Wyman, Albert W. (1834-1903)

WYMAN

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 3/14/2008 at 14:06:23

Albert Whitney Wyman
Feb 20, 1834 - July 20, 1903

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.131, Keg Creek Twp.)
Albert W. Wyman, farmer, P. O. Council Bluffs, was born in Parma, Monroe Co., N. Y., February 20, 1834, son of Samuel and Betsey (Atchison) Wyman, he born in Sheffield, Mass, May 31, 1789, and died in Parma, N. Y., January 1876; she born in Parma, N. Y., January 21, 1799, and is still living in that place. The father was a blacksmith. The parents had ten children - six sons and four daughters - of whom three boys and one girl are now deceased. Our subject received his education in his native town, where he also learned the carpenter's trade, in which occupation he began life. He was married, November 10, 1858, in Half Moon, Saratoga Co., N. Y. to Harriet M. Peek, born in Rensselaer County, N. Y., November 15, 1837, daughter of A. and Betsey Ann (Wood) Peek, he born in Rensselaer County, N. Y., in 1807; she in 1808, and still living in Saratoga County, N. Y. Our subject lived in New York until 1871. He was a carpenter on the Albany & Northern Railroad, but afterward rose to the position of foreman on the third division of that road. he was Lieutenant in the Home Guards, State militia, Capt. Diver. In 1871, he came to Keg Creek Township, where he shortly afterward purchased 160 acres of land at $10 per acre. He set out 7,000 forest and 140 fruit trees, which are in a thriving, and the fruit trees in a bearing, condition. He has good buildings, living water on the place, and engages in general farming, but mostly stock-raising and feeding in winter. Mr. and Mrs. Wyman have one boy, born October 6, 1859. Our subject is an A., F. & A. M., Clinton Lodge, No. 140, being a charter member of the same. In politics, he is a Democrat.

(From the 1891 Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, p.621)
HON. ALBERT WHITNEY WYMAN, of section 22, Keg Creek Township, is engaged in general farming, cattle feeding, and stock raising, and the proprietor of Maple Grove Stock Farm, and a well-known and prominent citizen of this county, who came here March 29, 1871. He was born at Parma, Monroe County, New York, February 20, 1834, the son of Samuel and Betsey (ATCHINSON) WYMAN, who was born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, May 31, 1789, was a blacksmith and served in the War of 1812, and whose father, Samuel WYMAN, Sr., served in the Revolutionary War. The WYMAN family were of English ancestry, and first settled at Sheffield, Massachusetts. Our subject’s mother, Betsey ATCHISON, was born January 21, 1799, at Parma, Monroe County, New York, the daughter of John ATCHISON, one of the very first settlers in that town and county, and Betsey was the first female white child born at Parma. Her mother was Almira (FULLER) ATCHISON, and her brother, Austin ATCHINSON, was in the War of 1812, and is now living in Spencerport, New York, at the venerable age of 100 years. The parents had eleven children, seven sons and four daughters, of whom Albert was the youngest son. They lived in Monroe County, and the mother was buried in the same town where she was born, being eighty-five at her death, and the father, who was born in 1789, died at the age of eighty-seven. He was a blacksmith by trade.
Albert attended school until he was nineteen years old, and then served an apprenticeship at the carpenter’s trade, and also worked as a journeyman. He was engaged in railroad work, building bridges, taking and letting out contracts, and acting as foreman and superintendent of a force of mechanics for several years in different parts of the State. Mr. WYMAN was then engaged in farming near Troy and Fort Edward until 1871. He was Lieutenant of Company C, 24th Regiment, New York. In 1871 he came to this county, when the nearest house was five miles distant each of him, and bought 160 acres and increased his possessions to 753 acres, which have been well improved and cultivated. He has set out 7,000 forest and 140 fruit trees. The farm, Maple Grove, is a beautiful home, and it is here Mr. WYMAN is at home to all who wish to partake of his hospitality.
He was married November 10, 1857, to Miss Harriet M. PECK, of Half Moon, Saratoga County, New York, the daughter of Abraham and Betsey Ann (WOOD) PECK, the former a native of Dutchess County, New York, and the latter of Lansingburg, New York. Mr. And Mrs. WYMAN have lost three children by death, two infants and one daughter, Hattie A., who was twelve years of age; and they have one son living, Burton A., who was married in this county to Miss Leticia FLOOD, a daughter of James FLOOD, of this township. They have four children, two sons and two daughters: Charles Albert, James, Hattie and an infant daughter. They live in Council Bluffs, but own a farm near their father’s. Mr. A. W. WYMAN is a Democrat, who has held many township offices in the last fifteen years. He was a representative of the 22nd General Legislative Assembly, with honor to both himself and his party. Mr. WYMAN suggested and named the town of Keg Creek, in which he was its first Treasurer, Township Trustee and Justice of the Peace, and still holds the Treasuryship. He is a Royal Arch Mason, Excelsior Lodge Council Bluffs, having been made a Mason in 1856, at Waterford, New York. He is a member of the Farmer’s Alliance, is President of the Township Alliance, and Treasurer of the County Alliance.
Mr. WYMAN lost his beloved wife by death, June 29, 1888. She was an estimable lady, of great intelligence, and always helped her husband in his business plans, and was a kind wife and mother.

NOTE TO RESEARCHERS: This bio for A.W. Wyman gives an ancestral name of ATCHINSON for his mother. In the bio, that name is variously spelled ATCHINSON and ATCHISON. That is not a typing error on my part. I have copied it just as the book was printed.