H. Graybill was born in Juniata
County, Pa., on May 2, 1831 and in 1841 left his native
State and came with his father to Iowa, landing at
Dubuque on May 2, of that year. He went to Prairie La
Porte, where he remained until 1842, thence to Milville
Township, and ten years later removed to Monona Towhship.
In 1858 he returned to Milville Township, and resided
there until the breaking out of the war, when he
enlisted, on Aug. 22, 1862, in the Twenty-first Iowa
Infantry. He served until Nov. 9, 1863, when he was
discharged on account of physical disability, and
returned to Milville Towhship. In 1870 he removed to
Cassville, Wis., and conducted a hotel and barber-shop
there nine years, then went to Clermont, Fayette County,
where he remained one year, and in November, 1880, he
came to Clayton County, where he has resided since. In
the fall of 1881 he became the proprietor of the Clayton
House, which he is still running, and is making a success
of it. He was married May 17, 1853, to Lydia Ferguson,
who was born Aug. 27, 1830 in Canada, and died Oct. 15,
1867. Of six children born of that union, two are
living-- Amelia, born April 20, 1855, and Alice, July 5,
1861. Mr. Graybill was again married on June 16, 1871, to
Letitia Campbell. His father died March 1, 1864; his
mother is living in the county at the advanced age of
seventy-three years. He is a member of the United
Brethren Church, and in his poltical views is a
Republican. He is justly entitled to being classed with
the pioneers of Clayton County, and although he met with
many of the adversities and hardships of pioneer life, he
says that there was more real enjoyment in life in those
primitive days than in these days of political and
financial strife. source: History of Clayton
County, Iowa, 1882, p. 722 |