Andrew M. Ellis

As printed in 1891

NDREW M. ELLIS, a successful farmer of sections 17 and 18, of Little Sioux Township, is the per son forming the subject of this sketch.

He is a native of Ohio, being born July 12, 1839. He is a son of John and Hannah (Martin) Ellis, natives of the Buckeye State. His grandfather Ellis was named Hezekiah, and was of Welsh extraction. On the mother's side, the father was named Elijah Martin, and his wife's maiden name was Boggs, and this branch of the family was of Scotch-Irish descent. Our subject was the ninth in a family of thirteen children, eight of whom still survive, all living in this county but one.

Mr. Ellis’ early education was obtained in Ohio and Iowa, at the common schools. He came to Harrison County in 1855 and began farming, which pursuit he has followed ever since. The first land he owned was forty acres on section 30, but his present farm comprises one hundred and twenty acres, seventy acres of which are under cultivation, and the balance in timber and pasture land.

Our subject was united in marriage in Little Sioux, February 22, 1866, to Miss Alice L. Bonney, born April 10, 1844, be ing the daughter of Benjamin and Betsy (Jinks) Bonney, natives of Pennsylvania, who originally came from NewHampshire. Mr. and Mrs. Ellis are the parents of four children — Alice May, now Mrs. Scott; Frank L., in Council Bluffs; Susan L. and Dora E., at home.

Mr. Ellis enlisted as a member of Company II, Fifteenth Iowa Infantry, November 28, 1861, as a private, and was as signed to the Army of the West. He was at the battle of Shiloh, and was with his regiment until the evacuation of Corinth, and on account of sickness, was discharged August 10, 1862, at Bolivar, Tenn.

Politically, our subject gives forth no uncertain opinion, but has always voted for and supported the Republican party. He was a member of the Board of Supervisors in 1868, and has always taken much interest in the welfare of Harrison County, and has watched its growth almost from its earliest history. When he came to the county, the nearest mill was on Pigeon Creek, near Crescent City, and the nearest postoffice and trading point was Council Bluffs. He has endured the pioneer hardships, in common with the remainder of the vanguard to civilization, detailed accounts of which appear throughout this volume.

if'OHN SCHULTZ (deceased), came to Harrison County in 1855, and the date of his demise was April 26, 1888, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. He was born in Germany, March 22, 1824, and when but a young man, bid farewell to the scenes of his Fatherland, and sailed for America in 1852. After three years of wandering, he settled in Harrison County, Iowa, where he remained until the date of his death. He first engaged in business at the old village of Calhoun, which he followed for several years, and also followed farming at the same time. In 1869 he removed to Missouri Valley, where he continued in the mercantile business as well as farming in connection. He was an honored member of the Masonic fraternity.

Politically Mr. Schultz was ever an ardent Republican. His life was marked by a quiet demeanor, retired disposition, and a general respect for his neighbors, that made him the friend of all. He was a strict business man, honest in all his dealings, and by his uniform kindness and uprightness of character, he succeeded in surrounding himself with an army of friends whose name was legion. Through his business enterprises, he succeeded in accumulating considerable personal property and real-estate. Like most of his fellow-countrymen, he loved the word home, and knew well how to provide for a household, consequently on April 29, 1860, he was united in marriage to Miss Anna Jesme, a native of Norway. They are affectionately remembered by the oldest inhabitants of this county, for they were merchants at Old Calhoun, in war times, and their life’s record has been one of honor and usefulness. Kind and char table to all, they became leaders in the great moral world around them.

Regarding our subject’s wife and her own personal history, it may be said that more than a passing notice is due to her. She was born in the month of December 30, 1843, in the North of Europe, and in that romantic country known as Norway, where the landscape is ever a feast to the eye. Her parents were, Jens 0. and Carrie (Vangum) Jesme, the mother died in her native land, and the father in North Dakota, November 15, 1886.

When eleven years of age, Mrs. Schultz came to this country with relatives. She now has a brother living in South Dakota, near Brookings. She wras the leading spirit in establishing the Library Association at Missouri Valley, as well as the organizing of the Good Templars of that place, and as an evidence of her valuable services rendered to the last-named order, it only needs to be said that during 1890, she was appointed as a delegate from Iowa to represent the World’s Lodge for 1891, of the Independent Order of Good Tem plans, which convened in the city of Edinburg, Scotland, and during her sojourn in Europe, visited ten different countries, including the land of her nativity.

That woman has been a potent factor to the cause of temperance reformation in this country, goes without saying, when one reflects for a moment on the rapid advancement made in the last quarter of a century, even in our own Hawkeye State, through such brilliant, brainy and devoted Christian ladies as are found among the charter members of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, including Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, Mrs. J. M. Aldrich, of 1 Cedar Bapids; Mrs. Mattie Bailey, of j Shenandoah, and a score of others, in eluding our subject, who have made a brave, Christian warfare against the rum power, and in favor and defense of their own home firesides, and the general moral and religious standard of a Bepublican form of Government. While woman is denied the right of suffrage, yet their noble work in an “irrepressible conflict” has given many a strong temperance plank to i the various political platforms, and to them is due in a great measure the fact that Iowa, Kansas and other States, are as near saloonless as they are. And in the sphere in which our subject has operated both in the temperance and educational cause, no one has accomplished more last ing good than she has. Let this personal notice go down as a memento and record of the good work she has wrought.

As printed in History of Harrison County, Iowa. Containing full-page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county. Together with portraits and biographies of all the go (1891). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.