Persistent, earnest labor has constituted the foundation upon which J. H. POOR has built his success, making him one of the substantial farmers of Gay township. He now resides on section 25, and is busily employed with the care of a farm of one hundred and twenty acres. He has resided there for thirty-five years, having in 1874, come to Taylor county from Ringgold county, Iowa, where he located in 1870. He has lived in the middle west although the place of his birth was east of the Mississippi. He first opened his eyes to the light of day on the 27th of March, 1843, in Jackson county, Indiana. His father, Samuel POOR, was also a native of that state and having arrived at years of maturity was married there to Julia Ann WINEGAR, a native of Tennessee. Mr. POOR followed farming in the Hoosier state [Indiana] and there reared his family. At the time of the Civil war he espoused the cause of the Union and served at the front until honorably discharged on account of disability. He passed away in 1895, and is still survived by his widow who resides with a daughter, Mrs. SUTTON, in Missouri.

The boyhood days of J. H. POOR were quietly passed upon the home farm in Jackson county, Indiana, Through the period of his boyhood and youth he worked in the fields through the summer months and in the winter seasons acquired his education. He was married in 1862 when twenty years of age to Miss Harriet McCain, who was a native of Ohio, but was reared in Indiana. After their marriage the young couple began their domestic life upon a tract of rented land which Mr. Poor cultivated until 1864. In February of that year, constrained by a spirit of patriotism, he offered his services to the government, enlisting as a member of Company H, One Hundred and Twentieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. With that command he went south, the regiment joining the Army of the Cumberland. He was first under fire at Buzzard's Roost, a hotly contested battle in which Mr. Poor had the first finger of his right hand shot away, thus becoming permanently disabled. He was in the hospital for a time but later joined his regiment and subsequently participated in the battles of Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain and the Atlanta campaign. He was also present at the bottle of Jonesboro and after the capture of Atlanta was with his regiment when it was sent back to Nashville, participating in the last engagement there. Later he was sent to Washington, D. C., and subsequently to Morehead City. He afterward joined General SHERMAN at Raleigh, where he was held on guard duty until 1866, when he was mustered out and sent home, receiving his honorable discharge at Indianapolis on the 9th of January of that year.

When the war was over and the country no longer needed his military aid Mr. Poor returned home and later purchased a tract of land in Jackson county Indiana, where he carried on general farming until 1870. In that year he came to Iowa, settling first in Ringgold county, where he purchased forty acres of land which he broke and fenced. He there carried on farming for four years when he sold the property and bought forty acres of his present farm. Only a small portion of this had been broken while there was upon the place a small box house which he and his family occupied for four or five years or until he was able to erect a more commodious and modern residence. Desirous of becoming the owner of a more extensive farm he added to his original tract from time to time as his financial resources increased and broke the sod and tilled the soil until his place was converted into rich and productive fields. He also built a substantial dwelling and likewise a good barn and hog shed. He had also set out fruit trees, planted a grove and made the place what it is today, a well improved property. He raises high grade stock, including hogs, cattle and horses and his fields annually bring forth rich harvests.

Mr. and Mrs. POOR have become the parents of nine children: J. C., a young man at home, who assists in carrying on the farm; Charles, a resident farmer of Gay township; Benjamin B., of Blockton, who was a soldier of the Philippine war and had his left thumb shot away; John, who is doing for himself; James and Jesse, at home; Charlotta, the wife of Delta KETCH, of Blockton; Jennie, the wife of William HENSLEY, a farmer of Gay township; and Emma, who died in September, 1908, at the age of twenty-four years.

In his political views Mr. POOR has been a republican since casting his first presidential ballot for Abraham LINCOLN in 1864. With one exception he has supported every presidential nominee of the party since that time. He belongs to the United Brethren church and to the Grand Army Post and is highly esteemed in both organizations. For nearly forty years he has lived in this part of the country and since 1874 has been actively concerned in the development and progress of Taylor county, especially along the lines of agricultural development.

He has worked earnestly and persistently to attain the success which is now his and which makes him one of the representative agriculturists of the community.

SOURCE:  CROSSON, Frank E. History of Taylor County, Iowa: From The Earliest Historic Times to 1910  Pp. 356 - 357. S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. Chicago. 1910.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, 2008