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Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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James
R. Poage Among
the honored gentlemen of a past generation in Jasper County was James R. Poage,
a man who during his residence in this community merited and received the
highest respect and esteem of his acquaintances.
A man of honest motives, purest purposes and kindliest feelings toward
all, he made and retained for himself a host of friends.
His domestic and social relations were of the most pleasant character,
and the fact that his surroundings were such as to make life enjoyable was due
solely to his individual merits, his affable and courteous treatment of others
and his strict adherence to justice in all his dealings. Mr.
Poage was born in Ross County, Ohio, September 3, 1834.
He was the son of George G. and Jane (Riggs) Poage, the father a native
of Virginia and the mother of Pennsylvania.
They grew up in the East and were married there, finally coming west,
where they spent the latter part of their lives, the father dying in Nebraska
and the mother in Colorado. Their
family consisted of five children, all now deceased, namely: James R., of this
sketch; Stephen W., George G., Mrs. Arabella Dungon: Mary died in infancy. James
R. Poage grew up in Ohio and received such education as the early schools of his
community afforded. He came to
Jasper County, Iowa, in the fall of 1857, and here became well established,
securing a good farm through his industry, his place consisting of one hundred
and sixty acres of fine land, which he brought up to a high state of cultivation
and improvement and ranking as one of the most desirable farms in Malaka
Township. He devoted his life to
general farming and stock raising and here spent the remainder of his life,
passing to his rest on January 23, 1905. His
widow is still in possession of this farm, in addition to which she owns a very
cozy home in Baxter. Mr.
Poage was married in this County on October 27, 1859, to Harriet E. Scott, who
was born in Warrick County, Indiana, January 31, 1842.
She came with her parents to Jasper County in 1856 and here she has since
resided, having lived to see the locality develop from a wild, sparsely settled
prairie to one of the most opulent sections of Iowa.
She received her educational training in the old-time schools, and she
has been known as a woman of many praiseworthy characteristics, and, like her
lamented husband, always Numbered her friends by the score.
She was the daughter of Robert and Marinda (Earl) Scott, the father born
in Connecticut, February 22, 1836, and the mother in Ohio, March 3, 1818*.
They grew up and were married in the East, eventually coming to Iowa,
where they became very comfortably established and influential, and the father's
death occurred in Jasper County in February 1875; the mother is residing in
Corning, Adams County, Iowa, at the advanced age of ninety-four years.
She is the sole survivor of the charter members of the Congregational
Church at Newton. There
were ten children in the Scott family, five of whom are living, named as
follows: Mrs. Rosetta McKinstry,
deceased; Mrs. Lydia M. Dulin, deceased; Harriet E., who married Mr. Poage of
this sketch; Mrs. Armina J. Shipp lives in Nebraska; Mrs. Emily A. Preston lives
at Corning, Iowa; Robert N., deceased; Mary A., deceased; Lucian S. lives in
Buena Vista County. Iowa; Frank M., deceased; Edgar C. is living in Minnesota.
The oldest sister was born in Ohio; the next four in Indiana, where the
family lived a number of years, and the younger ones were born in Scott County,
except the two younger, who were born in Jasper County, Iowa, where the family
maintained its home for some time prior to coming to Jasper County. Eight
children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Poage, six of whom are living, namely: S. W.,
born August 15, 1860, lives in South Dakota; James M., born September 10, 1862,
lives in Nebraska; Robert A., born April 26, 1865, lives in Malaka Township,
Jasper County; Frank lrvin, born April 11, 1868, lives in Oklahoma; Leslie N.,
born November 20, 1869, died October 4, 1902; Herbert E., born April 5, 1872,
lives in Canada; Mrs. Hattie G. McFarland, born June 28, 1875, lives with her
mother in Baxter; Lucian S., born September 14, 1877, died
August 20, 1907. These children were born and reared in Jasper County, and have
been identified with the agricultural interests of whatever localities they have
lived in. Politically,
Mr. Poage was a Republican, and was long an influential factor-in local affairs,
holding a number of offices, such as a member of the school board of Malaka
Township, Township trustee and Township clerk. His father was one of the founders of Wittemberg College and
remained a stanch friend of that institution all his life.
He was one of the oldest teachers in Jasper County. The Poage family are members of the Congregational Church at
Baxter. Both parents of Mrs. Poage, also her uncle, Edwin Scott, and his wife
Ruth, were charter members of the Congregational Church at Newton. *Editor’s
note: Mrs. Marinda (Earl) Scott’s birth date was given as March 3, 1818. Past
and Present of Jasper County Iowa, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-In-Chief, B.F.
Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912, p. 1129. |
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