Peasley, Oliver H.

PEASLEY

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/29/2021 at 23:23:17

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.864

OLIVER H. PEASLEY
While O. H. Peasley has been a resident of this county for only a few years, he is not only well known in Indianola and in this part of the state, but throughout Iowa, on account of his connection with the breeding and raising of fine Shropshire sheep. He is the proprietor of the Chapel Red stock farm and is one of the leading representatives of live-stock interests in Warren County. He came here in 1902, in which year he purchased eighty acres of land, partially improved. Since that time his attention has been given to the further development of the place, and while he raises some grain, he makes a specialty of stock-raising.
Iowa claims him among her native sons, for his birth occurred in Mus­catine County, December 13, 1865. His father, Enoch Peasley, was a native of Ohio and when a young man came to Iowa, casting in his lot with the early settlers of Muscatine County, where he followed farming. He was married there to Miss Elizabeth Carr, a native of Ohio. They lived there for many years, but both are now deceased. Their family numbered two sons, the younger being Arthur Peasley, who is a dairyman of Oskaloosa, Iowa.
O. H. Peasley was reared to manhood in Muscatine County, and the public schools afforded him his educational privileges. He remained at home until he had attained his majority, after which he started out in life on his own account, working by the month for some time. He then rented a farm and later purchased a place of forty acres. Subsequently he took up his abode in Marshall County, making his home at Marshalltown, where he en­gaged in the livery business for a year and a half. On the expiration of that period he removed to Des Moines, where he also conducted a livery barn, but subsequently traded his business for a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Henry County. He lived upon this place for five years, or until 1902, when he came to Warren County. Since that time he has been closely associated with the stock-raising interests in this part of the state and is prominent in the field of business into which he has directed his labors.
Mr. Peasley was married in Muscatine County, October 24, 1889, to Miss Ida M. Day, a native of that county. They have become the parents of four children: Harold, Hazel, Fred and Elmus. As stated, in 1902 the family took up their abode upon the Chapel Red stock farm. In that year Mr. Peasley purchased eighty acres and he has since erected a substantial barn and modern outbuildings and has further improved the place in other ways. He has been raising Shropshire sheep since 1897, has imported stock and has made various exhibits at the state fairs in Des Moines, beginning in 1903 and exhibiting there every year since. He has taken a number of premiums each year and in 1907 won twenty premiums, including the highest awarded in the state, winning the purple with the ram lamb, against all ages. He has built up an excellent business in the sale of sheep, there being constant demand for all of his stock. He has imported animals for several years, including six which he brought to America the past year. He now has a herd of eighty sheep and lambs and the Chapel Red stock farm is justly celebrated in its collection. He has made a close study of the best methods of sheep-raising for this climate, knows well the kind of feed that produces the best results, and his operations have been so extensive as to make him one of the most prominent sheep-raisers of the middle west. In addition to his home place of eighty acres, he also rents thirty-five acres.
Mr. Peasley belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church of Center Chapel and has served on the official board. He is connected with the Modern Woodmen camp and gives his support to the Republican Party at state and national elections. At local elections, however, he considers only the capability of the candidate, without regard to party affiliation. He is preeminently a business man, energetic and determined, who makes good use of his oppor­tunities and wins advancement by reason of his strong purpose and unfalter­ing diligence. He has also become an excellent judge of stock and his worth as a business man and citizen is widely acknowledged.