General agricultural pursuits have always claimed the time and energies of L. E. Sackett, who is one of the substantial farmers of Grand River township, owning one hundred and sixty acres of valuable land on section 5. His birth occurred in McLean county, Illinois, on the 21st of August, 1862, his parents being Hiram and Mary (Brown) Sackett, both of whom were natives of Ohio. They were taken to Illinois in childhood by their respective parents and were married in McLean county, that state. Hiram Sackett there purchased a sixty-acre farm and continued its cultivation until 1874, when he came to Adair county, Iowa, purchasing and locating on a tract of eighty acres in Grove township. At the end of about five years he disposed of the property and bought a quarter section of land. He made subsequent removals and passed away on his farm in Grand River township on the 10th of June, 1907, the community thus losing one of its prosperous and respected citizens. His widow, who survives and resides with her son Dudley in Greenfield, enjoys and extensive acquaintance here. L. E. Sackett, who was a youth of twelve years when he came to this county with his parents, was reared at home and in the acquirement of an education attended the district schools and the old Greenfield Normal School. In 1885 he started out as an agriculturist on his own account and for six years cultivated rented land adjoining his father’s farm. In 1891 he purchased a quarter section of raw land in Grove township for fifteen dollars an acre but never lived on the place and a year later sold it at a profit of one thousand dollars. Subsequently he operated the same for about five years, on the expiration of which period he disposed of the property and purchased a tract of eighty acres in the same township on which he resided for three years. At the end of that time he sold the place and bought one hundred and thirty-four acres of land in Grove township at twenty-five dollars an acre. He then purchased his present home farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Grand River township, where he has resided continuously during the past nine years, conducting his agricultural interests in a practical, resultant manner that insures his growing success. He is a stockholder in the Greenfield CreameryCompany and the Adair County Fair Association. On the 26th of September, 1886, Mr. Sackett was united in marriage to Miss Ettie Hodges, of Grove township, this county, her father being Frank Hodges, who came from Illinois to Adair county, Iowa, in a very early day and took up his abode among the pioneer settlers of Grove township. Our subject and his wife have three children, namely: Laura, Bert and Lottie, all still at home. In his political views Mr. Sackett is a stalwart republican and he has always been a stanch champion of the cause of education, ably serving as school director for several years. Fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to Greenfield Lodge, No. 375, while his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, with which his wife and children are also affiliated. A man of high standards and principles, he enjoys the respect and esteem of the people of the community in which he has now resided for more than four decades. |