Babb, Milford F.

BABB, MARPLE, LESTER, GRAHAM, HAVENS

Posted By: Gary Norris (email)
Date: 11/28/2012 at 11:30:29

Among those who have chosen as their life vocation that occupation which Washington once described as the "most useful as well as the most honorable" a man could follow, is numbered Milford F. Babb. He was born in Henry county, Illinois on the 26th of September, 1854, and is a representative of a family which had its origin in Germany. His grandparents were natives of Virginia, who in early life removed to Ohio and subsequently to Illinois, while both passed away in Poweshiek county, Iowa. Their son, Joseph Babb, the father of our subject, was in Ohio on the 9th of November, 1826, and throughout his active life engaged in agricultural pursuits, although during his last years he lived retired. He came to Poweshiek county in 1869 and purchased four hundred acres in Jackson township, which he brought under a good state of cultivation. He passed away on January 8, 1910, and is yet survived by his wife, Mrs. Nancy J. (Marple) Babb, who was born in Bureau county, Illinois, May 29, 1835. In their family were the following children: Milford F, of this review; Mary, who married S. E. Jacobs, of Galesburg, Illinois; George, a resident of Jackson township; Harvey E., of Union county; Della, the wife of Alvin Ellison, of Montezuma; Cynthia, who married Fred Ludeman, of Chicago, Illinois; and two who passed away in infancy. The father of this family was a soldier of the Civil war, enlisting in September, 1864, as a member of the Fourth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, and serving until the close of hostilities. In June, 1866, he returned to Illinois and there made his home until February, 1869, when he came to Iowa. He was a member of the Grand Army Post at Montezuma and of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which his widow also belongs. In politics he was a republican.

In 1869, when fifteen years of age, Milford F. Babb came to Poweshiek county, and in Jackson township he has since continued his residence except for three years when he lived in Montezuma. He has continued to live for the past twenty-five years on his present farm, which consists of one hundred seven acres, located in section 18, Jackson township, and here he has engaged continuously in general farming and stock-raising. The substantial degree of success which is today his indicates the close application and unfaltering industry which have characterized his efforts in this direction, for he has made a close study of agriculture, has cultivated the cereals best adapted to soil and climate, has practiced rotation of crops and has employed in the management of his affairs the most practical and progressive methods.

On the 14th of October, 1875, Mr. Babb was united in married to Miss Mattie E. Lester, who was born in Mahaska county, Iowa, on the 25th of January, 1857, a daughter of Alexander and Ellen Jane (Graham) Lester. Her father is now deceased and her widowed mother makes her home in Deep River township at the age of eighty-two years. Mr. and Mrs. Babb have no children of their own but have in their home a young man, Emmett Havens, who they reared since he was a little lad of three years.

They are earnest Christian people, holding membership in the Methodist Episcopal church of Montezuma, and occupy a high place in the regard and esteem of all who know them. Mr. Babb has fraternal relations with the Masons and with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in the latter organization belongs to subordinate encampment and Rebeckah lodges. He gives his political support to the republican party but has never sought nor desired public office. His has been a life of continuous activity, in which has been accorded due recognition of earnest labor, and today is one of the substantial and valued citizens of Jackson township.

History of Poweshiek County Iowa
- A Record of Settlement, Organizations, Progress and Achievement, Vol. II
written by Prof. L. F. Parker.
Published by The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., in 1911
Pages 742-743