Henry K. Ferguson

     Henry and Eliza Jane (Anspach) Ferguson moved to Silver Creek Township in 1874. They purchased their land several years before the railroad was built through this area and trains went through in October 1877. They bought railroad lands for $6 per acre. There were no doctors or banks in Ida County then. Before the railroad came through Ida Grove, they did their trading at the nearest railroad points at Storm Lake or Denison, hauling the materials by team. He built his house on the Ida County prairie with lumber purchased and hauled from Storm Lake, Iowa. There were no roads then. Each man had to make his own tracks across the unfenced wild lands of Iowa. Blizzards on the prairie were very trying with the snow blowing deep due to lack of trees and fences.
When their grain had to be taken to Durst's mill down on the Maple River near the present town of Battle Creek to have the grain ground into flour, they traveled by lumber wagon.
     In 1876, a scourge of grasshoppers swept down the Maple River Valley in Ida County stripping the corn of leaves and silk. The corn then shriveled and dried up. Many people went back to their old homes because they feared starvation. The next spring when the grasshopper eggs hatched, they suddenly took wing and flew away.
Henry and Eliza Jane had one daughter, Velma.

William "Billy" Fair

     William "Billy" Fair was born in Fivemiletown, County Tyrone, N. Ireland, to James and Margaret (Graham) Fair on October 29, 1833. He learned the carpenter trade from his father.
     When he was 40 years old, he had saved enough money to come to America. The first ship across the Irish sea ran into a fierce storm and had to turn back. It was sometime before another ship was ready to sail. After he arrived in America in 1875, he took a train to Wapello, Iowa, where his father had homesteaded land earlier. While living in Louisa County, he became lonesome. He wrote a letter to a young lady he had courted while living in Ireland. He asked her to be his wife, but she had already married someone else. He wrote another letter to that family and offered to marry one of that gal's pretty sisters. It took awhile to persuade a young lady to come to this country to marry him, and then Rachael Pierce arrived from Ireland. She landed in New York and traveled by train to Wapello, Ia., and they were married one week later.
About two years later, Billy's sister, Mrs. James (Mary) Anderson and family, came to Ida County to Silver Creek Township. They sent their belongings by train. Billy and Rachael traveled to Iowa and lived with his sister and family until a set of buildings could be built on his land. The barn was to be built first. They had a set of twins at Mary Anderson's home: Virginia Maude and Lena Mary, on October 15, 1880. When the barn was built, Billy and family lived in it first awaiting their house to be finished; and they had a baby girl, Emma Jane, born in that barn building.
The Indians would come to their home asking for a meal and this frightened Rachael and the children. Ice houses were built, and in the winter time, chunks of ice were stored in these houses, covered with loose straw or hay. The ice was used in the summer to keep the cream and milk cool.
     If the housewife didn't make the clothes for her family, then a dressmaker would live with the family several weeks to make the clothing, after the fabric and trimmings had been purchased.
Billy and Rachael's children were: Virginia Maude, Lena Mary, Emma Jane, Wm. James "Jim," Eva Lena, John Andrew, Florence, Charles Wesley, and an infant son who died. Life on the prairie in the 1880s was not easy. The family lost three of their children when very young (Lena Mary, Charles Wesley, and an infant son).
     The Scotish-Irish people were very thrifty, too, and valued their religious faith. Church services were held in the afternoon. The Fair family entertained the evangelistic preacher in their home when they traveled to this area for meetings, and had the minister and his family come home with him and stay a week or longer, many times.

D. P. Bullock

     D. P. Bullock, a farmer of Douglas Township, Ida County, was born in St. Lawrence County, New York, July 21, 1838, a son of Daniel B. Bullock, a native of Fulton County, N.Y.
     His father, also named Daniel, was a soldier in the War of 1812. His mother, nee Eunice Buckley, was born in New York, a daughter of Peter Buckley, a native of Connecticut.
     Mr. Bullock was reared and educated in New York to the age of 15 years, when he located near Sycamore, De Kalb County, Ill., and was employed in farming until the fall of 1861.
     When at St. Charles, Illinois, he enlisted in the Eighth Illinois Cavalry, Co. K, under Captain E. J. Farnsworth, in the well-known fighting regiment which was stationed in Virginia. Mr. Bullock took part in 300 battles and skirmishes, notably those at Antietam, 7 days' fight before Richmond, Gettysburg, where his captain was killed. D. P. Bullock was honorably discharged in 1864, as Corporal.
He then remained in Lee County, Illinois, one year, next located on Indian land in Cherokee County, Ks. Seven years later commenced work in the car-shops of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, in Aurora, Illinois, and in 1880 purchased 80 acres of land in Douglas Township, Ida County, Iowa.
     Mr. Bullock was married December 1, 1870, in Cherokee Co., Ks., to Delia E. Lake, a native of Somonauk, De Kalb Co., Illinois. She was the daughter of Thomas D. and Sarah A. (Skinner) Lake, the former a native of St. Lawrence Co., New York, and the latter of Pa. Her father was a soldier in both the Mexican and Civil War.
     D. P. (Daniel) Bullock and Delia had 4 sons: Frank (deceased at the age of 8 mo.), Alfred H. (born at Aurora, Illinois, Oct. 22, 1873, then attended school at Carroll, Ia.), Walter D. (born at Amboy, Illinois, April 11, 1876), and George (born December 22, 1879) in Lee Co., Illinois.
     He has served as Justice of Peace and Trustee of the township, Assessor one term, and a member of the School Board.
From: Biographical History of Crawford, Ida, and Sac Counties - 1893

 Daniel P. Bullock family

     Daniel P. Bullock was born in Governur, New York, on July 22, 1838. His wife, Delia Lake bullock, was born in Somonauk, Illinois on September 6, 1852. Daniel P. Bullock, his wife and 3 sons: Alfred "Fred", Walter, and George moved from Illinois to Cushing in 1881. They were part of the "Illinois Settlement," 3 miles north of Cushing.
     They lived north of town for a few years and then moved to town. Daniel was one of the early postmasters for several years.
     Alfred "Fred" was born October 22, 1873, went to medical school in school in Sioux City, and came back in 1900 and practiced medicine in Cushing for 45 years. He married Georgia Lyman. Walter, born April 11, 1876, managed a garage and was in the auto business. He married Alice Kabisch. Their son, George, born Dec. 21, 1879, went into the ministry and moved to Oregon.
From Cushing, Iowa, Centennial Book 1883-1983

Dr. A. H. and Georgia Lyman Bullock 

     Dr. Alfred Henry Bullock was born near Peoria, Illinois, to Daniel and Delia Lake Bullock on Oct. 22, 1874. Georgia Lyman was born July 21, 1877, to Burtt and Julia Kellogg Lyman at Ashton, Iowa. "Fred" came with his parents from Illinois in 1881. They lived on a farm 3 miles north of Cushing for a few years and then moved to town. Georgia came to Cushing in 1896. They had 3 children (born in Cushing, Iowa): Helen Bullock Russell, Dr. Alfred Lyman Bullock, and Dr. Grant Bullock.

     Claus Rochau of Galva Township, Ida County, Ia. resides on Section 3. He has been a resident of the township since 1877, and is one of the old settlers. He was born in Germany, near Holstein, in 1842. He was the son of Hans and Catherine Rochau, both natives of Germany. In 1860, Claus crossed the great waters to America.
     He married Minnie Bower in Davenport, a native of Germany. She came to America with her parents, Mr. & Mrs. Carl Bower, when quite young.
     Claus and Minnie had 10 children: Gusta, Herman, Annie, Lizzie, Minnie, Emma, Willie, John, Katy, and Alice. He served in the office of School Director.

Charles Hansen

     Charles Hansen was born on March 25, 1856 in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. He came to the United States in 1873 at the age of 17. He married Anna Margret Jepsen on September 18, 1882 at Dixon, Illinois. Anna has come to America in 1881. She was born on June 3, 1861 at Assens, Fyen, Denmark.
A few years later they moved to Ida County, Iowa and farmed until 1917 when they moved into Ida Grove, Iowa. Charles had two brothers, James of Clifton, Illinois, and Louis of Kankakee, Illinois. He had one sister, Carrie Kraft of Queensland, Australia, and a half-sister in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
     Charles and Anna had 10 children: Mary, Louis, Anna, Charles, Louise, Hans, Carrie, Nina, Alfred, and Gladys: 

Mary  born March 14, 1883, married Hans Peter Grav Feb. 27, 1901, & died Feb. 1920. 
Louis  born Sept. 14, 1885, married Jessie S. Shand, & died Dec. 24, 1971. 
Anna  born April 22, 1887, married Jim Grav Feb. 21, 1906, & died July 17, 1950 Charles  born April 4, 1889, married Susan Nelson Apr. 4, 1915, & died Jan. 6, 1959.
Louise  born April 28, 1891, married Ervin Perkins, & died Jan. 31, 1974.
Hans C   born Aug. 10, 1892, married Mabel Carter 1913, & died Dec. 30, 1982.
Carrie  born Mar. 29, 1895, married Buren J. Leinbaugh Apr. 2, 1919, died Dec. 1, 1988.
Nina  born Mar. 31, 1898, married Ed Schmidt, Dec. 9, 1916, died Sept. 5, 1984.
Alfred  born July 21, 1902, married Ann Jones, & died April 20, 1969.
Gladys  born Feb. 23, 1904, married Lester Johnson Sept. 11, 1923, & died Nov. 29, 1992.
The father, Charles, passed away on July 22, 1931 and the mother, Anna, passed away on March 3, 1939.

     In the summer of 1875, Will came West to live 5 miles north of Schaller, in Sac County, and "broke prairie." Wm. E. Harrison was the son of John and Susan Harrison, born June 6, 1851, at Sigourney, Keokuk County, Iowa. He moved with his parents when a small boy to a farm located near Hopkinton, in Delaware County, Iowa. He returned to Delaware County to be married to Mary Ellen Allison, daughter of Samuel and Emmeline Allison, Dec. 21, 1875.
     The spring of 1876, Will drove a team and wagon to his land north of Schaller, Iowa. Mary and her father, Samuel Allison, came to Fort Dodge by rail and on to Sac County by stage. Mary's father helped build a frame house on the land.  Avery Harrison, son of Mary Ellen Allison and Wm. Harrison, was born there Nov. 5, 1876.
     On Easter Sunday in 1878, Will and Mary were visiting neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Breach, who lived across the section from them, when, without warning, a cyclone hit! It blew the house away, killing Mrs. Breach and injuring Mary badly. Will was found with a plank across his chest, but not severely injured. When they found Avery, the 17 month baby, he was paddling in the mud, enjoying himself. The Harrison home was also blown away. They stayed with neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Griffeth, until a new house was built for them.
     In the spring of 1889, they moved to a farm near Galva. Will purchased land, 80 acres nearby. In 1917 they moved to Galva and resided there until their death. Will passed away March 5, 1931 and Mary on May 7, 1938.
     Will and Mary raised six children: Avery Harrison*, Ada Robins, Alice Haworth*, Susan Penrod, William A. Harrison, and Laura Penrod*.

Julia (Hart) Hickey

     John & Julia Hickey emigrated to the United States from Ireland. John came in 1802. Julia was born in Ireland in 1814 and then the time of famine was in her country. Her parents sent her and her brother away from home "to try to make their way to America" because there was no food at home for them. Her mother's last words as she shut the door were "never look back." She and her brother started walking to the sea. Julia boarded a ship as a "stowaway" and reached the United States. She never saw or heard from her brother again. At that time it was common to "send only the boys to school," so Julia never had the opportunity in Ireland to read or write.
     John and Julia had farmed in New York and had 4 children: Eliza, John, William H., and Jennie. About 1858 the family moved to Wisconsin and then to Iowa later. The son John was born about 1842 and farmed. He and his wife Celia had 5 children in Iowa and 5 more were born after they moved to the mountains of Western Montana, near Victor. John discovered a vein of gold and sold stock in the mine to some of his Iowa relatives. It never paid off to the investors.
     The daughter Jennie became a teacher and purchased 80 acres of land in Iowa in 1881. She sold one acre for $30 for use as a school ground in 1882. The school had been erected before the sale of the land. She sold ¾ of an acre for $100 to be used as a site of a church.
     Son William H. was born in 1843 and married Sarah Taylor. William H. became a director of the First National Bank of Aurelia, later named the First Trust and Savings Bank. He was elected a representative to the State Legislature in 1906. William H. and Sarah Hickey had 6 children: Clarence C. born 1872, William Francis born 1873, Arthur born 1878, Stella born 1884, Luella born 1888, and Edna born 1890.
John the father died July 7, 1887, and Julia died May 18, 1893.