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HORACE STEELE is a farmer and stock-raiser, residing on section 4, Highland Township, and is the owner of 870 acres of fine land, all of which is under a high state of cultivation. He was born in Delaware County, Ind., in 1835, and is a son of Justin and Eliza A. (Pugsley) Steele, both of whom were natives of Connecticut and of Scotch descent. They came to this county in 1856.
Horace Steele, the subject of this sketch,was reared upon his father's farm, grew to manhood in Indiana, and there received his education in the public schools. In 1856 he came to Washington County, this state, with his parents, worked for his father upon a farm for a time, and, in 1862, was united in marriage in Jefferson County, Iowa, to Miss Almira E. Green, a native of Portage County, Ohio, born in 1840. Seven children have blessed their union, six of whom are now living: Alonzo J., who married Anna Potter; Fannie E., Ira C., Molo M., Henry F. and Grace E. Charles B. is deceased.
Mr. Steele is but another example of what may be accomplished by energy and pluck. Starting in life in limited circumstances, he has, by perseverance, hard labor, economy and good management, placed himself and family in good circumstances, with enough of this world's goods to render them comfortable through life. He is well and favorably known throughout the county, and deserves more than a passing notice, on account of what he has accomplished during his thirty years' residence here. At the time he settled in HIghland Township,
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the greater portion of the land was in its wild state, and in its improvement no man has done more than Horace Steele. He has never aspired to office, but has been content to faithfully discharge all his private duties, leaving others who have the inclination to work for the public. In all moral enterprises he has been a liberal contributor, and is yet ever ready to give of his means for the advancement of any enterprise calculated for the public good. Politically, he is a Republican.
JOSEPH EDELSTEIN, deceased, was born in Oray, Switzerland, in 1811. When a lad he learned both the blacksmith and wagon-maker trades, and left his father's home, traveling extensively, doing journeyman's work. He came to America about 1833 and located at Cleveland, Ohio, and while there was married to Frances Schilling. The young couple concluded to try their fortune in a new country, and Joseph came to this county in the summer of 1837, and located a claim now owned by his son on section 13. He built a log cabin, and returned to Ohio for his wife. They left Cleveland with a wagon and team of horses, and also brought with them a cow. When they arrived here, Mr. Edelstein found nothing but ashes to mark the place where stood his cabin. Not only that, but his hay was also burned, and in the middle of winter with no neighbors nearer than Iowa City, the outlook was hard. They dug a hole in the river bank, on the north side of English River, fronting the south. Into this they moved what few things they had, and afterward placed logs on the inside to keep it from caving in. The work of building a new cabin was at once commenced, and it was progressing fairly, with the aid of his young wife, but before it was completed they were awakened one night by the sound of rushing water, and upon getting out of bed found the water knee-deep in the "dug-out." Mr. Edelstein awakened his wife, and together they carried out the goods and deposited them on the high bank. The old "dug-out" can yet be seen; also the first cabin built in the township in which Joseph, the eldest son, and the second white child in this township, was born, Nov. 10, 1838.
In the winter of 1837, in the "dug-out" mentioned, a son, George, was born, who was married and lived until twenty-seven years of age. While he lived he could claim the distinction of being the eldest born in the township, but the honor now falls to Joseph, who is truly a fitting representative of his father and bears his name. Several neighbors came in 1837, and settled within one or two miles of the Edelstein claim. Joseph Billman built a cabin within a few rods of our subject, and for several years lived there. They had a hard time to procure something to eat. Mr. Edelstein would start toward Burlington with the team, and whenever he could, and buy a bushel or half a bushel of corn, and after he had secured enough would have it ground, the trip for a bushel of meal often would take a week. Corn bread and wild game gave them what provision was used during the first year. Indians were plenty, and their village was only a short distance from the Edelstein home. They were the playmates of the white children for years, and Joseph S. laughingly speaks of the fun they used to have together. Some of the families had even shorter rations than our subject. They used coffee mills to grind corn, and even hickory stumps were hollowed out, and in this the corn was poured and crushed with a large stone. Such a relic stands in the old Schnoeblen dooryard. Joseph was well liked by the Indians; he was a great smoker, and often they would congregate together, with Joseph in the center with his pipe, and he would take a puff, then hand the pipe to one of the Indians, who after taking a draw would pass it to another, until the tobacco was all gone. The friendship never diminished, and years after the Indians had gone, Joseph, Jr., met a band of them, who recognized him and inquired about his father.
Joseph Edelstein was well educated in five languages. This made him one of the most useful men in his day, and he was one of the first Trustees. He entered his lands as soon as they came into market, and upon his farm lived and died. He had a horror of law, and was one of the most conscientious of men. He was also very prosperous, and when he died owned 520 acres of land, all in
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one body. Both he and his wife were devoted Catholics, and were members of the first Church in this county, and donated to the Church at Richmond, Sts. Vincent and Stanislaus, forty acres of timber. In support of the Church Mr. Edelstein was very liberal, and upon the lands donated he planted several fruit trees, one of which is yet standing. He was the father of four sons and four daughters: George, deceased; Joseph S.; John H., deceased; Caroline, Josephine, May E.; Peter and Mary, also deceased. John married Caroline Mellinger; Caroline wedded Henry Lonberger; Josephine married Frank Graff, and Mary E. became the wife of Dr. Lansing Rose, who was a soldier in the army, and is now a resident of Berlin, Wis. All except Rose are well known to all old settlers.
Joseph Edelstein, Jr., was married, June 18, 1863, to Miss Theresa Beach, of Washington County, who removed with her father, while Joseph S. was escort. After his return home he settled down to farm life, content to remain among the white people instead of savages, and the farm on which he lives was cleared and improved. By trade he is a wagon-maker and blacksmith, and is also a practical machinist. He owns 180 acres of the original entry, and has paid cash for it all. He is an ardent advocate of education, and was a member of the School Board for several years. He is the father of Mary F., deceased; Anna M., Joseph L., Elizabeth H., Mary J., Louisa C., Frank W., May and Rosa. They are heirs to a noble name in the history of this county, and the increased honor of being children of the oldest born settler of the same will give them a place in her history forever. When the Catholic Church was organized at Riverside, Mr. Edelstein was one of the building committee, and one of the first members. In 1852, when the great flood came, and the mills were disabled, at the farm house of Mr. John Diehl a handmill was fastened on his porch, and neighbors for mile around came to grind their corn.
BENJAMIN BIDWELL, section 31, Marion Township, is a native of Vermont, born in December, 1819, and is the son of Benjamin and Sarah Bidwell, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of New Hampshire. He is of English descent. When he was but seven years of age, his parents moved to Champaign County, Ohio, where he was reared on a farm and received a liberal education. He was engaged in teaching in the public schools in Ohio for eight years, and taught one term in Washington County. His father was a soldier in the War of 1812, while his paternal grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. His father died in Brighton, Washington County, and his mother in Jefferson County, Iowa. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for many years, and was a great worker in the Church.
Mr. Bidwell was married, in December, 1850, to Margaret L. Wireman, a native of Pennsylvania, and daughter of John and Jane (Morehead) Wireman. They are the parents of six children: Minerva Jane, the wife of Henry Weidner, of Jefferson County, Iowa; Wallace W., residing at home, is engaged with his father in the stone-quarry and other business; Minnie is the wife of C. D. McClelland, a farmer and tilemaker in Keota, Keokuk County; Jasper E. is also assisting his father in his present business; Horatio S. is at home, and Lillie J. died at the age of two years.
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In 1855 Mr. Bidwell came with his family to Iowa, and located in Brighton, where he engaged in the mercantile business, and for six years was Postmaster in that village. He then went to Merrimac, Jefferson Co., Iowa, where he was employed as book-keeper at the Merrimac Mills, for Rodger Bros., where he remained one year. He then bought a farm in Jefferson County, Iowa, where he lived three years, then moved to the city of Fairfield, in that county, and engaged in running a hotel for sixteen months. He then moved to Pleasant Plains, where he lived three years, also engaged in the hotel business. Returning to Brighton, he lived there till June, 1886, when he purchased eighty acres of land on section 31, Marion Township, where he now resides, and is engaged in farming, the wood business, and operating a stone-quarry. From this quarry he gets out an excellent building-stone, which he ships to various points from Burlington to Oskaloosa. During the month of april he got out and shipped twenty-four carloads of building-stone. Mr. Bidwell is a member of the Masonic fraternity. Politically, he is a Democrat, and has held the most important of the various offices. He was also Mayor of the city of Brighton one term.
V. P. McCAULLEY resides upon section 27, Dutch Creek Township, and is one of the young and prominent farmers and stock-raisers of Washington County. He was born Feb. 17, 1853, near Cleveland, Ohio, and is the son of Daniel and Ann (Alexander) McCaulley, both of whom are natives of Pennsylvania. Daniel McCaulley was twice married. His first wife was Barbara Giles, to whom he was married March 8, 1821. Their children were: John, a farmer, now residing in Seward County, Neb.; William, also a farmer, residing in Medina County, Ohio; Caroline M., the widow of Michael Wolf, resides at Kearney, Neb.; H. W. is a farmer, residing in Smith County, Kan.; Barbara is the wife of J. M. Smiley, a farmer in Smith County, Kan.; Theodore and Martha are deceased. Barbara McCaulley died Dec. 4, 1839, and Mr. McCaulley wedded Ann Alexander, July 2, 1842. Their family consisted of the following-named children: N. D., deceased, was a farmer residing in Washington County; James is a stock dealer, residing in New Sharon, Mahaska Co., Iowa; Mary J. is the wife of M. F. Gatlin, a farmer in Smith County, Kan.; V. P., the subject of this sketch; and Frank A., a farmer in Keokuk County, Iowa.
Daniel McCaulley was by occupation a farmer, and for three years leased a farm near the Monongahela River, in Pennsylvania, where Gen. Braddock was defeated in the War of 1812. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1792, and there lived until about 1823, when he moved to Ohio and bought 160 acres of land near Cleveland, which he improved and made his home until his removal to Washington County in 1854. On coming to this county, at that time he purchased between 300 and 400 acres of land on section 27, where the subject of our sketch now resides, all of which he placed under a high state of cultivation, and well improved in every respect. He was a man of great energy and industrious habits, and was an admirer of good horses and cattle, taking special pains to secure the best, and to keep in order those which he had. At the time of his death, which occurred in 1875, he was the owner of 240 acres of tillable land. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which body he had been a member for very many years. In the church of which he was so long a member, and in that place called home, where the loved ones would gather together, he took a special delight. He could not do too much for either, and in his death a great loss was experienced by the members of his family and the Church. His devoted wife yet remains on this side of the river, and makes her home with Mrs. Gatlin.
The members of the family having married and scattered in various parts of the country, on the death of his father, the subject of this sketch took charge of the home farm, and has since turned his attention to farming and stock-raising, and in the work he has been eminently successful. He is a young man of excellent habits, one possessed of good judgment, and is at all times industrious. He was united in marriage with Miss Alice K. Krakaw,on the 28th of October, 1877. She was born
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Oct. 26, 1857, in Washington County, and is the daughter of Otto and Sarah Krakaw. Her father was a native of Germany, and her mother of Ohio. Her father is now deceased, but her mother is yet living at the age of fifty-six. Both were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which body Mr. and Mrs. McCaulley are also members. Politically, Mr. McCaulley is a Republican.
SAMUEL M. ARMSTRONG, photographer, Washington, was born Oct. 1, 1849, in Allegheny County, Pa., and is the son of David H. and Leticia (Melville) Armstrong. Soon after the birth of Samuel the family moved to Louisville, Ky., and from that place to Washington, this State, in 1856, where our subject grew to manhood, and where he has since continued to reside with the exception of about two years.
In his boyhood and youth Samuel Armstrong attended the public schools of Washington, and for at time assisted his father at the mason's trade. About 1868 he went into the gallery of A. Krakaw to learn the trade of a photographer, which he mastered in all its details, and in 1873 purchased a half interest in the business, which he continued for one year, when he sold out and went to Srpingfield, Mo., where he purchased a gallery, and remained on year. He then returned to Iowa and located at Fairfield, where he also remained one year. Returning to Washington in 1878, he purchased the old gallery then being run by M. W. Owen, where he has since continued, having established a trade second to but few galleries, even in the larger cities.
Photography, which has from the beginning been classed among the trades, is now beginning to be ranked among the professions, and not without reason. Not only mechanical skill, but artistic taste, is now required of a first-class photographer. To meet the requirements it is necessary for one to study and experiment, that perfection may be attained. That Mr. Armstrong is studious, that he is abreast with the times, a glance at his work will attest. Every new improvement in his line is adopted, and as a consequence he has the trade of which mention has been made.
Samuel M. Armstrong and Miss Alice May Yearick were united in marriage Dec. 10, 1873. She is a native of Knox County, Ohio, born Nov. 19, 1952, and is a daughter of Henry E. and Mary Yearick. (See sketch of H. E. Yearick.) Mrs. Armstrong came with her parents to Washington in 1855, here grew to womanhood, and has here since continued to reside. She is a lady of refinement and intelligence, and is to her husband truly a helpmeet. Both of them are members of the Presbyterian Church, and do their part in sustaining the cause in Washington. Mr. Armstrong has been a member of the choir for many years. He is also a member of Washington Lodge No. 26, A. F. & A. M., and politically is a Republican.
JOHN SMELTZER, section 36, Jackson Township, is a farmer and stock-raiser. He is a native of Pennsylvania, and the son of Jacob and Esther (Oyster) Smelzer. Mr. Smeltzer was reared on a farm in his native State, and came to this State in 1850, settling in Muscatine County. He came to this county in 1868, settling on section 36, Jackson Township, where he bought 160 acres of land, which he proceeded to improve, and has added to his possessions until he now owns 300 acres of well-improved land, with good buildings, which cost $3,350, besides his own labor. He turns off per annum an average of fifty head of fat cattle, and seventy-five head of hogs.
Mr. Smeltzer was married in 1866, to Flora J. Brockaway, a native of New York, daughter of Alonzo and Hulda Smith, natives of the same State. Mr. and Mrs. Smeltzer are the parents of three children—Eva L., Nellie E. and Cora H., all living at home. Mr. Smeltzer is of German descent. He is a self-made man, and by hard work, good management and close attention to business, has accumulated all of his property. He went overland to California in 1861, where he remained four years, engaged principally in teaming. He was five months on the road there. He returned by was of San Francisco, Panama and New York City, to Muscatine, Iowa.
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Mr. Smeltzer is a Republican in politics, and a Prohibitionist, but thinks the Republican the party. His father was born in 1801, and died at the age of eighty, in Manteno, Ill. HIs mother died when he was eight years old, in Pennsylvania. They were members of the Lutheran Church. He was a conservative man. Mr. Smeltzer is a man well liked and respected in by all who know him, and is one of the leading farmers of Jackson Township.
PULASKI MAXWELL resides on section 32, Oregon Township, where he is engaged in general farming and stock-raising. He was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, in 1843, and is the son of Hiram and Sarah (Devore) Maxwell, the former a native of Ohio and of Scotch descent, the latter of Virginia, of German descent, but who crossed the Ohio River into Ohio when but twelve years of age. They were there married, and in 1852 came to Iowa and settled in Keokuk County, where the father soon afterward died at the age of thirty-nine years. The latter is still living and resides in Chicago, and is now seventy years of age. They reared a family of five children, four of whom are living: Vincent, of Girard, Kan.; Josephus, of Des Moines, Iowa; Pulaski, the subject of this sketch; Horace E., whose whereabouts are unknown, but is supposed is dead; Madison died while fighting the battles of his country during the late war. Mrs. Maxwell was again married, Oct. 27, 1854, to David H. Drake, by whom she had one daughter, Harriet A., wife of J. E. Greer, of Chicago. They have one child, James M. Mr. Drake died June 23, 1881, and Mrs. Drake is now making her home with her daughter in Chicago.
The subject of this sketch came to this county in 1854, with his mother and step-father. He was reared on a farm, educated in the public schools, and has made farming his occupation thus far through life. During the dark days of the war, in 1862, Mr. Maxwell enlisted as a private in Co. I, 25th Iowa Vol. Inf., and served until the close of the war. He was in the battles of Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, Vicksburg, Iuka, Tuscumbia, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Ringgold, Resaca, Kennesaw Mountain, the Atlanta campaign, the march to the sea, and from thence to Washington, while enroute being engaged in the battles of Columbia and Bentonville, N. C. At Washington he participated in the grand review on the 24th of May, 1865, and was soon afterward discharged. Returning to his home he again engaged in farm work, and on the 12th of July, 1866, was united in marriage with Miss Melissa A. Trebilcock. She was born in Ohio, in 1849. Four children have blessed their union, three of whom are yet living—Frank T., Mary M. and Joseph S. John died at the age of seventeen months. The family are all respected members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Maxwell is one of the self-made men of Washington County. The property that he now owns was not attained by inheritance, but was acquired through his own industry and good management, assisted by his faithful wife. The home farm is under a high state of cultivation, and everything about the place gives evidence that it is owned by a practical farmer, one who makes the best use of that which is given him, and who desires to have as well-improved a place as can be found. A residence of more than a third of a century entitles him to a place among the pioneers of Washington County, and to receive the honor that is due to the noble men and women who toiled early and late, that they might leave the coming generation comfortable and pleasant homes.
EDWIN TAYLOR, farmer and stock-raiser, resideson section 5, Oregon Township. He is a native of the grand old State of New York, born in Broome County, in 1830, and is the son of Ambrose and Eliza (Messerlau) Taylor, both of whom were natives of New Jersey. Ambrose Taylor was taken by his parents from New Jersey to New York at a very early day, and there
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lived and died. Mrs. Eliza Taylor also died in New York.
The subject of this sketch grew to manhood in his native State, and there received a limited education, and engaged in farming. He was married in Broome County, N.Y., in 1853, to Miss Falla M. Breed, daughter of William and Sabra Breed. She was born in Chenango County, N.Y., in 1829. They were only blessed with one child, George E., now deceased. They came to Washington County in 1875, where they have since resided. In 1885 Mr. Taylor engaged in the furniture business in Ainsworth, and had built up quite a respectable trade, when the fire which occurred in that village in April, 1887, destroyed the building and its entire stock.
Mr. and Mrs. Taylor are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and endeavor to conform their lives to the teachings and example of their Savior. They not only regard it as their duty, but esteem it a privilege to attend the worship of the Lord's house, and do good as the opportunity is afforded them. While not blest with the wealth of many others, they have yet by their industry and economy, acquired sufficient to render them comfortable during life. They are classed among the better citizens of the county, and as such deserve mention in its history. Politically, he is a Democrat.
HENRY E. YEARICK, Washington, is well known throughout the county. He was born in Mifflinburg, Union Co., Pa., Dec. 23, 1823, and is the son of Peter and Catherine (Gutelius) Yearick, who were also natives of that State. They were married in Union County, Pa., and were the parents of fourteen children, the following of whom are yet living: Elvina, the widow of John Goodwin, resides in Finley, Ohio; H. E., of Washington; Elizabeth, the wife of Mr. Newcomber, of Ashland, Ohio; Gutelius I., a soldier in the war of the Rebellion, now living in Ashland, Ohio; Ann C., who lives in Toledo, Ohio; Frederick E., a soldier of the 8th Iowa infantry in the war for the Union, is now living in Crete, Neb.; Catherine, the widow of John Switzer, who served as a soldier in the late war, and died from disease contracted in the service, is in Iowa City; Samuel W., of Cedar Rapids, enlisted in the 13th Iowa Infantry, served as Gen. Crocker's Revenue Orderly, and was appointed Collector at Vicksburg, he was commissioned Captain of a company in a colored regiment, and placed in command at Little Rock, ark., but was compelled to resign on account of failing health. John A., of Atlantic, Iowa, was also a soldier in the war for the Union; Joseph P., now of Toledo, Ohio, served in the war and did good service, and Simon, engaged in teaching near Crete, Neb. It will thus be seen that they were a patriotic family. Mrs. Yearick died in 1884, and Mr. Yearick in 1885, at the age of ninety-one or ninety-two years. They lived together as husband and wife nearly seventy years. In early life they were members of the Lutheran Church, but later on were identified with the Evangelical Association. Both were good Christians and highly respected.
H. E. Yearick, of whom we now write, was nine years old when the family moved to Ohio. He was reared on a farm and received but a limited education in the common schools in his youth, but by reading and observation secured a fund of information. He was married in Knox County, Ohio, in 1845, to Miss Mary J. Damude, who was a native of that county. Two children were born to them: Albert S., a graduate of Washington Academy, now a traveling salesman, lives at Bushnell, Ill., and travels for a Keokuk (Iowa) firm, and Alice M., the wife of
Samuel Armstrong, a photographer of this city. Mrs. H. E. Yearick died Dec. 30, 1872. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a good wife and kind mother. None could say aught against her. Mr. Yearick subsequently married Sarah S. Morris, who died in 1882. For his present wife he married Mrs. Almira Sanders, widow of Dennis Sanders, whose maiden name was Burroughs. She was born in Greene County, Pa., June 4, 1844, and is a sister of Dr. J. K. Burroughs. By her former husband she had two children—Delia J., now Mrs. W. E. Wade, and Phineas, living at home.
In 1853, Mr. Yearick, with his family, left Ohio and came to Iowa,locating in Johnson County,
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where he engaged in farming for six years. He then moved to Keokuk County, and remained five years. In 1864 he came to Washington, where he embarked in the mercantile trade, but on account of failing health had to abandon it for employment not so confining. At present he is engaged in the raising of fine stock, and has three very fine animals which have made an excellent record. While not numbered among the early settlers of the county, Mr. Yearick has been here long enough to become fully identified with it, and to secure for himself a host of friends.
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