Pritchard, Lyman B.

PRITCHARD

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/29/2021 at 23:47:52

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.439

LYMAN B. PRITCHARD
Lyman B. Pritchard, who since January 15, 1907, has occupied the posi­tion of clerk of the district court at Indianola, has been a resident of Warren County since the spring of 1869. The steps in the orderly progression which mark his life are easily discernible. He was born in Washington County, Indiana, in 1849. His father, Francis Pritchard, was a native of North Caro­lina and came of a family of Welsh origin, although representatives of the name were numbered among the early residents of the old North State. Francis Pritchard was a farmer by occupation and on leaving North Carolina removed to Indiana, settling on a farm in Washington County. In his agri­cultural pursuits he was systematic, methodical and successful and as the years passed, through the capable control of his business affairs, he became prosperous. He was also a member of the Society of Friends and in early life gave his political support to the Whig party but on its dissolution joined the ranks of the new Republican Party, with which he affiliated until his death in 1897. His life span covered seventy-five years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Esther Trueblood, is a native of Indiana and is now living at Darlington, that state, at the advanced age of eighty-three years. She comes of English ancestry and, like her husband, is devoted in her loyalty to the Friends church. This worthy couple were the parents of eight children, six of whom are yet living.
Lyman B. Pritchard, the elders, was reared upon the home farm and at­tended the country schools in early boyhood, while later he pursued an academic course. The year 1869 witnessed his arrival in Warren County and he began work here as a farm hand in the employ of a cousin in Washington Township and was also employed by others. He likewise engaged in teaching school to a limited extent and later turned his attention to merchandising in Ackworth, conducting his store there for about fifteen years. In the spring of 1892 he removed to Milo, where he engaged in merchandising for eleven years, or until the 1st of January, 1903, when O. E. Copeland appointed him to the position of deputy in the office of clerk of the district court. He acted in that capacity for four years and became thoroughly familiar with the duties of the office, so that he was well qualified to assume the responsibility when in the fall of 1906 he was elected clerk of the district court and is the present incumbent. He has been accurate and faithful in office and has made a creditable record.
On the 18th of April, 1876, Mr. Pritchard was married to Miss Madie Morgan, who was born in Tennessee, her parents being Jonathan and Jane (Culbert) Morgan, who removed to Kansas prior to the civil war and both died in Leavenworth. Mr. and Mrs. Pritchard have one child, Jessie E., now the wife of Dr. J. 1. Thompson, a dentist of Centerville, Iowa, and their children aretwo in number, Maurine and Mona.
Since age conferred upon him the right of franchise Mr. Pritchard has always been a stalwart supporter of the Republican Party and various fraternal organizations number him among their valued representatives. He is identi­fied through membership relations with the Masons, the Eastern Star, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Mystic Toilers, while both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He manifests a contagious enthusiasm for every cause or interest which he supports, and an unfeigned cordiality and interesting personal traits of character have gained for him many warm friends in the county where he has now made his home for almost forty years. He has witnessed much of its growth and progress and has ever been a champion of those movements and measures which tend to advance its interests in material, intellectual, political, social and moral lines.