Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 769
JONATHAN WEST

Jonathan WEST, a farmer living on section 25, Cincinnati Township, came to Harrison County in the spring of 1857, and settled in the village of Cincinnati (noe defunct). In the autumn of the same year he procured a certificate for the land he now lives upon. The same called for a quarter section of "swamp land," whenever it came into market. He erected a frame building 14x20 feet, with an addition 10x20 feet, and in the spring of 1858 removed this to his place.

All was new and wild at the time he came to the county, and there were but few settlers found in any part of the county, and what settlement there was, was found within numerous native groves of the county. At first his team was a yoke of exen, and it required a trip of two days to go and come from Council Bluffs. Agriculture was not what it is at this time, as there was but little market for farm produce. But our subject sold considerable cottonwood lumber and hence got hold of some cash when his neighbors had none.

Mr. WEST was born March 7, 1828, in Clinton County, Ohio, and remained at home with his parents until he was twenty-one years of age, and in the spring of 1849 he engaged at farming in Fulton County, Ill., and remained in that State until the autumn of 1856, with the exception of one year spent in Ohio. He came to Pottawattamie County, Iowa, and remained there ober winter and then came to Harrison County.

He was married in Know County, Illinois, August 19, 1854, to Miss Rebecca DRUMM, the daughter of John and Jane (Hull) DRUMM, by which union eight children were born: Mary J., Jerome, Cornelia, Sarah C., John D., Hulda A., Viola and Olive, all living (1891).

Rebecca (DRUMM) WEST was born in Marion County, Ohio, August 24, 1830, and the same year her parents moved to Fulton County, Ill., where she grew to womanhood.

Our subject's father was Henry WEST, a native of Virgina, where he remained until after he was married. He settled in Clinton County, Ohio, at an early day. His wife rode a horse from Virginia to Ohio and carried a pack, while the father walked. They opened up a farm and the father remained there until his death which occured in 1848, when he was sixty years old. The good wife, Nancy (TERRELL) WEST, was a native of Virginia, and remained there until her marriage, and died in Ohio in 1862, aged seventy-one years. They were the parents of ten children, four sons and six daughters, our subject being the youngest. All are deceased, but our subject and one sister, Catherine (WEST) KANE, living in Clinton County, Ohio. The father and mother were both members of the Lutheran Church for years but before their death untied with the Christian Church.

The father of Mrs. WEST was John DRUMM, who was a native of Virginia, and when he had grown to manhood went to Licking County, Ohio, where he married Jane HULL, and removed to Illinois in 1830, remaining until 1855, and then removed to Mills County, Iowa. In 1857 he came to Harrison County, and improved a farm in Cincinnati Township, and remained until 1875, when he went to Clay County, Nebr., and he there died in August, 1876. His wife was a native of West Virginia, and her parents emigrated to Ohio when she was young. She passed from earth in Harrison County, about 1880. They were the parents of eleven children, two sons and nine daughters. Four of these children still survive, Mrs. WEST being the third child in her father's family. The other living children are: Hannah J. WHIPPLE, living in Montana; Julia BENTON, in Harrison County, Iowa; Cornelius DRUMM, in Arkansas.

Our subject, Mr. WEST, usually votes the Democratic ticket, but is by no means a radical partisan. He has held about all the local offices in his township, and was a member of the first Board of County Supervisors Harrison County ever had. They convened January 7, 1861. In 1888 he was elected Justice of the Peace, which office he still holds.

Return to 1891 Biographical W Surnames Index

Back to 1891 Biographies Index