Bateman, Mark W.

BATEMAN, SULGROVE, THOMAS, RODMAN, JARNAGIN, KEATING, CROSBY, IBLE

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 11/29/2008 at 16:55:30

BATEMAN, M. W.
Deputy Sheriff and Constable, Monroe. He was born in Evansburg, PA in 1839 and came to Van Buren Co., IA in 1864. He crossed the plains with an ox team to Idaho, that land of promised gold, in his care, however, it proved to be all promise and no gold. In 1865 he returned to IA and engaged in the grain trade at this place, thus being the first to engage in that business in Monroe, continuing until 1874, when he was appointed Deputy Sheriff, and elected Constable, which offices he has been the incumbent since. He married Miss Jane SULGROVE, in Van Buren Co., IA. She was a native of Indiana. They have six children. He is a Republican. ~ Fairview Township Biographies "The History of Jasper County" (Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1878)
================================================
Bateman, Mark W.

Mr. Mark W. Bateman was born on August 13, 1839, in Cambria, Pennsylvania, and he is the son of Wesley and Jane (Thomas) Bateman, natives of Pennsylvania, the father born in Center County, he being of French and English descent, while the mother's people were Welsh. The father of the subject was a carpenter and cabinet-maker, and he came west in 1856, bringing his son, Mark W., of this review. They came by steamboat to Glasgow, Missouri, and went from there to Sheridan County, Missouri, where they spent the summer. Later they moved to Van Buren County, Iowa, where they stayed until late in the fall, when they returned to Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1867, the entire family came to Farmington, Van Buren County, and there the father worked at his trade until 1892 when he came to Monroe, Jasper County, and lived with his son. His death occurred at the Soldiers' Home in Marshalltown in January 1895, at the age of eighty-seven years. He was a member of the famous Gray Beard Regiment, of Iowa, in which there was no man under forty-five years of age. He is remembered by his comrades as a brave and efficient soldier, serving until receiving an honorable discharge at the close of the war. He was a member of the Shelledy Post, Grand Army of the Republic, which was named after Colonel Shelledy, commander of his regiment. The mother of the subject died in Farmington, Iowa, several years before the elder Bateman's death. They were the parents of seven children, two of whom are living at this writing; they were: John T. who is in the National Soldiers' Home in Tennessee; Mark W. of this review; James E. and Anna Jane are both deceased; William H. was drowned when a boy; Milton W. died while in the army; George C. died in October 1910.

Mark W. Bateman was married in 1863 to Jane Sulgrove, daughter of Edward and Margaret (Rodman) Sulgrove, natives of Indiana, in which state Mrs. Bateman was born. Her parents were early settlers in Iowa, having come here in 1839 or 1840, when the country was a wild and almost interminable prairie and the home of thousands of Indians.

About a year after his marriage Mr. Bateman drove five yoke of oxen to a prairie schooner across the great western plains to Boise City, Idaho. He went in search of gold, but failed in his efforts and about a year later he returned to Iowa, reaching home in September 1865, proving his courage and sterling mettle by making the return trip on a pony, the distance traversed being two thousand one hundred and fifty miles. It is indeed interesting to hear him relate incidents of his western trip in those early days. He was at that time living in Farmington, but with the coming of the Des Moines Valley Railroad he moved to Monroe, Jasper County, and has since made his home here, moving his family thither on March 26, 1867. At first, after arriving in Monroe, he engaged in the grain business: later he began working for the railroad company, but continued to buy grain. He has lived in the same house every since coming here, forty-four years ago. During this time he has seen the County develop from its primitive conditions to what it is today one of the leading counties of the state, and he has taken an active and praiseworthy interest in the upbuilding of his community.

In the fall of 1873 he was elected constable of Fairview Township and in January 1874, he was appointed deputy sheriff of the County, serving most acceptably in this office for six years, and as constable for sixteen years, finally giving up the office of his own accord. During this long service as a public official, he had many narrow escapes in encounters with desperadoes, but never failed to make an arrest when ordered to do so. In 1889 he was elected Township Clerk and served in this capacity with much credit to himself and to the satisfaction of all concerned for a period of twenty years, at which time he was appointed justice of the peace, which office he has held to the present time, discharging the duties of the same in a highly commendable manner, his decisions being unbiased, impartial and fair to all parties concerned, and they have seldom been reversed at the hands of higher tribunals. He has also served on the town council and the school board. Fraternally, he belongs to Fairview Lodge No. 194, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

Having been a member for many years. At one time he was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mrs. Bateman is a member of the Baptist Church.

To Mr. and Mrs. Bateman six children have been born, all of whom are living, namely: Mrs. Addie Jarnagin; Stella married James Keating, who died seven years ago, and she now lives with her father; Frederick E., Mrs. Ollie Crosby and Mrs. Margaret Ible, all live in Monroe; James E. lives in Omaha, Nebraska. This is one of the best-known and most highly respected families in Jasper County. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 864.