Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 976
AUGUSTUS H. GLEASON

Augustus H. GLEASON, of Little Sioux, came to Harrison County, in 1856. He is a native of Connecticut, born September 8, 1826. He is the son of Asahel and Etna (JUDD) GLEASON, who were also natives of Connecticut. The grandparents on the father's side were David H. and Isabel (NORTH) GLEASON. The grandfather was a brother to Eland and Peter B. GLEASON, one of the first to work at the printing trade in Saybrook, and Hartford, Conn. The GLEASONS are of Irish extraction. The grandmother GLEASON was a niece of Lord NORTH, of England, and was of English origin.

In our subject's father's father there were five children, he being the eldest. The children were: Augustus H., Elizabeth, John, killed by the Indians; Mary, and Julia.

Our subject's early life was spent in Connecticut, receiving his early education in the common and High Schools, and was a Civil Engineer for the New Haven & Northampton and the New York & New Haven Railroads, as well as Deputy County Surveyor of Hartford, Conn. He remained in the county of his birth, engaged in various pursuits until July, 1856, when he came to Harrison County, Iowa. In 1859 he went to Denver, Col, going with the first steam sawmill ever taken to that country, after which he engaged in gold mining, and went from there to Oregon and in 1862 engaged in mining and ranching. While crossing the plains then known as the Great American Desert, he saw very hard times, being attacked by the Indians, and running low on provisions, an experience which he does not care to pass through again. While gold prospecting he was in Colorado, New Mexico, Old Mexico and Arizona, and remained in Oregon three years, and was in Idaho, Wyoming and British America, returning to Iowa in August, 1864, and purchased land on section 25, of Little Sioux Township, where he now owns five hundred acres all of which is under cultivation. This land has cost him from $2 to $30 per acre. He is engaged in general farming and stockraising and is a very successful agriculturist.

Our subject was married November 14, 1865, at Little Sioux, Iowa, to Miss Cynthia F. SCOFIELD, the daughter of James and Olive (HATHAWAY) SCOFIELD. The latter is still living but the former died in 1882. Her father came to Harrison County in 1857, and erected the first mill in the township, that was propelled by steam; first putting in a sawmill and afterward adding a gristmill.

Mr. and Mrs. GLEASON are the parents of six children: Gertrude O., now the wife of Mr. PITTS, of Omaha; Eva A., at home; John A., deceased; Isabel, Dora and James. Mrs. GLEASON is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he belongs to the Masonic fraternity and is a member of Lodge, No. 382, at Little Sioux.

Politically, our subject is radically a Democrat. Mrs. GLEASON taught the first school in Belvidere Township, Monona County; this school was taught in 1859.

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