Biographies
For
Muscatine County Iowa
1889



Source: Portrait and Biographical Album, Muscatine County, Iowa, 1889, page 370

ABRAHAM SMALLEY, capitalist and dealer in real estate, Muscatine, Iowa, was born near Boundbrook, Somerset Co., N. J., Oct. 24, 1815, and is the son of Andrew and Rhoda ( Shepherd ) Smalley. In 1816, when yet an infant, he removed with his parents to a farm near Cincinnati, Ohio, where the days of his childhood were spent until he attained his fourteenth year, when his parents removed to Carthage, Hamilton Co., Ohio, then a small village, where they engaged in keeping hotel and post-office, the duties of Postmaster being performed by Abraham. A few years later his father opened a general store, and Abraham also had the management of that business for a few years. In the month of August, 1838, he left the Buckeye State and emigrated to what was then the Territory of Iowa, and purchased a claim for his father's family in Bloomington, Muscatine County. On the 18th of April of the following year the family arrived in Iowa, landing at Bloomington, now the city of Muscatine, but soon after their arrival the father's health failed, and on the 3rd of August, 1839, he was called to his final rest. From that time the care of the family devolved upon Abraham, he having the management of affairs for several years.

In 1843 our subject began the manufacture of fanning-mills and plows at Muscatine, and afterward put up a windmill at the corner of Third and Cherry streets, where he manufactured sash, doors and blinds. He also engaged in the manufacture of cultivators on a large scale for those times, making over 500 machines annually. These were hauled into the country and sold from wagons, as were the fanning-mills. Until 1855 Mr. Smalley continued in that line of business, when he sold out and began dealing in real estate. The following year, with Green & Stone and Jacob Butler, he laid out South Muscatine, and subsequently laid out Musserville, which now forms a part of that city, together with a second addition to South Muscatine. He held the office of Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners when Iowa was a Territory, and served three years on the School Board.

On the 26th of May, 1850, Mr. Smalley was united in marriage with Miss Sicha W. Nichols, daughter of Peter Nichols, of Henderson County, Ill. Three children were born to them---David, Imogene and George W. After ten happy years of married life, the death of the mother occurred April 27, 1860, at the age of thirty-nine years, three months and twenty-nine days. David, the eldest son, died May 2, 1866, aged fourteen years, nine months and eleven days, and Imogene E. died May 7, 1873, aged twenty years, one month and fifteen days. Mr. Smalley was again married, June 6, 1861, becoming the husband of Miss Eliza E. Mathis, a daughter of Micajah and Ann ( Gamage ) Mathis. She was born in Burlington Co.,N. J., July 27, 1826, and came to Iowa in 1858. Two children were born of the second union: Esther May, who is now at home, and Harry E., now at Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Mr. Smalley is one of the oldest and most highly respected citizens of Muscatine, and has done much toward building up and improving the town. His peculiar plan of selling real estate on terms so easy that any poor man with reasonable industry and frugality can secure himself a home and not feel the burden, has led to the building of hundreds of houses in lower Muscatine and Musserville, and while the owners have secured their property on easy terms Mr. Smalley has also profited by the investment.

In early life Mr. Smalley was a Democrat in politics, but on the fromation of the Republican party he joined its ranks, having always been opposed to the institution of slavery, and in 1860 was a supporter of A. Lincoln, and has since continued to support that party. In religious sentiments he is liberal, believing more in an honest upright life then the strict adherence to any creed or dogma.


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