Harwood, Lewis N.

HARWOOD, STOWELL, SHIPMAN, SMITH

Posted By: Roseanna Zehner
Date: 7/21/2006 at 22:37:36

HARWOOD, LEWIS N.

Lewis N. Harwood antedates as a pioneer any of the present residents of Dale Township by many years, and he is the only man now there who farmed throughout the grasshopper years. He has watched the growth of that portion of Lyon County from a wild prairie to a closely settled and highly improved part of the county. An old New Yorker, with a good old Saxon name, and a genealogy covering many generations of New England history, Mr. Harwood finds himself a foreigner in his own country, for in a community of Germans he is the only man of English descent.

Mr. Harwood was born in Franklin County, New York, August 7, 1852, a son of Riley and Orilla (Stowell) Harwood, he attained his majority among his native hills. A brother-in-law, William Shipman, was a pioneer of Lyon County, and Mr. Harwood came to this county through his influence the latter part of February, 1873. A sister was teaching school at that time, in this county, and brother and sister joined in homesteading the southeast quarter of section 4, in what is now Dale Township, each of them filing on an eighty, and living together.

A few years later Mr. Harwood traded his land for the farm he owns in section 8, Dale Township. The county at this time was quite well settled, mostly with Americans, who left many years ago, and the most of them have passed away. Among some of those mentioned, as neighbors in those early days, may be recalled: the Thompson brothers, Peter and Charles Fulmer, Joseph Roth and Joseph Fuhr. All were young men and in the prime of life, and they freely spent their best energy on the newly opened farms, and of them all, Mr. Harwood alone remains to connect that not remote past with the greatly changed present.

His introduction to the country was not as flattering as was that of the later comers, who have received as a welcome fifteen successful harvests. For three years his crops were total failures, and for three years following but little better, though he indeed was able to make a living. Year after year his hopes were raised by the bounteous opening of the spring, only to be dashed to pieces by the harvest. It was not a time for fortune building, but a time to keep alive-leaving heavy imprints on the strongest men and shortening the lives of devoted wives and mothers.

In the later '70s fortune smiled, but the winter of 1880-1881 will long be remembered. Ushered in by an October blizzard, the corn was left standing in the fields, and was later buried completely under deep snow. That winter Mr. Harwood dug down through the snow to get food for his cattle, and was thankful to get straw to burn. Cobs were a luxury as a fuel that few could boast.

Mr. Harwood has lived in his old place, and has profited by the good crops of later years. His confidence in Lyon county land has never wavered, and today we find him cheerfully industrious and patiently hopeful-a pioneer as true and rugged, as openhearted and generous as though civilization had not in the least changed the heart to heart society of years agone. He is a Republican, and has the unbounded respect and confidence of the community in which his peaceful and useful life is passing.

Mr. Harwood was married in 1884 to Miss Addie Smith, and the fruits of this union are three children: Minnie, now a public school teacher; Arthur; and Delbert.

Source: Compendium of History Reminiscence and Biography of Lyon County, Iowa. Published under the Auspices of the Pioneer Association of Lyon County. Geo. Monlun, Pres.; Hon. E. C. Roach Sec’y; and Col. F. M. Thompson, Historian. Geo. A. Ogle & CO., Published, Engravers and Book Manufacturers. Chicago, 1904-1905

Transcribed by Roseanna Zehner, Darlene Jacoby and Diane Johnson