My Genealogy Hound

PITMAN, R. W., far., Sec. 2, West Point Tp.; P. O. West Point; was born in Laurel Co., Ky., April 27, 1827, and came to Lee Co. with his parents when in the 9th year of his age. The Pitman family came the entire distance from Kentucky by ox-team, and crossed the Mississippi River, opposite the present site of the Penitentiary, on the 20th day of April, 1835, and went directly to the neighborhood where they have ever since resided. When the Pitmans settled on their claim, they were on the extreme borders of civilization, and beyond them westward there were no settlers; for many years, there were no schools, except subscription schools. The elder Pitman was poor and had a large family to support, and, as soon as the boys were large enough, they were put to work to help improve the claim and help maintain the family. The subject of this sketch, the fourth son of the family, and the first by his father’s third wife, grew to manhood without the benefits of even a common-school education. All his knowledge of books and men was gained by his own industry and studious habits; there are but few men in Lee or any other county in Iowa who possesses a more diversified fund of useful information than R. W. Pitman; as a writer and speaker, he far excels most men of better advantages. In February, 1849, when in the 22d year of his age, he married Miss Belinda C., the youngest daughter of Simeon W. and Sarah Cooley, pioneers in Athens Co., Ohio, who removed from the Buckeye State to Lee County in 1843. After his marriage, Mr. Pitman settled down to the life of a farmer on the old homestead, where he still resides; his wife, Belinda, died Dec. 31, 1849, leaving an infant son, Lewis Cooley, named after his two grandfathers; this son lived about nine months, and then followed his mother. June 10, 1850, Mr. Pitman married his present wife, Amanda Cooley, a sister of his first wife; has had eight children. During the war, Mr. Pitman was Provost Marshal for Lee Co., a position for which he was peculiarly well fitted. A farmer by education, he has always taken an active part in the agricultural interests of the county, and to his energy and enterprise the people of Lee Co. owe the success and prosperity of the Agricultural Society. In all public enterprises, he has always taken an active and guiding part. As a friend and neighbor, R. W. Pitman is a noble representative of the Kentucky type; his latch-string always hangs outside, and no one, no matter what their caste or color, ever went hungry or cold from his home; he has always been known as the poor man’s friend.