W P & Rose O'Connel Southworth

SOUTHWORTH OCONNEL

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 10/18/2010 at 20:07:06

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

W P and Rose (O’Connel) Southworth
By George Southworth

P W Southworth, born December 31, 1831, in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, was the youngest of a family of twelve boys (no girls). His father was John Southworth. P W Southworth, my grandfather, left the sea in 1870, traveled west to Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, purchased land east of town, built a log cabin, then returned to Dartmouth that fall. The following spring he moved his family – wife, Amanda Alden (maiden name); oldest son, Alanson; three daughters; and the youngest son, William. William was my father. They arrived at the farm in late summer, 1871.

In 1883, grandfather built a home in Salix, Iowa, where the family reestablished their hardware and drug store owned by Mr Frear. This business was later divided by, with Mr Frear moving the drug store into a new building while my grandfather retained the hardware in the original building, adding implements, harness, and well drilling.

The oldest son, Alanson, went to Wyoming to became a farmer and rancher. He had one daughter, Eunice, and one son, John. All have passed on.

The second child, Eunice, married a Mr Brown, in or near Sergeant Bluff, and they lived and farmed east of town. They had four children. Chan, the oldest, married, and moved to Northfield, Minnesota; he had two daughters, Alice and Ruth, and a son, Edward. Alice, the older daughter, taught school in Minneapolis, but neither married. Edward married and lived on the home farm until about 1913 when they moved to Sioux City, Iowa. Edward had two sons, Edward and Bert. Edward, the older son, died in Sioux City as a young man; Bert lives on a small farm east of Sioux City.

The youngest daughter of grandfather Southworth died in infancy and the other daughter returned to Massachusetts with her mother to be with the Alden family in Boston. They did not return to Salix.

W P Southworth, my father, younger son of the P W Southworth family, followed his older brother west and proved up on a homestead near Harrison, Nebraska. He sold the land and returned to Salix. There he joined his father’s business, with the addition of a furniture and undertaking business.

My father, W P Southworth, married Rose O’Connell of Salix, the oldest daughter of Dennis O’Connell. She, like her sisters, had received her schooling from her mother until she attended Highland Park College in Des Moines, Iowa. She then taught in Akron, Iowa.

The family moved into the Southworth home with Grandfather, who was then alone, and it was here 1899 and 1912 when they moved to Sioux City.

The oldest daughter, Elizabeth, born October 3, 1900, died October 4, 1982, at her home in Sedona, Arizona.

I, George, the second child, born March 20, 1902, married Violetta Barnett of Sioux City. We now live in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The third child, Paul, born April 9, 1904, married and had one daughter, Constance Jean, and two sons, Paul Jr, and James. Paul Jr, married and has two daughters and a son; all live in or near Albuquerque, New Mexico. James married and divorced and died about 1970, leaving one son, Kevin. The daughter, Constance Jean, married and has four children and now grandchildren. Their home is in Milwaukee near Portland, Oregon. Paul’s wife, Harriet, passed away in 1980 and Paul is now living in Salem, Oregon.

Margaret, the fourth child, married Gaylord Strunk of Sioux City and had three children, Lavina, Archie and Harold. Lavina married a man in the state of Washington where they live with their family on a large farm. Archie died early in life. Harold is married and living in Sioux City. Sister, Margaret, died August 10, 1972, in Grant’s Pass, Oregon, and her husband passed away soon afterward.

The sixth child, Earnest, was born September 20, 1911, and died July 6, 1930.

The youngest, Rose, born in Sioux City, August 10, 1914, married George Huber of Sioux City, where they still live at 112 Steward Avenue West. They have two boys, both married. Of those sons, George W, the older, lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with the family of five children. The younger, Dennis is married and living in Glasterburg, Connecticut.

Grandfather retired from active work in business in 1909 and died February 17, 1912. The hardware and furniture business was sold and my father along with his nephew, Edward Brown, and Thomas Chantry, established a honey packing business in the old hardware building under the name of Western Honey Producers Association with the trade name of ‘Three Bee Honey’. The business did very well and in 1912, for need of better railroad connections, they moved to Sioux City where it remained until sold in 1928 to the Sioux City Honey Association with the trade name ‘Sioux Bee Honey’.