NELSON B. CASE,
retired, but still residing on his farm of one hundred and sixty acres
in section 9, Canton township, has been a continuous resident of Benton
county since 1854. He was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania,
April 24, 1825, and when he was about one year old the family moved to
Medina county, Ohio, where he was reared and educated and lived until
he reached the age of twenty-nine years. He is a son of Reuben and
Margaret (Gallaher) Case, both of whom died in Medina county, Ohio.
Reuben Case, probably a native of New Jersey, was a farmer all his
life, and died when about sixty-seven years of age; his wife died at
the age of seventy-three years. They were devout Methodists. Nelson was
the sixth child of a family of four sons and three daughters, and is
the only one now surviving. He received only a common school education
in the district schools, and is self-made in every way, having improved
his opportunities for advancement and learning to the best of his
ability.
Mr. Case secured his present farm in the early fifties, by purchasing a
land warrant from a veteran returning from the Mexican war, for the sum
of one hundred and twenty-five dollars. Politically he is a Democrat,
and has served many years as trustee. He is a prominent and influential
citizen, and well liked and respected. He is one of the pioneers,
having improved his land and brought it to a high state of cultivation
and fertility from the wilderness.
In 1854 Mr. Case married, in Medina county, Ohio, Melinda Miller, born
in 1829, in New York, and a daughter of Jacob and Amy (Dicks) Miller,
early residents of Medina county, Ohio, where they died. Mr. Case and
his wife spent their honeymoon on the trip overland in a typical
"prairie schooner," to the new country in Benton county. Mrs. Case died
there in 1872. They had three children, of whom one son died about
1891, leaving a widow and two children. This son, Medwin, married Annie
E. Zeul, who now resides with Mr. Case. Her children are Benjamin B.,
operating eighty acres of Mr. Case's farm, and Bertner A., teaching
school in the county. The other children of Mr. Case are Ernest D. and
Arabella. Ernest operates a part of his father's farm; he married
Lottie Montgomery, and they have five children. Arabella married W. E.
Soden, of Canton township.
When Mr. Case came to this county he did most of his trading at Cedar
Rapids, twenty miles away. There were no fences south of him. Mr. and
Mrs. Case commenced keeping house in a one room log house which Mr.
Case built after his arrival. Their children were all born in that room
except the youngest, who was born in Ohio, and Mrs. Case died there.
Since her death an upright frame has been added to the original
building. When Mr. Case came to this county there were Indians here,
and wild game of all kinds was abundant.
Picture of Nelson and Melinda Case
