Michael Gamble

GAMBLE, GIBSON, LOWMAN, MCLEES, MCKINNEY, MILFORD

Posted By: Judy Wight Branson (email)
Date: 8/27/2004 at 11:55:05

Michael Gamble, a resident of Winterset, is entitled to representation in this work as he is a veteran of the Civil war and also as he was for a number of years an active farmer of the county. He is a native of Indiana county, Pennsylvania, born May 1, 1844, of the marriage of Robert and Margaret (Lowman) Gamble, both natives of Pennsylvania. The father was born in 1800 and the mother in 1808, and they passed away respectively in 1881 and 1897.

Robert Gamble learned cabinetmaking and painting and in 1845 removed to Ohio, where he followed his trades until 1854. In that year he came to Madison county, Iowa, settling on one hundred and twenty acres of government land in Crawford township, where he resided until his death. He carried on general farming and stock-raising and added to his holdings, owning in all one hundred and seventy acres. Pioneer conditions prevailed when he first settled here and he was a factor in the work of development and improvement. He was a charter member and one of the organizers of the Montpelier Presbyterian church. His political allegiance was given to the republican party and he held a number of township offices.

Michael Gamble was the fifth in a family of seven children and attended school in a milk house, in which the only seats were benches. His first teacher was Miss Sarah G. Gamble, who taught the first school in Crawford township. Subsequently he attended school in the first schoolhouse built in the county.

On the 20th of May, 1864, he enlisted in Company E, Forty-seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served faithfully and bravely until he was no longer needed by the government and .upon returning to private life he resumed farming. In 1870 he purchased more land and began the operation of his property, which is in Crawford township. He owns in all two hundred and twenty acres of land and while actively engaged in its cultivation proved industrious, energetic and judicious, gaining a fair measure of success.

On the 10th of March, 1870, Mr. Gamble was married to Miss Esther McLees, who was born in Jefferson county, Ohio, on the 30th of January, 1852, a daughter of Anderson and Sarah J. (McKinney) McLees, both of whom were natives of County Antrim, Ireland, the father born in 1820 and the mother a year previously. Mr. McLees died in 1902, but his widow survived until 1910. In 1836 Mrs. McLees arrived in the United States and in 1845 Mr. McLees emigrated here. He was a weaver by trade, which he followed in Philadelphia until 1851, when he removed to the vicinity of Richmond, Ohio. In 1854 he came to Iowa, by way of the river to Keokuk. He settled in Crawford township, Madison county, taking up eighty acres of good land. He was a neighbor of the father of our subject and was highly esteemed in his community. He was quite prominent in local politics and held a number of local offices. He was a charter member and one of the organizers of the Montpelier United Presbyterian church of Crawford. To him and his wife were born seven children, of whom Mrs. Gamble was the second in order of birth. She is a member of the Woman's Relief Corps and is also active in church work.

Mr. and Mrs. Gamble have three children: Loretta E., the wife of Rev. M. M. Milford, a United Presbyterian minister of Saxman, Kansas; Jessie E., who gave her hand in marriage to Rev. R. C. Gibson, pastor of the Presbyterian church at Loveland, Colorado, by whom she has a son, Frank L.; and Robert A., who was born in 1879 and is a graduate of the Still College of Osteopathy at Des Moines and of the College of Physicians and Surgeons at St. Louis, Missouri. He is now practicing at Atlantic, Iowa, and is married.

Mr. Gamble is stanch in his .support of the republican party and has served as trustee and in other township offices. His religious faith is that of the United Presbyterian church and he is quite active in Sunday-school work. In 1912 he felt that he had accumulated a sufficient store of this world's goods and retired to Winterset, where he is highly esteemed as a man and a citizen. He has long been a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and values highly the association of that body.

Taken from the book, “The History of Madison County, Iowa, 1915”