| page 249
CAPT. SAMUEL ALEXANDER RUSSELL was born in Baltimore, Md., Nov. 21, 1816, and is the eldest son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Campbell) Russell. Samuel Russell, Sr., was born in County Donegal, near the town of Letterkenny, Ireland, and came to America about 1796. He married Elizabeth Campbell, of Scotch ancestry, who was born in Carlisle, Cumberland Co., Pa. and who bore him three children—Samuel A., William H., and Elizabeth Jane. Of this family Capt. Russell is the only surviving member. Samuel Russell, Sr., was a merchant of Baltimore, and accumulated a considerable fortune. His death occurred in 1833, during the great cholera epidemic.
Samuel A. Russell went to Harrison county, Ohio in 1836, and soon afterward matriculated at Franklin College, New Athens, Ohio, and after graduating from that noted school entered the law office of Dewey & Stanton, remaining with them until he was admitted to the bar. Among his classmates at college were Hon. John A. Bingham, afterward Member of Congress and Minister to Japan; Hon. Edgar Cowan, a member of the Senate, and other noted men. Under the tutelage of Chauncey Dewey and Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War under Abraham Lincoln, our subject acquired the thoroughness in legal matters that gave him prominence at the bar, and, although a young man, he practiced with great success for several years in Cadiz, Ohio. He wedded Mary Ann Crawford, in New Athens, Ohio. Her father, Dr. Isaac Crawford, came to Washington County in 1841, where his brothers-in-law—Walker, Joseph and Robert Neal—had entered a tract of land upon which they
page 250
surveyed and platted the present village of Crawfordsville, which, in honor of the Doctor, was given his name, as he was the first practicing physician.
In 1845 Mrs. S. A. Russell, with her four children, came West to visit her parents, and with her eldest child, Crawford, fell a victim to a malarial disease which prevailed, and their remains were interred before the husband and father could reach the new country. With a sad heart Mr. Russell returned to the desolated home in Ohio, taking with him the two elder of his surviving children, Henry Clay and Elizabeth. The youngest, Martha Agnes, a babe of six months old, was left in custody of a hired nurse. In 1846, on his return to Ohio, our subject was elected a member of the State Legislature of that State, and was re-elected as a Whig candidate, at the expiration of his term of service. In consequence of failing eyesight, occasioned by a cataract, Mr. Russell was compelled to abandon the practice of his profession. Deciding to come West he arranged his business, and in 1850 became an active resident of this county. His location was made in Crawfordsville, and lands being open for entry he pre-empted numerous tracts. The land now occupied by the Burlington & Northwestern Depot was a part of his first possession.
Two years after his settlement in Iowa Mr. Russell went to Wheeling, Va., and submitted to an operation performed by Dr. Hullyon, which in a great measure restored his sight. In 1853 Mr. Russell was elected representative of this county, and served a term in the Legislature of this State, and in 1856 was elected one of the two Electors-at-Large of Iowa, at the head of the Fremont and Dayton ticket. His loyalty was as unquestioned as his political standing, and in 1862 he recruited Co. I, 25th Iowa Vol. Inf., of which he was elected Captain. HIs regiment was assigned to duty under Gen. Sherman, and was engaged in the first assault on Vicksburg, and later participated in other noted engagements. After a year spent in the service of his country Capt. Russell, on account of failing eyesight was obliged to resign his commission, and upon his return home in the autumn of that year was re-elected to the State Legislature, where he had already made an enviable record. In 1872 he was chosen Elector of the First District of Iowa, on the Grant-Wilson ticket, thus aiding for the second time the election and seating of a President and Vice President of the United States, and his reputation both at home and abroad has been such that when a candidate for official honor he has never known defeat. In 1872 he formed a law partnership with G. G. Bennett, who was later appointed Judge of Dakota Territory. After practicing ten years in Washington he returned to the village of Crawfordsville, where he now lives a retired life, although an active Justice of the Peace, of which he is now serving the second term.
Capt. Russell attended the first County and State FAir held in Ohio, also the first County and State Fair held in Iowa. He has enjoyed the largest honors in a political way of any man now living in the county, and has the fullest confidence of the public in the advocacy of any measure in which they are interested. Henry C. Russell, his only son, was graduated in law by the Iowa State University, and was twice elected Judge of Colfax County, Neb., to which State he emigrated in 1876. He wedded Amanda Cowden, who has borne him two daughters—Elizabeth and Mary A. Judge Russell is now actively engaged in legal business, and was during the late war a member of Co. H, 2d Iowa Vol. Inf He is now Department Comander of the G.A.R. of the State of Nebraska. The only surviving daughter of Capt. Russell, Mary E., is the wife of Dr. J. D. Miles, Of Schuyler, Neb., and the mother of two children—Melville and Corinne. Dr. Miles was Regimental Surgeon of the 11th Iowa during the war, and for a number of years after practiced in this county. Martha Agnes, who died in May, 1886, was the wife of Capt. J. W. Harper, who succeeded Capt. Russell in command of Co. I, 25th Iowa Vol. Inf. Mrs. Harper was the mother of four children, two of whom, Samuel Russell and Susan Cooper, aged respectively eighteen and fourteen years, survive her.
Hon. S. A. Russell is one of the oldest pioneers now residing in the county, and has certainly lived a most praiseworthy life. He has been for many years a Master Mason, and has passed the Chairs in that honored fraternity, and true to its precepts he has the esteem of those who love honor and truth
page 253
for truth's sake. His father was a soldier during the War of 1812, and served at the battle of Baltimore, known in history as the battle of North Point. He was a rigid Calvinist, and a stalwart member of the Reformed Presbyterian Church.
 JOHN HICKS, of Brighton, is one of the pioneers of Washington County, Iowa. He is a native of Clarke County, Ohio, born May 8, 1834, and is the son of William and Sarah (Brooks) Hicks, the former a native of Ohio, and the latter of Virginia. They were married in Clarke County, Ohio, and in October, 1845, emigrated to Washington County, Iowa, locating on section 34, Brighton Township. They were the parents of four sons, three living: John, the subject of this sketch; Robert C., of Jefferson County, Iowa, and William F., of Washington County, Iowa; Samuel is deceased. The father died in 1859, and the mother in 1874. She was a life-long member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The subject of this sketch was reared upon a farm, and received his education in the common schools and in the academy at Fairfield, which institution he attended until within four months of graduating. In 1861 he enlisted in Co. K, 13th Iowa Vol. Inf., and was mustered into the service at Davenport, from which place the regiment was sent to St. Louis, and from there to Pittsburg Landing, whre it took part in the battle of Shiloh. In this engagement Mr. Hicks participated, but was shortly afterward taken sick and sent to the hospital at Corinth. He was honorably discharged at Corinth, Miss., in consequence of disease contracted in the service.
In May, 1863, Mr. Hicks married Miss L. A. Pringle, a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Pringle, a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Pringle, of this county. By this union there are four children, two sons and two daughters: Maida M., the wife of Charles Robinson, of Brighton Township; Cora B., William M. and John Wesley, at home. Mr. Hicks belongs to the G.A.R. of Brighton. Religiously, Mr. and Mrs. Hicks are identified with the Methodists, being members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Brighton. For forty-two years they have been residents of Washington County, and have lived to see it changed from a wilderness to one of the most prosperous counties in the State of Iowa. Where the Indian wigwam and the rude log cabins of the pioneers once stood, are now fine residences of a prosperous and happy people.
In politics, Mr. Hicks is a Democrat, and has been honored by his township with many of the local offices. In 1883 he was elected one of the Supervisors of the county, and took an active interest in the building of the present handsome court-house and fine jail. As an evidence of his popularity, he was elected in a Republican county by a majority of 300 votes. He is the present nominee in the fall of 1887, on the Democratic ticket, for the Legislature from Washington County, and on account of his popularity as a citizen and as an officer, makes the race an exciting one. His farm consists of 285 acres of land, 245 of which is under a high state of cultivation.
An excellent portrait of Mr. Hicks will be found upon the opposite page, which will be appreciated in the hundreds of homes where this work forms part of the household library.
SAMUEL C. STOREY resides upon section 17, Cedar Township. He is a native of Delaware, born in 1814, and is the son of Marmaduke and Rachel (Baggs) Storey, also natives of Delaware. Marmaduke Storey was born in 1776, and was a soldier in the War of 1812. He died May 13, 1856. Rachel Storey died June 28, 1846, at the age of twenty-seven. When the subject of our sketch was but two years of age, his parents moved to Pickaway County, Ohio, where he grew to manhood on a farm, and was educated in the common schools. In 1852 he came to Washington County, Iowa, and entered 120 acres of land in Lime Creek Township, and 120 acres on section 6, Cedar Township, which he partially improved, and then returned to Ohio. In 1858 he again came back to Washington County, and purchased 120 acres of land on section 17, which was partially improved. On this place he moved, and here he has
page 254
since continued to reside, having added to his estate until he now owns 230 acres of fine land, all of which is under a high state of cultivation.
Mr. Storey was married first in Ohio, in 1858, to Elizabeth Lambert, a native of Ohio. By this marriage there was one child, Alfred P., who died at the age of nine months. Mrs. Storey died July 25, 1859. Mr. Storey again married , in 1866, Emma E. Levan, a native of Pennsylvania, and daughter of Augustus and Sarah Levan, who were also natives of Pennsylvania. They have two daughters living—E. B. and Lizzie D., both residing at home. William H. died at the age of nineteen months.
Since his settlement in Iowa Mr. Storey has made several trips to Ohio, visiting relatives and friends, believing it well for a man to enjoy life as he goes along. He is a well-preserved man, and enjoys the respect and confidence of all by whom he is known. In politics he is a Democrat. From poverty he has advanced to wealth, unaided save only by that which has rendered by his good wife, who has been to him truly a helpmeet.
|
Visit our family of homepages and join us.