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         JOSIAH VERTREES, deceased, one of the honored pioneers of this county, was born in Hardin County, Ky., Nov. 13, 1813. He was the sixth son of Joseph and Margaret (Hodgen) Vertrees, who were both members of very old and respectable families who settled in that county prior to the Revolutionary days. Joseph Vertrees was born Jan. 4, 1770. His occupation was that of a farmer. Margaret Hodgen was born May 14, 1776, and was of Scotch ancestry. The Vertrees family settled in Kentucky in a very early day, and when that country was inhabited chiefly by wild Indians. When but nine years of age Joseph Vertrees, the father of our subject, was stolen by the Indians and held in captivity by them several months, but he finally made his escape in the night, and succeeded in finding his way back to his parents. We learn from a letter written by Josiah Vertrees to a friend in 1878 that Robert Hodgen, who was the father of Margaret Hodgen and the grandfather of Josiah Vertrees, settled in Hardin County, Ky., about 1790, and the town in the southeastern part of the county called Hodgenville was named after him, and perpetuates this honored name. In 1844 Hardin County was divided, and a new county formed, which was named Larne, in honor of the wife of Robert Hodgen, whose maiden name was Larne. Isaac Hodgen, a son of Robert, was a Baptist minister of prominence in his day, and preached until the time of the reformation in Kentucky, about which time he lost his life by being poisoned by one of his own slaves. John Hodgen, a brother of Isaac, was also a Baptist preacher, but about 1820 he left that denomination and became a member of the Church of Christ, and taught many the power of God unto salvation. He was an earnest and powerful expounder of the truths of Holy Writ, and among the many who were brought to a knowledge of the saving grace of Christ through his preaching, and baptized by him and admitted into the membership of the church in Sangamon County, Ill., in 1833, was Josiah Vertrees.

In the year 1800 the marriage of Joseph Vertrees and Margaret Hodgen was celebrated, and to this worthy couple was born a family of seven sons, all of whom grew to manhood and became useful and respected members of society. John was born Oct. 26, 1801, and died in Kentucky, Dec. 19, 1824; Robert, born Oct. 29, 1803, and died March 25, 1871; William, born April 26, 1805, was a mechanic and musician, and died in Missouri, Nov. 8, 1868; Lewis, born Jan. 18, 1808, was a farmer, and died in Warren County, Ill., in June, 1883; Isaac, who was born Oct. 31, 1810, was a farmer, and died in Lincoln County, Mo., March 26, 1865; Josiah was next in order of birth; Joseph, the youngest, born May 20, 1815, was a highly respected and prominent farmer of Warren County, Ill, where he died Aug. 30, 1838. Joseph Vertrees, Sr., departed this life May 10, 1823. Margaret, his good wife, survived him many years, and was called to her final rest Oct. 16, 1852.

Our subject grew to manhood in his native county in Kentucky, where educational advantages were so poor that he received but a very limited education. He was a self-educated man, who, by an almost constant course of private reading, reflection and observation, stored his mind with a fund of useful and practical information. We learn from his letter previously referred to that he left Kentucky in 1835, and went to Warren County, Ill., in company with three of his brothers, his uncle, James Hodgen, and several other “corn-crackers,” and resided in that county a few years. In 1838, at a public land sale, he bought land in Louisa County, Iowa, at $1.25 per acre, and in 1839 settled upon it. He stated that at that early time he traveled over prairie land for many miles with no improvement in sight. The pleasant and thriving town of Morning Sun is partly built upon a portion of the land he bought at that time, and which he sold in 1874 at $112.50 per acre.

On the 13th of April, 1841, Mr. Vertrees was married to Miss Susan Jamison, a daughter of Merit and Elizabeth (Nichols) Jamison, a sketch of . . .

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. . . whom may be found on another page of this work. To Mr. and Mrs. Vertrees was born a family of eleven children, only seven of whom grew to maturity, viz: Margaret E., who is now the wife of William Owens, and resides in Washington County, Kan.; Tirzah, who married Francis Shaw, and died March 4, 1888, in Dakota; William T., a resident of Morning Sun; Permelia is at home; Zerilla, the widow of William Hoffman, resides in Morning Sun; Mattie is the wife of H. A. Lemmon, of Leon, Iowa, and John L., who resides on the old homestead adjoining Morning Sun.

Mr. Vertrees united with the Christian Church in 1829, and was a steadfast member of the church for fifty-three years, and many years ago, by the unanimous call of the church, he resolved to devote his life to the preaching of the Gospel, and labored hard to plant and maintain the cause among his neighbors, but death, the removal of members from the vicinity, and other unfavorable circumstances, prevented his work and the aid he frequently received from talented men of that denomination from being successful. Though meeting with many discouragements, his faith was unyielding, and no sacrifice was too great to be made for the cause. He looked in utter abhorrence on that which threatened the foundation of the Christian’s hope, and was an uncompromising defender of his belief. He did much toward elevating the morals of the community in which he lived, and his upright life deservedly won for him an enviable place in the esteem and affection of all who knew him. As a citizen, he was true and loyal; as a neighbor, friendly and accommodating; as a husband and father, kind and affectionate; as a Christian, devoted and faithful. His death occurred July 13, 1882, at the age of sixty-nine years.