IRA T TOWNER, b 13 Oct 1807

TOWNER, TAFT, SMITH, GOULD, BOND, WAUGH, GRAVES

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 1/8/2005 at 09:49:25

Among the residents of Maquoketa there are none held in greater regard, or that are more worthy of the high respect accorded to them by all, than the venerable subject of this sketch and his amiable wife. They are old settlers of this city, have witnessed its growth with pleasure, and have contributed not a little to bring about its present prosperous condition. And it gives us great pleasure to place this brief record of their lives in this BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM of Jackson County.

They are both derived from sterling New England stock, and Mrs. Towner's native place was among the green hills of Vermont, although she was reared in the beautiful old town of Crown Point, Essex Co., N.Y., of historial fame, which town was the birth-place of Mr. Towner. Ephraim Towner, the father of our subject, was a native of the State of New Hampshire, as was also his wife, whose maiden name was Rhoda Taft. They removed from New Hampshire to New York in 1803, and became pioneers of Crown Point. In a history of that town, compiled by Samuel Spaulding and published in 1874, Mr. Towner receives honorable mention among the pioneers, and in the assessment roll, as given for the years 1818, 1835, and 1872, Ephraim Towner's name was one of the three that appeared in all these rolls. When he first moved there he made a claim to a tract of land, and later secured a title to it. It was then covered with huge forest trees of primeval growth, and his first work before clearing the land for cultivation was to build a log house to shelter his family, and in that primitive abode our subject was born. The father cleared the greater part of a hundred acres of land, and was a resident there until his death, in 1872, at the extreme old age of ninety-six years. He was a man of fine physique, having a sane mind in a sound body, possessed rare enterprise, courage and capacity, and was a man of influence among this fellow-pioneers. He was one of the pillars of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Crown Point, and was ever steadfast in the faith. His good wife preceded him in death, rounding out a useful life in 1860. There were eleven children born to this worthy couple, seven sons and four daughters.

Their son Ira, of whom we write, was born on the homestead in the forest clearing, Oct. 13, 1807, and was there reared to a stalwart manhood. He well remembers the pioneer scenes of his youth, when there were no railways or canals, and communication between different parts of the country was difficult. Bridport, Vt., was the nearest trading point, and it took two days to make the trip. After the Champlain Canal was opened, in 1819, there was more of a market for farm products. Maple sugar was largely produced in that region in those days, and was almost universally used by the early settlers for sweetening purposes. Our subject made his home with his parents until his marriage, Oct. 23, 1831, to Esther Smith, and one year after that he worked in his father's saw-mill. He then bought a farm adjoining his father's homestead, and, tearing down the old frame house which stood on the place at the time of purchase, he erected a handsomer and more commodious dwelling. He continued to reside on that place until 1854, and, in the meantime, gathered together a comfortable competence. In that year he came to Maquoketa, which was then a small place of four or five hundred people. His removal hither with his family was made by rail to Davenport, and thence by stage to Maquoketa, as there being no railways in the State at that time, all transportation was done by teams or by water. Mr. Towner purchased an acre of land adjoining the Academy grounds, paying therefor $288. He never built on it, but kept it in his possession until 1885, when he disposed of it for $1,000, which illustrates the rise in the value of real estate in this vicinity. In 1855 he bought a lot on Olive street, between Locust and Maple streets, and erected his present neat and cozy home. He cut the timber himself, it being mostly black walnut, and much of his own handiwork went into the building of this dwelling.

We must now refer briefly to Mrs. Towner's life-history. She was born May 11, 1810, in Springfield, Windsor Co., Vt., being a daughter of James and Lydia (Gould) Smith. Her parents removed from the Green Mountain State to New York in the year of her birth, and became early settlers of Crown Point. Her father served in the War of 1812, and took part in the battle of Plattsburg. He cleared a farm from the forests of Essex County, and there he and his wife passed their remaining years. Mrs. Towner was carefully trained by her mother in all the domestic duties that were then thought essential to make a good housekeeper, and she thus learned to knit, spin and weave when quite young, and after her marriage made all the cloth used in the family, weaving woolen blankets and linen sheets, as well as the clothes that herself, husband and children wore. The following is recorded of the four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Towner: Henry, born Aug. 3, 1834, married Johan Bond, and died in Maquoketa in 1856; Elizabeth, born March 21, 1837, married Henry Smith, and lives in Maquoketa; Lydia S. married J.H. Waugh, of whom see sketch; Hubbard E., born Nov. 16, 1845, enlisted as a drummer Aug. 7, 1862, in Company B, 26th Iowa Infantry, and the gallant boy bravely yielded up his life for his country at Vicksburg, Feb. 10, 1863. Henry left one daughter, Emma, who married John Graves, and lives in Vermont.

Mr. and Mrs. Towner are now in the fifty-eighth year of an unusually long and happy wedded life, and, although he has reached the milestone that marks eighty-one years in the journey of life, and she is seventy-eight years old, old age sits lightly on them, and they are still active and vigorous and do all their own work. They have secured a good income by their united toil, and, while enjoying its benefits themselves, their kind hearts are not unmindful of the needy and suffering around them. For fifty-two years Mrs. Towner has been a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has done what she could in its upbuilding in this community.

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