The following biographies were scanned from the remnants of a book that apparently was a copy of "The History of Polk County, Iowa" published by the Union Historical Company, Birdsall, Williams & Co. 1880.  Marion John Rice has a copyright to this transcription file and gives permission for this file to be posted to at the Iowa Biographies Projects. GRANT TOWNSHIP BARLOW, Mrs. GEORGIA A:-Wife of John Barlow, deceased, who was born in Shelby county, Indiana, March 4, 1828. On the 27th of March, 1850, he was married to Georgia Ann West, who was born in Franklin county, Indiana, September 25, 1827. Mr. Barlow died February 16, 1873, leaving five children, of whom two are living: Lewis William and Indiana F. Lost three: Martha E., Mary Ann (wife of Anderson Winterrowd), and Maria V. Mrs. Barlow owns 150 acres of land well improved and in good cultivation. She came to this county in 1848, and came to reside permanently in 1850, and has since resided here. BENNETT, WILLIAM S.-Farmer, section 12, P. O. Des Moines. Was born May 22, 1819, in Fairfield county, Connecticut. Received a common school education, and in his sixteenth year moved to Buffalo, New York, residing there one year, then went to Chicago, Illinois, and remained until the spring of 1856, when he came to Des Moines, Iowa. He owns 125 acres of land, upon which are the noted mineral springs known as Deep Rock Springs, a favorite resort for invalids. He was married January 6, 1847, to Miss Marietta S. Shepard, a native of Hamilton county, New York. They have had five children, two of whom are now living at GRANT TOWNSHIP. 913 home: Julia M. (wife of F. S. Plumb, a native of New York) and Albert A. (twenty-five years of age). BROWN, STEPHEN A.-Farmer, section 4, P. O. East Des Moines. Was born in New Hampshire January 26, 1835, and lived there until twenty-three years of age. He received a common school education, and in 1858 came to this county, where he has since resided, owning thirty-two acres of land, well improved. He was married August 27, 1863, to Miss Maria L. Knox, of this county. They have six children, all living. His father was born in Strafford, New Hampshire, and served in the Revolutionary War. His mother was born in the same place. DEAN, JOHN S.-Deceased. Grandfather of J. H and D. P. Dean. Was born August 9, 1797, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. He moved from there to Pelpee, Ohio, and thence to Ross county, where he lived until he came to this county, November 1, 1847. On moving from Pennsylvania to Ohio he went by raft on the Ohio river. When he first came here he entered 318 acres of land, running north of Court Avenue in East Des Moines. The First Presbyterian Church was organized in his house in 1848, north of Walnut street, on the bank of the river, near where Grupe & Turner's boiler shop now stands. Of the denomination he was a charter member. He built the first steam saw and grist mill in the county, known as Shepard & Perrior's mill, in 1849, hauling the machinery from the Mississippi river. He departed this life on the 25th day of December, 1878. DEAN, Mrs. ANN-Section 1, P. O. East Des Moines. Widow of the late Abram S. Dean, who was born in Ross county, Ohio, January 9, 1820, was raised on a farm and received a common school education. When twenty-two years of age he was married to Ann Welshimer, a native of Virginia. Lived there until 1847, and then came upon the place where she now resides on the lst day of November, where she has since lived. Mr. Dean died January 25, 1859, at the age of thirty-nine years and sixteen days. Mrs. Dean was born in Virginia, February 16, 1819, and was married in her twenty-third year. She has three children, and lives with one son, David P. Dean, on the old homestead; it consists of 220 acres, which were entered from the government when they first came. David P. Dean was born on his present homestead, February 16, 1852, and was married August 22, 1876, to Miss Jennie Brattain, a native of Henry county, Indiana. DEAN, JAMES H.-Farmer, section 1, P. O. East Des Moines. Was born in Ross county, Ohio, January 12, 1843, and at the age of four years came to this county and has lived on this section ever Since. The land upon which he now resides was entered from the government by his father. He owns forty-nine acres well improved. He received the advantages of the common schools, and when twenty-two years of age was married to Miss Sarah A. Blatchley, a native of Connecticut. They have six children, five of whom are now living. September 19, 1862, he enlisted in company C, Twenty-third Iowa volunteer infantry, and was mustered out at Harrisburg, Texas, July 26, 1865. Participated in the battles of Port Gibson, Raymond, Champion's Hill, Black River Bridge, Milliken's Bend, Vicksburg, Metagorda Island, Texas, and Spanish Fort. FINCH, JAMES H.-Farmer, section 1,-P. O. East Des Moines. Was born in Ross county, Ohio, January 1, 1822, and was married to Miss Sarah J. Dean, of the same place, when twenty-four years of age. He was 914 BIOGRAPHICAL. left an orphan at the age of six years, and the care of the family fell upon him. He lived in Ohio until November, 1847, when he came to this township, being forty days on the road. He entered 240 acres of land on section 1, the first river land entered in this county. He and his brother have lived on this land ever since. The former owns 130 acres, well improved. Has raised a family of ten children, three of whom are dead. Four sons are living, and all are married and living in this county. One daughter, Martha, was born in Ohio, and is now Mrs. George W. Smith, of this county. Mr. Finch was one of the founders of the First Presbyterian Church of Des Moines, in the year 1848 (June). He was one of the charter members, and the first trustee of the Agency burying ground, located on section 6 of this township. FREDREGILL, J. J.-Farmer, section 5, P. 0. East Des Moines. Was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, October 22, 1824, and when four years of age removed to Crawford county, Ohio. He received a common school education, and when about twenty-five years of age was married to Miss Nancy Deachtal, a native of Wayne county, Ohio. They lived there until the 19th of October, 1854, when they started for this county by wagon and were twenty-four days on the road. They are the parents of thirteen children, eleven of whom are now living in this township. One son, John W., now lives on the farm with his father. Mr. Fredregill's father, who lives in Sabina county, Missouri, was born in France and is eighty-nine years of age. His mother was born in Germany, and is eighty-four years, of age. He owns forty-nine acres of land. Has held all the township offices in the township. GREEVER, J. M.-Farmer, section 1, P. 0. Des Moines. Was born in Augusta county, Virginia, June 19, 1832, and when four years of age moved to Coles county, Illinois, where he resided until 1864. He then came to Iowa, locating in Decatur county, and was married to Mary E. Witter, a native of St. Joseph county, Indiana, and born May 6, 1843. They have four children, one is dead. In 1865 he came upon his present farm; and here has since resided, owning twenty-one acres of improved land. He has been school clerk ever since his residence in the township. Mr. and Mrs. Greever are members of the Christian Church. HARVEY, LYSANDER-Farmer, section 5, P. 0. East Des Moines. Was born in Shelby county, Indiana, June 1,1834, received a limited common school education, and when fourteen years of age moved with his father, Samuel Harvey, to the place where he now resides. The former entered 190 acres of land where the son lives, and died at the age of fortytwo years. Our subject was married, June 30, 1853, to Rachel Roberts, a native of Ohio. Eight children were born to them, of whom five are living. Mrs. Harvey died April 15, 1867, and he married again, October 3, 1869, Miss Laura A. Fredregill, a native of Ohio. They had three children, two are now living. This wife died June 11, 1875, and he married for his third wife Nancy Enichs, a native of Missouri, on the 3d of October, 1875. They have had two children, one now living. He has one daughter, Eliza J., who is now Mrs. James Henderson, of this township. Mr. Harvey has been township trustee for three terms. HARRIS, P. W.-Proprietor of Deep Rock Springs, section 12, P. 0. East Des Moines. Was born in Henry county, Indiana, May 12, 1829, and remained there until seven years of age, when he moved to Vermillion county, Illinois, and from there to Grundy county, Missouri. In the spring GRANT TOWNSHIP. 915 of 1846 he moved to Polk county. He was married here when twenty-four years of age to Miss Jemima Harvey, a native of Indiana. They are the parents of nine children, seven of whom are now living. The eldest son, Samuel H., is married and living in Dallas county, the others are at home. Mr. Harris' father, John Harris, was born in Carolina and died in this county, in 1864, at the age of sixty-six years, he having entered the land where M. W. Harris and C. Thornton, his son-in-law, now live, from the government in 1847. P. W. Harris is now proprietor of the Deep Rock Springs. He owns the hotel connected with the springs. It contains about forty rooms, all told, good bathing, having either warm or cold baths, and in every particular it is a first-class hotel for all persons. While a boy he had but a common school education and that only what he obtained at night, after working hard all day. HARRIS, M. W .-Farmer, section 6, P. O. East Des Moines. Was born in Henry county, Indiana, November 19, 1826, and in January, 1847, came to this county. He has spent one and one-half years in Indiana and five and one-half years in California, and with that exception has resided here since he first came. Owns 62-1/2 acres of land, under cultivation, with good orchard, etc. He was married, November 7, 1865, to Mrs. Harriet Gill, a native of Pleasant county, Virginia. By this union they have eight children: Anna M., Maggie M., Laura M., Lina L. and James E., living, and three deceased: Luella, Jonas C. and an infant. His father, John Harris, was one of the first settlers of Agency Prairie. Mrs. H. has one child by her former marriage, Fannie. HENDERSON, JAMES-Farmer, section 18, P. O. East Des Moines. Was born in this county on the 9th day of October, 1848, on the place where he now lives with his mother. He was educated. in the common school. His father, T. J. Henderson, now deceased, entered the land from the government. Owns 117 acres of improved land and 20 acres of timber in Four Mile township. February 4, 1875, he was married to Miss Eliza Jane Harvey, daughter of L. Harvey, of this township. She is a native of this county. They have one child. HENDERSON, ABRAM-Farmer, section 7, P. O. East Des Moines. Was born in Wayne county, Indiana, and when two years of age came to this county, where he has since resided on the old homestead. He owns eighty acres of land in this township, and twelve acres in Four Mile township, all improved. When twenty-five years of age he was married to Miss Clarissa Hughes, daughter of David Hughes, of this county. She is a native of Morgan county, Ohio. They have five children, four now living at home. HENDERSON, ELIZA-Wife of Thomas J. Henderson, deceased. Was born in Wayne county, Indiana, in January, 1814, and after a time settled on the land where she now resides, her husband having entered it from the government. She owns ninety-three acres of land, all well improved. HUGHES, DAVIS-Farmer, section 7, P. O. East Des Moines. Was born in Morgan county, Ohio, July 19, 1824, and at the age of twenty-six years came to this county. He was educated in the common schools. Was married, in 1845, to Miss Margaret E. Reed, a native of Morgan county, Ohio. They have had eleven children, seven now living. Three of them are married: Clarrissa (wife of Abram Henderson, of this township Frances Mary (wife of Harry C. Lawson, living in Kansas), and one son, Manuel 916 BIOGRAPHICAL. (now in his thirty-first year, living in this county). He owns eighty acres of land, all well improved. LAMB, NEWTON-Farmer, section 17, P. O. East Des Moines. The subject of this sketch is a native of Wayne county, Indiana, and was born August 11,1818. He received his early education from the common schools while the seats were merely slabs. When twenty-three years of age he moved to Jefferson county, this State, and from there came to this county in the winter of 1845. He entered three hundred and twenty acres of land from the government in the fall of 1849. He then (1845) lived between two Indian villages, one the Fox village, about one mile below on the river, and the Hardfish village, where the noted Bennett Spring now is. Mr. Lamb's father came to this county at an early day, and farmed for the government on the land where the pork houses now stand in Des Moines. Lived here for about four years and moved to Lee county, leaving his son (our subject) here. The latter was here for about two years, marketing to the soldiers at Fort Des Moines before he made it his home. He was here at different times until he moved his family here. Mr. Lamb's experience of his first trip to the Raccoon Fork was quite thrilling. There were but few houses on the road between Oskaloosa and this place. The former city was designated by a pole set up, a man by the name of Canfield living there. The next house he came to was where Pella now stands, and the next one near where Monroe now is, known as Tool's Point. Those were the only shopping points from Jefferson county to this place. When he and his family were back on a visit the wolves were so numerous that they ate all his poultry. He owns 160 acres of land, the same that he entered when he came. He was married in Wayne county, Indiana, February 4, 1841, to Miss Caroline Evans, a native of Clermont county, Ohio. They are the parents of fourteen children, nine living. Three boys and two girls are married: Harriet (now Mrs. James A. Garrett, now living in Kansas), Fannie (wife of J. D. Finch, of this township). One son is living in Leadville, one near Dallas Center, one in Oregon, and the remainder at home, except one son, Henry, who is in Four Mile township. MARICLE, LAUDOWICK-Farmer, section 17, P. O. East Des Moines. Was born in Pennsylvania, April 3, 1812, and was raised in New York until twenty-two years of age. In 1836 he came to Iowa and settled in Webster county. In March, 1880, he moved to Polk county. He owns forty acres of land all improved. He was married here December 22, 1848, to Miss Barbara Miller, a native of Pennsylvania. They have nine children, six now living. Two sons are married and living at home, one son in Webster county and one in Grand View attending school. MARK, M. W.-Farmer, section 17, P. O. East Des Moines. Was born in Ross county, Ohio, July 2, 1829, where he resided until seventeen .years of age. He received a common school education and in 1846 moved to Burlington, this State, and from there went to Illinois. In 1866 he left that State and came here. He was married in Henderson county, Illinois, November 25,1847, to Miss Sarah Watson, a native of New York, but raised in Illinois. They are the parents of nine children, five now living. One daughter, Mary, is now the wife of O. D. Shoop, of this county. Since residing in this county he has held several offices in the township. NEWCOMER, PETER-Farmer, section 18, P. O. East Des Moines, one of the first settlers of Polk, county, was born in Washington county, Maryland, on the 29th day of August, 1812, and in 1837 removed GRANT TOWNSHIP. 917 to Wayne county, Indiana, and after a short residence here removed to Ohio, and thence to Jefferson county, Iowa. In 1843 he came to this county, nearly three years before settlers were permitted to locate here, special permission being given Mr. Newcomer to make a claim in consideration of his building a bridge over Four Mile Creek, and he has continued to reside here since that date. It is impossible, in the limited space we have, to recount the hardships of this sturdy pioneer and his family in the early days of their settlement, and the rising generation can but faintly realize how much they are indebted to those who were the early settlers of the county. Mr. Newcomer now owns a farm of 320 acres. He was married in Jefferson county, Iowa, in 1842, to Miss Rosanna Lamb, a native of Wayne county, Indiana, but a resident of Iowa, her father coming here the same year and same time that the subject of this sketch came. By this union they have two children: Catharine (wife of Thomas McConklin, living at the old homestead) and Anna (now Mrs. James Mills, of Bloomfield township). To illustrate some of the early inconveniences, he had to go 140 miles to mill. His first churn was made of bark peeled from a sapling. PRENTICE, Mrs. LUCY A.-Section 9, P. O. East Des Moines, widow of the late F. R. Prentice, who was born January 2, 1815, in Otsego county, New York. In 1836 he came with his father's family to McDonough county, Illinois, and in 1853 came to this county and lived in Franklin township. During the troubles with the Mormons he was is Nauvoo. He removed to Mills county in 1856 but returned and reoccupied his old farm until 1865, at which time he purchased the farm on which he died. He was married, in the year 1843, to Miss Lucy Ann Kirk, a native of Marion county, Kentucky. She moved to McDonough county in the year 1840. To them were born nine children, five boys and four girls. The eldest son, Pitt, is in Franklin township, and D. N. F. is living in Kansas. The remainder are at home. The family reside on the old homestead, which consists of 173 acres, all well improved. Father Prentice became a member of the Masonic order at Glenwood, Mills county, of which he remained a worthy member until his death. He was always favorable to the Christian religion. leading a moral, honest and upright life, although not making a profession of religion until last March. At that time he became more deeply interested and resolved, after much thought, and reflection, to make a public declaration of his faith, and was accordingly immersed by D. R. Ellis. From this period until his death he seemed wholly absorbed in his new profession, spoke much of his decease and longed to depart to that better land. SIMS, L. D.-Farmer, section 6, P. O. Des Moines. Was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, September 22, 1816, and came to this county by wagon. He was thirty-four days on the road and reached here on the 28th of October, 1848. He was married to Miss Christiana Bowshier, a native of the same place as himself. She died August 11, 1857, leaving nine children. Seven are now living- A. B. (living in Rising Sun), G. C. (lives in East Des Moines), Sarah wife of Jackson Henderson, of Cass county, this State), Matilda (wife of Jerry Winterrowd, deceased), the remainder being at home. Mr. Sims served during the Mexican War in the Fourth Ohio infantry, company E, and also as wagon-master, for six months, in the Fourth Iowa infantry. He is the owner of 140 acres of well improved land. 918 BIOGRAPHICAL. THORNTON, CALVIN-Farmer, section 6, P. O. East Des Moines. Was born in Vermillion county, Illinois, January 7, 1830, and in the fall of 1849 came to this county and has since resided here. He is a cabinet maker by trade and in his early days followed the carpenter business. He now owns an excellent farm of about 230 acres, with good improvements. Was married, January 1, 1854, to Miss Annette Harris, a native of Henry county, Indiana, born March 15, 1831. They have seven children: Nancy E. (wife of Jonas Henderson), Jerome B., Ida Jane (now Mrs. W. R. Wilkins, of Audubon county), Laura V., Alta M., Viola and Maud. WARNOCK, J. G.-Farmer, section 4, P. O. East Des Moines. Was born in Belmont county, Ohio, August 8, 1836, and resided there until twenty-two years of age. Educated in the common schools. He was married, about the year 1858, to Miss Rebecca Milligan, of the same county. They have had ten children, of whom six are now living in this county. He served for two years in the Missouri State militia, and has resided in this county about four years. WILKINS, RESIN-Farmer, section 7, P. O. East Des Moines. Was born in Belmont county, Ohio, April 8, 1824, and in the fall of 1845 moved to New Orleans. In the spring of 1846, came to this county, and has since resided here. July 5, 1848, he was married to Miss Martha J. Henderson, a native of Wayne county, Indiana. She is a daughter of Thomas J. Henderson, deceased, of this county. They are the parents of nine children, all living: Eliza E. (wife of Jerome Thornton, now living in Audubon county, this State), Will R. (also living in the same county), Robert H. (living in Nebraska), the remainder of the children are at home. November 1, 1861, he enlisted in company B, Fifteenth regiment Iowa volunteers, and was mustered out, as second-lieutenant of his company, in March, 1863. He participated in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth and Iuka, beside numerous skirmishes. He owns 153 acres of well-improved land and also a house and lot on the East Side, in Des Moines. WILKINS, J. N.-Farmer, section 8, P. O. East Des Moines. Was born January 24, 1836, in Knox county, Ohio. Received a common school education, and in his twenty-fourth year came to this county. He has since resided here, and now owns 80 acres of well-improved land. He was married, on the 27th of October 1859, in this county, to Miss Frances M. Henderson, daughter of the late Thomas J. Henderson, of this county. She is a native of Indiana. They have six children, three of them living at home. Barlow, who died March 16, 1879. He owns eighty acres of land, all well improved.