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Through many years H. R. Pilgrim was numbered
among the well known and highly respected farmers of Elk township, where he
passed away on the 17th of July, 1910. His birth occurred near London, England,
on the 21st of September, 1831. His father died in that country.
H. R. Pilgrim was reared in England to the age of twenty one
years, when he resolved to come to America, attracted by the favorable reports
which he heard concerning business conditions in the new world. Accordingly he
crossed the Atlantic in 1852 and made his way to Cleveland, Ohio, where he was
employed in a greenhouse for several years. Later he made his way to this
county, arriving in the latter part of the '50s. He invested his capital in one
hundred and forty four acres of land on section 16, Elk township, and with
characteristic energy began the further development and improvement of his
place. As the years went on his labors wrought a marked transform ation in the
appearance of the farm. He added many modern equipments and accessories and his
farm presented a most neat and thrifty appearance. Fences and buildings were
kept in good repair and the work of the fields was carefully and systematically
managed, so that as the years went on he gathered good harvests, while the sale
of his crops enabled him to add annually to his bank account.
In 1860 Mr. Pilgrim was united in marriage to Miss Sarah
Gibbs, who was born in the state of New York, August 18, 1841, a daughter of
John and Elizabeth (Bunns) Gibbs, both of whom were natives of England and in
early life came to America, eventually making their way to this county, where
they arrived in 1851. The work of progress and development seemed scarcely begun
here at that time and they cast in their lot with the pioneer settlers. There
was still much land that was in possession of the government which in the summer
was covered with the native prairie grasses, dotted with a million wild flowers,
while in the winter seasons the deep snow oft times rendered the roads
impassable. Mr. Gibbs entered three hundred and twenty acres of land near
Earlville and at once began the develop ment of a farm, his labors resulting in
transforming the wild prairie into productive fields. Upon that place both he
and his wife passed away. Mrs. Pilgrim was one of their family of thirteen
children, and by her marriage she has become the mother of eight children, as
follows: E. H., who is a resident of Manchester, Iowa; J. M., living in
Louisiana; George and Albert W., who make their home in Edgewood, Iowa; Sarah,
who gave her hand in marriage to Joseph Airhart, of Delaware county, Iowa; Rose
A., the wife of Charles Rizer; and two who are deceased. The family circle was
again broken by the hand of death when on the 17th of July, 1910, Mr. Pilgrim
passed away, the family being thus deprived of a devoted husband and father. His
remains were interred in Grandview cemetery at Greeley and a widow and six
children were left to mourn his loss. Mrs. Pilgrim still resides upon the old
home place of one hundred and forty acres and personally superintends her
business affairs.
In his political views Mr. Pilgrim was an earnest republican
from the time that he became a naturalized American citizen, and he always kept
well informed on the questions and issues of the day. For some years he served
as a school director and was a stalwart champion of the cause of public
education. His life was in harmony with his professions as a member of the
Methodist Episcopal church and he always took an active and helpful interest in
church work, doing all in his power to advance the moral progress of the
community. He never had occasion to regret his determination to come to the new
world, for here he found the opportunities which he sought and in their
improvement worked his way steadily upward to success. |
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