| Appanoose County >> 1903 Index Biographical and Genealogical History of Appanoose and Monroe Counties, Iowa. A Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Polly Eckles. The little republic of Switzerland has sent to America comparatively few of her adopted sons, but those who have come are a valued portion of our citizenship. One of these worthy immigrants is John Abegglen, who was born to Peter and Maggie Abegglen. His father followed farming in one of the beautiful valleys of Switzerland until 1855, when he brought his family across the Atlantic to America. Proceeding into the interior of the country, he took up his abode in Ripley county, Indiana, where he remained until 1869, and then came to Monroe county, Iowa. For the next twenty-four years he was one of the respected residents of this vicinity, and in 1893 his life came to a peaceful end, when he was eight-two years of age; his wife is also deceased. Both were devout and consistent members of the Lutheran church and impressed upon the minds of their children lessons which have borne fruit in upright lives. The worthy couple were the parents of the following children: This worthy couple were the parents of the following children: Crist, Margaret and Gottlieb, deceased; John; Elizabeth, also deceased; and Fred and Anna, both residents of Monroe county. John Abegglen was born in Switzerland November 27, 1840, and was a youth of fifteen when he came with his parents to the new world. All the educational advantages he was privileged to enjoy were obtained before he left his native land. He accompanied his parents to Iowa and has since been one of the prominent agriculturists of this great state. Shortly after his second marriage he took up his residence on his present farm just east of Lovilia, and in the course of the nearly ten years spent on the place has made his property both valuable and attractive. Excellent improvements are found on the farm, and everything is kept in the best of order and system. In 1865 Mr. Abegglen returned to Switzerland on a visit, which ended in a practical romance for him, inasmuch as he met Miss Margaret Michalo, with the result that she accompanied him to the United States, where they were married in 1866. Their domestic life was begun on a farm in Cedar township, Monroe county, where they remained during the lifetime of Mrs. Abegglen. They enjoyed eighteen years of wedded life, but in 1884 Mrs. Abegglen was called to her final rest. The children born of this marriage were John, Charles, Anna, George, Walter and Sherman, who are all living; and those deceased are Willie, George and Jennie. Ten years after the death of his first wife Mr. Abegglen married Miss Jennie Rose, a daughter of Edward and Phrela Rose. For a quarter of a century Mr. Abegglen has been an exemplary member of the Masonic fraternity, and his political support is given to the Republican party. Both he and his wife are members of the Lutheran church, but as there is no congregation of that denomination in the vicinity, they attend the services of the Methodist Episcopal church. Nature has been lavish in her gifts to America. Each section of the country has been provided with at least one source of income. New England has its splendid lumber regions, Pennsylvania its coal fields, the south produces cotton, the west has its rich mineral deposits and the broad Mississippi valley is the agricultural district of the country, and it is upon the agriculturist more than any other class of citizens that the prosperity and upbuilding of the country depends. Iowa is one of the best cereal-producing portions of the entire land, while its rich pasture lands afford ample opportunity to the stock-raiser. Mr. Adams is among those who are devoting their time and energies to farming, his valuable homestead being located in Bluff Creek township. He was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, on the 14 th of April, 1844, and is a son of Alexander M. and Harriet ( Quinn ) Adams, natives of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, where the former died at the age of seventy-six years and the latter when she had reached the age of forty years. This worthy couple became the parents of fourteen children, eight of whom are still living. From his early youth Hugh Q. Adams has been identified with agricultural pursuits. When he was eighteen years of age the Civil war broke out and he offered his services in defense of the Union cause, entering Company H, One Hundred and Fortieth Pennsylvania Infantry, under the command of Captain Orman. His military career covered a period of three years, on the expiration of which he received an honorable discharge at Washington, D. C., for the war had ended and the country no longer needed his services. Returning to his old home in the Keystone state, he there resumed the more quiet duties of the farm and was thus engaged until about twenty years ago, when, in 1882, he came to Iowa. His valuable farm of two hundred acres is located six miles north of Albia, in Bluff Creek township, and all of the many and substantial improvements thereon stand as monuments to his thrift and excellent business ability. He is engaged in diversified farming and stock-raising, and in both lines of endeavor is meeting with a high and well merited degree of success. The marriage of Mr. Adams was celebrated on the 8 th of October, 1868, when Miss Mary Martha Clever became his wife. She, too, was born in the old Keystone state, in Allegheny county, and is a daughter of Martin and Elizabeth ( DeGroft ) Clever. Her paternal grandparents were Martin and Mary Magdalene ( Minick ) Clever, while on the maternal side she is a granddaughter of Adam and Eve DeGroft. Martin Clever, the grandfather, survived until about eighty-three years of age, and his wife reached the age of seventy-five years, both dying in Pennsylvania. Martin Clever, the father of Mrs. Adams, was born near Allegheny county, that state, six miles northwest of Pittsburg. In the spring of 1869 he came to Iowa, first locating north of Albia, but subsequently removed to that city, and there he still resides. His wife, a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, died in Allegheny county, that state, at the age of thirty-seven years. Ten children were born of this union, and with one exception all are still living, are married and have families of their own. Mrs. Adams remained on the old home farm until her marriage, and she, too, has become the mother of ten children, one of whom, LeRoy, died at the age of four years and three months. Those living are as follows: Martin H., who is married and has two children, and the family reside in Chicago, Illinois; Alexander George, whose wife died in Albia, leaving two children, and they are being reared by our subject and his wife; Elmira F., who is married and has two children; Robert L., who also has two children and is engaged in business in Albia; Mary M., who is married and had two children, one of whom is now deceased; Glen L., who is engaged in operating the home place; Nannie C., who is married and has one child; Ethel G., who is married and has one child; and Avis A., at home. The children reflect much credit upon the parents, and the family is one of prominence in the locality in which they reside.
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