Joseph Whittle, one of the prominent farmers of Cox Creek Township, was born in Ireland in 1823, a son of John and Bridget (Riley) Whittle. They were the parents of eight children, five sons and three daughters. The subject of this memoir in 1849 left his native country and came to America and located in Bloomingdale, Ill., where he was employed as a laborer on a farm. Two years later he came to Clayton County and settled in Cox Creek Township, where he entered wild land and made a farm. In 1853 he married Harriet Wilson, by whom he had six children, four living, viz.: Sarah, now the wife of John P. O'Leary; John; Elizabeth, wife of Joseph Meyers, and Henry C. Coming to the country poor he built a cabin 16 x 22, and at the time of building he had to work at odd jobs for his living, being reduced at one time to but 50 cents. Writing a letter to Ireland taking 26 cents of his 50, and with the balance started out for work. Mr. Whittle has been identified with the county for
nearly thirty years, and has seen the wild prairies
transformed into beautiful farms. He has 280 acres of
land valued at $25 per acre. source: History of Clayton County, Iowa, 1882, p. 756 |