RICHARD F McMEANS, b 13 Feb 1842

MCMEANS, BELL, MACKAY

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 7/10/2004 at 17:01:13

R.F. McMeans, Warden of the Jackson County Poor Farm, and County Supervisor, is a man of prominence and influence among his fellow-citizens. He is gifted with ability and tact of high order, and is in every way fitted for the responsible positions that he occupies. He is identified with the farming interests of this township, owning a choice farm, located on sections 19 and 30.

He was born in Clarksville, Mercer Co., Pa., Feb. 13, 1842. (For parental history, see sketch of his brother, Philetus McMeans.) When five years old he came west with his parents, traveling by boat up the Mississippi River to Bellevue, arriving here May 7, 1847. He was here reared amid pioneer scenes to a vigorous manhood, gleaning his early education at the primitive log school house of early times, assisting his father on the farm when not in school. Thus the years passed by until he was nineteen years old, and the great conflict between the North and South breaking out in that year, he watched the course of the struggle with intense interest, and with the patriotic ardor of youth he determined to join his friends and comrades at the front, and fight for the honor of the Stars and Stripes, and in the month of August his name was enrolled as a member of Company M, 2d Iowa Cavalry. He was mustered in at Davenport, and his regiment was dispatched to the seat of war in season to take part in the charge before Corinth, and in the Brownsville raid. Our subject fought under the gallant Phil Sheridan at the battle of Brownsville, July 2, and took an active part in the following list of battles: Iuka Springs, second battle of Corinth (Oct. 2, 1862), Coffeeville, Moscow, Collierville, Water Valley, Jackson (Tenn.), and it was claimed by the leading general that his regiment was kept in the most active service all the time while it was at the front. The last two years he was in the army Mr. McMeans was bugler for his regiment, and served until October, 1864, after more than three years hard fighting, marching, and other severe experiences of a soldier life, when he was honorably discharged at Davenport, Iowa. He returned to his old home, and remained there about four years, engaged principally in farming.

In the spring of 1869 our subject removed to Crawford County, Iowa, and in Dow City bought 160 acres of improved land, which he cultivated until 1870. In the fall of that year he returned to Jackson County, where he bought 100 acres of land adjacent to the old homestead, and after farming it some years, sold it in 1880, and bought a farm of ninety acres adjacent to it. In the spring of 1880 he disposed of that at an advance, and purchased his present farm of 157 acres. It was partly improved, and he has made other improvements, has a good set of buildings on that place, and the farm is in good order. He has paid most attention to stock raising and buying, and was engaged in raising full-blooded Short-horns for some time. In January, 1889, he was appointed Superintendent of the County Infirmary and Farm by the Board of Supervisors, and is ably managing the affairs of this responsible office in a manner to give perfect satisfaction to all concerned. The County Farm comprises 441 acres of land, of which 300 acres are under cultivation, has large and well-appointed buildings, and is well stocked, having a large herd of cattle and horses.

Mr. McMeans was married, in Ottumwa, Wapello Co., Iowa, in 1870, to Miss Sarah M. Bell, and to them have been born four children - Fred (who died at the age of eight months), Mina, Roy and Jessie. Mrs. McMeans was born in Mercer County, Pa., and came West to Minnesota with her parents, Charles and Elizabeth (Mackay) Bell. Her father was a soldier, being a member of a MInnestoa regiment, and was killed in the Little Crow massacre. Mrs. McMeans came to Jackson County in the fall of 1863, and subsequently went to live with an uncle in Ottumwa.

Mr. McMeans is a man of clear judgment and keen intellect, whose character for incorruptibility and integrity of purpose is undoubted, and he has risen to his present high position in the social and public life of Jackson County solely through his own merit. He has served on the local school board, and has been Township Clerk five years. He was elected County Supervisor in the fall of 1885, and at the expiration of three years he was re-elected in the fall of 1888, his course through-out his entire term having been such as to commend him to the people. Mr. McMeans is a prominent member of the Republican party, and that he owes his elevation to his popularity, and not to his political affiliations, is shown by the fact that he has been elected to office in a community largely Democratic. He has been a delegate to county and State conventions, and has been a member of the County Central Committee. He is a member of the A.F. & A.M., at Andrew, Hermitage Lodge No. 298; is Senior Warden of the Chapter at Maquoketa, Bath Kol Chapter No. 40, Tancred Commandery. He is a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge at Andrew, belongs to the A.O.U.W. at Andrew, and is identified with the G.A.R., being a member of the R.M. Smith Post. Mrs. McMeans is an esteemed member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

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