Dyer, Robert

DYER

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/28/2021 at 23:57:56

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.933

ROBERT DYER
Robert Dyer, a representative of an old and well known family of this county, was born on the home farm where he now resides, July 31, 1858 the son of Robert and Mary H. (Sherrill) Dyer. Both of his parents were natives of Scotland, the father born in 1825, and the mother in 1827. There they were married and, seeking-the better advantages which the new world afforded, they came to America in 1851 and settled in Columbiana County, Ohio. There the father engaged in railroad work for two years, but he had been born and reared on a farm in Scotland and to this occupation his inclinations ever turned. Hearing of the rich Iowa lands which were at that time to be ob­tained very cheaply, Robert Dyer came to this state in 1853, where he bought a tract of one hundred and twenty acres of land. Mr. Dyer then returned to Ohio where he had left his family and remained there three years. He returned to Iowa in 1856 and started in to improve his place with all the force and vigor that is so characteristic of his nationality. He constructed the necessary buildings for the profitable conduct of his business, divided the land into tracts for various purposes and soon had the farm yielding him good returns. His profits he invested in more land, until he owned altogether some five hundred acres. He was an eminently successful man. He died in 1902 at the advanced age of seventy-seven years. His wife still lives on the home place and is now eighty-one years of age.
Unto them were born eleven children, five of whom are deceased and six are living, as follows: Elizabeth and Robert reside at home with their mother; James is a farmer of Greenfield Township; Isabelle is the wife of Thomas Miller, a farmer of Greenfield Township; Sarah is the wife of Frank Wilson, also a farmer of Greenfield Township; A. R. is a farmer of White Oak Township. In 1907 the family was called upon to mourn the loss of a beloved sis­ter, Mary, the wife of John H. Schooler. She was but two years older than Robert,of this review, having been born in 1856. She left two children living in Indianola: Minnie E. and Eva M. Schooler.
Robert Dyer received his education in the public schools of his home dis­trict. Throughout his boyhood and youth he aided his father in his farm work. When he became of age he went to farming for himself. He spent ten years in Cass County, where he and J. H. Schooley operated a farm of one hundred and sixty acres belonging to them. He was successful, as was his father before him, and eventually purchased a farm of two hundred and forty acres in White Oak Township, on which he put up good fences and con­structed a comfortable residence, together with other necessary buildings. He lived on this farm for fifteen years, but is now renting it and resides on the old home place with his mother and sister.
In politics Mr. Dyer is a Republican, as was his father, who held various township offices for nine consecutive years. Mr. Dyer is a member of the United Presbyterian Church, of Indianola, as is also A. S. Dyer, while the other members of the family are members of the United Presbyterian Church, of Summerset, Iowa.