EDWARD DEAN
Edward Dean was an early settler of Pottawattamie county, Iowa. He was born in Bristol county, Massachusetts, January 9, 1810. His parents, Henry and Deborah Dean, had a family of eleven children, ten of whom attained maturity. The parents died in Bristol county. They were consistent members of the Presbyterian church. Edward, at the age of eighteen, went to Rhode Island, where he was engaged in a cotton factory. He was married in 1829, to Sarah Windsor, and by this union had one child--George H., now living in Rhode Island. Mrs. Dean died in 1830, and in 1831, Mr. Dean was again married to Dorcas Lapham. By this marriage there were three children--Edward, who died January 28, 1834; Eliza L. and James Edward. The second Mrs. Dean died, May 19, 1889. Mr. Dean was afterwards married to Mary A. West, daughter of Amos and Avis (Horton) West, natives of Massachusetts. Mrs. Dean was born in Bristol county, Massachusetts, in August, 1809. By this marriage, six children were born--Rufus H., born June 29, 1840; Sophronia W., born October 3, 1841; Warren L., born March 8, 1843; Richard N., born October 26, 1845; Charlotte, born August 2, 1848. Mrs. Dean had been previously married to James Hart, by whom she had two children, one of whom died in infancy, the other, James N., was born in 1831. Mr. Dean left his native State in 1855, and came to Iowa in company with a man named Tift, who had previously visited this section of the country. He settled in Pottawattamie county, near the line of Cass. In the spring of 1856, he brought his family and moved into the house which he had built. At that time there were but two men living in the township, and the country was in a very primitive state. He first entered one hundred and sixty acres of government land, and afterwards purchased forty acres. Here they lived twenty-eight years. Mr. Dean was district treasurer for more than twenty-five years. His bank account was over fifty thousand dollars. In 1883, he came to Griswold, where he is now living a retired life. Mr. and Mrs. Dean are attendants of the Presbyterian church. Their son, Warren L. Dean, was a member of the Twenty-third regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry, in General Grant's army, and participated in many important battles.
Contributed by Lisa Varnes-Rex from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pg. 829.
