GEORGE J.ANSTEY, EDNA TOWNSHIP.

A well known stock breeder in this part of the county, George J. Anstey, is an Englishman, born in Monmouthshire,October 24, 1858. His parents, John and Elizabeth (Lloyd) Anstey, were also natives of that country, where the father passed his life. John Anstey was a well-to-do farmer and stockraiser, and gave his son a good practical training in the speciality which he was so successfully to follow in the United States. The father had a family of seven sons, George J. being the only one who resides in this country.

George J. Anstey was educated in English schools and in the thorough methods of English agriculture and live-stock raising. When he first came to the United States, in 1877, he located in Wisconsin, after spending a year in that State decided that the prospects for fine cattle breeding would be better in a more westerly State. In the following year he therefore came to this county, and bought a farm of 880 acres, which he has transformed into a model place for the breeding of fine cattle. Mr Anstey makes a specialty of registered Herford cattle, for which he has an extensive sale throughout the United State. His stock is very widely and favorably known, as it has taken many prices at such displays as the district fairs of Des Moines and those held in Cass county and adjoining sections.

In 1885 Mr. Anstey was married to Ada L. Alway, a native of Canada, and they have had the following eight children: John, a veterinary surgeon, who is a graduate of the Ames (Ia.) College, located at Massena; Elizabeth (Mrs. Jennings); and Helen, Phebe, Catherine, Lloyd R., Charles and May, all living at home. Mr. Anstey is an influential Republican, although he has never sought office himself. He is a member of the Catholic Church, and highly honored for his personal worth as well as practical ability. The family is classed with the substantial pioneer element of Cass county, which is at the basis of its progress and present high standing in the agricultural West.


From "Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pp. 252-253.