Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 686
WILLIAM A. GRAYBILL

William A. GRAYBILL, a farmer on section 32, of Washington Township, has been a resident of Harrison County since, 1864, settling on his present farm in the month of March in that year. He, in company with A. J. GRAYBILL, William SPEARS, and O. A. STOKER purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land in 1862, which was divided in 1865, Mr. GRAYBILL getting eighty-five acres, upon which he built a log house in 1864, and moved his family there in the spring. They have occupied the same building ever since. When he came to the township there were but two farms opened up, and all looked new and wild. One log school-house on section 32 graced the fair domain now so thickly settled, and religious meetings were held at Union Grove usually in private houses. Mr. GRAYBILL�s present farm comprises two hundred and twenty-five acres of choice land, the most of which is situated in the Mosquito Valley.

To learn something of his early career the reader will be informed that he was born July 28, 1840, in Adams County, Ill., and accompanied his parents, who were among the early pioneers to locate in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, coming, as they did, before Council Bluffs had an existence, that location then being known as MILLER�s Hollow. Our subject remained with his parents until 1864. For nine years prior his father, himself and brothers A. J. & L., kept bachelor�s hall in Pottawattamie County.

Simeon P. GRAYBILL was born March 26, 1816, in Jackson County, Ohio, and was the son of Mr. GRAYBILL, a native of New York and of German ancestry. The father, Michael GRAYBILL, was the son of Peter GRAYBILL, who was born in Pennsylvania and married Christena WAMPLER, who had been taken prisoner by the Delaware Indians when a child and kept with the tribe for seven years and then returned to her parents. Peter GRAYBILL was a son of John GRAYBILL who came from Germany in the days of the Revolutionary War. Simeon GRAYBILL�s father, Michael, was married to Polly STOKER, in Ashe County, N. C., May 1811, removed to Jackson County, Ohio, and reared a family of eleven children: David, Catharine, Simeon, Levi, George, Lenore, Julian, Michael, Mary Ann, Elizabeth and Sidney.

Simeon was married to Amanda HILL, in Jackson County, Ohio, March 16, 1837 and the same year moved to Caldwell County, Mo., and in 1838 to Davis County, of that State. They removed back to Caldwell County, remained until 1839 and went to Adams County, Illinois, where they remained until 1848. February 14 of that year, his wife Amanda, was taken sick and died February 21. The same week, her eldest daughter, Rachel, sickened and died March 22. In the autumn of 1848, the family started West and arrived in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, December 5.

The mother of our subject was born in 1817 in Jackson County, Ohio, her maiden name being Amanda HILL. They were the parents of four children, three sons and one daughter. One son, Aaron A., was killed in the time of the Civil War. He was killed at Camp Creek, Ga. August 31, 1864.

Our subject was united in marriage, January 8, 1861, in Pottawattamie County, to Miss Agnes J. SPEARS, by whom eight children have been born--Lovina J., born November 9, 1862, Louisa A., February 19, 1864; Margaret M., July 14, 1865; George A., August 10, 1867; Simeon P., January 14, 1870; William A., September 17, 1872; Clarence E., July 28, 1880; Maude A., October 27, 1881. George A., died September 10, 1884, and his sister, Maude A., died March 11, 1882.

Agnes J. (SPEARS) GRAYBILL, the wife of our subject, was born September 28, 1841, in Illinois, and came with her parents to Pottawattamie County, and remained with them until the date of her marriage.

Politically, our subject is an independent, and is a member of the Farmers� Alliance and Industrial Union, believing as he dos, that the farmer is not as well protected by the present laws of our government, as is the monopolist.

In his religious convictions, he believes in the faith that all people will be rewarded for all good deeds done in the body and punished for the bad deeds.

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