James Dynes, b. 26 Dec 1818

WILSON, COTTER, AWTY, BATES

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 3/7/2004 at 15:21:42

James Dynes, of Iowa Township, is accounted one of the most prominent and wealthy farmers along the Southern line of this county. He is the owner of 350 acres of choice land, and his homestead lies on section 16, where he has fine improvements and makes a specialty of livestock - graded Clydesdale horses, Short-horn cattle and Poland-China swine. He is especially fond of the equine race, and takes great delight in developing and bringing out their fine points, and to this business seems to have a peculiar adaptation, as his success in this line has been really phenomenal. He is one of those men who seem to have been especially blest by Providence with a large share of the good things of this world, and, not the least among these, are his domestic surroundings, as he has one of the most intelligent families to be found. His children are bright and well-educated, and fill an enviable position in society. The family is highly respected wherever known, and number their friends by the score throughout Iowa Township and vicinity.

The southern portion of this county is well represented by natives of the Dominion of Canada, and among them is the subject of this sketch, who was born near the city of Hamilton, in the township of of Nelson, Dec. 26, 1818. He is of pure English stock, his father, Samuel Dynes, having been born in Suffolk County, whence he emigrated to Canada about the year 1808. He was then a young man, and had taken a trip to the East Indies on his way across the ocean. He was a miller by trade, and followed this occupation the greater part of his life. He married Miss Sarah Wilson, and they spent their last years in Nelson Township, Canada. Their family consisted of eleven children, eight of whom are living, and located - Joseph is in Quebec, Canada; John in Burlington Beach, Canada; Charles N., on the old homestead in Nelson Township, Canada; our subject and Alice, Mrs. Cotter, reside in Iowa Township, Iowa; Mary O. resides in London, Canada; Amelia resides in the same place, and Sarah Ann, in Toronto, Canada. Mr. Dynes during his boyhood and youth was a great lover of rural sports, hunting, fishing, etc., and followed the latter as a steady occupation for a number of years around Burlington Beach and other points in Canada West. He has caught as much as $100 worth of fish in a single night. He remained a resident of his native Province until the spring of 1860, and then coming to Iowa, operated a rented farm in Iowa Township one year. At the expiration of this time he purchased his present farm, and since then has given his close attention to its cultivation and improvement. It has taken years of labor, and involved an outlay of thousands of dollars to bring the homestead to its present condition, develop the soil, erect the buildings, plant and nurture the fruit and shade trees, which he has in abundance, and bring about all the other comforts and conveniences which have so much to do with the happiness and welfare of a family.

After coming to this county, Mr. Dynes formed the acquaintance of Mrs. Emily E. Awty, widow of John Awty and daughter of Capt. Philo Bates, and they were united in marriage Feb. 25, 1863. Mrs. Dynes is also a native of Canada, and born, like her husband, near the city of Hamilton, on the 11th of October, 1832. Of this union there have been born eight children, five of whom are living, namely: Mary A., Franklin and Frances (twins), Charles E., and Philo S.; they are all at home with their parents. Mr. Dynes, politically, affiliates with the Republican party, and, with his estimable wife, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, attending service at Sterling.

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