Conwell, William Robert Family

CONWELL, DAUGHTON, MCGREEVEY, BARRETT, MAHRENHOLZ

Posted By: Mary H. Cochrane, Volunteer
Date: 6/29/2019 at 08:38:28

"Reflections of Grand River, Iowa 1881-1981", p. 179
William Robert Conwell
Stephen and Edward (Neddie) Conwell, Irish immigrant brothers from Carrick, County Donegal, Ireland, purchased 160 acres of raw land from the government at $1.25 per acre three miles north of the new town of Westerville in 1853. Each brother, at the age of nineteen, landed in New York City in the midst of the potato famine in 1847 and 1849. As was the custom of the time, the older members of each family saved enough to send passage for the younger ones; and this applied to the six members of that family and eventually their father, Patrick. Stephen and Neddie engage din the business of peddling Irish laces, linens and such wares as could be most easily transported and which could be afforded by the settlers.

The brothers continued both peddling and farming through the Fifties and Sixties until the death in 1867 of Stephen and the marriage in 1870 of Edward to Julia Daughton of County Kerry, living at the time with her parents in the southeastern Decatur County community of Ireland. They sired twelve children, nine reaching adulthood, including Luke and Dennis Conwell and Anna (Conwell) McGreevey who remained in the Grand River area most of their lives.

Neddie Conwell served as a county supervisor during 1880 through 1883 and his son Luke served in the same capacity three terms during the 1930's and 1940's. Luke, born in 1885, married Alma Barrett of Milligan, Nebraska, in 1911; and they commenced housekeeping in the Tennessee neighborhood. Their children are Nellie Conwell, a former schoolteacher, currently living in Osceola; Evelyn Mahrenholz, a widow, employed for many years at Younkers Department store in Des Moines, and William Robert, a widower, engaged in insurance, real estate and private investing and a resident of Atherton, California.

In 1973, following the death of Luke Conwell, after 120 years of Conwells living in the same community, the last of the original land purchase of 1853 was sold to a neighbor, Wayne Burchett, who resides on the Luke Conwell farm and whose ancestors had settled nearby in the 1850's.

I remember with much warmth my childhood in that farm community; the years spent at the rural Glenwood school, Grand River High School, Osceola Junior College and my short tenure as high school coach in the neighboring Davis City, Iowa. During World War II, Bob Hope wrote a book entitled "I Never Left Home"...taken from the theme of constantly meeting people he knew. In as much as I have been privileged to visit the Grand River neighborhood several times each year for many years I'm reminded of an incident that took place while I was sitting in Royal Boles' barber shop not long ago. A local resident whom I saw only occasionally sat down alongside and said "Bob, are you still out on the farm?"

Posted with permission of William Robert Conwell