BLISS, William H. (1823-1894)

BLISS

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/8/2021 at 21:23:18

William H. Bliss
(September 20, 1823 – November 29, 1894)

W. H. Bliss, who resides on an eighty acre farm in section 26, Logan Township, Ida County, Iowa, has been identified with the agricultural interests of this place since 1875, and is one of the most prominent and highly respected citizens of the township. Mr. Bliss was born in Addison County, Vermont, September 20, 1823, son of Calvin Bliss, a native of Colerain, Massachusetts. His grandfather, Calvin Bliss, Sr., was a
soldier in the Revolutionary war, and lived to be ninety-six years old. The Bliss family are descended from French and English ancestry and are related to P. P. Bliss of “Gospel Songs" fame. The mother of our subject was before her marriage Miss Mary Ann Brasted. She was born at Bridport, Vermont, daughter of William Brasted, a native of New Jersey. Calvin Bliss and his wife had six children, four sons and two daughters, namely: E. J., of Brandon, Vermont; Rachel, deceased; Joseph F., of Kansas; William H.,
the subject of this article; Franklin, who died in Wisconsin; John A., who died in Kansas; Margarette Esty, Amboy, Lee County, Illinois. The father died at the age of seventy years. He was by occupation a farmer, in politics a Whig, and in religion a Congregationalist His wife departed this life at Amboy, Illinois, at the age of sixty-five years. Mr. Bliss was reared on his father's farm in Vermont. In 1854 he left his native State and came West to Kendall County, Illinois, and later spent two years in South Elgin, Kane
County, that State. After that he lived for two years in Dundee, Illinois, and from there moved to Ida County, Iowa, in 1875. Here he first purchased land in Blaine Township. In 1886 be settled in Logan Township, where
he has since resided and has improved a nice farm. At Lester, Vermont, when twenty-seven years of age, Mr. Bliss was first married to Permelia Baker, a native of Whiting, that State, and a daughter of Thompson and Elsie (Munger) Baker, natives of New England. The issue from their union was two children:
William, who died in Dundee, Illinois, and Elsie, who is now the wife of Jadson Smith, of Clarendon. Vermont. The wife and mother died in Kendall County, Illnois. Mr. Bliss married his present companion, nee Lovina
McAlister, at Dundee. She is a native of Whiting, Vermont, and a daughter of Hiram McAlister. Her mother's maiden name was Brown. They have had four children, viz.: Mrs. Clara Smith, who died, leaving one daughter, Clara; George, of Kansas; Myron, of Logan township, Ida County, Iowa; and Mary, wife of Fred Winslow, also of Logan Township. Mr. Bliss affiliates with the Republican Party. He has served the public as a member of the School Board and also as Township Trustee. He was the first Deacon of the Baptist Church at Ida Grove, of which he is still an active member. He is one of the most public-spirited and enterprising men of the township, and exerts an influence that is felt for good all over the community.
Source: Biographical History of Crawford, Ida, and Sac Counties, Iowa, 1893, p.277