John H. Anthony

John H. Anthony, who settled on his present farm in 1851, purchased his first eighty acres of prairie from Oliver Whitaker that year. He was born in Warren county, N. J., in 1826. His parents were Francis and Elizabeth (Hagar) Anthony, natives of Londonderry, Ireland, and Warren county, N. J., respectively. The former came to the United States in 1819 and to New Jersey in 1820, where he married Miss Hagar in 1824, who was born in Warren county of that state. They came to this county in 1853, with one son and seven daughters. As related in the history of the Presbyterian church, they were among its early members and supporters. The children who accompanied them hither were Lydia, now Mrs. Pomeroy; Eliza, now Mrs. John Hazen; Sarah J., now Mrs. W. H. Adams, of Elmore; Mary A., widow of David Cummings, of Knox county, Ill.; Martha, now Mrs. Cuming, of Dallas Center, Iowa; Cyrus A. and Margaret, twins, the latter Mrs. R. K. Worley, of Kewanee, Caroline, wife of Robert Barr, a lawyer of Adel, Iowa. Jacob resides at Newark, N. J., and never settled here. The father of this large family died in December, 1876, his widow is living here at the good old age of eighty-nine years. Cyrus Anthony served in the Fifty-first Illinois Infantry, and was promoted gradually from the ranks to captain of Company G. He enlisted in 1861 and in the spring of 1864 reenlisted. In 1867 he commenced to stiuty law, was admitted to the bar, and is now a distinguished lawyer of Marysville, Mo., where he has resided since 1870. He represented his county in the Legislature two sessions and served as prosecuting attorney for Nodaway county. He was born in New Jersey in 1839. In 1886 he was candidate for judge of the twenty-ninth judicial circuit of Missouri, comprising the counties of Andrew, Atchison, Holt and Nodaway, getting a majority in every county. His majority over Judge Kelley (who carried the district six years ago by 1,700) is 2,772. John H. Anthony was raised on his father's farm in New Jersey, was educated in the schools there until December 10, 1848, when he married Miss Elmira Drake, to whom two children were born, namely: Adeline and Francis E. This lady died August 6,1853, and two years later he married Miss Frances E. Egbert, mother of Harriet, Isabella and Grace Anthony. Adeline, who accompanied her father to this township in 1851, is now Mrs. William O. Leigh. Mr. Anthony was elected justice of the peace in 1857 and has been re-elected four terms since that time. In the fall of 1885 he was commissioned notary public by Governor Oglesby. Apart entirely from his official life in the township, he has been a most useful citizen in every sphere. His residence and grounds near West Jersey, form an index to his character and point out forcibly what he can teach by example. Mrs. Anthony, Sr., commonly known as "Grandma Anthony," born in Warren county, N. J., in 1798, died January 10, 1887, having survived her husband about eleven years.