WORDEN, JOHN B.

WORDEN, ORVES, ACKER, CHURCH, DUTTON, WERLINE, POWELL, MILLER, MALLOW

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 7/3/2003 at 17:50:56

Biography reproduced from page 204 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

John B. Worden engages in general farming and stock-raising in Springfield township, where he owns three hundred and twenty acres of land on section 33. His birth occurred in Kenosha county, Wisconsin, on the 2d of June, 1857, his parents being Charles B. and Lestina (Orves) Worden. The mother was born in the state of New York and the father in Vermont, and in the latter state they were married. They subsequently removed to Kane county, Illinois, but later located in Wisconsin. Later they returned to Illinois, where they both passed away, the father October 17, 1899, and the mother on the 11th of January, 1907. They are buried in the cemetery in the vicinity of their old home in McHenry county, Illinois, where they located when our subject was a child of three years. Agricultural pursuits always engaged the attention of Mr. Worden. He was of Scottish extraction, his grandfather having been born in the old country, as was also the mother. He was a member of the home guards. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Worden numbered ten children: Loanza, who is deceased; Edgar and Edna, twins, the former a resident of Rose City, Michigan, and the latter deceased; Ennis, who is also deceased; Delia, the wife of John Acker, of Brick Tree, Missouri; John B., our subject; Lois, the wife of M.H. Church of Kennewick, Washington; Ida, who is deceased; Ruth, who married L. R. Dutton, of Algona, Iowa; and Milo, who is deceased.

The education of John B. Warden was acquired in the common schools of Illinois, where he also received his agricultural training. He remained at home until he was twenty-two years of age, after which he was employed by others for a time. Later he returned home, where he remained until he was twenty-five, when he went to McHenry county, Illinois. After a two years’ residence there, he came to Iowa, locating on a raw piece of land in Palo Alto county, close to the Kossuth county line, and four miles southwest of Whittemore, his principal trading point being Algona. His brother Ennis was then residing with him and for many years they worked tirelessly in developing his land. Mr. Worden later disposed of that property and invested the proceeds in the north half of section 33, Springfield township – his present farm. Years of close application and unremitting toil have enabled him to convert this farm into a valuable and attractive property. All of the buildings on the place have been erected during the ownership of Mr. Worden, who has also planted the groves and orchard. His fields are in a high state of productivity and annually yield abundant harvests, and he is also meeting with lucrative returns from his stock-raising. He also owns a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Burley, North Dakota.

On the 1st of January, 1883, Mr. Worden was married to Miss Ada Dutton, a sister of W. A. Dutton, whose biography appears in this work, and to them have been born ten children: Marion, the wife of Charles Werline, of Burlington, Washington; Eugene, who married Helen Powell of Springfield township, this county; Grace, who became the wife of Lewis Miller, of Oxford, Iowa; George, who is at home; Alice, who married Robert Mallow, of Springfield township; and Rachel, Leon, Chester J., Ruth and Lois, all of whom are at home.

Mr. Worden is a steward and trustee of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his wife and family are also members, and fraternally he has for sixteen years been identified with the Modern Woodmen of America. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, and he has for three years been township clerk. During the two years of his residence in Palo Alto county he was assessor and he served as justice of the peace for four years. His worth and reliability both as a citizen and man of business are well known and he is held in favorable regard in his community, where he has many friends.