Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 793
SALEM TOWN

Salem TOWN has been a resident of Harrison County for a quarter of a century, effecting his settlement as he did in 1866.

He is a native of Monroe County, N.Y., born February 5, 1820, at Henrietta. He is the son of James and Almira (WILDER) TOWN, and the grandson of James TOWN and David WILDER, of Massachusetts and Connecticut, respectively, and of Scotch and Irish extraction. The parents of our subject passed their lives principally in the State of New York, the father dying in 1838, and the mother in 1827. They reared a family of six children, our subject being the fourth child. His parents being farmers, he was brought up midst the scenes of rural life and educated in the subscription schools common to that day. At the age of sixteen he started on life's journey for himself, and followed farming in New York and Vermont, but after he was of age he engaged at boat-building, which took him over a large scope of territory. He followed this until he was twenty seven years old; spent one year at his old home in the Empire State, and in 1847 made his acquaintance with the rules and regulations of a pioneer life in the Badger State, locating at Lafayette, Wis., where he passed two years, then went to Jo Daviess County, Ill., and remained four years, and transacted business of an important character, for on April 4, 1850, Eliza J. REED became his wife, the marriage ceremony being peformed at Galena. His wife was born in Ireland, June, 1833, and reared a family of six children -- Almira J., wife of William H. MOORE, a native of Woodbine; William R., a resident of Page County, Iowa; Willis, residing with his father; George, a resident of the State of Washington; Anna, residing in Washington; Ida B., wife of Walter J. MCWILLIAMS, residing at Charter Oak, Iowa.

Our subject remained in Jo Daviess County, Ill., until 1855, and then moved to Fillmore County, Minn., where he remained until 1866, during which time he followed farming. From there he removed to Harrison County, Iowa, and in 1877 purchased an eighty-acre tract on section 33, of Harrison Township, which was wild land at the time. He rented a farm until 1870, adjoining his present place, and during that year removed to his own land into a small house that now does duty as a stable. In 1876 he erected his present residence, which is a frame building 20x28 feet, with an ell 12x16 feet. His farm is finely improved and is made beautiful and valuable by the presence of groves, orchards, etc. Our subject has done much toward the improvement of the country in general. When he came to the county it was little less than a wilderness, and a few years after the Indian had bid a long farewell to this domain, and wolves, deer and prairie chicken abounded in great numbers. Great are the changes of a quarter century, especially when the keen plowshare of civilization cuts its multiplied furrows.

Mr. TOWN is in the true sense of the term a self-made man, having started with nothing but pluck to carry him through, and "under his own vine and fig tree," surrounded with the comforts of a beautiful farm home, he enjoys the fruits of his labor. Politically, he is a Republican, and has always taken a deep interest in educational matters including the establishment of early schools. In his religious belief, for many years he was associated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, but of late years has accepted the Universalists' doctrine. He was one of the organizers of the Dunlap Methodist Church, and aided in the construction of their church edifice.

After a companionship of forty years along the meandering journey of life, our subject was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who passed to the unseen world February 7, 1890 -- a true friend, a faithful wife, and a loving mother.

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