SOLON A. WORTHING, ATLANTIC.
In scarcely any other way does a section of country better make known to the outside world the character and trend of its people than in the kind of men it selects to administer its public affairs. They are generally accepted as representatives of the best attributes and aspirations of those who have confided public trusts to their care, and the country is judged accordingly. Tested by this general though not always reliable gauge, Cass county is entitled to a high regard, and among its public officials none is more capable, upright, attentive to duty, or more truly representative than the present county auditor, Solon A. Worthing, who is serving his third term in this important position and still enjoys in a marked degree the confidence and esteem of the people. He was born in Kendall county, Ill., on August 11, 1848, a son of Solon and Maria (Messenger) Worthing, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of Ohio, and both born in 1816.
The father was in early life, and again after an interval, a farmer. After spending a few years in traveling through the South and portions of Wesconsin, he came to Iowa in 1838, and located at Mount Pleasant in Henry county, where he worked at the carpenter's trade three years, and during that period was married. In 1841 he went back to Illinois, where he remained engaged in farming until 1882. In that year he returned to Iowa and settled in Cass county, remaining until his death, which occurred in 1895, being occasioned by injuries received from his runaway team. His widow survived him but two years and passed away in 1897. They were the parents of seven children (all sons), four of whom are living--three of them in this county and one in Colorado. Jonathan Worthing, the auditor's grandfather, was a clergyman of the M. E. Church, who lived most of his life in the State of New York and died there.
Solon A. Worthing grew to manhood in Illinois, and obtained his education in the public schools of that State. When he was a young man he moved to Kansas, where he preempted a tract of land on which he remained three years. But his attachment to his old home was still strong, and accordingly he returned to Illinois and passed another term of three years there. He then spent three years in White county, Ind., in the hardware trade, and in 1882 came to this county and located at Anita, where he was engaged for eighteen years in general merchandising. In the fall of 1900 he was elected county auditor, and since that year he has been twice reelected to the office, making a service of sixe years at the close of his present term.
In 1872, Mr. Worthing was married, in Kansas, to Mary E. Conley, who was born in Indiana, and they have a very interesting family of eight children: Edwin C. (deputy county auditor); Etta M., Carrie B., Albert M., Bertha A., Mamie L., Leota and Otis H. In politics Mr. Worthing supports with ardor the principles of the Republican party, and in fraternal relations he is a Mastor Mason, while in their church connection he and his wife are United Evangelicals. Thus seeing life in a variety of conditions and places, and with his eyes ever open for observation and his mind ready to assimilate the lessons it taught, mingling freely with the people of different sections and acquiring intelligent views of their motives and aspirations, and withal, being a man of broad views and sanguine temperament, Mr. Worthing has learned to know his fellows well adn to see much good in all classes of them. This acquisition, which is one of the most useful teachings of experience, has given him a strong hold on the confidence and regard of his own people and made him popular and influential among them..
From "Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pp. 568-569.
