Guthrie County >> 1884 Index

History of Guthrie and Adair Counties, Iowa
Springfield, Ill: Continental Hist. Co., 1884.

Union Township
Transcribed by Bobbi Pohl

Isaac Ansberry, son of George W. and Christina (Follett) Ansberry, was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, 1826. He is the fourth of a family of six children. He left Ohio in the fall of 1884, for Guthrie county. He settled in Bear Grove township, staying there three years, then settling at his present home. He was married March 8, 1848, to Miss Caroline Potts, daughter of Joseph and Susanna (Garner) Potts. They have seven children--Joseph, aged thirty-three years, married in 1878 to Amanda L. Ansberry; George W., single, aged thirty-two years; Famma J., aged thirty, married in 1876, to W. H. Kingon; J.P., aged twenty-five, married to Miss Sarah I. Hyde, in 1880; I. R., aged twenty-two, single; Hannah S., aged twenty; Charles, aged fifteen. Mr. Ansberry owns two thousand four hundred acres of good, cultivated land in Union township. He pays particular attention to the raising of cattle and hogs. He has been school director and trustee of Union township, which position he now holds, for over three years. He stands among the most prominent citizens of Guthrie county.

John Ansberry, son of Isaac and Caroline (Potts) Ansberry, resides on section 33 [Union township]. He was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, October 23, 1856. He moved with his parents to this township about eighteen years ago. He was married January 1, 1880, to Miss Sarah Hyde, daughter of Nicholas and Araminda (Merlin) Hyde. They have two children--James Edward, aged three years, and Frederick, aged one year. He owns three hundred and forty acres of good cultivated land, three hundred and twenty acres upon which he resides in section 33, and the remainder in section 27. He has large numbers of stock and pays particular attention to his different kinds of cattle.

Mrs. Mary Ann Bailey was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, 1818. She went to Delaware county when eleven years of age, and was married in that county, at the age of fourteen, to Peter Luckinbill. She afterward went to Union county, Ohio, where she resided about twelve years, when she came to Johnson county, Iowa, in 1855. In the same year she moved to Iowa county, and remaining there a short time, moved to Orange township, and from there to her present location in 1857, and is the mother of twelve children, nine of whom are living--Margaret, married Martin Wilson in the fall of 1856; Thomas, aged forty-six, married in 1857 to Miss Louisa Drake; James (first wife Sara Ann Carpenter; second wife, Effie Decker); Peter, married Jane Davis; Eliza Ann, married Jacob Deitrick; Leray, married Emma Kinney; Araminda, married James Martin; Alvin, married Clara Abbott; Calvin, married Velma Parlow; Albert, single; Jahew, died in 1856; Thomas and George, both of whom died in the army. Mrs. Bailey was called to her home beyond "the shining river" on the 12th of May, 1884, leaving a mourning family.

The following beautiful poem commemorative of her death was written by Miss Lizzie Hyde, and is inserted at the request of Mrs. Bailey's friends:

    You will miss your mother's kind
        Words, brothers and sisters dear,
    But she quietly and peacefully passed away
        From this world of care.

    She has crossed the dark river of death,
        And is safe on the evergreen shore,
    Her sons were watching and waiting
        For her; they have met to part no more.

    God looks down from his throne
        Most high upon this world of sin,
    He knows who is ready and willing to go,
        So he gathers his harvest in.

    She left nine children here below,
        And she always had a kind word,
    But her mission is over here below
        And heaven is her reward.

W. H. Bryan, son of John and Rosa (Walston) Bryan, was born in Ross county, Ohio, in 1843. When he was six years of age he came with his parents to Jones county, Iowa, where he remained over thirty-two years. He removed to Greene county, and remained there two years, and then removed to his present location, on section 32 [Union township]. He was married November 27, 1867, to Miss Margaret Kolb, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Kolb. They have four children--Rufus, aged fifteen; Annie, aged ten; Mary Etta, aged seven; Archey, aged three years. He owns two hudred and twenty acres of good land, nearly all under cultivation; he pays particular attention to the raising of cattle and other stock. He is school director of this district.

D. C. Kinney, a prominent citizen of Union township, was born in Lebanon, Warren county, Ohio, in 1825, being the son of Aaron and Elizabeth (Egbert) Kinney. In 1831 he went with his parents to St. Joseph county, Indiana, where he was married September 13, 1854, to Miss Mary Jane Anthony, a daughter of William and Matilda (Curry) Anthony. They have had five children--Malissa E. died June 20, 1856; William R., died March 13, 1860; Emma J., married Loray Luckinbill; Ida May, died July 4, 1864; Nora Louisa, born May 7, 1865. March 20, 1856, he left Indiana and went to Lewis county, Missouri, where he followed farming. In Septemer, 1861, he moved to Decatur county, Iowa, and six months afterward to Warren county, remaining about one year. From there he moved to Marion county, and in 1866 came to Union township, locating on section 11, where he still resides. He owns some one thousand four hundred acres of land, most of which is in Union township, and nine hundred and fifty acres of which is under cultivation, and twenty acres of good timber. He has four dwellings on his land, his residence being on the west half of the northeast quarter of section 11. He is a farmer and stock-raiser and has a full-blooded Norman horse. Mr. Kinney has been quite prominent in township affairs, and has held the different township offices. He was township clerk in 1866, and was trustee for seven years, his last term expiring in 1882, when he refused to again hold the office. Mrs. Kinney was born in Hamilton county, Indiana, September 18, 1836, and went with her parents to St. Joseph county in 1844, where she was married.

Calvin Luckinbill is a native of Ohio, having been born in that state in 1853. With his mother came to Guthrie county in 1856, and to Union township in 1858. He was married in September, 1880, to Miss Susan Velma Partlow, daughter of Hiram and Mary U. Partlow. They have had one child to bless their union--Bertha Belle, who was born in July, 1882. Mr. Luckinbill is the owner of two hundred and twenty acres of good land, one hundred acres of which is in section 32, and one hundred and twenty acres in section 18. The land which is located in section 32 is all well improved. Besides farming he pays some attention to stock-raising.

Loray Luckinbill, son of Peter and Mary Ann (Dixon) Luckinbill, was born in Union county, Ohio, April 30, 1849. He came with his parents to Johnson county, Ohio, 1855, and remaining there one year, they came to Iowa county, Iowa. He moved to Seeley township, Guthrie county, and remaining there one year, he came to Union township, where he now resides, on the northeast quarter of section 12. He was married on the 23d day of August, 1874, to Miss Emma J. Kinney, daughter of D. C. and Mary J. (Anthony) Kinney. They have three children--Minnie A., Clinton A. and Ernest A. They moved to their present location in April, 1876. He owns four hundred and five acres of land, three hundred and fourteen acres of which are unter cultivation; one hundred and sixty acres and eighty acres in section 12; eighty acres in section 1; eighty acres in section 7, and five acres of timber in Orange township. Mr. Luckinbill pays particular attention to his cattle, horses and hogs. He held the position of school director one year, time expiring in 1879, and also held the position of road supervisor for three years, time expiring in 1880.

George E. Mitchel was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in August, 1855. He remained there some ten years, when he moved to Clinton, Iowa, where he remained about ten years. He then came to Guthrie county, and purchased a farm of two hundred acres, on section 21 [Union township], where he now resides. He pays particular attention to the raising of cattle and hogs, and has one of the best improved farms in the township. Mr. Mitchell has been connected with the educational interests of the township and has held the position of road supervisor for three years, and has held other township offices of which he was capable, and has never been anything but the most prominent man in his township.

George B. Nelson was born in Stark county, Ohio, February 19, 1843. When he was twenty-three years of age he was married to Miss Margaret Kryder, daughter of Jacob and Sarah (Lind) Kryder. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson moved to Freeport, Illinois, and remaining four years, they went to Dexter, Dallas county, Iowa and staying there only about two months they came to their present location [Union township]. The have five children--Charles, aged sixteen; Frank K., aged fourteen; Sarah Elizabeth, aged twelve; George B.J., aged ten; and Emma L., aged six. Mr. Nelson has one hundred and sixty acres of well improved land. He has a large number of stock. At the age of twenty-one Mr. Nelson enlisted in the Union army, in the 104th Ohio, under Colonel O. G. Steel. He had belonged to a company of home guards, and before becoming of age had often requested to be allowed to go to the army, but was not allowed the privilege until becoming of age. His regiment was assigned to the 23d army corp, General John M. Schofield commanding, and took part in a number of battles, among which was the battle of Resacea, and was in all the fighting down to Kenesaw mountain, where he was detailed for special duty. He was in the division that relieved Joe Hooker at Burt Hickory. He was honorably discharged at the close of the war, at Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1865. He received a district school education and also attended Mount Union college, at Mount Union, Ohio. He has a diary of great interest, which he kept at the time when he was in the army. He was commissioned justice of the peace in Stephenson county, Illinois, in April, 1871, which position he held for one year, when he resigned. He is a strong republican in politics, and has held the office of justice of the peace the last eight years, besides other township offices. He was in attendance at the time of Lincoln's second inauguration. He joined the Methodist Episocpal church when thirteen years old, and has been a member ever since, and has for many years been one of its leading members.

Frank A. Thompson was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1852 and is the son of George B. and Mary A. (Snyder) Thompson. When twenty-one years of age he removed to Des Moines, Iowa, where he remained two years, then going to farming south of Des Moines, remaining there two years, and then going to Jewell county, Kansas. After remaining there one year, he again returned to Des Moines, Iowa, and one year later came to Union township, Guthrie county, and located on section 28, where he still resides, and owns one hundred and sixty acres of good land, one hundred acres of which is improved. He was married in Pensylvania in 1875, to Miss Agnes Johnson, a daughter of William and Mary (Spiegman) Johnson. They have five children--Paul A., William, George R., Mary B., and Frank J. Besides farming, Mr. Thompson is also engaged in stock-raising.