WILLIAM WASHINGTON ELLER, ATLANTIC..
Descended from families who left the Atlantic seaboard in their early and vigorous years, and because a part of the flowing tide of emigration which opened up and colonized the Middle West, and himself born on the frontier of more than half a century ago, William Washington Eller of Atlantic is both by parentage and experience a pioneer--an arch in the bridge of heroic manhood which connects the stirring present with the stern past, the age of electric progress with that of simplicity of life and iron seriousness of purpose. His life began on January 4, 1850, at what is now Fairfield in Jefferson county of this State, and he is the son of Jesse and Louisa (Marion) Eller, the former a native of North Carolina, born at Wilkesboro, and the latter of Virginia. The father in childhood was brought by his parents, David and Talitha (Judd) Eller, to Indiana, and when he was sixteen accompanied them to Iowa, the long and tedious trip being made with ox teams, through swamp and woodland where there were often no wagon roads, and over unknown streams which knew as yet no bridges. They located in what is now Jefferson county, entering a tract of land between the villages of Fairfield and Brookville. On that land, which their industry soon converted into a productive farm, Mr. Eller's grandparents died, and his parents remained until 1853, when they removed to this county, again making the journey with teams, and proceeding over the old Mormon trail.
The father entered land in Franklin township, on section 18, and was the second settler in the township. He improved his land and lived on it many years. There his wife died on August 24, 1877, and some years later he took up his residence at Council Bluffs, where he died on June 18, 1884. They were the parents of ten children. Of these three died in early life and seven are living--two sons, William and W. Mackdonald (who is a resident of Custer, S. D.), and the five daughters, one of whom lives in Nebraska, one in Missouri, two in this county, and one in Wyoming. The father was an active and influential man in local public afairs in this county and filled anumber of township offices. One of his brothers was a Union soldier in the Civil War, and saw three years of danger and hardship in the service.
William Washingon Eller was reared on the parental homestead, and obtained his education in the district schools of his childhood and youth, which were primitive in style, limited in scope and comfortless in equipment. But he had the many-voiced teachers of nature for his help, and an experience in travel and woodcraft which largely suplied the deficiencies of the schools, and gave him a kind of instruction and mental force he could never have acquired in them. When he was fourteen (in 1864) the family heard the golden call to Pike's Peak, and gathering their household effects into a "prairie schooner," they set sail for the banks of Cherry creek, where the magnificent city of Denver now spreads her glories under the cloudless sky. But they found that region not only wild and uncultivated, not only barren and unproductive, but infested with hostile savages. So in the autumn they retraced their steps to their Iowa home, glad to greet agian the fields of golden grain which they had forsaken for the golden treasures of the mountains. Ten years afterward Mr. Eller purchased a farm in Brighton township, which he improved and sold at a good profit. He then, in 1876, bought a tract of wild land in Benton township, which he lived on and improved until 1883, when he moved to Atlantic and started a livery stable which he conducted for fifteen years. In 1898 he sold his livery business and since then he has given his attention to farming, until recently, when he retired from active pursuits.
William W. Eller was married on September 17, 1873, to Cora Slater, a native of Connecticut who came to Cass county in 1864 with her parents, Chauncey and Abby (Reed) Slater. Her father was a railroad contractor and did much of the building for railway extension in this section. Both parents died in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Eller have had three children--Ava, wife of E. R. Gardner of Council Bluffs; Chauncy L., who is living at home, and one that died some years ago.
In politics Mr. Eller is a Democrat, and while not eager for official position, he has served five terms as clerk of Benton township and four years in the City Council of Atlantic. In 1894 he was appointed deputy United States marshal, an office which he filled for five years, serving under Marshal Frank P. Bradley. He has also often been a delegate to the county and State conventions of his party. He has been a stockholder and director of the Citizens Savings Bank of Atlantic from its start, and in fraternal life belongs to the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America, being a charter member of his Camp in the latter. He is also a member of the Order of Elks. Mr. Eller is a zealous and serviceable member of the Presbyterian Church. For the memories of the olden time, which so colored and influenced his early life, Mr. Eller has a tenacious regard, and in perpetuating them he is energetic and industrious, as president of the Pioneers Society of Cass county.
From "Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pp. 324-325.
