Painter, Lewis

PAINTER

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 9/16/2019 at 13:05:33

Lewis Painter

(From the 1891 Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, p.490)
LEWIS PAINTER, one of the pioneer settlers of Lincoln Township, was born on a farm in Fulton County, Illinois, March 3, 1847, the son of Joseph PAINTER, who came from London, England. The father was born ner the celebrated White Horse Chalk Hills, England, and learned the tailor's trade, having served as a tailor's apprentice at the age of thirteen years. He married Caroline TEMPLER, a native of England, and they remained in that country until 1840, when he came to America, and by the Erie Canal to the then frontier city of Chicago. He was the first tailor in that city, and the first day took in $9. He remained there a short time and then went to a point in Illinois, and thence returned to Chicago, where he lived for some years, but finally settled in Fulton County, Illinois, where he worked at his trade and farming. In 1855, he came to Iowa and settled in Jasper County, where he remained about thirteen years, and then in 1869 came to Cass County, Iowa, and settled on a farm in Wright Township. He died in Pottawattamie County at the age of sixty-three years. He was a hard-working and industrious man, and was the father of eight children: James C., Emily M., deceased in infancy, who were born in England; Emily M., Caroline, Lewis, William H., Salina G., and Henry C. Politically, he was a Republican. His wife died at the age of forty-two years, in Jasper County, Iowa.

Lewis PAINTER, son of the above and the subject of this sketch, was but eight years of age when his parents removed to Iowa. He learned farming in early life, and after marriage settled on a rented farm in Jasper County for two years. In 1869, he came to Cass County, and in 1870 came to his present farm of 280 acres in Lincoln Township, Pottawattamie County, which was then a wild prairie, but which he has since converted into a fine fertile farm. When Mr. PAINTER came to this township, he was the only settler, and thus he has the honor of being the first pioneer settler of Lincoln Township. He remained on his claim but one season, built a home and then sold it, and seven years afterward bought the same claim back. Politically, he is a Republican, and has also taken an active interest in education, and is a man who stands deservedly high in his township for his sterling worth.

Mr. PAINTER was married August 11, 1866, at the early age of twenty-one years, to Mary L. WHITCOMB, who was born October 22, 1844, in Huron County, Ohio, and was but eleven years of age when, in 1855, her parents came to Jasper County, Iowa, in a company having twenty-one horses. It was in the early summer and the trip was a pleasant one, occupying one month. She was the daughter of Orrin and Lydia (BUTLER) WHITCOMB. The father was born in Connecticut, and in 1855 settled in Jasper County, Iowa. He was married in New York state to Lydia BUTLER, daughter of Samuel BUTLER, who was a farmer of Albany, New York, and also participated in the War of the Revolution. Both families were descended from old Connecticut families. Mr. And Mrs. WHITCOMB had five children: Aaron, deceased at twenty years of age; Branch, Maria, who died in infancy, Levina and Mary L. The mother lived to the age of eighty-six years and the father died in Jasper County, at the age of sixty-one. He was one of the old pioneer settlers of this county, was a devout church member, and respected by all who knew him. Politically, he was a Democrat. When he moved to Huron County, Ohio, he had to cut his way through the heavy forests and fire the trees to make a narrow path. Postage was twenty-five cents for a letter to New York. Mr. And Mrs. PAINTER are the parents of eight children, viz.: Joseph U., born January 8, 1869; James F., October 31, 1870; Lydia, June 24, 1872; Ira V., April 1, 1874; Seth O., who died in infancy; Jennie, born April 27, 1877; Burleigh M., July 9, 1879; Jay C., October 14, 1882.