GRABER, John - 1912 Bio (1851-1921)
GRABER, WYSE, STEWART, CHENEY, ARROWSMITH, PHILLIPS, SHELLY, HILMAN
Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 9/15/2007 at 12:25:04
History of Jefferson County, Iowa -- A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, Vol II, Published 1912, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago
Pages 390 and 393John GRABER.
The agricultural interests of Jefferson county, Iowa, number among the important contributors to their prosperity John GRABER, a native of this county, born in Lockridge township, January 13, 1851. His parents, Christian and Fanny (WYSE) GRABER were natives of France. His father accompanied his parents to this country before the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century. They came to Iowa and obtained land from the government in Lockridge township. His father and mother were married in Ohio and came to Jefferson county where they commenced farming on land given to Christian GRABER by his father. This he developed during the remainder of his years. His death occurred in April, 1888, at the age of seventy-six and his wife died January 28, 1876, at the age of fifty-four years.
John GRABER was reared at home and educated in the near-by district schools. When he came of age his father gave him one hundred and twenty acres of land. Prior to this time he and his brother had operated the home farm of seven hundred acres, their chief product having been corn which sometimes averaged a yield of ten thousand bushels a year. After taking charge of his own farm he bought more land some of which is in Round Prairie township. He is a successful farmer, practical in his methods and tireless in his industry. He raises one hundred and twenty-five head of hogs a year, keeps twenty-six head of cattle and eleven horses. He is now the owner of two hundred and thirty acres of land, all in a high state of cultivation.
On September 2, 1882, Miss Lucy Elizabeth STEWART gave her hand in marriage to John GRABER. Her father, Levi C. STEWART, was a son of Richard and Elizabeth (CHENEY) STEWART, born January 29, 1836, in Sangamon county six miles south of Springfield, Illinois. He was married on Thursday, October 26, 1855, to Miss Callista Potter ARROWSMITH, near Glasgow, Jefferson county, Iowa, the ceremony being performed by Reverend E. H. Winans. Callista P. ARROWSMITH, a daughter of John and Lucy Rose ARROWSMITH, was born March 1, 1833, in Westville, Champaign county, Ohio. In the fall of 1842 her parents came to Pittsburg, Van Buren county, Iowa, and settled in Round Prairie township near Glasgow, in Jefferson county. Here at her home her marriage to Levi C. STEWART occurred. Five children were born by this union. She underwent an attack of typhoid fever, which proved so virulent as to cause her demise and on March 23, 1867, she died and in July was buried at Forest Home cemetery at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. The following year, September 22, 1868, Mr. STEWART was married to Caroline L. (PHILLIPS) SHELLY, a daughter of Henry PHILLIPS, born January 5, 1832, in Green county, Iowa. There were no children. Mr. STEWART was a farmer, his father having given him a start in his career by presenting him with a farm. He died in 1871; his widow survived him just twenty years, passing away in 1891.
In the spring of 1862 Mr. STEWART discontinued farming, and leaving his wife and children with her parents at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, he departed, on May 1, in company with a party consisting of his brother, his brother-in-law and others, for the gold fields in the far west, making the overland trip with ox teams. They went to Baker City, Oregon, Powder Creek Mine, thence to Centerville, Idaho, four hundred miles from Umatilla Landing in Oregon. Their return journey they made by way of San Francisco where they took passage for New York by the water route. They arrived home in August, 1863, after an absence of fifteen months. His family in Mt. Pleasant, rejoiced at his return, eagerly accompanied him back to the farm in Lockridge township, where Mr. STEWART has been engaged in farming ever since.
In the family of Mr. and Mrs. GRABER were eight children. Mary Edith, the wife of Arthur HILMAN, died February 25, 1910. Roland T., aged twenty-three, lives at home. Levi C. S., aged twenty-one, lives at home. Lollie E., aged eighteen years, is attending school at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. Esther Rose, aged sixteen, and John, aged fourteen, are living at home. Two children died in infancy.
Politically Mr. GRABER is a republican, but has never been an office seeker. With his wife he is a member of the Baptist church. He possesses force of character and determination and in the esteem of his friends holds a high place.
*Transcribed for genealogy purposes; I have no relation to the person(s) mentioned.
Jefferson Biographies maintained by Joey Stark.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen