Joseph Freeman MIERS ¹

   Another name for Joseph was Mr. Joe Freeman MIERS.

   User ID: P00050781.

  General Notes:

Cass County, Iowa, was listed as where Joe was born on his death record.
(See reference 3 below.)

Joseph moved with his parents, Isaac and Hannah, and family from Adams
County, Iowa, to Marion County, Iowa, after June 21, 1880. (see reference
16 below)

Joe and Lulu were married by Rev. W.A. Jackson, Pastor of the church at
Attica, Marion County, Iowa.
Joe and Lulu lived on the "D.B. Cherry place" east of Attica, Iowa, at
one time then moved to the Joseph Robuck place in Indiana Township,
Marion County, Iowa. Eventually, they moved to Knoxville where they
lived for many years.

Joe was a farmer, a carpenter and a school janitor. On his death record,
he is listed as a grocer. He was said to be of German-Dutch decent. He
was blind for about 40 years, becoming blind from either a detached
retina or ashes in his eye as he was also janitor at the east side grade
school in Knoxville. Both stories were told. As a result of his
blindness, for income, he and Lulu sold milk from a little entry way to
the back of their house until their two sons, Clarence and Ancil, built
an extra room on the house for them from where they operated a small
grocery store. A bell jingled on the door to alert Joe of customers
entering. They even had a glass case with candy that cost a penny. Joe
also made and sold belts, change purses and rubber mats for scraping mud
off of feet before entering homes. His blindness did not stop him, he
walked all over town and he could recognize a person by their footsteps
alone.

Joe went blind when Lucille Miers Webster was a baby, about 1935. In a
telecon on February 12, 2000, Lucille's cousin Mildred Miers Gross Snyder
relates that after Joe went blind, he roofed and shingled his barn/garage
(it was a barn then later a garage). Mildred's father, Clarence Miers,
put a board along the roof edge so Joe, his dad, would know where the
edge was and not fall off. Joe lined up the shingles by feel and they
were on straighter than most sighted men do. Note: There was a series
of attached buildings including the barn/garage which was attached to a
smoke house to smoke meat for its preservation. The smoke house later
became a laundry room. While connected to each other, these buildings
were not connected to the back of the house. There was an outhouse
behind the smoke house with a seperate entrance. A trumpet flower vine,
with orange flowers shaped like long bells on a trumpet, grew by the path
to the outhouse. As children, Lucille and her cousin, Mariln Harvey
liked to put the flowers upside down on their fingers and say they had
long fingernails. There was a rain barrel at the corner of the back of
the house which collected rain and was used when Lulu Miers wanted soft
water. Lucille and others washed their hair in this rain water. Later,
water softeners were developed and rain barrels were no longer needed.

Mildred Snyder told Lucille that when Joe went blind he had been working
as a custodian at the school. The school nurse, a Nan Clack, insisted
that he go to summer school for the blind where they learn to use their
other senses to take over for the lack of being blind. Joe went not only
one summer but went two summers to this school. This is how he learned
to get around so well while being blind.

Lulu did not work outside the home but worked and operated the grocery
store beside Joseph. The front room in their house was rented out for
extra income and she was active in the community, still carrying the flag
in the Memorial Day Parade when she was approximately 76 years old.
After Joe's death, their son Clarence received special permission from
the city to place a new 50 foot single-wide mobile home on his lot for
Lulu to live in until her death. She said it was the best house she ever
had.

Their granddaughter Lucille Miers Webster grew up, until a Junior on high
school, living on the southeast corner of the block only one block from
them in a stucco house at 1136 Jefferson Street, Knoxville, Iowa. She
therefore, spent a lot of time at their house. Note: the streets may
have been renumbered from the time Lucille lived there until Joe died.

Lulu made excellent egg noodles. Lucille liked them so well, that long
after she grew up, Lulu would make them for her when she came to visit
and Lulu even mailed some to her. Joe, although blind always knew
Lucille by her footsteps when they met on the streets of town. Joe also
used to have a box of chocolates once in a while that he shared sparingly
with Lucille. The brown paper cups the candy sat in smelled as good as
eating the candy had tasted.

Family get-to-gathers for Christmas, Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving,
all the major holidays, and for birthdays of Lulu or Joe or their
children, were wonderful ways to know and enjoy the other family members,
besides ordinary visiting back and forth in each other's homes. Every
other year Christmas would be held on Christmas Day at Lulu and Joe's and
every other year it was the Sunday before so the families could go to the
other spouses family for Christmas day. The family drew names and had a
big dinner and gift exchange. The day before the Christmas dinner,
Lucille got to decorate Lulu and Joe's Christmas tree which was a branch
cut off of an evergreen in their back yard and stuck in a bucket of sand
held up by leaning against the wall in the living room. As soon as the
dinner was over, gifts opened and pictures taken, out went the tree.
Lucille took most of the pictures at these events as she had an interest
in doing so. Lucille has many happy memories of these family events and
of just being at her grandparents.

Joseph was 81 when he died of Carcinoma of the Lung. He died in his home
at 302 East Jefferson Street, Knoxville, Iowa. (See reference 3 below.)
He had cancer of the bowel and a bad heart that were not listed on his
death record but was known to Lucille Webster, his granddaughter. When
performing cancer surgery, the doctor stopped before finished saying
Joe's heart would not take the rest of the surgery. After the surgery,
he laid in bed for several months and would only eat 1/2 a bowl of
oatmeal at a meal as he was planning to die soon. He died in his own
home.

Joe and Lulu's funerals were both at Bybee & Davis Funeral Home, 301
North Second, Knoxville, Iowa, and both are buried in Graceland Cemetry,
Knoxville, Marion, Co., Iowa, Section 9 (North part of old cemetery),
Lot 2. Their son, Clarence was part owner of that funeral home.

Lulu and Joe's daughter, Hazel, married Marvin Harvey, whose father was a
brother to Ike Harvey, husband of Myrtle Harvey, Lulu Miers' sister.

Joseph's Aunt Mary Ann's and Uncle Jacob's names were spelled Miers and
Mires within the same deed. Mary's middle name was spelled An in one
place on the deed. This is the first time period that Lucille Miers
Webster has known of the Miers spelling instead of Myers. Later, Hannah
Miers was spelled Miers when referred to in a diary of her cousin Robert
Lincoln Young in Illinois. Many times, in public records, the name is
spelled Myers.

January 9, 2000, a diary of Robert Lincoln Young was read by Margaret
Young Rice, his great-granddaugher, of Knoxville, Illinois. In the
diary, Robert wrote entries for December 1893. On the 8th, he and his
wife, Emma, went "up home. Mr. E. (Mr. England - her father) was sick
with Ia grippe. Our folks went to Edd Young's and brought home Aunt
Nancy Johnston and cousin Hannah Miers with them." On the 12th, "Father
and mother took cousins over to Collins." (Collins married the Youngs)
Dec. 16th: "Father went for Aunt Nancy and Hannah at the AM" Dec.
20th: Aunt Nancy and Cousin Hannah left for good." Also in the diary
is a note for Nov. 8, 1893: "Charlie Myers married." It is not known
if he is part of the Miers family or not but may not have been since the
spelling is Myers in the same book as Hannah's spelling of Miers. May
11, 1892 through June 25, 1892, Robert's parents took a trip which
included Texas, Col., Kansas, Neb., Iowa.

Note: Joseph Freeman Miers used to speak of Aunt Lydia and Uncle Jake
Probaco. It is pretty certain that Jake and Lydia are Jacob (called
Jake) and Elizabeth Probasco. Jake is the son of Joseph Miers' Aunt Mary
Ann (Miers) Probasco. Lydia could be a nickname for Elizabeth. Also,
Lydia was Mary's mother. That may possibly have caused the mix up in
names. Joseph was five years old when he moved away from Jake and
Elizabeth Probasco. Jake was an adult when Joseph was five.

Joseph's father's, Isaac Freeman Miers, sister, Mary Ann (Miers) Probasco
and her husband Jacob moved to Adams County, Iowa, in 1872, and bought
160 acres on Oct. 3, 1877, less right of way of 200 feet across the
property for Chicago Burlington & Quincy Rail Road Co., for use as track
and maintenance in conjunction with the track.

Jacob Creager had no children of his own or they died young, so on Nov.
17, 1887, his heirs were from his sister's, Lydia Miers, children. Those
heirs are all grand-nephews and nieces of Jacob: (reference 5):
1. Jacob M. Probasco, age 33 Seneca, Ontario Co., NY
2. Catherine A.J. Cramer, age 35, Corning, Adams Co., Iowa
3. John Mires, over 21, Clayton, Lenawee Co., MI
4. Adelbert Mires, over 21, same as above
5. Hattie L. Ford, age 29, Iliff (spelled: ILIFF), Weld Co.,
(presently LoganCo.), Colorado
6. Mary N. Gay, age 27, Corning, Adams Co., Iowa
7. Isetta Betterton, age 25, Knoxville, Marion Co., Iowa
8. Della Johnson, age 21 Milford, Dickinson,Co., Iowa
9. James A. Mires, age 19, same as above
10. Florence A. Johnson, age 17, same as above
11. May Mires, age 14, same as above
12. Joseph F. Mires, age 12, same as above
13. Lydia James, age 35, Toulan, Stark Co., IL.
14, Joseph Mires, age 25, Jackson, Jackson Co., MI
15. Frances Mires age 30, same as above
16. Hannah Mires, mother of #9-12.

(Note by Lucille: Hannah was actually mother of #5-12.
Numbers 5-12 are Isaac Freeman Miers' children and Hannah was his
wife.
Mary Ann's children are Numbers 1 and 2.
Numbers 3,4,13,14,15 must be Levi and Jacob's children.)
The Petition for acceptance to let Lydia Miers' brother's, Jacob
Creager's, heirs know of the probate of his will, lists the above heirs.
These heirs are also Lydia's heirs as they were Jacob's only heirs. The
same list of heirs were listed in Jacob Creager's Citation of Probate of
his will. Notices were sent to the heirs, some on Oct. 4 and some on
Oct. 5, 1887. They were also listed for the same purpose in the Geneva
Courier newspaper, Geneva, Ontario County, New York, in six issues one
week apart commencing Oct.7, 1887. Some are listed in the Citation to
Attend Probate of Will, signed Oct. 3, 1887, and filed November 17,
1887. Appraisers appointed for Jacob Creager's personal estate on
November 17, 1887, were Marvin Ringer and Wm. R. Kane. The property
appraisal was finished on December 6, 1887 and notorized December 15,
1887. Notice of Appraisement and Inventory for Jacob Creager's estate
was dated November 19, 1887, and signed on December 15, 1887, that it was
distributed to his heir Jacob M. Probasco, "the only legater and next of
kin". References 5 through 11 below.

History in 1857 Iowa

An interesting piece of data is that the Underground Railroad operated
through Knoxville, and through Cass County, Guthrie County, and other
southern and eastern Iowa towns in 1857 when people tried to help slaves
with their flight to Canada to obtain freedom before the U.S. Civil War.
Most came through Iowa from Missouri. This data is provided in "Brief
History of Corning and Adams Co., Iowa", published for Corning's 100
years celebration in 1957.
Cass County
History

Cass County is located at an elevation of 1,450 feet in rolling hills
with timber along the streams and coal mines in the southeastern part of
the county. Pottawattamie Indians were the first to live in the county
with several encampments and a burial ground at the Indiantown
encampment, west of Lewis. Most of the Indians left by 1847 and the rest
by 1856, giving up their land by the Treaties of 1846 before any white
settlers lived in Cass County.

Mormans passed through on the Morman trail in the fall of 1846. About 20
families stayed, establishing the first white town in the county, calling
it Iranistan, but most moved on west in 1849. Mail came once a week
from what is now called Council Bluffs. Cold Springs was a later name
attached to Indiantown.

Slowly but steadily people moved into the new territory. Pioneers built
on river banks in the timber instead of on the plains because hauling
wook to build houses was hard work and 90% of the work was done by the
individual living there. Many took three weeks pulling their goods 125
miles by oxen from Rockport, Missouri. The trip took a team of oxen and
three weeks time. All waters from rivers in Cass County flow westward
into the Missouri river. The M & M Divide is just west of Guthrie
Center. The M & M Divide is where the waters to the west flow to the
Missouri and the waters to the east flow to the Mississippi River. The
highest point in Cass County, the NW corner, is 1450 feet above sea
level. Several coal mines are located near Edna.

Cass County was actually organized the first Monday in March 1853. It
was named after Lewis Cass, a senator from Michigan who ran for president
of the U.S. in 1848 and lost.

The first white settlers laid out the first town in the state one mile
from Indiantown calling it Lewis.

In May 1855, the Western Stage started running four-horse coaches from
Des Moines to Council Bluffs passing through Indiantown.

The first census in Cass County was in 1856. The population had grown
from 416 at the original county formation to 815 in 1856, just three
years.

Crops raised in Cass County in 1815 were hay, oats, spring wheat, and
corn. Animals raised were hogs and cattle. There was some manufacturing
as well.

The Rock Island railroad came into the county in 1868, with a stop at
Atlantic. Because of the railroad connection, the county seat was moved
to Atlantic. In 1932, fire destroyed the courthouse but most of the
records were saved.

In1875-1878, during the time when Joseph Freeman Miers was born there and
his family lived in the area, the largest wholesale nursery supply house,
except for New York City, was located in Grove City.

References: (1) The data about the Rusling and Fowler families has been
obtained from Velta Miers Kunkel, and from "The Rusling Family". When I
(Lucille Miers Webster) was a little girl, Grandma (Lulu) Miers had told
me about the book and I finally traced it down and got a copy. It is
written by James Fowler Rusling, A.M., L.L.D., who is actually decended
from Hannah Miers' brother Gershom. This James is Gershom's son. The
book was published in 1907 by J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia. A copy
can be purchased in 1999 from Higginson Book Co. at E-mail:
higginsn@cove.com or mail to 148 Washington Street, P.O. Box 778,
Salem, MA 01970. (2) Marriage Record, Marion County, Iowa, 1845-1915,
Book 7, Page 599. (3) Joe's death record was found in: Record of
Deaths, Book 5, page 310, Marion County, Iowa, in the Marion County Court
House, Knoxville, Iowa. (4) Lulu's death record was found in the record
of deaths, Micro No. D-113, number at the top of the page is 114, for
Knoxville, Marion County, Iowa, December 27, 1979. (5) Geneva, New
York, newspaper article: A citation to appear in Surrogate's Court in
the Village of Geneva, New York, On Nov. 17, 1887, for the probate of the
last will and testament of Jacob Creager of Seneca, Ontario County, NY.
In the article, Jacob's heirs are listed. The article is run once a week
for 6 week beginning October 7, 1887. (6) The petition acceptance, dated
Oct. 1, 1887, to let heirs of Jacob Creager know of the probate of his
will in order to establish proof of his will. The will was dated
November 23, 1886. Jacob died Sept. 16, 1887. George W. Johnson agrees
to be executor of Jacob Creager's willon Oct. 1, 1887. On November 17,
1887, C.N. Heniuf or Hieeciufs (?), cannot read the name, agrees to act
as Special Guardian of the infants named in Jacob Creager's will. The
petition for Proof of Will for Jacob Creager was dated October 3, 1887.
(7) Declaration that the citation of probate for Jacob Creager's will was
sent to his heirs, some sent on Oct. 4 and some sent on Oct. 5, 1887.
(8) Declaration that a citation for probate of Jacob Creager's will was
served on Jacob M. Probasco on Oct. 5, 1887. (9) Citation to Attend
Probate of Will, signed Oct. 3, 1887, and filed November 17, 1887. (10)
Court records of appraisers appointed for Jacob Creager's personal estate
on November 17, 1887, were Marvin Ringer and Wm. R. Kane. The property
appraisal was finished on December 6, 1887 and notorized December 15,
1887. (11) Notice of Appraisement and Inventory for Jacob Creager's
estate was dated November 19, 1887, and signed on December 15, 1887, that
it was distributed to his heir Jacob M. Probasco, "the only legater and
next of kin". (12) Cemeteries of Marion County, Iowa, 1776-1976 book by
Marion Co. Genealogical society, published by R.C. Booth Enterprises,
Harlan, Iowa, with a publication date of 1974. (13) "Cass County Iowa",
published in 1980 by Cass County - 1980 HISTORY, INC. (Genealogical
Society), From These beginnings We Grew, Page 5, history of Cass County.
(14) Cass County History Page in the IAGenWeb on the internet for Cass
County, Iowa, November 2000. (15) 1880 federal census for Jasper
Township, Adams County, Iowa, for Lydia and Isaac Miers'/Myers' son Isaac
and Hannah Miers and their family, records that Isaac, the father who had
lived in New York, was born in New Jersey and his wife Lydia was born in
Maryland. (16) Obituary for May (Miers) Anderson (Clara May) in the
newspaper, The Express, Knoxville, Iowa, Thrusday, February 8, 1940. May
was a sister to Joseph Freeman Miers. (17) Data about Lulu and Joseph
Miers, is provided by letters from their oldest child, daughter Velta
Miers Kunkel. (18) Funeral Service/Memorial folders. (19) George W.
Gross Jr. of 1230 39th Ave., Vero Beach, Florida 32960, telephone
561-567-0743. George Gross was married to Lulu and Joseph's
granddaughter, Mildred Miers, daughter of Clarence. (20) Personel
knowledge of Lucille Miers Webster, granddaughter of Lulu and Joseph
Miers, and daughter of Ancil W. Miers. (21) 97th Birthday gift to Lulu
Miers from Clarence and Ethel Miers where their marriage and their
children were listed on some Bible pages.
@MI2261@

Joseph married Lulu Estella Bell SMITH on 2 Apr 1898 in Marion County, Iowa, USA. (Lulu Estella Bell SMITH was born on 5 Apr 1881 in Knoxville, Rural Route Near Attica, Marion Co, Iowa, died on 27 Dec 1979 in Knoxville, Marion Co., Iowa, At West Ridge Manor Nursing Home. and was buried on 29 Dec 1979 in Graceland Cemetery, Knoxville, Iowa, Block 10, Lot 2.)