Elias Fiscus

FISCUS, CONCANOUR, WYLEY, SPEAS

Posted By: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs (email)
Date: 3/27/2009 at 13:28:37

ELIAS FISCUS, an early settler and active farmer of Douglas Township, was born in the Hoosier State, in Owen County, May 7, 1837. His father, Levi Fiscus, an early settler of Indiana, was born in South Carolina, and was a son of Frederick Fiscus, a native of Germany. His mother was Barbara Ann Concanour, a daughter of Jacob Concanour. She was reared in Owen County, whither her parents had removed when she was a child. Levi Fiscus and family removed to Marshall County, Iowa, where his wife died in 1866. He died at the residence of his son, Adam Fiscus, in Audubon County, October 4, 1884, aged sixty nine years. There were seven children in the family, six of whom are living, Elias being the oldest. He received a common school education in Owen County, and remained on the farm with his parents until his twenty first year. He then began to learn the carpenter and cabinetmaker's trade, which he followed many years. He has worked at the trade some since he began farming. In the fall of 1865 he removed to Marshall County, Iowa, locating upon a farm nine miles northwest of Marshalltown. He resided there until the fall of 1870, when he removed to Shelby County and settled near Harlan. He remained there one year, and then came to Audubon County, purchasing eighty acres in section 7, Douglas Township. This land he broke out and improved, adding from time to time to his first purchase, until he now owns 259 acres in an advanced state of cultivation. The soil is fertile and is watered by the Nishnabotna River. Mr. Fiscus has been one of the pioneer stockfeeders, and has done much to advance this branch of farming in the county. In 1860 he was married to Harriet Fiscus, of Owen County, Indiana, where she was born and reared. They have four children living Benjamin F., Eliza Ann, wife of C. T. Wyley; Mary E., wife of A. H. Speas, and Walter S. Mr. Fiscus has served ninny years as township clerk, notary public and land agent. He takes an active part in politics, affiliating with the Democratic party. He is often chosen a delegate to conventions, a position he is well calculated to fill. He began the business of making a name for himself without any capital excepting that with which Nature had endowed him energy and determination to succeed. That he has prospered is very evident to him who looks over the broad fields and cultivated lands belonging to our subject. He is a man highly respected in the community, and is well worthy the regard in which he is held. Mrs. Fiscus died January 30, 1888. She was a devoted member of the Christian church. Mr. Fiscus also belongs to this church, and is one of its elders. He is the inventor of the Automatic Grain Weigher and Register, patented October 30, 1888, No. 391,888.

1889 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF
SHELBY AND AUDUBON COUNTIES, IOWA
W. S. DUNBAR & CO., PUBLISHERS
113 ADAMS STREET, CHICAGO

pages 788-789