Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 403
ISAAC K. TEETER

Isaac K. TEETER, a farmer living on section 2, Taylor Township, came to Harrison County in the autumn of 1855, and entered twenty acres of land, one hundred and twenty-five on section 11, also in 1856 purchased a "forty" from Charles Van, a (mulatto). There were no improvements upon this land at the time he obtained it. After securing his land, in the fall of 1855, he returned to his family in Jefferson County, and moved out the following spring. He came with an ox team, and lived in his wagon until a small shanty could be erected, which served the purpose of a house until fall, when he built a log house 16x21 feet. One reason our subject had in wanting this place was the fact that it contained one of the finest springs in Harrison County. It runs a two-inch stream the year round, and gushes forth from the ground at the corner of his house. The family lived in the log house above referred to until the summer of 1884, when their present residence was 1rected. It is a 16x24 foot frame house, with an addition 15x16 feet two stories high. There is also an excellent milk house 9x22 feet. Their farm now consists of three hundred and eighty acres in Taylor Township, and twenty in Raglan. When our subject first came to the county he did his trading at Council Bluffs, and he relates how that he raised onions from seed and nearly supplied the market at that place.

In his earlier experience in the county he ran a breaking team, and while he was turning the virgin sod and laying bare the bosom of the beautiful prairie land, his family did most of the onion cultivating. At that time there was no settlement from his place to Cincinnati, and as far as his eye could see, up and down the bottom, was one vast sea of prairie land and swamp. From his place to where Modale now stands it was impossible to pass unless one went miles around the swamps, which were about five miles long and from one-half to a mile in width. This is now very valuable land for hay and pasture. Since living in the country our subject has made three trips to the Black Hills, spending three years of his time mining and prospecting in that locality.

To inform the reader of our subject's earlier career, it may be stated in this connection that Mr. TEETER was born in Bedford County, Pa., April 12, 1821. He is the son of Isaac and Elizabeth (KAYLOR) TEETER. The father was a native of the Keystone State, while the mother was born in Maryland. Our subject remained at home on his father's farm until the years of his majority; he then took a trip to Miami County, Ohio. He attended school while there, and went back to Pennsylvania and farmed his father's place, and then came to Jefferson County, Iowa. This was in 1846, when Iowa was yet a Territory. He remained in that county until 1852, farming the first two or three years, having three hundred and twenty acres of land. He then engaged in the mercantile business, and operated a sawmill. The company to which he belonged sank beneath the waves of financial disaster, and our subject had to foot the bills, so far as he was able, which greatly crippled him. So, in 1852, with four yoke of oxen, he crossed the plains to California, starting on the fourth day of May, and landed in California on the nineteenth day of September. Being a blacksmith by trade, he followed that for about one year, and spent the next three years mining. He then returned to Jefferson County, Iowa, making the trip to New York by water, then followed the lakes to Chicago, where he took the cars for Burlington. He remained in Jefferson County until 1855, and then came to this county.

Our subject was united in marriage in Bedford County, Pa., May 8, 1845, to Miss Elizabeth BROWN, the daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (FURRY) BROWN. Our subject and his wife are the parents of twelve children: Samuel, deceased, Mary A., Manuel H., Francis, Franklin P., Erastus M., George E., Albert E., Leonard, William B., Alice, and Minnie (deceased).

Elizabeth (BROWN) TEETER, was also born in Bedford County, Pa., September 21, 1826. Her mother died when she was but three weeks old, and she lived with her grandparents until married. She is a member of the German Baptist Church.

Mr. TEETER belongs to the Knights of Labor organization, and cast his vote with the Greenback party so long as they were in the field. He now affiliates with the People's Party.

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