Henry Farmer
Through his vigorous and
successful operations in connection with agriculture and
live stock industry Mr. Farmer has given consistent
justification to the patronymic which he bears, as he is
the owner of one of the finely improved farms of
Lodomillo township, besides which he has secure place in
popular esteem in the county which became his home when
he was an infant.
Mr. Farmer, who was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, on
the 8th of June, 1854, is a son of John and Mary Ann
(Barr) Farmer, both of whom were born and reared in the
north of Ireland. The parents received their education in
their native land and about 1845 came to the United
States, where their marriage was solemnized and they
established their residence at Wheeling, West Virginia.
In 1856 they came to Clayton county, Iowa, and the father
became a pioneer farmer in Lodomillo township, where he
and his wife passed the residue of their lives, he having
followed in earlier years the trade of a blacksmith. Both
were of the Protestant faith in religion, and in the same
they reared their children. Henry, the subject of this
review, is the elder and only survivor, his brother,
John, Jr., having died when forty-three years of age.
Henry Farmer gained his early education in the pioneer
schools of Clayton county, and he continued his active
association with the work of the home farm until his
marriage.
On the 20th of January, 1876, Mr. Henry Farmer wedded
Miss Margaret O'Brien, who was born in Rochester, New
York, and who is a daughter of James and Anna (Kalnan)
O'Brien, the father being a native of Ireland, while the
wife Anna was of French origin. James O'Brien was a
soldier of the Union in the Civil war, serving as a
member of the Michigan cavalry, their home at that time
being at Mackinac Island. He died while in active service
at Memphis, Tennessee. His widow, who survived him by
many years, spent the remainder of her life with her
three children at Mackinac Island and Chicago. The two
surviving of this family being Mrs. Farmer, who is the
younger, and her sister Rebecca, wife of O. E. Huene of
Manchester, Iowa.
Mr. and Mrs. Farmer became the parents of four children:
Nellie Irene, the eldest, in 1898 became the wife of C.
J. Rulon, who is a merchant of Wood, Iowa, and a son of
K. Rulon of Clayton county. To them was born one son,
Burdette, in 1904. James Willard, who resides upon and
manages his father's farm in Delaware county, in 1904
married Nettie Hockaday, daughter of William Hockaday of
Manchester, Iowa. In 1906 and 1913 their two sons were
born, Wayne James and Henry Bertram respectively. Floy
Lucille, who in 1906 became the wife of Dr. A. L. Breed
of Rock Elm, Wisconsin, died at her home in Wisconsin at
the age of twenty-six years. And Zelda Vivian, who has
since 1913 been a teacher in the Elkader schools.
After Mr. Farmer's marriage he lived on a part of his
father's farm in Clayton county until 1879, when he, with
his family, moved to Kansas, where he purchased a one
hundred and sixty acre farm. Becoming tired of the West,
they returned in 1882, then making their home in Delaware
county. About 1890 he purchased a farm of one hundred and
fifty acres in Delaware county. On this place, which he
still owns, he continued his operations as an
enterprising agriculturist and stock raiser for a period
of about fifteen years, at the expiration of which time
he returned to the old homestead in Clayton county which
he had inherited from his parents and which is situated
in Section 28, Lodomillo township. He has since continued
as one of the representative farmers of this part of
Clayton county and gives also a general supervision to
his farm in Delaware county, a property that is now in
the active charge of his only son.
He is a Republican in his political proclivities and is
affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of
Pythias.
source: History of Clayton
County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical Times Down to
the Present; by Realto E. Price, Vol. II; pg 115-117
-submitted by S. Ferrall
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