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JAMES HARWOOD, retired and living in Garrison during the past thirteen years, has been a resident of Benton county since 1865. He located in section 26, Monroe township, where he secured a farm which he improved and operated some thirty years. At one time he owned six hundred and eighty acres, which he has now sold. He has a comfortable residence at Garrison, where he is surrounded by modern comforts and conveniences.
Mr. Harwood was born in Lancashire, England, December 6, 1837, and is a son of Thomas and Betty (Ridge) Harwood, who came to America with two children in 1842. Mr. Harwood and his family located in Orange county, New York. He had a small amount of capital and engaged in farming; later he removed to Benton county, Iowa, and resided here from 1865 until 1897, when he died, at the age of eighty-four years. He secured a good farm and met with success. His wife died in 1885, at the age of sixty-seven years. They came to Illinois in 1856, and lived in Henderson county until 1865. Thomas Harwood and his wife had eleven children, all of whom survive, and three are residents of Benton county, namely: James, Mrs. Samuel Ilawley and Charles. The two latter are residents of Jackson township. James and one other were born in England.
James Harwood was reared in New York, where he lived until nineteen years of age; he received a common school education, and removed with his family to Illinois, where he married and began working on his own account. In 1865 he removed to Benton county, Iowa, where he became a very successful farmer and a useful representative citizen. He favors the principles of the Democratic party, and has served as township trustee. Mr. Harwood was honored by the citizens of Garrison by election to the office of mayor, which he held some nine years.
Mr. Harwood married, in Henderson county, Illinois, Louise Pence, born in Henderson county, where her people settled in 1837. Mr. Pence and his wife were substantial farmers and came from Pennsylvania; both are now deceased. Mr. Harwood and his wife became the parents of five children, four of whom survive: Cora, who died when thirty-two years of age, being then a widow; Clayton A., of the firm of Harwood Brothers, owners of the fine new livery barn at Garrison, also extensive farmers of Jackson township; Burton A., also of Harwood Brothers; Clifford J., in a bank at Greeley, Nebraska; and Verna, wife of C. E. Ulery, now of Cedar Falls, and has one child. Clayton A. married Rose Merchant, and they have one child. Burton A. married Bernice Metcalf, and they have two children. Clifford married a daughter of John Hanna, and they have one child. Mr. C. E. Ulery is a jeweler by profession.
James Harwood was quite an extensive live stock dealer here for about thirty years until March. 1908. Built a large elevator in Garrison, which he operated fourteen years, when he sold the same. He has been quite successful and he is a self-made man who came here with very little capital.
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