IowaJones/Biographies/Mrs. Mead

Mrs. Mead–J. J. Merritt

Mrs. Sarah Mead

MRS. SARAH MEAD, widow of George W. Mead, Cass Twp., Sec. 36; P.O. Anamosa. Mr. Mead was born in Cortland Co., N.Y., March 22, 1820. He was married to his present widow, Sarah J. Harvey, in the State of New York; they came to Jones Co. in the spring of 1847. Mr. Harvey entered the farm which Mrs. Harvey now owns in the fall of that year. He enlisted in September, 1862, in the 31st I.V.I.; he was engaged in the battle of Arkansas Post, which occurred soon after he entered the service; he died of typhoid fever at Young's Point on February 19, 1863. Mrs. Mead was born in Chenango Co., N.Y., in 1829; she has three children—Jennie, Homer H. and George W. She lost her eldest son, Henry E., who died May 29, 1866, aged 17 years. She is a member of M.E. Church.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 696, and submitted by Karen Peyton

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I. H. Meek
Born March 7, 1847

I. H. MEEK, farmer, Jackson Twp., Sec. 13; P.O. Amber, born March 7, 1847, in Meigs Co., Ohio. In 1867, came to Jones Co., Iowa; owns eighty acres of land. Married Nancy E. Hammond in 1869; she was born in Illinois; have three children—Jennetta B., George and Jane; enlisted in 1864 in Co. G, 51st Ohio V.I.; served to the end of the war; Republican.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 612.

Jacob W. Meek
Born August 1, 1819

JACOB W. MEEK, farmer, Jackson Twp., Sec. 26; P.O. Olin; born August 1, 1819, in Greene Co., Penn. In 1840, he came to Ohio. In 1867, he removed to Jones Co., Iowa; owns ninety-three acres of land. Married Ann Jane Clark May 7, 1839; she was born December 4, 1820, in Virginia; have eight children—John W., Eli C., James A,, Isaac H., Melinda J., Lucinda C.. Louis D. and Sarah E. Eli C. enlisted in 1861 in Co. D, 18th Ohio V.I.; served three years; was wounded at Stone River, Tenn. John W. enlisted in 1862 in Co. E, 75th Ohio V.I.; served to the end of the war; participated in the battles of Gettysburg, Penn., Chancellorsville, Va.; was taken prisoner near Jacksonville, Fla. James A. enlisted in 1864 in Co. E, 140th Ohio V.I.; served four months. Isaac H. enlisted in 1864, Co. G. 51st Ohio V.I.; served to the end of the war.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 612.

Isaac Merrill
Born May 19, 1833

ISAAC MERRILL, farmer, Jackson Twp., Sec. 13; P.O. Center Junction; born May 19, 1833, in Monroe Co., Mich. In 1862, he came to Jones Co.; owns ninety-three acres of land. Married Caroline Annis January 10, 1863; she was born in Cattaraugus Co., N.Y.; have six children—Ada M., Lawrence, Frank, Lillie, John P. and Caroline. Has been School Director; Democrat.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 612.

Rev. Orville W. Merrill
Born July 16, 1847

REV. ORVILLE W. MERRILL, deceased; was a native of Oxford, N.H.; during his boyhood, his parents removed to Elgin, Ill.; he soon returned East, and entered Kimball Union School and prepared for college. and entered Amheret College; after completing his college course, he entered the Theological Seminary at East Windsor Hill; he completed his theological studies and entered the ministry, and became Pastor of the Congregational Church at East Corinth, Vt., where he remained four years, and came to Iowa and was Pastor of the Church at Waterloo for four years; in the autumn of 1861, he went to New York, and on the 28th of November, 1861, he was united in marriage to Miss Anna J. Couch, a native of Westfield, Chautauqua Co., N.Y.; in June, 1862, they came to Anamosa, he being called to the pastorate of the Congregational Church; he remained here eight years; he was appointed Superintendent of Home Missions for Nebraska, by the Home Missionary Society of New York. He conducted that work until his death, which occurred March 11, 1873; he left two children—one daughter, Alice M., and one son, Arthur C., both in school. During the year 1873, Mrs. Merrill returned from Lincoln, Neb., to Anamosa, and since then has resided here; on the 1st of April, 1876, she was appointed Chaplain and Librarian of the State Penitentiary, at Anamosa, having charge of the religious and moral instruction of the inmates, a position she has filled with great acceptability.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 567.

F. Merriman
Born August 1, 1857

F. MERRIMAN, physician and surgeon, Main street, Monticello; is a native of Susquehanna Co., Penn., and was born August 1, 1857; he grew up to manhood in Ohio, and received his education in that State; he began reading medicine; in 1853, he came to Iowa, and settled in Jones Co., and completed his medical studies and graduated in 1860, and since then he has practiced his profession in this county, and is one of the oldest physicians in practice in Monticello. He has held the office of County Surveyor. He married Miss Annie Young, from Ohio, June 13, 1872; she came to this State when a small child; they have one daughter—Ella Nay.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 676.

Jerome J. Merritt
Born 1833

JEROME J. MERRITT, farmer, Sec. 3; P.O. Olin; born in New York in 1833; came to Iowa in 1837; owns 334 acres of land and has made all the improvements on the place; has a fine barn 24x36, 14-foot posts; house, 16x30; wing, 12x14. He is the third son of John Merritt. In politics, Republican; in religion, liberal. Has been Road Supervisor and School Director for eight years. His wife, Rebecca Blayney, was born in Ohio in 1837; came to Iowa in 1855; married in 1856 and had eight children—James B., Miranda, Mary, Augustus, Augusta (died in 1877), Don Carlos, Erwin and Dellis.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 649.

John Merritt
Born 1806

JOHN MERRITT, farmer, Rome Twp., Sec. 3; P.O. Olin; born in the town of Ovid, Seneca Co., N.Y., in 1806; removed to Orleans Co., and then to Lockport, and then to Cattaraugus Co., and December 11, 1836, started for Iowa; owns 754 acres; he took up a claim, built a log cabin, and sold his team and returned by the way of St. Louis and the Ohio River to New York; started in the fall of 1837 for Iowa.; arrived at Clinton, Iowa, where he remained until November 9, 1837, when he came to Jones Co. In politics, Republican; in religion, Methodist. Has been School Director, Trustee, Road Supervisor; was the first Road Supervisor in this part of the county. His first wife, Catherine Culp, was born in Pennsylvania in 1800; came to Niagara Co., N.Y., and married September 30, 1827; died December 14, 1835, and left seven children—Horatio, Agnes, Joseph, Jerome, William, Dollie (deceased) and Cornelius. His second wife, Caroline Dunlap (was the Widow Harvey), was born in Pennsylvania; married Mr. Merritt in 1856 and had seven children—L. V. (now Mrs. Hay, of Jackson Township), Malinda (now Mrs. Berely, of Jackson Township), Elmer, Deligha, Hiram Sherman, Charles Willis, Cordelia.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 649.

John J. Merritt
Born December 4, 1833

John J. Merritt, one of the venerable citizens of Hale, Iowa, who is now living retired after a long and useful life spent in agricultural pursuits, was born December 4, 1833, near Lockport, New York, a son of John and Katharine (Culp) Merritt. His father was also born in New York state in 1806, and there he married Katharine Culp, also a native of New York, who was born in 1800. In 1837 he came to Jones county, Iowa, locating a claim northwest of Olin, in what is now known as Rome township, and is supposed to have been the first white man to reach a point that far west in 1837, although many settlers came during the following year. This was before the county or state had been organized and the district was then known as the Black Hawk Purchase, later Wisconsin Territory. Returning to New York, Mr. Merritt brought his family by boat from Pittsburg down the Ohio river to the Mississippi, and up the latter river to where Clinton, Iowa, is now located, and here the family resided for one year on account of wild condition of the country around the new claim and the numerous Indians in the locality.

This was a hard year for the little party of pioneers, whose meat consisted of deer and wild duck, while the meal for their bread was pounded corn. Milk was churned in a jug, and in all things the most primitive conditions prevailed. In 1838, the family located on the claim, which originally consisted of five hundred acres, a part of which was given to a neighbor some time later. The nearest trading points at this time were Dubuque and Davenport, each about fifty miles away, and no post office was located in the district until 1842. John Merritt spent his whole life in farming and here died December 1, 1886, his wife having passed away in 1855. They had a family ,of seven children, namely: Horatio Nelson, who lives in Washington; Agnes, who was the wife of Mathias Houseman and who died three years ago; Joseph, who is a resident of Black Hills; John J.; William, who lives in Washington; Dollie, who married John Lyons and who is now deceased; and Cornelius, who resides in Newport, Iowa.

John J. Merritt received a limited education in a log schoolhouse situated two miles from his home, but he has since improved his every opportunity for learning, and is an excellent conversationalist and takes pleasure in relating incidents of the strenuous days of early Iowa. He followed farming throughout his active life, owning four hundred acres of fine land in Rome township, one-half of which, however, he has disposed of.

In 1897, he retired from active work and moved to his residence in the village of Hale, where he has since lived. He still supervises the work on his farm, however, which is located on sections 2 and 3, Rome township, and is devoted to the growing of grain and the raising of high-grade stock.

On June 5, 1856, Mr. Merritt was married to Rebecca Blainey, who was born July 25, 1839, in Wheeling, West Virginia, and died May 30, 1905. Unto them were born eight children, as follows: J. B., who resides in Webster City; Miranda, who died aged thirty-two years; Mary, who is the wife of Charles Walston, of Olin; Gus, who lives in Nebraska; Augusta, who was the twin of Gus, and who died when thirteen years of age; D. Carl, who lives in Olin; Irving, who lives in Cedar Rapids; and W. Dell, on our subject's farm in Rome township.

Mr. Merritt has been a stanch republican all his life, his first presidential vote having been cast for John C. Fremont, and he has been active in his party's success in this section, serving in numerous township offices. Fraternally he is connected with Olin Lodge, No. 200, A.F.&A.M.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 200.