More than half a century has passed since John William Argo became a resident of Cedar county and through the intervening years he has taken a deep interest in all that has pertained to the welfare of the community and in as far as possible has cooperated in measures and movements for the general good. For a long period he was associated with farming interests and is now living retired, enjoying in well earned rest the fruits of his former toil. He makes his home in Tipton, where he has lived since February, 1902.
He was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, October 13, 1850, a son of John Wesley and Mary Elizabeth (Grandstaff) Argo, who were also natives of the Buckeye state. The ancestry of the Argo family can be traced back to Alexander Argo, a native of Scotland, who, after emigrating to America, settled in Sussex county, Maryland, where he died at the advanced age of one hundred years. His son, William Argo, was born in Sussex county in 1762 and removed thence to Fayette county, Pennsylvania. He was a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church for sixty-three years and died in that faith in 1845 at the age of eighty-three years. His family numbered four sons and eight daughters, all of whom reached years of maturity.
Of this number Jeremiah Argo, the grandfather of John William Argo, was third in order of birth and the last survivor. He was born in Lucine township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, June 21, 1791, about twelve miles from Uniontown, and died April 13, 1881, at the age of ninety years, two months and twenty-seven days. He was fifteen years of age when his father removed to Jefferson county, Ohio, settling about three miles south of the village of Warren. Later he became a resident of Belmont county, Ohio, settling at Wheeling Creek, about three miles from Wheeling, West Virginia. In September, 1812, when in his twentieth year, he attended a camp meeting eighteen miles northwest of Steubenville, Ohio, and was there converted. It was while at that meeting that his mother arrived on the ground, having ridden twelve miles on horseback to inform him that he had been drafted for six months’ service in the army. He went into camp at Hiram, Ohio, three miles from Lake Erie, under the command of General W. H. Harrison, and assisted in the construction of Fort Meigs, where he remained until he became ill of camp fever and was discharged twenty days before his term expired. He was married August 26, 1813, to Anna Oxley, a daughter of Britton Oxley. Her death occurred October 17, 1855, when she was sixty-eight years of age. It was in December, 1825, that Jeremiah Argo removed with his family to Muskingum county, Ohio, where he cleared a farm and built a home in the midst of the forest. In 1857 he left the old homestead, where the greater part of his life had been spent, and with one remaining daughter removed to Springfield township, Cedar county, Iowa, where two of his sons and three of his daughters had preceded him. He arrived October 22, 1857, andhere continued until his death. His family numbered three sons and six daughters.
Coming to Iowa in 1855, Mr. and Mrs. John Wesley Argo spent the greater part of their lives on a farm in Springfield township and thence removed to Clarence, where Mrs. Argo died in 1868 at the age of fifty-nine years. Mr. Argo afterward removed to Lyon county, Iowa, where his death occurred in 1887 when he was sixty-eight years of age. In their family were seven children: Elisha, now deceased; Sabrina, the wife of W. M. Ross of Washington; Margaret Jane, the wife of W. H. Green of Little Rock, Iowa; Anna, the wife of Jesse Monk of Missouri; John William, of this review; Jeremiah A., deceased; Nancy, the widow of Henry Hatch of Little Rock, Iowa.
Brought to this country in his early boyhood days, John William Argo pursued his education in the public schools and aided in the work of the home farm in Springfield township until sixteen years of age. He then began farming on his own account, at first renting land, while later he purchased eighty acres in Fairfield township and lived there for thirteen years. He then sold that property, after which he invested in a quarter section on section 35, Fairfield township. That farm continued to be his home throughout the following decade, at the end of which time he sold the property and bought his father-in-law’s place of two hundred and eighty acres on sections 33 and 34. Later he purchased one hundred and twenty acres in Center township and in time became the owner of four hundred acres which he cultivated until his retirement. He afterward rented a farm for a time and on removing to Tipton sold both places. He has resided in the county seat since February, 1902, and is recognized as one of its prominent and influential citizens. At one time he also owned considerable Dakota land but lately has disposed of all of this. He is still the owner of four dwellings in Tipton beside the one which he now occupies. Since taking up his abode in the city he has engaged in buying and shipping live stock. Whatever he undertakes seems bound to succeed, for he is extremely energetic and persevering, and those qualities will largely overcome all difficulties and obstacles that one may meet.
In 1870, Mr. Argo was united in marriage to Miss Ida Jane Walters, who was born near Rochester, this county, June 24, 1850. In 1852 her parents, Henry and Mary (Thompson) Walters, crossed the plains to California with ox-teams and spent four years in that state, after which they returned by way of the isthmus route to New Orleans. When they landed at Panama they found that all of the white people who had landed from the ship that had just previously completed the voyage to that port had been killed by the natives. Mr. Walters was born in Clinton county, Pennsylvania, October 19, 1821, and on attaining his majority left home and found employment on a canal boat plying between Lock Haven and Philadelphia. He afterward removed to Carroll county, Ohio, where he remained for three years, and in the spring of 1846 he arrived in Cedar county, Iowa. On the 27th of January, 1848, he married Mary Thompson and his funeral was conducted on the forty-seventh anniversary of his wedding day.
His wife’s mother, Mrs. Catharine Thompson, was a daughter of John and Barbara Birely, and was born at Valley Mills, Frederick county, Maryland, March 13, 1805. She was married there to Thomas Thompson on the 3d of December, 1830. Two years later she became a member of the Lutheran church and was ever afterward a consistent Christian. In 1823 she and her husband and one child removed to Germantown, Montgomery county, Ohio, and there Mr. Thompson also joined the church. In the fall of 1843 the family came to Cedar county, Iowa, settling at Pedee in Iowa township. In March, 1854, the health of Mr. Thompson becoming impaired, they removed to Tipton, where he lived retired until his death, on the 1st of November, 1863. His widow afterward resided with her youngest son, P. W. Thompson. She was always interested in the work of the church, in the missionary cause and in the cause of temperance and was actively identified with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. She died while visiting at the home of her eldest granddaughter, Mrs. Gaige, December 30, 1892, at the age of eighty-seven years, nine months and seven days.
It was her daughter who became the wife of Henry Walters in 1848. In1852, as previously stated, they went to California, and after their return to Cedar county, four years later, Mr. Walters engaged in farming. Possessed of more than an ordinary amount of energy and industry, he accumulated property rapidly and several years prior to his death, retired from active labor with a handsome competency. He loved his home and family and made liberal provision of their interests and comforts. For two years he survived his wife, whose death was his most severe loss. He was a good citizen, kind friend and neighbor, and enjoyed the respect and confidence of all who knew him. Unto him and his wife were born thirteen children: Sarah, now the wife of Robert Gaige of Tipton; Mrs. Argo; John and Robert, both of Tipton; George, living at Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Turner, a resident of Galva, Iowa; Abbie O., the widow of James Fegley of Oregon; Luella, the wife of Frank Gay of Corvallis, Oregon; Harry, living in Galva, and four who died in childhood.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Argo was blessed with eight children: Mary Elizabeth, who is the wife of Howard Sissel and resides two miles south of Tipton; Nellie, who died at the age of three and one-half months; Anna, the wife of Isaac Weaver of Tipton; Edith Viola, the wife of John Blair of Riceville, Iowa; Oral L., the wife of Omer Tracht of Riceville; Otis H., of Riceville, who was a twin brother of Oral and married Grace D. Gay; Walter W., of Tipton, who married Lydia A. Spear; and Vern Earl, who married Eva Shotwell.
In his political views Mr. Argo has long been a stalwart republican, giving unfaltering support to the men and measures of the party. For the past six years he has served as justice of the peace and has discharged his duties with promptness and fidelity. He and his family are members of the Presbyterian church and in its work take an active and helpful part. Mr. and Mrs. Argo spent the summer of 1909 on the Pacific coast, attending the Seattle Fair and Exposition and visiting other points of interest. As one of the pioneer settlers of the county, Mr. Argo is widely known here. He has witnessed the greater part of the growth and development of this section of the state as the work of general improvement and progress has been carried forward. He relates many interesting incidents of the early days and rejoices in what has been accomplished, at all times having borne his part in the tasks that confronted the early settlers in their efforts to reclaim this region for the purposes of civilization.
