WILLIAM WALKINSHAW, GRISWOLD.

In nothing have the American people written their name on the public and enduring recollection of the world than in the resourcefulness and their power to achieve what seems desirable to them, either finding in the circumstances the means to the end, or making them, if necessary, out of opposing conditions. They are essentially a race of self-dependent men and women, and this fact is impressively shown in every walk in life in which they are found.

The above general trait is exemplified in the career of William Walkinshaw and his parents, who, by their thrift and energy, without the aid of favoring conditions, built themselves up from very small beginnings to consequence and material possessions among their neighbors and associates. Mr. Walkinshaw is a native of Whiteside county, Ill., where he was born on September 1, 1860. His parents were John and Mary (Schock) Walkinshaw--the former born in County Carey, Ireland, and the mother in Cumberland county, Pa. The father came to America in 1852, and first located in Pennsylvania, where he remained two years. At the end of that period he moved to Whiteside county, Ill., and there he remained until 1877, when he became a resident of this county, in which he has ever since lived. Soon after his arrival at Atlantic, in the year last mentioned, he bought a partially improved farm in Pleasant township, the one on which he now makes his home, and to the development and improvement of which he has ever since devoted himself with assiduous and systematic industry. He has a family of five sons and one daughter, all of whom are living in Pleasant township except his son William and the daughter, the latter being a resident of Franklin county, Neb.

William Walkinshaw was reared in Illinois and this State, living at home until he became of age, attending the public schools in his boyhood and youth, and from an early age assisting his father on the farm. In 1886 he bought the farm on which he now lives, and which has been his home continuously since he made the purchase. He has made many valuable improvements on it, and has brought it to a high state of cultivation and productiveness by his well applied skill and his comprehensive knowledge of the science of agriculture. It stands forth as a monument to his diligence, intelligence and close attention to business, as well as to his good judgment and taste.

Mr. Walkinshaw was married in this county, on February 17, 1886, to Margaret A. Stetler, a native of Cass county, born in Pleasant township. Her parents, Samuel and Frances Stetler, came to that township in 1861, when the whole region was a wilderness and almost unpeopled, they being the third family to settle there. They came from Lee county, Ill., driving through by team. The father died in this county in 1894, and the mother is now living at Griswold.

Mr. and Mrs. Walkinshaw have four children, Maud M., Mabel P., Fred M. and Mary. The parents belong to the Presbyterian Church, and the father, although he has never sought or filled a political office, is an ardent and loyal Republican in his political belief. He has been successful in his business, upright in his life, public-spirited in his citizenship, and faithful to duty in all respects; and in all parts of the county he is well known and much esteemed.


From "Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pp. 534-535.