Sweeney, William A.

SWEENEY, HOLLEY

Posted By: Roseanna Zehner
Date: 7/25/2006 at 19:18:06

SWEENEY, WILLIAM A.

William A. Sweeney is a Lyon County farmer, and in his career as an agriculturist on these broad prairies has demonstrated not only his manly worth and genuine character, but also his ability as a hard worker and a careful manager. He has shown what the soil will do for a man if he devotes himself to it, and what honesty and integrity count for in social life.

Mr. Sweeney was born in LaSalle County, Illinois, March 1, 1870 and is a son of Thomas Sweeney, a native of Ireland, who came to this country and located in Illinois in 1850. Thomas Sweeney was for a time engaged in railroading, but farming became his permanent occupation. In 1886 he removed to Lyon County, Iowa and here he lived until his death in 1901.

William A. Sweeney spent the first twelve years of his life in Illinois, moving with his parents to their new home in Iowa. In 1898 he became engaged in farming on his own account and has made a decided success of his work. That same year he was united in marriage with Miss Julia E. Holley, a native of Clinton County, Iowa, where she was born March 1, 1872.

Mr. Sweeney is a Democrat, but does not take a very active interest in the working of the party machinery. It is his belief that the best men should be selected for the various offices to be filled at any election, and in local matters especially he asks for personal fitness. In business matters he has done well, and now owns a magnificent stretch of real estate, comprising seven hundred and twenty acres in all, the most of which is under active cultivation, and all well fitted out with farm buildings, machinery and stock. He follows a system of diversified farming, so that he always has something for the market. Generally there are about two hundred head of cattle on his farm, and "cattle, hogs and grain" are the rule of his operations, and the key of his success.

Source: Compendium of History Reminiscence and Biography of Lyon County, Iowa. Published under the Auspices of the Pioneer Association of Lyon County. Geo. Monlun, Pres.; Hon. E. C. Roach Sec’y; and Col. F. M. Thompson, Historian. Geo. A. Ogle & CO., Published, Engravers and Book Manufacturers. Chicago, 1904-1905

Transcribed by Roseanna Zehner, Darlene Jacoby and Diane Johnson