Lincoln Township, Appanoose County

Past and Present of Appanoose County, Iowa

Edited by L. L. Taylor

Chicago: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1913

Page 406-407

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Lincoln township is bounded on the west by Wayne county, on the north by Johns township, on the east by Bellair and Pleasant townships, and on the south by Franklin township. It was organized in the '50s. Jerome postoffice was established a number of years ago but has been discontinued.

Lincoln has many good farms, the soil being arable and well drained by Cooper and Shoal creeks. Its people are industrious and progressive, as the well-tilled fields, good roads and fences, modern homes and farm buildings well attest. There are no better supported district schools in the county and the churches testify to the religious character of the men and women. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroads enter the township.

Among the early settlers were John Moore, who came here in 1848. He is said to have killed thirty deer in one week, they were so plentiful. Mr. Moore was wont to tell of his experiences. Wolves were so numerous that the farmers' live stock were in constant danger from their ravages. He told of killing a buck, a fine, large fellow. After skinning and dressing it, he took a hind quarter to town and traded it for the family's first set of cups and saucers. No mill, at the time of his settlement here, was closer than Des Moines, so the family subsisted for a while on grated boiled corn. Their buckwheat flour was made by a coffee mill.

S. C. Van Ness left the Keystone state in 1857 and arrived in this county. He became one of the prosperous men of this township.

Peter Sidles, born in Ohio, became a resident of this county in 1859. He located on section 3 in this township, and soon had one of the finest farms in the community. He was a veteran of the Civil War and very prominent both in church and lodge circles.

A. S. Van Dorn, after four years' experience in the gold mines of California, settled down to farm life in this township in 1855. He prospered and attained a place in the estimation of his neighbors that was enviable.

John Maning [Manning], an Ohioan, settled here in 1854 and became prosperous and influential. His son Harvey was a member of the Eighth Iowa Volunteer Cavalry.

Jonathan Rinker, a Kentuckian by birth, came to this state from Indiana in 1845, bring with him his wife, Elizabeth. They first settled in Van Buren county, removing from there to Appanoose in 1851 and entering a tract of land. The family, consisting of eleven members, traveled to their new home in a wagon drawn by oxen, and when he arrived at his destination Mr. Rinker had but eleven dollars remaining. The boys of the family were Robert F., Oliver C., Franklin, Leander, Walter and George W.

C. R. Jackson located in this township in 1854, coming from Indiana.

Robert S. Lowry was born in Indiana. The year 1847 found him in Illinois and from that state he removed to Appanoose county in 1853, locating on section 20, this township. He became one of the largest landholders in the county, owning at one time over a thousand acres. Mr. Lowry dealth largely in live stock and reaped a generous profit from his operations, part of which he invested in bank stock.

M. Darrah and his father, Henry Darrah, were early in the county, coming here in 1856. In 1858 the son married Susannah Lawrer, daughter of William and Catherine Lawrer, early settlers in the county.

Addison Pendergast was born in Ripley county, Indiana, in 1848. In 1858 he settled in this township with his parents. He was a veteran of the Civil war.

Henry Moreland [Morlan], who married Belinda C. Jones, daughter of an Appanoose pioneer, settled in this town in 1852. In the following spring they removed to Independence township.