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from Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa by Manoah Hedge The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1906
Moses E. Votaw, who devotes his time and energies to general agricultural pursuits, including both the cultivation of the soil and the raising and feeding of stock, is living on section 15, Cedar township, and owns a valuable and well improved farm of nearly five hundred acres, which is conveniently located within a mile of Fremont. He has been a resident of the county since 1870, and in the years which have since passed he has been an active representative of agricultural interests. His birth occurred in Indiana, near the town of Wabash, on the 14th of February, 1852. His father, Isaac Votaw, was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1805, but was married in Ohio, Miss Rebecca Pierce, a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1809, becoming his wife. For some years they resided in the Buckeye state and afterward removed to Wabash county, Indiana, whence they went a few years later to Cass county, Michigan, residing there for twelve years. In 1870 they came to Iowa, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres, constituting a part of the farm upon which Moses E. Votaw now resides. After spending four years upon this property the father took up his abode in Oskaloosa, where for some time he lived retired and later removed to Wright, where he died June 2, 1892. His wife survived him four years, passing away in 1896. In the family were eight children, five sons and three daughters, but the daughters are all now deceased. Moses B. Votaw was a young man of eighteen years when he came with his parents to Iowa, having in the meantime accompanied them, on their removal to Michigan. Here he assisted in carrying on the home farm and later he purchased the property which he further cultivated and improved. He rebuilt the barn, has erected a large two-story residence, and in 1900 he built a large new barn. He has tiled and fenced the place and has six fine wells with water flowing to tanks. He also has a windpump attached to another well. There is an abundance of water for the stock and house and everything upon the place is in keeping with ideas of modern farming, the latest improved machinery being used in the cultivation of the fields. Mr. Votaw has purchased more land from time to time and now owns a farm of four hundred acres in one body which is splendidly improved. He has fifty acres of pasture land north of Fremont. He harvests good crops and in connection with the tilling of the soil he is raising, fattening and shipping stock, annually selling from three to four carloads, of cattle, sheep and hogs. In addition to his farming interests he aided in organizing the Fremont State Bank, of which he is a stockholder and director. Mr. Votaw was married in White Oak township, Mahaska county, on Thanksgiving day of 1876, to Miss Sarah E. CaIdwell, a native of Tennessee, who was reared in Mahaska county and is a daughter of Thomas Caldwell, one of the pioneers of Iowa, who came to this state from Tennessee. In 1892 Mr. Votaw was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who passed away on the 17th of March, of that year, and was laid to rest in White Oak cemetery. There were two sons and two daughters of that marriage: Elva Etta, who is now in California; Thomas W., also in Los Angeles, California; Nellie Grace, a student in Fremont; and Fred C. Politically Mr. Votaw is a stanch republican, but without aspiration for office, although he served on one occasion as commissioner of highways. He is a believer in good schools and in the employment of good teachers, and as a memher of the school board has done effective service for the cause of education. He is a member of the Society of Friends, at Bloomfield, and has lived an upright, honorable life, winning the confidence and respect of his fellowmen. For thirty-six years he has lived in Mahaska county, an interested witness of its growth and development, and has been one of the most active and prosperous farmers of this portion of the state. He certainly deserves much credit for what he has accomplished, his prosperity being attributable to his own earnest labor, well directed efforts and capable management. He is today in possession of a valuable property and his life record should serve to encourage and inspire others, showing what may be accomplished by determination and energy.
Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy