Mace, O. P.

MACE

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 9/22/2008 at 13:54:16

O. P. Mace

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.164, Macedonia Twp.)
O. P. Mace, farming and mining, P. O. Carson, was born in Western Virginia October 17, 1835. His father, Henry Mace, was born in Ohio in 1811, was a farmer, and has lived most of his life in Missouri, having gone there from West Virginia in 1844, when he settled in Linn County. He then moved to Sullivan County; thence to Livingston County, where he still resides. Subject's mother, Harriet B. (Gibson) Mce, was born in Ohio in 1811, and is the mother of eight children, of whom one is deceased. Mr. Mace began life as a farmer in Missouri, where he continued for three years, then went to Kansas, Bourbon County, where he farmed one year; thence to Allen County, where he worked at the carpenter's trade one year; thence to Mills County, Iowa, in 1861, and the same year came to Pottawattamie County and settled at Wheeler's Grove on a farm, where he continued till going to Council Bluffs in the fall of 1863, when he worked in the City Mills, then operated by J. C. Hofmyre. At Council Bluffs, Mr. Mace lost his first wife, Barbara Allen, who died February 6, 1864. Mr. Mace returned the same spring to Wheeler's Grove, and again engaged in farming. There he married his second wife, Mrs. Martha E. Elswick, in March, 1865. She was born in Kentucky March 4, 1833. Mr. Mace remained on this farm till 1874, then moved to where he now lives, two miles northeast of Carson, on a farm of 196 acres, bought in 1873, costing about $1,800, now valued at $40 per acre. The average crops raised by Mr. Mace, for the past twenty years in Pottawattamie County, has been: Corn, 51-1/4 bushels per acre; wheat, 12 bushels; oats, 30, and potatoes, about 75. Mr. Mace, accompanied by Elswick adn Bates, of this county, started for Colorado April 13, 1879, and arrived in Gunnison City May 21. From July 2 to July 6, the located eight mines, among which are the famous "Ruby King" and "Little Crown" of Ruby Mining District. They operated the King mine and superintended the operation of the others, till in September, when they leased they King for ten months to Henry Lee, of Denver, and Bacy, of Colorado Springs, for $500 cast and one-half of all the ore taken during the lease. They returned home, and, in February, 1880, sold the King and Republican lode to Col W. T. Holt, of Portland, Me., for $25,000. In the spring of 1880, Messrs. Mace & Elswick returned to Colorado, and located five mines in Red Well Basin, Elk Mountain District, which they still own and operate. They also own the Little Crown in the Ruby Mining District. These mines are all in a prosperous condition, and valued at $200,000. Mr. and Mrs. Mace have eight children - James F., Harriet J., Emily C., Ulysses, Edith B., Ernest A., Trannie V. and Altie M. Mr. Mace is an Odd Fellow, of Lodge No. 444; in politics, a Democrat.