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 October 5, 2020

Amon C. Steele, of Coon Rapids, has passed the age of three score years and now looks back upon a life of activity and usefulness, in the course of which he attained a position of financial independence. He is now postmaster of Coon Rapids. He is a native of Winnebago county, Illinois, born August 18, 1843, a son of Wolcott and Lavina (Johnson) Steele, the former of whom was born at New Hartford, Connecticut, and the latter in the same state. They went to Ohio when they were children with their parents, who settled in Ashtabula county. They were married in the Buckeye state and located in Winnebago county, Illinois, in 1842, continuing there during the remainder of their lives. The mother died at the age of forty-two but the father survived many years, passing away at the age of eighty-three years. He served as county supervisor and also held township offices. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Steele were seven children: Orange J., who enlisted in the Civil war and gave up his life for his country; Fayette G., who is now living at Beloit, Wisconsin; Henry M., who died in Nevada; Martha, who is the wife of Job Packard, of Beloit; Wolcott, who died at Winnemucca, Nevada; Almon C., of this review; and Alma, who died at the age of twenty-one years.

The paternal grandfather of our subject was Zadoc Steele. He was a native of Connecticut and a pioneer of Ashtabula county, Ohio. The old log cabin, thirty by forty feet in size, which he built in 1808 is still standing and is one of the interesting reminders of early days in the Buckeye state. He was a soldier in the war of 1812 and became one of the flourishing farmers of his county. He married Miss Lyman and of their children the following names are known, Wolcott, Francis, Merritt, Abbie and Almon. The grandparents on the maternal side were also pioneers of Ashtabula county and the names of seven of their children have been handed down to the present generation, Fayette, Greene, Fannie, Loretta, Lavina, Lucy and Camden.

Mr. Steele of this review was reared on his father’s farm in Winnebago county, Illinois, and in the district schools gained the rudiments of an education. At the breaking out of the Civil war he responded to the call of President Lincoln and enlisted in Company D, Seventy-fourth Illinois Infantry, continuing in this regiment until the close of the war. He enlisted as a private and was honorably discharged as a sergeant, having won his stripes by faithful performance of duty. He participated in the battles of Stone River and Chickamauga; was with Sheridan’s division in the charge at Missionary Ridge; was present at the front during the Atlanta campaign; was in charge of the Second Division of the Fourth Corps at the battle of Kenesaw Mountain; and also performed his part in many other hard fought engagements up to the time of the fall of Atlanta. He returned northward with the Fourth Corps from Atlanta and fought in the battles of Franklin and Nashville under General Thomas, being a member of Updike’s Brigade that saved the day at Franklin. After laying aside the uniform and accoutrements of war Mr. Steele resumed the peaceful occupation of agriculture in Winnebago county, Illinois, breaking prairie with a seven-yoke ox team. In 1871 he came to Iowa and settled in Glidden township, east of Glidden, near the town of Ralston. Here he purchased eighty acres of land, to which he added one hundred and sixty acres, and made his home upon this place until 1882, when he took up his permanent resident at Coon Rapids. In 1884 he sold his farm, receiving thirty dollars per acre. This land is now worth one hundred and fifty dollars an acre. He bought one hundred and sixty acres in Union township and three hundred and twenty acres in Guthrie county, Iowa, but has disposed of all of his landholdings.

On the 3d of July, 1869, Mr. Steele was married to Miss Julia Aldrich, a daughter of George and Anna (Morse) Aldrich, and to this union nine children were born, two of whom died in infancy. Gertrude, who is the widow of Christ Nelson, now makes her home in Audubon, Iowa, and has two children, Eugenia and Victor. Alice M. became the wife of William Griswold and lives in Hamburg, Germany. Coral A. is engaged in teaching in the New York State Normal School at Albany, New York. Lavinia, who is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Champaign, is employed as cataloguer in the Iowa State Library at Des Moines. Abner C., who is engaged as stock buyer in Coon Rapids, married Grace Galloway. Henry M. lives at home and Meade G. is a clerk in a drug store. The mother of these children died in November, 1890, at the age of forty years. She was a consistent member of the Presbyterian church and a woman of many estimable traits of character. On the 20th of November, 1894, Mr. Steele was again married, his second union being with Miss Anna Cretsinger, a daughter of John and Mary (Boone) Cretsinger, and they have four children, Marian, Harriet, Katherine and Wolcott. Mr. Steele is not a member of any religious denomination but his estimable wife is identified with the Presbyterian church, in which she is an active worker. He applied himself to such good advantage in earlier years that he now enjoys the rest to which he is well entitled, leaving to younger men the work of carrying forward the development of the wonderful resources of the state. He is a valued member of Perry Wright Post, No. 148, G.A.R. and politically is a stalwart supporter of the republican party, having voted “as he shot” ever since the Civil war. He served as township trustee for many years and for twelve years was a member of the county board of supervisors, displaying a clearness of judgment and an ability in protecting the rights of the people that met the hearty approval of citizens of all political parties in Carroll county.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~