WILLIAMS - Cantine R. WILLIAMS, a prominent farmer, of Raglan Township, living on section 24, came to Harrison County, in the spring of 1881. He first located at Logan, near which place he rented a farm for two years after which he bought the place he now occupies, which consisted of one hundred and sixty acres of partly improved land, to which he added many substantial additions, in the way of buildings, wells, an orchard and shade trees. He now has seventy-five acres under the plow, while the balance is in timber, pasture and meadow.

Our subject is one of the eleven hundred people of Harrison County, who were born in New York State. He was born in Orleans County, April, 1843, and is a son of Bradley F. and Eusebia WILLIAMS, natives of Vermont and New Hampshire, respectively, and whose family consisted of the following children: Eveline, Fred W., Smith G., Olin H., Cantine R., Velina and Alden P.

Our subject lived in the Empire State until seven years of age when his parents removed to Van Buren County, Mich., where he remained until nineteen years of age, at which time he enlisted in Company C, Thirteenth Michigan Infantry, and was mustered into service at Kalamazoo. They were at once sent to Chattanooga, Tenn., and were with Gen. W. T. SHERMAN, on his famous march to the sea. He received an honorable discharge, at Jackson, Mich., after a three years' service in the Union Army, during which time he was never wounded nor in the hospital. After his return from the service, he farmed on rented land for two years, and then bought a farm of eighty acres, which he cultivated eleven years, and then disposed of the same rented land the next year and then came to Harrison County. He was united in marriage in February, 1869, to Amelia, daughter of Augustine and Elizabeth CHAPLIN, natives of New York whose five children were as follows: Orson, Martha, Emeline, Louisa, all deceased, and Amelia.

Our subject and his wife are the parents of three children: Edith, born March 31, 1871; Perry, August 31, 1874, and Maude, February 22, 1890. Politically, our subject affiliates with the Republican party, and in religious matters he and his wife are Congregational in church choice.

Source: 1891 Harrison County Iowa History, pp. 675
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WILLIAMS - John WILLIAMS, proprietor of "Pleasant View" stock farm, Jefferson Township, has been a resident of the country since March 19, 1871, when he located on his present farm, situated on section 34, which he had bought in the autumn of 1870. At first he had six hundred and forty acres--an even section--upon which he has made excellent improvements in the way of buildings, fences and stock yards, with windmill and a complete system of water works, bringing the whole tract under a high state of cultivation. He does a large stock business, handling grand and full blood Shorthorn cattle, Percheron Norman horses, Poland-China hogs. He is an extensive live-stock feeder and shipper.

Mr. WILLIAMS was born in Fayette County, Ohio, December 17, 1827, and is the son of John and Sarah (DUNGAN) WILLIAMS. The father was from near Lexington, Ky., born in 1800, and came to Ohio when a young man. He died in Noble County, Ind., during the month of September, 1851.

His wife, the mother of our subject, died in Noble, County, Ind., when John was but a small boy.

Mr. WILLIAMS, before and after he was of age, worked out and divided his earnings with his father, who was a poor man and afflicted with a rose cancer on his neck, and had broken down his health by hard work. He was married July 8, 1849, to Sarah ANDERSON, daughter of David and Mary (SHAFER) ANDERSON, both natives of Ohio. The father died in Taylor County, Iowa, and the mother in Noble County, Ind., in March, 1853.

In October, 1852, Mr. and Mrs. WILLIAMS left the Hoosier State, and went to Mason County, Ill., where they remained on a farm until they came to Harrison County, in 1871.

Mr. WILLIAMS' early experience in farm life was in a timbered country, where it was necessary to clear the land with grub-hoe and axe, and when sufficiently clear to raise grain upon the harvesting was accomplished by the use of a sickle, and the threshing by use of a flail.

In those early days money was very scarce, and the youth of the land did not squander the money as they do at the present time, for they knew too well its cost. Seventy-five cents was the most that our subject or any of his companions ever spent on any public day. It may be justly claimed that he of whom we write is purely a self-made man, never having the advantages of the excellent schools which obtain at this time, or even of the early-day district schools; but by application and self-study at spare moments through his life, he has become a fairly posted man, the knowledge he possesses being of that practical type which enables him to do business on correct principles and cope with his fellow men.

Mr. WILLIAMS was the fourth child of a family of seven children--Benjamin, Isaiah, Sarah J., John, Rebecca, Johile, Amanda. Isaiah was the mainstay of his father (the elder brother being married and away from home). While Isaiah was making a wagon-house, as he was hewing on a block with an axe, the handle striking a misguided blow, cut his left hand nearly off, which in nine days caused his death from loss of blood.

After the death of this brother, John, as soon as he was able, was forced into the harness and took the main charge of the work at home.

Mr. and Mrs. WILLIAMS are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, having been identified with the denomination since 1855, previous to which time our subject had been a member of the Free Will Baptist Church, uniting with the same in 1849.

Our subject and his estimable wife have been blessed with nine children--Mary, who died when two years of age; David, Josiah, Hattie, Elenor, John H., Adelia, Laura A., and Luella.

Hattie married Thomas B. DAKAN, who is partner of Mr. WILLIAMS and lives on the same farm. Their marriage occurred October 28, 1871. John H. is in Omaha working at contracting with PETRIE Bros., formerly of Logan. Laura a. married Perry E. GARDNER, and lives in Kansas, while the balance of the family are residents of Harrison County.

In reviewing the lifework of this busy man of rural pursuits, and recounting the early hardships through which he passed from his earliest boyhood days until he crossed the threshold of young manhood, engaging in life's conflict for himself, together with the fact of his care and kindness for his father, one can but feel that this is a character of nobility and manliness of which the world had none too many.

Source: 1891 Harrison County Iowa History, pp. 669, 670, 671
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WILLS - E. H. WILLS, editor and proprietor of the Dunlap Herald, (a History of which journal appears at another place, in this work) is a native of Harrison County, and was born one mile west of the village of Calhoun, July 29, 1854, and has passed the greater portion of his life in his native county. Until fifteen years of age he remained at home on the farm, and received his education in the public schools. He then went into the Harrisonian Office, at Missouri Valley, with D. M. HARRIS, and remained in his employ for nine years, during which time he mastered the art preservative. He spent the next two years at various points and in 1888 took the management of the Harrison County Democrat at Logan, which was subsequently named the Courier, and was removed to Woodbine and consolidated with the Woodbine Twiner. Mr. WILLS remained there until he went to Dunlap one year later.

Among the important events of this man's lie, may be mentioned his marriage to Miss Mary MALUM, the daughter of C. O. and Emma MALUM; she was born in Norway, in 1863. The date of their marriage was March 27, 1882. They are the parents of two children--Emma and Earl.

Politically, our subject is a stanch Republican, and his editorial writing show him to be a man of ability. He is a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge at Woodbine, as well as Harrison Lodge No. 284, K. of P., of Dunlap.

Jesse C. and Charity (MCCOOL) WILLS, his parents, were natives of Ohio and Michigan, respectively, and of Scotch-Irish extraction. They located in Harrison County in 1852. The father farmed until our subject was about fifteen years of age, when he removed to Missouri Valley and opened up a general store, and also bought grain, and was in the drug business, continuing until a few years before his death, which occurred in April, 1885. His good wife, the mother of our subject, survived her companion until July 22, 1891. They were the parents of ten children, eight of whom are still living: Charles E., a resident of Nebraska; Mary, wife of S. A. DANIELS, of Butler County, Iowa; Cyrus, deceased; William F., a resident of Mondamin; Erastus R., a resident of North Dakota; John M., a resident of Sioux City; Royal W., a resident of Wyoming; and E. H., our subject.

Five of the WILLS boys were in the Civil War. Cyrus died from the effects of a saber wound; he was a member of Company H, of the First Iowa Cavalry, over whom he was Captain, and served two years and eight months. William was in Company H, Fifteenth Iowa Infantry, served three years and re-enlisted. Charles, Erastus and John were all in Company C, Twenty-ninth Iowa Infantry, and served three years.

Source: 1891 Harrison County Iowa History, pp. 727, 728
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YOUNT - Harrison YOUNT, whose home is on section 5, of Douglas Township, and whose farm is meandered by the Big Picayune Creek, came to Harrison County in the autumn of 1869, when he rented a farm in Calhoun Township, where he lived one year and they rented a farm in St. John's Township, remaining three years and then went to Cincinnati Township, where he was a renter of land for six years, and then farmed in St. John's Township again two years, after which hoping to better his condition, he moved to Boyer Township, where he rented a year and then bought his present farm on section 5, which was eighty-seven acres of improved land.

Our subject was born in Tippecanoe County, Ind., July 22, 1840, and in 1844 his parents removed to Wapello County, Iowa, where they lived about three years and then removed to Jefferson County, Iowa, where our subject remained until the breaking out of the Civil War. August 8, 1862, he enlisted in Company G, Thirtieth Iowa Infantry, being mustered into the service at Keokuk, and went to St. Louis, was there one month, and went to Helena, Ark., and from there to Vicksburg, and was soon sent to a hospital on account of loss of speech, and was not with his company again, not having the use of his voice for three years sufficient to articulate above a whisper. He was mustered out of service at Davenport, Iowa, July 8, 1865, and returned to Jefferson County, where he engaged in farming and running a threshing machine, which last business he followed for thirty-six years only missing the years he was in the army. He commenced to go with a threshing machine when only twelve years of age, when threshing machinery was in a very crude state, and hence may be called a veteran grain thresher.

He was united in marriage to Miss Sarah C. STEWART in Jefferson County, Iowa, October 10, 1861. By this union three children were born--Elizabeth, born August 8, 1862; John W., November 14, 1866; Harrison E., May 4, 1872. Elizabeth died in Keokuk, Iowa, October 10, 1864.

Mrs. YOUNT was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, February 1, 1845, her parents coming to Jefferson County, Iowa, when she was ten years old; she remaining at home until the date of her marriage. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Andrew YOUNT, the father of our subject, was born August 11, 1816, and was reared in Tippecanoe County, Ind., and was one of the pioneer band who first entered the wilds of Jefferson County, Iowa, in 1844, when Iowa was yet a territory. He engaged in farming in 1867 eighteen miles from Burlington, in Henry County, where he lived the remainder of his days, dying September 5, 1883.

The mother of our subject died January 29, 1816, and reared in Tippecanoe County, Ind., and died in Jefferson County, Iowa, September 2, 1861. Her father was Levi STEWART born in Montgomery County, Md., in 1805 and left there when twenty years of age, for Virginia, and was there married to Miss Mary E. MEACHELFRESH, December 1, 1831, and they were the parents of thirteen children, Sarah C., being the eighth child. The family removed to Jefferson County, Ohio, and remained until 1854, when they came to Jefferson County, Iowa, where the father died January 24, 1878. Mary E., died in Harrison County, May 5, 1886.

Politically our subject votes with the Republican party.

Source: 1891 Harrison County Iowa History, pp. 707, 708
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GREENFIELD - Charles S. GREENFIELD, a farmer residing on section 3, of Cass Township, has been a resident of the county since the autumn of 1873, at which time he purchased a piece of land and then returned to his home in the East, remained one year, and came back to Iowa in the fall of 1874. The tract of land he originally bought was partly improved, and laid partly in Douglas and partly in Cass Townships, and upon the place was a one-story house 16x24 feet. Twenty acres of the farm were under the plow. The farm contained two hundred and seventy-five acres. He spent five years of his life and lost $1,500 in money, and finally left the place and purchased the eighty acres upon which he now lives. Twelve acres of this tract had been broken at the time he purchased it. It is now well improved and contains a good house, the upright of which is 16x20 feet, together with a wing 10x12 feet. He moved to this place in the spring of 1880. Our subject was born in Dodge County, Wis., September 1, 1849, and lived in the Badger State until he came to Harrison County.

He was married June 10, 1874, in Outagamie County, Wis. To Sarah M. SCOTT, born in Milwaukee County April 27, 1851. Her father's name was John SCOTT and her mother's name before marriage was Ida JEWELL. They were both natives of the State of New York.

Our subject's father was Willard GREENFIELD, who married Susanna HUNT. Both were natives of New York State. The father was a stone mason in the Empire State, but turned his attention to agriculture in Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. GREENFIELD are the parents of the following children: Edith May, Libby Myrtle, John Earl, Charles S. and Willard S., who died September 19, 1885, aged six months and fifteen days. Politically, our subject believes in the principles of the Republican party, and in his religious faith is a believer in the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Source: 1891 Harrison County Iowa History, pp.758-759
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PITT - Sidney PITT, who came to Harrison County, in April, 1883, located on the present site of Yorkshire, and his present residence is his farm on section 28, Cass Township, which place he purchased as wild land, some time previous. He has four hundred acres, three hundred and seventy-five acres of which are under the plow. Like most of the prosperous farmers of Iowa, our subject is an extensive raiser of corn, and feeder of cattle, usually keeping about eighty head.

Mr. PITT was born February 12, 1847, in Spencer County, Ind., and is the son of Rodney and Sarah ( EDWARDS ) PITT. Rodney Pitt was born midst the mountain scenes of Vermont, September 25, 1800, and left the Green Mountain State in 1818, emigrating to Indiana. He was married in 1823. His wife, Sarah EDWARDS, was born in Grayson County, Ky., July 12, 1805, and died December 16, 1857, in Indiana. They reared a family of thirteen children, of whom our subject was the twelfth. His father died when he was about three years old, and the mother when he was eleven, after which his home was with his brother until he was fifteen years of age, when he commenced working out at $6 per month, continuing for six years. In 1865 he went to Seward County, Neb., and commenced farming for himself. He remained there until December, 1870, then came to Pottawattamie County, Iowa, where he purchased a farm of eighty-five acres, and remained until the time of his coming to this county. He was untied in marriage, Christmas day, 1871, in Pottawattamie County, to Patience GRAYBILL. Their family consists of ten children, all of whom are at home: David W., born October 14, 18672; Sidney, November 20, 1873; Rodney Levi, December 12, 1874; Milton B., June 2 1876; LeRoy and LeGrande (twins) born September 4, 1877. LeRoy died January 16, 1879, and LeGrande April 15, 1881; Sarah, born November 14, 1879, died April 13, 1881; Patience L., born December 19, 1882; Jesse A., December 19, 1885; Mary C., April 18, 1889.

Mr. PITT enlisted in Company K, Seventeenth Kentucky Cavalry, September 15, 1864, served one year, receiving his discharge September 20, 1865. His four older brothers served most of the time for four years. Politically, Mr. PITT is a stanch supporter of the Republican party.

Source: 1891 Harrison County Iowa History, pp.762-763
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CLEVELAND - Charles CLEVELAND, a resident of section 15, Lincoln Township, came to Harrison County in the spring of 1885 and bought the place on which he now lives. At the time there was but eleven acres of breaking on the place, the land costing $18 per acre. He at once commenced breaking, built a barn, outbuildings, etc., and he now has it all enclosed and one hundred acres under the plow. His farm is provided with on hundred and sixty fruit trees, and the whole premises have a home-like look. The second year after he moved here he lost eighty-seven head of hogs and nine cattle, besides one horse, making a total loss of $1,900 in one year.

He was born in Baltimore, Md., in 1836 (August 16). He is a son of Daniel and Elizabeth (McFARLAND) CLEAVELAND, natives of Scotland and America respectively. They were the parents of fourteen children, the following nine of whom are living: John, George, Charles, Henry, Mary, Hellener, Margaret, Elizabeth, and Catherine.

Our subject lived in Maryland until he was of age, and worked out at odd jobs in the shops, and finally learned the boiler-maker's trade. He enlisted in the navy sloop of war "Dakota," under Capt. SANDS, and was taken sick in Hong Kong, China. He was with the navy about three years, receiving his discharge in 1863., and then went to railroading in Delaware. He also worked at the paper-making trade, and in 1869 came to Council Bluffs, where he railroaded for the Rock Island Company two years and then worked thirteen years as foreman of the boiler works at that place. After leaving the shops he bought forty acres of land in Pottawattamie County, near Council Bluffs, which he traded for the one he now lives upon.

He was married October 20, 1863, to Mary A. McLAIN, daughter of John and Elizabeth (CARSON)McLAIN, natives of Ireland, who had two children. Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland are the parents of one child---Charles H., born October 22, 1864, in Wilmington, Del. He is now married. Politically, our subject is identified with the Republican party.

Source: 1891 Harrison County Iowa History, pp.763-764
Family Researcher: NA To Page Index--- To Bio Index

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