Awtry, Emmet

AWTRY, FLAUGH, BOAT

Posted By: Volunteer (email)
Date: 5/23/2007 at 20:54:58

The march of improvement is accelerated day by day, and each successive moment seems to demand of men a broader intelligence and a greater discernment than did the preceding, showing that successful men must be live men in this age, bristling with activity. The purpose of biography is to preserve the records of such men for the edification of succeeding generations; thus the lesson of biography may be far-reaching to an extent not superficially evident. A man's reputation is the property of the world, for the laws of nature have forbidden isolation. Every human being either submits to or rises above the controlling influence, which touches, controls, guides or misdirects others. If he be honest and successful in his chosen field of endeavor, investigation will brighten his reputation and point the way along which others may follow with like success. The career of Emmet Awtry, well known business man of Sully, Jasper County, is of that class of enterprising citizens whose example is calculated to be an incentive to others, for his efforts have met with a fair measure of success in life's affairs.

Mr. Awtry was born in Marion County, Iowa, July 29, 1873, the son of Simon P. and Margaret A. (Flaugh) Awtry, the father born in Kentucky and the mother in Ohio, and they came to Iowa in a very early day, and the maternal grandparents, Elisha and Tissue Flaugh, who were natives of Ohio, came to Jasper County, Iowa, when the country was wild and settlers few. It is believed that they entered land from the government and here they established a good home, after the usual hard work and discomfiture, and here spent the rest of their lives, reared a family and took a leading part in the county's affairs. Mr. Flaugh was a surveyor and, there being a great deal of this work done in his day, he was kept busy, though he managed to operate successfully his one hundred and sixty acre farm.

Giles Awtry, the paternal grandfather, was also a pioneer of Iowa, he having come from Kentucky to Lick Prairie Township, Marion County, and there entered government land. He was a cooper by trade, which he followed in connection with farming and he became an influential citizen in that County. On his farm the father of the immediate subject of this sketch grew up and when the Civil War came on he enlisted for service in the Federal army, in Company C, Fifteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, in which he served very faithfully for three years and ten months. He was wounded at the battle of Shiloh and came home on a furlough, after which he returned to his regiment and served out his time, receiving an honorable discharge. After coming back to Iowa from his army career he was married and soon afterwards began farming, buying a part of his father's homestead.

Through close application and good management he prospered from year to year and added to his holdings until at the time of his death, on July 25, 1891, he owned four hundred and forty acres of valuable land, which he had brought up to a high state of improvement and cultivation. His widow survived until in August 1910. Simon P. Awtry led a quiet home life, preferring to give his attention to his farm and his family rather than seek precarious public honors. His wife was a member of the Christian Church, and known as a kind-hearted, noble-minded woman. Their family consisted of eight children, six of whom are living at this writing.

Emmet Awtry grew up in Marion County, assisted his father with the general work about the place and received his education in the public schools there, and there he took up farming, which he followed for a period of five years, getting a good start the meanwhile. In September 1902, he came to Sully, Jasper County, and there entered the live stock business with Macey Brothers & Gove. Mr. Gove having later retired, the Maceys and Mr. Awtry are conducting the business, which has assumed extensive proportions and they are widely known over this locality, in fact, are among the leading and most successful stock men in this section of Iowa.

Politically, Mr. Awtry is a Republican, and he has served his township as trustee.

In March 1897, occurred the marriage of Mr. Awtry with Nellie C. Boat, a native of Marion County, Iowa, and the daughter of a highly respected family. This union has been blessed by the birth of one child, Margaret.

The Past and Present of Jasper County, Iowa, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-in-Chief, 1912, B. F. Bowden & Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. 428.