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Elliott Putnam

The great Empire state has sent a vast number of enterprising citizens to northern Iowa and they have done a very commendable work in the development of the communities where they have cast their lots. Of those who have located in Fayette county, Elliott Putnam, a progressive farmer of Fairfield township, is deserving of special mention here. He was born on December 9, 1852, in Syracuse, New York, and is the son of Lucian B. and Ester (Foster) Putnam, the father a native of New York state, born February 14, 1824, and died March 29, 1908. The mother was a native of Canada and died when her son, Elliott, of this review, was only two years of age. His parents were married in Canada and emigrated to Freeport, Illinois, in 1853, and Lucian B. Elliott’s early life was spent in an iron foundry. After 1865 his principal occupation was farming. His father, Edward Elliott, was a lineal descendant of Gen. Israel Putnam, of Revolutionary fame. Lucian was three times married, first to Ester Foster, which union resulted in the birth of four children three of whom survive: Helena B., now Mrs. Potter, of Fredericksburg, Iowa; Edward H., of Moline, Illinois; and Elliott of this review. Lucian B. Putnam’s second wife was Cynthia Crosby, which union continued for nearly forty years, when on December 28, 1889, Mrs. Putnam was called to her reward, leaving one daughter, Estella, now Mrs. Thomas. Four years later, Mr. Putnam formed a matrimonial alliance with Mrs. Phoebe E. Thomas, who died October 6, 1896. Mr. Putnam was a man well liked and fairly successful in his life work. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and belonged to the Masonic order; he is described as a man of high ideals and tender affections. In his boyhood days Elliott Putnam attended the district schools of his home community. He was married on April 27, 1887, to Caroline Nus, daughter of Hugo and Henriecka (Meisgeier) Nus, both natives of Germany, from which country they came to America in 1836, and they located in Fayette county, Iowa, in 1856, and Mr. Nus has become one of the wealthy and influential citizens of Fairfield township. He and his wife have become the parents of a large family, seventeen children. Mr. and Mrs. Elliott Putnam began their married life on a farm in Clayton county, Iowa, which they later sold, and in 1907 purchased their present farm on one hundred and twenty acres in section 36, Fairfield township. Mr. Putnam, being a practical and modern farmer, has placed his farm under splendid improvements and has carried on general farming in a very successful manner. He has devoted considerable attention to stock raising and handles a good grade of all kinds of live stock, which, owing to their excellent quality, find a ready market. He has a very comfortable dwelling and good outbuildings. Personally, Mr. Putnam is a man of generous impulses, genteel, kind, honorable, and he enjoys the confidence of his neighbors and acquaintances everywhere. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Putnam consists of five children, three of their own and two sons of Mrs. Putnam’s sister, now deceased; they are Ernest, born August 14, 1889; Arthur, born December 16, 1890; Bertha, born October 8, 1892; Marie, born January 12, 1897. Chester and Donald, the twins, are treated with just the same consideration as if they were the own children of Mr. and Mrs. Putnam. Mrs. Putnam is a member of the German Lutheran Evangelical church, and is a lady of many amiable traits. Her loving disposition is shown in caring for those little orphan children. She looks after them with all a mother’s love and attention.


~transcribed for the Fayette Co IAGenWeb Project by Mary Aldrich