Tama County Iowa Biographies


A History of Tama County, Iowa Vol II; Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1910.

William H. McAnulty

Wiliam H. McAnulty is prominently known as an agriculturist of Howard township, where he owns a valuable estate in section 12. He is a self-made man in the truest sense of the term, and may well feel proud of the success he has achieved in life. Remaining at home with his mother until 1872, he then purchased his first piece of land, a little tract of eight acres, in section 12, which formed the nucleus of his present large and valuable estate of three hundred and twenty acres of fine land as lies in Howard township. The estate contains two sets of buildings, and its owner is one of the influential men of his community. He has served his township as treasurer and during the past fourteen years he has been its school treasurer and, during the past thirteen years, the school secretary. He has also been twice elected justice of the peace but did not qualify.

William H. McAnulty was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, September 12, 1847, a son of Patrick and Catherine (O'Neil) McAnulty. The father, who was a native born son of Ireland, came to the United States when eighteen years old, locating among the Quakers of Chester County, Pennsylvania, and there he died on the 23rd of May, 1853, when sixty years of age. Mrs. McAnulty was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, and there he died on the 23rd of May, 1853, when sixty years of age. Mrs. McAnulty was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, in 1803, and she died at the age of eighty-six years in this township. Their marriage was celebrated in 1821, and of the fifteen children born of their union only five are now living, namely: Wesley, of Toledo, Iowa: William of this review; Mary, whose home is also in Toledo; Hannah, the wife of Mr. Cox, of Carlton township; and Mrs. Catherine Rhodes, of Clinton, Iowa. Mrs. McAnulty was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church for seventy-two years. The death of her husband left her with a large family of children to support, some of whom were under age, and the older ones wishing to go west and farm, she finally packed her belongings and came with her family to Iowa, journeying by railroad to its terminus at Iowa City and from there they drove to Tama county, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in section 13. The lumber for the home erected thereon was obtained at Brewer's mill, at Monticello, where the first mill in the county had been erected, and on her farm home here the brave mother spent the remainder of her days and was laid to rest among others of the honored pioneers of Tama county.

William H. McAnulty married on the 12th of September, 1871, Margaret Hill, who was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, January 7, 1852, a daughter of Absalom Hill, another of Tama county's early pioneers. He also was born in Tuscarawas county, January 18, 1827, and he died in Howard township, of Tama county, on the 21st day of May, 1895. He moved from Ohio to Whiteside county, Illinois, in 1854, where he farmed until enlisting for the war on the 4th January, 1863, and he served until its close. In 1868 he came to Iowa and located in Boone county, and from there, in 1870 he came to Tama county and established his home on section 13, Howard township, where his death subsequently occurred. He had married, on the 23rd of February, 1857, Rebecca Marks, who was born at New Philadelphia, in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, June 8, 1830, and who is now a resident of Toledo, the mother of six children: Mrs. McAnulty; Cyrus, whose home is in South Dakota; Grant, of Otter Creek township; Scott, of Toledo; Mary E., the wife of W.A. McAnulty, also of Toledo; and Jessie, the wife of E. McCormack, of Cedar Rapids. The union of Mr and Mrs. McAnulty has been blessed by the birth of seven children, namely: Edith, the wife of Carl Grau, of Cedar Rapids; Viola, the wife of Howard Lyon, of Whitten, Iowa; Gertrude, the wife of John Stevenson, also of Cedar Rapids; Pearl, the wife of Horace Honeycutt, of Toledo; Earl H., of Howard Township; Hazel, a stenographer in Cedar Rapids; and Nelson, at home with his parents. Both Mr and Mrs McAnulty are members of the Beulah united Brethren Church and he is also a member of the Ancient Order of united Workmen at Toledo. is political affiliations are with the republican party.

Submitted by Cathy Joynt Labath
http://www.celticcousins.net/


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