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Jeremiah House

Jeremiah House, a farmer and dairyman of Windsor Township, residing on section 36, is known to his fellow-townsmen as one of the leading citizens of the community. He was born in Herkimer County, N. Y., April 23, 1824, and is of Holland descent, the family having been established in America during the latter part of the 18th century. His parents, Abraham I. and Rachel (Putnam) House, were also natives of Herkimer County, the father born in 1795, and the mother in 1798. Their family numbered four sons and four daughters. Diana, who was born in 1820, became the wife of Egbert D. Doolittle, of Rock County, Wis., by whom she had six children. Her death occurred in this county in 1861, and her husband died in St. Louis, Mo., in 1863, while serving as a member of Company F, Thirty-eighth Iowa Infantry. Josiah, born in 1822, married Eliza Crandall, of Pleasant Valley Township, and now resides in Plankington, S. D., with her family of eight children.

Jeremiah is the next younger. Alexander, born August 12, 1825, married Sarah Sturgis, in November, 1851, but she died in 1859, leaving four sons. In 1857, he wedded Mrs. Augusta Lovell and they have five children. Eliza is the wife of George W. Michael, of Red Oak, Neb., and their family numbers eight children. Sarah is the wife of Daniel Earle, who is engaged in farming and dealing in cattle and horses in Lorena, McClellan Co., Tex. They have four children. Abram married Esther Shaffer of Dover Township, by whom he has nine children and they now reside in Clermont Township. Lavina, wife of Jacob George, of Bremer County, Iowa, died in 1871, leaving three children. She was the youngest of the family.

The subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth. The days of his boyhood were spent under the parental roof and in the common schools he acquired his education. At the age of twenty-two he left home, emigrating to Rock County, Wis., where he spent four years. Since 1851, his home has been in Fayette County; he has witnessed almost its entire growth and development, has seen its raw prairies transformed into beautiful farms, its log cabins replaced by substantial and commodious residences, its hamlets take on the size and attributes of cities and its whole appearance changed until what was once a barren region is now a thickly populated county second to none, in many respects, in the State. On coming to the county Mr. House located on a farm in West Union Township, which continued to be his home for thirty-three years, when in 1884 he sold out and purchased his present home.

Mr. House was united in marriage with Miss Nancy A. Cobb, daughter of Leonard and Janet (Gibson) Cobb, of Rock County, Wis. She was born in Hoxbury, near Ottawa, Upper Canada, January 14, 1833, and has but one brother, David, who was born in Ottawa, March 8, 1835. On the 1st of January, 1864, he married Ann Carpenter, of West Union Township, and they have three children. Unto Mr. and Mrs. House, have been born eight children. Leonard H., the eldest, born July 27, 1852, died February 20, 1890; Emma A., wife of Elliott Webb of Union Township, was born August 12, 1854, and is now the mother of one child, Lyle, born April 29, 1887. Clara A., born September 17, 1857, is the wife of George F. Barringer, a real-estate dealer of St. Paul, Minn., and they have two children - George Franklin, born December 26, 1885; and Cecil, born April 1, 1888. Both Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Barringer were teachers in the public schools of the county for several years and gained enviable reputations as instructors. George W., born November 18, 1859, has for the past two years engaged in farming in Hancock County, Iowa. Walter W., born March 1, 1862, is at home. Jerry La Fayette, born July 7, 1866, died April 16, 1883. Jessie M., born February 17, 1870, is now engaged in teaching her fifth term of school, being now employed in district No. 3. Nettie R., the youngest, born March 18, 1872, died June 6, 1877.

During the late war, in August, 1862, Mr. House responded to his country's call for troops and served a full term of three years in the Union Army. He enlisted as a private in Company F, Thirty-Eighth Iowa Infantry and participated in all the engagements with his regiment, including the siege of Vicksburg, the battles of Ft. Morgan, Yazoo City, the battle and charge against Ft. Blakely and others of less importance. In the meantime he was transferred to Company K, Thirty-Fourth Iowa Infantry, and with that regiment was mustered out of service at Huston, Tex., July 15, 1865. Never for a single day was he off duty but was always found at his post, faithfully serving the Union. He is now an honored member of Abernethy Post, No. 40, G. A. R., of West Union, and in politics is a stalwart advocate of Republican principles. Both he and his wife are members of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. They have a comfortable home on section 36, Windsor Township and the farm comprises eighty-seven acres under a good state of cultivation. Mr. House also engages in the dairy business, keeping ten or twelve cows for that purpose.