Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 771
WILLIAM ELLIOTT

William ELLIOTT, a farmer living on section 10, LaGrange Township, came to Harrison County, in the spring of 1852, and settled on a part of the farm he now lives upon. At that time the improvements of the place consisted of forty acres of breaking and a log house covered with clapboards with a layer of buckwheat straw, and then dirt on top of that, so that when it rained the shower was a combination of water, buckwheat straw juice, and terra firma. He lived in this house for four years, and then erected a small frame shop, which they lived in while building their present brick dwelling, which was completed in 1867. The same is a two story building, 16x32 feet, with an ell 16x24 feet.

He has added to his farm until he has four hundred and twenty acres; eighty acres of meadow on the Boyer Valley, and eighty of pasture land on section 22, and sixty acres of timber on section 11, making in all four hundred and twenty acres. He keeps about one hundred head of cattle, and feeds a car load of steers each winter.

When our subject came to Harrison County a greater part of it was yet wild land, and houses were many miles apart. His nearest post office was Magnolia, but he did his trading at Council Bluffs.

Our subject was born in Durham County, England , January 23, 1826. His mother died when he was ten years of age, and his father when he was fourteen. He worked for a time in the lead mines; then worked as a section hand on the railroad, being section boss at the age of seventeen. After this he engaged as brakeman on the railroad, and worked at that until 1846, when he sailed for America, his voyage lasting twenty-eight days. He first located in Schuylkill County, PA, where he worked eight months at blacksmithing, after which he turned his attention to carpentering, and followed that until 1854, and then he got a position as overseer of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Canal, which place he held until the spring of 1862, when he came to Harrison County. He was married in Carbon County, PA, July 4, 1854, to Miss Anna PHILLIPS, by whom eight children were born�Anna J., William E., John W., Martha M., Clara C., William W., Sherman S., Augusta O. William E. is deceased.

John W., our subject's son, is married and is now living at Valentine, Neb.; Marth M., married William BENNETT and lives at Sioux City; Clara, married and lives at Missouri Valley, the wife of Peter FERRELL; William is in the general offices of the Burlington & Missouri River railroad at Omaha; married in Council Bluffs in fall of 1891; Anna J. spends her time in California, teaching; Sherman is a druggist at Council Bluffs; Augusta O. is in Omaha serving in the capacity of a shorhand reporter.

Mr. ELLIOTT has visited the Old Country (Europe) twice, enjoying his trip each time, but having no desire to again live in that country. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Lodge No. 420, A.F.&A.M., at Logan. He also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, including the Encampment and Rebecca degrees.

On January 2, 1836, our subject joined a Total Abstinence Society in England, and has always kept his pledge to the letter.

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