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         D. W. PAINE, Postmaster at Letts, Iowa, was born in Dutchess County, N. Y., in 1849. His parents, Smith W. and Matilda (Emigh) Paine, were natives of Dutchess County, that State, and reared a family of four children, of whom he was second in order of birth. The father engaged in mercantile business for several years in the Empire State, and migrated to Iowa in 1850, where he engaged in farming near the city of Burlington, Des Moines County, for . . .

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. . . about two years, after which he followed the mercantile business in Danville during the remainder of his life. His death occurred Feb. 23, 1872, at the age of fifty-four years, his wife dying several years later, on the 22d of November, 1882, when fifty-nine years of age, and both are interred in the Jagger Cemetery, two miles west of Danville, Iowa.

Our subject has been a resident of Iowa since his first year, having come to the State with his parents in 1850. He received his education in the graded schools of Danville, and was reared to mercantile pursuits, acting as salesman for his father in that town. In 1877 Mr. Paine came to Louisa County, acting as manager of the Co-operative Store of Letts for three years, after which he was employed as a traveling salesman in the grocery line for Garretson & Son, of Muscatine. Continuing in that employment for about a year, he then engaged in general merchandising for the succeeding six years as a member of the firm of Freeland, Paine & Co., but at the expiration of that time sold his interest to John Benson, and again engaged as manager for the Co-operative store for eighteen months. He was next employed as a traveling salesman in the grocery line for the Muscatine Spice Mill Company, of Muscatine, Iowa. Mr. Paine is a supporter of the Democratic party, takes great interest in the local political affairs, and under the present administration he has served as Postmaster of Letts. For six years he was a member of the School Board, and has also held the office of Town Treasurer. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., Lodge No. 365, of Columbus Junction; is the owner of a nice residence in Letts, which is situated upon a well-improved farm of seventy-four acres, lying within the limits of the town.

March 27, 1879, in Letts, Louisa Co., Iowa, Mr. Paine was united in marriage with Elivia R. Schofield, a native of Indiana, and two children have been born of their union—Amy and Roy. Her parents, James N. and Alice (Miller) Schofield, were natives of England, and both came to America in youth. The father emigrated to this country with his elder brother, first locating in Ohio, he learning the trade of a mechanic in Cincinnati, and there engaged in the repairing of furniture, etc. Afterward he purchased a water flouring-mill in Indiana, which he operated some time. In 1855 he came to Louisa County, locating near Port Louisa, where he purchased a steam flouring-mill and also 175 acres of timber land, where now is the town of Odessa, and also bought and sold different farms in Port Louisa Township. In August, 1866, he moved his family and flouring-mill on the farm adjoining the town of Letts. Before fully completing his mill he was taken sick, and called to his final resting place Jan. 10, 1868, when fifty-two years of age, and was interred at Harrison Cemetery. Mrs. Schofield and two children survive him: Elivia R., the wife of our subject, and James W., who is married, and lives at Park City, Utah. Mrs. Alice Schofield departed this life Jan. 5, 1887, at the age of seventy years, and now rests beside her companion of life.