Benjamin I. Talbott, pp. 922-924

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 beneficial 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 can take their places above the hardy pioneer? To point out the way, to make possible our present advancing civilization, its happy homes, its arts and sciences, its discoveries and inventions, its education, literature, culture and refinement and social life and joy, is to be the truly great benefactors of mankind for all time. This was the great work accomplished by the early settlers, and it is granted by all that they builded wiser than they knew. Admit that, as a rule, but few ever realized in the dimmest way the transcendant possibilities that rested upon their shoulders; grant it that their lives, in certain instances, were somewhat narrow and that they ralized but little the great results that ultimately crowned their efforts, yet there exists the supreme fact that they followed their restless impulses, took their lives in their hands, penetrated the wilderness and with a patient energy, resolution and self-sacrifice that stands alone and unparalleled, they worked out their allotted tasks, accomplished their destinies and today their descendants and others enjoy undisturbed the fruitage of their labors.

Among the worthy class referred to in the preceding paragraph, the one and the first pioneer of the city of Iowa Falls and for many years one of Hardin county's most influential and best known citizens, was the late Benjamin I. Talbott, the first white man to fell a tree upon the present site of the city to furnish materials for a home. He was born on January 31, 1806, in Jefferson county, Ohio, and he was the son of Benjamin and Susanna (Chandler) Talbott. He grew up amid primitive conditions and inherited many sterling qualities from his Quaker ancestors. On June 22, 1833, he was united in marriage with Priscilla Carr, daughter of William and Elizabeth Carr, a prominent family of Smithfield, Ohio. In 1835 Mr. Talbott moved to Lenawee county, Michigan, and in 1841, with his two brothers, John and Nathan, he started with team and wagon to visit Iowa, crossing the Mississippi river at Keokuk. He went to Salem, Henry county, following up the Des Moines river to the Indian agency, traveling over the vast, well-nigh interminable plains, over the sites of a number of present-day thriving cities. Returning to Michigan, Mr. Talbott remained there until the spring of 1847, when he started with his wife and two little sons, in an old-fashioned covered wagon, for Oskaloosa, Iowa; there they buried one of the sons. The wife's health failing in the new country, they returned to Michigan late the following fall, to the vicinity where two of her brothers and a sister lived, and there she died in 1848. In 1849, taking his only son, his horse and buggy, the father started again for Iowa. He was also accompanied by his brother, William, Nathan Townsend and Albert Coffin. They set out for what was then known as the "Big Woods," on the Iowa river in Hardin county. They struck the river at Marengo, Iowa county, followed up on the southwest bank to where Alden is located, remained in the timber northwest one night, then came down on the other side of the river on horseback, and when they reached the site of the present city of Iowa Falls, Benjamin I. Talbott decided to make his permanent home there and named the place Rocksylvania. In January, 1851, taking a hired man with him, he revisited the spot and, cutting the first log in this locality, built the first house in Hardin township. Edwin Tyrrel was with them. He had a yoke of oxen, a cow and a calf. They "batched" that winter and enjoyed the fine hunting in the new country. He had part of section 13 surveyed and platted for a village and sold it to Captain White, who, in turn, sold it to J. L. Estes, Hosmer Stevens and a Mr. Wilder, who resurveyed the site and recorded the town plat under the name of Iowa Falls. Later Mr. Talbott, in company with Lindley Hoag, Edwin Tyrrel, and possibly some others, surveyed and platted a part of section 18 and called it Rocksylvania. For a few years the new town was an active rival of Iowa Falls, but the latter outgrew it and finally took it in and it is now called East Iowa Falls.

Mr. Talbott was a man of indomitable energy, rare enterprise and public spirit, but some of his ventures brought financial disaster. Comparatively late in life he went to Montana and engaged extensively in the cattle business and was getting a fine start, when an unusually severe winter killed great numbers of his cattle and left him comparatively poor. After this he returned to Iowa Falls, where he lived a few months, his means nearly exhausted and he was too old and feeble to work. During this depressing period in the old pioneer's career it was discovered that he still had title to some lots and tracts of land about Iowa Falls, and he gave a lawyer a power of attorney so he could get the property into better shape to realize on it. The lawyer sold the property, but Mr. Talbott got nothing from it. Thus broken in health and in spirit, after a long, strenuous, useful and entirely honorable life, this grand old patriarch, one of nature's true noblemen, passed to his rest at Viola, Linn county, Iowa, on October 30, 1892. He was a devoted member of the society of Friends and everybody knew him as a "good man and just."

Early during his residence in Iowa Falls, Mr. Talbott was married to his second wife, Martha Dobbins, an excellent woman of a worthy old family here. Four children survived him, named as follows: Mrs. Dewees, of Viola, Iowa, at whose home his death occurred; Mrs. Wood, of Buffalo Center, Iowa; Chandler Talbott, of Cedar Rapids, this state, and B. J. Talbott, of Colo, Marshall county, Iowa.

Fred C. Tapps, pp. 690-691

Life is pleasant to live when you know how to make the most of it.  Some people start in life as if they had weights on their souls, or were afraid to make the necessary effort to live up to a high standard.  Others by not making the proper study of the conditions of existence, or by not having that blessed trainer, a good and intelligent mother, are side-tracked at the outset and never seem thereafter able to get back on the main track.  Much depends on the start, just as it does in a race.  It would seem from the large success that has attended the efforts of Fred C. Tapps, farmer and stock man of Sherman township, Hardin county, that he not only got a proper start on the highway of life, but that he has been able to maintain the proper course all the while; but those who know him, his methods and innate characteristics, are not at all surprised that this is so.

Mr. Tapps was born in Plattville, Wisconsin, January 26, 1865.  He is the son of Fredinand and Hannah R. (Probst) Tapps, natives of Hanover, Germany, where they grew to maturity, were educated and where they were married on January 25, 1854.  They subsequently emigrated to America, locating in the state of New York, going to Plattville, Wisconsin, in 1856, thence, in 1870, came to State Center, Iowa, where they bought government land, and in 1873 they moved to Marshall county and later to Grundy county, this state, the father dying in the latter county on October 3, 1896, at the age of seventy-three years; the mother survives, being now advanced in age, and is making her home with her children.  Ferdinand Tapps spent his life as a member of the Lutheran church, to which his wife also belongs, both having joined in their youth.  They were the parents of the following children:  August is now farming in Calhoun county, Iowa; Carrie is deceased; Henry is farming in Marshall county, Iowa; William is also farming in Marshall county; Minnie is deceased; Fred of this review; John is in the butcher business at Radcliff, Iowa; three children died in early life.

Fred Tapps of this sketch had little chance to attend school, but he has subsequently become well informed by home reading and actual contact with the world.  He lived at home until he was twenty years of age, then began farming in Marshall county, Iowa.  On July 9, 1890, he was united in marriage with Mary Conrad, of Grundy county, daughter of Jacob and Phoebe Probst, the father a native of Indiana and the mother of Pennsylvania.  They were pioneers of Grundy county and the town of Conrad was named after him.  He devoted his life to farming.  His wife died on October 3, 1897.  They were the parents of the following children:  Mary, wife of Mr. Tapps of this review; Clara is deceased; Ed lives at Grand Meadows, Minnesota; Olive and Hardin live in Grundy county, Iowa; Maggie is the wife of John Tapps, of Radcliff, Iowa; Fred is at home; two children died in early life.  One child, Frank M., has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Tapps.

Mr. Tapps farmed in Marshall county nine years after his marriage, then moved to Webster City, Iowa, later spent one year in Conrad township and three years in the town of Conrad.  He then went to Minnesota, where he lived nine months, then bought the place where he now lives, which consists of one hundred and sixty acres, in section 34, Sherman township.  He has made additions to the house, built a good barn in 1899 and made many other valuable improvements.  In connection with general farming he raises shorthorn cattle, draft horses, Duroc-Jersey Red hogs and a good line of poultry.

Politically, he is a Republican and has held a number of township offices.  He is a worthy member of the Evangelical church.

William E. Taylor, pp. 816-819

Sixty-six years have dissolved in the mists of the past since the subject of this sketch migrated from his native state of New York to Hardin county, Iowa, and located at Iowa Falls, where he has since lived, being in point of continuous residence the oldest citizen of the place, and the only survivor of those who came to this part of the state in 1855.

William E. Taylor was born Granville, Wyoming county, New York, January 25, 1829, being a son of William and Mehitable (Putney) Taylor, both natives of that state.  These parents moved to Iowa in 1854, and settled on a farm near Iowa Falls, where the father, who had become ill at Dubuque and made the last fifty miles of the journey in bed, died three days after his arrival.  Two sons, Hiram and George I., who came with them, took charge of the farm after their father's death and operated the same for a number of years.  The former subsequently moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he has been living for the last thirty years, though he recently removed to Denver, Colorado.  George remained with his mother until she was accidentally burned to death in 1861, when he went to California, where he now resides.

William E. Taylor was reared to agricultural pursuits and grew to maturity in his native state.  In October, 1851, he was married in Wyoming county, New York, to Philinda Bowman, and about four years later moved overland to Hardin county, Iowa, settling at Iowa Falls in 1855, before the town had been surveyed and when there were only two or three log cabins in the place.

After erecting a house of his own he engaged in teaming and for some years hauled grain from Iowa Falls to Dubuque, Iowa City and other distant points and bringing goods for the local merchants on the return trip.  He would start with about fifty bushels of wheat and as long as the roads were solid he would make good time, but not unfrequently he encountered sloughs into which the wagon wheels would sink almost to the hubs, necessitating the unloading of the grain and packing it forward to firmer ground.  On some of his trips he would run into two or three of these treacherous places, with the result that his return was greatly delayed and but little money realized for his time and trouble. 

In 1864 Mr. Taylor enlisted in Company K, Sixth Iowa Cavalry, with which he served for a period of thirteen months, the greater part of his military experience being confined to Dakota, where, under General Sully, his regiment, with others, spent some months fighting the Sioux Indians.  At the expiration of the time indicated, he received his discharge and, returning to Iowa Falls immediately thereafter, turned his attention to contracting and building, in which capacities he did much to promote the material growth and prosperity of the town.  He erected a stone house north of the present Methodist Episcopal church building, another of the same material just south of the college library, besides putting up various other edifices and doing a great deal of general mechanical work.  After residing at Iowa Falls until 1880, he bought the interests of his brother's children in the family homestead and moving to the farm the same year, addressed himself to the task of its improvement.  The only dwelling on the place at that place at that time was a small log cabin, which had been standing for a number of years, and the other improvements were in keeping therewith.  Three years later he replaced the old home with a comfortable and commodious modern edifice and in due time erected good barns, substantial outbuildings and made his farm one of the best in the township.  His place contains eighty acres, is in a high state of cultivation, very productive, and no pains have been spared to make it a beautiful and attractive home.

Mr. Taylor has seen Hardin county developed from a sparsely settled country into one of the most prosperous and flourishing sections of the state, nor has he been a mere witness of the many changes that have taken place the meanwhile, but with strong arm, clear brain and firm will he has contributed very materially to the bringing about of conditions which now obtain.  As previously stated, he is the only survivor among those who located at Iowa Falls in 1855, and there are few in the county who came as early as that year.  While en route to his new home in the west, he proceeded as far as Rockford, Illinois, where he sold his team and made the residue of the journey with the purchaser, who was also one of the early pioneers of the county.  Mrs. Taylor was one of the constituent members of the First Baptist church of Iowa Falls, and continued faithful to the same until her death, which occurred December 7, 1897, at the age of sixty-five years, being the last of those whose names appear on the original record of the society.  She united with the church when but fifteen years old and for forty years lived an upright Christian life which gained for her the respect and love of all with whom she came into contact.

To Mr. and Mrs. Taylor were born three children: Prof. William E. Taylor, for twelve years a teacher in the Deaf and Dub Institute at Omaha, Nebraska, and for a number of years past an instructor in the Texas State Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at Austin, Texas.  He is a man of high academic and professional attainments and among the most competent teachers ever connected with the institution in which he is now employed.  Anna N., the second in order of birth, lives with her father, attends to the home and otherwise looks after his interests and ministers to his comfort.  When she was nine years old, her mother became an invalid and for twenty-seven years was closely confined to her bed.  During all of that time the daughter had charge of the household and was never remiss in her duty to her afflicted parent, whom she cared for with beautiful and tender solicitude until death came to the relief of the sufferer.  The third child died in babyhood.  Although well advanced in life, Mr. Taylor still retains much of his former vigor and bodily and mentally is as keen and alert as in the years of his prime.  For many years he was an ardent Republican, but recently transferred his allegiance to the Prohibition party, of which he is now an earnest and zealous supporter.  His home is on a beautiful and well-kept farm which formerly joined Iowa Falls on the northwest, but which is now within the corporate limits of the city.

Luke Teeple, pp. 824-826

Matthew Thompson, pp. 538-539

No citizen in Pleasant township, Hardin county, is better known or held in higher favor generally than Matthew Thompson, for his long life has been most judiciously lived and now, with life’s gloaming about him, he can look back over the years without regret for any misspent days or wrong deeds, for his life has been lived in a manner that has brought only good to himself and to others.

Mr. Thompson was born in Jefferson county, Ohio, July 30, 1831, and he is the son of John Thompson, who was a native of county Tyrone, Ireland. When he was two years old his father brought him and the rest of the family to the United States and located in Jefferson county, Ohio, among the pioneers. John Thompson, the subject’s grandfather, died there on his farm and there his son, John, grew to maturity and was married when a young man to Maria Ross, who was a native of Jefferson county, Ohio. In 1850 they came to Washington county, Iowa, and entered wild prairie land from the government and here spent their latter years, Mr. Thompson dying at the age of seventy-two. Twelve children were born to them, two of whom died early, namely: William, deceased; John, also now deceased, lived in Pleasant township, this county; Mary, Moore, Nancy, Margaret, Caroline, Thomas, Robert. Matthew, of this review, was the third child in order of birth in his father’s family. He had little chance to go to school, but improved what he did have. He lived at home assisting with the work about the place until he was twenty years of age, then he went to Jersey county, Illinois, where he remained six years. In 1862 he married Louisa R. Ray, who was a native of Monroe county, Missouri. She proved to be a most faithful helpmeet and her death occurred in 1910. To this union five children were born, namely: Mary married John Wasson, a prominent farmer in Pleasant township, Hardin county; William, who lives in Tipton township, this county, is assessor of the same; Ann Belle, who received a good education and was for some time a teacher, married George Elerding, of Lawn Hill, Iowa, where he is engaged in merchandising; Edward, who married Aurora Clark, is farming on the old home place; Margaret, who is teaching in Marshalltown, Iowa, has been teaching successfully many years, having a fine education and being naturally adapted for this line of work.

The subject lived in Jersey county, Illinois, in 1864 and he drove overland to Hardin county, Iowa, locating in Pleasant township, where he has since remained and where he has been signally successful in his general agricultural and stock raising operations. He at first purchased one hundred and fifteen acres, and he has added to this as he has prospered until he now owns a fine farm of two hundred and seventy-eight acres. He has kept his land well improved and has a good dwelling and outbuildings and has always kept an excellent grade of stock, being a good judge of all kinds of live stock. He has made a specialty of Poland-China hogs and "grade" cattle. He deserves a great deal of credit for what he accomplished, having started in life a poor boy, but by hard work and judicious management he has forged to the front and is now one of the substantial men of his township.

The parents of the subject were forty-four days making the tedious and somewhat dangerous overland journey from the Buckeye state to Washington county, Iowa, bringing with them three wagons and nine horses. They had hard work getting through in many places. The father secured one hundred and sixty acres of land here for which he paid five dollars per acre. He began life in typical pioneer fashion, erecting a log cabin and stable which, as he prospered, gave way to more substantial buildings, for in time he had a very comfortable home and an excellent farm. He was a good citizen and did a great deal for his community in many ways.

William R. Thompson, pp. 716-717

To a great extent the prosperity of the agricultural sections of our country is due to the honest industry, the sturdy persistence, the unswerving perseverance and the wide economy which so prominently characterize the farming element of the Hawkeye state. Among this class may be mentioned William R. Thompson, who, by reason of years of defatigable labor and honest effort, has not only acquired a well merited material prosperity, but has also richly earned the highest esteem of all with whom he is associated, as is shown by the fact that he has been entrusted with important official positions, the duties of which he has most faithfully and ably discharged, thus eminently meriting the high esteem n which he is universally held.

Mr. Thompson was born on September 5, 1868, in Pleasant township, Hardin county, Iowa. He is the son of Matthew and Louisa (Ray) Thompson, the father born in Steubenville, Ohio, and the mother at Blandinville, Missouri. The paternal grandfather came to America from Ireland in an early day. His son Matthew came to Sangamon county, Illinois, when he was a young man and was living there at the time of his marriage. He came to Hardin county, Iowa, in 1863 and bought a farm two miles north of where the town of Lawn Hill now stands, paying fifteen dollars per acre, most of the land being yet unbroken prairie, and the land in the vicinity of the present town of Hubbard was supposed to be worthless in that day. Mr. Thompson began life here as a pioneer and underwent the usual hardships incident to the lives of first settlers. He was a hard worker, a man of rare foresight and business ability, and, prospering from year to year, became the own of two hundred and twenty acres and he has lived there to the present day, having developed one of the best farms in the township. He has been instrumental in the upbuilding of his community and is well known and highly respected throughout this part of the county. There five children in his family, namely: Mary, who married John Wasson, lives east of Point Pleasant about a mile; William R., of this review; Annabelle married George Ellerding and they live at Lawn Hill; Edward is on the old homestead with his father; Maggie is a teacher in the city schools at Marshalltown. The wife and mother was called to her rest in June, 1911, after a long and mutually happy wedded life. She was a woman of many estimable characteristics.

William R. Thompson grew to maturity on the home farm and assisted in developing the same during the summer months, attending the common schools in the winter time until he was twenty years of age. When about twenty-two years old he rented land near the home farm and began farming for himself in a small way. He continued renting land until he was twenty-five years old, getting a good start in the meantime.

Mr. Thompson was married on September 1, 1894, to Eliza Mossman, daughter of Samuel E. and Margaret A. Mossman, an excellent family of this county, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work.

After his marriage Mr. Thompson continued to rent land two years longer, then bought eighty acres in Tipton township. After living there five years he sold it and bought the excellent farm where he now resides, four miles north of Hubbard, his place consisting of three hundred and thirty acres, all well improved and under a high state of cultivation. He has a very productive and desirable farm, on which stand an attractive and comfortable home and substantial and convenient outbuildings. In connection with general farming he raises various kinds of live stock. He has been very successful and is deserving of a great deal of credit for what he has accomplished, for it has been done in an honest manner, through hard work and good management. When he married he had four "plug" horses, two cows, no farming machinery of his own, in fact very little to show material wealth. But being persistent along modern and approved methods of farming, he has reaped large rewards, adding to his original purchase from time to time and keeping his acres well tilled and well improved.

Politically, Mr. Thompson is a Republican and is always loyal to his party. He has been assessor of Tipton township for a period of twelve years, which is evidence enough of his high standing in the township. He has filled the office in a manner that has reflected much credit upon himself and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Hubbard and the Knights of Pythias. Mr. And Mrs. Thompson have two children, Edna and Wade.

Thomas Thorp, pp. 840-842