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| G. Soper–C. F. Springer | ||||||||
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George Soper
Born 1827 | ||||||||
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GEORGE SOPER, farmer, Wayne Twp., Sec. 31; P.O. Anamosa; owns 320 acres of land in See. 31 and 160 acres in another part of the township. He was born in the town of Pitcher, Chenango Co., N.Y., in 1827; came to Jones Go. in 1848. His wife's maiden name was Margery Ann Ryan, a native of Ohio; she came to Iowa when she was 1 year old; they were married in 1857; have nine children—Horace, Melissa, Ella, Douglass, Joseph, Frank, Charlie, Addie and Jennie; two of the children are married, and live in the same township. Mr. and Mrs. Soper, and Ella and Melissa, are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 635.
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Horace H. Soper
Born January 4, 1858 | ||||||||
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H. H. SOPER, farmer, Wayne Twp., Sec. 31; P.O. Anamosa; lives with and carries on business with his father, Mr. George Soper, who is one of the oldest and wealthiest citizens of Wayne Township. The subject of this sketch was born in Anamosa, Iowa, January 4, 1858, and has always lived in this county. His wife's maiden name was Lizzie Johnson, a native of Germany; they were married September 16, 1879. Mrs. Soper is a member of the Lutheran Church; Mr. Soper is a Republican.
From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 635. Having lived in and around Anamosa, Jones County, all my life, I am writing my history as I remember and as informed by my parents. I was born in Anamosa, January 4, 1858, near where the M.E. Church is located. The small house still is in use on Garnavillo Street and owned by Alfred Remley. At the age of about one year and three months old, my father purchased 320 acres of land four miles northeast of Anamosa. There was about one hundred acres of timber and he built a farm house on the south side of the timber. This land was virgin soil, never having been plowed. My first farm operation was herding cattle with my lunch pail and little dog. I walked back and forth along a one-half mile fence into the carn. I had no way of knowing the time of day but ate my lunch when i got hungry. My next job was plowing with an ox team at the age of seven. My father marked out a piece of land and left me and the oxen. All I had to do was hold the plow up straight. The oxen know more about plowing than I did. We finished the land and the oxen took a bee-line for the farmyard, dragging the plow and me with them. A yoke of oxen were very handy. They seemed to know just what you wanted them to do. You guided them with a whip and any way you wanted them to go, they would follow by the motion you made with the whip or stick you had in your hand. Father owned some timber three or four miles west of the cemetery and I, with the oxen, and he, with the horse team, hauled logs on the sleds down the river on the ice to the saw mill that stood where the Electric Light Plant is now. Father would load the logs on and drive them out of the timber on the river ice and then go with his team and load, and down the river we would go, unload the logs and load lumber and start for home. I have hauled a great many loads of rock from the Dutch John Stone Quarry northwest of Anamosa with the ox team. One trait I found in the ox team?they never ran away, which I found horses would, but as long as we had ox teams, they were my team to work. But, when and how the oxen were discarded, I fail to remember. The district school house was just a short distance from our house. There was a summer four-month's school and a winter four-month's school. After I was eight or nine years old, I attended winter school, but I attended the Anamosa Academy school taught by Mrs. Colonel Springer four years. I taught school two winter terms at Bunker Hill, the first county school house north of Anamosa on the Monticello road. I taught the winters of 1877-78 and 1878-79. September 1879 I was married to Elizabeth Johnson, and farmed until 1902, when I moved to Anamosa. Three children were born to us. Mattie, who died in her 11th year, George on the farm in Jackson Township, and Bessie in Cedar Rapids. I have served on the City Council and as City Marshall. I was elected M.W.A. secretary and constable in 1903, and still hold the offices of secretary and constable. Horace H. Soper
This autobiography was found in Horace Soper's papers after his death in 1941, and was submitted by Lesley and Renee Franks. | |||||||||
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Dr. R. H. Spence
Born December 13, 1874 | ||||||||
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Dr. R. H. Spence, who since 1901 has been engaged in the practice of medicine at Wyoming, where he is now enjoying an extensive and lucrative patronage, was born on the 13th of December, 1874. His parents, John and Isabel (Swank) Spence, were both natives of the state of Ohio. The father, whose birth occurred in the year 1829, followed general agricultural pursuits throughout his active business career. At the time of the Civil war he enlisted in defense of the Union as a member of Company 1, Second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for three and a half years. He participated in many hotly contested engagements and was wounded at the battle of Perryville, Kentucky. His demise occurred in 1905.
R. H. Spence, who was the youngest child in a family of two sons and three daughters, supplemented his preliminary education by a high-school course in Ohio and subsequently attended Maryville College at Maryville, Tennessee. Having determined upon the practice of medicine as a life work, he then entered the Miami Medical College at Cincinnati, Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1901. The same year he located for practice in Wyoming, Jones county, where he has since remained, his patronage continually growing in volume and importance. He keeps in touch with the advancement that is being made in the line of his chosen profession through his membership in the County, State and National Medical Societies. In 1903, Dr. Spence was united in marriage to Miss Eva May Weingartner, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and of German descent. Prior to her marriage she was a teacher in the Cincinnati schools. Unto Dr. and Mrs. Spence has been born a son, Willard Cooper, whose birth occurred on the 18th of October, 1905. Fraternally the Doctor is identified with Keystone Lodge, A.F.&A.M., of Wyoming, while his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Presbyterian church. While yet a young man, he has already attained a creditable position in professional circles, while the salient characteristics of his manhood are such as have brought him the warm regard of those with whom he has been otherwise associated. From History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 66. | |||||||||
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Roderick Spencer
Born June 12, 1811 | ||||||||
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RODERIGK SPENCER, farmer, Wyoming Twp., Sec. 3; P.O. Onslow; born June 12, 1811, in Madison Co., N.Y. In 1834, he came to Ohio. In 1854, he came to Jones Co.; he owns 214 acres of land. Married Harriet Adams May 30, 1840, in Ohio; she was born March 14, 1820, in Litchfield Co., Conn.; have three children—Lydia O. (now Mrs. Lyons), James and Melvin. James enlisted in 1862 in Co. K, 24th I.V.1.; served about five months; was discharged on account of physical disability; Republican.
From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 606. |
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Col. Chas F. Springer
Born February 8, 1830 | ||||||||
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COL. CHAS. F. SPRINGER, deceased; was a native of the State of Indiana, and was born in Sullivan Co., aug. 10, 1834; in 1848, he graduated with honor at Asbury University, Greencastle, Ind.; he received the degree of Master of Arts in 1861, and delivered the Masters' oration at the Commencement exercises; after completing his collegiate course he came to Illinois and located at Edwardsville, and entered the office of Judge Gillespie and commenccd reading law, and was admitted to the bar in 1859; he formed a copartnership in the practice of law with Hon. David Gillespie; after the breaking-out of the rebellion, he enlisted and was elected 1st Lieutenant, Co. K, 140th Ill. V.I.; his time having expired, he was mustered out; he returned home and assisted in the enlistment and organization of the 150th Regiment; he again entered the service as Captain in that regiment on the 24th of February, 1865; he was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel, and the following December was promoted and commissioned Colonel, and commanded the regiment until he was mustered out of the service on the 16th of January, 1866, after the close of the war. In 1868, he was chosen Presidential Elector for the 12th Congressional Dist. of the State; in 1869, he was elected to represent this Senatorial Dist. in the Constitutional Convention; he was appointed a Delegate by Gov. Palmer, to the Capital Convention which assembled in Cincinnati, in which body he represented this Congressional District. In all public positions with which he was honored he discharged his duties with a degree of fidelity that was unsurpassed; his administration of public trusts won for him the unlimited confidence of his constituents. He was a consistent and exemplary member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was Superintendent of the Sabbath school for some years. He continued in the practice of his profession, except during the intervals of time when he was engaged in the discharge of public duties, until his death, which occurred November 15, 1870. Mrs. Col. Charles F. Springer, formerly Miss Adelaide Isbell, is a second daughter of Rev. Bishop and Olive P. Isbell. She recalls, among her earliest memories, the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts. Her education was early begun at home, and, when only 6 years of age, she began the study of the French language; at the age of 14, she began the work of instruction, receiving $15 for three months' service, and boarding around, sometimes walking five miles a day to reach the school; at the age of 16, she received a diploma from the State Normal School of New York; through the kindness of Bishop and Mrs. Hamline. intimate friends of her parents, she entered Oakland Female Seminary, and, by passing a satisfactory examination, she was admitted to the second term of the Senior year in January, and received a diploma as Mistress of English Literature the following August; in September, she taught the Sophomore Class in Hillsboro Female College, and continued the study of Greek, Latin and Music. The young girl whose joy was unbounded at receiving $5 per month, is now offered $500 for ten months. A wedding might very properly occur right here to a graduate of Indiana Asbury University, C. P. Springer by name. But the home in Iowa must be paid for, and all are doing their utmost to accomplish that; two years as Preceptress at Greencastle, one year at Epworth; three years, Principal at Marion; two years as Preceptress, in the Upper Iowa University, and the debt is canceled; another year in a private school and the war is over; and, on that: 5th of December, 1866, the joyous nuptials of Col. Charles F. Springer, (who joined the army as private, and returned at the head of his regiment) and Miss Adelaide Isbell, are celebrated in the M.E. Church, Anamosa, Iowa, her father performing the marriage service. Removing to Edwardsville, Ill., four years of perfect blessedness were granted and a perfect home erected, in which they lived nearly two years, when death, who spares neither friend nor foe, but always takes the best. tore down this bright hearthstone and put out its altar fires. A year later, Mrs. Springer accepted a position in the Northwestern University, at Evanston, Ill.; but the death of her dear sister, Miss Eliza Isbell, and the failing health of her mother, rendered it necessary for her to return to Iowa, and, in the fall of 1872, she accepted the offer of the Board of Trustees of the Jones County Academy to become its Principal. The school had been organized one year before, and has continued under its present form for seven years; and those desiring to fit themselves for teachers and anxious for improvement, will find this institution very beneficial. Mrs. Springer has written considerable for the press; and her poem read before the Alumni of the Hillsboro Female College, June 7, 1877, was compared to Goldsmith's best efforts. Another poem, "Red, White and Bluc," read July 29, 1879, at the Temperance Jubilee at Clear Lake, was fully appreciated by the large audience. Her literary efforts as missionary and temperance essays or poems, have usually been prepared while busied with her home work, as she has kept house for her parents, without kitchen help, for the past six years. She is not satisfied with her literary work, and it would scarcely have been attempted but from her husband's express desire to have her write. She was present as Delegate to the Woman's International Temperance Convention in Philadelphia, and read an essay on temperance, and also delivered a missionary address. As Recording Secretary of the Woman's Temperance Union of Iowa, she did good service, and though exceedingly conservative in many of the plans of the day, she possesses a large measure of that charity which does not intrude upon others' convictions. An extended tour in Europe, Asia and Africa has greatly increased her general information. Rev. Bishop Isbell is the son of Isbell and Mary Smedley, both natives of Massachusetts. The father dying in 1813, the mother married Cyrus Stratton in 1816, and came to Ellis, Hardin Co., Iowa, in 1858; she died December 13, 1865, at the ripe age of nearly 87 years. Bishop Isbell's early life was spent in Williamstown, Mass, where, at the age of 20, he became a member of the M.E. Church, and, a few years later, joined the Troy Conference; for twenty-five years he labored in this Conference, which embraced parts of Massachusetts and Vermont. He never counted thc sacrifices made as worthy a thought, although when he left secular work he was receiving several dollars a day, while the salary for young ministers was $100 per year, and, if married, the same for his wife; while as years passed on his usual salary was about $350, and never over $500. He has always been regarded as a deep thinker, a close student, a good linguist and a successful minister. Of his executive ability in a very important Church trial in 1855, Bishop Hamline said of him that "he was one of the best business men I have found in the whole Church." At his last appointment, Castleton, over one hundred were converted and added to the Church through his instrumentality. His health failing, he came to Iowa in May, 1858, and was followed by his family, wife and their three daughters, the following July; but he still retains his connection with the Troy Conference; since he came West, he has continued his work, often preaching twice each Sabbath; at one time, being Pastor of the M.E. Church at Anamosa, and for several years past, has preached on alternate Sabbaths in Cass Township, some nine miles from home. He has the esteem of the ministry and laymen in an especial degree. Although now 70 years of age, his mental powers seem on the increase, keeping up his knowledge of Greek and Latin, while his physical powers are in no way diminished. A poem falls from the point of his pen with no apparent effort. He is progressive in his ideas and keeps up with the current news of the day—occupying all his leisure moments in reading and writing. Among his neighbors, he bears the enviable reputation of an honest Christian man. Mrs. Olive P. Martin (Mrs. Springer's mother), spent her girlhood days as a teacher, in Williamstown and North Adams, Mass.; and then shared for twenty-five years, with her husb:tnd (Rev. Bishop Isbell), the care of three children, and entertaining a constant round of guests, who regarded the minister's house a free hotel, did not prevent deep interest and aid in all the social, benevolent and religious reforms of the day, while these duties were supplemented by a teacher's task. Shortly after reaching Anamosa, Iowa, in the summer of 1868, a commodious stone house was erected one mile from town, to which a school building was added, and the Hazel Knoll Family Boarding School was established, and was continued fourteen years by the personal instruction of Mrs. Isbell and her eldest daughter, Miss Eliza Isbell. The latter, a native of Massachusetts, was an artist of unusua1 talent, and the home contains many rare paintings, the work of her skilled fingers, ere she passed to the better land, which occurred in July, 1872. She also possessed her father's poetic gift from a child. She became a Christian at 6 years of age. The mother was the queenly head of the school, the daughter the sun beam. They also did their share for the soldiers during the civil war, and in the different church enterprises of the city. A large number of those who were under their tuition are now filling honored places in the world. This mother, beautiful in her physical presence and in her dualities of mind and heart, was permitted to linger till April 25, 1879. To tell the struggles this noble woman made for intellectual culture and the inspiration for knowledge, or the sacrifices made by these parents to give their children every opportunity for education, would fill a volume. Lacking years of her "three score and ten," she seemed too young to die, when her work was so ripening under her hand.
The youngest daughter, Emily, now Mrs. Hon. J. M. King, is a native of St. Albans, Vt., and was but a child when she came to Iowa, and yet had acquired quite a good knowledge of instrumental music, as she began that branch of study at 9 years of age. She aided in the Music Department of the Hazel Knoll School; and for several years has been considered a pianist of extraordinary ability. She is quite a pleasing writer of both poetry and prose, the latter of fictitious style with instructive moral. She has been exceedingly unfortunate in the accidental death of her betrothed (a graduate of Al1egan College, and only 28 years of age), by a fall from his horse, in Middle Park, Colo., in July, 1872. Two years later (1876), she married a highly cultured gentleman of Philadelphia, who lived but five days. Three years later, in March, 1879, she was married, by her father, in the M.E. Church, to the Hon. J. M. King, of Cascade, where she is now pleasantly located. She spent five years in Colorado.
From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 579. | ||||||||
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