Ridgley, Francis William "Will"

RIDGLEY, MARTIN, JOHNSON, GOFORTH, ANDREWS, BOWEN

Posted By: Ken Akers (email)
Date: 10/10/2013 at 21:29:25

F. W. RIDGLEY.
The gentleman whose name the reader is asked to note at this point in
the biographical history of Audubon county, F. W. Ridgley, the well-known
and popular trustee of Greeley township, is a native of England, who, as an
infant, was brought to America by his parents in the latter part of 1871, the
family passing through the city of Chicago during the time of the great fire
which destroyed that city in October of that year.
F. W. Ridgley was born in Fen Stanton, Huntingtonshire, England,
February 13, 1871, the son of Francis and Sarah A. (Johnson) Ridgley,
natives of the same shire, the former of whom was an extensive landowner,
though a miller by trade, carrying on his farming operations in connection
with his milling.
In the fall of the year in which the subject of this sketch was born, Francis
and Sarah Ridgley, with their infant son, their first-born child, came to
America, reaching Chicago on their way west during the time that city was
wrapped in flames. The family first settled on a prairie farm in western
Illinois, and remained there but a year or two, at the end of which time they
moved farther west, coming to Audubon county, this state, where the parents
spent the rest of their lives, and where five other children were born to them.
Mr. Ridgley's first recollection is of his family moving onto the tract
that is now comprised in the county farm, his father having rented land there.
After a season or two spent there, the Ridgleys moved to a farm near Tickets
Grove, in Melville township, and in 1878 and later, bought a farm of four
hundred acres in sections 28 and 33, in Greeley township, two hundred and
forty acres of which is included in the farm on which Trustee Ridgley now
lives and on which his parents passed their last days. Receiving his education
in the early schools of his home township, F. W. Ridgley herded cattle
on the unfenced plains thereabout during his boyhood, and as he grew older
helped his father on the farm and has been a farmer all his life. The elder
Ridgley had been an active Democrat and his son followed in his footsteps,
becoming one of the leaders of that party in his part of the county and served
his township as trustee very acceptably for three terms, during which time
he did much to promote the best interests of the township in both a material
and educational way.
On June 12, 1901, in Audubon township, this county, F. W. Ridgley was
united in marriage to Winifred Martin, who was born in that township on
November 14, 1879, the daughter of James H. and Elizabeth (Goforth)
Martin, natives, respectively of Virginia and Kentucky, who were married
in Linn county, Iowa, coming to this county about 1866 and settling in Audubon
township. The genealogy of the Martin family is set out on another
page of this history.
To F. W. and Winifred (Martin) Ridgley have been born two children,
Sarah Geraldine, born March 17, 1903, and Joy Rena, born July 29, 1905.
Mr. and Mrs. Ridgley are members of the Congregational church and are
active in all the good works of their neighborhood, being a very popular
couple, admired and respected by all who have the pleasure of their acquaintance.

HISTORY
OF
AUDUBON COUNTY
IOWA
ITS PEOPLE, INDUSTRIES AND INSTITUTIONS
H. F. ANDREWS
Editor
With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and
Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families
ILLUSTRATED
1915
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY, Inc.
Indianapolis, Indiana