COUNTRYMAN, Dennis (1841-1926)

COUNTRYMAN

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/5/2021 at 21:25:21

Dennis Countryman
June 29, 1841 – August 14, 1926

D. Countryman, a farmer and stock raiser of section 31, Grant Township,
Ida County, was born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in 1841, a son of Peter and
Margaret (Nicholas) Countryman, the former a native of Canada, and the latter of Maine. When a young man the father moved to Buffalo, New York, was there married, was afterward engaged in milling in Ohio, and in 1845 removed to Rock County, Wisconsin. He built a mill at Janesville, on Rock River,
also purchased and improved Government claims in that county, in 1854 located and erected a mill at Wadena, Fayette County, Iowa, later built a gristmill, and was engaged in milling there until 1860. In that year he removed to Kansas, later returned to Fayette County, and in the spring of 1861 started overland to California. He drove four yoke of oxen, was six months en route, spent one winter in that State, and then returned to Washoe City, Nevada, engaging in quartz milling. In 1865 Mr. Countryman returned to Linn County, Iowa, later went to Davis County, Iowa, where he died in 1872. The mother departed this life in Woodbury County, Iowa, in 1888, and both were buried
in Linn county, this state. They were the parents of eight children, viz: Horace, an excellent millwright of Stillwater, Montana; Alexander, married, and also resides in Stillwater; Eli, deceased in California; Lewis, married, and resides in Oklahoma, where he was one of the first settlers; John, who died in California in the winter of 1861; George, deceased in the same State in the same year; D., our subject, and A. J., married, and resides in Woodbury County, Iowa.
D. Countryman, the subject of this sketch, was reared and educated in Rock County, Wisconsin. After returning with his parents from California he began farming for himself in Linn County, Iowa, and in 1875 came to Ida County, having been the first settler in what is now Grant, then Maple Township.
He bought sixty-five acres of raw land on the West Soldier River, which he at once began improving, erected a small shanty, and after breaking twenty acres returned to Linn county, for his family. Mr. Countryman now owns 292 acres of well cultivated land, has a good two-story residence, twenty-eight by
twenty-eight feet, erected in 1890, and about three acres of his place is devoted to a grove and orchard. He raises good draft horses, also has a fine carriage team, which took the first premium at the Ida County Fair in
1891. He takes an active interest in politics, voting with the Republican Party, has served as a member of the School Board, and was first Assessor of Grant Township.
Mr. Countryman was married in Linn County, Iowa, in 1865, to Miss Lydia Usher, a native of that county, and a daughter of Hiram and Lucinda (Williams) Usher, natives of Ohio. In 1842 they came to Linn County,
Iowa, where they were among the first settlers, and where they still reside. Our subject and wife have had seven children, namely: Ida M., formerly a teacher of this county, is now the wife of A. J. Mentor, of Grant Township; Rosa, deceased at the age of thirteen years; C. C, attending college at
Lincoln, Nebraska; Sylvia; Hiram, deceased at the age of five years; Lawrence and Pearl. Mr. Countryman is one of the early pioneers of Grant Township, has witnessed nearly its entire development, and has made what he now owns by hard work and frugality, having had comparatively nothing but health and
energy with which to begin.
Source: Biographical History of Crawford, Ida, and Sac Counties, Iowa, 1893, p.255