McKIBBEN, John O.

MCKIBBEN, HURD, THOMAS, WOODBRIDGE, SMITH

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 3/3/2015 at 05:15:18

A Narrative History of The People of Iowa.
Harlan, Edgar Rubey. American Historical Society. Vol. IV. p. 310. Chicago. 1931.

BIOGRAPHY ~ JOHN O. McKIBBEN
Garden Grove, Decatur County, Iowa

JOHN O. McKIBBEN is a native son of Decatur County, a representative of one of the honored pioneer families that was here established nearly seventy years ago, and even as his father was a substantial agriculturist and stock-grower of the early days, so he himself has well maintained along these lines the prestige of the family name. His well improved farm estate is situated a short distance to the northeast of Garden Grove, and here he has the oldest herd of Shorthorn cattle consecutively maintained in Decatur County, the herd having been established by his father in the early '70s. Mr. McKibben has been for thirty years one of the progressive exponents of farm industry in his native county and is well entitled to recognition in this history.

John O. McKibben was born on the parental home farm in Decatur County, Iowa, May 25, 1872, and is a son of the late John and Harriet (Hurd) McKibben. John McKibben was born and reared in Trumbull County, Ohio, where he continued to reside until 1857, when he came to Iowa and gained much of pioneer precedence in Decatur County. In 1864 he returned to Ohio, and from that state he drove 1,000 sheep overland to his farm in Decatur County. He was long one of the prominent and successful stock growers of this county, and was a pioneer in the raising of Shorthorn cattle, as indicated in a statement in the initial paragraph of this sketch. He was one of the sterling and progressive men who aided in civic and industrial development in Decatur County, and here he and his wife continued to reside until the close of their earnest and worthy lives, both having been members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Mr. McKibben having been a staunch Republican in political adherency.

John O. McKibben was reared to the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm, received the advantages of the local schools, and in his native county he has long stood forward as an enterprising and successful representative of agricultural and live stock industry, the while he has shown deep interest in all things touching the welfare of his home community and his native county and state. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party, and while he has had no desire for political office his civic loyalty has been shown in his several years of efficient service as secretary of the school board of his district. He and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Garden Grove.

November 12, 1900, marked the marriage of Mr. McKibben to Miss Nellie Thomas, who was born in Virginia and who prior to her marriage had been a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Garden Grove. Mrs. McKibben is a daughter of Henry B. and Julia (Woodbridge) Thomas, the family having come from Virginia to Iowa in the early '80s and Mr. Thomas being now one of the patriarchal citizens of Decatur County, where he is living retired at Garden Grove. He is ninety-three years of age at the time of this writing, in 1930, and admirably retains his mental and physical powers. Mrs. McKibben has continued to be prominently identified with church, cultural and social affairs in her home community, and is a popular member of the Country Culture Club, which is not only one of the oldest in Decatur County but also in the entire state. Roberta L., eldest of the children of Mr. and Mrs. McKibben, graduated in the Iowa State Teachers College at Cedar Falls and is now a popular teacher in the Iowa public schools; Julia H. likewise received advanced education and she is now a successful teacher in the public schools at Warren, Ohio; Martha L. and her husband, Charles E. Smith, reside on the old home farm of her father, near Garden Grove, and they have one child, John Andrew; Norma N. is, in 1930, attending a nurses training school in the City of Burlington, this state; and Esther L. and John Henry remain at the parental home and are students in the public schools.

Transcription by Debbie Clough Gerischer