Middlemas, Charles A.

MIDDLEMAS, TEMPLETON, DANNATT

Posted By: Volunteer Transcribers
Date: 1/28/2003 at 19:09:17

CHARLES A. MIDDLEMAS
After a busy and useful life Charles A. Middlemas is now living retired in DeWitt, Iowa, enjoying the fruits of former toil. For many years he was one of the most enterprising and successful farmers and stock dealers in this section of the state, owning and operating a valuable farm of three hundred and ten acres in Ailen's Grove township, Scott county, where he located in April, 1856. Mr. Middlemas was born on the Hudson river, in New York, September 18, 1844, a son of Jasper and Eliza (Templeton) Middlemas, both natives of Scotland and representatives of good old Scotch families. His paternal grandfather was Joseph Middlemas, who removed to Canada at an early day and settled in Montreal. The father of our subject was born near Glasgow and was there reared and married. In 1831 he took passage on a vessel bound for the new world and was fourteen weeks in crossing the Atlantic, during which time the ship encountered some very severe storms and was once driven back on the coast of Ireland. He had been educated in the Free Church of Scotland, but after coming to this country united with the Dutch Reformed church, and during his residence in New York engaged in preaching for the denomination. When he came to Iowa he joined the Presbyterian church and continued in the ministry of that church for many years. In April, 1856, he became a resident of Scott county, this state, where he purchased a tract of three hundred and ten acres of land, of which a few acres had been broken and a small log house erected thereon. This was his home for four years while developing his farm, and was then replaced by a more substantial and modern residence. A good barn and other outbuildings were also erected, shade and fruit trees were set out, and many other improvements made upon the place. The father spent his last days with a son in Brooklyn, Iowa, where he died in January, 1881, and his wife passed away in 1895, having been born in 1811. They were the parents of nine children, seven of whom reached mature years, while three sons and three daughters are still living. One son, W.P., was killed on his farm near Brooklyn during the Grinnell cyclone.
Charles A. Middlemas grew to manhood on the old homestead and was educated in the local schools. On the 8th of February, 1877, was celebrated his marriage with Miss Marian Dannatt, a native of England and a daughter of John Dannatt, who [Pg. 70] brought his family to the United State in 1852 and settled in Clinton county, Iowa. (See sketch of Charles J. Dannatt elsewhere in this volume.) Mrs. Middlemas was reared and educated in this county. Our subject and his wife have seven children: Edwin, who is now living on his father's ranch, in South Dakota; Earl, a street car conductor, of Chicago; Bertha, a trained nurse, of Moline, Illinois; Amy, at home; W.V., who has a position in a mercantile store in DeWitt; and Lottie and Marion, who are attending school in DeWitt.
After his marriage Mr. Middlemas remained on the old homestead farm in Scott county, to which he succeeded after his father's death, having purchased the interests of the other heirs. He always gave considerable attention to the raising and feeding of cattle and hogs, fattening from three to five carloads of stock for market each season. He also bought stock from other farms and shipped the same, being one f the most successful stock dealers in this section of the state. He continued to reside upon is farm until 1899, when he purchased a good residence in DeWitt, and took up his residence there on the 28th of November, that year, since which time he has practically lived a retired life, though he still looks after and keeps up the farm.
In his political views Mr. Middlemas is a Democrat, but cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, in 1864, and at local elections votes for the men whom he believes best qualified for office, regardless of party affiliations. He has never cared for official honors, but has always taken a deep and commendable interest in educational affairs, and was a member of the school board for some years. He is widely known as a man of sterling worth and strict integrity, and is held in the highest respect by his many friends throughout Scott and Clinton counties.  
Source: The 1901 Biographical Record of Clinton Co., Iowa, Illustrated published: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1901.