SAMUEL STETLER
Samuel Stetler came in 1862, from Illinois, and traded his farm in that State for one hundred and sixty acres on sections 24 and 25. He then went back to Illinois and got his family and household goods, and settled on his new purchase, where he still resides.
Samuel Stetler was born in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, December 27, 1816, and is a son of Barnard and Mary Stetler, natives of the Hawkeye State. Samuel spent his early life in Columbia county, where he was brought up on a farm and attended the public schools. In 1837 he was married there, to Elizabeth Shumaker, also a native of that county, where they resided till 1855. In that year they removed to Lee county, Illinois, and there purchased unimproved land, which they settled upon and cultivated. In 1857, Mr. Stetler went to California, overland, leaving Lee county, March 1, and arriving at his destination in California, August 20. He engaged in mining, and remained in that State until September, 1859, when he returned to his home in Illinois, via Nicaragua and New York. He resumed farming, remaining in Lee county till 1862, when he traded his farm there for one hundred and sixty acres of land on sections 24 and 25, in what is now Pleasant township, this county. In September of that year they removed here, making the journey with a pair of horses and a wagon. They brought with them their household goods and provisions, camping on the way, and after their arrival here, laid in the wagon until their house was completed. His farm, which was then wild prairie, is now well improved and cultivated. He has substantial buildings, a fine grove, and a fruit orchard. A hedge fence nearly surrounds his farm. Mrs. Stetler died in 1861, leaving five children--Perry, Almira, Ellen, Clara A. and Catherine. Mr. Stetler was married the second time, in 1863, to Frances Sifford, a native of Virginia. By this union there are five children--Mary Belle, Maggie A., Carrie M., Cora E. and Emma. Mr. Stetler's eldest son, Perry, was born in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, August 9, 1840. In 1861 he enlisted in the First Illinois Heavy Artillery, and did gallant service for three and a half years. After his discharge he was married, and settled in Lee county, where he died in 1879.
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, pp. 809.
