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The next settler in this township was John R. Kirk, who was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, July 19, 1830. His father, Timothy Kirk, died July, 1863, in Indiana. His mother, Ann (Bailey) Kirk, died in the same State in April, 1841. John R. Kirk removed, with his parents, to Lorain county, Ohio, in 1835, and in the fall of the same year, to Sandusky county, near Port Clinton, where they engaged in farming until the fall of 1837. They then removed to Kosciusko county, Indiana, where John R. received his education. In the spring of 1849, he (John R.) went to Logan county, Illinois, where he located on a farm, and February 27, 1851, was married to Melicent Hoblitt, a daughter of Timothy B. and Barbara (Bickel) Hoblitt. She belongs to a family which is, to this day, one of the most prominent in Logan county. Mr. and Mrs. Kirk removed to Cass county in the spring of 1854, locating then, upon section 14, of Atlantic township, where they have since resided. They are pioneers of Cass county, and in fact, of Western Iowa. At the time of their arrival, there were only fifteen or twenty houses in the county. The first school in Atlantic township was taught in his log cabin, by Mary Curry, of Ohio. They have five children living---Jennie A., George Scott, Albert M., Seldon H. and Effie H. (adopted.) They have lost four children. Mr. Kirk owns five hundred and fifty acres of fine, well improved land, and is engaged in stock-raising. He has two orchards with five hundred bearing trees, also a fine vineyard. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Kirk was steward for twenty years, and for the last ten years has been a local preacher of that denomination. He was a class leader for several years, and was ordained a deacon by Bishop Andrews, at the annual conference of the Methodist Episcopal church at Red Oak, on Sunday, September 14, 1884. He was converted in Logan county, Illinois, in 1851, under the pastorate of Rev. Mason, of the Baptist church, and united with the Methodist Episcopal church in this county. He is the leader of the church in this section. He has been an active worker in the Sabbath school, either as class leader or superintendent, for twenty years. He has held local offices, but has no political ambition. In politics he is a strong Republican. He enlisted in July, 1861, in the Fourth Iowa Infantry, under command of Colonel (afterward General) Dodge, and served one year, when he was discharged for disability, contracted while in the service.

In the summer of 1853, Clayborn Marion bought a claim of Jesse Marshall on section 34, where he built a cabin and made some improvements. After living there something over a year, he sold his farm and removed to section 24, where he resided until the gold excitement took so many from the county, when he went with the rush to Colorado. He was much respected while here, and bore a good name. He and his wife both died in Colorado.

At an early day, William, John and Joseph Scofield owned the land whereon the town of Atlantic now stands, and broke the ground, planted it with corn and raised a crop. They afterwards removed from this county, and are now living near Walnut, Pottawattamie county.

R.D. McGeehon and Morris Hoblitt broke ten acres of ground on the northwest quarter of section 8, now in the city of Atlantic, in 1853.

Peter Kanawyer settled on section 1, Atlantic township, in the spring of 1854. He commenced improving his claim, but sold it in 1855, to Henry Michael and settled about two miles east of the present site of Wiota, where he resided till the spring of 1860, when he emigrated to California. He is now living in that State, at Grangeville, Tulare county.

In 1856 Casper Schon was added to the list of settlers. He located on section 21, and now lives not far from his first place of settlement.

Casper Schon is a native Germany, born on the 14th of April, 1823, and is the son of George and Mary Schon. He came to America in 1852, and located in Highland county, Ohio, and there remained until 1854, when he came to Cass county, and located in Cass township. He married in 1847, to Mary Bodd, also a native of Germany. They have been blessed with four children---Lizzie, now living in Atlantic township, and the wife of Casper Beekman; Fred, married to Emma Wakefield; Mary, and a son who is now living in California. When Mr. Schon came to Cass county, the land was wild. His farm which was located in Atlantic township, was one of the best in the county, but in 1882, he sold it and removed to section 28. He raises cattle of the finest grade, Poland China hogs and Cotswold sheep, and has some of the finest stock in the county. He has two full-blooded Norman horses, and a number of minor valuation. He has eighty acres of fine cultivated land, having deeded his son Fred one hundred and sixty acres of his original farm. An incident in Mr. Schon's life appears in the reminiscence chapter.

Transcribed by Deb Lightcap-Wagner, April, 2014 from: "History of Cass County, 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", published in 1884, Springfield, Ill: Continental Historical Co., pp. 836-838.