Theodore E. McKercher

MCKERCHER

Posted By: Gordon Felland (email)
Date: 11/17/2006 at 10:08:27

Among those citizens who have left their impress upon the development and public life of Worth county is numbered Theodore E. McKercher and his death was the occasion of deep and widespread regret to many who knew him. He was born in Burlington, Racine county, Wisconsin, February 14, 1854, a son of John and Mary (McDonald) McKercher. The father was born in Perthshire, Scotland, in June, 1811, and his life record covered the intervening years to the 12th of January, 1894, when at the age of almost eighty-three years he passed away. His wife was born in County Antrim, Ireland, December 25, 1824, and died March 30, 1895. Mr. McKercher left Scotland when a young man, crossing the Atlantic to the United States in 1842 and taking up his abode in the state of New York. He afterward removed westward to Racine county, Wisconsin, where he purchased government land in connection with his brothers. He was married in Burlington, Racine county, Wisconsin, on the 6th of April, 1847, after which he concentrated his efforts and attention upon the further development and improvement of his farm. In this work he was associated with his brothers and throughout his remaining days his attention was given to the development of his place. In politics he was a republican but never figured prominently in connection with public office, preferring to concentrate his labors and his time upon his farming interests and thus provide a good living for his family.

Theodore E. McKercher spent his boyhood days in Racine county, Wisconsin, and after his textbooks were put aside and he had left the public schools he operated the home farm until 1886. He then drove across the country to Worth county, Iowa, at which time he was a young man of thirty-two years. After reaching his destination he purchased the present home farm, comprising two hundred acres of land. He rented this property and then returned to Wisconsin to the old homestead. His arrangements for having a home of his own were further perfected in his marriage on the 14th of June, 1888, to Miss Margaret Campbell, a daughter of Dougal and Mary (Ferguson) Campbell and a native of Greenock, Scotland. With his bride he came to Iowa and took up his abode upon the farm in Lincoln township, where they began their domestic life. For many years Mr. McKercher continued the development and .improvement of the place, being actively engaged in general farming to the time of his death, which occurred on the 13th of January, 1902. His widow had left Scotland with her parents when a young woman and had landed at New York, whence they made their way to Racine, Wisconsin, where her father engaged in shipbuilding and repair work on ships. Both he and his wife died at the age of seventy-one years.

To Mr. and Mrs. McKercher were born five children: Elizabeth, the wife of P. D. Benjegerdes, of Lincoln township; A. Clair; Mildred; Margaret: and Esther. The last four are at home. In his political views Mr. McKercher was a republican and in all matters of citizenship was public-spirited, progressive and loyal. He belonged to the Baptist church at Mason City and his life was guided by its teachings. He was a man of sterling worth, true and tried, and the many excellent traits of his character established him high in the regard of his fellow townsmen. All who knew him spoke of him in terms of warm regard, his associates finding in him a faithful friend and his family a devoted husband and father.

Source: History of Mitchell and Worth Counties, Iowa, 1918, Vol. II, Pages 615 & 616.