Posted on: Des Moines Co. Ia Biographies Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ia/DesMoinesBios/4 Surname: Iles ------------------------- >From the Portrait & Biographical Album of Des Moines County, Iowa, 1888, page 635. If you connect with this line please contact me for further information. HENRY ILES Henry Iles, deceased. To preserve the memory of the dead is as fitting as to record the lives of the living. Those who have lived were in many instances the equal of those who take their places in the world of action, and how many who peruse these pages will read historic accounts of pioneers in fact, who for almost half a century delved and toiled that those of their kindred should have homes in this beautiful country. It is not due then that mention be made of such men, who braved all the vicissitudes of early days in the new Northwest. Our subject, while not one of the first-comers to Des Moines County, was a man worthy and well known during his lifetime, and for a number of years his residence was upon a farm in Danville Township. He was born in Hocking County, Ohio, Dec. 13, 1826, and was a son of parents born in Pennsylvania, of German ancestry, who came to Ohio at an early day, and settled in the wild woods of that country. Several children were born before our subject, and the following are those living: Jacob, who wedded Minerva McBroom, resides in Vermilion County, Ill.; Maria, wife of Joseph McBroom, a farmer of Hocking County, Ohio; then our subject; Jeremiah, a minister of the United Brethren Church, and the husband of an Eastern lady, resides in Logan, Hocking County; and William, also a resident of that county, is the husband of Mary Deer. Henry Iles was married, in Ohio, to Maria Abbott, and two children were born of this union, though the mother and children are both now deceased. James, the son, married Jane Plunk in Ohio, and they were residents of Taylor County, Iowa, at the time of his death. Deciding to come West, Mr. Iles came to Iowa in 1856, locating upon the farm where his widow and daughters yet reside. The death of his first wife occurred in 1865, and three years later he made an overland trip to the gold fields of California, where he remained three years, accumulating quite a considerable sum of money, but his leniency to creditors and his well-known liberality melted away his savings, until he had but little to show for his California venture. After his return Mr. Iles was married to Miss Carrie Alspach, the ceremony being performed July 6, 1869. An extensive history of her family will be found in the sketch of William H. Alspach, of Danville. Until his last illness Mr. Iles was an indefatigable worker upon his farm. Two children came to bless his home, Bertha and Martha, both of whom are with their mother. No son can transmit the name of the worthy sire to future generations, but a record of uprightness is vouchsafed by the historian for a family equal to any. As a citizen, Henry Iles was one of the best. Honorable in all business details, upright in morals, and a Christian in thought and deed, quiet and unobtrusive in disposition, his life was spent in peace, and amid the plenteousness which surrounds those of careful and energetic habits. Mr. Iles left his wife and children comfortably off upon the homestead, near the village of Danville. Both himself and wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of that village, and in his death a faithful adherent to the faith and a liberal member of the society was lost. His early toil and the hardships of the mining country perhaps had something to do with shortening his days, for he died when manhood should be in its prime, in his forty-ninth year. There are many who while reading this sketch will call to remembrance his genial smile and cheery word. A score of years passed in this township endeared Mr. Iles to the community in a high degree, and to make this record becomes a pleasure to the historian. Link: My Iles family database on My-Ged.com URL: <http://www.my-ged.com/iles/>