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1907 Past and Present Biographies

E. G. Elmore

E. G. Elmore, conducting a general mercantile store in Paton, was born in Richmond, Wayne county, Indiana, on the 19th of January, 1866. His father, William Elmore, was born in Tennessee and went to Indiana with his parents, where on attaining manhood he became a farmer. He resided in that state until 1881, when he removed to Greene county, Iowa, settling in Dawson township. Here he purchased two hundred acres of land, which was but partially improved, and in the further development and cultivation of his farm he spent his remaining days, his death occurring in 1887 when he was only forty-six years of age. He was an earnest Christian man and was one of the organizers of the Friends church of Dawson township. He served on the building committee for the erection of a house of worship, but died before its completion and his funeral service was the first service held in the church. He was a good man, noble and upright in all the relations of life, and wherever known was most highly esteemed. His life exemplified the dignity of labor and in his business career he won a fair measure of success. In his younger days he was a teamster in Indiana and later conducted a gristmill, while subsequently he carried on farming and during the period of his residence in Iowa was connected with agricultural interests. He married Keziah Gifford, who was born in Ohio, and is now living in Paonia, Colorado.

In the family of this worthy couple were six children, of whom E. G. is the second in order of birth. Five of the family are now living. The children are: Minnie, the wife of I. S. Binford, of Caldwell, Idaho; E. G.; E. C., who for several years was engaged in the livery business in Paton, but is now a farmer of Paton township; C. B., who died at the age of twenty seven years, leaving a widow who became the second wife of our subject; Sarah, the wife of George Weeks, who has charge of the manual training in the public schools of Denver, Colorado; and Anna, the wife of Alfred Binford, in whose home in Paonia, Colorado, the mother resides.

E. G. Elmore was reared in Indiana to the age of fifteen years, when he accompanied his parents on their westward removal to this county. On the death of his father he and two of his brothers purchased the interests of the other heirs in the estate and conducted the farm until 1895. They saw some hard times, often working at great disadvantage, an instance of which occurred in one year when they fed hogs with corn for which they had to pay forty cents per bushel and then sold their pork in Gowrie for two dollars and seventy cents per hundred weight. However, as the years have passed times have become better and prices have risen.

On putting aside agricultural interests in 1895, Mr. Elmore came to Paton and for one year was manager of the lumberyard of the Interstate Lumber Company, but on account of his wife’s health he removed to Colorado. He had married Miss May Edgerton. The change did not prove beneficial as he had hoped, and in 1900 Mrs. Elmore passed away, leaving two children. Roy, who is now serving for the fourth year in the United States navy, is at present in the submarine service on the torpedo boat, Plunger, off the coast at Newport, Rhode Island. It was his ship Dixie that took the astronomers to Africa two years ago to view the total eclipse of the sun. Zada, the elder daughter, is at home. Ollie died at the age of eighteen months. For his second wife Mr. Elmore married Mrs. C. B. Elmore, the widow of his brother, who died of blood poisoning which resulted from an accident that occurred the night that William McKinley was elected president while he was waiting for the election returns. Some of the people in the crowd got to fooling and the accident was the result. He was the father of three children: Ernest and Orley, who are yet living; and Darrow, who died in infancy.

Returning from Colorado to Iowa, Mr. Elmore embarked in merchandising in Paton in May, 1906, purchasing the stock of J. B. Will. He now has a good business and his trade is growing along substantial lines because of the fact that he carries a well selected line of goods, is honorable in his dealings and puts forth every effort to please his patrons. He and his wife are members of the Friends church and he belongs to the Masonic fraternity and to the Modern Woodmen camp, No. 3837, while Mrs. Elmore is connected with the Royal Neighbors. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and for six years he has served as a member of the village council, while for one year he was mayor of Paton. He gives active co-operation to many movements for the public good and his labors in this regard are far-reaching and beneficial. In his business life he has made judicious use of his opportunities and is now one of the leading merchants of Paton, conducting a business which in scope and importance makes it one of the leading commercial industries of the city.

Transcribed from "Past and Present of Greene County, Iowa Together With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Prominent and Leading Citizens and Illustrious Dead,"
by E. B. Stillman assisted by an Advisory Board consisting of Paul E. Stillman, Gillum S. Toliver,
Benjamin F. Osborn, Mahlon Head, P. A. Smith and Lee B. Kinsey, Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907.

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