Lukenbill, Samuel G.

LUKENBILL

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/29/2021 at 13:30:55

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.655

SAMUEL G. LUKENBILL
S. G. Lukenbill, who succeeded to that portion of his father's estate on which the old homestead is located, was born on the farm where he now re­sides, October 15, 1866, the son of Henry and Elizabeth (Davis) Lukenbill. His father was a native of Owen County, Indiana, where he was born in 1816, and where he resided throughout his early manhood He left there in 1853 and located in this county, settling on the land where our subject now re­sides. He cleared the land and opened up a farm. He was encouraged in his work by the generous return which the soil yielded him in response for the cultivation given it and with remarkable foresight he reached out and acquired more land from time to time as rapidly as his resources would per­mit, until he became possessor of nearly one thousand acres of Warren County's richest farming land. Besides this he owned land in Nebraska. Mr. Lukenbill would be one of the first to give credit to his faithful wife and daughters and his sturdy sons for the aid they rendered him in acquiring this property, and it is but meet, and entirely in accord with his wishes that his loved ones by reason of his foresight and industry, should now be independently sit­uated and comparatively free from care as to competence for the future. He died on the home farm place in November, 1888. His wife survived him for about three and one-half years, and passed away in April 1892. They were the parents of eleven children, seven sons and four daughters, all of whom grew to maturity, but one son has since died. For his second wife the father married Emily Spurgin, a daughter of Levi Spurgin of this county, and to them was born a daughter, Amanda, now the wife of C. N. Black, of Union township.
S. G. Lukenbill received his education in the district school in the imme­diate vicinity of his home, which he attended regularly throughout the school year while in the primary grades, but when he reached an age to be of assist­ance to his father on the farm his attendance was necessarily somewhat irregu­lar, being confined to those months of the year when farming operations were suspended. He persisted in his attendance, however, until he received a good practical education, which now stands him in good stead. He remained with his father on the home place as long as the latter lived, and during the last year of his life assumed the entire responsibility of the place, farming it for himself. In the division of his father's estate he was allotted the old home­stead and one hundred and fifty acres of land surrounding it, located on section 11, Union Township.
In January 1891, Mr. Lukenbill was married to Hattie Thornburg, who was born and reared in Marion County. She died in 1896, leaving two chil­dren: Floyd, a student in the Pleasantville high school, and Hazel, a student in the home school. In his political views Mr. Lukenbill is a stalwart Republican, but he has never been an office seeker, preferring to give his undivided attention to the work of the farm. Because of his interest in the public schools he is a member of the school board. He has been an interested observer of the growth and development of this section of the country, and must experience a feeling of satisfaction in the knowledge that he, himself, has been no unimportant factor in its industrial life.