Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Wapello Co., Iowa; Chicago, Chapman Brothers, 1887; scanned image, Beforetime.net

HARVEY ELLER, a highly respected farmer and stock-grower of Competine Township, is the possessor of a valuable tract of land on section 16, and in the various departments of his business is meeting with more than ordinary success. He is a gentleman of enterprise and energy, carrying on his farming operations in a skillful manner, and in his stock-growing operations exhibits some of the finest animals in this section of the Hawkeye State. Mr. Eller is a native of Wilkes County, N. C., and was born March 24, 1819. He is the son of Simeon and Fannie (McNeil) Eller, the former born in Ashe County, N. C., Sept. 8, 1796, and the latter in Wilkes County, the same State, about the year 1798. The father of our subject was of German, and the mother of Scottish ancestry. Their household consisted of eleven children, eight sons and three daughters, as follows: Harvey, of our sketch, was the oldest; Polly Whitington resides in North Carolina; J. C. lives in Clay County, Neb.; Nancy, Mrs. Vannoy, died in April, 1847, and is buried in her native State; William moved to Nebraska in 1873, and there died; James is a farmer and merchant, and remains in his native State of North Carolina; Jesse F. was a captain in the Confederate army, and is now engaged in agricultural pursuits in Virginia; David was also a soldier during the late war, and died in the Confederate army, the date of his death and the place of his burial are unknown; Anderson, a farmer and blacksmith, resides in Wilkes County, N. C. The mother of these children died in October, 1857. Thomas Eller was conscripted into the Confederate army, and killed at Chancellorsville. The youngest daughter, America Ann, first married William Whitington, afterward Mr. Weaver, and resides in Ashe County, N. C. The Eller family were prominent in the social and political affairs of North Carolina, and well known throughout that section for their straightforward business methods, kindly sympathies and the efforts which they made to promote the general welfare of their fellow-citizens, being strong supporters of education, morality and religion.

The early life of Harvey Eller was passed in his native county, on his father's farm. The father was also engaged in distilling and blacksmithing, and his son operated with him after he became of suitable age until his marriage. This event took place in November, 1841, the maiden of his choice being Miss Mary Caroline Vannoy. After their marriage young Eller continued farming pursuits in Wilkes County for the following eleven years. In view of his strong temperance views and his anti-slavery principles, and having listened to a forcible speech by Phillip S. White upon these subjects, in due time Mr. Eller concluded to "pull up stakes" and go away from a vicinity where his principles of right were being constantly subjected to outrage, and accordingly he load his wife and seven small children into a wagon, and started for the country beyond the Mississippi. They landed in Jefferson County, Iowa, on the 10th of December, 1852, after a tedious journey of eight weeks. In 1855 he removed to Wapello County, and purchased a tract of wild land on section 5, in Competine Township, which he cultivated and occupied for the following ten years, when he sold out and purchased 240 acres on section 16. He afterward sold eighty acres of this, and continued to improve and cultivate the remainder, which he has brought to a fine state of cultivation, and it is provided with a good farm residence and out-buildings.

Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Eller there were born fifteen children, of whom the record is as follows: William H. is an attorney of Blair, Neb.; he enlisted as a soldier during the late war, being a member of the 19th Iowa Volunteers; B. C., another son, is a farmer of Clay County, Neb., he was also a soldier, a member of Co. K., 9th Iowa Vol. Cav.; Jennie, Mrs. Hook, lives in Highland Township; Nancy, Mrs. Troxel, resides in Clay County, Neb.; Mary O., Mrs. Phelps, died in 1881, in Hampton, Franklin County, this State; James A. is a farmer of Clay County, Neb.; Jesse F. is engaged in the real-estate and brokerage business at Clay Center, Neb.; Israel Curtus is a practicing attorney and Clerk of the Court of Washington County, Neb., his residence being at Blair; Martha E., the wife of G. W. Dickens, lives in Competine Township, this county, on section 17; John was drowned in 1875, in Competine Creek; T. A. is a farmer of Clay County, Neb.; J. H. is a hardware merchant of Clay Center, the same State; E. C. operates a farm in Clay County, Neb.; Maggie, Mrs. Davis, is a resident of Wapello County; O. R., the youngest son, is living with his parents. A grandson of Mr. Eller, L. D. Phelps, is the son of Mary O. (Eller) Phelps.

The parents of Mrs. Eller were Jesse and Polly (Kilby) Vannoy, and were natives of North Carolina, the maternal grandfather being a drummer boy during the Revolutionary War. Our subject and his wife are prominently connected with the Baptist Church, and Mr. Eller politically is strongly Republican, and an ardent advocate of prohibition.

The family of Harvey and Mary included 15 children:
William Hamilton Eller
Barnett Cleveland Eller
Virginia "Jennie" Eller Hook
Nancy "Nannie" Eller Troxel
Mary Octavo Eller Phelps
James Anderson Eller
Jesse Franklin Eller
Israel Curtis Eller
Martha A. Eller Dickens (George W. Dickens)
John C. Eller
Thomas Arnold Eller
Jacob H. Eller
Edson C. Eller
Maggie Eller Davis
Otis Reader Eller