William Wallace Corbin

CORBIN STEELE

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 4/12/2010 at 22:09:23

Woodbury County History 1984

William Wallace Corbin
By Carol & June Corbin

William Wallace Corbin was born August 4, 1849, at Argyle, Wisconsin. As a young man he worked on the railroad. He traded his railroad watch for 80 acres of land, sight unseen, in Union Township, one mile north and ½ mile est of Correctionville, Iowa. Abraham Lincoln’s name appears on this deed. When he came to claim his land it was swamp land so he sold it and came to Arlington Township near Moville, Iowa. He bought his first 80 acres from George Weare for $5.00 an acre, January 24, 1882. He bought 40 acres from Gilbert Post in 1885 and another 40 acres form the Peter Van Norman Estate in 1898.

He married Mary Steele. They lived in a sod house built along Muddy Creek across the road northwest of the present farmstead. He bought the first load of lumber to come to town. It was enroute form LeMars to the lumber yard and tipped over in Muddy Creek. He was a rural constable.

The Corbin family was one of the first membrs of the United Brethren Church.

They had three children. Stella Mae, age 6, and William H, age 10, both died the same day of diptheria during the epidemic of 1890. Their middle child, Albert W ‘Allie’, was born June 1, 1882. He also had the disease but survived. Allie lived his entire life where he was born and attended school in the schoolhouse on the south hill next to his farm. Later he attended school in town when the school was on Piety Hill. Allie used his own team of horses with the grading and hauling of ties to build the railroad from Moville to Lawton. He later saw the same railroad abandoned.

He married Mary Evelina Rayburn, January 9, 1907. Daughter of Charles Dudley Rayburn and Ida Kennedy, she was born April 7, 1886, in Henderson, Iowa.

They were married in her parents’ home which was on the farm where Jay Payne lives at the present time. When they were married they built a house on his parents’ farm. It was built by Ike Slingluff for approximately $800.00 for lumber and $500.00 for labor. All the farm buildings were built by Allie. The cement was mixed by hand, then carried in a coal bucket to build walls, seven feet high and six inches thick.

Five children were born to Allie and Lina: Alice Barvetta, born October 12, 1909; Frances Jean, born July 9, 1917; William Rayburn, born December 5, 1921; Charles Dudley, born July 12, 1925; and Richard ‘Dick’ LeRoy, born September 2, 1926.

Allie farmed until his retirement when he sold the farm to his son, William. Lina had suffered a stroke and was confined to a wheel chair for eight years prior to her death in August 1965. Allie passed away in December 1868.

Alice Corbin married Vern D Cadwell, December 23, 1930. They had five chidlren: Howard, born November 29, 1931, married, has three children and lives in Alaska; Mary, born 1932, died 1934; LeAnne, born January 25, 1935, married, has four children; Jerry, born February 10, 1939, married, has two chidlren; and Ollie, born December 22, 1940, married, has six children. The latter three live in Washington. Vern died January 29, 1949. Alice remarried Herbert J Campbell, January 25, 1952. They presently live in Puyallup, Washington.

Frances Jean married Theo Thorp of Moville, February 20, 1939, in Onawa, Iowa. She worked at Huntings grocery store for 35 years. Theo worked in the Woods Elevator for many years; then at Farm Service Warehouse until his retirement.

William married June Manker, June 16, 1946, in Moville. He served in World War Ii with the 27th Infantry Division in the Pacific Theatre. They rented a farm four miles southeast of Moville, after their marriage, and lived there for thirty years. They bough the homeplace, built a new home and moved on this farm (now a Century Farm) and are the third generation to live there.

Bill and June had four children: Dennis, born September 3, 1947, married and has two children and lives in Davenport; Judith, born March 14, 1950, married, has two children and lives in Kingsley; Vicki, born March 25, 1954, killed in a farm accident in June, 1958; Debra, born April 8, 1959, married and lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Charles married Carol Bleasdell, December 22, 1946, in Moville. He served in World War II with the Sixth Infantry Division, 80th Field Artillery, in the Pacific Theatre. They operated Chuck and Carol’s station in Moville. They now live in Moville where Charles has be Corbin Construction. They had three children: Linda, born May 7, 1948, married; Mary, born April 6, 1949, married and has two children; Roger, born March 1, 1953, married and has four children. They all live in Moville.

Dick married Dorothy Larson, October 12, 1947, in Bronson. He served in the Army with the Engineering Heavy Shop Company, in Alaska. They have two children: Barbara, born September 25, 1948, married, and has two children; and Cheri, born January 21, 1957, married and has a set of twins and two other children. They all live in Moville.