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Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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John
M. Tool The
official work of this gentleman has extended over a number of years and has
brought him before the notice of the citizens of Jasper County, and in him his
constituents have found a man of ability and integrity, and one whose activities
have ever been employed for the good of the community.
He is a native of the grand old State of Virginia.
He was born in Washington County, November 12, 1832, to the union of Adam
M. and Susan H. (Stinson) Tool, both natives of Virginia, the former born in
Augusta County, July 3, 1794, and the latter in Washington County, October 31,
1800, and of Scotch descent. The
father of our subject was of Scotch-Irish descent, his father having been born
in the North of Ireland. At an
early date the latter came to this country and settled in Augusta County, Va.,
where he died in 1810. Adam M.
Tool, second in order of birth of three sons, and his eldest brother, John, was
one of the very early pioneers of Woodford County, VA. The other brother, Jacob,
remained in Virginia; he was a cabinet-maker by trade, and became wealthy. In
1817 Adam M. Tool married Miss Stinson and resided in his native state until
seven children were born, five daughters and two sons.
Eliza Jane, born October 10, 1818, married John Frost and died June 27,
1841. Mary, born January 10, 1821, married Washington Flenor, who died in 1848;
her second marriage was with James McClery, and she now lives in Oberlin, Kan.,
where her daughter, Emma, is County Superintendent of Schools of Decatur County.
Susan Adeline, born December 18, 1822, married Willard Hill, who was a
soldier in the regular army, and who was killed by a horse at Santa Fe during
his service in 1847; she married the second time, in 1852, William Delong, and
they now reside in Colorado; three sons and one daughter were born of this
union. James A., born June 12, 1825, married Sarah Foust, and in 1848 took a
claim four miles east of Monroe, where he now resides. M. Elizabeth, born August
22, 1827, married the Hon. Henry B. Mitchell, a man of considerable prominence;
be was Supervisor in Jefferson County, a member of the State Legislature, and
now lives at Fairfield. Martha C., born February 22,1830, married Wyley W.
Moore, and died March 25,1857. He
and his daughter now live in Des Moines. In
1837, when our subject was but five years of age, his parents moved to Coles
County, IL, where they resided for five years, and then came to the Hawkeye
State, settled west of Fairfield and near the Indian boundary line.
On the 23rd of April 1843, seven days before the territory
embracing Jasper County was opened for settlement, Adam M. Tool and several
others started out to find a location in the new country. They made their way to
the present site of the village of Monroe, where Mr. Tool placed his stake, and
1851 he laid out the town of Monroe. This
pioneer settler erected the first hewed log house in Jasper County, and in
Monroe passed the balance of his days, his death occurring April 4,1877. Mrs.
Tool was the first Postmistress in the county. They kept a hotel the early days,
and their home was headquarters for all the travelers. Mrs. Tool was a woman of
more than ordinary education and a devoted Christian. She died January 28, 1862. Previous to his marriage, Mr. Tool served faithfully in the
War of 1812. Our
subject was but eleven years of age when his parents penetrated the wilderness
of Jasper County, and from that time until the present he has resided here.
The incidents in his early life were not materially different from those
of other boys living on farms in the new country. He was taught to work at anything necessary for him to do,
and to make himself useful around the pioneer homestead. As did other boys,
young Tool attended school during the winters, and in summer assisted in
clearing the land, fencing the fields and raising crops after the land was
improved. Although his educational
advantages were not of the best, he was a thorough student, and by close
attention he mastered all the important branches. In early life he engaged in farming and trading in stock, and
for a time was also engaged in merchandising. The
members of the Tool family as far back as we have any knowledge were Methodists,
and our subject is no exception to the rule.
In 1870 he was ordained to preach in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and
since that time has been a local preacher. IA 1879 he was nominated for the
Legislature, getting one hundred and nineteen votes out of one hundred and
twenty-two cast, and served in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth General Assemblies.
Oh the 19th of January 1854, he married Miss Jane Paul, the daughter of
the Rev. Joseph Paul, Methodist Episcopal preacher. She was a native of the
Hoosier State. One of her brothers,
Thomas, is a Methodist Episcopal preacher at Walla Walla, Wash. Mr. and
Mrs. Tool were blessed with five children, two of whom died in infancy.
Mary B., born June 22,1857, married A. C. Carwile and lives in Silver
City, NM; Roscoe Paul, born December 13, 1863, married Miss Minnie Mateer April
4, 1889, and resides on a farm near Monroe, and C. E., born November 18, 1865,
received his education in the college at Indianola, and is now a teacher in the
public schools. The father of these children is a man of broad views, who has
traveled extensively, and who is well informed. He has done much to benefit his
fellow man. Portrait and Biographical Record, Jasper, Marshall and Grundy Counties, IA, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, IL, 1894, p. 142. |
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