Henry Clay Van Metre

Born: Feb. 16, 1829 in Pickaway Co., Ohio
Died: Sept. 5, 1919 in Tipton, IA Death Certificate
Buried: Masonic Cemetery, Tipton, IA 
Father: John Evans Van Metre
Mother: Josina Van Metre

Married: Feb. 16, 1858.  Johnson County, Iowa.
Wife: Rhoda Dunn Winterstein
Born: Dec. 23, 1832 in Pickaway Plains, Franklin Co., Ohio
Died: Sept. 1, 1915 in Tipton, IA
Buried: Masonic Cemetery, Tipton, IA
Father: Nicholas Winterstein
Mother: Polly Dolbee

Children

  1. *Ezra  b. 1859

  2. Edward Joseph  b. 1860

  3. Mary Josina b. Sept. 9, 1862, d. Sept. 16, 1864

  4. George  b. August 20, 1865, d. July 12, 1866

  5. Henry C.  b. Sept. 9, 1866, d. March 18, 1867

  6. John Evans b. 1868

  7. Hubert  b. June 16, 1868, d. Aug. 14, 1869

  8. Sallie Stinson Diehl  b. 1872

  9. Jessie Hoffman  b. 1874

  10. Rena Witmer b. 1876

  11. Paul Winterstein  b. 1878

    Son of John Evans Van Metre and Josina Van Metre, born Feb. 16,1829 in Pickaway Co., Ohio.  Attended West Point from July 1,1848 to Jan. 9, 1849.  Married Rhoda Dunn Winterstein who came with her parents, Nicholas Winterstein and Mary (Polly) Dolbee, to Iowa in mover wagons about 1838, settling in the Flint Hills (Burlington), later Johnson Co., near Cedar Rapids.  The couple moved in with Henry Clay's parents at the "Pickaway" homestead after they were married in 1858.

    Henry Clay did not enlist to fight in armed forces as four of his brothers had, instead, he followed the wishes of his father, staying home to care for his sick parents, his brothers families, his own family and running the farm.  He remained at the homestead some 34 years until after his parents had died, raising his entire family on the farm.

   Henry Clay had to sell the 275 acre farm in the winter of 1891 due to continued and serious stomach trouble.  He and his wife Rhoda, moved to Belle Plaine, 11 miles away where they built a home directly north of the High School where Jessie, Rena and Paul had graduated.  They moved again in 1897 to Tipton, Iowa, where Ezra, Edward Joseph (Ned) and Sallie had gone to High School.  They rebuilt a home on the east side of town and lived there till Rhoda died on Sept. 1, 1915.  Henry Clay died Sept. 5, 1919.

   An old soldier told Chaplain Van Metre at Marshalltown in 1933 "He was the fightingest little man I ever saw.  Always glad to get of his horse and oblige anybody."

 

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