Robert Menefee

ROBERT MENEFEE, of Afton Township, was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, August 28, 1822, and is the third of a family of ten children, seven boys and three girls.  All of the family, excepting three, are living in Virginia.  His parents were Thomas Kenley and Emily (Finnel) Menefee, natives of Virginia.  Kenley Menefee, the grandfather of Robert, was in the War of the Revolution, and Thomas, h is father, was a soldier in the War of 1812; his father died in West Virginia in 1848.  Robert was reared in his native State and learned the trade of stone-cutting, which he followed seven years in West Virginia and Ohio.  He remained under the parental roof until past the age of twenty-five, when he removed to Preston County, West Virginia, and engaged in farming, which he continued for sixteen years.  In the year 1861 he enlisted in Preston County, West Virginia, in Mulligan's Brigade, in the Sixth Virginia Infantry.  He took part in seven regular battles:  Webscot, Phillipi, Houstonville, Beverly, Green Briar Mountain, Staunton, and Manassas Gap.  He was honorably discharged at Grafton.  He and one brother, James, fought in the Northern Army and the other brothers were in the Confederate Army.  His own kin at one time offered a reward of $10,000 for his life and by the advice of Mulligan he removed to Ohio, and lived there for seven years.  He then removed to Madison County, Iowa, and in the spring of 1877 he came to Cherokee County and bought eighty acres of land, since which time he has been engaged in raising stock and grain; he is a successful breeder of Norman horses.

 He has added to his first purchase of land, and now owns 120 acres of land.  Politically, he affiliates with the Republican party.  He was married in Monongalia County, West Virginia, September 17, 1846, to Miss Elizabeth Paulson, who was born in West Virginia, February 14, 1834.  Mr. and Mrs. Menefee are the parents of five children: John W., Joseph Aretas (died in infancy), Benjamin Clark, Lydia Irene, wife of C. S. Wilson, and Franklin L. 

Mr. and Mrs. Menefee has been consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church for forty-five years. 

Biographical History of Cherokee County, IA, W. W. Dunbar & Co Publishers, 1889

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