SUTCLIFFE, John S.

SUTCLIFFE, LOMAX, STELLY, ROBINSON, SHELLY, WHITMORE, STUMP, SMITH, CRAWSHAW, DUNN, SHAW, GULICK, TONY

Posted By: Annette Lucas (email)
Date: 5/22/2021 at 06:44:31

Many years have passed since this gentleman arrived in Monroe county, and he is therefore numbered among her honored pioneers as well as leading citizens. Long since has he passed the psalmist's span of three-score years and ten, being now in his eighty-fifth year, and his birth occurred in Kentucky. His father, John Sutcliffe, was born in England and was a local minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, while by trade he was a reed-maker. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Lomax, was also a native of England, and their marriage was celebrated in Kentucky. She was a daughter of John and Magdalene (Stelly) Lomax. John Sutcliffe and wife became the parents of the following children: Frederick, Mary A., Eliza, two who died when young, Seneca, Elsie, Julia, John S. and Joseph. In 1855 the parents came to Monroe county, Iowa, where they became owners of a valuable farm, but subsequently they removed to Fayette county, Indiana, from which commonwealth both were called to their final rest, the father passing away at the age of sixty-three years.

John S. Sutcliffe was reared in both Kentucky and Indiana, and in early life was taught the trade of reed-making. Since 1855 he has been a resident of Iowa, and his first home in this state was a little log cabin, which has since given place to a comfortable and commodious residence, and he has also erected a good barn, forty by eighty feet, and many other necessary farm buildings. His landed possessions consist of three hundred and twenty acres, where he is engaged in general farming and stock raising, and on his place is a valuable orchard of two acres. For fifty years Mr. and Mrs. Sutcliffe have traveled life's journey together, their mutual love and confidence increasing as year by year they have together met the joys and sorrows, the adversity and prosperity which checker the careers of all. Their marriage was celebrated in Fayette county, Indiana, and she bore the maiden name of Mary Jane Robinson, being a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Shelly) Robinson and a native of Fayette county. She was the eldest of her parents' six children, the others being: John and Franklin, deceased; Oscar H.. who died in California; Martha Ann, who died in Missouri; and Wash, who passed away in California. The parents both died in Cooper county, Missouri. Two children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Sutcliffe, but the son William died when only six weeks old.

Their daughter, Mary Elizabeth, was born in Fayette county, Indiana, on the 27th of June, 1850, and was reared and received her education in Monroe county, Iowa. She was first married to William Whitmore, a well known citizen of the county and a soldier of the Civil war, he having served in the Thirty-sixth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. At his death he left his widow with three children: John Oliver, a business man of Brown county, Kansas ; Ellen, the wife of N. Stump and the mother of three children: Maud, Charles and Ona; and Minnie Jane, who became the wife of Thomas Smith and has two children, Florence and Fern Elizabeth.

On the 17th of October, 1900, Mrs. Whitmore married Adam Crawshaw, who was born in Clinton, Iowa, September 12, 1843. His father, James Crawshaw, was born in Lancaster county, England, and after coming to the United States took up his abode in Rochester, New York. As early as 1837 he took up his abode in Iowa, thus becoming one of its earliest pioneers, and his death occurred in Clinton, this state, in 1851, when he was but thirty-six years of age. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Dorothy Dunn, passed away in 1845, leaving one son, Adam Crawshaw. James Crawshaw was twice married, and by his second union became the father of two children, Alice Ann, the wife of ex-Governor Leslie Shaw, and Jane Gulick, of Denison, Iowa. Adam Crawshaw proved himself a loyal defender of his country in her time of trouble, having for two years served as a soldier in Company G, Fourteenth United States Volunteer Infantry, First Brigade, Second
Division, Fifth Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac. His military services covered a period of two years and nine months, on the expiration of which period he received an honorable discharge and returned to his home in Iowa. In this state he was united in marriage to Mary C. Tony, who bore him three children: James T., a resident of Nebraska; Dorothy R., deceased; and O. U., who makes his home in Pennsylvania. In 1874 Adam Crawshaw removed to Nebraska, where for some years he made his home in York county but in 1886 went to Oberlin, Decatur county, Kansas, where in 1900 he held the position of census enumerator. For four years he also served as oil inspector of Iowa under Governor Shaw. Before reaching his twenty-first year, with a soldier's privilege, he supported Lincoln in his race for the presidency, and has ever continued to give his allegiance to the Republican party. His services in behalf of the Union during the Civil war entitle him to membership in the Grand Army of the Republic, where he maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades of the blue.