The Hall Families of Clinton County, Iowa

BENJAMIN F. HALL.

Benjamin F. Hall, deceased, was one of the representative early settlers and honored citizens of Clinton county. He was a native of the old Pine Tree state, his birth having occurred in Brunswick, Maine, on the loth of March, 1808. His father, Elijah Hall, came to this country from England, and was married in Maine. For some time he served as captain in the state militia, and his father was an officer in the war of 1812.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

ABRAHAM M. HALL.

For more than a third of a century Abraham M. Hall has been a resident of Wheatland and Clinton county, and has taken commendable pride in the development and progress of this portion of the state. He is now serving as weighmaster at Wheatland, a position which lie has filled at intervals for thirty years.

Mr. Hall is a native of Indiana county, Pennsylvania, born March 8, 1832, his parents being Samuel and Ann Frances ( Moore) Hall. The father, also a native of the Keystone state, was a carpenter by trade and made that pursuit his life work. When our subject was eight years of age he removed with his family to Clarion county, Pennsylvania, and in 1857 left that state for Illinois, settling at Galena, where he remained for a year or two, after which he came to Iowa, establishing his home at Osage. In 1861 he enlisted in the Twentysixth Iowa Infantry and served for two years, after which he was taken ill. He

34 then returned to Iowa, and died in Wheatland when about fifty-six years of age. His wife had died in Pennsylvania about.lS-jf,. Thev were the parents of six children, two of whom yet survive, William Hall Leing engaged in the milling business in DeWitt, Iowa.

For some years after the removal of the family to Clarion county, Pennsylvania, Abraham M. Hall remained at home with his father. He too was a soldier in the Civil war, enlisting soon after the breaking out of hostilities as a member of Company I, Eighth Pennsylvania Infantry, with which he served for three months, when he was discharged at the expiration of the term of enlistment. He then returned to the front as a photographer and remained with the army until the close of hostilities. He then came to Iowa and has since been a resident of Wheatland. He has served almost continuously in public office. For many years he has filled the position of justice of the peace, and was town recorder from the incorporation of Y\ neatland until three years ago. He has also been councilman and township clerk for years, and at the present time is village weighmaster, which office he has held at different times through the last three decades. He also receives a small pension from the government.

In 1863 Mr. Hall was married to Miss Susan C. Bender, a native of Pennsylvania, and unto them were born six children, five of whom are living: Charles B., who conducts a restaurant and is a cigar manufacturer of Davenport, Iowa; Fannie, who is living in Kansas; Abram M., who is married and has a family in Wheatland, where he is engaged in the manufacture of cigars; William Thomas, who conducts a restaurant alnd cigar store in Mokena, Illinois; and Maude, who resides in Pennsylvania with her aunt. The other child died in infancy, and the mother passed away in 1872. In 1874 Mr. Hall was again married, his second union being with Rhoda Schneider, daughter of George Schneider, one of the early settlers of Spring Rock township, Clinton county, and a prominent farmer, now deceased. By the second marriage there are seven children: Josephine, wife of Dr. Spence, of Clinton, Iowa; Beatrice, wife of Frank Grauell, a wagonmaker of Wheatland; Nelson, a cigarmaker of Davenport; Samuel, of Clinton; Belva, who is also in Clinton; Lanora and Lorado, both at home. The children were all born and educated in Clinton county. Mr. Hall was formerly a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, but there is now no post in Wheatland. His long retention in office well indicates his trustworthiness, his promptness and his reliability, and over his public career there falls no shadow of wrong.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JOSEPH B. HALL.

Among the leading railroad men of Clinton is numbered the gentleman whose name introduces this review. He is a native of Illinois, born in Whiteside county, February 10, 1856. His father, Nelson Hall, who was a native of Indiana, located in Whiteside county in the early '40s, and when the railroad was built through Gait, he opened the first general store at that place, conducting the same for some years. By trade, however, he was a miller. He was married in Gait to Miss Hannah Tnyke, a native of Pennsylvania, and to them were born four sons, two of whom died in childhood. Those living are: Frank, still a resident of Gait, Illinois; and Joseph B., our subject. The parents had both been previously married, and by the first union the father had two children: Electa, wife of Mr. Ferguson, a farmer, living near Lyndon, Illinois; and

Charles \Y., who has made his home in Clinton, Iowa, since 1878, and is now a baggage man on the road between that place and Boone. By her first marriage the mother of our subject had two sons: John and Nathaniel Vernon, but both are now deceased. She died in August, 1883, at the age of sixty-six years, and the father passed away at the age of seventy-nine. He was one of the honored pioneers and representative citizens of Gait, and a stanch supporter of the Democratic party, but never aspired to office.

During his boyhood and youth, Joseph B. Hall attended the public schools of Gait, until about eighteen years of age, and in 1876 he and his brother, Frank, came to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, where their father owned land, which they operated together for two years. Our subject next went to Grant county. Minnesota, where he followed farming until 1880, and then came to Clinton, Iowa. Here he found employment as brakeman on the Chicago & Northwestern Railway until September 17, 1881, when he was promoted to conductor and given a run between Clinton and Belle Plaine, and since the division was changed, his run has been between Clinton and Boone. He is now conductor on the California Special going west, and on No. 26, an Omaha meat train, coming east. Since he began his railroad career he has never met with any injury. When he first went upon the road there were no air-brakes on the cars or engines, and he has seen many improvements made in railroading.

At Mason City, Iowa, in 1878, Mr. Hall married Miss Ella L. Van \Yie. who was born in Adams county. Wisconsin, October 6, 1857, and was educated at Mason City, Iowa. Unto them were born five children, but Fred C. was drowned August 17, 1892, at the age of ten years. Those living are: Edgar M., a brakeman on the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, who is married, and has one daughter, Florence; Grace, wife of Samuel Wilson, who is employed in a button factory Mabel, now thirteen years of age; and Lillian, aged eleven years. The two younger are now attending school in Davenport.

Since 1886 Mr. Hall has been a member of Lincoln Lodge, No. 139, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has also taken the Rebekah degrees of that order. He belongs to Division No. 33, Order of the Red Cross, in which he has held office at various times, and is quite prominent in fraternal circles.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.