William L. Hale, b. 1815

LANG, ROSS, MILLER, WOOD, ADLER, WILCOX, GARLAND, HUNT

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 2/21/2004 at 11:30:03

William L. Hale, late of Monmouth Township, and one of its most praise-worthy citizens, was born in Ireland, in 1815, and departed this life at his homestead in 1880. He was reared to manhood in this native place, and worked in the coal mines of that country for a period of thirty years. There also he was married to Miss Mary Lang, and they, crossing the Atlantic about 1850, setted in the Province of Ontario, Canada, near the town of Bruce.

In the Dominion Mr. Hale occupied himself in the copper mines two years, then coming over into the States took up his abode in Youngstown, Ohio, where he was employed in a coal mine two years. In 1861 he crossed the Mississippi, and coming to this county purchased 120 acres of land, located on sections 21 and 28 in Monmouth Township. Upon this he labored nineteen years, until the illness which terminated in his death. His wife, Mary, had passed away two years prior to the demise of her husband.

Mr. Hale accumulated a comfortable property, the result of his own industry and perseverance. When leaving Ireland he had no money, and thus commenced at the foot of the ladder, a stranger in a strange land. He possessed in a marked degree, however, those qualities which have distinguished his countrymen wherever they are known, and he not only became well-to-do, but enjoyed the esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens. He was a member in good standing of the Presbyterian Church, and left to his children a record of which they will never be ashamed.

Mr. and Mrs. Hale became the parents of ten children, the eldest of whom, a daughter, Jane, is the wife of James Ross, of Wright County, this State; William L. resides at the old home in this county; John makes his home in Louisiana; Mary is the wife of William Miller, of this county; James is a resident of Webster County; Agnes was married to Frank Wood, and died in Louisiana in 1889; Alexander is a resident of this township, this county; Margaret became the wife of John Adler, and died in Woodbury County; Ellen follows the profession of a teacher; and Rebecca is the wife of Sherman Wilcox, of this township.

William L. Hale, the eldest son of our subject, is likewise a native of Ireland, and was born Nov. 13, 1839. He at an early age entered the mines with his father, and accompanied the family subsequently in their various removals to Canada, Ohio and Iowa. After a year's sojourn in this county he returned eastward as far as Illinois, and worked in the mines near Moline three years. In the meantime he was married to Miss Hannah Jane Garland. This lady was born in the city of Pittsburg, Pa., and when quite young removed with her parents to Illinois, where she remained until her marriage.

Soon after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. William L. Hale took up their abode in Monmouth Township, this county, where Mr. Hale purchased 120 acres of land. Three years later however, he sold this, and purchased the old homestead of his father, which he now owns and occupies. Mr. and Mrs. Hale are the parents of eight children, only five of whom are living, namely: Mary, the wife of Artie Hunt; Ella, Willie, Dollie and George. Mr. Hale, politically, votes the straight Republican ticket, and has held the various school offices of his county. He is not connected with any religious denomination, but is the friend of morality, law and good order, and contributes both his moral and substantial support to those enterprises calculated for the general good of the people.

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