Hoover, Henry I.

HOOVER

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/29/2021 at 12:03:12

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.704

HENRY I. HOOVER
Henry I. Hoover, residing on a Scotch Ridge farm of ninety acres, located on section 22, Greenfield Township, dates his residence in Warren County since 1850, having been brought to this country by his parents when but six years of age. He was born in Shelby County, Indiana, November 12, 1844, the son of Ephraim A. and Julia Ann (Howrey) Hoover. His father was a native of North Carolina and went from there to Indiana when a young man, where he met and married Julia A. Howrey, who was a native of Ohio. There he lived a number of years, conducting farming operations, and ulti­mately opened a lumber and flouring mill, in the running of which he was quite successful and was doing a good business just previous to his remov­ing to Iowa. In 1850 he disposed of his milling interests and moved to War­ren County, where he located on a partly improved farm near Spring Hill. Later he sold this and bought a saw and grist mill on North River, which he ran for six years, when he sold it and farmed for a couple of years. He then bought a sawmill in Greenfield Township, which he operated until the time of his death, in 1865. His wife survived him for twenty-seven years and passed away in 1892. They were the parents of four sons and six daughters, all of whom grew to maturity and are now living, with the exception of two of the daughters.
Henry I., Hoover remained with his parents during his boyhood and youth and was educated in the home schools. During the Civil War he enlisted on August 12, 1862, in Company B, Thirty-ninth Iowa Volunteer Infantry and was sent with his regiment to Kentucky and Tennessee. In an engage­ment at Parker's Crossroads, Tennessee, he was wounded and permanently disabled. He was then discharged February 28, 1863, for disability and was sent home. He reenlisted June 5, 1864, joining the Forty-eighth Iowa Volun­teers and for one hundred days was stationed with a battalion that guarded the prison on Rock Island. He served for five months, when he was honorably discharged and returned home. He then engaged in farming for a number of years, but finally opened up a brick kiln, and for thirteen years he engaged in the manufacture of bricks, for which he found a ready sale in Des Moines, Indianola, and throughout Warren and Polk counties. He then leased a farm and engaged in farming and stock-raising. In 1884 he bought the farm where he now resides and began its cultivation. He also burned brick here for two seasons. He has built a neat, substantial two-story residence and a large barn, has put out a young orchard, and has cleared the land of some heavy timber. He has constructed the necessary granaries, sheds and other outbuildings for the shelter of stock, in which he deals quite extensively, buying, raising and feeding them for the market.
On June 15, 1865, occurred the marriage of Mr. Hoover and Miss Rox­anna Blackford, who was born and reared in Shelby County, Indiana, and came to Iowa with a brother. Unto this union have been born eleven children, namely: Alice, the wife of Charles Groves, a farmer residing in this County; Anna, the wife of Elvin Bishop, of Pocahontas County; Alexander, who con­ducts farming operations on the home farm; Wilbur, of Pocahontas County; Dills, the wife of Earl Pool, of Greenfield Township; George, who is engaged in farming in his own behalf; Laura and Henry I. Jr., who reside at home with their parents. Three children died in infancy, Alonzo at the age of three years, and Mahala and Margaret both died when about three months old.
In politics Mr. Hoover is a staunch Republican, though he has never been an aspirant to public office. Fraternally he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. During his long residence in this County Mr. Hoover has witnessed remarkable improvements and has had the satisfaction of know­ing that he has played no unimportant part in the development of the country.