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 June 26, 2020

A persevering and highly successful agriculturist of Union township is Jacob Thomas Smouse, who is engaged in the cultivation of a one hundred and eighty acre farm on section 30. He was born in Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, on the 3d of May, 1860, and is a son of Samuel and Harriet (Thomas) Smouse, also natives of the Keystone state. Samuel Smouse was a son of John Adam and Eve (Diehl) Smouse, the father, who was also a native of Pennsylvania, living to attain the venerable age of eighty-nine years. They had the following children: Peggy, Samuel, Isaac, Adam, Ann, Thomas, Charles, Conrad and Aaron. The son Samuel was reared on the family homestead in his native state and when he was old enough to become a wage earner he engaged in lumbering. He came west in 1869, locating in Knox county, Illinois, where he remained for two years then removing to Iowa, he settled in the vicinity of Redfield, Dallas county, where he engaged in farming. In 1879 he went to Audubon county and from there to Guthrie five years later, and there he passed away in 1887. His wife was a daughter of Jacob and Polly (Frans) Thomas, both of whom died in Pennsylvania of which state, the father, who was a farmer and lumberman, was a native. To them were born six daughters and one son: Louise, Ann, Harriet, Asenath, Eveline, Nancy and Simon. To Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Smouse the following children were born: John Adam, Jacob T., Asenath, the wife of Lewis Sauvago, of Guthrie county; Sarah, the wife of Robert Mains, of Council Bluffs; Simon Peter, of Alberta, Canada; Aaron M., who is a resident of Union township; Nancy, of Council Bluffs; Samuel; Lot, who is deceased; and Archibald, a resident of Council Bluffs. Both parents were sixty-one at the time of their demise, but Mrs. Smouse survived her husband twelve years, her death occurring in 1898. They both affiliated with the German Reformed church.

Jacob Thomas Smouse was a lad of eleven years when his parents located in Dallas county, Iowa, where he grew to manhood, assisting in the work of the homestead and attending the district schools in the acquirement of his education. Upon attaining his majority he left the parental household and began his career of an agriculturist as a renter in Audubon county. After five years residence there he went to Guthrie county continuing to farm leased land for another two years. Meeting with success in the pursuit of his vocation he acquired sufficient money in 1887 to enable him to buy eighty acres of good farming land in Carroll county, upon which he settled in 1889. He has ever since continuously resided upon this property the boundaries of which he has extended at divers times until his homestead now embraces one hundred and eighty acres of land. During the period of his occupancy he has made many improvements upon his place and has brought the land into a high state of cultivation, his being one of the valuable farms of the township.

The 10th of November, 1886, was the marriage day of Mr. Smouse and Miss Sarah Catherine Nedrow, who was born in Van Buren county, Iowa, on the 13th of August, 1862. Mrs. Smouse is a daughter of George and Mary (Bridenstine) Nedrow, the father a native of Pennsylvania and the mother of Ohio. The paternal grandparents were Michael and Sarah (Nedrow) Nedrow, and the maternal Peter and Catherine (Mason) Bridenstine. Mr. and Mrs. Nedrow were among the early settlers of Iowa, and the father passed away in Nebraska, in 1896 at the age of sixty-five years, but the mother still survives at the age of seventy-five. To them were born five children: Salathiel; Nelson, who is deceased; Durella; Sarah, now Mrs. Smouse; and Ulysses Peter.

Mr. and Mrs. Smouse have become the parents of twelve children: Dicy and Don, who are twins; George, Harriet; Lot; Druella; Eve; Vernita, deceased; Ralph; Alice and Anna, also twins; and Miles.

Fraternally Mr. Smouse is affiliated with the Masonic order, being a member of Charity Lodge, No. 197, A.F. & A.M., of Coon Rapids, also of Copesstone Chapter, No. 78, R.A.M., at Carroll, in addition to which he belongs to the Brotherhood of American Yeomen. In politics he is a democrat, and has served in the capacity of school director for several terms and he has also been road commissioner. Year after year Mr. Smouse has applied himself energetically to the development of his farm, the result of his labors being evidenced in his attractive and well kept fields and well stocked pasture and stable.

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