Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 370
JAMES H. NORMAN

James H. NORMAN, of section 35, of Union Township, has been a resident of Harrison County since March 18, 1871, when he rented a piece of land near Logan, where he remained for two years, and then bought sixty acres of railroad land, for which he paid $7 per acre. It was wild prairie, and he at once broke forty acres of it, and built a story and a half house 16 x 24 feet, and enclosed the whole sixty-acre tract with a wire fence; also set out an orchard, erected stables and outbuildings, and farmed the place for two years. One season he sowed thirty-five acres of wheat, and did not reap a single bushel, all being destroyed by grasshoppers. This was a great calamity to Mr. Norman, as he had to sell his place and again become a renter of other men's land, which he continued for seven years. He then bought wild land, which he improved, and upon which he now lives. The same being a well-improved farm, provided with a one-story house 22 x 32 feet. Adjacent to the house may be seen a fine bearing apple orchard of one hundred and twenty-five trees, with a great abundance of small fruit, all giving the place the appearance of an orderly, well-kept home.

Our subject hails from the Buckeye State, and was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, June 24, 1827, and lived there until he was thirteen years old, then with his brother went to Carroll County, Ind., remained there a short time, and then went to Southern Indiana, working at whatever he could get to do so long as it was honorable.

After a seven-years' residence in Indiana he went back to Ohio and worked until 1851, and in 1852 came back to Carroll County, Ind., again, where he remained until the spring of 1854, and then came to Adams County, Iowa, remained a week, and went to Illinois, where he worked by the month. He then engaged at farming and fishing with a seine, which business he followed for fourteen years, and then came to Harrison County, as above related.

Our subject was married during the month of November, 1851, to Jamima DEAN, daughter of Elijah and Nancy DEAN, natives of Ohio. By this marriage one child was born, and two years after the marriage the wife died. Our subject was again married August 31, 1856, to Rebecca WILLIAMS, daughter of John and Sarah WILLIAMS, the former a native of Kentucky, and the latter of Pennsylvania. They had a family of eight children, of whom our subject's wife was the youngest, Benjamin Squire, Sarah J., John and Rebecca, and three deceased. The names of our subject's children are: Sarah E., Anna Eliza (deceased), Lillie J. (deceased), George and Effie. Clarence Tucker, a grandchild of our subject came to live with them in 1891.

Politically, Mr. Norman is a supporter of the Republican party, and in religious matters a Methodist Episcopal.

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