1889 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF
SHELBY AND AUDUBON COUNTIES, IOWA
W. S. DUNBAR & CO., PUBLISHERS
113 ADAMS STREET, CHICAGO
A
ANSON E. ALLEN, of Viola Township, is the possessor of one among the best farms in the township. As an agriculturist and raiser of hogs and cattle, Mr. Allen occupies the front rank. He began his way in life without means, but by hard labor, economy, and good management he has acquired a good competence. He was born in Ticonderoga, New York, October 5, 1838, and is the fourth in a family of eight children, five boys and three girls. The father, La Fayette Allen, was born in East Middlebury, Vermont, in 1806. He was a farmer and merchant by occupation, and was a son of Ebenezer Allen, who was a distant relative of Ethan Allen. The mother of A. E. Allen was Betsey Orkin, daughter of James and Nancy Orkin, who was born in New Hampshire in 1810. James Orkin was born in England, and was brought to America at the age of seven years; be was a soldier in the war of 1812. The mother of La Fayette Allen, father of our subject, was a Van Rennselaer, of Hollandish descent. La Fayette Allen removed with his family and settled in Rutland County, Vermont, where he passed the remainder of his days. At the death of his father A. E. Allen was but eleven years old; he was sent to the common school, and later attended a select school at Brandon, Vermont. He resided with his mother until he had attained his eighteenth year, when he drifted west to Jones County, Iowa. In 1862 Mr. Allen enlisted in Company K, Twentyfourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, going into camp; his company was assigned to the western army, where he did faithful service, and was discharged in 1863, after which he returned to Jones County, Iowa. He then engaged in farming, buying and shipping stock to the eastern markets on the large scale, and continued in this business for a period of fifteen years, in which he was successful, although he commenced on a small capital. In 1882 Mr. Allen removed from Jones County, Iowa, to Audubon County, purchasing seven eightyacre tracts of land; he afterward bought other tracts until he owned 880 acres, a part of which he sold, leaving one section, 640 acres. This farm is most admirably situated, being on one of the branches of the Nishnabotna River and the most of the land is in a fine state of cultivation. The farm is well stocked with cattle and hogs for the protection of which Mr. Allen has provided a number of sheds; the large water supply needed is furnished by a windmill, with several tanks, all being arranged with an eye to convenience. Mr. Allen has a large substantial residence, situated upon an elevated plain, commanding a fine view of the surrounding country. He has been twice married first in 1804 to Mary Gilbert, who was born in 1844, and died in 1873, leaving three boys Charles, a farmer; Frank, of the firm of Allen & Crane, editors of the Audubon County Advocate, and Horace, now living with his grandmother in Vermont. Mr. Allen's second wife was Catherine Knight, who died in Jones County, Iowa, in 1879, leaving one little daughter Emma Kate. In political matters Mr. Allen is rather conservative, voting as a rule the Republican ticket. He and his two sons served in the late civil war. His grandfather, Ebenezer Allen, served in the war of 1812.
From: 1889 Biographical History of Shelby and Audubon counties, Iowa, pp. 794-95.
FRANK D. ALLEN is a member of the firm of Allen & Crane, proprietors of theAudubonCounty Advocate, the oldest paper in the county. This firm succeeded the firm of Crane & Crane, Mr. Allen purchasing an interest in the paper in Octoher, 1888. Frank D. Allen was the former proprietor and founder of the Western Blizzard at Gray, Iowa, a semiweekly, successfully managed by Mr. Allen for a time, and thenmoved to Audubon and consolidated with the Advocate. Previous to his starting the Blizzard Mr. Allen hadbeen traveling correspondentfor severalof the leading Omaha papers for a period of two years, visiting all the important towns and cities from theMissouri River tothe Pacific Coast. Mr. Allen a native of the State of Iowa, born in Jones County, in November, 1867. He received his earlier education in the common schools, and then entered the Western Normal College at Shenandoah, Iowa, where hepursued his studies for one year. On leaving school he began his career as an editor.Although the father, A. E. Allen, was a prominent farmer and stockraiser, the son preferred to wield the pen.A. E. Allen was an old settler of Jones County, Iowa, and owner of nearly1,000 acres in Audubon County; he moved to the county in 1882, and is one of the substantial farmers of Viola Township.The mother of Mr. Allen was Miss Mary Gilbert, of Jones County, Iowa, a native of Ohio, and a daughter of Russell Gilbert, now a prominent merchant of Wyoming, Iowa. She died in 1872, leaving four sons, three of whomstill survive. Frank D. Allen started his first paper at Dedham, but it was not a success, and he took Horace Greeley's advice, and turned up at the Black Hills in Dakota. After he had been there three months he secured a position with the county attorney, as secretary andcorrespondent, for two months; after that he secured a position on the Omaha Bee as local correspondent; he traveled in the interest of the paper and wrote up many important towns and cities in Nebraska and Southern Dakota. At one time he was correspondent for the Chicago papers, among which we mention the Chicago Sunday National, one of the leading humorous papers of the west.
From: 1889 Biographical History of Shelby and Audubon counties, Iowa, pp. 714-715.
HENRY FRANKLIN ANDREWS, of Audubon, was born in Lovell, Oxford County, Maine, June 27, 1844.He is the eldest child of Jacob and Martha Phinney (Hamblen) Andrews.His brothers and sisters are Dr. Charles Hamblen Andrews, of Exira, born June 21, 1847; Isaac Stearns Andrews, a farmer, residing three miles northeast of Atlantic, Iowa, born April 25, 1849, and Sarah Kimball Andrews, born September 25, 1857, who married William Tingle, of Cass County, Iowa, and removed to Bassett, Nebraska, where she diedSeptember 26, 1887.Mr. Andrews is descended in nearly every branch of his family from the earliest New England settlers. In the paternal line his first ancestor in America was Robert Andraws, who came from England with his wife, Elizabeth, and resided at Ipswich, Massachusetts, as early as 1635. This was the home of this branch of the family down to the timeof the Revolutionary war, through six generations, including Robert Andrews, viz.: John Andrews, and Sarah, his wife; John Andrews, and Judith, his wife; William Andrews, and Margaret Woodward, his wife; Solomon Andrews, and Elizabeth Ingalls, his wife, married October 27, 1726, and Captain Abraham Andrews, born September 6, 1747, married Esther Stearns, October 19, 1773, who was descended from Isaac and Mary Stearns, who came from England and settled at Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1632; their son, John Stearns, and his wife, Sarah Mixer, settled at Biller. ica, Massachusetts; their son, Captain John Stearns, and his wife, Joanna (Call) Parker, of the same place, and their son, John Stearns, and his wife, Esther Johnson, and their son, Hon. Isaac Stearns, and wife, Sarah Abbott, of the same place, who were the parents of Esther Stearns.Isaac Stearns, as well as many other members of the Stearns family, was a soldier in the French and Indian wars. Captain Andrews was at the battle of Lexington, and served all through the war of the Revolution. He was a Captain in the Second Regiment of Massachusetts Foot (Infantry), in 1788. With his brotherinlaw, Benjamin Stearns, and wife's uncle, John Stearns, he removed to Lovell, Maine, andmade the first white settlement in the town. His son, Isaac Stearns, was born here, August 13, 1788.He married Sally Kimball, October 15, 1815. Their son, Jacob Andrews, father of H. F. Andrews, was born at Lovell, Maine, February 24, 1820. In the maternal line Mr. Andrews' first ancestor in America was JamesHamblen andAnne, his wife, who came from London, England, and settled at Barnstable, Massachusetts, about 1639, where four generations of the family were born their son, John Hamblen, born June 26, 1644, married Sarah Bearce; their son, Ebenezer Hamblen, born May 12, 1683, married his cousin, Thankful Hamblen, May 11, 1710; their son, Gershon Hamblen, born July 19, 1713, married Hannah Almony, August 9, 1739.He was a soldier in the French war, under General Wolf at Quebec, in 1759, and died at Barnstable some time prior to 1763. Their son, Gershom Hamblen, was born September 16, 1745. In the year 1763 the widow of the elder Gershom Hamblen, with her children, including the son Gershom, removed to Gorham, Maine, and settled there upon land granted them by the Legislature of Massachusetts, for military services rendered by their relatives in King Philip's war of 1675. Two sons ofJames and Anne Hamblen,Bartholomew andEleazer, are known to have been members of Captain John Gorham's company, of Barnstable, and served in that war. Gershom Hamblen, the younger, married Deborah Jenkins at Gorham, December 17, 1774. Their son, Ichabod Hamblen, was born at Gorham, April 11, 1791.He married Lydia Webb Fickett at Portland, Maine, October 11, 1815. He was a soldier in time war of 1812. Their daughter, Martha Phinney Hamblen, mother of Mr. Andrews, was born at Limington, Maine, December 25, 1818. ExVicePresident Hannibal Hamlin, of Bangor, Maine, is a lineal descendant of James and Anne Hamblen, above mentioned. Of the family of Stearns, above mentioned, Hon. Onslow Stearns was Governor of New Hampshire, and Hon. Marcellus L. Stearns was Governor of Florida. Hon. George Andrews, one of time present Supreme Judges of New York, and Hon. Abraham Andrews Barker, of Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, are descendants of Captain Abraham Andrews.The parents of Mr. Andrews were married at Lovell, Maine, June 25, 1843. Mr. Andrews lived with his father until he was eighteen years of age, first at Lovell, then a few years at Stoneham, an adjoining town.The family then moved to Portland and lived four years, when in 1853 they returned to Lovell and remained until 1865.Mr. Andrews attended the common district school, summer and winter, until he was twelve years of age; he then worked on his father's farm and in the timber, his father being then engaged in farming and lumbering during the spring, summer and autumn months, and attending school in the winter.Thus he received an education in the common branches then taught in the district school. July 18, 1862, he enlisted as a private soldier, for three years, in Company D, Sixteenth Regiment Maine Volunteer Infantry.He served through the war, and was discharged as a private at Washing~ ton, D. 0., July 13, 1865.He participated with his regiment in the following services: Antietam campaign, September, 1862; the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, December 1215, 1862; Burnside's mud march, Falmouth, Virginia; battle of Chancellorsyule, Virginia, April 28 to May 4, 1863; march to point near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, June, 1863; engagement at Rappahannock Station, Virginia, August 1, 1863; march from Culpepper, Virginia, to Centerville, Virginia, October 1117, 1863; skirmish at Bristow Station, Virginia, November 2630, 1863; Wilderness and Spottsylvania Court House campaign, May, 1864. The last year of the war, from June, 1864, on account of illhealth, he was on detached service at Washington, D. C. In June, 1865, his parents, brothers, sister and grandfather Andrews removed to Exira, where he joined them October 3, 1865. The following year he taught school in Cass County, at Crooked Creek.The summer of 1866 he worked at farm labor in Audubon County, and the following winter taught school in Nathaniel Hamlin's district, in the south part of Audubon County. At the general election in 1866 he was elected recorder of Audubon County, and served two years, and worked a portion of the time at carpenter work. In the summer of 1868 he was appointed county judge of Audubon County, to fill a vacancy until the general election of that year. In the fall of 1866 his father purchased land, built a residence and opened a farm, now occupied and owned by J. J. Hensly and J. H. Basham, onehalf mile south of Exira. This place Mr. Andrews made his home most of the time until his parents sold the farm and removed to their present farm and residence, two miles northeast of Atlantic, Iowa, in 1869. In 1870, as Deputy United States Marshal, he took the census in Audubon County, and also Shelby County. In 1870 he was admitted to the bar of Audubon County, as an attorney and counselor at law, which profession he has since followed with short intermissions. February 25, 1871, at Atlantic, Iowa, he was married to Jennie Maria Norton, by Rev. M. Hughes. She was a daughter of William C. Norton and his wife, Ruth Harriet (Thayer) Norton, of Oakfield, born at Fort Wayne, Indiana, June 21, 1850. Her parents were formerly fromSpring Water, Livingston County, New York. They settled at Oakfield in 1856. Mrs. Norton died in June, 1882; Mr. Norton died in November, 1884. Both are buried at the Oakfield Cemetery, and were at the time of their decease members of the Methodist Episcopal church. The children of Mr. and Mrs.. H. F. Andrews were all born at Exira, Iowa. They are Charles Franklin, born April 24, 1872; Claude Norton, born March 10, 1874; Jessamine Julia, born April 16, 1877; Wallace Pearl, born July 28, 1879; John Hamblen, born October 15, 1886; Philip Stearns, born July 20, 1888.In 1872 Mr. Andrews attended one term of the law department of the Iowa State University. Aside from the school privileges above mentioned, Mr. Andrews has been a selfeducated man, he has resided at Exira nearly continuously since his settlement there in 1865, the only exceptions being a residence at Iowa City four months in the latter part of 1872, and a residence of one year at Atlantic, from October, 1874, and a residence at Audubon from March to October, 1882.In politics he has always been a Republican. His grandfather, Isaac Andrews, died at Exira, December 31, 1868. Both his grandfather and sister are buried in the cemetery at Exira. Since March, 1882, the law office of Mr. Andrews has been located at Audubon. Mr. Andrews is a member of Exodus Lodge, No. 342, A. F. & A. M., Exira; Exira Lodge, No. 181, K. of P., Exira; Allison Post, No. 34, G. A. R.; Audubon, Nishnabotna Tribe, No. 8, I. 0. R. M., Audubon; Audubon Lodge, No. 115, I. L. H., Audubon. Mr. and Mrs. Andrews are both members of the Eastern Star Lodge at Audubon. At this time he is associated in the law business with William H. Hanna, Esq., county attorney of Audubon County, under the firm name of Andrews & Hanna.
From: 1889 Biographical History of Shelby and Audubon counties, Iowa, pp. 701-703.
ANDREW F. ARMSTRONG, of the firm of Freeman & Armstrong, bankers and dealers in realestate and loans, is a native of Licking County, Ohio, born October 28, 1851. He is next to the youngest of eleven children, of whom six still survive. The father of A. F. Armstrong is William Armstrong,a farmer by occupation, and a native of Pennsylvania., now a resident of Muskingum County, Ohio. The mother, Jane E. Gibson, a native of Pennsylvania, died January 11, 1881.Andrew F. Armstrong, the subject of this notice, passed his boyhood on a farm in his native county, and then moved with his parents to Norwich, Muskingum County, Ohio, where he spent three years; in the spring of 1864 he returned to Licking County. He attended school, and in 1869 began teaching. On September 13, 1871, he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, where he pursued his studies and graduated in 1876. After graduation he studied law at Zanesville, Ohio, with A. W. Train, a prominent attorney of that place. He was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1879. April 1, 1880, Mr. Armstrong came to Audubon, opening a law office in connection with real estate and loans. In September, 1882, he formed a copartnership with E. J. Freeman, who is now cashier of the Citizens' Bank of Audubon. The firm does a general banking business, besides dealing extensively in realestate. Mr. Armstrong was married October 18, 1883, to Miss Clara S. Townsend, of Zanesville, Ohio, a daughter of William Townsend, of that place. They have two daughters Lulu T. and Helen L. Mr. Armstrong was elected Mayor of Audubon in March, 1888; and reelected in March, 1889. He was treasurer of the school board from 1883 to 1888. He was a member of the board of supervisors, serving two years, and in the fall of 1888 was reelected to serve three years from January 1, 1889.He is a member of Veritas Lodge, No. 392, A. F. & A. M., and of Amity Chapter, No. 93, and Godfrey Commandery, No. 44; he is now Eminent Commander of the Commandery.
From: 1889 Biographical History of Shelby and Audubon counties, Iowa, pg. 798.
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Contributed by Marthann Kohl-Fuhs, April, 2005.
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