PHIPPS, Frank F. - 1914

PHIPPS, LITTLEFIELD, BURROUGHS, PRESCOTT, WELKER, LANTZ, NICHOLSON, LITTLE

Posted By: Volunteer
Date: 7/6/2009 at 04:57:05

HISTORY OF
Cherokee County
IOWA
VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1914
by Thomas McCulla

FRANK F. PHIPPS.

Frank F. Phipps has been actively engaged in farming in Afton township for many years and has made many substantial contributions to agricultural development and progress and has surrounded himself with an enviable degree of prosperity. He was born in Massachusetts October 15, 1856, and is a son of Albert and Martha (Littlefield) Phipps, both natives of that state. They lived there until 1856 and then came west with the Milford Emigration Society, settling in Iowa, where the father preempted a quarter section of land on the present site of the city of Cherokee. He occupied this for a number of years and resided upon a portion of his holdings until his death, which occurred April 10, 1901. His wife survived him one week. The father was at one time one of the most extensive landowners in Cherokee county, owning three hundred and sixty acres inside the city limits of Cherokee and one hundred and sixty acres in Afton township. He was one of the pioneers in this locality and when he first settled here was obliged to haul the produce of his farm to Fort Dodge, the nearest market. He was a veteran of the Civil war, serving in Company I, Fifteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, General McPherson commanding. He took part in the siege of Savannah and the battle of Bentonville and was with Sherman on his march to the sea. He afterward returned with his regiment to Goldsborough and after the surrender of General Joseph Johnston received his honorable discharge, having contracted rheumatism at Philadelphia. He was a stanch republican in his political beliefs and held various township offices, serving also as county supervisor for ten years. He and his wife became the parents of nine children: Bethana A., the widow of D. A. Wakefield; Luther, of Cherokee; John, who has passed away; Adeline, who married N. T. Burroughs, of Chicago; Henry L., of Cherokee; Frank F., of this review; Arthur I., who passed away at Cherokee; Martha, the wife of H. W. Prescott, of Cherokee; and Nathan A., of Chicago.

Frank F. Phipps acquired his education in the public schools of Cherokee county and remained at home until his marriage. His first purchase of land consisted of one hundred and sixty acres on section 21, for which he paid nine dollars, per acre, property upon which he took up his home in 1887. Since that time he has added forty acres to his holdings which now lie on sections 19 and 21 and are divided into two farms, both in a high state of cultivation. Throughout the years Mr. Phipps has steadily followed the most progressive and practical methods and he has won that success which always follows earnest and persistent labor.

On May 4, 1887, Mr. Phipps married Miss Mahala Alf rettie Welker, a native of Ohio and a daughter of Solomon and Lavina (Lantz) Welker, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. The father served in the Civil war as a member of Company I, One Hundred and Seventy-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and after the close of hostilities returned to his native state, where he passed away in May, 1867. Afterward the mother and her five children came west, settling in Cherokee in 1872. The mother passed away in that city January 17, 1901. In this family were the following children: Henry F., of Cherokee; William F., a resident of Ashland, Wisconsin; Rachel Annette, the deceased wife of T. G. Nicholson, of Wyoming; Mahala Alf rettie, wife of the subject of this review; and Mary E., who married James B. Little, of Dorris, California. Mr. and Mrs. Phipps have become the parents of three children: Ruby Clare, who. was born September 27, 1889, and who acquired her education in the public schools of Cherokee county; Arthur Freeman, born April 12, 1892, a graduate of the Cherokee high school; and Frank Welker, born June 16, 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Phipps are also rearing their niece, Esther Lavina, a daughter of Arthur and" Hannah Phipps, both deceased. Mr. Phipps is an energetic, publicspirited and progressive citizen and during the long period of his residence in Afton township has held the esteem and high regard of a large circle of friends.