Farmer, William L.

FARMER

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/29/2021 at 00:06:44

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.495

WILLIAM L. FARMER
The spirit of enterprise and indomitable energy is manifest in the life record of William L. Farmer, who resides in section 34, West Lincoln Township. Here he has successfully engaged in breeding and dealing in fine stock, within two miles of Indianola, where he owns and cultivates one hundred and sixty acres of highly improved land. Warren County numbers him among her native sons and respects him as a citizen whose value has been proven in his relations to the public welfare. He was born on the farm where he resides, his natal day being January 1, 1861.
His father, Leonard Farmer, was a native of North Carolina, born in 1817 near Raleigh, where he resided until about eleven years of age. He then accompanied his parents on their removal to Indiana, the family home being established on a farm in Morgan County, where he was reared to manhood. He was married in that county to Miss Mary Ferguson, who was also born near Raleigh, North Carolina, and accompanied her parents to the Hoosier state in her girlhood days. Mr. and Mrs. Farmer established their home upon a rented farm in Indiana, where they lived for several years, when thinking that they might more rapidly gain success in Iowa, which was then less thickly settled, but was growing rapidly, they made their way to Indianola in 1850. The present prosperous and populous county seat then contained but five houses and the county was very sparsely settled, but the land was rich in its possibilities. Mr. Farmer entered one hundred and sixty acres from the government, located his claim in Lincoln Township, and with characteristic energy he began its improvement. There he lived for six years after which he bought one hundred and sixty acres, where his son, William, now makes his home. This he also improved, breaking the sod and trans­forming the raw prairie into fields that annually produce rich harvests. He lived and died upon this property, passing away November 1, 1897, at the ripe old age of eighty-one years. His widow still survives and has reached an advanced age, being now in her ninety-first year.
William L. Farmer, of this review, was the youngest in a family of three children and is the only one living, the others passing away in childhood. He has always made his home upon the farm which is yet his place of resi­dence. He was sent to the public schools that he might acquire a good Eng­lish education, and when not busy with his text-books he worked in the fields, early gaining a practical knowledge of the best methods of planting his crops and caring for the harvests.
As a companion and helpmate for life's journey, Mr. Farmer chose Miss Carrie B. Hester, whom he wedded June 21, 1887. She was a native of Mis­souri and a daughter of Charles Hester, who for some years followed farm­ing in Warren County, but is now living retired in Indianola. At the time of his marriage William L. Farmer had charge of his father's land and began to further develop and improve the place. He has erected here a good two-story frame residence, a large and substantial barn and sheds that give ample shelter to grain and stock. He is also raising Red Polled cattle, keeping only registered stock, having engaged in this business since 1898. He also raises registered Shropshire sheep, Duroc Jersey hogs and Percheron Norman horses. He keeps only registered stock and has had some very fine animals upon his place. He has taken his sheep to the state and county fairs where he has won many premiums, and he stands today as one of the prominent stock-raisers of this part of Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Farmer have but one child, Clar­ence Roy, who assists in the work on the farm, and is also attending school. Mr. Farmer votes with the Republican Party where national questions are involved. At local elections where there is no party issue before the people, he votes independent. He has served as road supervisor and has been secre­tary of the school board for nineteen years. He belongs to the Yeoman Society, the Knights of Maccabees and to the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which Mrs. Farmer is also a devoted member.
Having spent his entire life here he is very well known, and the fact that many of his staunchest friends are numbered among those who have been acquainted with him from boyhood, is an indication that his has been an upright and honorable career. He is justly classed with the representative agriculturists of the community and in all of his farm work is practical and progressive.