Biographies
For
Muscatine County Iowa
1889



Source: Portrait and Biographical Album, Muscatine County, Iowa, 1889, page 319

ARISTARCHUS CONE, residing on section 24, Cedar Township is an honored pioneer of Muscatine County of 1837. He was born in Middlesex County, Conn., Feb. 22, 1815, and is a son of Newell and Ann ( Sillaman ) Cone, who were also natives of Connecticut, though the former was of English descent, and the latter of German origin. About the year 1685 Daniel Cone emigrated from England to America, he being the founder of the family in this country. He settled in East Haddam, Conn., and the family of our subject is of the fifth generation of his descendants.

Newell and Ann Cone were the parents of five children : Albert, the eldest, was born Jan. 30, 1804, and died April 10, 1875; Addison, born Oct. 14, 1807, died Jan. 21, 1884; Julius, born April 9,1817, died July 27, 1841; William E., born Sept. 24, 1825, died Feb. 20, 1886.

Until twenty years of age our subject remained under the parental roof and assisted his father in the labors of the farm. He then worked at stone cutting for about six months, after which he taught one term of school of four months in his native State. The succeeding four years were spent in Ohio and Pennsylvania, where he engaged in the mercantile business. At the expiration of that time he boarded a steamer for St. Louis, but on reaching that city he changed boats and went up the Illinois River to Peoria, where he resided for a short time. He then spent some time in wandering over the country, until finally he reached Davenport, Iowa. From there he went west until he reached the Cedar River, when he followed its course to Muscatine County, which he reached in August, 1837. He here spent the fall, and then returned to Connecticut, where he remained during the winter, returning to Muscatine County in the spring of 1838. Each settler was then permitted to make a claim of 320 acres, and Mr. Cone served as a claim recorder until the land was put on the market, when Richard Lord was appointed by the settlers to bid off their land for them. In those early days a club for protection was formed by the settlers, and many were the hardships and trials borne by them. At the land sale in 1841 Mr. Cone took 220 acres, and he still has in his possession a patent which he secured during Tyler's administration, though he has never yet received a deed to his original claim. During the summer of 1838 he camped upon the prairie, but as winter approached he felt the need of more secure shelter and built a little log cabin, which continued to be his home for twenty years.

On the 7th of October, 1851, Mr. Cone was united in marriage with Miss Harriet Oaks, a daughter of John and Eve ( Forest ) Oaks. No children have been born of their union, but they have an adopted son, William Hunter, whom they have reared from his fourth year to manhood. He now has charge of Mr. Cone's farm. Since coming to this county Mr. Cone has witnessed many great changes. On his own farm the work of cultivation has gone steadily forward, the wild and unsettled tract of land which he purchased in 1841 having been developed into one of the richest and most productive farms in the county. He has added to it until it now comprises 640 acres. The little log cabin of pioneer days has long since given way to an elegant and large brick residence, which he erected at the cost of $2,800; two barns and numerous other out-buildings, for the care of his stock and grain, have been put up, and everything about the place testifies that its owner is a man of progressive ideas and manages the farm systematically and well. Mr. Cone , politically, is a supporter of the Republican party, and as a citizen he is held in the highest respect by all. Mrs. Cone is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is a most estimable lady.


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