F. B. IDLE.

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         One of Louisa county’s retired agriculturists, who for many years was engaged in general farming and stock raising in Grand View township, is F. B. Idle, a resident of Letts. He was born in Champaign county, Ohio, on the 23d of January, 1843, and is a son of John and Nancy R. (Kiser) Idle, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively. The parents were married in Ohio, where the father engaged in farming until 1845, when they came to Iowa, making the long journey across the prairie in wagons. They took up their residence in Muscatine county, where the father filed a claim on eighty acres of land. After erecting a log cabin, which sufficed for a residence for the time being, he . . .

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. . . began to break the prairie and place his land under cultivation, making such improvements as he could from time to time. In the spring of 1850 he crossed the plains to California in search of gold, spending two years in prospecting. Upon his return he entered more land, continuing its cultivation until his retirement in 1907. He is now ninety-three years of age and although he rents his land still makes his home on the farm where he has resided for over sixty years. He owns three hundred and forty acres of land, which is well improved, and two hundred of it is under a high state of cultivation. Five children were born to him and his wife, as follows: Louisa, the wife of A. V. Riggs, of Van Buren county; F. B., our subject; Isaiah, who is farming in Kingston, Texas; and two who died in infancy.

         Being but two years of age when the family came to Iowa, F. B. Idle has spent practically his entire life in the state where he is now residing and in whose common schools he obtained his education. His boyhood and youth were very similar to those of other lads reared on a farm during pioneer days. While still very young he was assigned light tasks about the farm, which increased in number and responsibility as he grew older, so that by the time he had mastered the rudiments of the common branches of learning he was also well qualified to assist in the cultivation of the fields. He adopted agriculture for his life vocation and met with such success in its pursuit that he is now able to live retired, having sufficient means to provide him with all the necessities and many of the luxuries of life.

         On the 16th of April, 1865, Mr. Idle was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Brumley, who was born in Virginia, and is a daughter of Smith and Lucy A. (Vincent) Brumley. Her parents were also natives of Virginia, in which state they were married, continuing to reside there until 1856, the father being engaged in farming. In that year they came to Iowa, settling in Louisa county, where Mr. Brumley purchased eighty acres of land, which he improved and cultivated until 1864, when he sold his place and bought one hundred and twenty acres elsewhere in this county. Five years afterward he disposed of that place and purchased three hundred and twenty acres in the vicinity of Wapello, one-half of this being under a good state of cultivation and the other half in timber. He later disposed of that and went to Kansas, buying one hundred and twenty acres near Pleasanton, where he passed away in 1906, having survived his wife for four years, as her demise occurred in 1902. Nine children were born to them: Mary E., now Mrs. Idle; John L., who is residing in Kansas; Joseph W., who is in the stock business in Whitman, Nebraska; Thomas N., of Fulton, Kansas; Julia A., who died in infancy; Nellie F., the wife of Ambro Hickman, of Batesville, Indiana; Etta V., who married Frank E. Graham, of Wapello; Harvey B., who passed away at the age of thirty-one years; and Effie, the wife of Art. E. Barber, of Pleasanton, Kansas.

         Unto Mr. and Mrs. Idle have been born three daughters and two sons. Clara B., who was given a common-school and musical education, married H. M. Shearer, of Cedar Falls, Iowa, and they have nine children, namely: Carl Vernon, Harry Merle and Beatrice Mary, all at home; Frank M., who is married . . .

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. . . and resides in Potlatch, Idaho; Monte May and Darlene Marie, at home; one who died in infancy; and Austin Morris and Allen Dale, at home. Newton Idle, the older son of our subject, was also given a common-school education and lives in Boicourt, Kansas. He is married and has five children, Francis, Russell, Floyd, Clara and Vera. Nancy A. is the wife of James Small, a resident of Letts, and they have four children, Arthur, Molly, Alice and Ratio. Lucy R. is the wife of E. S. Rabe, a resident of Letts, and they have one child, Maurice. Olive I., a resident of Boicourt, Kansas, is married and has four children, Leo, Eugene, John and Erma.

         The family were reared in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which the parents are members, and fraternally Mr. Idle is affiliated with the Masonic order, being identified with the lodge at Letts. Politically he is a democrat but not having been an office seeker has never prominently participated in township affairs. He is one of the widely known and respected citizens of his community and both he and his wife have many friends of long standing.