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MILO E. WHIPPLE, now practically retired from active life, though still residing on his farm in Taylor township, Benton county, Iowa, was born at the old homestead of the family, just west of the College for the Blind in Taylor township, September 15, 1858. He is a son of Cyrenius T. Whipple, mentioned at length elsewhere in this work.
Reared in his native township, Milo E. Whipple has spent most of his life within the county; he has devoted himself with ambition and energy to farming, and has been most successful; he owns one hundred and twenty acres of well improved, fertile land, where he now resides. For some years past Mr. Whipple has been a director of the Farmers' Mutual Telephone Company, and has also been interested from time to time in other enterprises. He has traveled extensively throughout Montana, Wyoming, Washington, and other western states, and has secured a farm in Montana. Politically he is a Republican and has held various township offices. He is a public-spirited, useful citizen, and highly respected in the community, where he is well known.
Mr. Whipple married, in Clinton, Iowa, Lottie L., daughter of Captain J. W. Barr, now retired and living at Vinton. Mrs. Whipple is a native of Benton county. Mr. Whipple and his wife have three children, all born in Taylor township, namely: Dudley H., aged twenty-six years; Maud M.; and Charlotte Jane, aged seventeen. Dudley H. is engaged in the lumber business, resides at Thatcher, Washington, and married Grace Derr. Maud M. is the wife of Charles Frederick, late of Seattle, Washington, now living near Lindsay, Dawson county, Montana; they have one daughter, Marie Luella. Charlotte Jane lives at home, and is now attending Sacred Heart School, a parochial institution, at Cedar Rapids.
Captain J. W. Barr, now retired from active life and residing at Vinton, has been a resident of Benton county since September, 1866. He was born at Columbus, Ohio, March 4, 1840, and is a son of John and Maria (Spencer) Barr, both natives of Maryland, who came to Ohio in their youth, with their respective families. The Barr family had resided in Maryland for several generations, and Mr. Barr has an ancestor who fought in the Revolution. John Barr was of English descent and his wife of Welsh. The Spencer family were originally from Pennsylvania.John Barr was one of the early proprietors of the Ohio State Journal, and was a printer by trade. By close application to his business his eyesight became impaired, and his last days were spent in farming. He died in 1847, at the age of thirty-six; his widow passed away in 1898, at her son's home in Vinton, at the age of seventy-three. Besides Captain Barr they had one daughter, Mary, who married H. D. Smith, formerly in the drug business at Vinton, but now living in California. Mrs. Smith died several years since.
Captain Barr was reared in Ashland county, Ohio, and received his education in the public schools, making his home with his maternal grandfather, William Spencer, who had a store at Albion, Ohio, for many years until it burned. Mr. Spencer closed out his interests in Ohio and removed to Stephenson county, Illinois, in the spring of 1860, and there conducted business until his death. Captain Barr assisted his grandfather in the work at the store until the beginning of the Civil war, and September 10, 1861, was mustered into Company B, Forty-sixth Illinois Infantry, as private. He was promoted through various ranks to first lieutenant, after the battle of Fort Donelson, commanding the company there and at Shiloh. He was twice wounded at Shiloh, and still carries a bullet near his spinal column. He spent some time in a hospital at Savannah, Tennessee, and was mustered out May 25, 1866, having spent a little over four years and eight months in the service. Captain Barr spent eighteen months on the staff of Brigadier General J. W. Davidson, mainly in the Sixteenth Army Corps, although he spent some time in the Seventeenth. He was taken prisoner at the Siege of Vicksburg. He returned and spent a short time in Stephenson county, Illinois, but during the war had purchased a farm of three hundred and twenty acres in Homer township, Benton county, then unimproved, wild land. In 1866 he located in Vinton, and has been engaged there in various enterprises.
Captain Barr spent many years in the furniture and undertaking business; he conducted it alone three years and then entered into partnership with G. L. Freeman, to whom he later sold his interests. In the fall of 1885 he was elected sheriff and served from January, 1886, until January, 1890; he had previously served two terms as councilman of Vinton. Since 1890 Captain Barr has been practically retired. Politically he has always been a Republican. Captain Barr is a charter member of P. M. Coder Post No. 98, Grand Army of the Republic, of Vinton, of which he is a past commander, and of which he was the first senior vice-commander. He is a member of the Masonic Order, having taken thirty degrees, including the Scottish Rite. For nine years he was secretary of the blue lodge, chapter and commandery, of Vinton.
Captain Barr married (first) in 1861, in Stephenson county, Illinois, Lottie K. Davis, a native of that county, who was born in 1840; she died in the fall of 1880. Mrs. Barr was a daughter of Horatio G. Davis, and left six children, all living, namely: Lottie Luella, wife of Milo E. Whipple, of Taylor township; John D., of Des Mones, Iowa; Mary Maria, wife of L. Huffaker, of Chicago; Mary, wife of George H. Thompson, of Los Angeles, California; Bessie, wife of J. L. Hayward, professor in a commercial college in Auburn, Rhode Island; and Ralph, a traveling salesman. Captain Barr married (second) Agnes McLanahan, from Hagerstown, Maryland, and they have three children, namely: Mabel, who graduated in 1908 at the Iowa State Normal College, a teacher in Howard county, Iowa; Winthrop, a machinist, of Waterloo, Iowa; and Edna, at home.
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