Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 737
ABEL POWLEY

Abel POWLEY, a farmer living on section 36,Lincoln Township, came to Harrison County, January 1, 1873, and bought the farm he now occupies, which was partly improved, and for which he paid $40 per acre. He has since built a house 16 x 24 feet, with a wing 14 x 24 feet, and a kitchen 16 feet square. He has two other houses on his place. At first his farm consisted of three hundred and eighty acres, but he has since added to his landed estate until he now has fifteen hundred acres in Harrison County, and nearly all in Lincoln Township seven hundred acres of which are under cultivation. Unlike many other men who came to Harrison County, this man set his stakes, and remained in one place and is noted for always being at home. It is said that for six months at a time, he has not been seen in town.

To learn something of this man’s earlier life, it may be said that he was born at Reeps, England, February 16, 1834. He is the son of John and Mary Powley, who had twelve children, he being the eldest: Abel, John W., William, George (deceased), Noah, two deceased, Louisa, Eliza; two died in infancy, and Mary A.

Our subject lived in England until he was nineteen years of age, when he accompanied his parents to America, landing in New York, where for their first meal of victuals they had buckwheat cakes, the first they had ever eaten. Our subject came from New York to Medina, and hired out to work o a farm, and lived in that vicinity for thirteen years, and then bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, on the shore of Lake Ontario in Yates County, and ran in debt $10,000 he operated the farm above referred to, for about four years, and then exchanged it for his present farm without ever seeing the one he traded for, which, however proved to be one of the best in Iowa.

He was married, December 25, 1865, to Mary WOOLSTON, daughter of David and Mary WOOLSTON, natives of England, who were the parents of the following five children, William, Sarah, Ann, James and Mary. These children are all living, and three live in America. Mr. and Mrs. POWLEY are the parent six children, born as follows: Benjamin, Albert A., Horace, Abel, George and Fred, all of whom live in Harrison County except the oldest, Benjamin, who lives in Mills County. He belongs to Masonic Lodge, No. 402 of the Masonic order at Woodbine.

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