Cornforth, B.

NORTON, OATES, KINGSLEY, HAPPER, PEASE, CARROLL, HERBY, BEREFORD, WILLIS

Posted By: BCGS
Date: 12/29/2009 at 13:30:11

Farming interests of Bremer county find a progressive and worthy representative in B. Cornforth, who owns a fine property in Lafayette township and who concentrates his attention upon the development of this place and upon the promotion of general agricultural advancement in this section of the state. He has been a resident of Bremer county since 1866, but was born in Franklin, Maine, December 11, 1853, a son of William and Sarah (Norton) Cornforth, also natives of that community. The family is of English origin, the earliest ancestor of whom there is records, William Robert Cornforth, having been born in Gerby. He married there and had one son, William, who was born March 3, 1794. The father came to America in 1907, settling in Readfield, Maine, where he engaged in farming. His son William was four years of age when the family settled in Maine and he served an apprenticeship to a clothier in that state. He wedded Miss Lydia Oates, who was born in Gorham, Maine, on the 20th of February, 1794. He was the owner of a woolen and grist mill and also engaged for a number of years in farming, dying August 13, 1881, at the age of eighty-seven years, five months and ten days. He had survived his wife since April 10, 1877, her death occurring at the age of eighty-three years, one month and twenty-five days. They had eleven children, of whom the fourth, William, was the father of the subject of this review. He was born December 18, 1822 and his marriage occurred December 4, 1851. He engaged in farming in Maine until 1866, when he came to Bremer county, Iowa, settling in Warren township. He became one of the most substantial and prosperous citizens of this locality, where he engaged in farming until he retired from active life. He afterward spent a few years in Waverly and then moved to the home of his daughter in South Dakota, where his death occurred. He had five children, one of whom died in infancy. The eldest, Orin, moved to North Dakota, where he died in 1909, at the age of fifty-seven. The second son is the subject of this review. Charles makes his home in Florida. Mary became the wife of Erwin L. Kingsley and makes her home in South Dakota.

B. Cornforth spent his early boyhood in Maine and came to Iowa with his parents in 1866. Ten years later he began farming near Bremer and after spending seven years in that locality went to Minnesota. At the end of one year he returned and bought land in Lafayette township, this county, whereon he engaged in general agricultural pursuits for fourteen years thereafter. He then sold the place and moved to Butler, but at the end of three years returned and bought back the same farm in Lafayette township. He has a beautiful place, provided with a modern residence set in the midst of a fine lawn, in which are maple and pine trees, which add materially to the appearance of the property as well as afford shade and protection from the wind. Mr. Cornforth has erected substantial barns and outbuildings and has fenced and cross-fenced his fields. He engages in general farming, his principal crop being corn, and he is also a stock-raiser on an extensive scale, keeping fine herds of registered Norman horses and registered Shropshire sheep. He is interested in the development of scientific farming and has taken an active part in all the agricultural meetings of the locality, speaking on various subjects connected with farming. He was a member of the commission which organized the Live County Fair and has served on the directorate continuously since that time, and he can always be found among the leaders in the promotion of any progressive public project.

Mr. Cornforth has been twice married. On the 23 of October, 1877, he wedded Miss Margaret Happer, a native of Illinois and a daughter of Samuel and Margaret Happer, who came to Bremer county in 1871. Mrs. Cornforth died in January, 1898. By his first union Mr. Cornforth has three children: Bessie, who married H.R. Pease, of Rochester, Minnesota; Elsa, a graduate of Waverly high school, with the class of 1912, and now engaged in teaching; and one who died in infancy. On the 27th of July, 1900, Mr. Cornforth was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Ada Carroll, who was born in Chautauqua, New York, a daughter of Benjamin and Margaret Herby. This family is of old colonial stock and came originally from England. Among Mrs. Cornforth's collateral ancestors were three brothers of the Herby family who emigrated from Great Britain, settling, one in Canada, one in Australia and the third, Mrs. Cornforth's great-grandfather, in Plymouth county, Massachusetts. Mrs. Cornforth's maternal ancestors have also been in America for many generations, her maternal great-grandfather, Ralph Roslin Bereford, having come to the United States during the Revolutionary war as a member of the British army. He afterward allied himself with the continental cause. His wife was in her maidenhood Elizabeth Payson Willis and they had two sons and two daughters, one of the latter being Mrs. Cornforth's grandmother and one son being the father of Fanny Fern. A member of the Willis family fought in the American revolution, as did also a member of the Herby family. Mr. Cornforth's mother was born on the original Willis homestead, which came into possession of the family as a land grant from King George III in 1733 and which is still owned by a direct descendant of the American progenitor of this branch.

Mr. Cornforth gives his political allegiance to the republican party and has been for many years a member of the school board. He is a man of superior attainments and attractive personality and he holds the esteem and respect of his neighbors as a substantial farmer and a public-spirited and useful citizen.

History of Bremer County, Iowa Vol. II 1914