Carroll County IAGenWeb

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY IOWA

A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement

VOLUME II ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1912

Transcribed by Sharon Elijah July 15, 2020

Justin Churchill, a successful and enterprising agriculturist residing on section 3, Union township, is the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of well improved and valuable land. His birth occurred in Ogle county, Illinois, on the 5th of April, 1846, his parents being Thomas C. and Aurelia (Woodard) Churchill, who were natives of Ohio and Vermont respectively. His great-grandfather on the paternal side participated in the Revolutionary war. The grandfather, Samuel Churchill, was a native of New York and a farmer by occupation. Unto him and his wife were born twelve children, including Samuel, Asa, Truman, Anna, Thomas C., Mehitable and Laura. The maternal grandfather of our subject was born in Vermont and also followed farming as a life work. His demise occurred in Ohio but his wife passed away in Vermont in early womanhood. They had eleven children, including Wilson, Abraham, Lester, Parry, Aurelia and Jane.

Thomas C. Churchill, the father of Justin Churchill, was a physician by profession. He was reared in the Buckeye state and in early manhood removed to Chicago, Illinois, where he conducted a drug store and practiced medicine. Subsequently he took up his abode in Ogle county, Illinois, and in 1854 came to Iowa, settling in Calamus, Clinton county, where he also conducted a drug store and practiced his profession. In 1876 he came to Carroll county, invested in land and lived retired in Union township until called to his final rest on the 14th of August, 1888, when seventy-one years of age. His wife passed away in 1891, when she had attained the age of sixty-five years, dying in the faith of the First Day Adventist church. They were the parents of four children, two of whom died in early life. Mariette became the wife of S. T. Alger, but is now deceased.

Justin Churchill, whose name introduces this review, was a lad of eight years when he came to Iowa with his parents and was reared to manhood in Calamus, Clinton county, attending the public schools in the acquirement of an education. In 1863 he enlisted for service in the Union army as a member of Company L, Seventh Iowa Cavalry, acting as a scout until about April 10, 1866. He participated in the engagements at Battle Mountain and Whitestone Hill and also took part in many skirmishes. He had enlisted for service with the Fourteenth Iowa Infantry but his company was transferred to the Seventh Iowa Cavalry and sent to the western frontier. After the cessation of hostilities Mr. Churchill was engaged in the grain and hay business at Calamus for one year. In 1875 he came to Carroll county and located on the farm in Union township where he now resides, first purchasing ninety one and a half acres. Since that time he has augmented his holdings by additional purchase until they now embrace three hundred and twenty acres of rich and productive land. His undertakings as an agriculturist have been attended with a gratifying measure of success and he has long been numbered among the prosperous and representative citizens of the community.

On the 22nd of November, 1869, Mr. Churchill was united in marriage to Miss Frances Allison, who was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, on the 5th of October, 1849, her parents being David and Elizabeth (Christ) Allison, natives of Virginia. Her paternal grandparents, Robert and Adessa Allison, were likewise born in the Old Dominion. The maternal grandfather, whose birth also occurred in Virginia, was a farmer by occupation. Unto him and his wife were born a number of children, two of whom are yet living, namely: Thomas, a resident of Ohio; and Susan, who makes her home in the Old Dominion. David Allison, the father of Mrs. Churchill, died in Clinton county, Iowa, when seventy-two years of age, while his wife there passed away at the age of eighty-eight. They had fourteen children, seven of whom yet survive, namely: Sarah, Catharine, Susan, Frances, George, David and Robert.

Unto our subject and his wife have been born six children. Thomas, an engineer of Sioux City, Iowa, wedded Miss Mary Kaneen, by whom he has a daughter, Orpha May. Frank is still at home. Harry, residing at Coon Rapids, Iowa, married Miss Alpha Blanchard and has a son, Kenneth. He served in the regular army for four years, visiting the eastern hemisphere on the flagship Kearsarge. Ray, who lives on a part of the old homestead farm, wedded Miss Grace Kulp, by whom he has three children: Merle, Bernice and Justin Francis. Luella is the wife of Henry Schultz and the mother of two sons and a daughter, Harry, Donald and Frances Irene. Anna passed away at the age of eighteen months.

Mr. Churchill gives his political allegiance to the republican party, believing that its principals are most conducive to good government. He is identified with the Grand Army of the Republic and is also a worthy exemplar of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Charity Lodge, A.F. & A.M. at Coon Rapids; and Copestone Chapter No. 78, R.A.M. at Carroll. In whatever relation of life we find him—in business or in social circles—he is always the same honorable and honored gentleman whose worth well merits the high regard which is uniformly given him.

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