Biographical and genealogical history of Appanoose and Monroe counties, Iowa
New York, Chicago: Lewis publishing Co., S. Thompson Lewis, editor. 1903
Transcribed by Renee Rimmert. A complete copy of this book is available on-line at archive.org.
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CALVIN R. JACKSON - Among the old residents of Appanoose county who have figured prominently in its development and progress is Calvin R. Jackson, who has been an inhabitant of the county for nearly half a century and has witnessed its growth from a county with a scattered population to its present flourishing condition as one of the foremost agricultural and industrial counties of the great western commonwealth. His parents were Thomas and Delilah (Wethington) Jackson, who were both born in the Bluegrass state when its mighty forests were almost intact and the Indians were still equal sharers with the whites. They afterward moved to Ohio and then to Indiana. Mr. Jackson was a farmer and lumberman, and he met his death by a heavy log rolling on him as he was on his way to Louisville, Kentucky.
It was while his parents resided in Jefferson county, Indiana, that Calvin R. Jackson came into the world, the date of his birth being February 2. 1820. He grew up to manhood in his native state and in 1848 left Indiana with his mother, his wife, his sister and two children and came west to the new state of Iowa. They first located in Henry county and after remaining there one year moved to Jefferson county. In 1854 he came to Appanoose county and settled on a farm three miles south of Centerville, but a year later went to Jerome, where he now resides. Mr. Jackson was a successful and enterprising farmer until 1894, in which year he retired from the active labors of the farm and opened a boarding house in Jerome, now furnishing one of the indispensable places of rest and home comforts which have been one of the institutions of the world since the beginning of time. Mr. Jackson is also one of the Civil war veterans. He was a member of the Fifth Kansas Infantry and was afterward transferred to the Sixth Kansas Cavalry, in which regiment he saw much arduous service for three years and three months in Missouri.
Mr. Jackson's first marriage occurred in 1844 to Ellen Watkins, who died May 22, 1879. Ten children were born of this marriage and eight are now surviving. His second wife was Nancy (Cashman) Heirrear, who is still living. No children were born of this union. Mr. Jackson is a member of the Grand Army post at Seymour and in religion he belongs to the United Brethren church.
STEPHEN JAMES and C. S. JAMES, M. D. - The gentlemen whose names head this article are prominent citizens of the city of Centerville and stand high in the esteem of their friends and acquaintances on account of their many excellent qualities. Stephen James is a son of David and Clarissa James, the former a native of Trenton, New Jersey, and the latter of New York ; the birthplace of Stephen was near Utica, New York. He grew to manhood much after the manner of all boys and was allowed the privilege of a liberal education. When the Civil war came like a blight upon the country, he enlisted and served three years in Company B, First United States (Berdan's) Sharpshooters, being made corporal soon after enlistment, and he participated in many battles with the army of the Potomac. Since the war he has retained his connection with his old comrades by membership in the Grand Army of the Republic, in which he holds the honorable position of member of the executive committee of the national council of administration.
After the war, during the years 1867-8, Mr. James resided in Appanoose county, Iowa, and then went to Kansas, where he remained until 1880: he then returned and has ever since lived in this county. In early life he taught school for a number of years, but later took up farming, which he carried on successfully until 1888; this year was the date of his removal to Centerville and he has since been engaged in clerical work, for four years and a half assisting Dr. Reynolds, and since that time doing like service for his son, Dr. C. S. James.
Mr. James upholds the principles of the Republican party with all the ardor of his belief, and he and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist church. The maiden name of his wife was Miss Sarah E. Heasley, who has proved a most capable and devoted helpmeet to him in the journey of life. They have two children, Charles S. and Lora D.
Charles S. James, son of Stephen James, was born in Emporia, Kansas, in 1870, and while only a little more than thirty years of age he has gained an enviable reputation as a leading physician and surgeon. When ten years old his parents brought him to Appanoose county and there he was educated in the common schools and in the Iowa Wesleyan University. He then began the study of medicine under Dr. E. M. Reynolds of Centerville, continuing from 1887 to 1891; he completed his course in the University Medical College at Kansas City, graduating March 14, 1891, and on March 20, the same year, opened his office in Centerville. Dr. James has always been a progressive and eager student of his profession and in 1899 he took a post-graduate course in the Chicago Polyclinic and also in the New York Post-Graduate School in 1901, and in the same year did post-graduate work in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Since 1892 the Doctor has been a member of the Iowa State Medical Society and in 1900 was honored with the chairmanship of the section Practice of Medicine. In the line of his profession he is a member of many other bodies, the Des Moines Valley Association, the Western Surgical and Gynecological Society, the Appanoose and Wayne Counties Medical Society, of which he is secretary; of the Southwestern Medical Society and of the American Medical Association; he is a member of the board of insane commissioners of Appanoose county and is surgeon for the Burlington Railroad. Fraternally the Doctor stands high in the Masonic order, being a Knight Templar and a Shriner, and he is also a Knight of Pythias. In politics he is a Republican. On June 7, 1894, he was married to Miss Blanche Barrows, a daughter of J. C. Barrows of Centerville.
EDWARD T. JENNINGS - It is not too much to say that in this commonwealth of the free and independent the man who performs faithfully the duties that fall to the lot of the American citizen is the peer of any proud and hidebound aristocrat who ever pranced in the royal purple before the admiring gaze of serf-born foreigners; and at the end of a long life of conscientious and active effort he may well view with satisfaction and contentment the work of his hands. In this list of worthy and honored citizens we include with perfect right the name of Edward T. Jennings, who is one of the leading farmers of Appanoose county, and resides near the town of Plano.
William Jennings, who was the father of our subject, was born in Covington, Kentucky, and died in Johns township, Appanoose county, in May, 1869; he married Christina Shultz, who was a native of Pennsylvania, and died in Johns township May 16, 1874. They were married in Adams county, Ohio, and there began their home life. Mr. Jennings was a gunsmith by trade and followed this calling all his life. In July of 1854 he left Ohio and took up his residence in Johns township, Appanoose county, where he and his wife remained the balance of their lives.
One of the children of the above parents was Edward T. Jennings, whose birth occurred in Adams county, Ohio, September 13, 1837, and his youth was passed in the varied activity common to most boys reared in the first half of the last century. At the very beginning of the war of the Rebellion he enlisted in the Fifth Kansas Cavalry under Colonel H. P. Johnson, who recruited a company in Iowa. He was afterward transferred to the Sixth Kansas and saw much of the stern reality of war in Missouri, Arkansas and other western states. He was taken prisoner at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and for over a year endured confinement in the southern war prison at Tyler, Texas. He was among those who were engaged in chasing the Price raiders, and did considerable guerrilla fighting. After he was released from the prison he returned to Appanoose county. He first lived on a farm two miles south of Plano, and in 1892 removed to his present nice home just south of Plano. There he conducts his farming interests very profitably.
Mr. Jennings was married in 1869 to Josephine Van Dorn, who was born in Van Buren county, Iowa, March 12, 1844, and died August 21, 1899; her parents removed to Appanoose county in 1856. Of the four children of Mr. and Mrs. Jennings two are still living and keep house for Mr. Jennings - Lena and Elizabeth. Mr. Jennings lives over again the scenes of the Civil war among his comrades in the Grand Army of the Republic post at Centerville. He actively supports the principles of the Republican party, and has shown his interest in education in his community by serving for twenty-five years as president of the school board.
ROBERT K. JOHNSON , is well known as a representative of the farming interests of Appanoose county, Iowa, and is numbered among the early settlers, for though a half a century he has lived in this portion of this state. He was born in Mason county, Virginia, January 20, 1834, a son of James and Margaret (Van Meter) Johnson. The father was born in the Keystone state and was a son of John Johnson, a native of Ireland. Upon the old home farm in the state of his nativity James Johnson was reared, and later married Margaret Van Meter, whose birth occurred in Pennsylvania, as did that of her father, John Van Meter, who belonged to an old Pennsylvania Dutch family. In 1852 the parents of our subject bade adieu to their old home in the east and started westward with the hope that they might benefit their financial condition in one of the newer states beyond the Mississippi. They journeyed until they reached Monroe county, Iowa, where they established their home, becoming pioneer settlers and aiding in laying the foundation for the present prosperity and development of the county. In religious faith they were connected with the United Brethren church. The mother died at the age of sixty-three years, while the father reached the age of seventy-two years. To them were born eight children, of whom six still survive, one having died in infancy. These are Rachel, John. Robert K., Jane, Seth, Eli, William and James E. Eli served throughout the Civil war as a soldier in the Union army and was held a prisoner for a time. He died in Independence, Oregon, September 2, 1902.
Robert K. Johnson obtained a common school education and spent his early life at farm work when not engaged with the duties of the schoolroom. At the age of eighteen he came to Monroe county, Iowa, where he began farming, and here in 1866 he won a companion and helpmeet for life's journey, being united in marriage to Miss Lemira Tarr, an estimable lady, who was born in Vinton county, Ohio, where she pursued her education and spent her girlhood days. Her father, Samuel Tarr, was born in Virginia, and died in Augusta, Hancock county, Illinois, at the age of seventy years, while her mother, who bore the maiden name of Nancy Hollingshead, was born in Vinton county, Ohio, where her father located among the first settlers. She, too, died in Augusta, Illinois, when seventy-six years of age. Her sterling worth was widely acknowledged and she was a devoted member of the Christian church. By her marriage she had become the mother of six children, five of whom are living, namely: Pinckney, deceased; Mandana, John, Mrs. Johnson, George and Mary.
Throughout his business career Mr. Johnson has carried on agricultural pursuits and is today the owner of two excellent farms, comprising six hundred and twenty acres of the rich soil of Iowa. His home place is substantially improved with a good residence, a large barn and fine orchard. The plowed fields give promise of golden harvests, and pasture and meadow lands furnish feed for the stock both in the winter and summer months. The home has been blessed with the presence of three children, but he and his wife were called upon to mourn the loss of their daughter Gussie, who died December 24, 1901, at the age of twenty-nine years. She was greatly beloved for her good qualities of heart and mind, and her loss is deeply felt by her many friends as well as by her family. They have two sons, George and Samuel, both of whom are living upon the old homesteads in Chariton township, Appanoose county, and Monroe township, Monroe county, devoting their energies to farming and stock-raising.
Mr. Johnson has been very successful in his business and as the years have passed has added annually to his income until he is now the possessor of a handsome competence. At the present time he is living retired at the fine home in Moravia, and his rest is well merited and fully enjoyed. In politics he is an earnest Republican, and belongs to Sumner Post No. 398, G. A. R.. of Moravia, to which he is entitled to membership because of the active aid which he rendered to the government in the hour of peril. During the progress of the war of the Rebellion he joined the Eighth Iowa Cavalry, becoming one of the boys in blue of Company F, under Captain E. Cummins and Colonel J. Dorr. He enlisted June 24, 1863, serving until the close of the war. The regiment did much gallant service in the field with the western army, forming a part of the rough-rider command. A division of the western army was attached to General Sherman's command, and Mr. Johnson participated in a number of skirmishes and battles. He was taken prisoner on the 30th of June, 1864, when the army was in the vicinity of Atlanta, Georgia, and for three months was incarcerated in Andersonville, for one month at Charleston and for some time at Florence, South Carolina. During this time he had charge of several teams and forty men engaged in drawing water to the prison. He was paroled at Goldsboro, North Carolina, and returned home on a furlough. He received an honorable discharge on the 5th of June,1865, and returned to Iowa. Today he is as true and loyal to his duties of citizenship as he was when he followed the old flag upon southern battle fields.