William Southall

SOUTHALL YATES SNYDER

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 10/18/2010 at 20:04:02

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

William Southall

William Southall, the older son of John and Jane Penderell Yates Southall, was born in Oswestry, Shropshire, England, on September 12, 1836. In 1855, he came to the United States. He met and on February 6, 1861, married Millie Snyder, who was born August 3, 1840, near Belle Plaine, Iowa.

William went overland to California in the Gold Rush, but spent part of his time building shacks for the other miners. After five years he went by boat around Cape Horn and to England before returning to Iowa.

The family lived in Page and Cass Counties in Iowa and a year or two on a farm near Burlington, Missouri, before they moved to Griswold, Iowa, where he operated a lumber yard. In 1883, they came by rail to Correctionville where the railroad ended. There they unloaded their possessions and drove overland to a farm which he had purchased on Section 36, Garfield Township, Plymouth County.

Their oldest child, John was born March 31, 1868. He was fifteen years old when they came to the Pierson vicinity. That first summer he shot prairie chickens each morning to provide meat for the family. When they moved to Pierson in 1888 or 1889 he was cashier at the Southall Bank, known as the Citizens Bank, and managed an elevator. He married Maude Grapes in August, 1908, at Huron, South Dakota. They made their home at Berlin, North Dakota, where he owned an elevator and had extensive land holdings. They had one son, who died in infancy and was buried at Berlin. John died in August, 1938, from injuries suffered in and automobile accident. He was buried at Good Hope Cemetery near Pierson.

Jennie Southall was born February 27, 1870, in Page county, Iowa. She attended school in Kingsley. When she was fifteen years old, a school director asker her to go to LeMars to take the teachers examination, which she did. She passed, and was awarded a teachers certificate so she taught several terms at country schools. With her brother, John, she attended Western Normal College at Shenandoah for two years. They were the first Pierson residents to go to college. She graduated in June 1890 and beginning that fall taught 52 pupils at the Pierson School for $40 per month. On March 6, 1902, she married John Williams. They had three children: John Burnell, 1903-1928; Shirley, 1905; and Harold Southall, 1912-1981.

Lillie Mae Southall was born May 24, 1873, in Page county. She attended school in Pierson and Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa. She moved to Long Beach, California, in 1909 where she met and married Arthur E Berry, on August 3, 1913. They had no children. She died December 27, 1924, and was buried on the Southall lot at Good Hope Cemetery.

William Max Southall was born in Page county, February 13, 1876. He attended school in Pierson and the Carroll, Iowa. Normal School where he graduated in 1893. He married Mable Leona Foner who was born September 22, 1878, at Boscobel, Wisconisn. They made their home in Irwin, Iowa, where they raised their family: William Amond, 1897-1957; Nellie Valeria, 1895-; Donald Otto, 1901-; Lillie (later Lillian) Mae, 1905; Mabel Leona, 1907-1965; and Burnell George, 1909-1983. William Max died May 10, 1943. Mable died May 1960. Both are buried at Walnut, Iowa.

Burnell George Southall was born February 15, 1881, near Burlington Junction, Missouri. He attended school in Pierson and Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. In 1905, he moved to North Dakota, and then to Minneapolis where he married Julia Naddig. They had one son, Burnell John. Burnell George died August 4, 1926, in Minneapolis and was buried in the Southall lot at Good Hope Cemetery.

In the fall of the first year that the Southall family lived near Pierson, William took a load of wheat in two-bushel cotton grain bags to the mill at Quorn and had it ground into flour. Then bags of corn were taken to be ground. The bags were stored around the walls of the summer kitchen. The corn was eaten during the winter and the wheat saved for summer. This farm was sold to Henry DeLambert. On February 12, 1889, they paid $4200 for 188 acres of land which they purchased from Gordon and Mary Powell. They moved to Pierson where he owned an elevator, bank and general store. Mrs Southall, died March 6, 1892, and William, died September 11, 1902. Both are buried at Good Hope Cemetery.