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Audubon County |
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CHAPTER V.THE FIRST SETTLERS. (Cont'd)From History of Audubon Co., Iowa (1915)
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Bryant Milliman was born in Sandusky county, Ohio, November 16, 1828. His parents died when he was two years old and he lived with his grandfather, near Niagara Falls, New York, until fifteen years old, when he went to Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was married there on December 5, 1852, to Jane Heath, sister of Amherst, Milton and Mark Heath. Mr. Milliman and wife came with a team from Fort Wayne and arrived in Audubon county in June, 1854. He soon became owner of the northeast quarter of ihe southeast quarter and lots 17, 18 and 19, in section 4, Exira township, having bought the claims of William Powell and William Shirley to some of these tracts of land, and the remainder was entered from the government. He owned over one hundred acres of this land and resided on it at his death. His first house and barn were erected on lot 17. The old house now forms the kitchen of the dwelling of Miss Amber Kelsey in the town of Exira. He was a Democrat. He died in August, 1912. "Aunt Jane" lives on the old homestead. Their children were: William H., unmarried; Frank, who went blind and died unmarried; Charles N., married lone Brinkerhoff; George W., married Mrs. Maggie Johnson; Jessie M., unmarried; Marsh Edgar, married Lillie Johnson. Miles Beers, wife and family, came from Delaware county, New York, in 1854, and settled on section 18, Exira township. He was a farmer and a Democrat. He was the first treasurer and recorder of Audubon county in 1855. His farm is now owned by Owen F. Ide, Esq. He and his wife died many years ago. Their children were, John W., unmarried; David B. and Jane, who married Oliver Smith. John W. Beers came with his father. He was one of the clerks at the first election in Audubon county in April, 1855, at which he was elected clerk of the district court and county surveyor. He died early. David B. Beers and his father lived together many years, until his father's death. He married, first, late in life, Mrs. Lowly A., widow of Amherst Heath. For his second wife, he married Mrs. Leigan. He was a farmer and a school teacher. He succeeded to his father's farm. After marriage he lived in section 29, Exira township, on his wife's estate, but is now living in Brayton, Iowa. He is a Democrat and served as county superintendent and county surveyor. His children are, Eva, who married Calvin Dimick; Nellie, married Mr. Badd, and Lona C, also married. Samuel Smith was born near Liverpool, England, and married Mary Farrell. He was a farmer and gardener. The family left Liverpool and, six weeks later, landed in New Orleans; thence he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, during the holidays of that year, and located in Clifton, a suburb of that city, and thence to Loveland, Ohio, two years later. In the spring of 1854 they came to Audubon county. (See sketch of Samuel M. Ballard.) He bought land in section 14, Hamlin township, which he sold to Josephus Lewis. His wife died in 1856-7, and, late in life, he married Mrs. Louann Bailey, and went to live on her estate in section 14, Exira township, where he soon died. He was an upholder of the Union and a stanch Republican. His sons, John, James and William, were soldiers in the Union army. The children born to him were as follow: Betsey, who remained in England, and died in 1856 or 1857; Sarah, who died in Ohio in 1856; Mary F., married James Dalton; John F., unmarried; Eliza, married John W. Dodge; William F., married Cimanthia Hamlin; James, married Elizabeth O'Connell; Samuel, unmarried; a son who died at sea, and Lizzie E., who married James Peaslee. |
