REW, O. M. [Osmer Maroni]

REW, SYLVESTER, COOPER, LAURENCE, GLENNEY, JOHNSON, SMITH, HUBBARD, KINDER

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 2/13/2014 at 01:14:12

History of Decatur County Iowa and Its People
Illustrated, Volumne II.

Prof. J. M. Howell and Heman C. Smith
Supervising Editors

The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company. Pp. 213-15. Chicago. 1915.

O. M. REW

O. M. Rew has made many improvements upon his farm of two hundred and forty acres on sections 7, 17 and 18, Fayette township, and has gained a reputation as a progressive and efficient agriculturist. He was born January 4, 1867, near Oregon Springs, Utah, a son of Sylvester and Elizabeth (Sylvester) Rew, both natives of Pennsylvania, the former born in Titusville. The father was of Scotch-Irish descent and the mother of German lineage. They were married in 1857 and went with an emigrant train to Utah but subsequently returned east and after residing in Wisconsin for seven years took up their residence in Fayette township, Decatur county, Iowa. Two years later they purchased a farm in that township and there the father died in July, 1896, when sixty-seven years of age. He engaged in teaching to some extent but devoted the greater part of his life to farming and was very successful in that occupation. He was a member of the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints and took an active part in its work. His wife is still living at Lamoni, at the age of seventy-three years, and is also a member of that church. Her mother recently died at the remarkable age of one hundred years. To Mr. and Mrs. Rew were born twelve children, as follows: Charles, of Lamoni; William, a resident of Oklahoma; Vet, deceased; O. M.; Mrs. Abbie Cooper, who resides in Nebraska; Mrs. Jessie Laurence, of Chicago; Mrs. Mamie Glenney, a resident of Nebraska; Arthur, who is living in Lamoni; Peter, who resides near that city; Lewis, also of Lamoni; Roy, whose home is in Nebraska; and Eddie, deceased.

O. M. Rew was reared and attended school in Wisconsin and Iowa but when but ten or twelve years of age put aside his textbooks and gave his father his entire time. He continued to reside under the parental roof until he was twenty-two years of age, after which he engaged in farming independently in this comity for two years. At the end of that time he went to Nebraska, where he resided for four years, and on returning to this county he rented land in Fayette township. In 1901 he purchased his first land, an eighty acre tract, and took up his residence thereon. He has since bought one hundred and sixty acres additional and owns and operates a fine home farm of two hundred and forty acres on sections 7, 17 and 18, Fayette township. He is energetic and progressive and uses the most advanced methods and the latest machinery in the work of cultivating the fields.

In December, 1889, Mr. Rew married Miss Janie Johnson, who was born in Crawford county, Iowa, in 1869, of the marriage of George and Louisa Johnson, who about 1879 removed with their family to Decatur county. The father has passed away but the mother is living in Nebraska. They reared twelve children, of whom ten survive. Mr. and Mrs. Rew have become the parents of twelve children, namely: Claude, a farmer of Bloomington township, who married Miss Daisy Smith, by whom he has one living child; Ada, the wife of Ray Hubbard, a resident of Colorado; Ralph, who is homesteading land in that state; Elzie, at home; Harold, a farmer of Fayette township, who married Miss Elsie Kinder, by whom he has one child; and Minnie, Harvey, Osmer, Wayne, Vera, Gladys and Ruby, all at home.

Mr. Rew is a democrat and is stanch in his support of the principles and candidates of that party. Fraternally he is quite well known, belonging to the local organizations of the Knights of Pythias, the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. Both he and his wife are members of the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints and they take a helpful interest in its work. From boyhood Mr. Rew has been an indefatigable worker and his present prosperity is due to his own industry and good management. His business dealings have always been straightforward and honorable and he holds the respect and good will of all who have come in contact with him.

NOTE: Osmer Maroni Rew died in 1952. Nancy Jane "Janie" (Johnson) Rew died in 1952. They were interred at Clearfield Cemetery, Clearfield, Kansas.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, February of 2014