Heiny, George W.

HEINY

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/29/2021 at 11:49:06

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.552

GEORGE W. HEINY
George W. Heiny has now traveled beyond the eightieth milestone on life's journey and yet he is still an active factor in business circles, having since 1885 been a representative of insurance interests in Indianola. He was previously connected with the live-stock business and in fact his entire ca­reer has been characterized by diligence and perseverance. He was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, January 16, 1828, and is the fourth in a family of seven children, whose parents were Jacob and Catherine (Gall) Heiny. Both were natives of the Keystone state. As the name indicates, the family is of German lineage, and its early identification with American interests is indi­cated by the fact that some of its members were soldiers of the Revolutionary War. Jacob Heiny became proprietor of a hotel at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and after his removal westward to Ohio settled upon a farm in Carroll County. Later he removed to Wayne County, Ohio, and afterward to Hamilton County, Indiana, where the residue of his days was passed. In the careful conduct of the work of the fields he managed to acquire a comfortable competence and was numbered among the stalwart residents of his community. In politics he was a democrat, and in religious faith a Dunkard, while his wife belonged to the Jacob church. She, too, was of German descent. The death of Jacob Heiny occurred in 1853, while Mrs. Heiny departed this life at the advanced ageof eighty-three years.
A common-school education was granted George W. Heiny in his boyhood and he was trained to habits of industry, integrity and diligence upon the home farm, where he remained until twenty-one years of age. He afterward engaged in selling clocks for five years, and later embarked in business on his own ac­count. In the early '40's [1840s], he removed to Hamilton County, Indiana, with his parents, and was there united in marriage to Miss Mary Ann Davison, who was born in Highland County, Ohio. Following his marriage he came to Warren County, Iowa, in 1855, settling in Union Township. Here he engaged in the sale of clocks and lightning rods and gradually worked into a mercantile business, conducting a store at Sandyville for sixteen years. He then sold out and be­came a buyer and shipper of live stock. While thus engaged he lived on a farm in Union Township for several years, taking up his abode there in 1873. In 1885 he removed from the farm to Indianola, where he established an insurance office, and has since been a representative of several old and well known com­panies. Few men of his years are yet active in business, but Mr. Heiny has always led a busy life and his continued connection with business circles indicates his diligence and determination, which have always been among his strongly marked characteristics.
In 1872 Mr. Heiny was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died at the age of fifty-two years. By their marriage they had seven children: William A., president of the Sandyville Bank, of Sandyville; Benjamin F., who is cashier of the Citizens Bank at Pleasantville, this state; Eli, engaged in dry-goods business at Sandyville, and also cashier of the Farmers Bank of that town; Thomas, who was engaged in the dry-goods business in Knoxville, Iowa, and is now a broker of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Charles H., who is a farmer and stockman of Runnells, Iowa; Elizabeth Melsena, the wife of Emer­son Gilbert, who is a stockman and also manager of the Benjamin Heiny farm near Sandyville; and Lydia A., the wife of William Lookenbill, a farmer of Nebraska. After losing his first wife Mr. Heiny was again married, his second union being with Miss Rebecca E. Burch, in 1884. She was born in Indiana, and by this marriage has become the mother of two children: Nellie Grace, who is engaged in teaching school, and is also a teacher of music, and makes her home with her parents; and George W., who is in the employ of the Boone County Telephone Company, at Ames. Mr. Heiny now has altogether eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
In matters of citizenship he has always been interested to the extent of giving his active support to measures for the public good. He votes with the Democratic Party and has held some township offices. He became a charter member of the Odd Fellows lodge at Sandyville, and in former years was identified with the Masons. Though the snows of many winters have whitened his hair, he yet possesses notable energy and activity and keeps in touch with the spirit of the times and with the country in its various lines of development. He has lived to see remarkable changes in Warren County, for when he came here it was largely a pioneer district, its lands wild and uncultivated, its forests uncut and its streams unbridged. All this has changed as the work of improve­ment and civilization has been carried forward until the county takes rank with the older counties of the great state. Mr. Heiny's memory forms a connecting link between the primitive past and the progressive present, and he relates many interesting stories of the early days.