Bishop, Charles S.

BISHOP, MORTON, MCILLENCE, TRUMAN, NICOLL, TRUSSEL, GOODWIN, BROWN, WYATT, AMOS

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/27/2009 at 09:04:56

Bishop, Charles S.

The occupation of farming to which the major part of the business life of Charles S. Bishop, one of the well known and popular citizens of Baxter, Jasper County, has been devoted is the oldest pursuit for a livelihood of mankind and the one in which he will ever be the most independent. His name has long been inseparably connected with the general growth of Jasper County, of which he is a native and where, in fact, he has spent most of his life. While primarily attending to his own varied interests, his life has been largely devoted to his fellow man, having been untiring in his efforts to inspire a proper respect for law and order and ready at all times to uplift humanity along civic and social lines.

Mr. Bishop was born in Newton Township, Jasper County, Iowa, June 7, 1862. He is the son of Miles S. and Elizabeth (Morton) Bishop, the father born on July 5, 1828, and he died in Jasper County on April 12, 1870, and is buried in Newton. The mother was born at Fredonia, Ohio, November 1, 1838, and is residing at Newton. There were six children in the Bishop family, all living but one, named as follows: Mrs. Eva Mc Illece, born in Newton Township, lives at Hastings, Nebraska; Charles S., of this sketch, and George M., the latter living in Scott County, Iowa, were twins; Delbert E., born July 20, 1866, is living in Des Moines; Mrs. Hattie Truman, born June 5, 1864, lives in Lemoyne, Ohio; Francelia, born March 30, 1854, died March 18, 1903, at Omaha, Nebraska. These children were born and reared in Jasper County.

Elizabeth Morton, mother of the subject of this sketch, was the daughter of Marcus A. and Lydia (Nicoll) Morton. Mr. Morton spent his life in Ohio and Indiana, and was buried at Valparaiso, in the latter state, on December 18, 1855, the mother dying in Newton, Iowa, October 14, 1860. She and her husband with their first living children started for Valparaiso, Indiana, at which place a brother was residing, leaving Ohio overland on October 1, 1855, arriving at Valparaiso in November of the same year. Here Mr. Morton was stricken and died on December 18th. The next fall, 1856, Mrs. Morton and children started for Iowa, arriving here on October 10th. She had purchased a farm five miles northeast of Newton. She remained in that town until June 10, 1857, then the family moved into a house at the College farm, and in the fall of the same year they moved to their own farm, which they developed and on which they made a good living, the place remaining in the family until October 1901. Marcus A. Morton, the father, was a stonemason by trade, also kept a hotel for some time in Wood County, Ohio. He was of English descent, while his wife, Lydia Nicoll, was of Scotch extraction.

Ten children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Marcus A. Morton, named in order of birth as follows: George M., born at Granville, Ohio, November 7, 1830, is living at LeMoyne, Ohio; William W., born at Granville, Ohio, May 22, 1832, died at Newton, Iowa, May 20, 1901; Hiram N., born at Granville, Ohio, January 8, 1834, died at Winterset, Iowa; Sarah L., born at Granville, Ohio, December 18, 1836, lives at Horton, Kansas; Elizabeth, who married Miles S. Bishop, and who was the mother of the subject, was born at Fredonia, Ohio, November l, 1838, and is residing at Newton, Iowa; Silas W., born April 21, 1840, at Fredonia, Ohio, died at Council Bluffs, Iowa, December 19, 1907; Lysander, born at Fredonia, Ohio, April 29, 1842, died in the city of his birth on October 22nd of the same year; Lydia Ellen Trussel, born at Fredonia, Ohio, December 9, 1843, died at Newton, Iowa, March 11, 1880; Julia E., born at Fredonia, Ohio, September 14, 1846, is living in Chicago; Martha H., born at Fredonia, Ohio, April 22, 1848, died at Council Bluffs, March 17, 1889.

Charles S. Bishop, the immediate subject of this sketch, began life as a farmer, continuing with his parents until eighteen years of age. In 1880 he went to Marshalltown and engaged in the sewing machine business, but in 1882 returned to his birthplace. The same year he drove a number of cattle across the wild prairies to Kossuth County, Illinois, for Judge Cook of Newton. After his marriage, in 1885, he lived on a farm in Logan Township, Marshall County, Iowa, until the spring of 1888, when he went to Laramie City, Wyoming. Three weeks later he went to South Omaha, Nebraska, and entered the employ of the Omaha Packing Company, with whom he remained three years. He then returned to Newton and took up farm work for H. D. Parson. After his second marriage in April 1891, Mr. Bishop lived with his mother-in-law, Mrs. Spicy Wyatt, until March 1892, when he moved onto a farm-four miles northwest of Baxter, which he had bought of Alfred Davy. He retired from farming September 1, 1906, and moved his family to Baxter, Jasper County, where he had purchased a comfortable home and here they have since resided. He is the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of excellent land in Bruel County, North Dakota. At present he is very ably discharging the duties of constable of Independence Township.

Mr. Bishop was first married in Newton, Iowa, on March 28, 1885, to Annie L. Goodwin, who was born at Princeton, Scott County, Iowa, on November 14, 1862, and her death occurred in South Omaha, Nebraska, June 3, 1888. Two children were born to this union: Don E., born in Logan Township, Marshall County, Iowa, December 29, 1885, lives at Metz, this State, where he is working for William Miller; Mrs. Bessie A. Brown, born in Logan Township, Marshall County, on July 11, 1887, lives in Malaka Township, Jasper County. On April 8, 1891, Mr. Bishop was again married to Jennie Wyatt, who was born in Jasper County on December 7, 1865. She was the daughter of Shelby and Spicy (Amos) Wyatt. The father, born on May 17, 1822, died in Jasper County on May 18, 1890; the mother was born on February 4, 1831, and her death occurred in Baxter on April 11, 1910. They were among the earliest settlers in Jasper County, having come here in 1847.

Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bishop, of whom five are living, namely; Goldie, born June 7, 1892, died in Independence Township, August 31, 1906; Ralph C., born September 10, 1894; Burl B., born June 24, 1900; Miles, born March 17, 1902; Morris, born July 4, 1903; Merl, born May 6, 1906. These children were all born, reared and educated in Independence Township, this County. They are now attending the high school in Baxter.

Politically, Mr. Bishop is a Democrat and he has long been active in local public affairs. Fraternally, he belongs to Baxter Lodge No. 168, Knights of Pythias, and he also belongs to the Yeomen of this place. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 1304.