Carroll County IAGenWeb

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY IOWA

A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement

VOLUME II ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1912

Transcribed and donated by Vance Tigges & Kathy Weaver.

Earl M. Rich, who is engaged in the cultivation of a farm of eighty acres in Glidden township, Carroll county, was born in Whiteside county, Illinois, on the 5th of June, 1861, and is a son of the late Thomas and Angeline (Barrett) Rich. The father was born in London. England, on the 3d of March, 1830, from which country he emigrated to the United States with his parents when a lad of five years. The family first located in Erie, Pennsylvania, where they resided for several years before they removed to Whiteside county, Illinois, where Mr. Rich met and subsequently married Miss Angeline Barrett, a native of Ohio. The father, who was a carpenter, followed his trade until 1870 when he removed to Iowa, locating upon a farm of one hundred and sixty acres four miles east of Glidden. He continued to reside there, engaging in agricultural pursuits, until 1885 at which time he was appointed postmaster, following which he removed to Glidden, where the family made their home for five years and then came to Carroll, where the father passed away January 5, 1899. The mother is still surviving at the age of seventy-eight years and makes her home with her youngest son, Roscoe. Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Rich: Charles, who died in infancy; Thomas R., who is married and living in Cedar Rapids; Minnie, who married Andrew Jenks, of Barney, North Dakota; William O., who is deceased; Earl M., our subject; Nettie, who married Walter English, of Los Angeles, California; Herbert, who is deceased; and Roscoe, who is a resident of Carroll.

As he was only a lad of nine years when his parents located in Carroll county, Earl M. Rich spent his early years on the old homestead in Glidden township, acquiring the greater portion of his education in the district schools of this county. He remained a member of the paternal household until he had attained his eighteenth year, during which time he learned the carpentry trade, which he followed for several years after leaving home. In 1887, subsequent to his marriage, Mr. Rich bought a farm of eighty acres in Glidden township, which he has brought to a high state of cultivation.

Mr. Rich was married at the age of twenty-five years to Miss Lydia A Snyder, their union being solemnized on the 16th of February, 1887. Mrs. Rich is a daughter of Adam and Barbara Snyder, who were natives of Germany, from which country they emigrated to the United States in 1837. They first located in the state of New York where they resided for thirteen years. At the expiration of that period they removed to Illinois and settled in McHenry county where the father passed away in 1863. After the death of her husband Mrs. Snyder continued to make her home in Illinois until 1884 when she came to Iowa to live with her children, and here she was residing at the time of her death in April, 1904. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Rich, Clyde and Leila, both of whom are attending the high school at Glidden.

The family affiliate with the Methodist Episcopal church of Glidden and in politics Mr. Rich is a democrat. He has never been an office seeker, however, preferring to devote his entire attention to the cultivation of his homestead in which direction his efforts have met with substantial reward.

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