James Monroe LOVRIEN

LOVRIEN, BIXBY, WILLEY, IMUS

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 8/17/2010 at 11:06:30

James Monroe Lovrien, the youngest child of George Washington Lovrien and Sophia Bixby, was born Oct. 17, 1853 at West Topsham, Vt. and lived to the age of 99 years. When he was only four months old, his father passed away. While Sophia worked, James was cared for by his great aunt Hannah Hoyt who had reared his father. He went to a nearby country school. He could remember the Civil War and was frightened by reports of the Confederate Army moving north. His older, brother George Henry at 15 was a volunteer in the Union Army. In 1858 his mother Sophia married John Willey and in 1870 when James was 17, the family moved to Rutland, Iowa to farm on land adjoining George Henry and Frances Willey Lovrien's farm. Frances was the daughter of John Willey by an earlier marriage.

James went to a lumbering camp in Minnesota to work after Sophia's death in March 1877. It was there he met Mattis Leah Imus and they were married August 14,1881. James was 28 years old, a tall six foot well-built gentleman with curly black hair and bright blue eyes. His bride who 1acked one month of being 16 years, was not quite five feet tall, weighed about 90 pounds and had lots of long jet black hair and dark eyes.

After their marriage they homesteaded in Faulk County, So. Dak. Their first home was a sod shanty and all they could see from the small windows was long grass, wild flowers and a few cottonwood trees. An abundant supply of dried buffalo chips and twisted long grass provided fuel. Wild game was plentiful and as long as there was ammunition, they had food. One of the first things they did after arrival was to plow a wide strip of ground around their home to protect it from fire.

Charles, their first child, was the first white boy born in Faulk County. Then came Helen, George, Frances and Blanche. The family endured many hardships; first typhoid fever which claimed Mattie’s father who had moved his family to S. Dak.; then in 1886 one of the worst blizzards on record in which people as well as livestock perished; next were the hot drying winds which ruined the crops; then the grasshopper plague and last a prairie fire in the late fall of 1889.

When James' two older brothers George and Frank learned of these disasters, Frank went to S. Dak. and insisted that the family come to Iowa. The winter of 1889, James and his two sons lived with George’s family while Mattie and her three daughters lived with Frank's family. In the spring George moved to Humboldt to become postmaster and James ranted his farm.

In Sept. 1897 James and Mattie and their seven children moved from Rutland to a farm they bought one mile from Bradgate. Their new home was within walking distance of a good school and was on a beautiful spot overlooking the Des Moines River. It was the birthplace of three more children, Neva, Roselpha and Mary. A spacious six bedroom home was built in 1908 and before they sold the farm in 1917, they had replaced every building. James was a faithful worker in the Methodist Church, serving on the board for many years. He was a school director for 16 years and also worked on many township and county committees.

They moved from Bradgate to Eagle Grove where they lived until their deaths. James died Feb. 23, 1952. Mattie lived five years more, passing away Jan. 31, 1957. They both are buried in Union Cemetery at Humboldt.

Source:
http://www.lovrien.com/genealogy/showmedia.php?mediaID=31&medialinkID=33