700HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.

CHAPTER XI.

CONO TOWNSHIP.

[township sketch not yet transcribed...]

BIOGRAHICAL.

 

704HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.
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ATHEY, MILTON J.—Sec. 8, P.O. Marengo. Was born in Parke county, Indiana, September 24, 1844, and in 1845 his parents left him with relatives and came to Iowa, settling in Iowa county. In 1847 he was brought to Iowa by an uncle and returned to his parents. In 1853 his mother died. In 1861, when only seventeen years old, he started for St. Louis and enlisted in the Union army, in company H, Third Missouri infantry volunteers, and immediately went into active service, participating in thirty-five battles and skirmishes, the most important being the battles of Wilson Creek, Pea Ridge, Port Hudson, Little Rock, Helena, Lookout Mountain, Buzzard's Roost, Macon, Augusta, Chickamauga, Atlanta, Siege of Vicksburg, Port Gibson and Corinth. In 1864 he re-enlisted as a veteran, and served until the closeof the war. Was discharged at St. Louis, January 8, 1866. After his discahrge he immediately returned to Iowa county and lived with his brother on their father's estate--their father having died in 1863. In June of the same year, he sold his interset in the estate to his brother, but continued to live with him until the latter's death in 1871. In March, 1875, he married his brother's widow and they are now living on the old homestead. Mrs. Athey's maiden name was Nancy M. Elliott. She was born in Black Hawk county, Pennsylvania, August 8, 1844. She was first married to Alfred Athey, in 1859, by whom she had six children: James W. (born May 11, 1861), Chrystea Ann (born May 27, 1864), Susan (born January 29, 1866, and died June 3, 1866), Quilla (born June 10, 1867), Edward (born April 27, 1869), and Mary (born December 27, 1870, and died July 13, 1871). By her second husband she has one child, Alice Bertie (born June 17, 1876).

705CONO TOWNSHIP.

 

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BROWN, EBENEZER S.—Sec. 6, P. O. Luzerne. Was born in Richland county, Ohio, in December, 1830, and in the spring of 1841 came with his father to Iowa, settling in what is now Pleasant Valley township, Johnson county. There he lived until 1853, when he began life for himself, going to Benton county, where entered 240 acres of land and began to improve his first farm. In 1856 he married Martha J. Hoizington. Besides improving his farm he followed breaking parairie for eight years. In 1862 he traded his farm in Benton county for one in Cono township, and in 1866 he rented his farm and took the homestead in Johnson county. His father dying the next year he remained on the homestead. In 1875 he, being surrounded by the Amana Society, sold to them and bought another farm in Cono township, moving in the spring of that year. He now owns two farms in this county containing 418 acres. He has eight children: Elizabeth (wife of I. M. Macy of Brooklyn, Iowa), John R. (married and living in Cono township), Mary, Lucinda, Alexander, William, Ann and Joseph. Himself and wife are members of the Evangelical Church. In politics he is a Republican, originally a Whig.

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BROWN, JOHN A.—Farmer and stock-raiser, Secs. 9 and 10, P. O. Marengo. The subject of this sketch is a native of Parke county, Indiana, and there resided until nine years of age, when he accompanied his parents to this township, and here he has been raised and educated. After leaving school he engaged in farming and this has been his occupation through life. He is the owner of 352 acres of well improved land, situated four and a half miles northwest of Marengo. Has a fine residence and out-buildings. August 14, 1862, Mr. B. enlisted in company G, Twenty-eighth Iowa infantry, and served until June, 1865, when he was honorably discharged. October 19, 1864, he was wounded in Cedar Creek battle, and confined in the hospital for eight months. On the 25th of October, 1866, Miss Caroline Sinks became his wife. They were married in this county. By this union they have seven children: Mary E., Eva C., Henry B., William E., Clarence, Louis M. and James W.

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FURNAS, ROBERT—Sec. 1, P. O. Koszta. Was born in Miami county, Ohio, May 22, 1813, where he lived on the homestead until 1845, his father dying the year before he reached his majority. He rented the homestead and farmed it for eleven years, his mother living with him. In 1837 he married Mary Jane Fowler, of Darke county, Ohio. In 1845 he came West, stopping in Keokuk county, Iowa, and in the following spring, came to Johnson county, and rented a farm two miles south of Iowa City. In September, 1846, he and his brother-in-law, William Greenlee, came to Iowa county prospecting, and while there bought a claim, the farm on which he lives in Cono township. After laying the foundation of his cabin, he went for his family and immediately returned and occupied, for a short time, a cabin that was on a claim bought by William Greenlee, moving into his own unfinished house on Christmas Day. He had to saw the lumber for flooring and doors with a whip-saw. It was late in January of 1847 before he had his cabin finished so as to protect his family from the cold, the snow, rain and winter winds blowing through the cracks before they were “chinked and daubed.” When he brought his farm there was not a furrow broken on it, and now he has 120 acres under cultivation and 38 acres of timber, with a pleasant and substantial residence, and commodious barns and outbuildings. Having lived on this same farm for thirty-four years, himself and wife have experienced many hardships and de-

706HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.

privations. For fourteen years the only market towns were Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, where he sold his wheat and pork, usually taking from five to eight days to make the trip with oxen. The hauling was done in the winter, and during that time he was almost a stranger to his family. The price of produce was very low. At one time he delivered at Iowa City twenty-four bushels of wheat for what he would now call a very ordinary bedstead. When he first settled in Cono township the Indians were very numerous, and during the cold days of winter they would frequently fill his cabin, crowding his wife and children from the warmth of the fire-place. He has six children: Rebecca (wife of Isaiah Hixson, who died in 1870), Rachel (widow of Aaron Lewis, now living in Marengo; her husband died in the army at Vicksburg, Virginia), William M. (a farmer whose farm adjoins the homestead), Elizabeth (wife of M. Montgomery of Garrison, Iowa), Pheba A. (wife of J.T. Kimball of Iowa county) and John F. (married and lives with his parents on the homestead).

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GREENLEE, WILLIAM—Sec. 1, P. O. Luzerne. Was born near Point Pleasant, Virginia, November 28, 1812, and when nine years old went with his parents to Ohio, and two years after from there to Kentucky, where he lived until his majority. In 1832 he went to Miami county, Ohio, residing there for nine years. September 17, 1835, he married Esther Furnas, and the fall of 1845 he started for the West, coming to Johnson county, Iowa, and renting a farm two miles south of Iowa City, where he lived until the next fall. Then came to Iowa county and purchased land, now the farm on which he is living. The land, then wild and unbroken, is now one of the best farms in Iowa county, consisting of 340 acres. He was the first man that manufactured lumber in Iowa county, beginning with a whip-saw, and the saw that he used at that time he still preserves as a relic. He was also proprietor of the first saw mill in the county, the mill being a circular saw propelled by horse power, sawing about 1,000 feet per day. In 1860 he platted the town of Dayton, which at that time promised to be a place of some importance. At one time the Indians were so numerous they were an annoyance, and the government was petitioned for their removal. An agent was sent to remove them as peaceably as possible. Mr. Greenlee was was employed to help remove them to Kansas, he being well acquainted with them greatly aided in a peacable removal. He has had ten children: Robert (who died from the effects of a wound received in the battle of Battle Creek, Virginia, just at the expiraiion of his service), Nancy A. (wife of A.A. Talbot, of Carroll City, Iowa), Mary (wife of C.C. Furnas, of Luzerne, Iowa), Rachel (wife of Dr. J. Patty, of Carroll City, Iowa), William R. (of Belle Plaine), Henry, Columbus, Sadie (wife of John Stewart, of Carroll City, Iowa), Edward and Flora.

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HIXSON, I.—Sec. 1, P. O. Belle Plaine. Was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1827, and when six years old went with his parents to Athens county, Ohio, where he lived until he attained his majority. In 1849 he married Mary Ann Carter and purchasing a farm in Athens county, lived there until 1866, when he came to Iowa and stettled in Cono township, Iowa county. He bought 540 acres of partly improved land. Since then he has increased his farm to 700 acres and also owns two other farms in Iowa county, containing 620 acres, making in all over 1,300 acres. besides being an extensive farmer he feeds and ships cattle to Eastern markets. He has been three times married and by his first wife he

707CONO TOWNSHIP.

had seven children: Mary (died in infancy), Alice (dying in childhood), Reuben W. (a graduate of Davenport Commercial College and now engaged in the commission business at Chicago), John (died December 11, 1880; he was an attendant of the Blairstown Academy for some time, and a short time previous to his death was attending the Iowa City Academy and Commercial College at Iowa City), Warren V., Elmore E. and Emma F. His second wife was Mrs. Rebecca Hollopeter, daughter of Robert Furnas, of Iowa county, and his present wife was Elizabeth B. Bryson, of Morrow county, Ohio.

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HUTSON, ALEXANDER—Sec. 6, P.O. Luzerne. Was born in Baltimore county, Maryland, October 9, 1796, and there lived until 1842, when he came to Johnson county, Iowa, and rented a farm on Old Man’s Creek, seven miles south of Iowa City. He resided on that place until the spring 1846, when he went to Iowa county and purchased the claim on a large tract of land, in what is now known as Cono township. He entered the most of the claim he purchased and afterward sold all but 276 acres. All the improvements on his land when he purchased it were 20 acres broken and the logs laid up for a cabin, which he finished in the fall and moved into it in the spring of 1847. There were only two cabins beside his own in Cono township at that time; those of William Foster and A.D. Stephen. The next spring he broke 20 acres more and enclosed all he had broken, i.e. 40 acres, with a rail fence. He continued his improvements yearly until all his tillable land was broken and fenced and he had built him a good house, barn and sheds and had planted an orchard, shade and ornamental trees, which now beautify the place and supply his family with fruit. In 1851 his grain was reaped by the first reaper brought into Iowa county and the only reverse that he met in a thirty years residence on the same farm was the burning of his entire crop by prairie fire that same year. In November of 1822 he married Lucy A. O’Dell, of Baltimore county, Maryland, by whom he had ten children: James L. (of San Juan county, California), Franklin A. (of Boone county, Iowa), George O., Henry C. (of Tama county, Iowa), Mary (wife of Dr. John M. Furnas, of Belle Plaine, Iowa) and Walter J. (of Boone county, Iowa). Two died in infancy and one, the oldest daughter, at the age of nineteen. One son, Joshua E., died in the Union army while stationed at Bird’s Point in Missouri in 1854. Mt. Hutson was a wheelwright by trade, which he abandoned when he came West. He died at his home in Cono township, March 6, 1875.

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SINKS, HENRY—Sec. 9, P. O. Marengo. Was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, ten miles north of Dayton, November 22, 1817, where he lived with his parents until his majority. His father being a farmer he worked on the farm during the spring and summer months and attended a school during the winter. October 11, 1837, he married Ursula Hollingsworth. Before her marriage Mrs. Sinks and her brother had inherited a farm of 160 acres, her husband buying her brother’s interest. They settled on the farm and lived there until 1854. In his younger days he learned the trade of shoemaking. After buying the farm he was obliged to work hard to procure the money to pay his help and contingent expenses, corn at that time being worth only twelve cents per bushel and all farm produce sold at low prices. His means being limited and believing in paying as he went, after a hard day’s work he would work at shoemaking at night and by thus working early and late, laid the foundation of his success. In 1854 he sold his farm in Ohio and came to Iowa, settling in Iowa county, five miles northwest of Marengo, on a farm consisting of 400 acres. He has been a hard working man all his life and is deserving of the comforts he now enjoys. His residence and barn are second to none in the county and all his buildings and their surroundings show neatness and taste. He has eight children living: Caroline (wife of John A. Brown, of Iowa county), Emily (wife of Elam Young, of Omaha, Nebraska), Mary (wife of Alonzo Simmons, of Marengo, Iowa), Rosanna (wife of T.W. Owen, of Iowa county), Amanda J., Lewis R., Cecelia O. and Eldora, living at home.