ROBERT R. MEWHIRTER.

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         An enterprising agriculturist of Marshall township, the appearance of whose homestead bespeaks thrift and capable supervision, is Robert R. Mewhirter. He was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, on the 18th of June, 1853, and is a son of A. B. and Mary Jane (Reed) Mewhirter, also natives of the Keystone state. In the paternal line Mr. Mewhirter traces his descent back to the same source as President James Buchanan. The father, who passed away in 1902, at the age of seventy-five, was engaged in agricultural pursuits all of his life, most of the time in Louisa county. He enlisted in the Union army, Company G, Nineteenth Iowa Infantry, in 1862 and went to the front, where he served for three years, receiving his discharge in August, 1865. He subsequently returned to Louisa county, where he purchased two hundred and forty acres of land, upon which he was residing at the time of his demise. For three years thereafter his widow continued to make her home on the farm, but in 1905 she removed to Winfield, Iowa, where she was living when she passed away in March, 1908. In their family were eight children: Robert R., our subject; Mattie, deceased; Ida, who is the wife of Love Erb, of Brookings, South Dakota; Mary, the wife of Charles Jager, of Winfield, Iowa; Lillie, who died in infancy; Alice, also deceased; Abbie who is residing in Winfield; and Minnie, the wife of Charles James, of Columbus City, Iowa.

         Reared on a farm Robert R. Mewhirter while pursuing his education in the district schools was becoming familiar with the work of the agriculturist, as, in common with the majority of farmer lads, he was early assigned duties about the barns and in the fields. At the age of twenty-six he deemed himself fully qualified to assume the responsibilities of farming on his own responsibility, so rented the old homestead of his father, in the cultivation of which he engaged for ten years. At the expiration of that period he rented two hundred and forty . . .

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. . . acres of the Churchman farm, which he operated for three years. Diligence and economy had enabled him to amass the capital necessary to procure a farm of his own, so in 1892 he purchased his present homestead. The land is all fertile and tillable and during the period of his residence here Mr. Mewhirter has made extensive improvements upon the property. In connection with the cultivation of his fields he makes a specialty of raising and feeding Poland China hogs, under his able direction both branches of his business have proven very profitable.

         Mr. Mewhirter consummated his plans for a home by his marriage on the 2d of July, 1881, to Miss Phoebe A. Dawdy, a daughter of A. R. and Mary (Gunter) Dawdy. They became the parents of four daughters and one son: Grace E., who is now the wife of Joseph Toms, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and has one daughter, Frances Marion; Arthur, who married Leona Sellers and has one son, Harold E.; Jennie, Mabel and Marion, the three latter at home. The son is now operating the farm which belonged to his grandfather. Mrs. Mewhirter passed away on the 6th of August, 1908.

         His political allegiance Mr. Mewhirter gives to the candidates of the republican party, and he holds membership in the Presbyterian church, in the work of which he has always taken an active and helpful interest, and at the present time he is an elder of the church and superintendent of the Sunday school. Both he and his family are highly regarded in the township where they are residing, the hospitality of the best homes being extended to them.