Joseph Ira Carpenter (abt. 1821 - 1902)

Born about 23 Feb 1821 in Bennington, Vermont, United States

Died 27 Sep 1902 at about age 81 in Princeton, Bureau, Illinois, United States

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Biography

Joseph Ira Carpenter was born in Bennington, Vt., February 25, 1821; grew to manhood there and followed farming.

March 4, 1852, he married Miss Augusta E. Gardener, and there was born to them one son, Joseph D., who lost his mother when he was nine days old. After the death of his wife he traded his Vermont farm to his father for one the latter owned near Harpersfield, Ohio, and went there is 1853, and where, in 1857 he married Miss Flora H. Bartholomew, who died at the well known Carpenter home, near this city, January 5, 1871.

Soon after his second marriage Mr. Carpenter moved to Cherry Valley, in Winnebago county, Illinois, where he went into the lumber trade, under the firm name of Carpenter & Wheeler.

In 1861 he came to Princeton and settled in the Hitchcock residence, now known as the Dr. Cunningham place, north of Apollo hall. Here he also embarked in the lumber trade with C.M. Priestley, under the firm name of Priestley & Carpenter.

Obituary of Joseph Ira Carpenter from the Bureau County Tribune Friday October 3 1902 J.I. Carpenter

Last Saturday night another of Bureau county’s leading men of enterprise and business affairs closed his earthly career and went over on the other side with the silent majority. After about three weeks of confinement to his home and bed, J.I. Carpenter died at 10:40 Saturday night, aged 81 years, 7 months and 2 days.

Joseph Ira Carpenter was born in Bennington, Vermont, February 25, 1821; grew to manhood there and followed farming. March 4, 1852, he married Miss Augusta E. Gardener, and there was born to the mone son, Joseph D., who lost his mother when he was nine days old. In early boyhood Mr. Carpenter gave evidence of the possession of those stirring business traits which were a marked characteristic of his later life, and at the age of nineteen had accumulated sufficient means of his own to make him independent of his father’s care and assistance.

After the death of his wife he traded his Vermont farm to his father for one the latter owned near Harpersfield, Ohio, and went there is 1853, and where, in 1857 he married Miss Flora H. Bartholomew, who died at the well known Carpenter home, near this city, January 5, 1871.

Soon after his second marriage Mr. Carpenter moved to Cherry Valley, in Winnebago county, Ill., where he went into the lumber trade,under the firm name of Carpenter & Wheeler. In 1861 he came to Princeto nand settled in the Hitchcock residence, now known as the Dr. Cunningham place,north of Apollo hall. Here he also embarked in the lumber trade with C.M. Priestley,under the firm name of Priestley & Carpenter. In 1864 he bought the Alfred Clark farm, about two and one half miles southeast of Princeton, from the father of the late Atherton Clark, and he made this his family home during the balance of his life.

After moving onto the farm he was still carrying on the lumber business here in Princeton and at Cherry Valley, and he and Wheeler also opened up a lumber yard in Mendota, which they subsequently sold and then opened other yard at Rock Falls. He sold his lumber business to the Trowbridge brothers in 1871, at about which time be became interested and began to invest in Green river swamp lands, which he continued to purchase from time to time, until at his death he owned 1,947 acres all under cultivation.

About 1894 he began active work in agitating and organizing the Greenville Drainage district,for the purpose of straightening the river channel and gaining more fall. It was a big task which he finally carried to success, not only in organizing the district, but also in cutting the channel from Draper’s Point across to the old channel, about a mile and three-quarters southwest of New Bedford. The ditch or canal, which is about eleven miles long, cost $75,000 and reclaimed and put under cultivation thousands of acres of valuable land, which was comparatively worthless before, to its owners for any purpose of to the county for purposes of taxation.

Mr. Carpenter bore about one fifth of the expense of cutting the channel. In addition to his Green river land Mr. Carpenter owned a valuable ranch of 3,040 acres in Morris county, Kansas.

On the fifth of last January Mr.Carpenter caught a bad cold and from then on was in poor health nearly all winter. In the spring he went to Colfax, Iowa, and on a visit to his son Joseph at Malcolm, Iowa. He returned seemingly in pretty fair health and was in and out of Princeton about as usual for some time. In August he apparently took another bad cold and from thence on he steadily declined, his serious sickness lasting about three weeks.

During all the years of his residence in and near Princeton Mr. Carpenter was immersed in business; it was his occupation and recreation and he seldom tarried along the streets. In his intercourse with his acquaintances he was cheery and jovial and in his family circle he was always joking with his children, and they looked upon him both as father and chum.

He was the father of six children, all living. By his second wife there was born to him Reynolds Priestley, Fred Beecher, Lyman Wade, Flora Augusta and Charles Howell. Fred B. resides at Wilsey, Kan,; Reynolds and Charles both reside on Green river farms, and Flora and Wade at the Princeton home. The funeral was held at the house at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Rev. McLaren officiating, and the burial was in Oakland.

Sources

• Obituary of Joseph Ira Carpenter from the Bureau County Tribune Friday October 3 1902 J.I. Carpenter

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97608237/joseph-ira-carpenter