Mills County, Iowa
History of Fremont and Mills County, 1901
Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1901
Biographical Sketches
C
CARTER, JAMES W.
The true western spirit of enterprise and progress is exemplified in the life of James W. Carter, one of the most active, enterprising and successful agriculturists of Mills county. He was born in this county in 1861 and is a representative of one of the old families of Tennessee. His father, John Carter, was a native of that state and in 1852 came to Mills county, Iowa, by the way of Missouri. In Glenwood he married Miss Margaret Williams, whose people were from Indiana. On both sides they were representatives of the agricultural interests. At the time of the Civil war John Carter responded to his country's call for aid, enlisting at Glenwood as a member of Company B, Twenty-ninth Iowa Infantry. The eldest brother of James W., Stephen A. Carter, was also a Union soldier, and Mr. Williams, the maternal grandfather of our subject, was one of the heroes of the Revolutionary war. The brothers and sisters of J. W. Carter were as follows: Stephen and E. Benjamin, who are living in Kansas; David A., a resident of whiting, Iowa; Mrs. Patromilla Mickelwait, of Ord, Nebraska; Mrs. Mary Puffer, of California; Mrs. Sarah Anderson of Macon, Illinois; Mrs. Kate Noah and Mrs. Jane McCammon, both of Kansas.
James W. Carter has spent his entire life in Mills county. In his youth he was accorded excellent educational privileges, attending the graded and high schools in Glenwood, the normal school at Peru, Nebraska, and the Omaha Commercial College. After putting aside his text-books he engaged in teaching school at Weeping Water, Nebraska, and his scholarship is indicated by the fact that he holds a state certificate. He was successful as an educator, but abandoned that work in order to engage in commercial interests in Glenwood. There he engaged in business until 1897, when he removed to his present farm, which is pleasantly located near Hillsdale. It is one of the most attractive and desirable country seats in the state. The residence is a large, spacious and costly one, with fine interior and exterior furnishings, for the furnishings are modern and tasteful. There is a telephone connection with the city and numerous other modern conveniences and requisites equal to any city home. The farm comprises three hundred and seventy acres of rich, arable land, much of which is under a high state of cultivation, and Mr. Carter is extensively engaged in the breeding of fine stock. He feeds all of his grain and in his meadows are found some splendid specimens of cattle, horses and hogs.
He married Miss Emma Buffington, a daughter of B. F. Buffington, an old and honored citizen of the county, who came to Iowa from Ohio. Her mother bore the maiden name of Nancy Ayers and her ancestors were residents of New Jersey. The families which Mrs. Carter represents were loyal to the colonies during the war of the Revolution and furnished some of their members to aid in establishing the independence of the nation. Mr. and Mrs. Buffington were married in Ohio and they became the parents of four children: Mrs. Carter; Mrs. Lizzie Bogard, who is living in Glenwood; Mrs. Mary Craven, who resides in Seattle, Washington; and Charles, who makes his home in Glenwood. The marriage of our subject and his wife has been blessed with two interesting little sons, Clarence B. and Edwin Ayers, aged respectively six and three years.
Since casting his first presidential vote for James A. Garfield, Mr. Carter has supported the men and measures of the Republican party. For four years he filled the office of city recorder of Glenwood and for one term was alderman from the first ward there. He is at present a township trustee of Center township, and his public service has won for him high commendation, as he is a capable and reliable officer. He and his wife hold membership in the Methodist church and take an active interest in its work and upbuilding. Their home is noted for its gracious hospitality, which is enjoyed by a very large circle of friends. Mr. Carter is an enterprising business man whose diligence, keen discrimination and capable management have enabled him to advance steadily on the high road to prosperity.
CHANTRY, ALLEN J.
Among the leading representative citizens of southwestern Iowa is Captain Allen J. Chantry, of Mills county. His father, Thomas Chantry, a son of David and Elizabeth (Reed) Chantry, of Lincolnshire, England, was born at the latter place in February, 1795, and in 1816, at the age of twenty-one years, came to the United States, locating first at Philadelphia. Afterward he traveled considerably through western territory and finally settled on a farm in Chester county, Pennsylvania, where, in the year 1822, he was married to Hannah Passmore, whose parents, Thomas and Elizabeth (Dickinson) Passmore, were also natives of that part of the Keystone state and lived within hearing of the artillery at the battle of Brandywine during the Revolutionary war, and some of our subject's ancestors were among those who fought for American independence.
Thomas and Hannah Chantry lived in Chester and Lancaster counties until the spring of 1837, when they emigrated to Iowa territory and settled in Van Buren county, where, on June 13, 1841, Captain Allen J. Chantry was born, and therefore takes rank among the earliest natives of Iowa, a distinction of which he has always been proud. In 1846 the parents removed to Henry county, same state, settling ner the town of Salem, and afterward, in 1855, removed to Guthrie county, where the previous year his father had entered (bought of the government) a large tract of land, which he improved and upon which he made his home the remainder of his life, dying in the fall of 1864 at the age of sixty nine years, and where also the mother afterward lived until 1892, when she died at the age of eighty-seven years. Both the father and mother of Captain Chantry were leading and devout members of the religious society of Friends, both having enjoyed the advantages of an excellent education. On their removal to Iowa (then an unsettled territory) they found themselves with their young children without the advantages of public schools; and in order to assist their children in laying a foundation for a good practical education they instituted a family school of which the mother assumed chief charge, and for years the spinning wheel and the loom and other household duties would have to yield an hour each day for recitation and books. At length time brought the subscription schools, soon to be followed by the beneficent public school system.
After attending public school two or three short terms the subject of our sketch, during the last two years of his minority, taught school in winter and worked on the farm in the summer until he enlisted in the service of his country, August 11, 1862, for a period of three years or during the Civil war, and was assigned with the company to which he belonged to the Twenty-ninth Regiment, Iowa Infantry, then being organized at Camp Dodge, near Council Bluffs, Iowa, from companies from counties in the southwestern part of the state. On November 15 he was commissioned second lieutenant and captain of his company. He was on every campaign and in every action in which his regiment took part in a little over three years of very active service. He was severely wounded in the left shoulder at Terre Noir creek, Arkansas, April 2, 1864, while commanding the rear guard of General Steele's supply train, which was furiously attacked by an overwhelming force of Confederate cavalry under the command of that intrepid fighter, General Jo Shelby; but they remained on the field and by maneuvering and hard fighting by one of the bravest and best companies in the service succeeded in holding the enemy in check for over an hour and until reinforcements arrived, and a supply train worth over one-half million dollars was saved for this service, which cost his company eighteen men in killed and wounded. Lieutenant Chantry and his company received the compliments and thanks of Major General Steele. Thirteen days thereafter he was again wounded by a Confederate sharpshooter while commanding the advancing skirmish line in an action near Camden, Arkansas, but continued on the field until the action was over and Camden was captured.
Lieutenant Chantry participated with his regiment in all its future operations at Mobile, Alabama, and in the Army of the Rio Grande on the southwestern border of Texas, during the spring and summer of 1865, and at the close of the war when his regiment was ordered to New Orleans for muster out he was offered the position of A.A.I.G. on General Slack's staff, and Major General Steele offered him a lieutenant-colonel's commission in the "standing army of the Rio Grande" if he would remain with the army and accept said staff appointment, but he declined, as the war was now considered over, and he was mustered out with his regiment at New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 10, 1865, and honorably discharged with it at Davenport, Iowa, August 24, 1865, and immediately resumed the active duties of civil life.
He bought a tract of unimproved land in the valley of the Nishnabotna, in the northwest part of Page county, erected a house thereon and on the 16th day of November, 1865, was married at the age of twenty-four, to Miss Harriett A. Rains, a daughter of Henry and Mary (Hieronymus) Rains, of Mills county. Her parents were natives of North Carolina and Kentucky, respectively. Mr. Chantry settled immediately after his marriage on the new house in course of improvement, improved is place and farmed in summer and taught school in winter for ten or twelve years, until duties of home and care and feeding of stock demanded all his time and attention. During his seventeen years residence in Page county he served two terms as member of the county board of supervisors, and in the fall of 1873 was elected by the Republican party as a representative in the state legislature from Page county and served in the fifteenth general assembly of Iowa.
In the spring of 1882, in order to secure better educational advantages for his young family, he rented his farm in Page county, then consisting four hundred and twenty acres, and removed to Malvern, in Mills county, where during the previous winter he had bought a farm, to which, with a fine herd of shorthorn cattle, he now gave his personal attention. In 1887 he was unanimously nominated by the Republican county convention and the same fall elected a representative in the legislature from Mills county, and again nominated and elected in 1889 and served in the house in the twenty-second and twenty-third general assemblies, and during the summer of 1891 was unanimously nominated as a Republican candidate for state senator for the district composed of the counties of Mills and Montgomery, and was elected and served in the state senate in the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth general assemblies of Iowa.
More recently he has been connected with the banking business for several years; was a director and the last two years of his connection was the president of the Farmers' National Bank of Malvern, but in 1897 he sold his interest in the bank and has since (up to the present time, March 4, 1901) devoted his time and attention to his farming and stock interests and to the education of his children, now consisting of five sons and two daughters - three of the former are now married and settled, the others still remaining at home.
At a reunion of the Twenty-ninth Regiment, Iowa Infantry, held after the close of the war it was decided to keep up the regimental organization. The colonel, Thomas H. Benton, Jr., having previously died Captain Chantry was elected by his late comrades in arms as its colonel. He is also a charter member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic, as well as a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows fraternities.
CHENEY, HORACE B.
Among the leading citizens of Emerson none are more deserving of representation in this volume than Horace B. Cheney, who for many years has been connected with the agricultural interests of Mills county, and who has, through his well-directed efforts, gained a handsome competence that numbers him among the most substantial men of his community. Keen discrimination, unflagging industry and resolute purpose are numbered among his salient characteristics, and thus he has won that prosperity which is the merited reward of honest effort.
Mr. Cheney was born in Stephenson county, Illinois, in 1849, and traces his ancestry back to his paternal great grandfather, a native of Scotland, who emigrated to this country in colonial days and served with distinction as a soldier throughout the Revolutionary war, from the beginning until the surrender at Yorktown. During the battle of Bunker Hill he fought the enemy hand to hand with a sword. He was a large and powerful man, of magnificent physique, exemplifying the plain, simple, hrdy life of the Scotchman, and these characteristics have descended to our subject, who is also a strong, large man of fine proportions. His paternal grandfather, Hurd Cheney, was born in Vermont and died in Wyoming, where he was conduction an overland freighting business with our subject's father, Milton Cheney. The latter was born in Cattaraugus county, New York, in 1825, and is still living at Ulysses, Butler county, Nebraska. He married Lucinda Osborne, also a native of the Empire state and a daughter of Gilbert and Patty (Giddings) Osborne. Her death occurred in Emerson, Iowa. A romantic feature in the ancestry of our subject and his wife is that his maternal great-grandfather, Rev. Harris Giddings, a Methodist minister, was also her paternal grandfather. One member of their family is the celebrated statesman, Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, famous as one of the first abolitionists, who died while a member of the United States senate. The general occupation of both Mr. and Mrs. Cheney's families has been farming.
In 1851, at the age of two years, Mr. Cheney was brought by his parents to Iowa, and after spending one year in Pottawattamie county came to Mills county where he has since made his home. He was reared on a farm and principally educated in the public schools of Glenwood. In his native county he married Miss Julia A. Giddings, who was born not far from his birthplace, and is the daughter of Smith and Susan (Stilwell) Giddings, and a granddaughter of Rev. Harris and Mercy (Wright) Giddings. Her maternal grandfather was Vincent Stilwell. Her uncle, Calvin Giddings, now deceased, was a very wealthy sheep-raiser of Ohio, of almost national renown. He had sheep all over that state. Smith Giddings, Mrs. Cheney's brother, entered the Union army at the age of seventeen years, enlisting in Stephenson county, Illinois, in the Forty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. After his enlistment he was hurried direct to the siege of Vicksburg, and was in active service throughout the remainder of the war. He had many narrow escapes, having a hole shot through his hat and also the sole of his shoe and a part of his clothing shot away. He came out of the service unscathed, but, as fate would have it, accidentally shot and killed himself a short time after his return home from the war. Mr. and Mrs. Cheney are the parents of three children, namely: Mrs. Eurana L. Patrick, who is a graduate of the Western Normal College, at Shenandoah, Iowa, and is now living on a farm in Mills county; Howard G., who resides on a farm south of Emerson: and Harold, at home with his parents.
In his farming operations Mr. Cheney has been remarkably successful and is now the owner of nine hundred and sixty acres of valuable land, four hundred and sixty acres of which are in this county, the remainder in Nebraska. He has also given considerable attention to the raising of fine stock, and this branch of his business he has found very profitable. He now makes his home in Emerson, where he owns a fine modern residence, and from that place directs his farming operations. Mr. Cheney is an exceptionally strong man, both morally and physically, of high principles, and has much latent force and determination. One cannot help but be favorable impressed with his strength of character even at the first meeting, for he is a staunch, true and manly man. He affiliates with the Knights of Phythias and attends the Baptist church, of which his wife is an earnest member. Politically he is a Democrat and a staunch advocate of its principles, being a particular admirer of William J. Bryan. For six years he was one of the three composing the board of supervisors of Mills county, and was called upon numerous times to exercise his excellent business judgement in county affairs of great magnitude, including lawsuits where thousands of dollars were involved. He is a man of much prominence in his community and is very popular and influential.
CLARK, LEBBEUS
Lebbeus Clark, who follows agricultural pursuits in Indian Creek township, was born in Pennsylvania in 1843. His father Lebbeus Clark, Sr., was a native of the same state and died in Lee county, Iowa. His brothers and sisters were Abner, Ezekiel, Silas, John, Levi and Mrs. Lydia Reeves. With the exception of the last named, who is now a resident of Salem, Iowa, all are deceased. When he had arrived at years of maturity the father of our subject wedded Mary Evans, who was born in Pennsylvania and died in Clarinda, Iowa. Their children were: Joseph E., who died at Mount Pleasant, Iowa in 1900; Isaac and Abner, deceased; Mrs. Martha Clark, who is living in Clarinda, this state; Mrs. Nancy Linley, whose home is in Oskaloosa; Mrs. Emaline Wolf, a resident of Lawrence, Kansas; Mrs. Sarah McCorkle, a widow living in Fort Madison, Iowa; Mrs. Jennie Mercer, also of Oskaloosa; and Mary Hathaway, living in Kansas.
The boyhood days of Lebbeus Clark were quietly passed. He remained in Pennsylvania until 1856, when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Lee county, Iowa, where the father spent his remaining days. Mr. Clark of this review, however, came with the family to Mills county and located on a farm in Silver Creek township sixteen years ago which he occupied eleven years. For five years he then resided upon a rented farm conveniently located three miles north of Hastings. In the fall of 1900 he purchased a farm of one hundred and eighty-seven acres three miles west of Malvern and two and a half miles east of Hillsdale. He was well qualified for the practical duties of business life by fair educational privileges, having attended the district schools in his youth, while in the year 1850 he was a student in Professor Howe's Academy, in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. His business affairs have ever been conducted with strict regard for honorable principles and straightforward dealing and his labors have resulted in bringing him a very desirable competence.
Mr. Clark was united in marriage to Miss Anna Mary Pease, a daughter of James B. and Elizabeth (McCollough) Pease, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. Her father is still living in Fort Madison, Iowa, but her mother died in Lee county, this state. She was of Scotch lineage. Mr. and Mrs. Pease became residents of Iowa in 1852, and here reared their five children, namely: Mrs. Clark; Mrs. Fanny Evans, of Malvern; Gaston, who died while a soldier in the Civil war; John, who is living in Lee county; and Lizzie, who died at the age of four years. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Clark has been blessed with thirteen children and the family circle yet remains unbroken by the hand of death. In order of birth they are as follows: James P. and Willis G., who are residents of Mills county; LeRoy A., who is living in Harrison county; Samuel, John R., Abner, Fred and Harry, all residents of Mills county. Mrs. Mary Boggess, a resident of Henderson, Iowa; Fanny, Sadie, Alice and Helen, who are still under the parental roof. Abner is a graduate of the high school in Henderson and the younger children are being well educated in the excellent country schools.
In his political views Mr. Clark is a stalwart Republican and keeps well informed on the issues of the day, yet has never sought or desired public office. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian church in Malvern, and both are held in the highest regard throughout the community. Mr. Clark is spoken of by his neighbors as a kind and generous husband and father and a loyal citizen, fair and just in his dealings, genial in disposition and courteous in manner.
COOK, AMOS E.
The man who achieves success in the legal profession is even more strictly the "architect of his own fortunes" than is the average self-made business man, there being in the keen competitions of the lawyer's life, with its constantly recurring mental duel between eager and determined antagonists, no chance for the operation of influences which may be called to the aid of the merchant, the manufacturer or the financier. Among the men of Mills county who have demonstrated their abilities in this difficult field Amos E. Cook, holds a leading place, and his history affords an interesting example of ambition rightly directed and pursued with a zeal which overcomes all obstacles.
Claiming Iowa as his native state he was born on a farm near Salem, Henry county, March 10, 1859, and is a son of Obediah H. and Elizabeth Cook, now residents of Salem, Iowa. The father was a native of Ohio, while the mother was born in New Jersey.
During his boyhood our subject pursued his studies in the district schools near his home, and later attended Whittier College of Salem, obtaining the principal part of his education in the winter schools, while during the summer he aided in the work of the farm, like the average farmer boy. He entered the law department of the Iowa University, where he was graduated in the class of 1881. Returning home he remained under the parental roof for about a year, and then went to Page county, Iowa, where the following two years were passed. In March, 1886, he came to Malvern, and has since successfully engaged in the practice of his chosen profession at this place.
In June, 1885, Mr. Cook was married in Page county to Miss Florence Rice, who was born in Indiana, a daughter of A. T. Rice. By this union were born two sons, Carrollton and Kenneth. Although Mrs. Cook has been an invalid for some time she bears her sufferings with true Christian fortitude, and is a lady of most lovable disposition and noble character.
Since casting his first presidential vote for James A. Garfield, Mr. Cook has been identified with the Republican party, and has taken an active and prominent part in political affairs. He has filled many local offices, and in 1898 was elected county attorney of Mills county, in which capacity he is now serving his fellow citizens in a most creditable and acceptable manner. He is a man of deep research and careful investigation, and his skill and ability have won for him a liberal patronage. Socially he stands high, and is an honored member of the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America, and he and his family hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church.
COOK, GEORGE R.
George R. Cook is a prosperous young farmer of Indian Creek township, Mills county, where he owns eighty acres of land. His possessions have been acquired entirely through his own efforts and his success would be creditable to a man many years his senior. He was born in Mills county in 1861, his parents being William G. and Elizabeth (Cox) Cook. The father was a native of Chautauqua county, New York, and represented one of the old families of the Empire state, whose people followed agricultural pursuits. His father, Daniel Cook, removed from New York to Valparaiso, Indiana, and there spent his remaining days. A number of years afterward he went from that state to Missouri and in 1858 came to Mills county, Iowa. His children were Remington, George, Edward, Mrs. Dora Kee and Nicy, the wife of A. J. Wearin.
William G. Cook accompanied his parents on their removal to the Mississippi valley and in Missouri was joined in wedlock to Miss Elizabeth Cox, a daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Fillingham) Cox, both of whom were natives of North Carolina. They removed to southern Indiana about 1840, and there the mother of our subject was born. Later her parents went to Missouri, where she was reared, remaining under the parental roof until she gave her hand in marriage to William G. Cook. Her father was a soldier in the Mexican war and three of her brothers, Alfred, Daniel and George, were Union soldiers in the Civil war, the last named having been killed in the service. In 1858 William G. Cook came with his family to Mills county, Iowa, where he purchased land, afterward adding to his possessions until he became one of the most extensive realty holders in this portion of the state. He died about eight years ago at the age of fifty-six, but his widow is still living and now makes her home in Hastings. Their children are Daniel M., who is living with her mother; and George R. of this review. The last named having spent most of his life in Mills county, has long been acquainted with the history of its progress and development and has ever borne his part in the work of advancement and improvement. If it were possible to look into the past, we would find him, after the manner of most farmer boys of the period, pursuing his education in the district schools throughout the winter months, while in the summer he assisted in the work of cultivating the home farm. In early life he started out for himself. In the fall of 1861 his parents went with their family to Missouri and thence to Indiana, returning to Mills county in the fall of 1869, where the father purchased land. About ten years ago our subject located on his present fine farm of eighty acres. His fields are well tilled and promise golden harvests. He also engages in stock-raising and this branch of his business likewise proves a profitable source of income. He has substantial buildings upon his place and all modern accessories and conveniences, indicating his energetic nature and his diligence.
On the 29th of January, 1885, as a companion and helpmate on life's journey, Mr. Cook chose Miss Nevada Smith, a daughter of James F. and Sarah (Cooper) Smith, both natives of Laporte county, Indiana, where their marriage was celebrated. They emigrated to Iowa twenty-three years ago and are prominent people in Pottawattamie county. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Cook has been blessed with five children, namely: Bertha, Marion, George, Clara and Ruth. Mr. Cook is an Odd Fellow in his social relations, a Democrat in political faith, and for seven years has served as school director. He is a young man with steadiness of purpose, enterprising spirit and sterling worth, and is generally admired and respected for his many excellencies of character.
CREAMER, WILLIAM W.
William Wallace Creamer, the subject of the present sketch, is a prominent business man of Henderson, Mills county, Iowa, conducting there a general store for the sale of robes, harness and saddlery.
The birth of Mr. Creamer took place in Dade county, Missouri, May 14, 1849. His father was John Creamer, a native of Fayette county, Ohio, born there in 1849. His father was John Creamer, a native of Fayette county, Ohio, born there in 1848, dying on his farm four miles from Hastings, Mills county, Iowa, in 1881. The grandfather of our subject was a resident of Ohio, where he had engaged in teaching and farming and lived to be an octogenarian, leaving a family of eight children, two of whom are still surviving: Henry Creamer, a resident of Tennessee, and Cyrus Creamer, living in Nebraska. The mother of our immediate subject was Elizabeth (McMillan) Creamer, a native of Ohio. She was the daughter of a farmer who later engaged in carpenter work becoming still later a builder and contractor. Many structures are standing testifying to his skill, in this county, in Pottawattamie and in Fremont counties; and the famous barn near Crescent City, now owned by Solomon McMillan, was erected by him, in 1875. Our subject's mother survived her husband two years, her death taking place in 1883. They had a large number of children, the survivors being: J. J. Creamer, of Cedar county, Nebraska, who has one child; C. L. Creamer, of Elmwood, Cass county, Nebraska, who has five children; John E. Creamer, of Wickersham, state of Washington; Cynthia, the wife of B. F. Herbert, of Pottawattamie county, Iowa, who has a family of three children; and our subject, who was the second child. The burial place of the parents, whose memory is tenderly cherished, is in East Liberty, Silver Creek township. The Methodist church at this place was erected by Mr. Creamer's father, the church being of that denomination of which the family were devoted members. The father was an active man all his life, cared well for his family, and as a pioneer of 1851 built up his home at Malvern when there was no railroad and the site of Council Bluffs and Omaha consisted of but four log houses.
William Wallace Creamer was educated in the district school and remained at home until the age of twenty-seven, at which time he married Miss Anna P. Thompson, a native of Canada, who came to Iowa in her early years. She was the daughter of Gavin Thompson, who was born in Scotland, in 1816, and died December 12, 1882. His wife, Jane Minto Thompson, was born January 4, 1814, and lived until June 21, 1884, leaving three sons and four daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Creamer have but one child, Ralph F. who was born May 11, 1879. He is a bright young man, a graduate of the Henderson public school and at present successfully acting as a salesman in a business house of Villisca, Iowa.
For some years Mr. Creamer engaged in farming, but in 1886 he became a salesman for the firm of Shaffer and Sons, continuing with them for more than three years. In 1887 he bought the stock of his present business and since that time has continued in this line, successfully pursuing it, his methods pleasing his patrons. He disposed of his farm in 1893, bought his home and since that time has made Henderson his place of residence.
Politically Mr. Creamer affiliates with the Republican party, and socially he belongs to the I.O.O.F. For fifteen years he has given his services as school director, so efficiently discharging the duties that his neighbors can not spare him.
CRISWELL, JAMES S.
Among the prominent citizens and influential men of Mills county, Iowa, is James S. Criswell, the subject of this sketch, who is also an honored veteran of the Civil war. Mr. Criswell was born in York county, Pennsylvania, in 1837, a son of Robert and Mary (Wise) Criswell, the former of whom passed his whole life in York county, but the latter died in Columbia, Pennsylvania. They reared the following children: Henry, who was a soldier in the Civil war and is now deceased; Robert F., who lives at Wheeling, West Virginia; William P., who died in Mills county; George B. who was a soldier in the Civil war, dying while in the service; Mrs. Mary A. Brooks, who resides in Kansas; and Margaret J. Lehman, who resides in Columbia, Pennsylvania.
Our subject and wife were reared and educated in York county, and were married there December 15, 1864. They came to Mills county, Iowa, in 1871, and moved to their present comfortable home in 1873. Mr. Criswell owns a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres, in Deer Creek township, which he has improved and cultivated until it is one of the most attractive and productive in the whole neighborhood. He has displayed judgment and ability in the management of it, with the result that now he has a competency and can enjoy a life of ease.
The wife of our subject is a lady of education and refinement, who bore the maiden name of Mary J. McKinley, and was a daughter of Stephen and Jennie (Armstrong) McKinley, who were born and died in York county, Pennsylvania. The maternal grandparents of Mrs. Criswell were born in the north of Ireland. The paternal grandfather was William McKinley, the great grandfather was David McKinley, who was also the great-grandfather of William McKinley, the president of the United States. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Criswell are Jennie C., Mrs. Abbie L. Bellwood, Robert W., Stephen, Mrs. Mattie Eacrett, S. Agnes, Mae L. and Charles P.
In 1861 Mr. Criswell enlisted for army service from York county, Pennsylvania, in Company H, Seventy-sixth regiment, Keystone Zouaves, under Captain Hamilton and Colonel John M. Powers. The regiment was stationed at Camp Cameron, near Harrisburg, and from there was sent to Baltimore and thence to Fortress Monroe. The next removal was by transport to Port Royal, South Carolina, in December, 1861, and from that time until his discharge, in 1863, on account of disabilities, our subject saw severe and constant service among the islands along the coast of North and South Carolina, taking part in a number of fights and skirmishes.
The discharge of Mr. Criswell was given him at Botney Bay island, South Carolina, from which place he was sent for a time to an army hospital, finally reaching his home, which was near that part of the state of Pennsylvania invaded by General Lee's army. While the battle of Gettysburg was in progress the sound of the artillery was plainly heard at his place. Some time after his return Mr. Criswell was sent for to join a military band doing duty for the Veteran Reserve Corps, stationed then at Washington. He is a musician of ability, and while performing this part of a soldier's duty he had the pleasure of attending the ball at the second inauguration of President Lincoln, this being followed by the sad duty of assisting in the funeral dirge at the burial of the martyred president. His band was the one selected for the second post of honor in the procession from the White House to the Capitol.
Mr. Criswell is an ardent Republican and particularly active and useful in his party. He has efficiently filled the position of township trustee for several terms, rendering satisfaction to all concerned. Both he and his estimable wife are consistent members of the Methodist church at Strahan, in which he takes a deep interest contributing liberally to its support. Our subject is socially connected with the Milton Summers Post, G. A. R., at Malvern. Mr. Criswell engages in general farming, but does not pursue this to the exclusion of the enjoyments of travel and other avenues of culture and education. He has seen many changes since his location in Mills county, and has borne his part in its development, being an intelligent and liberal-minded citizen.
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