WILLIAM P. RATE
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Mr. W. P. Rate and Daughter and Mrs. W. P. Rate
William P. Rate, a substantial and representative agriculturist of Cedar county, owns four hundred and fifty acres of valuable land on section 19, Fremont township, adjoining Mechanicsville. There are two sets of buildings on the property, which is well improved in every particular and is known as the Pleasant Ridge Farm. Mr. Rate was born in Johnson county, Iowa, on the 18th of May, 1857. He is a son of William S. Rate, whose birth occurred in England in 1821 and who left that country when a lad of twelve years in company with his father, William Page Rate. The latter settled in the state of New York in 1835 and later took up his abode near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, there purchasing several hundred acres of land. In 1840 he located in Knox county, Illinois, and there resided for some years.
In that county his son, William S. Rate, was married to Miss Margaret Ditto, a native of Germany, the ceremony taking place on the 2d of July, 1848. Subsequently William Page Rate removed to Johnson county, Iowa, where he purchased and operated a farm in association with his son, William S. The latter there remained with his father for seventeen years, on the expiration of which period he came to Cedar county, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of raw prairie land in Linn township. To the development and improvement of that property he devoted his time and energies throughout the remainder of his active business career, bringing the land under a high state of cultivation and erecting good buildings. His demise, which occurred on the 20th of December, 1906, was the occasion of deep and widespread regret, for he had won an extensive circle of warm friends here. His widow, who still survives, resides on the old home farm with two daughters.
William P. Rate, whose name introduces this review, was reared under the parental roof and assisted his father in the operation of the home farm until he was married at the age of forty years. Following that important event in his life he located in Fremont township, purchased two hundred and forty acres of his present farm and began improving the place. He erected a substantial residence and a large barn and surrounded the entire place with a woven-wire fence. After residing there for five years he bought an adjoining tract of two hundred and ten acres near the corporation limits of Mechanicsville, where he has since made his home. He is building a new barn at the present time and in fact everything about his place indicates the supervision of a practical and progressive owner. For many years he has been well known as a breeder of and dealer in high grade Aberdeen Angus cattle and has also raised Chester White hogs, fattening and shipping both cattle and hogs on an extensive scale. Alert, energetic, and enterprising, he has won a gratifying measure of prosperity in both his farming and live-stock interests and has long been numbered among the leading agriculturists of the community.
On the 22nd of September, 1897, in Tipton, Iowa, Mr. Rate was united in marriage to Miss Lucinda Herbst, a native of Cass township, this county, and a daughter of Henry and Johanna (Buhister) Herbst, both of whom were born in Germany. The father crossed the Atlantic to the United States in 1840, first locating in New York and later in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The year 1848 witnessed his arrival in Cedar county, Iowa. He was a weaver by trade and followed that occupation successfully. Mr. and Mrs. Rate are the parents of a daughter, Ruby Velma.
Since age conferred upon the right of franchise Mr. Rate has supported the men and measures of the democracy. The honors and emoluments of office have never had any attraction for him but he has always been stanch champion of the cause of education and served as secretary of the school board for about six years. He has spent practically his entire life in Cedar county and enjoys a wide and favorable acquaintance within its borders.
