STANFORD, David R. - 1914

STANFORD, PITTSINGER, HUSTON, FOX

Posted By: Volunteer
Date: 7/9/2009 at 17:52:25

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

DAVID R. STANFORD.

David R. Stanford, one of Cherokee countys most progressive and successful native sons and one of the best known farmers and stockraisers in Willow township, was born in Cedar township, this county, May 9, 1874. He is a son of Leroy and Nettie (Pittsinger) Stanford, natives of Massachusetts, who came to Iowa in 1868 and located in Butler county, whence after one year they moved to Cherokee county. The father purchased land in Cedar township and operated this until 1880, when he sold his first farm and bought four hundred and eighty acres in Willow township. This property he improved and developed until 1896, when he disposed of his holdings and moved to Colorado, where his death occurred in November, 1907. He had survived his wife since 1885. Leroy Stanford was a veteran of the Civil war, having served one year as a member of Company B, Fiftysecond Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, participating in the siege of Port Hudson.

David R. Stanford was reared in Cherokee county and after completing his preliminary education attended Buena Vista College at Storm Lake. He afterward engaged in teaching during the winter months until he was twentyseven years of age, after which he was made station agent for the Illinois Central. He held this position for one year, at the end of which time he moved to Colorado, where for five years he engaged in fruit raising. When he returned to Cherokee county he bought eighty acres of land on section 13, Willow township, and he has operated this farm since that time. He is interested in the Fruit Growers Association of Colorado and is a stockholder in the Farmers Lumber Company of Quimby.

On the 9th of May, 1900, Mr. Stanford was united in marriage to Miss Jessie Huston, a daughter of A. ]. and Jane (Fox) Huston, natives of New York. The father came to Cherokee county from Fayette county, Iowa, at a very early date, buying land in Silver .township, where he engaged in farming for several years. Eventually he moved to Nebraska, where he is now operating a farm. Mr. and Mrs. Stanford have four children: Zaidee, aged twelve; Norma, aged eight; Leroy, four; and Genevieve, two.

Mr. Stanford is well known in the Masonic lodge of Washta and is identified also with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Quimby. He gives his political allegiance to the republican party and is now in the fourth year of his able service as township assessor. He is a progressive and wideawake farmer and his industry and enterprise have not only enabled him to attain prosperity but have also won him a high place in the respect and confidence of his neighbors.