October 27, 1847, to Olive J. Ball, by whom he has two children, Marcus W. and George J. Moir. 

During his lifetime, Mr. Moir by industry and frugality has been enabled to accumulate a handsome competency and now owns much valuable realty and is interested in banking at Eldora to a considerable extent.

Humphrey Montgomery, pp. 834-836

Among the thriving farmers and stock raisers of Hardin county the gentleman whose name introduces this article is especially conspicuous. Starting out with practically no capital or assistance, he has gradually forged to the front and has long since become one of the substantial citizens of his community, which he has seen develop from a wild prairie to a foremost position in agricultural importance, and it is useless to add that he has played an important role in this work, having always had the affairs of his locality at heart and ready at all times to further any laudable undertaking having as its object the general good.

Humphrey Montgomery was born at Lafayette, Indiana, December 24, 1840, and he is the son of Charles and Maria (Mellinger) Montgomery. When he was a year old, the family moved to Kankakee county, Illinois. The subject grew up on the home farm and worked on the same during the summer months, attending the district schools during the winter time, and he remained under the parental roof tree until 1856, in which year he moved to Dubuque county, Iowa. They went by stage from Dubuque to near Dyersville, where they located on a farm. Dyersville was then the western terminus of the railroad, but trains were not yet running that far.

Charles Montgomery, father of the subject, was born in Scotland, from which country he emigrated to America when a small boy and he lived in Illinois until his death, which occurred when his son, Humphrey, of this review, was about fifteen years of age. From that time on the son began working out for himself, for his mother was left destitute, the father having been robbed of all they had. The mother had two uncles in Dubuque and the subject came and worked for them awhile. In the fall of 1860 he came to Iowa Falls, where his maternal grandfather, William Mellinger, resided, and here he has continued to reside, his residence of over a half century here resulting in a great amount of mutual good to himself and the community. During that long period he was not absent from his hearthstone only during four years that he served his country during the Civil war, and this he did most faithfully and well according to his comrades having enlisted about the end of July, 1861, in Company C, Sixth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He was in the Army of the Tennessee and fought under Grant at Shiloh, then at Jackson, Mississippi, then took part in the campaign against Vicksburg. For some time he was in pursuit of Gen. Joe Wheeler; then he was at Haines' Bluff until after the city was invested, thence went in pursuit of Johnson, and after the city surrendered went to Jackson and re-took the place. Then the regiment marched into Tennessee, from Memphis to Chattanooga to reinforce Thomas and was in the battle of Missionary Ridge. From there they went on the Atlanta campaign and fought at Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, where the regiment lost heavily, then at Dalton and many skirmishes, then the battle of Atlanta. The regiment then marched to Savannah and there took boats to Buford, South Carolina, marched through the Carolinas to Columbia, fighting on the way, and captured Columbia after a hard fight, this regiment having laid the pontoon bridges across the river under a heavy artillery fire. After taking Columbia they marched to Raleigh and did considerable skirmishing on the way. Just before taking Raleigh they learned of Lee's surrender. After Johnson surrendered Raleigh the regiment started for Richmond, Virginia, where they remained two or three days, then marched on to Washington, D. C., and took part in the Grand Review. Mr. Montgomery then came by rail to Louisville, Kentucky, where he remained about two weeks, then was ordered to Davenport, Iowa, where he was paid off and mustered out in the summer of 1865, after more than four years of strenuous and gallant service for the Union. While on the raid down through Georgia he was wounded at Grizzleville, a piece of shell having struck him between the ankle and instep; his hand was also badly lacerated by a bursting shell and he was crippled during the rest of the march.

After his splendid army career Mr. Montgomery returned to his home at Iowa Falls and here he rented a farm and began raising a crop on a place southwest of Iowa Falls. Two years later he rented in the southern part of Hardin township. About this time he purchased a small tract near Georgetown. Five or six years later he purchased eighty acres near where he was renting and continued farming for himself. Six or seven years later he bought another eighty of adjoining land. About fourteen years later he bought another eighty, making a very valuable and desirable farm of two hundred and forty acres in all. This he placed under modern and substantial improvements and advanced to a high state of cultivation and carried on general farming and stock raising on an extensive scale for many years, making it a point to keep a good grade of live stock all the while, being especially fond of good horses, and his live stock, owing to its fine quality, always found a very ready market. He has a beautiful and pleasant home and good outbuildings, all well kept.

Politically, Mr. Montgomery is a Republican and has ever been loyal to its principles, taking an active part in county affairs and he has held various township offices. He is a member of the Congregational church and a liberal supporter of the same.

Mr. Montgomery was married, in March, 1878, to Mary Mellinger, daughter of William and Dorcas (Wood) Mellinger, and they have five children, namely: Myrtle married Joseph Pierce, and they live in Jackson township and have two children; George married Gertie Havens; they live on the father's farm in the south part of Hardin township and have two children; Lee married Grace Webb; they also live on the father's farm and have two children; Olive is the wife of Austin Fuller and they live in Iowa Falls; Millie, who has remained unmarried, is at home with her parents.

Mr. Montgomery was one of the organizers of the Charles Payne Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, the post being named in honor of his old bunk-mate, Charles Payne, who was killed at Shiloh. Mr. Montgomery has continued an active member of this post to the present time.

William H. Montz, pp. 621-622

The career of the Montz family is another of the oft-recurring example of the fitness of the German blood to adapt itself to the environments this country, for they have passed through many generations of honest and noble men and women, who have taken a full and active part in the duties of life, and none have dimmed the luster of the family name.

William H. Montz was born on the homestead in Union township, Hardin county, Iowa, on May 13, 1864, the son of William Montz, who was born in Maryland, February 24, 1813, and died on July 10, 1905.  He grew up and married, on October 18, 1823, Susana Miller Dufall, the widow of Henry Dufall.  In 1826 he accompanied his parents to Ohio, and at the age of thirty-five went to Keokuk, Iowa, and there ran a sawmill and store, later peddled wagons through the country.  About 1852 he bought government land in section 1, Union township, and located on it in 1862, living in a wagon until he could put up a log cabin.  He improved this farm of two hundred and forty acres, and lived on it until his death.  He was an exceptionally successful farmer, raised Chester White hogs and good grade cattle, and prospered.  In politics a Republican, he held township offices.  He was a member of the United Brethren church, and was well known and respected.  His wife died on May 7, 1902.  By her first marriage she has five children:  Jacob, of Whitten; Lizzie, of Waverly, Iowa; Margaret, of Grundy county, Iowa; Lewis, deceased; and Sarah, of South Dakota.  To Mr. Montz she bore the following children:  Amanda, deceased; Mary, the wife of Elijah Welton, of Union township; Susana, who married Robert Collins, of Union township; Martha, deceased, who married Talbert Myers; William H.; Sophia, the wife of A. F. Dawson, of Watkins, Iowa.

William H. Montz was educated in the country schools and has spent his entire life on the farm of his birth.  On February 26, 1890, he was married to Rhoda Cordele, of Union township.  To this union the following children have been born:  Henry Earl, Stella A., WIlliam Floyd, Winifred Elizabeth, Eugene Lloyd and James Ray, and interesting family of  young people.  Since 1890 Mr. Montz has had charge of the old home farm, and now owns one hundred and sixty acres of it, one hundred of which is in a high state of cultivation.  He raises Jersey Red hogs, short-horn cattle and Norman horses, and is an up-to-date and progressive farmer.   Mr. Montz has held some of the township offices.  He is a member of the Church of Christ and of the fraternal order of Modern Woodsmen of America.  Mr. Montz stands well in the opinion of his neighbors, who are by their close assocation best fitted to judge a man, and is regarded as one of the sterling citizens of the community.

Henry Moon, pp. 462-464

From the far-famed and beloved Emerald Isle have come to the new republic of the west during the past three centuries a large percentage of its best and most enterprising citizens.  They are found, too few, within the borders of Hardin county.  One of the worthiest and best known of the agricultural element of this horde of Erin's fair land is Henry Moon, of Grant township, who was born in county Tipperary, Ireland, about 1831 and he is therefore now advanced in years; but having lived a wholesome life along conservative paths, he is hearty and can look backward over a life well spent and forward with no apprehension for the future.

Mr. Moon grew to maturity in Ireland and in 1854 emigrated to America, landing at new York City where he lived about two years, engaged in gardening.  He came to Iowa about 1856 and lived in Cedar county twelve or fifteen years, then rented a farm and began tilling the soil for himself, and he has been very successful in his chief life work, having worked hard and managed well.

Mr. Moon was married in 1857 to Martha Myers, dauther of Henry and Susanna (Leedy) Myers.  She was born in Richland county, Ohio, June 2, 1836, and there she lived until she was about thirteen years of age, when her folks moved to Cedar county, Iowa, where she lived until her marriage.  About 1875 Henry moon and wife moved to Hardin county and located in the southeastern part of Grant township, and there bought eighty acres, all wild prairie land.  He broke it and put it under cultivation and here made his hime, later buying forty acres more near by.  Here he has lived ever since, being one of the pioneers, having taken an interesting part in the development of the township from the first.  Fourteen children have been born to Mr. Moon and wife, four of whom died in infancy; John grew to manhood, married Annie McDonald, and his death occurred about 1905 at Joliet, Illinois, leaving a wife and four sons, Edward, Lewis, Henry and George W. Dewey.  The nine children of Mr. and Mrs. Moon who are sill living are as follows:  William Henry is at home; Mary is the wife of F. A. Gogerty, whose sketch appears in this work; Frank married Emma Crosser and lives in the northwestern part of Hubbard, and they have one son and one daughter, Vera and Marion; Susanna married Harry Hicks and they live in Portland, Oregon, and have four children living and one dead; those living are Day, Charlotte, Louisa and Mabel.  Jane Moon married Frank Roseborough and lives at Zearing, and has three sons and one daughter, Henry, Joseph, Lewis and Annie.  Lewis Moon married Alta Fitch, lives at Zearing and has four children, three sons and one daughter, Ivan and Ivo are twins, Stella and Lewis, Jr.  Martha Moon married Amos Patzer, lives at Iowa Falls, and has one son and two daughters, Edith, Blanche and Frank.  Charley Moon married Edith Davis and lives at Zearing, and they have three sons and a daughter, Claude, Richard, Earl and Louise.  Margaret Moon married Thomas J. Miller and lives at Mt. Vernon, South Dakota, on a farm; they have one son, Edward Day.

Mr. Moon and family are members of the Catholic church at Zearing, Iowa.

When the subject and wife came to Grant township there were only about four other families in the whole township and west of them was all swamp and marsh land.  They regretted having come to such a place, finding it very unpromising.  Now that the same wild land is drained, cultivated and covered with pleasant homes and valuable land, they see where they were wife in remaining and growing up with the same.  They have a beautiful view over the country from their home and are spending life's evening in serenity and comfort, surrounded by all the blessings as the result of former years of toil and application, and they do not regret the days when they had to undergo the hardships and privations of the pioneers.  They still retain much of the good cheer of youth.  They now have twenty-five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.  The old couple are blessed with good health, and have nothing to regret.  They never had a doctor to attend them but three times in their lives.  It is indeed a pleasure to visit their neat and well kept home and share their true old-time hospitality.  They are popular and well known throughout the county and are deserving of the high esteem in which they are held.

[bio not yet transcribed]

Arch Mossman, pp. 493-494

One of the leading farmers and stock men of Tipton township, Hardin county, and a man whom to know is to respect and confide in is Arch Mossman, who was born in Mercer county, Illinois, January 23, 1844.  He is the son of George and Hannah (Brown) Mossman, an excellent family of the Sucker state, both natives of Virginia, where they spent their early lives, moving to La Porte county, Indiana.  In 1850, they removed to Mercer county, Illinois, locating near Keithsburg, where Mr. Mossman followed his trade of blacksmith and also engaged in farming, having secured wild land in Illinois, where he cleared and improved.  He became very comfortably established here and made his home here until 1854, when he moved to Hardin county, Iowa, and settled ten miles west of Eldora, in section 11, Tipton township.  He obtained government land, bought and sold land for awhile, and made a success farming and stock raising, becoming well established and well known here, influential in the early days.  He continued to reside on his farm until his death, on October 23, 1866, his wife dying in about 1888.   They were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and their family consisted of the following children:  Eli, who married Louisa Van Etten and became a farmer in this county, is now deceased; Margaret lives in Mercer county, Illinois; Isam is a retired furniture dealer, living in Portland, Oregon; George, who married Sarah Warington, became a farmer in Hardin county, Iowa, and is now deceased; Henry, who married Hester Southwick, is deceased; Samuel E., who was a farmer in this county, is now deceased; Arch, of this review; Andrew is farming in Tipton township, this county.

Arch Mossman, of this review, received only a limited education, but he has become a widely read man.  He lived at home until his marriage, in March, 1874, to Julia Simplot, of Dubuque, Iowa, the daughter of Francis and Julia Simplot, the father a blacksmith who located at Iowa Falls, this state, and their his death occurred in about 1892; his widow is still living.

Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Mossman; Lena May married Henry Palo, a farmer in Tipton township, this county, and they are the parents of four children, Harry, Cora, Frank and Willie; Frank Mossman married Daisy Wiseman, is living on a farm in this township, and they have one child, Barbara; Rosie Mossman married, on March 31, 1907, Henry Coomer, of Hardin county, the son of John and Matilda (Follet) Coomer, and his death occurred in 1897; his widow, who is now living in Wichita, Kansas, has one son, Loyd.

The wife of Mr. Mossman was called to her rest on October 16, 1909.   She was an excellent woman and had many friends in this township.

After 1874 Mr. Mossman located on section 11, Tipton township, this county, and has lived here continuously to the present time, retiring from active work in 1908.  He is the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and seventy-five acres of valuable land.  He has always been a farmer and stock raiser and has been very successful.  He has been a breeder of short-horn cattle, Poland-China hogs and draft horses, his fine stock always finding a very ready sale.  He is loyal to Republican policies and has held very satisfactorily many of the township offices.

Samuel E. Mossman, pp. 590-592

Few citizens who have lived in Hardin county of recent years have left a more indelible imprint upon the minds and hearts of the people here than the late Samuel E. Mossman, for he was a good and useful man and never failed to do the right as he saw and understood the right, in all the relations of life.

Mr. Mossman was born November 15, 1841, in Mercer county, Illinois, and he was the son of George and Hannah (Brown) Mossman, the father a native of England and the mother of Virginia, and they spent most of their lives in Indiana, the father being a blacksmith by trade; they were the parents of thirteen children, Samuel E., of this review, having been the seventh in order of birth.  He received his education in the common schools and grew up in Illinois, being sixteen years of age when he came to Hardin county, Iowa, with his parents.  They found pioneer conditions here, there being at that time only two houses in what is now the city of Eldora.  After remaining in that place a short time, they settled one-half mile east of Hubbard n a grove, later entering one hundred and sixty acres of land five miles northeast of Hubbard in Tipton township.  Here the elder Mossman made a home and lived until his death.

Samuel E. Mossman lived at home until he enlisted in the Union army, November 15, 1862, in Company F, Thirty-second Iowa Volunteer Infantry, at Eldora, Iowa, under Captain Edgerton.  He was sent to St. Louis and later served under General Sherman and he was in the Red River expedition, during which he fell ill.  He served very faithfully for a period of three years and nine months, during which he saw some hard service and was in many tight places.

On August 10, 1865, Mr. Mossman married Margaret A. Hough, who was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, June 21, 1846, the daughter of Jacob and Eliza (Cravens) Hough, the former a native of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, and the latter of Westmoreland county, that state.  They came to Eldora, Iowa, in the spring of 1856, locating on one hundred and ten acres of land in Pleasant township, three miles east of Hubbard and there remained many years.  Mr. Hough was always a farmer and politically he was a Republican, and a member of the Presbyterian church, while his wife was a Methodist.  They became well known here and were highly respected by all.  Six children were born to them, namely:  William F. was in Company B, Eleventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and was killed at the battle of Shiloh; Peter, who married Sarah Sweet, is farming at Miller, South Dakota; Christian is farming near Hubbard, Iowa; E. R., whose sketch appears on another page of this work, is also farming here; George is in the insurance business at Hubbard; Margaret A., wife of the subject, was the fourth child in order of birth.

To Mr. and Mrs. Mossman eight children were born, namely:   Byron, born July 5, 1867, died February 2, 1908; William L., born February 19, 1869, died July 6, 1896; Eliza Ellen, born June 28, 1872, is the wife of William Thompson, a farmer and at present assessor of Tipton township, this county; they have two children, Edna and Wade; Frederick Clifford, born January 1, 1875, who is farming in Pleasant township, married Bertha Boylan and they have three children, Floy, Blanche and Ella; Isaac A., born February 16, 1878, married Lulu Conklin; they live in Pleasant township and have two sons, Lowell and Wendell; Jasper J., born October 13, 1880, married Lottie King; they live in Grant township, this county, and have one child, Bernice; Miner R., born May 6, 1883, is living on the old home place; he married May Sheldon and they have two sons, Patrick and Warren; Edna L., born September 24, 1885, is the wife of Elmer Ridout, of Ellis township, and they have three children, Derley, Russell and Burley.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Mossman located on their farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres in Tipton township.  The land was all wild at that time and it required lots of hard work to develop a farm from it, but Mr. Mossman was a hard worker and succeeded and he lived here until his death, June 15, 1900.  He was an excellent citizen and highly honored by all who knew him.  His widow remained in the place until 1907, when she moved to Hubbard, where she has since made her home.   She still owns one hundred and five acres of the old home place, desides her neat and substantial home in Hubbard.  She is a woman of many fine characteristics and has a host of friends here.

Mr. Mossman was assessor of Tipton township and held many other offices always with credit and satisfaction.  He was a Republican.  He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, also the Methodist church, having belonged to the latter from the age of sixteen.  He was a good and useful man and honored by all who knew him.

William Crook Mulford, pp. 951-952

Ancestry does not count for more than personal worth, but it is often a guarantee of the latter.  No one who reads the history of the usefulness of the father of William Crook Mulford could but believe that the sons and daughters of such a man would also live lives of usefulness to the community, and this conclusion is supported by a review of their history.

William Crook Mulford was born on April 17, 1856, in Providence township, Hardin county, Iowa, the son of Anson M. Mulford.  Anson M. Mulford was the son of Miller D. Mulford, whose children were Burnett; Stephen, deceased; Luther, deceased, a veteran of the Civil war; Miller, deceased; Emily, now Mrs. Church; and Anson.  Anson was born in Ontario county, New York, on October 25, 1827, and as a small boy was taken by his parents to Erie, Pennsylvania, and later to South Bend, Indiana.  On February 16, 1853, he was married, in La Porte county, Indiana, to Harriett Beckner, who was born in Munroe county, Virginia, on October 11, 1830, and died in July, 1891.  After his marriage, in 1853, Mr. Mulford came to Hardin county, Iowa, and settled on raw prairie land in section 5, Providence township.  He improved this farm and in 1859 moved to section 2, where he remained until his death, in May, 1899.  His body lies beside that of his wife, in Providence cemetery.  For eighteen years he held the office of justice of the peace.  For many years he was connected with the weather bureau, making reports on the paths of tornadoes.  One report was of the tornado of 1860, which swept away his own home in Providence township.  He was on the county board of supervisors for one year, and was prominent in school matters, being many times school director.  Suring the war he was an enrolling oficer in Hardin county.  A thorough Christian, he was a local preacher in the Methodist church and a man of great piety.

Anson M. and Harriett B. Mulford were the parents of the following children:  Joseph, born in Laporte county in  April, 1854, died on April 29, 1855; William; Mary Emily, who was born in Hardin county on March 8, 1858, and married Henry Hutchens, whose sketch see.

William Mulford received his early education in Providence township, and at the age of twenty struck out for himself.  At first he rented a farm, and remained at home while he cultivated it for four years.  In 1881 he married Sarah Beecher, the daughter of Orman and Eliza Beecher, mentioned in another sketch.  After renting land in divers places he came to his present farm in sections 1 and 2, Providence township, and in 1885 bought the farm.  In 1908 he remodeled the house, which is built on the section line of sections 1 and 2, making it a modern home, and made other extensive improvements in the premises.  He has on his farm an exceptionally fine orchard and one of the best wells of the county has been driven near his home.  Besides cultivating his farm, William Mulford deals extensively in hogs, cattle and horses, which he has found profitable.  He is a member of the Unitarian Evangelical church, and a number of years ago was a member of the United Workmen.  To his marriage no children have been born.  Mr. Mulford is one of the honest, upright and substantial farmers of his township and a man of much public spirit.

Joseph Clark Mulkins, pp. 915-917

Starting upon his career as an independent factor at the bottom of the ladder, Joseph Clark Mulkins, one of Hardin county's progressive agriculturists and public-spirited citizens, is now the owner of a very desirable farm property and is one of the substantial men of his community.  Endowed by nature with strong physical and mental powers and possessing the courage and energy to direct his faculties in proper channels, he early became a man of resourceful capacity, as the able management of his private affairs as well as the successful administration of important public positions abundantly testify.  He possesses the happy faculty of not only making friends, but of binding them to him by his good qualities of head and heart.

Mr. Mulkins is the representative of a sterling old family of the Hoosier state, and he was born near Selma, Grant county, Indiana, April 10, 1853.  He is the son of Isaac C. and Athaliah (Jones) Mulkins, the latter the daughter of Levi Jones, an early settler there.  In the spring of 1855, when the son, Joseph C., of this sketch, was two and one-half years old, the family came to Hardin county, Iowa, moving to what is now known as the Tom Fox farm, buying the same as school land.  It was all new country, wild and sparsely settled.  They were compelled to go as far as Cedar Falls for their mail, the trip requiring three days, the subject driving the trip many times when a boy on sleds and with teams.  They began life here in typical pioneer fashion and underwent the usual hardships incident to life on the frontier, but they had the foresight to see that here would some day be developed one of the leading countries of the Middle West, and they set to work with a will, overcoming every obstacle and in due course of time were very comfortably situated.  Isaac C. Mulkins, the father, was not permitted to long enjoy the blessing of the new home, for when his country called for volunteers to save the flag from treason he gallantly responded and gave his life for his country, dying on April 10, 1864, while a soldier in the Union army, on the ill-fated Red river expedition, on the eleventh birthday of his son, Joseph C.  There were eight children in his family by a former marriage, and some of them were married and gone at the time of his death.  There also eight children by his last marriage, of whom the subject of this sketch was one.  One child was born soon after the father went to war.  The widow did not remarry until the last child reached maturity and married.  She heroically reared her family in comfort and respectability, being a woman of rare courage and ingenuity.  She is still living, now being past eighty-one, and is remarkably hale and active for one of her years.

Joseph C. Mulkins assisted with the general work about the home farm until after he was married.  He received such education as was possible in the schools of the new country, which has later in life been supplemented by wide and promiscuous home reading and by actual contact with the world.  On May 4, 1872, he was united in marriage with Ellar A. Brown, daughter of Jacob and Sarah Brown, this family being among the early settlers in Butler county, Iowa, where they became well established and were always highly respected.  The Mulkins family stayed all night with them upon their journey to this country when the subject was a boy.

Four children were born to Mr. Mulkins by his first wife, namely:   Willard Clark, Chester B., Edna Claire and Lena Roberta, all born on Mains creek, Beaver township, Franklin county, Iowa.  Mr. Mulkins lived at home a few months after his marriage, then rented a farm for himself, but, being of a mechanical bent, he worked among treshing machines, ditching machines and well augers more than he farmed, having begun such work when he was only nine years of age, and he has followed threshing for forty-eight seasons, having threshed even during war times all over the north half of Hardin county and most of Franklin county; he also followed threshing in Hancock county, and he is one of the best known threshers in this section of the state and has met with singular success in this line.  He is certainly an adept in nearly all kinds of farming machinery and takes a delight in keeping it in proper condition.

In 1897 Mr. Mulkins moved onto a farm northwest of Iowa Falls, where he lived until 1900, enjoying his usual large rewards for his industry and pains as a husbandman; but, desiring to give up active farming and devote his attention to his special lines, he moved to his pleasant home in Iowa Falls, where he still resides.   He does township road work, owning various types of modern tools and machines, including a traction engine, clover huller, threshers and numerous other kinds of machinery needed in his business.  He also does a great deal of grade work, impriving and preserving the big ditches in Hardin county.  He even maintains a house on wheels which he carries along with him when practicable, in which he and his men sleep and board themselves.  He now has a contract grading on the big ditch on the Wisner estate that will probably take two years to complete.

Politically, Mr. Mulkins is a Republican and is loyal and energetic in advancing the interests of his party.  He has a wide acquaintance and can always be depended upon to get out a big vote and his advice is frequently sought and followed with success by local party leaders and candidates.  He has held various positions in the gift of the people and is now constable.  He is a man who never forgets a kindness shown him, and he has filled every position of trust reposed in him in a manner that reflects much credit upon his ability and honest and to the eminent satisfaction of all concerned.  Frraternally, he is a member of the Woodmen of the World.

On November 28, 1895, Mr. Mulkins was united in marriage with Alice B. Trickey, celebrating simultaneously their marriage and Thanksgiving.  Mrs. Mulkins is a woman of charming personality and has a host of friends, like her husband, wherever she is known.  She is the daughter of John and Martha Ellen (Frazer) Trickey, one of the fine old pioneer families of this section of the state, a complete sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work.  Mrs. Mulkins was born at Pella, Marion county, Iowa, October 3, 1866.  This union has been blessed by the birth of one child, a daughter, bearing the pretty name of Elsie Ellen.