Amandall L. "Mendall" Metcalf

METCALF BAKER WHITNEY MUNKS

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 9/6/2010 at 23:00:52

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Amandall L ‘Mendall’ Metcalf
By Loraine E Washburn

Amandall L ‘Mendall’ Metcalf was born 8 November 1810, in New York or Pennsylvania. He was the son of Isaac Hammond Metcalf and Joanne Baker, and a grandson of Revolutionary War veteran, Daniel Metcalf. This Metcalf line descended from Michael Metcalf, The Dornix Weaver, who emigrated to American in 1637 and settled in Dedham, Massachusetts. Michael Metcalf’s lineage is generally accepted as stemming form Arkefrith, who came to England from Denmark with King Canute in 1016, and was made Lord of Dent. Mendalls lineage can also be traced back to Elder William Brewster, who came on the Mayflower in 1620.

The Metcalf’s went from Massachusetts to Connecticut and from there to Tioga County, Pennsylvania, where they seem to have moved back and forth between Tioga County, and Steuben County, New York.

Mendall married first in 1832 to Elizabeth Whitney, and had three children. It is unknown what happened to Elizabeth, but between 1836 and 1844, Mendall married second to Rachel Munks, born about 1912; she had been married before to Mr. West and had one daughter. Mendall and Rachel had four children together. Mendall and his family appeared on the 1850 Federal Census of West Union Township, Steuben County, New York.

Some information of Mendall appears in the History of Plymouth and Woodbury County of 1890-1891. Mendall was elected as a trustee of Little Sioux Township on 2 April 1855, when Little Sioux Township was created. Mendall Metcalf, his son-in-law, W O Sluyter, and three others were admitted to have been the first in the part of Little Sioux and Woodbury Township that now comprises West Fork Township. It is said that Mendall lived in three townships without having moved. Mrs. Mendall (Rachel) Metcalf was the first white person to die in West Fork Township (1871). Mendall had come to Woodbury County from New York by covered wagon. His eldest son was here by 1854 and they may have come together.

Mendall did move form Woodbury County at least once after coming here; he appears on the 1860 Federal Census of Buena Vista County, as born Penn., and with Rachel, born Penn., their four children, all born in New York.

In 1870, Mendall was back in Woodbury County, on his own farm with his family. After Rachel’s death, he remarried to the widow of his brother, Martin Decatur, Dorothy Saunders Metcalf. She does not appear with him on the 1880 Census, when he is found in the household of Wm and Angeline Shephard.

Mendall died 10 Oct 1884 at the home of his son John, south of Moville, Iowa. It is unknown where Mendall and Rachel are buried, but possibly at Grange Township Cemetery or at Climbing Hill {with no stone}.

A biography of Mendall’s son, Wilbur, which appeared in the History of Plymouth and Woodbury Counties, states that Mendall came to the county in 1855 and was a farmer in Westfork Township. They were Methodist-Episcopalian Church.

Mendall’s children by Elizabeth were: Morris White, born 1832 in NY or PA; Elizabeth Jane ‘Eliza’, born 1835, married William O Sluyter; and Charles C, born 1836, NY.

Mendall’s children by Rachel were: William M, born 1844 NY; Angeline, born 1847, married to William Henry Shepheard; John Neff, born 1848 NY; and Wilbur, born 1854 NY.

Rachel had one daughter by her first marriage to Mr West: Minerva Jane, born 1836, married to Charles Brown.

Mendall came from a large family, several of whom came to Woodbury County to live, most of them around Holly Springs, Smithland, Hornick, Luton, Climbing Hill and Moville.

The family included: Ruby, 1808-1882, married Ambrose Parker; Moses, 1812-1894; Marvin, 1815-1862; Minerva, 1818 to after 1904. In 1904 she was living her grandson, Bert Brown, near Moville, Iowa; Morrie Pratt, 1820-1890, he came to Woodbury County about 1854 or 1855, settled near Holly Springs, and is buried there. He had nine children, and has many descendants in Woodbury County; Martin Decatur, 1823-1890, died in Missouri. He was a Methodist Minister and may have conducted the first religious exercises in Woodbury County. He had ten children, some of whom lived in the county: Manda, 1826-1876, she died in Pennsylvania, but may have had a son who lived in Woodbury County; Miles Jackson, 1832-1909, came to Iowa in 1854; he moved to Minnesota for a few years, but returned to Woodbury County, where he was a farmer and veterinarian. He had a family of twelve children and had many descendants in the county. He is buried at Holly Springs; and Maria, 1828-1900, married Rev Peter Baker, they lived in Woodbury County in the 1880’s, and are buried at Climbing Hill.