Isaac N. Myers

MYERS, WARREN, ILER

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 11/16/2011 at 09:10:01

ISAAC N. MYERS, formerly one of the most prominent and successful agriculturists of Black Hawk Township, Grundy County, moved into the village of Reinbeck in the spring of 1893, where he now leads a life of retirement. His birth occurred in Trumbull County, Ohio, in 1833, and he is the son of John and Matilda (Warren) Myers. The father was born in Allegheny County, Pa., in 1802, and was the son of German and English parents. He was reared on a farm, and after receiving a fair education entered the woolen mills of Pennsylvania, where he commenced work in his fourteenth year, serving an apprenticeship of seven years. After learning the business, he went to Trumbull County, Ohio, where he started in business on his own account, owning a carding mill. This enterprise he continued to follow until 1856, when he retired from business.

In Ohio, John Myers married Matilda, a daughter of John and Matilda Warren, and a native of Pennsylvania, which was also the birthplace of her father. Her paternal grandfather came from Massachusetts, and was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. The parents of our subject were members of the Church of God. In politics the father was a Jacksonian Democrat, and while residing in Ohio served as Postmaster at Cedar Valley, Wayne County, during Polk’s administration. He spent the latter years of his life with our subject, and died in 1884. His good wife survived him two years. Grandfather Myers during the War of 1812 was in the Hull Division, near Detroit, and there contracted rheumatism, which resulted in his death. The maternal grandfather of our subject, John Warren, was a prominent physician and a graduate of the Medical College at Cannonsburg, Pa. He was a very strong Whig in politics, and was a relative of General Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill.

Isaac Myers, was one in a family of eight children, of whom those now living are Warren, Jane, Jacob, Isaac N., Franklin, Josephine and Emeline. They are all married and established in homes of their own. Our subject completed his education in the academy at Hayesville, Ohio, and his boyhood days were passed in his father’s mill and on a farm which the latter owned in Wayne County, that state. When reaching his majority he worked out by the month on farms near his home during the summer season, and by teaching school in the winter accumulated a sufficient sum of money to enable him to purchase a farm. In 1857, coming to Iowa, he bought eighty acres of land in Buchanan County, but did not locate upon it until three years later, when he was married and made his home on the place. He continued its cultivation for nineteen years, and when he disposed of his estate it comprised three hundred acres of valuable land.

After severing his interests in Buchanan County, Mr. Myers went on a prospecting tour through the west, visiting the states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho, but finally concluded that a better field for operations lay open to him in this county, and returning here in 1880 he purchased a quarter-section of land in Black Hawk Township. This he continued to make his home until the spring of 1893, when he moved with his family into Reinbeck, and now occupies himself in looking after his numerous agricultural and other interests in the city. His fine farm comprises two hundred and eighty acres, which he now rents to good advantage. He is also a stock-holder in the state bank of this place, and in the same institution holds the office of Vice-President and Director.

Mr. Myers was married in Illinois March 9, 1861, to Miss Ann, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Myers) Iler. The lady was born in Carroll County, Ill., while her parents, who were natives of Maryland, settled in the above county about 1830. To Mr. and Mrs. Myers have been born six children: John W., Reuben H., Lydia, Bertha, James and May. The two latter are at home. In political affairs our subject always votes with the Democratic party in national elections, but locally casts his vote for the best man. He has many warm friends in this vicinity, and has filled the office of Township Clerk and has served efficiently on the School Board.

Source:
Portrait and Biographical Record
of Jasper, Marshall and Grundy Counties, Iowa
1894