Horace Stearns

STEARNS, GREEN, WALLER, MCCREA

Posted By: Chantel Schmitt (email)
Date: 5/6/2012 at 13:42:04

Horace Stearns (1816-1885)

Horace Stearns, his wife Orphs, and his only daughter, Mary Elizabeth, along with the W.J. Green family were among the earliest settlers in Rockford township. Coming from Stowe, Vermont, in 1854, Mr. Stearns purchased a claim for $30. He built a cabin on the west bank of the Shell Rock, near the Shell Rock-Lime Creek point. Stearns was a land surveyor and engineer; he surveyed much of the western part of the county and was instrumental in the construction of the Shell Rock bridge in 1858 and the railroad bridge in 1871. He was also the first township clerk (1857), county assessor (1857-1859), county superintendent of schools (1863-1867) and county surveyor during the last years of his life. He died June 14, 1885, and his wife survived him 14 years.

His daughter, Mary Elizabeth, married John Richard Waller, and to them were born six children: Edwin, Richard, Ross, Oliver, a daughter who died in infancy, Wayne Fyler and Helene Belle, who married Dr. William McCrea, a physician in Rockford from 1905 to 1910.

Vala, Michael F. The Story of Rockford, 303. M.F. Vala Publishing, Dubuque, IA. 1970.

ORIGINAL CITATION:
Information supplied by Robert McCrea, Charles City, April 1, 1970; History of Floyd County, 1882, pp. 883-884.