McMullen, Merrit C.

MCMULLEN, MOIR

Posted By: Roseanna Zehner
Date: 7/23/2006 at 20:01:16

MCMULLEN, MERRIT C.

Mr. McMullen, who takes a leading part as an agriculturist in the affairs of Logan township, Lyon County, where his farm of many broad acres shows him to be both industrious and persistent, was born on a farm in Orange county, New York, in 1858, which his father, Calvin McMullen, had long been engaged in cultivating. The father came of a Scotch ancestry, but his wife, the mother of Merrit C., came of an ancestry long in this country.

Merrit C. McMullen was the fifth member of a family of seven children, and was reared on the paternal estate in New York, where he was bred to hard work, and endowed with a constitution like iron. He remained at home with his parents until he passed the age of twenty years, when he struck out for himself, and in 1878 settled in Franklin County, Iowa, where he worked by the month in farm labor for five and a half years. In the spring of 1884 he made his first appearance in Rock Valley, Sioux county, where he began farming for himself, having bought a quarter section of land two and a half miles southeast of Rock Valley. There he lived for some two years in a structure which he used for a residence as well as a stable. It was only 12 by 20 feet in size, but it sufficed for a time to cover his scanty resources. For several seasons he did much breaking of the prairie for neighbors, and in the meantime gradually brought his own place into condition until in 1888 he sold it, and bought a farm consisting of a half section of land north of Larchwood, on which he moved the following year, making it his home for the ensuing two years before he again sold out. This time he purchased land close to Larchwood, and also part of his present farm in Section 8, Logan township.

Mr. McMullen and Miss Luch Moir were married in 1892. She was born in Canada, but her parents were both natives of Scotland. They were farmer people, and old pioneer settlers in Sioux county, Iowa. To this union were born four children: Jessie, Alley E., George Dewey and Ivy May. For about a year Mr. McMullen lived on his farm adjoining Larchwood, when he plotted his land, and made it "McMullen's Addition to the village of Larchwood." Within a year it was all sold and he removed to his present home in Logan township in August, 1903. Here he had no buildings of any kind, and the farm was but partly broken, but with characteristic energy he rushed the construction of a handsome and very complete set of farm buildings, consisting principally of a house, 16 by 24, 14 by 16, and 10 by 24; a barn 32 feet square; a double corn crib, 24 by 36; a granary, cattle shed, and hog house, and other structures. With two wells and two windmills, he has a complete system of water works covering the yards. There is a grove of trees, as well as a young orchard, devoted to the fruits which the climate favors. He is engaged mostly in stock raising and cattle feeding. Our subject is also the proprietor of two other farms in Logan township, both of which are in fine cultivation, with buildings on one better than on his home place. Near Rock Rapids he owns a quarter section of land, and is altogether the proprietor of two sections of land, 1280 acres in all. This is largely rented, and with his share of the grain, he feeds stock heavily, having on hand now about three hundred head of cattle, and in partnership with W.E. Brown, has one hundred and forty head on his farm which lines south of the home place.

Mr. McMullen well deserves deliberate attention as when he came to Iowa he had not a penny and has accumulated what he owns by digging it from the soil with hard work and much planning and care.

Mr. McMullen was elected county supervisor in 1898, reelected in 1901, and again in 1903, the last time receiving the nomination without opposition, a notable tribute to his public spirit and marked ability.

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