Shigley, Ephraim

SHIGLEY

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 7/2/2021 at 20:44:29

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.902

EPHRAIM C. SHIGLEY
The life record of Ephraim C. Shigley is closely interwoven with the pioneer settlements of the western country and the success to which he has attained may be jointly laid to his own efforts and his habits of thrift and industry and the agricultural merits of the country of his adoption. He was born in Greene County, Ohio, September 6, 1836, his parents being William L. and Cynthia Ann (Simpson) Shigley, the father being of German descent. When Ephraim was but two years of age his parents removed from Ohio to Indiana, where both passed away and lie buried in the village churchyard, the mother dying in 1855 when but thirty-five years of age, and the father at the ageof sixty-nine years. They were the parents of eleven children.
The educational advantages of those days were not what they are now and Mr. Shigley may be said to have gained his education largely in the schoolof experience. He left his boyhood home in Indiana when twenty-one years of ageand settled in Kansas, where he took up a homestead of eighty acres. Here he remained until 1874, but owing to droughts and uncertainty of crops during this year he removed to Warren County, Iowa, hoping to better his condition. Here he bought forty acres of land and this, combined witha team of horses and one cow, comprised his capital at this time, if we except the pent-up energy and resolution of the man. A small house, fourteen by twelve feet in dimensions, with no plastering, served as shelter for eight years while but a few acres of his land had been broken. Undaunted, however, he set to work to make the most of his surroundings and his land responded generously to his efforts, so that gradually he was able to increase his holdings and he now owns one hundred and twenty acres of good land on which he has erected a sub­stantial frame house and barn and prides himself upon the fact that be owes not any man and has money in the bank besides.
When quite young Mr. Shigley was married in Indiana to Miss Sarah E. Lancaster, a native of that state. She died in Kansas in 1873. They had children, but all died in infancy. Mr. Shipley's present wife was Miss Margaret Amanda Schutt, who was born in Sangamon County, Illinois. Unto this union have been born six children, namely: Cora Alice, the wife of John Nevins, of Minnesota; Joseph William, a farmer of Virginia Township who married Miss Tina Johnson; James Austin, single, who lives in North Dakota; John C., who married Fanny Romine; Dora May, the wife of Oscar Romine, both of whom also live in North Dakota; and Fred, who married Miss Daisy Clarke and lives in Madison County, Iowa.
Mr. Shigley enlisted in the One Hundred and Fifty-third Illinois Volun­teer Infantry, in Joliet, Will County, Illinois, February 1865 and served until October, 1865. He saw no active duty but was assigned to guard duty, serv­ing as guard as far south as Alabama. One month of this period he spent in a hospital and he still suffers from the exposure and hardships of this trying period.
Mr. Shigley is not affiliated with any church organization, though his wife is a member of the Dunkard's Church. In polities he is a Republican and has always taken an active interest in local political affairs, serving as county supervisor, and is now one of the school directors of his district.