PIKE, FAMILY

PIKE, BETTY, DENNY, MAXWELL

Posted By: Janice Sowers (email)
Date: 8/3/2006 at 11:40:37

PIONEER DAYS-HESPER TOWNSHIP 1851-1941

Jonathan Pike came to Iowa from Indiana in the spring of 1855. He bought land from the government two miles west of Hesper, improved the same and in the fall returned to Indiana. In the spring of 1856 he returned to Hesper, bringing with him his family. His daughter, Clara, who later became the wife of Zeno C. Betty, was then eight years old. His wife passed away a short time before his arrival at Hesper. The house he had build was by Joseph Griswold. This house was moved to Canoe some years ago. He came to the village and started a store on the southeast corner of Main and Grove streets, thus starting the second mercantile establishment in Hesper. He remarried the second time to Elizabeth Denny. During the gold rush he went to California.

Calvin Pike, a brother of Jonathan, married Sarah Maxwell, and settled on a farm southeast of Hesper in 1856. He later moved to a farm near Pike's Peak. They were parents of six children: Clara, Cora, Eva, and Lucy, three of whom were early day school teachers, and Elwood and Eugene.