SAMUEL BOOKER

BOOKER

Posted By: Jake Tornholm (email)
Date: 4/21/2020 at 18:17:30

SAMUEL BOOKER, a resident of section 13, Douglas township, Adams county, is an early settler of this neighborhood. He located here in 1860, and has since made this place his home. His biography will be found of interest to many, and is herewith given:

Samuel Booker was born in Queen Anne's county, Maryland , February 3, 1818 , a son of John and Susan (Baker) Booker, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Maryland . John Booker's parents were Germans, and his father, Samuel Booker, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and was with General Washington when he crossed the Delaware bay . Samuel was left an orphan at the age of seven years, his parents both dying the same week, leaving a family of five children. Our subject found a home with Peter Swiggitt, was reared on a farm and received a limited education. At the age of twenty-one he began work at the carpenter's trade, which he has followed most [of] his life until the past few years, when he has been retired from active work. In the fall of 1838 he moved to Fayette county, Indiana, where he lived three years. He then traveled through the South, Mississippi , Louisiana and Alabama , returning to Fayette county in August, 1842. In 1846 he moved to Wabash county, Indiana, and made his home there until 1854. That year he located in Galena , Jo Daviess county, Illinois , and engaged in contracting and building and erected some of the best buildings in the place. The years 1858-59 he lived in Warren, that county. In 1860 he came to Adams county and settled on land he had purchased some years before. He built a log house, 15 x 16 feet, and in it made his home until 1873, when he built his present two-story residence. His home is located on a beautiful building site and is surrounded with pines, ornamental trees, shrubs, etc. He has an orchard of two acres and a half, a grove and other improvements. His farm contains 135 acres.

Mr. Booker was married October 18, 1845 , in Rush county, Indiana, to Elizabeth Willson, who was born in Delaware , May 7, 1821 , daughter of John and Maria (Slaughter) Willson. Her father was born in Delaware , and her mother in Halifax , Nova Scotia , of Scotch and English parents. Mr. and Mrs. Booker have nine children, namely; Robert, Council Bluffs, Iowa; Anna, wife of Henry Rice, Des Moines, Iowa; Lewis, Council Bluffs; Ella, wife of Abram Horton, of Douglas township, this county, was before her marriage an efficient teacher; Susan, of Creston, Iowa; William, who lives on his father's farm; Edgar, a brick mason by trade, now residing in Washington; Alma, wife of Allen Hibbard of Council Bluffs; Ida, wife of George McCormick of Omaha; they have two children deceased, Sarah, who died at the age of thirteen months, and Maria Jane, at the age of seven years.

During the war [of] the Rebellion Mr. Booker enlisted August 13, 1862 , in Company D, Twenty-ninth Iowa Infantry, and was honorably discharged November 26, 1862 , for disability. Politically he is a Republican. He and his wife are members of the United Brethren Church , and are honored and respected citizens in the community in which they reside.