CHARLES B. DEWEY

DEWEY

Posted By: Jake Tornholm (email)
Date: 4/22/2020 at 15:43:54

CHARLES B. DEWEY, a farmer and stock-raiser of Quincy township, Adams county, was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1830, a son of Thomas L. and Mary (Morris) Dewy, natives of Pennsylvania, who moved when Charles B. was four years old to Morgan county, that State. He vividly remembers many of the incidents of that journey. The family afterward moved to Athens county, same State, where Charles at length began life for himself, as a farmer. Soon he moved to the vicinity of Columbus, Ohio. In 1853 he emigrated to Iowa, settling in Henry county, where he enjoyed the rude but hospitable life of a frontiersman. In 1863 he came to Adams county and settled on section 3, Quincy township, where only twenty-eight acres of land had been broken. The rest of his admirable farm of 270 acres he has himself made from virgin soil. In time he became fully engaged in the rearing of live-stock, in which he has excelled. Although sixty years of age, he is still hale and active, and personally superintends his interests. He has been an efficient member of the School Board. In religion he has been a consistent member of the United Brethren Church ever since he was nineteen years of age, and politically he has been a Republican ever since the formation of the party, aiding in the election of the first Republican Governor of this State.

He was married, in 1850, to Miss Mary Gardner, a lady of rare Christian character, and through all the long struggle from poverty to affluence she has been a reliable and efficient aid. At marriage their capital was only five dollars, one dollar of which went for the ceremony. They are now enjoying a competence in the evening of life. She also is a member of the United Brethren Church.
They have had six children, namely: Sarah, now Mrs. Bristow, of Nebraska, and the mother of seven children; Eliza McCormick, of Quincy township, the mother of three children; Frances M., now the wife of Rev. Surface, a United Brethren minister, and the mother of one child; Mary A., now the wife of Mr. Rodgers, president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers at Galesburg, Illinois, and has four children; Charles A., an engineer living in Georgia, and Lewis J., who died at the age of sixteen years.