Auten, Alex C.

AUTEN, COLLEY, BOATRIGHT, WESLEY, ALLEN, FINLEY, COLE, HALL

Posted By: Volunteer (email)
Date: 5/23/2007 at 20:52:48

Alex. C. Auten was born in Knox County, Ohio, July 20, 1839, and came of that stock which meant so much to the early history of this country. He is the second child in a family of eleven born to J. C. and Rebecca (Colley) Auten, both natives of Pennsylvania, of whom there are only seven now surviving besides the subject, namely: Mary E., who was the wife and is now the widow of Madison Boatright, living in Buena Vista Township, Jasper County, Iowa, Jacob Wesley, William Allen, James Finley, and Alice, who married Wheeler Cole, all living in Ohio, and Almira, wife of George Hall, living in Pennsylvania. Those of the family who have departed this life are: Henry Clinton, who died some years ago; Louisa died at the age of six; John died in infancy, and Emma, who married Stucker Robbins, died in 1875. Both father and mother died in Ohio, to which state they had removed soon after the birth of their eldest child, Henry Clinton, in the year 1837.

Alex. C. Auten and his sister, Mary E. Boatright, were the only members of the family that ever came to the West, and on January 16, 1862, Mr. Auten was united in marriage to Lois D. Foot, in Ohio, who was born in Knox County, that state, being the daughter of Aninijah and Elizabeth (Dilliston) Foot. She was one of fourteen children. One of her brothers, Wilbur Foot, enlisted in an Ohio company and served in the Civil War during the struggle between the North and South.

To Mr. and Mrs. Auten were born two children. The elder, Frank McClellan, was born in October 1865, while the family lived in Ohio, and Jay C. was born September 1, 1872, in Buena Vista Township, Jasper County, Iowa, but died at the age of sixteen years. In the spring of 1866 the family moved to Jasper County, Iowa, and for three years after coming west Mr. Auten rented land, after which period he purchased forty acres in Hixon Grove, Buena Vista Township. Later he sold this land and in 1895 he and his son, Frank, purchased one hundred and sixty acres in section I, in Buena Vista Township, which they still hold. The son Frank lives near the home place, with his interesting family of four children. The wife and mother, Susie May (Morris) Auten, was called from this life on June 2, 1910, leaving to mourn her loss, besides her husband, a little daughter, Annie Lois, aged eight years; two sons, Jay Morris, seven years old; Charles Winsor, four years old; and a baby daughter, Margaret, aged only two years.

Mr. and Mrs. Auten are well beloved and esteemed by all who know them, and are of the finest and best citizens of Jasper County. Both are faithful and consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

The Past and Present of Jasper County, Iowa, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-in-Chief, 1912, B. F. Bowden & Co., Indianapolis, IN, p 607.