Ichabod Merriam

MERRIAM, MILES, DIXON, BRATHWAIT, FARLEY, ROSE

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 11/13/2011 at 09:30:44

ICHABOD MERRIAM. A good standing among the agriculturists of Grundy County is held by the gentleman above named, whose comfortable estate of one hundred and twenty acres is located on section 2, Fairfield Township. The farm bears a full line of improvements, including all the necessary buildings, and is supplied with the most approved methods of machinery used in its cultivation.

A few words regarding the parents of our subject will not be amiss before commencing the history of his own life. They were Christopher and Martha (Miles) Merriam, natives of Canada and Massachusetts, respectively. The father, who was reared and educated in Canada, was a farmer by occupation, and died when a young man. The mother traced her ancestry back to the “Mayflower,” and lived to an advanced age, dying when in her eighty-fourth year. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and became the mother of one child, our subject.

Our subject remained at home with his mother for some time after his father’s decease, and received a good education in the district school near his home in New York. When attaining his majority, he learned the trade of a carpenter, at which he worked for some time in the Empire State. Later desiring to try his fortunes in the western country, he traveled through Iowa, Wisconsin and Colorado, and in 1864 made a permanent location in this state, and five years later purchased eighty acres of the land upon which he is at present residing. He has been very successful in this calling, and now has one hundred and twenty acres in his estate, which attests to his high standing as an agriculturist.

In his political relations, Mr. Merriam always votes with the Republican party, and socially is a Mason, being connected with the lodge at his old home in New York. He is also a member of the Good Templars’ order, and evinces great interest in the welfare of this township. Our subject has never married, but made his home for many years in the home of John Dixon, of whose life we give the following:

Mr. Dixon was born in England, September 14, 1832, and is the son of William and Agnes (Brathwait) Dixon, also natives of that country. He was the third in order of birth of the parental family of nine children, of whom his brothers and sisters living are: William, Isabelle, Fannie, Jane and Agnes. The parents of Mr. Dixon lived for many years on a farm in England, and later emigrated to Canada, and finally to New York, locating on a farm in that state.

John Dixon went to Wisconsin when in his twenty-fifth year, and after a twelvemonth spent on a farm there, returned to New York, and in Niagara County married Miss Mary, daughter of George P. and Sarah (Farley) Rose, natives respectively of the Empire State and New Jersey. The father of Mrs. Dixon inherited a good farm of one hundred and fifty acres in Niagara County, to which he removed and operated, and where he is still living at the advanced age of eighty-six years. Mrs. Dixon, who is still living, reared a family of six children, of whom Thomas F. is deceased. The living are: Harriet Z. D., William G., John G., Marion A. and Henry B. After his marriage, Mr. Dixon lived in Wisconsin for five years, then in 1864 came to Fairfield Township, Grundy county, locating on a farm on section 2, which comprises one hundred and twenty acres of well improved land. Besides this property, he held interest in a one thousand acre tract in California.

Mr. Dixon was very popular in his community, and for four years held the office of Treasurer of Grundy County. He always took an active part in the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was a member, and earnestly endeavored to make his life correspond with the religion he professed. In politics, he was a strong Republican, and socially was a Good Templar. In his death, which occurred in August, 1892, the county lost one of its best citizens.

Source:
Portrait and Biographical Record
of Jasper, Marshall and Grundy Counties, Iowa
1894