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Jasper County, Iowa
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Isaiah
B. Carns The
record of Isaiah B. Carns, one of Newton's most substantial and highly honored
citizens, is that of a man who has worked his way from a modest beginning to a
position of considerable prominence by his efforts, which have been practically
unaided, which fact renders him the more worthy of the praise that is freely
accorded him by his fellow men and of the respite that he is enjoying in his
declining years. The major part of his life has been one of unceasing industry
and perseverance and the notably systematic and honorable methods he has ever
followed have won for him the unbounded confidence and regard of all who have
formed his acquaintance, and in looking over the list of Jasper County's
representative citizens, none is deemed worthier of a place in the pages of this
work than that of the venerable gentleman whose name appears above. Mr.
Carns was born of a sterling old Buckeye family, pioneers of Columbiana County,
Ohio, his birth having occurred in Springfield Township, that County, on
September 23, 1829. He is the son
of Abraham and Elizabeth (Mishey) Carns, natives of Pennsylvania.
The father followed farming all his life, coming to Ohio with his young
wife in 1808 and settled in what was then a wilderness, in which wild game was
plentiful and Indians were numerous. They
began life in a log cabin and literally hewed out from the woods, a farm of one
hundred and fifty acres, and it was there that Isaiah B. was born and, his
father dying when he was but three years old, he was compelled to work hard as
soon as he was old enough to go to the fields, his mother, by indomitable pluck
and courage, keeping the family together until the subject was fourteen years of
age, then she, too, closed her eyes on earthly scenes. The
son, Isaiah B., then went to Stark County, Ohio, and lived with an elder brother
two years. Although having only a limited opportunity to attend school, he
studied hard at home and when only sixteen years old began teaching in the
winter months, working on the farm in the summer, continuing thus for four
years, in the meantime taking a general course of instruction in Twinsburg
Seminary. He then entered Allegheny
College, at Meadville, Pennsylvania, where he remained two years, and he made a
splendid record in both these institutions.
Later he returned to Ohio and resumed teaching, but after four months he
began the regular business course in Duff's Mercantile College, at Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. He then went to
Cincinnati, Louisville, and later to St. Louis, seeking employment as
bookkeeper, but failed to get suitable work, consequently he came on to Keokuk,
Iowa, September 27, 1853, and taught in Lee County that winter.
In the spring following he was called to a chair in what was then known
as the Iowa Wesleyan Institute, where he remained one year, when, on account of
sickness, he was compelled to return to Ohio.
When he came back to Iowa he located at Farmington and there organized an
academy in which he taught the following fall and winter. In the summer of 1856
he went to Pennsylvania, where he was united in marriage with Margaret Kiddoo,
daughter of John Kiddoo, of Jefferson County, Ohio.
Returning with his wife to Farmington, Iowa, he undertook to continue
with the school, but the panic of 1857 coming on, the school failed, after which
Mr. Carns came to Jasper County, where he had previously secured one hundred and
twenty acres of wild land. This he moved upon and began improving, remaining there for
four years, and there he passed some of the darkest hours of his life,
undergoing some of the hardships and privations always incident to a life in a
new country. Then the war between
the states came on, and excitement was high in his locality, neighbors all
around him began enlisting, so, his patriotism being aroused, he bade adieu to
his young wife and three small children on August 15, 1862, and enlisted in the
Fortieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry at Newton, and was sent at once to Cairo,
Illinois, thence to Columbus, Kentucky, where the winter of 1862-3 was spent. In
the early spring he was sent to Paducah and drilled until June 30th, on the
night of which they embarked for Vicksburg, and there served through the siege;
later Mr. Carns was sent to Helena and Little Rock, Arkansas, and from there he
was sent home on sick leave. After
remaining at home a month, he was placed in the United States Hospital in
Keokuk. The following February he joined his regiment at Little Rock and in the
fall of that year was sent to Fort Smith, later to Fort Gibson, where he was
mustered out August 15, 1865, having been a very faithful defender of the flag
for, three years. Returning home,
he engaged in the real estate business, entering the office of a real estate
dealer who, four years later, he bought out.
Then he engaged in the general real estate business for a period of
thirty-one years continuously, selling lands and making abstracts, during which
time he became very well established, and took rank as one of Jasper county's
substantial citizens, retiring from active life in 1896, and he is spending his
old age in an attractive, commodious and neatly kept residence in Newton. Mr.
Carns is the sole survivor of a family of eleven children, and his wife is the
only one living of a family of ten children. To them have been born three children, two of whom are
living: Fannie is at home; Jennie is the widow of A. F. Solmon and resides at
home; Lizzie died in infancy. This family belongs to the Presbyterian church of
Newton, Mrs. Carns being an active member of all the church societies and as
active in church work as her health will permit. Mr. Carns has served his church as elder and trustee. Prior
to the Civil War he was a member of Mystic Lodge No. 55, Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, passing through all the degrees.
After the war he demitted out. He
is an active temperance worker, and a member of an anti-saloon league.
In politics he is Republican. He
belongs to Garrett Post No. 16, Grand Army, of the Republic, at Newton. Mrs. Carns was for a number of years a teacher in the public
schools and is a woman of talent and culture. Her brother, Joseph D. Kiddoo, was
a brigadier-general during the Civil War, being desperately wounded at
Petersburg. Before his death he was
brevetted major general. The Past and Present of Jasper County, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-In-Chief, 1912 B.F. Bowen Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. 503. |
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