CLENDENING, THOMAS

CLENDENING, SPENCE, SCHWARTZ, ALLEN, MAYNE

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 5/17/2004 at 16:40:36

Biography reproduced from page 192 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

Thomas Clendening, one of the prominent and prosperous agriculturists of Grant township, is the owner of a well improved farm of three hundred and fifty-five acres on section 34, which has been in his possession since 1899. His birth occurred in Edinburgh Scotland, on the 26th of May, 1859, his parents being Claudius and Mary (Spence) Clendening, both of whom were natives of Scotland and of Scotch-Irish descent. They were married in County Antrim, Ireland, where Claudius Clendening followed farming until the time of his death, which occurred in 1881. His widow remained on the homestead until called to her final rest in 1893. Their children were eight in number, namely: James, who is now a resident of Washington, Iowa; Alexander, deceased; John and Mary Jane, who live in Ireland; Thomas, of this review; and Susan, Harriett and Ellen, who likewise make their home on the Emerald Isle.

Thomas Clendening spent the first seventeen years of his life, under the parental roof, attending school in County Antrim and asisting his father in the work of the home farm. In 1876 he crossed the Atlantic to the United States in the hope of bettering his financial condition, joining his brother Alexander in Keota, Iowa, where the latter had already made a fair start. He purchased one hundred acres of land in partnership with his brother but later disposed of his interest therein to his brother and bought a tract of one hundred and twenty acres in Washington county, Iowa. He then went to Nevada, working out at a wage of forty dollars per month until he had paid for his farm with his earnings. At the end of seven years he returned to this state and took up his abode on his farm. In 1899 he trade the property for a place of three hundred and fifty-five acres in Grant township, Kossuth county, settled thereon in the month of November and has since been busily engaged in its operation. As the years have passed he has made many substantial improvements, erecting a house, stables, etc., and setting out a grove and orchard, and today has a well drained, well fenced and well improved farm. In 1910 he purchased a tract of eighty acres one miles west of Ledyard and has since leased the same. On his home place he carries on general farming and also raises and feeds cattle and hogs on an extensive scale. The success which has crowned his efforts is all the more creditable by reason of the fact that he started out in life empty-handed and by indomitable industry and unfaltering energy worked his way upward to the position which he now occupies as one of the leading and prosperous agriculturists of the community.

On the 1st of January, 1886, Mr. Clendening was united in marriage to Miss Mattie Schwartz, a daughter of Fred and Sarah (Allen) Schwartz. Her father, a native of Lubeck, Germany, was a commission merchant in dry goods and also a shipper of same. He served in the Franco-Prussian war and was wounded in the knee, the injury causing him pain throughout the remainder of his life. His wife, a native of Pike county, Missouri, and a lady of American descent, crossed the plains to Washington territory with her parents in the year 1850, with a government escort. Fred Schwartz and Sarah Allen were married at Walla Walla, Washington, in 1861, and there continued to reside for a number of years, the former operating a dairy farm within a half mile of the city of Walla Walla. In 1872 he abandoned agricultural pursuits and took up his abode in Walla Walla, there conducting a livery barn, cooper shop and feeding corrall until a fire in 1874 crippled him financially. Subsequently he removed to Boise City, Idaho, and there devoted his attention to farming and the freighting of merchandise. In 1882, as the oldest pioneer of the state, he represented Idaho at the centennial exposition held in New Orleans. He took his own log cabin to the Crescent City and gave a fine exhibit. For a bear which weighed eleven hundred pounds he received eleven hundred dollars, selling the animal on the fair grounds to the New Orleans zoo. He passed away at a hospital in Salt Lake City in September, 1894, having for two decades survived his wife, whose demise occurred in October, 1874. They were the parents of six children, two of whom are deceased. The others are as follows: Mrs. Mattie Clendening; Fred, who is a resident of Albion, Idaho; Henry, living in Glendive, Montana; and John, who enlisted for service in the Spanish-American war and who has never been heard from since.

To Mr. and Mrs. Clendening have been born six children, as follows: Leona, the wife of James Mayne, a farmer of Harrison township, by whom she has one child, Lois; Leslie, who passed away when but fifteen months old; Allen, who died at the age of eight months; Winifred, who was born on the 6th of April, 1899, and who is now attending school in district No. 5 of Grant township; Myra, who was born on the 28th of February, 1900, and is likewise attending school; and Thomas, whose birth occurred on the 7th of February, 1905, and who is attending school.

Thomas Clendening gives his political allegiance to the republican party, while his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the United Brethren church of Ledyard, to which his wife also belongs. Fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to Lodge No. 159, of Keota, Iowa, while both he and his wife are members of Rebekah Lodge, No. 588, of Swea City, Iowa. Mrs. Clendening belongs to Eastern Star Chapter, No. 444, of Swea City, and the Good Templars of Ledyard. Mr. Clendening is recognized as an active force in matters pertaining to the general interests of the community and has a host of friends throughout the county.