Eli D. Moulton, 1829-1910

MOULTON, ADAMS, WOLFE, ATHERTON, COLEMAN, GREEN

Posted By: LuAnn Goeke (email)
Date: 7/12/2006 at 09:14:16

ELI D MOULTON

b 16 Apr 1829

MOULTON, ADAMS, WOLFE, ATHERTON, COLEMAN, GREEN

Eli D. Moulton, a pioneer of Jackson County, owns one of its numerous valuable farms, which, by downright hard labor, he has developed from the wild prairies. It is beautifully located on section 30, South Fork Township, one and one-half miles from Nashville, in the midst of a fine agricultural region. It is under high cultivation, is provided with good buildings, substantial and conveniently arranged, and is, indeed, first-class in all its appointments, and the home that he has built up here, is one of the pleasantest in the township.

Our subject was born in Stockholm, St. Lawrence Co., N.Y., April 16, 1829, to Thomas J. and Lucina (Adams) Moulton. The subject received his early education in his native State, and coming to this county with his parents when he was sixteen years old, he attended its pioneer schools two terms. When he came to Iowa just before its admission into the Union as a State, the land was mostly owned by the Government, and was for sale at $1.25 an acre. The question has undoubtedly asked him, as it has others, "Why, when the land was so cheap, he did not buy more ot it." His reply would be, as in many other cases, that he did not have the wherewithal. He was but a poor boy at that time, and had his own way to make in the world, starting out with no adventitious aid of birth and fortune, but his sole capital was a sane mind in a sound body, and it may well be his pride, that what he has and is, he owes to his own many exertions, and that he is numbered among the self-made men of the county, who have aided in its upbuildings. Wages here were then very low, twelve to fourteen dollars a month, being considered good pay, but Mr. Moulton was economical and prudent, and saved his money, determining to become independent. He soon made a claim, and in the winter of 1849-50, induced a gentleman in Dubuque to advance him the money, and enter his claim in the land office for him, he paying him twenty per cent for the use of the money. At that time there were no railways in this part of the West, and the river towns were for many years the nearest markets, and the price of produce was extremely low. Our subject continued working out by the month, and earned money enough to pay for his land, and at the same time he made some improvements on it. He now has it in a fine condition, with a commodious set of frame buildings, and the well-tilled land yields abundant harvests.

June 16, 1859, Mr. Moulton was wedded to Miss Margaret J. Wolfe, and to them have been born four children, of whom the following is recorded: James R., who lives in Humboldt County, Iowa, married Lena Atherton, and they have two children, Winfield and Imogene; Nettie D. married Isaac Coleman, of Humboldt County, Iowa, and they have one child, Grace; Luella and Milo W., are at home.

Mrs. Moulton was a native of Nicholas County, Ky., where she was born on the 1st of January, 1841, and where her ancestors had for many years lived. Her great-grandfather, Zazhariah* Green, and his wife, Anna, were aged respectively seventy-two and eighty-two when they died in Bath County, Ky. Mrs. Moulton is a daughter of James and Nancy (Green) Wolfe. The former was born Feb. 7, 1811, in Allegheny County, Pa. He moved to Nicholas County, Ky., when twenty-two years of age. On the 5th of December, 1839, he was married to Miss Nancy Green, a native of Bath County, Ky., where she was born Sept. 14, 1817. The marriage ceremony was performed in Nicholas County, Ky., by the Rev. John Holliday. He subsequently removed to Fleming County, that State, and in 1846, came to Iowa by way of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He bought land in this county, and removed here. A few years later he removed to Missouri, where he resided four years. At the expiration of that time he returned to Jackson County, and settled in Maquoketa, buying some land in the township, but did not live on it then. In 1874 he left the city to settle on his land, and a few months later departed to that "bourne from whence no traveler returns." His wife is still living, and makes her home in Cummingsville, Neb. Mrs. Wolfe was a daughter of Goldsberry and Jane Green. Goldsberry Green was a native of Bath County, Ky., where he was born in 1788. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade, and fought to defend American rights in the War of 1812. He died in 1866; his wife survived him eleven years.

John Wolfe, the father of James Wolfe, and the paternal grandfather of Mrs. Moulton, was supposed to have spent his entire life in Pennsylvania, where he was born in 1786, and died in 1856. His wife, who was born in 1788, passed away about the time of his decease.

Our subject has risen to a position of comparative affluence by honest toil and fair methods, and he is held in high regard in this community, where the greater part of his life has been passed, and where he is known by all to be a thoroughly good man and a reliable citizen.

* Typed exactly as printed in original volume.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois.)