WILLIAM H. WARNE (DECEASED), BEAR GROVE TOWNSHIP.
This fine farmer and most worthy citizen of Cass county, who located here in the early days and became a producing force among the people of Bear Grove township, was born on May 19, 1840, in Peoria county, Ill., and died on his farm in this county on March 21, 1905. He was a son of Joseph and Mary (Hann) Warne, natives of New Jersey, who moved to Illinois in 1840, a few weeks prior to the birth of their son, William H. It was in Peoria county they located and they were pioneers there. After twenty years of useful life there, in all of which she faithfully bore her part of the burden of clearing up the land and making a productive farm of it, the mother died on the place in 1860. After her death the father returned East, and a few years later died in Maryland. Their family numbered three sons and three daughters, all of whom are now deceased.
William H. Warne was reared in his native county and obtained his education in the country schools of the frontier in the days when they were primitive in equipment and method, but still, were the best that were available to the children of the hardy pioneers. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company I, Seventy-seventh Illinois Infantry, and was soon at the front taking part in the battles of Champion Hill, Black River Bridge, and all the engagements leading up to the siege of Vicksburg, where he was wounded in the hip on May 22, 1863. He was then in the hospital for some time and was discharged from the service on account of his disability in October, of the the same year. He returned to Illinois and there kept a boot and shoe store for two years. At the end of that period he turned his attention to farming, in which he was engaged in his native State until 1872. That year saw him a resident of Cass county and settled on the farm on which he passed the remainder of his days and died. The land was all wild when he bought it, but he lived to clear it and reduce it to systematic productiveness and a proper rotation of crops. He also improved it with the good buildings it contains and added all the other structures and appliances.
On October 1, 1863, William H. Warne was married in Illinois to Olivia Cutter, a native of Boston, born on April 19, 1843. She died on May 19, 1895. They were the parents of four children: Luella, the wife of E. B. Andrews, of Oregon City, Ore.; Charles C., of Bear Grove township, this county; and William J. and Laura L., both of whom are living with their sister in Oregon. The father was a Republican in political alliance, but he was never an active partisan or office seeker. He belonged to the Grand Army of the Republic, and was a member of the Congregational Church for fifty years, being a deacon in his congregation twenty years.
Charles C. Warne, the elder son of William H. Warne, and the one who is now farming a portion of the old homestead, was born in Illinois on December 23, 1869, and came with his parents when he was but three years of age to this county, where he grew to manhood and obtained his education. He has been busily occupied in farming ever since he left school, and has won a substantial success at the business. On June 23, 1895, he was united in marriage with Edna Webster, who was born in this county and is a daughter of George A. and Rachel Webster, who settled in this county in 1873. Two sons have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Warne, Forest I. and Raymond E. Mr. Warne has served as a justice of the peace, although he has no special desire for public life or the responsibilities of official station.
From "Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pp. 535-537.
