HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY  195

trip, going by rail first to Chicago and then to Rock Island, where he
took a Mississippi steamer to Burlington, Iowa. Going then by rail ten
miles, which was as far as the railroads had been extended west of the
Mississippi, he took a stage at the railway terminus and proceeded to
Jefferson City, Missouri, where he found work in the harvest fields. Going
from there to Oskaloosa, he worked there for a time, and then went to
Wayne county, Iowa, where he entered a quarter section of government
land. Locating then in Davis county, Iowa, he engaged in teaming until
March, 1855, when he went on foot to Keokuk, where he embarked as a
deck passenger on a steamer for St. Louis. There he took cabin passage
on a Pittsburg boat, and returned to Ohio to resume farm work. In the
ensuing fall Mr. Triplett rented a piece of land, bought a pair of oxen,
and put in a crop of wheat, which he harvested the following year. On
the 21st of September, 1856, Mr. Triplett married, and on the 1st of
October started with his bride for Iowa, while en route stopping in Clay
county, this state, to visit his parents. Continuing his journey westward,
he located in Davis county, Iowa, where he farmed on rented land until
September, 1858, when on account of the ill health of his wife he sold
his crops and stock and returned to his old home, near Roseville, Ohio.
    Renting land there, Mr. Triplett began farming, but the late frosts
so injured his crops that he became discouraged, and in June of that year
again started west, being at that time a hundred and forty-four dollars in
debt. Coming across the country with his wife and child, he settled near
Brazil, this county, renting a small place just west of the village, and
engaged in farming and hauling coal, stone, shingles and lumber, the
shingles being mostly rived by hand. He received a dollar and a half a
day for himself and team, and in a year’s time he had paid his indebted-
ness and was square with the world. Borrowing money, then, Mr. Trip-
lett bought eighty acres of land in Van Buren township. A small por-
tion of this was cleared, and in the hewn log house, with its earth and
stick chimney, he lived a few years, in the meantime engaging in the coal
business, hauling coal from his own land to Brazil, Donaldsonville and
Harmony.
    On Christmas day, 1865, Mr. Triplett bought one hundred and sixty
acres of land adjoining Harmony on the north and platted a part of it
as an addition to the town. A small part of the land had been cleared,
and it was further improved by a two-story hewn log house and small
stable which the former proprietor had erected. Taking possession of the
place in March, 1866, he set to work in earnest to clear the remainder of
the timber from the land, and for eight years was there prosperously
employed in general farming and stock raising and dealing. Leasing
the property in 1874 to the Watson Coal Company, he still resided on the
place until February 13, 1880, although during the time he sold the land,
retaining, however, his interest in the coal beds. In February, 1880,
having sold a part of his farming implements and stock, he bought two
hundred and ten acres of land adjoining the town of Humboldt, Richard-
son county, Nebraska, and there engaged in tilling the soil. In the fol-
lowing June, Mr. Triplett rented that land and moved to Savannah, Mis-
souri, where he rented a home. In October of that year he bought a farm
of ninety acres lying one mile from the village, moved on to it, harvested
the fruit, and lived there until the next spring. Selling then at an
advance, he rented a place of twenty acres, lived on it till June, then
purchased a tract of twenty-five acres adjoining Savannah, on which he