Zahner, Frank

ZAHNER

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 10/29/2008 at 16:17:04

Frank Zahner

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.229, Rockford Twp.)
Frank Zahner, farmer, P. O. Missouri Valley, was born in Dubuque County, this State, December 26, 1852; son of Jacob J. Zahner, who came to this county about 1856. Our subject came here with his parents, and has since lived here. He was educated in this county, going three miles to school in winter, and working in the summer. When he was nineteen years old, he went to Jewell County, Kan., and took up a pre-emption claim of 160 acres, of which he kept for five years, finally trading for 140 acres of his present place, paying $800 difference. He made a subsequent purchase of 160 acres, and of his present farm 130 acres are in cultivation, the balance being in pasture and meadow. He was married, March 29, 1875, to Miss Clara Kirkland, born in Logan County, Ohio, daughter of Samuel Kirkland, who came to this county about the time our subject did. He died in the army. Mrs. Kirkland is still living near Neola, this county. Our subject has three children, two boys and one girl. He and his brother-in-law, W. T. Roden, are engaged in stock-dealing, in which business our subject has been for about three years. In the winter of 1880, they shipped 1,600 head of cattle, besides hogs. Mr. Zahner's farming consists principally in raising corn for his stock. Though young at the time, Mr. Zahner remembers the winter of the deep snow, when his father, in company with four others, started to mill, with four yoke of cattle, and some corn. They set out for what was then called the Willow Mill, a distance of twelve miles, which took them all day to travel. Our subject has three thoroughbred cattle, which came from Corbin & McClintock, Kentucky. He is Republican in politics, and in religion a Catholic.