William Trindle
George M. Trindle, son of William Trindle, was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, February 26, 1826, and having arrived at years of maturity, there was married on the 17th of July, 1851, in Fairfield township, that county to Miss Sarah McDowell, also a native of that county, born April 17, 1832. They began their domestic life in the east, but in 1863 removed westward to Iowa, establishing their home in Butler county, where they lived for thirty years, Mr. Trindle passing away on the 16th of June, 1893. He had followed farming during much of his life and during the last twenty years was also a minister of the United Brethren church, but made his home upon his farm, having one hundred and sixty acres of productive land, which responded readily to the care and cultivation which he bestowed upon it. He was a most earnest temperance worker and sought in every way possible to promote the moral progress in the community in which he lived, his influence being an effective force for good among his friends and neighbors. His wife still survives and now makes her home with a daughter near Bowman, North Dakota. In their family were seven children : William ; Susan Mary, the wife of Charles Coryell, of Minnesota; Almira Jane, the wife of A. J. Sylvius, of Bowman, North Dakota ; James A., living in Marshalltown, lowa ; Emily Eleanor, the deceased wife of Robert Santee ; George, who died in infancy ; and C. L., living in Jackson township.
William Trindle, whose name introduces this record, was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, July 29, 1852, and there spent the first eleven years of his life, accompanying his parents on their removal westward to this county in 1863. One half century has since come and gone and during the entire period he has been an interested witness of the changes which have occurred, converting the wild prairie district into a rich farming region, dotted here and there with beautiful homes, substantial school buildings and churches and other evidences of a progressive civilization. William Trindle was reared as a farm lad, working in the fields when not occupied with the duties of the school room. In manhood he has been content to give his time and attention to the occupation with which he had become familiar as a boy and thus concentrating his efforts upon a single line of activity, he has won prosperity and is now the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of rich land, constituting the west one half of section 32, West Point township, upon which he has resided for a quarter of a century. The improvements upon the place are the tangible evidences of a well spent life characterized by energy and thrift.
On the 25th of February, 1880, Mr. Trindle was united in marriage to Miss Keziah Cornford, who was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, April 9, 1847, and is a daughter of John and Mary Ann (Ralph) Cornford, who were natives of England, born near London. Both passed away in Wisconsin, the father when but forty four years of age and the mother in 1903 at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. They had two children born in England ere they came to America about 1845. Their family numbered nine children, of whom one son died at the age of twenty-five, while two other children have also passed away, leaving six yet living.
Mr. and Mrs. Trindle have three children : Anna, the wife of Jesse Young, residing near Turtle Lake, Wisconsin ; Nellie, the wife of S. G. Young of Turtle Lake, Wisconsin ; and William Irving, who married Laura Berkley and who remains upon the old homestead and now operates the farm.
The parents are members of the Christian church of Bristow, are liberal in its support and take an active part in its work. Mr. Trindle is serving as one of its elders and does all in his power to further its cause. He holds membership with the Modern Brotherhood of America and he gives his support to the republican party, being now identified with its progressive wing. He has held only school and road offices nor does he desire further political preferment. Living in the county for a half century, he is largely familiar with its history, his memory going back to the time when this part of the state was mostly an unfenced prairie, upon which few houses had been built. It was a dangerous thing to travel in this district in the winter time, for there were no homes in which to seek shelter from the storms and it was not an unusual thing for a blizzard to sweep over the district. The mail was received twice a week being brought in by stage from Cedar Falls and Hampton. Farsighted men, however, recognized the natural advantages of the country and came to claim its rich agricultural lands, while the present generation, profiting by their labors, have become prosperous farmers. The country is now well developed and its attractiveness has been enhanced by the labors of such men as William Trindle, who is justly accounted one of the progressive farmers of his part of the state.