O. C. PENNOCK

The enterprise of the individual and his intelligent and well directed effort constitute important factors in the growth and upbuilding of a community at large as well as factors in his own success. O. C. Pennock, therefore, is contributing to the business activity of Cedar county by his association with one of its strong financial enterprises, as he is now president of the Citizens Saving Bank at West Branch. He was born in Stark county, Ohio, June 12, 1846, and is a son of Isaac and Rebecca (Enlow) Pennock, both of whom passed away when their son was only about four years of age. The father was a native of Pennsylvania and the probability is that the mother was also born in that state. They had but two children, the younger being a daughter, Mary J., who is now the wife of James Clemson, who is living near Salem in Columbiana county, Ohio.

At the death of his parents O. C. Pennock went to live with an uncle near the old home and remained with him until twenty-one years of age. He found a good home with his aunt and uncle, Samuel and Hulda Enlow, who spent three years in Jennings county, Indiana, before their removal to Cedar county, Iowa, in the fall of 1866. They drove across the country to this state and O. C. Pennock assisted in driving two cows. When they were on the way he was some distance behind his aunt and uncle, giving his attention to the work of driving the cows. It was the time of the presidential campaign of 1856 and he yelled “hurrah for Fremont.” Two men hearing him were so very angry that he narrowly escaped thrashing. His experiences were those of the farm boy who attends the country schools and works in the fields. He early became familiar with all the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist and he learned the value of industry and perseverance. When twenty-one years of age he was married and came to Cedar county, Iowa, arriving in the fall of 1856, in company with his uncle. He located in the Honey Grove neighborhood, four miles northeast of West Branch. After his marriage he began farming on his own account and was continuously identified with the cultivation of the soil until six years ago, when he came to West Branch. He was the owner of twenty-five acres of good land, which he brought under a high state of cultivation and which upon his retirement from farm life he sold to his son, who now resides upon it. During the years which have since come and gone O. C. Pennock has given his attention to the banking business, having been president of the Citizens Savings Bank since 1903. Through the previous year he had been one of the directors of that institution and in assuming its control he brought to the management of the business keen discernment and unfaltering enterprise, together with a comprehensive knowledge of the banking business. He is also interested in real estate and has made extensive and judicious investment in property. He is likewise the president of the West Branch Electric Light Company.

Mr. Pennock was united in marriage to Miss Anna Hawley, who was born in Stark county, Ohio, in 1848, and in 1852 came to Iowa with her parents, Joseph and Alice Hawley. She died in 1887. By her marriage she had become the mother of six children: Samuel, who died at the age of twenty-six years, leaving a widow and two children; Alice, the wife of Fred Alban, of West Branch; Charles O., a resident of Oklahoma; Mary, who died at the age of nineteen years; A. L., living on the home farm; and Linna, the wife of John Thompson, of West Branch.

In his political views Mr. Pennock has always been a stalwart republican, supporting the party from the time when in his youthful ardor, at the age of ten years, he awakened the anger of the two men by hurrahing for Fremont. While living upon the farm he served as justice of the peace for twenty years and for four years has held the same office in town. He has likewise been a member of the school board and is a member of the Presbyterian church. It is thus evident that he is interested in the political, intellectual and moral progress of the community as well as in its business advancement, and all who know him recognize in him a valued citizen.