Blakely, Z. W.

BLAKELY, KUNKLE, KUNCKEL, GUESSFORD, GREEN, BRALEY

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 12/4/2008 at 06:57:07

BLAKELY, Z. W.
Farmer; Sec. 11; P. O. Newton; born in Knox Co., Ohio, in 1830; removed to Muscatine Co., Iowa, in 1854; thence to Cedar Co., 1858, and to Jasper Co., in 1866; has 147 ¼ acres of land, valued at $40 per acre. He married Miss Elizabeth KUNKLE in 1850; she was born in Knox CO., Ohio, in December, 1831; they have three children-Isabel, Mary and Maggie. Republican. Has held the offices of Justice of the Peace, Trustee and School Director. Mr. and Mrs. BLAKELY are member of the M. E. Church. He had but $25 on his arrival at Muscatine Co., and now he owns the above number of acres of land, with good, substantial buildings, well fenced and better improved than the average in the township. ~ "Palo Alto Township Biographies," The History of Jasper County, Iowa, (Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1878)
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Blakely, Z. W. ~

Among the representative farmers of Sherman Township, Jasper County, the name of Z. W. Blakely, who has now departed from this life for his heavenly home, is that of a man whose ability and character are often mentioned by those who were familiar with him. Unfaltering in the performance of his duty, whatever that may have been; a thorough and persevering Christian throughout all the days of his life, he was a citizen of the type to whom the state of Iowa owes her greatness.

Z. W. Blakely was born on a farm in Knox County, Ohio, Pike Township, on January 29, 1830, the son of Hugh and Catherine Blakely. His father spent his days in farming, and his son early took up his father's occupation and followed it to the end of his days. He remained on the home farm until he was married, on November 8, 1849; to Elizabeth Kunckel, who was born in the same township as he, on December 2, 1831, the daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Kunckel. After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Blakely remained on the farm of Mrs. Blakely's parents for three years, lived on different farms in Knox county, and in 1860 moved to Muscatine county, Iowa, shortly afterward to Cedar county, where they lived for eight years, then in 1870 came to Jasper County. Here they lived each year accumulating and adding slowly to their property, until Mr. Blakely's death, on March 27, 1898. At the time of his death, he was the owner of an excellent farm of one hundred and twenty acres, the cultivation of which had well repaid him.

To the union of Z. W. Blakely and Elizabeth Kunckel nine children were born, of whom three are now living. Catherine Isabella is the wife of W. M. Guessford, of Newton, and the mother of six children: Cora, Edward W., Elmer, James, Lula and Earl. Jasper County, to whom she has borne two children, Thelma and Florence E. Maggie is married to O. N. Green, of Newton, and has one son, Lester. Mr. and Mrs. Blakely also reared another child, Fanny, now the wife of O. G. Braley, near Kellogg, Iowa.

In politics Z. W. Blakely was a Democrat before the war, then became a stanch Republican, and in his later life voted the Prohibitionist ticket. At the age of seventeen he united with the Methodist Church, and was ever afterward a faithful member. He was a class leader in the church at Newton, and took a leading part in all the affairs of the congregation. Honest and hard working of honor and integrity above reproach, he was a successful farmer, and left his family well provided for. He was much liked by those who knew him, for in his daily life he exemplified the teachings of the Christ in whom he had faith, and showed to the world a most lovable, and at the same time a strong character. To his wife and family he was a model husband and father, ranking his duty to his family as only next to, and indeed as a part of his duty to his God, and his tenderness towards the members of his family was very noticeable. Such were the excellencies of the character of this man, that his taking off wrought an especial hardship on those who were intimately associated with him, and thus received the advantages of his advice and his presence, and to them the loss was great, their grief consoled only by the knowledge that he had gone to a fitting reward. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 487.