William R. Danforth

BANKS, BENGE, DANFORTH, HEARD, JONES, SMITH, WOODWARD

Posted By: Judy Wight Branson (email)
Date: 8/7/2004 at 20:51:19

William R. Danforth has been a resident of Madison county for almost two-thirds of a century, is one of its honored pioneers and owns a well improved farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres on section 18, Scott township, which is now being operated by his sons. His birth occurred in Laporte, Indiana, on the 14th of February, 1840, his parents being Cyrus and Mary (Jones) Danforth, an account of whose lives appears in the sketch of Challen Danforth, given elsewhere in this work.

William R. Danforth was but nine years of age when he came to Madison county with his mother and in 1855, at the early age of fifteen, in association with his younger brother Challen, he began making ice cream and candy, the first manufactured in Winterset. Subsequently he learned the tinner's trade and for a quarter of a century was successfully engaged in the conduct of a hardware store at Winterset in partnership with his brother. During the past twenty-five years he has owned and operated a farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres in Scott township, carrying on general agricultural pursuits with good results, though at the present time the active work of the fields is being performed by his sons.

In September, 1860, in this county, Mr. Danforth was united in marriage to Miss Lydia Benge, who was born in Madison county, Indiana, on the 15th of January, 1844, her parents being Alfred and Margaret (Banks) Benge, the former a shoemaker by occupation. They came to this county in 1855 and here spent the remainder of their lives. To Mr. and Mrs. Danforth have been born nine children, three of whom died in infancy. The others are as follows: Ed, who wedded Miss Lou Smith and resides in Lincoln township, this county; Jud and Frank, both at home; Charles, residing in Winterset, who married Miss Pearl Heard and has three children—Lillian, Helen and Paul; Stella, living at home, who has been twice married, having two children, Mabel and Freddie, by her first husband and a daughter, Jessie E., by her second husband ; and June, the wife of Willis Woodward, of Des Moines, by whom she has one child, Donald.

In politics Mr. Danforth is a stanch democrat, while his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Christian church. He has now passed the seventy-fifth milestone on life's journey and enjoys the veneration and respect which should ever be accorded one who has traveled thus far on this earthly pilgrimage and whose career has been at all times upright and honorable.