SIMPKINS, GEORGE

SIMPKINS, PECK

Posted By: Volunteer (email)
Date: 8/31/2004 at 12:49:23

Biography reproduced from page 430 of the History of Kossuth and Humboldt Counties, Iowa published in 1884:

George Simpkins came with his parents from England to America when seven years of age, settling in Dane Co., Wis., where his father still lives. During the passage they were shipwrecked, on Lake Ontario, and lost all they owned. The disaster was caused by a drunken captain. The first winter in Wisconsin, the children, of whom there were seven, went without shoes, and had very little clothing. George worked on a farm, with a threshing machine, when quite young. In oiling a machine, when fourteen years old, his clothing caught in some of the machinery, drawing him on to it, and cutting off his left arm above the elbow. In 1872 he came to Kossuth Co., Iowa, bought a claim on section 20, township 96, range 29, where he now resides, owning 400 acres of land, 300 of which is under cultivation. He is now turning his attention to the raising of fine cattle. In 1873, the first year on his farm, he had seventy acres in wheat; the grasshoppers took all but fifty bushels, and the next year they took the whole crop, which was very discouraging for a beginner, yet he is now one of the enterprising and successful farmers of his township. He was married July 4, 1864, to Hulda Peck, born April 4, 1844. They have three children—Henry, Nellie and Nettie. He is an Odd Fellow, also a member of the Baptist Church.