M. B. WATERS

M. B. Waters is a well known resident of Springdale township, being the proprietor of the Greenwood Stock Farm on section 33. His early home was in Ohio, for he was born in Belmont county, that state, on the 10th of December, 1842, and is a son of William B. and Edmonia (Hogue) Waters. The former was born and reared in Baltimore, Maryland, and was the son of an Englishman who died when William was quite young, leaving two sons. At an early age the father of our subject learned the carpenter’s trade and continued to follow that occupation throughout his active business life, his death occurring at the home of his youngest daughter in Bethany, West Virginia. His wife was a native of Belmont county, Ohio, and was residing there at the time of her death. Her parents were among the pioneers of that county, being from Loudoun county, Virginia. Our subject is the eldest in a family of seven children, the others being: Mrs. Sara A. Gardner, now a resident of Moville, Iowa; Wilbert E., who is engaged in the raising of fine stock in Brookings county, South Dakota; Mrs. Sina M. Yocum, of Omaha, Nebraska; Modora, who was a great singer, and died unmarried; Mrs. Adele Moore, of Bethany, West Virginia; and Eli H., who has engaged in the practice of medicine in Nebraska for many years, but is now developing an orange grove at Santa Ana, California.

In the state of his nativity M. B. Waters grew to manhood and, on starting out in life for himself worked by the month from the time he was eleven years of age until he entered the army during the Civil war, his home being at Lloydsville, Ohio. He responded to the first call for three years’ men, in August, 1861, becoming a member of Company E, Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee. He remained in the service until November, 1864, participating in the battles of Shiloh, Stone River, Iuka and Chickamauga, besides many minor engagements. At Chickamauga he became ill with the typhoid fever and was in the field hospital at Nashville for some time but was afterward transferred to other hospitals in Indiana and Ohio. When convalescent he joined the Invalid Veteran Reserve Corps and afterward was on duty guarding prisoners most of the time. He was honorably discharged in November, 1864, and returned home.

On the20th of February, 1864, Mr. Waters left his native state and started westward, arriving in Springdale, Iowa, on the 21st of the following March. He had brought with him four horses which he rode and led, receiving fifty cents per day for bringing them to Cedar county, as they belonged to another. During the first year of his residence here he engaged in farming upon rented land, receiving a fourth of the crops in payment for his services. After his marriage in December, 1865, he commenced farming upon a forty-acre tract, which his father-in-law had given him, and as time passed he steadily prospered and was able to add to his property until he had one hundred and seventy-six acres of land in Muscatine county. This he sold in 1884 and in the spring of 1885 came to Cedar county and purchased his present farm of three hundred acres in Springdale township. He has since extended the boundaries of his place and today has three hundred and forty-eight acres on sections 32 and 33, known as the Greenwod Stock Farm. He has always given considerable attention to the raising of fine stock, having for forty years raised Hambletonian horses and has also given considerable attention to Norman horses for a number of years. He raises double standard polled Hereford cattle and in the spring of 1910 sold eighty head of registered stock. He has bought thousands of bushels of corn but has never sold any until the last two years, as all of his crops have been fed to his stock. He is a progressive, energetic business man and is widely known throughout this section of the country as a most reliable farmer and stock-raiser.

It was on the 26th of December, 1865, that Mr. Waters was united in marriage to Mrs. Elizabeth Williams, who was born on section 6, Wapsie township, Muscatine county, Iowa, December 5, 1844, her parents being Samuel and Esther (Tuvis) Hendrickson. Her father was a native of Holmes county, Ohio, while her mother was born in Michigan. It was in 1836 that Mr. Hendrickson came to Iowa and settled in Muscatine county, where he entered land and continued to reside thereon until two years prior to his death, owning and operating three hundred acres. He was three times married, the mother of Mrs. Waters being his first wife, by whom he had seven children, five of whom reached years of maturity. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Waters have been born ten children, five sons and five daughters, namely: Maggie, now the wife of Benhard Marticke of Goshen township, Muscatine county; Mrs. Mollie Smith, deceased; William S., who is engaged in the meat and stock business in West Liberty, Iowa; Ida, the wife of A. E. Barnes, a farmer living near Iowa City; Ella, the wife of Henry Mosier, a farmer living near West Liberty; Hallie O., of Iowa City; Fred E.; Sherman, a farmer of Hazleton, Iowa; Frank, also a farmer of Hazleton, Iowa; and Wilber W., a farmer of Springdale township. The children were all born in Muscatine county with the exception of the youngest, whose birth occurred on the present farm of our subject, and the four youngest daughters have all engaged in teaching school.

Mr. Waters is by birthright a member of the Society of Friends and is a man who commands the confidence and esteem of all with whom he is brought in contact, either in business or social life. Coming to this state in limited circumstances, the success that has come to him is but the just reward of his own untiring efforts and good management.