HUFF, John - 1890 Bio (1811-1895)

HUFF, PRATT, THOMPSON, WOODARD, MOWER

Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 8/11/2007 at 09:29:04

Portrait and Biographical Album of Jefferson and Van Buren Counties, Iowa, Printed 1890 by Lake City Publishing Co., Chicago
Pages 628-629

John HUFF, with one exception, is the oldest settler of Jefferson County. He was born in Montgomery, now Floyd County, Va., May 11, 1811, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (PRATT) HUFF. His father was born in Greenbrier County, Va., in 1770, and married a Miss THOMPSON, by whom he had four daughters. His second union was with Miss PRATT, a native of Bedford County, Va., and unto them were born seven children, four sons and three daughters. Mr. HUFF was an expert mechanic and could manufacture almost everything from wood, but in his later years he gave some attention to farming. In 1817, accompanied by his family, he removed to Floyd County, Ky., and while his boys engaged in the cultivation of the farm he continued his own line of business. He was a Jackson Democrat and lived to the advanced age of nearly ninety-one years, his death occurring in 1861. The mother of John died when he was a lad of sixteen years.

Our subject was the eldest child in the family and in consequence had little advantages in his youth. Moving to the mountainous part of Kentucky, he had almost no chance to secure an education, having never attended school but three months in his life and then the school was of the most primitive character. In his youth he learned the cooper's trade and at the age of seventeen years began life for himself. Attracted by the opportunties and advantages of the West, in 1831 he accompanied Mason Cope to Schuyler County, Ill., and four years later made a trip up the Skunk River and camped on Jefferson County soil. Having collected about two thousand pounds of honey, beeswax, etc., he improvised a boat by digging out two canoes and fastening them together. Having floated down the river as far as Rome, he struck a snag and twirled upside down. This was in the month of November. During the struggle to save his boat from floating away he kicked off his shoes and had to walk to Burlington, a distance of fifty miles, bare-footed. There he had some hooks made, and returning, grappled his barrels of honey, wax, gum, etc., out of thirteen feet of water and proceeded with his cargo to Carthage, where he sold out.

On March 3, 1836, Mr. HUFF was united in marriage with Sarah WOODARD, who was born July 6, 1814, in Middle Tennessee. Her mother was also a native of that State but her father came from North Carolina. Soon after his marriage, Mr. HUFF returned to Iowa and made a settlement on section 1, Cedar Township, Jefferson County, the date of his arrival being June 17, 1836. The land soon afterward came into market and as he had not money enough to enter it, he sold his three hundred and twenty-acre claim which brought him in enough to pay his debts and enter a one hundred and twenty-acre tract. Afterward, having sold that farm, he bought a farm of two hundred and forty acres in Buchanan Township, which he improved and on which he made his home until 1874, when he took up his residence in Fairfield.

In 1871, Mr. HUFF was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife who died on December 3. They were parents of eight children -- James D.; William; Nancy, deceased; Henry; Rebecca, deceased; Jefferson; Sarah, wife of George MOWER; and Louisa. James D. and Jefferson are also married. In political sentiment Mr. HUFF is a Democrat, having supported that party since he cast his first vote for Jackson in 1832.

*Transcribed for genealogy purposes; I have no relation to the person(s) mentioned.