JAMES R. GUNN

View Portrait of Mr. & Mrs. J. R. Gunn

James R. Gunn makes his home in Mechanicsville but gives personal supervision to the operation and improvement of his farm of three hundred and thirty-eight acres, which is a valuable property lying in Fremont and Pioneer townships. During the pioneer period in the history of Iowa, James R. Gunn entered upon the scene of activity and through the intervening years has borne his part in the work of general progress and upbuilding. He was born in Linn county, July31, 1855, and is a son of Joseph Gunn, a native of Ohio, who spent his youthful days in the Buckeye state and when a young man went to Illinois, where he was united in marriage to Miss Nancy Boyd, a native of the latter state. For several years Joseph Gunn carried on farming in Illinois and one child was born unto them there. Subsequently he removed with his family to Linn county, Iowa, there settling upon a farm about 1845. He devoted his attention to general agricultural pursuits there until he came to Cedar county, when he bought a tract of land in Fremont township, whereon he engaged in tilling the soil until 1872. In that year he sold his property and removed to Jewell county, Kansas, where he remained for a number of years, after which he returned to Iowa, becoming a resident of Benton county. Upon the farm which he there purchased he spent his remaining days, his death occurring in 1908. His wife passed away in September of the same year and the community thus lost two of its worthy citizens for Mr. and Mrs. Gunn were people of the highest respectability and enjoyed the esteem of all who knew them.

James R. Gunn was largely reared upon the home farm in Fremont township, Cedar county, and remained with his father until the latter went to Kansas. His time was chiefly given to the work of the fields and to the acquirement of an education, although his school privileges were somewhat limited, his knowledge being greatly promoted by his reading, observations and broad experiences in later life. On the 28th of December, 1876, in Jones county, he was married to Miss Elmira Elizabeth Dewald who was born in Northampton, Pennsylvania, and when nine years of age was brought to Cedar county, Iowa, by her step father, Jacob Miller.

Following his marriage Mr. Gunn worked by the month as a farm hand for a time and then removed to Jewell county, Kansas, where he purchased school land and opened up a new farm. His first home there was a sod house. For four years he carried on general agricultural pursuits, at the end of which time he disposed of his property and returned to Iowa, where he rented land and carried on farming for a year. He then bought one hundred and twenty acres, which is part of his present farm, the purchase being made possible by his careful economy and unremitting industry in former years. He at once began to cultivate his place and prospered in the undertaking so that from time to time he was able to extend the boundaries of his property until the home place comprised two hundred and sixty-six acres, while an additional purchase made his landed possessions aggregate three hundred and thirty-eight acres. Upon the home farm he erected a commodious residence, a large barn and substantial outbuildings wherein the stock, grain and farm machinery are housed. He has put up good fences and altogether made the property a well improved one. He continued his farming there until 1898, when he rented the place and removed to Mechanicsville, purchasing a home in the city. He still gives his supervision to the farm, however, and while making his home thereon he engaged quite extensively and successfully in raising and feeding stock and also conducted a dairy business, milking twenty-eight cows for the Brookside Creamery. He now owns an attractive home and four lots in Mechanicsville and he was also one of the promoters and is a stockholder in the Mechanicsville Saving Bank.

Mr. Gunn’s study of the political questions and issues of the day has led him to the belief that the principles of the republican party are the most conducive to good government and he therefore casts his ballot for its candidates. He has been officially identified with the schools for a number of years, acting as president of the school board. He has also been a delegate to the county conventions of his party and does all in his power to promote its growth and insure its success. He belongs to the Odd Fellows lodge and Mrs. Gunn is a member of the German Reform church. Mr. Gunn is a man of good business ability, as is evidenced by the fact that he started out in life on his own account without capital. He was possessed of laudable ambition, however, and his untiring industry and carefully managed business affairs have made him in time one of the substantial residents of Cedar county, while the honesty of the methods which he has pursued in business has gained for him the favorable regard and unqualified confidence of all with whom he has had transactions.