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Mills County, Iowa Biographies
Charles Kesterson
Charles Kesterson was the first son of Thomas Kesterson and Nancy Jackson,
Charles Kesterson was born in Tennessee in 1819. He married Mary A. Dunagan in Greene Co. in 1841 and they had
6 children, Thomas, Catherine, James, Elizabeth, Nancy and Charles, all born in Tenn. In 1854, the family set out
by river boat for Mills Co., Iowa, where Mary's parents, 5 brothers, 1 sister and a widowed sister-in-law lived.
Enroute, Mary died of cholera and was buried on the bank of the Mississippi River in Illinois. On arriving in Iowa,
Charles and the 6 children made their home with his parents-in-law, Nicholas and Rebekah Dunagan south of Malvern.
Charles married Elizabeth Brooks in 1858 and they had 8 children in the "second family," Marinda, Zylphia,
Azuba, Ida Mae, William, John, George and Mary. A pioneer in Mills Co., Charles reared his 2 families on a farm
there, died in 1899 and is buried in Malvern Cemetery beside his wife Elizabeth. Thomas J. Kesterson served in
Company B, 29th Iowa Infantry in the Civil War; later he was a scout, a bear hunter and bounty hunter in Montana
and ranched on the Dismal River in Nebraska. Married to Miranda Brown in 1868, they had 14 children, 10 living
to adulthood. Thomas died and is buried in Albion, Nebraska. Catherine Ann Kesterson married the French immigrant,
John Lang, in 1861 in Mills Co. where they spent their lives. They had 9 children and 243 descendants at last count,
many living in western Iowa. James Cannon married Julina Read in 1870-71 in Mills Co. where their 7 children were
born. Twins Eddie and Marietta died in infancy. The family moved to Latham, Kansas where James and "Lina"
are buried. Descendants have been found in Del Norte and Monte Vista, Colorado and in Washington state. Elizabeth
J Kesterson married the English immigrant Walter Aistrope in Mills Co. in 1868 where they had 4 children. Son Walter
died in infancy. George B.Kesterson married Mary Heikes.
Mary Birdie married Seymour Rhode and lived in Ft. Lupton, Colorado where they owned a bank. Charles R. Kesterson
married Edith Maloy; he died of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in Colorado. Walter and Elizabeth are buried in Malvern
Cemetery, as are Charles R. and Seymour and Mary Birdie Rhode. Nancy Rebecca Kesterson married (1) John Allen Hodgin,
a Civil War veteran, Co. F, 15th Iowa Infantry. Their children were Edwin L., Maude (Albert) Lowell and Clara (Andrew)
Thompson. This family lived near Ashland, Nebraska. Nancy married (2) James Potter. They had 1 son, Jim, who died
of diptheria at age 4. Nancy Potter died of diphtheria in Red Cloud, Nebraska, in 1887. She is buried in Malvern
Cemetery. Charles, a 3-month-old baby at the time of the family migration from Tennessee, grew up near Malvern.
He tried the Colorado mines in 1880 around Leadville, returned to Iowas where he married Jeanette Oriola "Nettie"
Russell in Malvern in 1883. They moved to Wakefield, Nebraska where their 4 daughters were born and grew up. LoDema
B. (Herman) Beckenhauer, Bessie B. (Albert) Carnes, Elsie (Albert) Marsh and Ruth R. (Will) Hall. Nettie Kesterson
died Christmas Eve, 1894 at Wakefield; Charles in 1927 in Council Grove, Kansas. They are buried in the Wakefield
Cemetery.
The second family of the older Charles Kesterson was born near Malvern. Miranda married Richard Ainley; Zylphia
married Fate Davis - lived at Memphis, Nebraska; Azuba married Jesse "Ham" Read - they're buried at Malvern;
Ida Mae married Ed Liggett; Williwm married Daisy Coon - buried Malvern; John no record; George married Mrs. Ethel
Rossiter - they lived in Drain, Oregon where he is buried. Mary married Clarence Smith and they lived near Ashland,
Nebraska.
Source: " Mills County History Book" 1985. Information
submitted by William Beckenhauer
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