PELTON, W. S.

PELTON, JOHNSON, FARRALL

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 10/15/2003 at 16:06:54

Biography reproduced from page 425 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

W. S. Pelton, a well known farmer of Prairie township, where he operates four hundred acres of land, two hundred and forty of which he owns, was born in Elizabethtown, New York, on the 18th of May, 1866, and is a son of Eli B. and Charlotte A. (Johnson) Pelton. The parents were also natives of the Empire state, the father’s birth having occurred on the old Pelton homestead, situated on the shores of Lake Champlain. They were married in New York in 1862, and there passed the early years of their life, the father devoting his energies to the miller’s trade, which he had learned from his stepfather. In 1867 the family removed to Iowa, locating in Waverly, where Mr. Pelton was employed in a warehouse. From there he came to Kossuth county, settling on some land purchased from Judge Call, and turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. He met with very good success in the development of his interests and at the time of his death in 1904, held title to four hundred acres of fertile and well improved land. The mother is still living and continues to reside on the old homestead, where she is keeping house for her son. Mr. and Mrs. Pelton became the parents of two children, our subject being the younger. The daughter, Lucy A., became the wife of Homer Farrall, and is residing at Corwith, Iowa. The father was a veteran of the Civil war, having served for three years with the Eleventh New York Cavalry. He went to the front on the same day that he was married, and after the war returned to New York, where he remained until his removal to Iowa.

As he was only a child of eighteen months when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Iowa, the greater part of the life of W. S. Pelton has passed on the farm where he now resides. He was given the advantage of a common-school education, and early began assisting his father with the work of the farm, which he continues to cultivate. Mr. Pelton is an energetic, capable man and has prospered in his undertakings, and in addition to his two hundred and forty acres of farm land owns a residence property in Wesley. In connection with general farming Mr. Pelton is also engaged in raising high-grade stock. He is progressive in his methods and has one of the best equipped and most highly cultivated farms in his community, and is numbered among the township’s most capable agriculturists.

The religious faith of Mr. Pelton is manifested through is membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America at Wesley, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Wesley. He votes the republican ticket. Although Mr. Pelton is still a young man, he has witnessed many and marvelous changes in Kossuth county during the period of his residence. His people with other pioneers suffered severe setbacks in their early career, and he well remembers the time when great loss to their crops by grasshoppers caused such severe hardships, that many gave up the struggle for existence on the outlying frontier district, but those who remained became prosperous with the development of one of the richest agricultural regions of the country.