Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 363
ALFRED BESSIRE

Alfred BESSIRE, a resident of section 1, St John's Township, came to the county in October, 1875. He was born in Wayne County, Ohio, November 2, 1854, and is a son of Eugene and Mary Ann (GRIMM) BESSIRE, natives of Switzerland. The father was born June 7, 1823, and the mother November 7, 1830. The father came to America in 1849, and settled in Wayne County, Ohio. The mother came to America in 1833, her parents also settling in Wayne County, Ohio. His parents were united in Wayne County, December 29, 1849. To them were born eight children, seven sons and one daughter, all living except one. They came to Harrison County in 1875 and lived in St John's Twp. Alfred was the third child in the family, and received his education at the district schools of Allen County, Ohio, to which location his parents moved when he was one year old. When nineteen years of age he started for himself, by working on a farm by the month. Not unlike other men, an important event of his life was that of his marriage, March 4, 1875.

Our subject was united to Clara Bell SHAW, a native of Allen County, Ohio, born May 17, 1857, the daughter of John E and Eliza (HEDGES) SHAW. She was the oldest child and only daughter of a family of four children. Six months after their marriage, this young couple came to Harrison County, Iowa. Their home has been blessed by the advent of four children: Bertha Pearl, born April 12, 1878; Howard D, March 15, 1880; Otto L, February 22, 1885; and Lawrence, born November 16, 1889, died in infancy.

Our subject and his wife are members of the Christian Church, having united in 1883. In his early manhood, Mr BESSIRE was a Democrat, as was his father before him, but on account of the stand they took regarding the liquor traffic, he has since voted with the Republican party.

Upon coming to the county, our subject rented land for one season,and then bought forty acres on section 1, St John's Twp, to which he has added forty acres. He now has a well-improved farm, and is surrounded by the comforts of life. In 1876 he erected a house, to which he made an addition in 1883, and remodeled the same in 1891.

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