Charles Howard Vail

VAIL, LAING, BRISTOL, GROSVENOR

Posted By: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs (email)
Date: 5/18/2009 at 13:34:37

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

pages 699-701

CHARLES HOWARD VAIL is a de-
scendant of the sixth generation of John
and Elizabeth Vail, who came from Eng-
land and landed at South-hold, Long Island,
in 1650, to enjoy freedom to worship God;
they were members of the Society of Friends.
They had three children - John, Samuel and
Martha. The eldest, John, was a useful min-
ister among the Friends of that remote period,
and his descendants became distinguished in
political life and scientific attainments. The
second son, Samuel, was born October 21,
1678, and was twice married. He purchased
a large plantation on Green Brook, near the
place that is now covered by Plainfield, New
Jersey; this property has been in time posses-
sion of members of the family ever since-164
years. Samuel Vail died April 26, 1733.
(A copy of his will is now in the possession
of C. H. Vail.) His eldest son, John, and a
brother occupied the Green Brook farm. In
1730 John married Margaret Shotwell Laing,
and they were the parents of eight sons who
were all married and who had large families,
whose descendants are numerous and widely
scattered. The eldest son, John Vail, Jr.,
and great-grandfather of C. H. Vail, married
Catherine Fitz-Randolph, a descendant of a
large and influential family of Friends, who
came from England to America in 1630, set-
tling in Massachusetts. John, Jr . and Cath-
erine had seven children - Margaret, Edward,
Amos, Isaac, Phoebe, Nathan and Joel. Dur-
ing the contest for American Independence,
when the British forces held possession of
Perth-Amboy and the adjacent country, Gen-
eral Washington and staff called at time farm
residence of John Vail, and asked to be guided
to some prominent spot on the mountain, from
which a good view of the plain below could
be obtained; this request was granted, and the
spot to which he was conducted still bears the
name of Washington's Rock. Edward Vail,
the second child of John, Jr., and Catherine
Vail, grandfather of our subject, was born
March 27, 1764, at Green Brook, New Jersey.
When a young man his father gave him one
of the Green Brook farms, and there he built
a commodious residence. On time 26th of
December, 1793, he was married to Sarah
Kinsey, of Woodbridge, New Jersey, who was
born June 8, 1770, and whose family have
always held an enviable position in the best
society - socially, politically and religiously.
They came originally from Scotland. Edward
and Sarah Vail had nine children, six of whom
lived to be over seventy years of age. Their
seventh son, Abel Vail, father of C. H. Vail,
was born February 12, 1807, at Green Brook,
New Jersey, and was married November 2,
1831, to Arletta Bristol, of Dutchess County,
New York. She was born March 1, 1809.
Abel Vail was a hatter for many years, but
afterward went upon the old homestead and
was a farmer the remainder of his days. He
and his wife were the parents of four children,
of whom C. H. Vail is the youngest. In 1853
Abel Vail moved to Indiana, settling near La
Porte; he died while on a visit to New York,
August 15, 1885. In the history of the So-
ciety of Friends in New Jersey, it is said that
there is no family name more honorably or
continuously associated with the welfare of
the society than that of the Vails. From the
earliest records of the meetings it is learned
that a conspicuous and important part was
always taken by some of the family from the
very beginning of the society. In 1687 men-
tion is made of John Vail, as an active mem-
ber of the first meeting at Amboy, and as one
of the founders of the meeting at that place.
Among the numerous names of ancestral
fame and honor, that of Vail was pronounced
the leading one in the number bearing it.
Charles Howard Vail was born February 26,
1851, near Plainfleld, New Jersey. When
two years of age his parents removed to Indi-
ana, in which State he grew to manhood; he
was educated in the district school, and spent
his summers working on the farm. In 1875
he came to Audubon County, Iowa, and set-
tled at Oakfleld; he soon after became clerk
in a general store, a position he held until
1878, when he took charge of a branch store
for R. Kemmling, at the old town of Hamlin.
In the fall of 1879 he formed a copartnership
with John T. Jenkins at Brayton, Iowa, in
the dry-goods and general merchandise busi-
ness, under the firm name of Jenkins & Vail;
this business relation continued until 1886,
when Mr. Vail was elected clerk of the dis-
trict court. He assumed the duties of that
office January 1, 1887, and in the fall of 1888
he was re-elected for the two years following,
having filled the office to the entire satisfac-
tion of his constituents. Mr. Vail was mar-
ried March 31, 1880, to Mrs. Martha C.
Reynolds, of Oakfield, Audubon County.
Mrs. Vail was born in New York. They have
two children - Arthur H., born in Brayton,
Iowa, June 2, 1881, and Arletta, born in
Brayton, Iowa, August 10, 1883. Mrs. Vail
had one daughter by her former marriage -
Rose G., wife of Joseph S. Grosvenor.