~Page 605~

Benjamin F. Schriver

"Benjamin F. Schriver, who is extensively engaged in the stock business and is also a dealer in real-estate, resides on section 32, Auburn Township, and is recognized as one of the leading men of the community. He is a native of Illinois, born in Jo Daviess County, on the 5th of December, 1846, and his parents were C. H. and Laura J. (Woods) Schriver, both of whom were born in New York City. The father was born in 1816, and was of German descent and the mother was born in 1826. They became parents of seven children, four sons and three daughters, the eldest of whom we see in our subject who is followed by Mary, now the wife of Curtis Metcalf of Eureka, Cal.; George H. who resides in Kansas City, Mo.; Esther A., wife of Thomas Allard of Fayette County; Anice, wife of Charles Washburn, whose home is in Clayton County Iowa; Laura Belle, wife of George Smith who resides in Eureka, Cal.; Columbus R. died in early childhood.

The first eight years of his life, our subject spent in his native State, when with his parents, in 1854, he crossed the Mississippi into Iowa, the family locating in Clayton County. On leaving the paternal roof to begin life for himself he went to Richland County, Wis., where he spent five years and then, returning to Iowa located in this county upon his present farm. He is a successful farmer having all the necessary qualifications of a good business man. He is energetic, enterprising and progressive, yet does not enter into any scheme or take up with any new idea without due consideration of the results to follow therefrom. He is now extensively engaged in the stock business, buying and selling not less then $50,000 worth of horses, cattle, hogs and sheep annually. He also buys and sells lands, having transacted a very large business in real-estate during the past years. He now has for sale some two thousand acres of land, both wild and improved, in the State of Iowa. He is a wide-awake and sagacious man of business and in all of his dealings sustains a first-class reputation for honesty and business integrity. Aside from his business interests, Mr. Schriver finds time to devote to the interests of the community. He is a public spirited citizen, active and earnest in support of any enterprise which is calculated to upbuild the community. Social, educational and moral interests receive his aid and he is a liberal supporter of church work. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he holds membership in Waucoma Lodge, No. 303, I.O.O.F., and Abernethy Post, No. 48, G. A. R. of West Union, being entitled to membership as an ex-soldier, he having served for several months in the Fiftieth Wisconsin Infantry, the regiment doing duty on the Western frontier.

On the 27th of September, 1864, Mr. Schriver was united in marriage with Mrs. Lucy A. Tenney, widow of Nelson Tenney who died in the army. One child was born of that union, Eunice E., who taught school in the county for several years and has attained an enviable reputation as a teacher. By her second marriage there has been five children - Laura J., born in 1868; Charles E., born in 1869;George R. and Henry R., twins, born in 1872; and Mabel Glen, the youngest, born August 9, 1881.