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History of Benton County, Iowa
The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1910; Luther B. Hill, Ed.

Pages 562-565

NELSON B. CASE, retired, but still residing on his farm of one hundred and sixty acres in section 9, Canton township, has been a continuous resident of Benton county since 1854. He was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, April 24, 1825, and when he was about one year old the family moved to Medina county, Ohio, where he was reared and educated and lived until he reached the age of twenty-nine years. He is a son of Reuben and Margaret (Gallaher) Case, both of whom died in Medina county, Ohio. Reuben Case, probably a native of New Jersey, was a farmer all his life, and died when about sixty-seven years of age; his wife died at the age of seventy-three years. They were devout Methodists. Nelson was the sixth child of a family of four sons and three daughters, and is the only one now surviving. He received only a common school education in the district schools, and is self-made in every way, having improved his opportunities for advancement and learning to the best of his ability.

Mr. Case secured his present farm in the early fifties, by purchasing a land warrant from a veteran returning from the Mexican war, for the sum of one hundred and twenty-five dollars. Politically he is a Democrat, and has served many years as trustee. He is a prominent and influential citizen, and well liked and respected. He is one of the pioneers, having improved his land and brought it to a high state of cultivation and fertility from the wilderness.

In 1854 Mr. Case married, in Medina county, Ohio, Melinda Miller, born in 1829, in New York, and a daughter of Jacob and Amy (Dicks) Miller, early residents of Medina county, Ohio, where they died. Mr. Case and his wife spent their honeymoon on the trip overland in a typical "prairie schooner," to the new country in Benton county. Mrs. Case died there in 1872. They had three children, of whom one son died about 1891, leaving a widow and two children. This son, Medwin, married Annie E. Zeul, who now resides with Mr. Case. Her children are Benjamin B., operating eighty acres of Mr. Case's farm, and Bertner A., teaching school in the county. The other children of Mr. Case are Ernest D. and Arabella. Ernest operates a part of his father's farm; he married Lottie Montgomery, and they have five children. Arabella married W. E. Soden, of Canton township.

When Mr. Case came to this county he did most of his trading at Cedar Rapids, twenty miles away. There were no fences south of him. Mr. and Mrs. Case commenced keeping house in a one room log house which Mr. Case built after his arrival. Their children were all born in that room except the youngest, who was born in Ohio, and Mrs. Case died there. Since her death an upright frame has been added to the original building. When Mr. Case came to this county there were Indians here, and wild game of all kinds was abundant.

Picture of Nelson and Melinda Case



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