NELSON
W. CRIPPEN, a successful farmer of Pitcher Township, has been a
resident of Cherokee County since 1872. He was born in Warren
County, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1822 and is a son of Stephen and Lucy
(Bauer) Crippen, natives of the State of New York. At the age of
nineteen years he engaged in the lumber business in his native State on
the Allegheny and Ohio rivers; he continued in this line, cutting and
sawing pine lumber until about 1852, when he removed to Michigan and
again embarked in the lumber business in Branch and St. Joseph
counties. While in Pennsylvania his experience was confined
to
soft lumber, but he afterward became familiar with all the details of
hard wood lumbering. At the outbreak of the Rebellion he left
the
saw-mill and took up the musket, enlisting in August, 1862, in the
Fourth Michigan Cavalry, Company G. He soon joined the army
at
the front, and during the battle of Stone River he was detailed to
drive a team; it was here that he received such severe injuries as to
necessitate his removal to a hospital, and from December 31, to
September 4 the following year he was confined in the hospitals at
Nashville and New Albany. Not being able to resume his work
he
was discharged and returned to Michigan, where he remained until the
close of the war. Mr. Crippen then decided to seek a home in
the
West, and accordingly went to Illinois and settled in Stephenson
County, where he remained six years. At the expiration of
that
time he came to Iowa and purchased raw land which he at once began to
improve. He has a pleasant home with tasty surroundings, and
eighty acres of land under cultivation. He is a popular man,
and
has been repeatedly asked to serve in the township offices, where he
makes a careful and efficient hand. He has worked under such
physical disability that a man with less nerve and determination would
have been discouraged. About six years ago he suffered the
loss
of his right arm; while hauling a heavy load with a spirited team he
was thrown from the wagon and was caught under the wheels, his arm
being broken or crushed so as to necessitate amputation.
Despite
this serious drawback, he attends to his farm work, and accomplishes as
much work as most men. Mr. Crippen was married in Warren
County,
Pennsylvania, when twenty-six years of age, to Miss Betsey Long, a
native of Warren County. Their family consists of Ernest D.,
Stephen G. and Delaven, all of whom are married and living near the old
home. Mr. Crippen is a member of the G.A.R., and Uncle Sam
recognized his services by allowing him a small pension. He
is
recognized as a stauch and true man and his word is respected, his
energy admired and his kindly heart and manly traits beloved by all his
neighbors and acquaintances.
Source: Biographical History of Cherokee
County, IA, W. W. Dunbar & Co Publishers, 1889 |
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