David Hilan, deceased, came to Iowa in July, 1847, accompanied by John Parr. They came from Ohio, and located in Cedar County, in a thinly settled portion of it. Deer and other wild game was abundant, and they were occasionally cheered (?) by the scream of the panther. They once received a call from one of these dreaded creatures. The panther came inside the enclosure and made a meal off a slaughtered porker which was left hanging outside. But they were not discouraged by such troubles, being possessed of the courage that characterized the early pioneer. Being regardless of personal danger, and possessing kind hearts and willing hands, they were well calculated to endure the toils and privations of pioneer life. These men were like brothers, and always ready to lend a helping hand when required. So when David Hilan was called to the assistance of a neighbor, whose home and property were threatened with destruction by a prairie fire, that terrible scourge of early days, he quickly responded, and as the result proved, lost his life in the effort to save his neighbor’s property. After struggling manfully against the fire demon, he fell, completely exhausted and overcome by the terrible heat. The home was saved, but a precious life was lost. In one week the husband and father was taken from the young wife and two small children, leaving them to battle with the trials and hardship of pioneer life alone. Then it was that John Parr, his brother-in-law, proved his sterling worth and affection, by taking the desolate ones to his own home, and caring for, and rearing as his own, the children of his dead friend and brother, until they could care for themselves, although he had a large family of his own. But John Parr’s heart and home were always open to the needy and afflicted, and no one was ever turned away. In later years, during the trying time of “mob law,” when the vigilantes terrorized the eastern part of Iowa, he stood bravely in defense of law and order. Although many of his friends and neighbors were enlisted with the vigilantes, he was Republican and patriot, as well as loyal to civil rule. During the great Rebellion he gave two of his sons, who sacrificed their lives in the service, one dying in a dreary Southern hospital, and the other coming home to die, after receiving an honorable discharge. John Parr lived in Carrol County two or three years, and a short time before his death removed to Nebraska, with his son, where they had previously lived a few years. There the faithful wife and companion of his toils was buried, and there his feet turned in his old age to rest beside her. He died in May, 1884, leaving four children, two sons living in Nebraska, and two daughters, who are residents of Carroll County—Mrs. O. C. Triplett, of Coon Rapids, and Mrs. D. Anderson, of Union Township. To such men as Mr. Hilan and Mr. Parr Iowa owes much of her greatness, and to such she owes a grateful remembrance.

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