Poage, James

POAGE, WOODS, RIGGS, DUNGAN, SCOTT, MCKINSTRY, PRESTON, DUNGON, EARL, DULIN, SHIPP, MCFARLAND

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/13/2009 at 18:13:28

James Poage, a farmer residing in Malaka Township, Jasper County, owns and operates two hundred and twenty acres of finely improved land. He is the grandson of Col. James Poage, a native of Virginia, who, removing to Ohio, owned and platted the village of Ripley. A man of excellent judgment and keen intuitive powers, he became wealthy and was numbered among the moneyed men of his community. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Woods, was of Irish decent, her mother having immigrated from the Emerald Isle to America in 1739. They had a family of thirteen children, of whom only one now survives.

The father of our subject, George G. Poage, was born in Brown County, Ohio, in 1809, and now resides in Norfolk, NE, making his home with a daughter. In former years he was a prominent preacher in the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches, but has now retired from the ministry. For a number of years he held pastorates in Ross and Logan Counties, Ohio, and from there removed about 1855 to La Salle County, IL, spending two years there. Later he settled in Jasper County, Iowa, residing here until 1889, since which time he has lived in Nebraska.

The marriage of George G. Poage united him with Miss Jane Riggs, a native of Pennsylvania, and they became the parents of five children, namely: James, of this sketch; Stephen W., who served as Captain of Company I, Tenth Iowa infantry, and was killed at the battle of Champion Hills, in May 1863; George C. and Mary Ann, who died at the respective ages of seven and three years; and Arabella, Mrs. Albert Dungan, who lives in Norfolk, NE. The wife and mother died March 1, 1889. She was an exemplary Christian woman, a true helpmate to her husband and tenderly devoted to the welfare of her children, Rev. Mr. Poage was, in former years, strong in his advocacy of abolition, and he is now equally firm in his allegiance to the Republican Party.

Born in Ross County, Ohio, September 3, 1834, our subject in his youth attended such schools as the period afforded. After conducting his studies in the high schools and spending one year in college, he commenced to teach school in Jasper County, following the profession there and in other places for five years. Meantime he devoted the summer seasons to farm work, and in 1866 discontinued teaching, and afterward gave his attention exclusively to farming. On October 27,1859, he married Miss Harriet E. daughter of Robert Scott, who was born in Waterbury, Conn., in 1836. At the age of fifteen he accompanied his parents to New York, and thence two years later removed to Geauga County, Ohio. At the age of twenty-four he went to Indiana, where he soon after ward purchased a small farm near Evansville, Warrick County. After spending eight years there, he came to Iowa, in 1848, but unfortunately lost $400, almost all he had, in falling off a boat. Locating in Scott County, near Davenport, he cleared and improved a small farm, where for a time he made his home.

Mr. Scott married Miss Matilda, daughter of Cyrus Earl, of Ohio, and they become the parent's of ten children, as follows: Rosetta M., the widow of Porter McKinstrey, and a resident of Nebraska; Lydia M., the wife of Thomas Dulin, of Nebraska, Harriet E., the wife of our subject; Ermina J., who lives in Nebraska; Emma A., wife of Lee Preston, of Iowa; Robert M., deceased; Lucian S., of Iowa; Mary A., deceased; Frank M. and Edgar C., both of whom live in Iowa. The father of this family located in Poweshiek Township, Jasper County, about 1855, and remained there until his death, which occurred February 22, 1875. In politics he was a Republican and in religious matters affiliated with the Congregational Church, in which he was a Deacon.

Mrs. Poage was born in Warrick County, IN, January 31, 1842, and by her marriage has become the mother of nine children, viz.: Stephen W., of Malaka Township; James M., whose home is in Baxter, this county; Robert A., a resident of Malaka Township; Frank and Leslie N., who are engaged in teaching school in Utah; Herbert E., Grace H. and Lucian S., who are at home; and George E., who died in infancy. In politics a Republican, Mr. Poage has served in a number of township offices and for many years was Justice of the Peace. In religious connections he and his wife hold membership in the Congregational Church. While he docs not engage actively in the tilling of the soil, as in the past, he still superintends the management of the farm, which under his intelligent supervision is one of the most productive in the county. Portrait and Biographical Record, Jasper, Marshall and Grundy Counties, IA Page 240.
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Poage, James R.

Among the honored gentlemen of a past generation in Jasper County was James R. Poage, a man who during his residence in this community merited and received the highest respect and esteem of his acquaintances. A man of honest motives, purest purposes and kindliest feelings toward all, he made and retained for himself a host of friends. His domestic and social relations were of the most pleasant character, and the fact that his surroundings were such as to make life enjoyable was due solely to his individual merits, his affable and courteous treatment of others and his strict adherence to justice in all his dealings.

Mr. Poage was born in Ross County, Ohio, September 3, 1834. He was the son of George G. and Jane (Riggs) Poage, the father a native of Virginia and the mother of Pennsylvania. They grew up in the East and were married there, finally coming west, where they spent the latter part of their lives, the father dying in Nebraska and the mother in Colorado. Their family consisted of five children, all now deceased, namely: James R., of this sketch; Stephen W., George G., Mrs. Arabella Dungon; Mary died in infancy.

James R. Poage grew up in Ohio and received such education as the early schools of his community afforded. He came to Jasper County, Iowa, in the fall of 1857, and here became well established, securing a good farm through his industry, his place consisting of one hundred and sixty acres of fine land, which he brought up to a high state of cultivation and improvement and ranking as one of the most desirable farms in Malaka Township. He devoted his life to general farming and stock raising and here spent the remainder of his life, passing to his rest on January 23, 1905. His widow is still in possession of this farm, in addition to which she owns a very cozy home in Baxter.

Mr. Poage was married in this county on October 27, 1859, to Harriet E. Scott, who was born in Warrick County, Indiana, January 31, 1842. She came with her parents to Jasper County in 1856 and here she has since resided, having lived to see the locality develop from a wild, sparsely settled prairie to one of the most opulent sections of Iowa. She received her educational training in the old-time schools, and she has been known as a woman of many praiseworthy characteristics, and, like her lamented husband, always numbered her friends by the score. She was the daughter of Robert and Marinda (Earl) Scott, the father born in Connecticut, February 22, 1836, and the mother in Ohio, March 3, 1818*. They grew up and were married in the East, eventually coming to Iowa, where they became very comfortably established and influential, and the father's death occurred in Jasper County in February 1875; the mother is residing in Corning, Adams County, Iowa, at the advanced age of ninety-four years. She is the sole survivor of the charter members of the Congregational Church at Newton.

There were ten children in the Scott family, five of whom are living, named as follows: Mrs. Rosetta McKinstry, deceased; Mrs. Lydia M. Dulin, deceased; Harriet E., who married Mr. Poage of this sketch; Mrs. Armina J. Shipp lives in Nebraska; Mrs. Emily A. Preston lives at Corning, Iowa; Robert N., deceased; Mary A., deceased; Lucian S. lives in Buena Vista County. Iowa; Frank M., deceased; Edgar C. is living in Minnesota. The oldest sister was born in Ohio; the next four in Indiana, where the family lived a number of years, and the younger ones were born in Scott County, except the two younger, who were born in Jasper County, Iowa, where the family maintained its home for some time prior to coming to Jasper County.

Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Poage, six of whom are living, namely: S. W., born August 15, 1860, lives in South Dakota; James M., born September 10, 1862, lives in Nebraska; Robert A., born April 26, 1865, lives in Malaka Township, Jasper County; Frank lrvin, born April 11, 1868, lives in Oklahoma; Leslie N., born November 20, 1869, died October 4, 1902; Herbert E., born April 5, 1872, lives in Canada; Mrs. Hattie G. McFarland, born June 28, 1875, lives with her mother in Baxter; Lucian S., born September 14, 1877, died August 20, 1907. These children were born and reared in Jasper County, and have been identified with the agricultural interests of whatever localities they have lived in.

Politically, Mr. Poage was a Republican, and was long an influential factor in local affairs, holding a number of offices, such as a member of the school board of Malaka Township, township trustee and township clerk. His father was one of the founders of Wittemberg College and remained a stanch friend of that institution all his life. He was one of the oldest teachers in Jasper County. The Poage family are members of the Congregational Church at Baxter. Both parents of Mrs. Poage, also her uncle, Edwin Scott, and his wife Ruth, were charter members of the Congregational Church at Newton. Page 1129.

*Transcriber's note: birth date was given as March 3, 1818.