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J. Frank Follensbee

There is no discounting the substantiality of such men as Frank Follensbee, whose name furnishes the subject matter for this brief article. He is a native of Illyria township, Fayette county, Iowa, his natal year being that of 1863, and the date of his birth July 22nd. He is of Scotch descent, from whence his mother, Isabella (Meikle) Follensbee, came, having been born in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father, Dexter Follensbee, was a New Englander, and both are referred to at length elsewhere in this work. Frank’s education, so far as book learning goes, was obtained by the course of instruction offered by the district township school. He was permitted to remain at the old homestead until he was twenty-one years old. At this time he rented his father’s farm of eighty-seven acres for a term of four years, when he became the owner through the execution of his father’s will. This land lies in sections 18 and 19 Mr. Follensbee still retains it as his place of residence. By judicious economy he has added eighty acres which he deeded to his only son when he became of age. In the spring of 1905 the subject and family moved to West Union and rented out his farm for one year. He then decided to try the plains of South Dakota and pitched his tent on the desert lands of Butte county. He and his wife each homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres.

Tiring of the vicissitudes that a life of this nature entails, he returned with his family in 1908, locating again on the home farm. In 1910 he sold their Dakota property. Mr. Follensbee was united in the bonds of matrimony with Emily M. Jones on May 6, 1888. She was born in Illyria township, May 10, 1867, and the names of her parents were William and Ann (Sanders) Jones, both natives of Wales.

To the subject and wife were born two children, one dying in infancy, the other, William Dexter Follensbee, born January 29, 1889, lives with his parents, and is a valuable helper about the duties connected with the farm. Mr. Follensbee has taken hold of an industry that will no doubt net him a profitable income, that of raising bees. He proposes to carry this work on extensively and to transform his place into a veritable apiary, as it were, installing all the necessary equipments for conducting such a business. He has for a partner W. W. Burns, of Illyria township, a gentleman of considerable experience as an apiarist.

Politically, the subject is a Republican. He never served his party other than voting the dictates of the honest conception of the thoughtful American citizen. Mrs. Follensbee is a member of the Methodist church of Lima, Iowa."

~transcribed for the Fayette Co IAGenWeb Project by Georgianna Gray