Jeffers, George E.

JEFFERS, PERRY, OBRIEN

Posted By: Roseanna Zehner
Date: 7/22/2006 at 15:30:31

JEFFERS, GEORGE E.

George E. Jeffers, now one of the leading agriculturists of Doon Township, Lyon County, was born in Oneida County, New York, where he was reared on the farm of his parents, and given but a limited winter term school education. Of a most industrious and ambitious spirit, Mr. Jeffers determined to seek his fortunes in the northwest, and in 1892 he arrived with his family in Sioux City, Iowa. He had but little money on hand, and his need of it immediate and urgent, so he did not hesitate to embrace the first opportunity to earn an honest dollar, and became a salesman for H.A. Johns Nursery Company, selling trees. In this line he was very successful. The following year he was engaged as clerk in the hotel of Henry Rice, at Doon, Iowa, known at that time as the "Bonnie Doon" house. Mr. Jeffers retained this position for some four and a half years, in the course of which a very warm friendship developed between him and Mr. and Mrs. Rice, they taking the greatest interest in his welfare, and he disposed to consult them at every step.

The wages, which he had saved while in the hotel, enabled him to rent Mr. Rice's farm, and he began raising stock. He borrowed what money he could, and put it all into stock. A large success met his ventures, and after some few years he was able to buy a quarter section of land within one half mile of the village of Doon. He has since bought an eighty, and another forty, and now owns a fine farm of two hundred and eighty acres, worth from $75.00 to $100.00 an acre. Mr. Jeffers rents the old Hubbard farm and altogether the family has some nine hundred and six acres under a fine state of cultivation. Mr. Jeffers had at one time about $3,500 invested in hogs, cattle (there being three hundred head of steers) and horses. He had 3,500 bushels of wheat, and about as much barley and oats. His threshing bill in one year was $275. The corn which he raised was a vast amount but it was all fed out on the place.

Mr. Jeffers has built on his place a horse barn 28 by 40; a corn crib 40 by 26; a hog shed 22 by 40; a cow shed, 26 by 36; granary, 30 by 26; and a home which is a model farm house. He built it for convenience and comfort, and has embodied in its construction all the modern improvements, hot and cold water, bathroom, and other ideas that it is good to see in a farmhouse. A view of Mr. Jeffers' residence will be found on another page of this volume.

Mr. Jeffers love a good horse, and on his farm may be seen at almost any time from fifteen to thirty head of good stock. He is a genial and hospitable gentleman, and loves to entertain his friends.

In 1883 occurred the marriage of Mr. Jeffers and Miss Emma J., a daughter of John Perry, a farmer of English descent. To this union were born three children: Bertha E., Martha J., and Irene. The mother passed away February 26, 1890, and Mr. Jeffers contracted a second marriage in August 1892, when Miss Nellie C. O'Brien became his wife. She was a daughter of John O'Brien, a native of Ireland, and by her marriage has become the mother of one child, Walter J.

In his political views the gentleman whose name introduces this article is a Republican, and has been a member of the school board for three years. He was nominated on the Republican ticket as the strongest man to run for supervisor in a district that is overwhelmingly Democratic. He went down to defeat, but by a narrow margin of only seven votes. Fraternally he is a member of Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 517, and also of the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Ancient Order United Workmen of Doon. He is open-handed, and honest and liberal to a fault. His father was born in New York, and was a soldier of the Union in the war of the Rebellion. He is still living. The Jeffers come of an old English line, and are worthy representatives of the best blood of the "tight little isle." Mr. Jeffers owns a hotel at Doon that he rents.

Source: Compendium of History Reminiscence and Biography of Lyon County, Iowa. Published under the Auspices of the Pioneer Association of Lyon County. Geo. Monlun, Pres.; Hon. E. C. Roach Sec’y; and Col. F. M. Thompson, Historian. Geo. A. Ogle & CO., Published, Engravers and Book Manufacturers. Chicago, 1904-1905

Transcribed by Roseanna Zehner, Darlene Jacoby and Diane Johnson