ORREN SINKEY, b 17 Mar 1833

SINKEY, MAYFIELD, FRENCH, WAGONER, LEONARD, KUNTZ

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 12/25/2004 at 20:55:12

Thirty-five years of the life of the subject of this biography have been spent upon the farm where he now resides, on section 16, in Brandon Township, to which he came in the year of 1854. Iowa was then a young and comparatively unsettled State, but the intelligent pioneers who had ventured to this region discovered in its rolling prairies and rich breadth of timbered land, the resources of wealth and prosperity for the future. The task which lay before them was almost incalculable, suggestive of years of labor and the outlay of hundreds of dollars in converting the uncultivated land into productive fields and comfortable homesteads. They were men, however, of courage and enterprise, and bent to the task before them with the resolution which has resulted in making this portion of the Great West, the abode of an intelligent and progressive people.

The subject of this notice was in no wise behind the men of his time. He was the offspring of an excellent family, being the son of William and Mary (Mayfield) Sinkey, who were natives of Pennsylvania, where their ancestors had resided for several generations. From the Keystone State the parents of our subject removed to Licking County, Ohio, where their son Orren was born March 17, 1833. The grandparents on both sides of the house also removed to Licking County, Ohio, and subsequently Grandfather Sinkey emigrated further westward to this county, and spent his last years in Brandon Township.

The parents of William Sinkey reared a large family and the father has made farming his life-long occupation. William was reared to man's estate in Ohio and followed farming in Licking County, until 1851, when he changed his residence to Noble County, Ind. In 1854, pushing still further westward and making the journey overland by team, he came to this county and purchased eighty acres of land in Brandon Township. Upon this he labored while building up a good homestead and died at the age of sixty-eight years. The wife and mother survived until Oct. 17, 1876, dying at the age of seventy-five. The household circle included three children, only two of whom lived to mature years. Catherine became the wife of Joseph French and died in Brandon Township, leaving two children. Thus, Orren, our subject, is the only surviving member of his family.

Mr. Sinkey removed with his parents first to Indiana and thence to this county and on the 31st of December, 1855, took unto himself a wife and helpmate, Miss Lydia Wagoner, the wedding being celebrated at the bride's home in Brandon Township. Mrs. Sinkey was born in Westmoreland County, Pa., March 16, 1833, and is the daughter of George and Mary (Leonard) Wagoner, who were natives of Germany and Pennsylvania, and spent their last years in Brandon Township. Mr. Wagoner was born in Germany and came to the United States with this brothers and sisters when a small boy. They settled in Pennsylvania, where he lived until 1854, then came to this county with the expectation of building up a home in Brandon Township. The plans and expectations of the family were sadly broken in upon by his death, which occurred three weeks after his arrival here. Mrs. Wagoner survived her husband nearly thirty years and passed away on the 5th of January, 1884.

To the parents of Mrs. Sinkey there were born six children, viz: Hannah, who married William Kuntz, and died in Pennsylvania; John, who also died there; George, who remains a resident of the Keystone State; Mary, who married William Sinkey and died in Brandon Township; Levi and Lydia, also of this Township.

Mr. Sinkey for several years after his marriage operated on rented land, then purchased that which he now owns. He has 117 acres, pleasantly located, and which he has brought to a good state of cultivation, with substantial and convenient buildings. He makes a speciality of stock-raising, and is contributing his full quota to the moral and financial interests in his community.

Four children completed the household circle of our subject and his excellent wife, three of whom are living - William P., George W., and Ella. John died when a promising young man of twenty-three years. Our subject, politically, is a stanch Democrat, and has served as Township Trustee and in the local offices. He is a believer in the Christian religion, and his excellent wife was for some years a member of the Christian Church in Brandon Township. This was disbanded some time since and she has not identified herself with any other denomination. Her father, George Wagoner, was for many years a minister of the United Brethern Church, and his son, George, Jr., is worthily bearing the mantle of his honored father, in the same capacity, having preached the Gospel for a period of forty years. He is now located at Johnstown, Pa., where he has been stationed for twenty-five years.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois.)