Hews, George

HEWS, EFNOR, SAUNDERS, SNODGRASS, RAMSDALE, CRAWFORD, FACE

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/30/2009 at 18:35:31

Hews, George

Standing for upright manhood and progressive citizenship, George Hews of Newton, one of our honored defenders of the national union during the great Rebellion, occupies a conspicuous place, being widely known in the locality of which this history deals, and his influence in every relation of life has made for the material advancement of the community which he has so long honored by his citizenship and the moral welfare of those with whom he has been brought into contact. He is descended from a sterling pioneer family of the Prairie state, and he himself was born in Illinois when that great commonwealth was yet in its infancy compared with its present day glory industrially, his birth having occurred in Fulton County on December 8, 1842. He is the son of James and Sally Maria (Efnor) Hews, both natives of the State of New York, in which the father of the former engaged in agricultural pursuits when that country was little more than a wilderness. His family consisted of these children: James, father of George Hews, of this sketch; William, Henry, John, Benjamin, Abraham, Anson, Harriet, Katherine and Caroline, all of whom moved with the family to Illinois and died in that state, except the subject and Herrick, who was accidentally drowned in the state of New York, also Henry and John, who went south, being at New Orleans at the time of the great yellow fever epidemic and they have never since been heard of, so it is believed that they died there of that dread scourge.

The parents of these children were married on September 30, 1832, and for a time farmed in New York State, driving through to Illinois in the fall of 1838, the journey requiring seven weeks; they located in Fulton County where they bought land which they farmed until 1853 when they again loaded up their household effects and sought a new country, moving to Jasper County, Iowa, being among the early settlers here, bringing two wagons, one driven by a team of horses and the other by six yoke of oxen. There were four children in the family, the sons, George and John, walked behind the wagons most of the way from Illinois, driving their cows. The elder Hews bought eighty acres of prairie and forty acres of timber in Elk Creek Township. For this and a team, harness and a wagon he paid the sum of five hundred dollars. The family also entered over two hundred acres of land in different tracts in that and Fairview Township, the land they thus entered having been fractional tracts lying along the dividing lines of Townships and by the correction lines were made fractional. Newton was a very small place at that time, in fact, was little more than a cluster of a few log houses in a brush patch. There were no houses between the Hews home and Pella, except along the divide. Their friends warned against their settling so far west of them, saying, among other things, that the wolves would lie in their chimney corner. But the land was rich and, through hard work, a good farm was developed and a comfortable home established.

George Hews grew up on the home farm and when but a boy he knew the meaning of hard work, and he attended school in a log schoolhouse during the brief winter months, in Fulton County, Illinois. There was no school in his neighborhood in Jasper County for some time after the Hews family came here: finally the scattering neighbors banded together and erected a log house in which they proposed to educate their children. Although this was located about three and one-half miles from the Hews home, the subject attended school there, walking to and fro through all kinds of weather.

George Hews was the fifth child in order of birth, but two died in infancy in New York; the others are: John, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work: Theadata Rosina married M. V. Saunders, a farmer, but they are now retired and live in Newton; Sarah Ann married Alex Snodgrass, who is now deceased, and she makes her home in Newton.

James Hews, father of the above named children, spent the rest of his life in this County, living on his farm in Elk Creek Township until his death, on February 16, 1875, at the age of sixty-five, his birth having occurred in 1810. His wife, who was born in 1806, reached an advanced age, her death occurring on February 2, 1895, being eighty-nine years old.

George Hews without reluctance offered his services to the Union during the great conflict between the states, having enlisted on August 21, 1861, in Company I, Tenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, under Captain Garrett, William H. Silsby, first lieutenant, and Steven Pogue, second lieutenant, the latter later becoming captain and being killed in the service. Mr. Hews made a most faithful soldier, according to his comrades, and he saw some hard service; he was present at the bombardment of Island No. 10, and while at that place he was wounded in the wrist by the accidental discharge of a gun just as he was going off picket duty; the bone was shattered and the wrist has been stiff ever since. Having been honorably discharged for disability, he returned home and after he had sufficiently recovered he again took up farming.

On November 21, 1865, he was united in marriage with Purthenia L. Ramsdale, who was born near Saratoga Springs, Saratoga County, New York, the daughter of Zachariah and Elizabeth (Crawford) Ramsdale, the father a native of Pennsylvania and the mother of Ireland. Her death occurred at the birth of the subject's wife November 21, 1845, leaving five children, the other four being John, who died in the state of New York; Mary, who married Edwin Face; Van Buren and Ziba, the latter three all still living in New York. By a second marriage of the father of these children, one son, Frank, was born who is now engaged in farming.

Soon after the marriage of George Hews he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in Palo Alto Township, this County, and this he still owns, having brought it up to a high state of cultivation and improvement. He worked the place continuously from 1875 till in November 1902, when, having accumulated a competency, he retired from active farming and moved to his pleasant home in Newton, having bought a good residence property here. He is a member of Garret Post, Grand Army of the Republic, while his wife belongs to the Woman's Relief Corps, and they are both members of the Christian Church. They are the parents of four children, Nellie and Nettie, twins, the former living at home, the latter having died when six years of age, Albert is living in Day County, South Dakota, is married and has two children, Herald and Iva; William H. died when nine years of age. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 704.