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G. A. and John McWilliam
G.
A. McWilliam, identified with the farming interests of Junction
township, his home being on section 30, was born in Dane county,
Wisconsin, about ten miles north of the city of Madison, on the 4th of
March, 1854. His father, John McWilliam, was a native of Saratoga, New
York, born November 8, 1816. He acquired a common-school education and
when a young man engaged in the manufacture of hand rakes, such as were
used to rake hay and grain after it was cut by the scythe. Subsequently
he worked in a sawmill and his life was one of earnest and unremitting
labor. He was married in New York, and in 1844 he came to the middle
west. It was through the opportunities offered in the Mississippi
valley he purchased forty acres of government land in Rock county,
Wisconsin. The tract was just as it had come from the hand of nature,
being totally unimproved. .After paying the usual government price of a
dollar and a quarter per acre for the property, he had only
seventy-five cents in money. His wife, too, was seventy-five miles
away. Resolutely, however, he took up the task of making a home upon
what was then the frontier of the west. He built a little dwelling,
improved the farm and cultivated it for some years, when he sold out
and bought one hundred and sixty acres of government land ten miles
north of Madison. It was upon this farm that his son G. A. McWilliam
was born.
The father carried on the work of general farming there until 1855,
when he came to Greene county, Iowa, and made investment in several
tracts of land, including the southeast quarter of section 1; the west
half of the southwest corner of section 1; the west half of the
northeast quarter of section 1, all in Grant township, together with
the north half of the northwest quarter of section 36, Hardin township;
the southeast quarter of the south east quarter of section 25, Hardin
township; the northwest quarter of section 31, Junction township; and
the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 30, Junction
township, in all securing about six hundred acres of government land.
At that time Greene county contained but three townships - Jefferson,
Washington and Kendrick. Mr. McWilliam built a log cabin on the west
half of the southwest quarter of section 1, Grant township, which he
occupied for a year. He then put up another log cabin on the southeast
quarter of section 1, and made that farm his home for eleven years. He
next built a frame house on the northeast quarter of the northeast
quarter of section 36, Hardin township, where he lived until he had
reached an advanced age. He died at the home of his son in Grant
township, upon a farm which he had purchased from the government in
1855, passing away in December, 1898, when he had reached the venerable
age of eighty-two years. The frame house which he built still stands
and the shingles which were put on when G. A. McWilliam was thirteen
years of age are still doing good service. They were made from Michigan
pine and are much better than those made today.
The father was a republican in politics, but aspired to no oflice,
preferring to concentrate his time and energies upon his business
affairs. He was a successful man and after coming west always devoted
his time and energies to general agricultural pursuits. He aided
materially in the work of progress and improvement in this section of
the state, helping to survey the city of Jefferson and also carrying
the chain at the time the survey was made for the Greene County Swamp
Land Company. When riding over the prairie he could pull up a stake and
from the numbers on it tell exactly where he stood. He never studied
surveying but had a great deal of experience during the early surveys
of the county and thus gained broad practical experience in that line
of work. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Charlotte Young, was
born in St. Lawrence county, New York, July 26, 1823, and died at the
home of her son, G. A. McWilliam, in the seventy-fourth year of her
age. She was a member of the Seventh Day Baptist church. By her
marriage she became the mother of seven children: J. W., who was born
in New York and at the time of his death lived in Minnesota; Sarah E.,
the deceased wife of W. H. Decker, a resident of Junction township,
Greene county; J. Andrew, who is living near Stuart, in Guthrie county,
Iowa; Alphonso, who died in infancy; G. A. of this review; D. P., who
is living at Milton, Wisconsin; and E. A., who died in infancy.
G. A. McWilliam remained at home with his parents until the time of
his marriage. He was only about a year old when the family came to
Iowa. and for more than a half century he has now lived in Greene
county. He possesses a most remarkable memory concerning early events,
dates and localities. He never did any surveying nor did he make a
study of it though he told from memory the various claims which his
father entered from the government and for a number of years he has
looked after his own and his brother’s farms and knows the location by
number and fractions of sections of every piece of land in the
township. He also has an excellent memory for dates and without
consulting any records he furnished the events from which this sketch
has been compiled. His memory is indeed remarkable and, moreover, is
thoroughly accurate. Many events which are to others matters of
history, are to him matters of personal knowledge and experience and he
relates in most interesting manner many incidents of the early days.
At the time of his marriage Mr. McWilliams engaged in farming on
land given him by his father, and in 1881 he built his present
residence on land which his father also gave him. Throughout his entire
life he has carried on agricultural pursuits but also taught school to
some extent when a young man. His own education was acquired in the
country school known as the Prairie Flower school on section 11, Grant
township, and in Grand Junction, where he spent a short time as a
student. He has always been interested in the cause of education, which
finds in him a strong and stalwart champion. His time and labors,
however, have been largely devoted to his farming pursuits and he now
owns and operates two hundred and forty acres of land, at the same time
having charge of his brother’s farm. Upon his home place he has a
flowing artesian well one hundred and seventy-seven feet deep, which
was dug in 1894. It started to flow about one o’clock in the afternoon
on the 6th of July of that year and there has been a continuous flow to
the present time.
In 1877 Mr. McWilliam was united in marriage to Miss Matilda
Hoshaw, who was born in Knoxville, Iowa. Her mother died when she was a
little child, leaving four daughters. The family was broken up but
later the father married again and when Mrs. McWilliam was thirteen
years of age he brought his family to Greene county, settling in Hardin
township. Unto Mr. and Mrs. McWilliam have been born seven children.
Owrell, who is a graduate of the high school of Grand Junction, was a
teacher in the country schools of the county for a few terms and now
assists in carrying on the home farm. He married Delia May Wiltsi.
Oscar O. died at the age of four years. Alta R., who is a graduate of
the Grand Junction high school and engaged in teaching in early
womanhood, is now the wife of E. R. Neary, a resident of Ogle county,
Illinois. Roy E. died at the age of two years. Elfa M. and Effie M.
were twins but the latter died in infancy, while the former is at home.
Celia, who completes the family, died at the age of six years.
Mr. McWilliam is one of the oldest residents of Greene county in
years of continuous connection with this section of the state and he is
largely considered as authority upon early events. No man has a more
intimate knowl‘edge of the history of the county or can tell in
accurate manner more concerning the incidents which have shaped its
policy, molded its growth and promoted its advancement. When people
want to know anything concerning the pioneer days in Greene county,
they consult Mr. McWilliam and the knowledge desired is usually
forthcoming. Great indeed have been the changes that have occurred in
the county during the period of his residence here, for at the time of
his arrival almost the entire district was a wild, unbroken prairie,
scarcely a settlement having been made. Spring came, bringing the wild
flowers, and the chilly blasts of winter swept over the district
unbroken by any habitation or forest growth. An arduous task remained
to the early settlers who reclaimed the region for the purposes of
civilization and of cultivation and with these Mr. McWilliam has borne
his full share in transforming the prairie into a richly cultivated
field.
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