Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1915
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 875
GEORGE L. GAMET

The GAMET family have been residents of Harrison county, Iowa, for more than sixty years, and during all of this period has been active in furthering the general welfare of the county in every way. George L. GAMET was born in this county and has spent most of his life here. Although he is now engaged in general farming and stock raising, he was for many years interested in mercantile pursuits in various places. He is a man of great energy and industry and has made a success of every enterprise to which he has addressed himself.

George L. GAMET, the son of David and Nancy (HUTCHISON) GAMET, was born November 20, 1876, in Morgan township, Harrison county, Iowa. His parents were natives of Oswego county, New York, and Ohio, respectively. His father was s son of David M. and Hannah (Hyde) GAMET, natives of New York, and his mother was a daughter of James and Martha Hutchison, natives of Ohio.

When David GAMET, Jr., was a small boy his parents moved to Hancock county, Illinois, and in 1846 moved on west and located at Kanesville, the present city of Council Bluffs, in Pottawattamie county, Iowa. In 1853 the family located in Harrison county and bought a farm near Magnolia. David M. GAMET, Sr., was the second recorder and treasurer of Harrison county, being elected to this joint office in 1854. After serving his time in this capacity he moved to Little Sioux, where early in the summer of 1856 he established his first store. He had a stage station, a hotel and a small stock of goods and became the first merchant in this section of the county. David M. GAMET examined the first teacher, A. T. Crane, who taught in Little Sioux township. The examination was a very simple one. He gave the prospective teacher a problem in common fractions and after he had satisfied his examiner that he would solve it, he was next asked to furnish a sample of his handwriting. This proving satisfactory, he was granted a license to teach by Mr. GAMET and thus became the first teacher in Little Sioux township.

In 1856 David GAMET, Jr., homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land in Morgan township and later added one hundred and sixty acres more by purchase. At one time he owned eight hundred and five acres of land in Harrison county, and was for many years one of the most extensive stock raisers in the county. Ten children were born to David and Nancy GAMET; George L. being the youngest of the family. In 1882 David GAMET engaged in the mercantile business, and in 1887 built the two-story brick building in Mondamin which is now occupied by J. W. Mann. In April, 1900, Mr. GAMET sold out to H. P. Morrow. During the years in which he was engaged in business he had the following partners, D. W. Gahagan, Edward F. Ogden, and for a time one of his sons.

George L. GAMET received all of his education in the schools of Morgan township, excepting a year at Lincoln, Nebraska, University, and early in life began to assist his father in the store at Mondamin. He remained at home until both his parents died. In 1903 George L. GAMET traded a farm for a stock of merchandise in Cherokee, Iowa, but was in business in that place only one year. In 1906 he bought a hardware stock at Washington, Iowa, but closed out this store eleven days later, trading it for a two-hundred-acre farm in what was then the overflow of the Soldier river in Harrison county. This farm is now one of the finest in the county, and with the completion of the drainage system, it makes some of the most productive land to be found in the state. In 1908 Mr. GAMET, in partnership with Robert B. Noyes, bought a small stock of merchandise from Lester Clinkenbeard, which firm continued in business until 1910. In that year Mr. GAMET bought out the interest of his partner and moved into his own building, the same now occupied by J. W. Mann. He continued in active business in Mondamin until 1912, when he sold out to J. W. Mann, and two years later moved to the farm where he is now living. He makes a specialty of full-blooded registered Chester White hogs and Polled-Durham cattle, and has been very successful in handling live stock. He is also an extensive raiser of wheat and corn, but feeds most of his grain to his live stock.

Mr. GAMET was married May 2, 1906, to Anna MORROW, who was born November 19, 1880, in Harrison county, and is a daughter of Hugh P. and Rose Ann (FERGUSON) Morrow, natives of Toronto, Canada, and New York, respectively. Hugh Morrow was the son of Patrick Morrow and came to Harrison county in 1856, driving all the way from Toronto, Canada. The stage used to make the home of Patrick Morrow a stopping place for the night on its trip from Council Bluffs to Sioux City. Mr. and Mrs. GAMET have an adopted son, Joseph Aloysius, who was born September 23, 1913.

Mr. GAMET is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. Mrs. GAMET is a member of the Royal Neighbors. Mr. GAMET gives his hearty support to the Democratic party, as did his father. While living in Mondamin, he was on the town council for several years. Mrs. GAMET is a member of the Catholic church.

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