Pg 228

         HARBIN H. FUNK, a farmer residing on Muscatine Island on section 17, Port Louisa Township, was born in Harrison County, Ind., March 19, 1826, and was the youngest in a family of three children born to Abraham and Elizabeth (Summers) Funk, the father a native of Virginia, and the mother of Kentucky. They settled in Indiana in 1808, when it was a part of the Northwest Territory, and there the death of the father, who was a soldier in the War of 1812, occurred in 1851. The mother afterward became a resident of Illinois, settling in Mercer County, where her death occurred in 1855.

Our subject was reared upon a farm, and received his education in the district schools of his native State, where, in 1846, his marriage with Miss Martha Applegate was celebrated. She was born in Indiana, and was a daughter of Andrew and Julia (Harris) Applegate, her father being a native of Pennsylvania, and her mother of North Carolina. After residing in Indiana for several years the young couple removed to Illinois, in 1855, the two succeeding years being passed there, and then became residents of Louisa County, settling on Muscatine Island. At that time the city of Muscatine, which now contains over 10,000 inhabitants, was but a village, whose residents numbered but 600. The settlements on the island were then very few, but the land long since has become inhabited, and is now one of the richest portions of the county. Mr. Funk purchased eighty acres of unimproved land, commenced its cultivation, and as the years passed added to it until his farm is now 280 acres in extent, 200 of which are under cultivation. The staple crops are sweet potatoes and water melons, to the raising of which he pays especial attention, and, though shipping to all points in Iowa from Fruitland, the principal market is Minneapolis.

In 1877, after a short illness, the death of Mrs. Funk occurred, leaving a family of six children to mourn their loss. Adaline, now Mrs. Richards, who resides on Muscatine Island in Muscatine County; Isabelle, now Mrs. De Camp, also living on the island in Port Louisa Township; Julia, who is at home; Eunice, wife of Mr. Hummel, who lives on the island in Muscatine County; Henrietta and Charles, yet residing with their father. In 1885 Mr. Funk was again united in marriage, Regina Walton becoming his wife. This lady is a native of Germany, and a daughter of Henry Vincent and Regina R. (Becker) Bodman, who were also born in Germany, and came to America in 1845, settling in New York, but the following year removed to Muscatine, Iowa, where the mother departed this life in 1858, at the age of thirty-eight years. The father, who was a tailor by trade, crossed the dark river in 1878, when seventy years of age. Mr. Funk takes an active interest in political affairs, and casts his vote with the Republican party. He is one of the prominent men of the township, where he has been a resident for over thirty years.