Transcribed from The Biographical and Historical Record of Wayne and Appanoose Counties Iowa Originally published 1886


Joseph H. STEELE, deceased, was born in Owen County, Indiana, September 6, 1831, and died in Benton Township, February 22, 1883. His grandfather, James Steele, was a pioneer of Owen County, and for a year and a half lived in a block house, or fort, and there his father, Joseph H. Steele, SR., was also reared. He spent his youth in a manner common to boys in the early days of Indiana, attending, when not at work on the farm, the old fashioned subscription schools. In 1863 he moved to Edgar County, Illinois, and in the fall of 1864 to Wayne County, Iowa, and located in Benton Township, which was his home over eighteen years till he was called to the home beyond. He was a conscientious and devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he was a class-leader ten years and a steward fifteen years. He was a consistent Christian man, upright and honorable in all his dealings, and was loved and esteemed by all who knew him. He was a liberal supporter of his church and a benevolent and kind friend to the poor and needy, and his death was a loss to the community hard to be replaced. Mr. Steele was married in the fall of 1852, to Mary Burk, a native of Johnson County, Indiana, daughter of Archie Burk, who was a native of Kentucky and is now a resident of Clay County, Illinois. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Steele, but three of whom are living -- Charles, an attorney of Corydon; Laura, and Minnie. Charles married Fannie Chapman, and has one child -- Ila. Laura is the wife of Granville Riley, of Corydon, and Minnie is the wife of Wendell Corbett, of Benton Township and has one child, an infant daughter.