Prominent among the energetic, far-sighted and successful business men of Tipton is numbered William Bard McBurney, who since 1890 has been connected with the commercial interests here and is today proprietor of the largest dry-goods store in Cedar county. Along well developed lines of trade and in harmony with the strictest commercial ethics, he has built up his business which is a credit alike to the town and its founder.
Mr. McBurney was born in Marion, Linn county, Iowa, on the 20th of May, 1862, his parents being John T. and Elizabeth Bard (McKinney) McBurney. The mother was born near Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, June 20, 1828, while the father’s birth occurred in New York, April 26, 1819. They were married at Goshen, Ohio, and about the year 1857 removed to Linn county, Iowa, where they continued to make their home until called to their final rest, the death of Mr. McBurney occurring January 10, 1903, while his wife passed away April 20, 1902. In early life he had learned and followed the cabinetmaker’s trade but later turned his attention to general agricultural pursuits. Tracing back the ancestry still further, it is recorded that Andrew Graham McBurney, the grandfather of our subject, was a native of Scotland and was the first of this branch to establish a home in America. He died in Ohio where he had reared a large family, his eldest son Andrew Graham McBurney, becoming lieutenant governor of Ohio in 1862. He was a distinguished attorney and won the famous Vallandigham (see Century Dictionary) case in 1863, one of the most noted ever tried in the Buckeye state. Among the ancestors on the maternal side was Adam Poe, a prominent Methodist minister and Indian fighter.
In the family of Mr. and Mrs. John T. McBurney there were eight children, five sons and three daughters: Mrs. Lavisa Ball, Mrs. J. M. Albright, Asaph G. McBurney and John E. McBurney, all residents of Marion, Linn county, Iowa; Mrs. Benjamin Long, deceased, who was a resident of Central City, Linn county; William B. McBurney, of this review; Rev. D. A. McBurney, a Methodist minister of Fort Dodge, Iowa, who is now serving as presiding elder; and Dr. George F. McBurney, a practicing physician of Belmond, Iowa.
William B. McBurney spent the first five years of his life in Marion and for seven years thereafter was upon a farm in the vicinity of that city. He then went to live with his maternal grandfather, R. B. McKinnie, at Goshen, Ohio, where he remained until 1886. At the age of sixteen years, he secured a position as clerk in a dry-goods store and was thus employed until he removed to the west, settling in Des Moines county, Iowa. For four years he engaged in clerking at Mediapolis, Iowa, after which he entered into business on his own account in Tipton, Iowa, in 1890. All through the days of his clerkship, he was actuated by the ambition of one day engaging in business on his own account and to this end he carefully saved his earnings until he felt that his capital was sufficient to justify him in establishing a store of his own. For twenty years he has remained at the same location in the Rowell building next to the City National Bank and he now has the largest exclusive dry-goods store in Cedar county, carrying an extensive and attractive line of goods, while his six clerks are employed to serve the wants of the customers. His business has steadily increased owing to his fair dealing, his reasonable prices and his earnest desire to please his patrons. His success is due to the fact that he has closely applied himself to the conduct of the enterprise, has carefully watched the indications of trade and has employed only legitimate methods to build up an extensive dry-goods trade.
Pleasantly situated in his home life, Mr. McBurney was married in 1894 to Miss Elizabeth Ellen Storks, a native of Louisa county, Iowa, born February 11, 1869. She is the only child of John W. and Nancy Jane (Swank) Storks, natives of Ohio and Indiana respectively. The father died in Tipton, February 20, 1901, and the mother now lives with Mr. and Mrs. McBurney. Mr. McBurney is a member of the Presbyterian church and belongs to Cedar Lodge, No. 11, A. F. & A. M., and Siloam Chapter, No. 19, R. A. M., of Tipton. He is interested in the craft and its purposes and exemplifies in his life its beneficent teachings. For twenty years he has now been numbered among the prominent and progressive citizens of Cedar county and has cooperated in many of the movements for the development and progress of the city. His connection with any undertaking insures a prosperous outcome of the same, for it is his nature to carry forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes. He has earned for himself an enviable reputation as a careful man of business and in his dealings is known for his prompt and honorable methods which have won him the deserved and unbounded confidence of his fellowmen.
