Failor, Samuel

FAILOR, MEYERS, MITCHELL, LYDAY, FULLERTON, COOK, WINSLOW, STONE, WHITCOMB

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/22/2009 at 14:00:23

Failor, Samuel

It is no easy task to describe adequately a man who has led an eminently active and busy life and who has attained a position of relative distinction in the community with which his interests are allied. But biography finds its most perfect justification, nevertheless, in the tracing and recording of such a life history. It is, then, with a full appreciation of all that is demanded and of the painstaking scrutiny that must be accorded each statement, and yet with a feeling of satisfaction, that the writer essays the task, touching upon the details of such a record as has been that of Samuel Failor, long a well-known business man of Newton, Jasper County, but who is now living in honored retirement.

Mr. Failor was born at Bucyrus, Crawford County, Ohio, on June 10, 1835, the son of Andrew and Elizabeth (Meyers) Failor, natives of Pennsylvania. His paternal grandfather was also named Andrew Failor. The father of the subject was a farmer, but in the early part of his life he learned the tailor's trade. He moved to Ohio in 1831 and entered land from the government and there, practically in the wilderness, he developed a good farm on which he spent the balance of his life, his death occurring in 1849, at the age of fifty years, his birth having occurred in 1799. He was a man of advanced ideas, of much more than average intelligence and foresight, and he was prominent socially and politically in his neighborhood. After his marriage he attended school and studied surveying, and always a student, he became a well-informed man. He was a life-long Democrat and active in politics. He was elected associate judge from his district in Ohio on the Democratic ticket, which he held until his death. His wife, whose birth occurred in 1800, also reached the advanced age of ninety years. Their family consisted of nine children, of whom Samuel, of this review, was the sixth in order of birth; they are, Andrew, who came to Iowa in 1855, became well-known and successful as a farmer and stock man, and his death occurred in Washington, D. C.; A. Jefferson, who devoted his life to farming, died in Ohio; Katherine E. died in infancy; Benjamin A., for many years a prominent physician of Newton, Iowa, was murdered about nine years ago, one night while answering a sick call, the motive for the tragedy having been robbery, the murderer having been finally captured and brought to justice, this having been one of the most regrettable and sensational murders in the history of the County; he was a veteran of the Civil War, having gone to the front as a lieutenant, and when he was mustered out he ranked as major; he was in the Nineteenth Army Corps; he came to Iowa in 1866; he left one child, a daughter, Anna Margaret J. Failor, who married John F. Mitchell, died in Springfield, Ohio; Mary, the widow of Joseph H. Lyday, lives, in Newton; Elizabeth, who married in Ohio, David Fullerton, later moved to Augusta, Georgia, and is deceased; Cecilia is the wife of Rev. H. S. Cook, formerly pastor of the Lutheran Church in Newton, now living in Pennsylvania.

Samuel Failor, of this review, got his education in the public schools of Bucyrus, Ohio. He was apprenticed three years to a tinner to learn that trade. In 1856 he came to Iowa, reaching here in the winter when the ground was covered with an unusually deep snow, having made the trip from Iowa City to Newton by stage, the horses being scarcely able to travel through the deep snow. During his first two years in the new country he broke prairie with an ox team then, after working at his trade for a short time, went into business for himself, but when the Civil War broke out he arranged his affairs in such a manner as would permit him to go to the front, so in 1862 he enlisted in the Fortieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, but that same day he secured a substitute and then enlisted as a musician in Gen. G. M. Dodge's Third Brigade Band, Second Division, Sixteenth Army Corps, and he served faithfully for a period of three years, receiving an honorable discharge at Louisville, Kentucky, on July 7, 1865. He was at both battles of Corinth, at Atlanta, Kennesaw Mountain, and many others, and was with General Sherman on his famous campaign. He hired a man to look after his business while he was in the army, at the rate of fifty dollars per month, but when he returned he found his business ruined. Ten days after his return he opened up a hardware store, but seven months later he sold out and bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Malaka Township, which he farmed for eight years, then sold out and went into the dry goods business in Kellogg; three years later he sold out and again went into the tinning business, in which he continued with his usual success for fifteen years, when he sold out and came to Newton and launched a lightning rod and eaves trough business, in the interest of which he traveled over the County and adjacent territory, covering a radius of forty miles. Continuing in this line three years, he retired from active work, turning his business over to his sons. He met with encouraging success in whatever he attempted. He owns a good residence and several pieces of valuable property in Newton.

In September 1865, Mr. Failor was united in marriage with Lucy E. Winslow, who was born August 15, 1843, at Pittsford, Vermont, the daughter of E. S. and Almino Winslow, natives of Vermont. This family came to Iowa in 1855. Mr. Winslow, who devoted his life to farming, died in Newton, Iowa, at the age of fifty-four years. They were the parents of a large family, twelve children, but only a few of them lived to maturity; Charles F., a veteran of the Civil War, died in Nebraska; H. S., who became a well-known attorney, and at one time judge of this circuit, died at Newton; Clarissa M. married Jeffrey Stone, who at one time lived in Newton, and who died in Lincoln, Nebraska, and she died in Lander, Wyoming; Willard, an old soldier, is living in the State of Washington; Mary, widow of William Whitcomb, lives in Washington.

To Mr. and Mrs. Failor five children, all sons, have been born, namely: Clarence W., who was editor of the Newton Courier for nine years and who has remained unmarried, lives at home; Elmer J. and Holland J. both live in Newton, engaged in the tinning business; they are married and each has five children; H. Virgil lives at Tucson, Arizona, where he is a prominent attorney and is secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of that city; he was graduated from Grinnell College, also the University of Nebraska, and for some time he was professor of the school at Denniston, Iowa; he is married and has three children. George F. Failor, who formerly taught school at Grinnell, is still a resident of that city; he is married and has two sons.

Mr. Failor is a member of Garrett Post No. 16, Grand Army of the Republic. He is a progressive Republican. He and his wife are members of the Congregational church at Newton. Mrs. Failor is a lady of splendid intellectual attainments. She taught school from the time she was fifteen years old until her marriage at the age of twenty-two. For two years she was the state organizer of Bands of Hope, under the auspices of the Good Templar lodge. She has long been an ardent worker for temperance, and is a member of the Order of Eastern Star. She is widely and most favorably known, being a lady of talent and refinement, high social standing and a worker for any cause having for its object the betterment of the community in general. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 1011.