Couch, R. B.

COUCH, BEARD, FREEMAN, FINLEY, EDY, CORNEL, RHINEHARDT, JOHNSON, POST, MALLOW, DOUKMAN, EVERHART, MILLER, TOPPER, WHEELER

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/12/2009 at 07:01:37

R. B. Couch

The bustling towns, thriving villages and cultivated farms of Jasper County, Iowa, have so long been common objects to us, that it seems almost beyond belief that we have in our midst an honored citizen who was one of those hardy pioneers who saw this county when it was a primeval wilderness. Mr. Couch was born in Wayne, now Ashland County, Ohio, June 21, 1832, and was the sixth in order of birth of eight children born to the union of Barnabas and Clarissa (Beard) Couch, natives respectively of Massachusetts and Vermont. They settled in Ohio previous to their marriage. The Couch family settled in Ohio at an early date, and the Beards were among the first settlers of the Buckeye State.

Barnabas Couch was a saddler and harness maker by trade, and he was married in Ohio to Miss Beard, who was one of the first teachers of that state. She wall one of eight children, as follows: Acy, Calvin, Osiah; Annie, wife of Luther Freeman; Sarah, wife of John Finley; Charlotte, wife of Milton Edy; and Louisa, wife of Clark Cornel. To Mr. and Mrs. Couch were born seven children. Emily, who is deceased, was the wife of Hugh Rhinehardt; Curtis H. resides in Henry County, Ohio; Sarah, the widow of C. W. Johnson, resides in Mansfield, Ohio; Danvers S. makes his home in Colfax, Iowa; R. B. is our subject; K. G., who is deceased, was killed in the Shenandoah Valley, Va., during the war; he held the rank of Second Lieutenant of the Fifth New York Heavy Artillery; and Mary A. is the wife of Cumings Post, of Chicago, Ill. the father of these children died in Ashland County, Ohio, about 1839, and his widow died in 1853.

R. B. Couch was educated in the country schools of Ohio, and while still young learned the shoemaker's trade, which he worked at in Ohio for four years. August 12, 1862, he enlisted in Company K, One Hundred and First Ohio Infantry, under Capt. Montgomery Noble and Col. Leander Stemm. This regiment was composed of the following companies: Erie, Crawford, Wyandott, Seneca and Huron, and was mustered into service at Monroeville August 3, 1862. Our subject participated in the following battles: Perryville, Ky.; Knox Gap, Stone River, Tullahoma and Liberty Gap, Tenn.; Chickamauga, Rocky Face Ridge, Tunnel Hill, Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Kingston, Kennesaw Mountain, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Station, Franklin and Nashville, besides numerous skirmishes. Of his regiment, seventy-seven were killed, one hundred and sixty-nine wounded in action, and one hundred and sixty died of disease and wounds, making four hundred and six in all out of one thousand and eighty-eight men and officers. Mr. Couch was never wounded, never taken prisoner and was never in the hospital. He enlisted and served as a private.

Returning to Ohio after the war, he remained in that state until 1867, when he came to Jasper County, Iowa. For two years he resided near Newton and rented land from that time until 1877, for he came to the county with little means. He is now the owner of nearly three hundred and three acres in one body, and sixty acres of timber, for which he paid $25 per acre. Of this he now has two hundred and forty-five acres under a fine state of cultivation, and his buildings are all in first-class condition. In connection with farming he raises a fine grade of stock, and all his farming operations are conducted in a thorough and systematic manner. In his political views Mr. Couch has always been a firm Democrat.

In 1852 our subject was married to Miss Mary Mallow, of Ohio, daughter of James and Elizabeth (Doukman) Mallow, who were the parents of eight children. George lives in Ohio; Mary is the wife of our subject; Stephen and Martha are deceased; Robert resides in Ohio; Jane is the wife of Jacob Everhart; Malinda, who is deceased, was the wife of John Miller; and Arramena completes the list. The parents of these children died in the Buckeye State. To Mr. and Mrs. Couch were born nine children. D. H. was born in Ohio, on the 18th of May 1853, and resides in this county; Clara E., the wife of R. E. Topper, of Colfax, was born on the 14th of May 1855; Amanda, born in Ohio September 13, 1857, married Orville Wheeler, and is a resident of this county; James B. was born in Ohio in 1859, and died in 1869 from a rattlesnake bite; Charles W. was born in Ohio in 1861; Andrew was born in Ohio in 1866; Frank and Morren (twins), were born in this county in 1868; and W. A. was born in this county in 1872. Portrait and Biographical Record, Jasper, Marshall and Grundy Counties, IA Page 622.