Individual Details

Married Sarah Woodward, 3 Mar 1836, Hancock Co, IL. John and Sarah were early settlers in Jefferson Co, Iowa. John went first to Iowa in 1831. He is believed to be the first white man to set foot in Jefferson County.

IOWA HISTORICAL RECORD VOL. XIV. October, 1898. No. 4
JOHN HUFF, THE FIRST WHITE SETTLER OF JEFFERSON COUNTY BY H. HEATON, GLENDALE, IOWA
Huff's father was an itinerant wheelwright in Virginia, going from farm to farm to farm repairing carts and wagons, often taking his family with him. On one of these journeys he was employed by Daniel Howell, of Montgomery County (Virginia), where on May 11th, 1811, John Huff was born.

Various sets of children are offered for John Huff online here's one from the newspaper in 1939 and the census record to agree.
The Fairfield (Iowa) Daily Ledger, Centennial Edition,
Monday, October 2, 1939, Section C, Page Seven
JOHN and SARAH (WOODARD) HUFF were the parents of eight children: JAMES D., WILLIAM, NANCY, HENRY, REBECCA, JEFFERSON, SARAH, and LOUISA. The living descendants of JOHN HUFF are five in number, EDWIN HUFF of Fairfield, ELMER HUFF of Missouri, HENRY HUFF and PEARL HUFF of Illinois, and MRS. NELLIE G. (HUFF) LEWIS (granddaughter) of Atlanta, Georgia.

The Fairfield (Iowa) Daily Ledger, Centennial Edition,Monday, October 2, 1939, Section C, Page 7
(John Jr.) HUFF was born in Floyd County, Virginia, on May 11, 1811, the son of JOHN and ELIZABETH PRATT HUFF. His father had been born in Greenbrier County, Virginia, in 1770, and married a MISS THOMPSON, by whom he had four daughters …..second marriage was to MISS PRATT, a native of Bedford County, Virginia, and unto them were born seven children, four sons and three daughters….
**Note: Greenbrier County was not formed until 1778 (from Montgomery & Botetourt Counties, Virginia). Greenbrier became part of West Virginia.
....in 1817 moved his family to Floyd Co, KY. John was the eldest son of the family.
...3 Mar 1836 was married to Sarah Woodard of Hancock County, IL.
... Lived in Buchanan Twp, Jefferson Co until 1874, when he took up residence within the city limits of Fairfield.
In 1871, Mr. Huff was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who passed away on December 3. They were parents of eight children: James D. William, Nancy, Henry, Rebecca, Jefferson, Sarah & Louisa.


1860 Census. Buchanan Twp, P.O. Fairfield, Jefferson Co, Iowa, Hh 215
John Huff, age 49, Farmer, b. VA
Sarah, 46, b. TN
James, 22. William 20. Nancy 17. Henry 15. Rebecca 14. Jefferson 12. Sarah 9. Louisa, age 6. All born in Iowa.

1870 Census. Buchanan Twp, Lockridge P.O., Jefferson Co, Iowa, Hh 175
John Huff, 58, Farmer, b. VA
Sarah, 56, keeping house, b. TN
William 29. Nancy 27. Sarah 19. Louisa 17. All born in Iowa
Next door in Hh 176
James Huff, age 33, b. IA, Susan 21, b. IN, Elmer age 6 months, b. IA

1880 Census. Fairfield, Jefferson Co, Iowa, Hh 662
John Huff, age 68, Retired Farmer, b. VA
William, son, age 42, blacksmith, b. Iowa
Louisa, dau, age 26, b. Iowa
Gintrude, age 4, granddaughter, b. Iowa

HUFF, John
Portrait and Biographical Album of Jefferson and Van Buren Counties, Iowa, Printed 1890 by Lake City Publishing Co., Chicago, Pages 628-629
John HUFF, with one exception, is the oldest settler of Jefferson County. He was born in Montgomery, now Floyd County, Va., May 11, 1811, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (PRATT) HUFF. His father was born in Greenbrier County, Va., in 1770, and married a Miss THOMPSON, by whom he had four daughters. His second union was with Miss PRATT, a native of Bedford County, Va., and unto them were born seven children, four sons and three daughters. Mr. HUFF was an expert mechanic and could manufacture almost everything from wood, but in his later years he gave some attention to farming. In 1817, accompanied by his family, he removed to Floyd County, Ky., and while his boys engaged in the cultivation of the farm he continued his own line of business. He was a Jackson Democrat and lived to the advanced age of nearly ninety-one years, his death occurring in 1861. The mother of John died when he was a lad of sixteen years.
Our subject was the eldest child in the family and in consequence had little advantages in his youth. Moving to the mountainous part of Kentucky, he had almost no chance to secure an education, having never attended school but three months in his life and then the school was of the most primitive character. In his youth he learned the cooper's trade and at the age of seventeen years began life for himself. Attracted by the opportunties and advantages of the West, in 1831 he accompanied Mason Cope to Schuyler County, Ill., and four years later made a trip up the Skunk River and camped on Jefferson County soil. Having collected about two thousand pounds of honey, beeswax, etc., he improvised a boat by digging out two canoes and fastening them together. Having floated down the river as far as Rome, he struck a snag and twirled upside down. This was in the month of November. During the struggle to save his boat from floating away he kicked off his shoes and had to walk to Burlington, a distance of fifty miles, bare-footed. There he had some hooks made, and returning, grappled his barrels of homey, wax, gum, etc., out of thirteen feet of water and proceeded with his cargo to Carthage, where he sold out.
On March 3, 1836, Mr. HUFF was united in marriage with Sarah WOODARD, who was born July 6, 1814, in Middle Tennessee. Her mother was also a native of that State but her father came from North Carolina. Soon after his marriage, Mr. HUFF returned to Iowa and made a settlement on section 1, Cedar Township, Jefferson County, the date of his arrival being June 17, 1836. The land soon afterward came into market and as he had not money enough to enter it, he sold his three hundred and twenty-care claim which brought him in enough to pay his debts and enter a one hundred and twenty-acre tract. Afterward, having sold that farm, he bought a farm of two hundred and forty acres in Buchanan Township, which he improved and on which he made his home until 1874, when he took up his residence in Fairfield.
In 1871, Mr. HUFF was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife who died on December 3. They were parents of eight children -- James D.; William; Nancy, deceased; Henry; Rebecca, deceased; Jefferson; Sarah, wife of George MOWER; and Louisa. James D. and Jefferson are also married. In political sentiment Mr. HUFF is a Democrat, having supported that party since he cast his first vote for Jackson in 1832.

IOWA HISTORICAL RECORD, VOL. XIV. October, 1898. No. 4
"JOHN HUFF, THE FIRST WHITE SETTLER OF JEFFERSON COUNTY", BY H. HEATON, GLENDALE, IOWA

John Huff, the first white man to enter Jefferson County, Iowa, was lured, like Paul Hover, in Cooper's "Prairie," beyond the advance guard of civilization in search of wild honey. The primeval forests, bordering on Skunk River, Cedar Creek, and smaller streams, were marvelously stored with honey, and in company with five other young men, early in 1835, Huff made his first acquaintance with these undisturbed riches. Returning to his home, near Beardstown, Illinois, he made a second venture into this paradise of the bee hunter, carrying with him a few rude tools with which to make casks for holding the honey as he should gather it. The winds of November warned him to return to Illinois, and loading his venture, which was three barrels of honey, into a canoe, he began a journey down the tortuous Skunk River, to a market in Illinois. Unluckily his canoe capsized at a point on the river where Rome has since been built. His rifle, belt, with ammunition, and two casks of honey sank in water fifteen feet deep, the third cask not being entirely full, floated and was recovered. Several hundred Indians were camped nearby, and Huff hired one of them to dive for his gun and ammunition, promising him a dollar if he succeeded in recovering them. After two or three ineffectual attempts and only succeeding in getting the belt and powder-horn he desisted on account of the coldness of the water. Huff proffered him the dollar, but he said it would not be honest to take pay for what he had failed to do and would only take half a dollar. Huff's intercourse with Indians proves the truthfulness of Cooper's descriptions of their character; when trusted as equals, they never failed in manliness. Having recovered, the cask of honey with a few branches off a tree, Huff started barefooted as he was, to walk to Burlington, fifty miles, to get grappling irons with which to recover his submerged treasure. On the way he overtook a man with an ox team and traveled with him two days; so slow were the oxen, and the nights were so cold that Huff would remain beside the camp-fire until the frost melted before starting....

Huff's father was an itinerant wheelwright in Virginia, going from farm to farm to farm repairing carts and wagons, often taking his family with him. On one of these journeys he was employed by Daniel Howell, of Montgomery County, where on May 11th, 1811, John Huff was born. Two sons of Daniel Howell found their way to Jefferson County, also, and a large number of their descendants are respected citizens of the county.

Early in the spring of 1836 John Huff returned to Jefferson County and pitched upon a tract of land for a home, built a cabin and went back to Illinois and was married. Bringing his young wife with him, he found, when he came to where his cabin should have been, that a fire that had probably been kindled by Indians, had consumed it, and a man by the name of Lambrith had built his cabin on the same spot. Huff went on several miles farther and as he still had the whole land before him, he had no trouble in finding a satisfactory home. Summer was here before the rude cabin was completed and all the crop that it was possible to grow was a few vegetables and melons. Huff was compelled to subsist almost wholly on the chase, and his ammunition running short he traded watermelons to Indians for powder, but his chief reliance was upon honey, for which he found a market at Carthage Illinois....

After living more than sixty years in Jefferson County, Huff died in Fairfield, in October, 1896, upwards of eighty-four years of age, and lies buried in the Bethesda Cemetery.

There was also an article published in the Fairfield (Iowa) Daily Ledger, 2 Oct 1939, about John.
From: The Fairfield (Iowa) Daily Ledger, September 24, 1946
IOWA CENTENNIAL EDITION, Section C, Page 6, Cols. 1-2
JOHN HUFF PIONEER BEE EXPERT.
Second actual settler in Jefferson County, locating in Section 1 of what is now Cedar Township. He was the first Jefferson County taxpayer to pay his taxes.
Every new country blessed with thickly wooded sections, had plenty of what was then termed “wild honey.” The wild bees gathered and stored the same kind of honey we take today from our artificial hives, but it was called “wild honey,” because it was stored in places—generally hollow trees, selected by the wild bees.
When primitive sections were settled by pioneers, there was always a scientific “bee-tree locator.” Pioneer Jefferson County was no exception to the rule. Its “bee-tree locator” was a master of the science. His name was JOHN HUFF. He was a native of the densely wooded county of Floyd in the lower Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. He knew his bees and how to find their deposits of the pioneers’ substitute for sugar.
Bee Tree Locator.
We speak of bee-tree locating as a science, and we mean all of that. One not versed in the science could not locate a bee-tree in the proverbial “thousand years.” Then, too, he had to be a mathematician.
He would visit the fringes of a forest where there were many wild flowers. Of course, there would be hundreds of wild bees gathering honey from these flowers. When one secured its “load” it would fly away on a “bee-line” to its tree in the forest.
The bee-tree locator would pace the distance to another bunch of flowers and note the direction the bees flew when loaded. While he may never have studied trigonometry, he knew how to use the line he paced from one bunch of flowers to the other as the base.
No matter whether the triangle was an isosceles, equilateral, right angled or obtuse, he could very accurately estimate where the two “bee-lines” would converge. At that point he would find the bee-tree with very little trouble.
Tradition has it that JOHN HUFF had become so expert in his science that he could locate the tree long before he reached it.
He was born near what is now Huffville, Virginia, probably named after some of his relatives. The date of his birth was May 11, 1811. When JOHN was six years old, his parents moved to Floyd County, Kentucky, on the western slopes of the Cumberland Mountains. There he grew to young manhood.
After spending some time in Illinois, he and several other men set out in 1835 for the trading post of JOHN MCPHERSON on the Skunk river, “somewhere in Iowa.” They were looking for land on which to make their homes. JOHN especially wanted land on which there would be a number of bee-trees. They found both in the section that was afterwards called “round prairie” in what is now Jefferson County. They all staked claims. On returning to MCPHERSON’S trading post, HUFF made three 40-gallon barrels of lindenwood and filled them with honey. These he transported in a dug-out canoe to Carthage, Illinois, where he sold their contents for 50 cents a gallon.
He returned to “round prairie” in January 1836. He visited his claim, but failed to make any improvements on it as required by law, spending practically all of his time locating other bee-trees. In March of that year, he returned to Carthage and married SARAH WOODARD. The young couple set out on horse back for their new home. When they reached “round prairie” they found that someone had “jumped,” or taken possession of their claim. He accepted the result of his neglect by not making improvements on the land when he visited it a few months before and took another claim in what is now Cedar Township.
There he built a wigwam of tree branches and bark for a shelter till he could cut the logs and build a log house. This new home was ready for occupancy before “snow flew” the following winter. He and his wife missed by only a few weeks being the first actual settlers in Jefferson County. Later he sold the farm in Cedar Township and bought 240 acres in Buchanan Township, on which he resided until 1874, when he moved to Fairfield to spend his remaining days. He is buried in the Bethesda Cemetery.

Birth	11 May 1811	Montgomery County, Virginia
Death	21 Oct 1895	Jefferson County, Iowa

Father	JOHN Huff (1770 - 1861)
Mother	Elizabeth Pratt (1790 - 1827)
Sibling	Mary Ann Huff (1816 - 1860)
Sibling	William Huff (1818 - 1865)
Sibling	Thomas Huff (1819 - 1903)
Sibling	Susannah Huff (1819 - 1880)
Sibling	Caroline Huff (1824 - )