SIGSBEE, ALEXANDER W.

SIGSBEE, BURTON, LOVERING, HEALEY, ISENBERGER

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 7/28/2003 at 19:56:37

Biography reproduced from page 634 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

Alexander W. Sigsbee, a pioneer resident of Kossuth county, an active and intelligent agriculturist and a public-spirited citizen, was born in La Grange, Ohio, June 30, 1953. He went to Wisconsin with his parents, locating in Dane county in 1855. His father, John Sigsbee, was a native of Pennsylvania, who came to Ohio at an early date and grew to manhood in that state, where his marriage occurred and where he was successful as an agriculturist until he moved to Wisconsin, where he bought land in Dane county and cultivated the soil. He was successful and prominent as an agriculturist for many years and followed farming until his death in 1872. His wife survived him for three years, passing away in 1875.

Alexander W. Sigsbee was reared upon the home farm in Dane county and received his education in the public schools. He early became acquainted with the many details incident to scientific cultivation of the soil and gained valuable experience in the best methods of caring for the crops and stock. He remained with his father until he had attained his manhood and then started in active life for himself as a farmer. He moved to Iowa in 1887 and located in Algona where he was successful in the creamery business for three years. He hauled his milk from adjacent farms and built up a flourishing enterprise. He retired later, moving to Burt, where he rented land and farmed along scientific lines for ten years. At the end of that time he bought a farm near the city and began its cultivation and improvement. He had brought his property to a high state of cultivation when he sold it in 1910 and bought residence property in the town of Burt, where he now lives. While on his farm he specialized in the raising and feeding of high-grade stock and was active to some extent in the dairy business. He was for some years the owner of the only threshing machine in Kossuth and the adjacent counties. Mr. Sigsbee is prominent in many lines of business activity in Burt. He was one of the promoters and is now a stockholder in the Burt Creamery Association and is interested in many other business lines. He brings to his active life the same unflagging industry and well directed intelligence which brought results in his agricultural career and his success is the outcome of these characteristics.

Mr. Sigsbee married Miss Emma Burton, a native of Reedsburg, Wisconsin, and to this union were born two children: Grace, the wife of Irving Lovering of Humboldt, Iowa; and a son, who is a painter and paper hanger of Burt. Mrs. Sigsbee died in 1884 and some time afterward Mr. Sigsbee was united in marriage to Miss Prissie Healey, a native of that state. To this union were born five children: Claud, who is married and lives upon a farm in Burt township; Winford, a mechanic, plumber and tinner in Burt, Iowa; Earl, Ernest, a plumber of Julesburg, Colorado; and Clara.

In his political affiliations Mr. Sigsbee gives his allegiance to the republican party but has never sought public office. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and are both actively identified with religious work. Mrs. Sigsbee is president of the Ladies Aid Society and is interested in all lines of church and Sunday school expansion. Mr. Sigsbee is also identified with church work and is well known throughout Kossuth county as a man of high character. There is hardly any line of municipal activity in which he is not willing to cooperate. His progressive instinct has influenced the upbuilding of the section in which he resides, in its agricultural phases and is a vital force in the civic upbuilding of Burt. He is one of the high-minded, intelligent and broadly tolerant men who make for excellent citizenship.

Note from transcriber in 2003: The name of Mr. Sigsbee’s first-born son was William. In addition, his daughter’s name was Cora – not Clara – and she married Ray Isenberger.