ANDERSON ORCHARD.

Pg 65

          One of the pioneers of Iowa who is now living retired in Morning Sun is Anderson Orchard, who for forty-three years was engaged in agricultural pursuits in Des Moines county. His birth occurred in Kentucky on the 15th of October, 1821, his parents being John and Anna (Park) Orchard, also natives of the Blue Grass state, who removed to Brown county, Illinois, in 1832, and there they passed away. In their family were seven children, of whom the son Anderson is the only one now living.

          The greater portion of the education of Anderson Orchard was acquired in the little log school house in the vicinity of the old homestead in Brown county, Illinois. He laid aside his text-books in his early youth and assisted his father in the cultivation of the farm, remaining a member of the parental household until he was twenty-one. He subsequently rented his father’s farm, in the cultivation of which he engaged for eleven years. In 1853 he removed to Des Moines county, Iowa, where he bought a homestead upon which he settled, continuing its operation for forty-three years. He engaged in general farming but always made a specialty of the raising and feeding of stock for the market which venture proved to be very lucrative. In 1896 Mr. Orchard retired and moved to Morning Sun, where he has ever since continuously resided. He still owns two hundred and ten acres of land in Des Moines county in addition to his fine residence in Morning Sun.

Pg 66

          On the 9th of February, 1843, occurred the marriage of Mr. Orchard and Miss Caroline Emrick, who was born in Mead county, Kentucky, on the 12th of August, 1828. She is a daughter of John and Rebecca (Legg) Emrick, her father a native of Virginia and her mother of Kentucky. They removed to Brown county, Illinois, in 1830, where they resided until they came to Iowa to live with Mrs. Orchard, in whose home they passed away. Of the six children born unto them but two are now living. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Orchard were born fourteen children, the order of their birth being as follows: Columbia Jane, who is deceased; Josephine, who married William Shewey, of Red Oak, Iowa; John E., who is living in California, Robert R., also a resident of California; Lucinda, who married George Aldridge, of Wyoming; Joseph, of Des Moines county; Mary, the widow of Robert Oberman, also of Des Moines county; Augusta, the wife of Henry Elliott, of Mount Pleasant, Iowa; Ella, deceased; Franklin, who is living in Trenton, Missouri; Clara Bell, who married Charles Plunket, of California; Hugh A., who is a resident of Cedar Rapids; Eliza, who married John Musock, of Los Angeles; and Edith Mary, the wife of Grant Shutter, of Morning Sun. Mr. and Mrs. Orchard also have over thirty grandchildren and thirty great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

          His political support Mr. Orchard has given to the republican candidates ever since the organization of that party, prior to which time he voted the whig ticket. He has never taken a prominent part in political activities but has always been a public-spirited man and while residing in Iowa was a member of the Anti-Horse Thief Society, which was a vigilance association organized for the purpose of exterminating horse stealing, which at that time was a very common practice. Both Mr. and Mrs. Orchard are members of the Christian church, having been affiliated with this denomination for many years. Mr. Orchard, who has long outlived the Psalmist’s allotted years, has been an interested observer of the onward march of civilization, having witnessed the stage coach give way to the express train, the candle to the electric light and the installation of both the telephone and telegraph, which have grown to be necessities of every day life. He and his wife are highly regarded in the community where they have long resided and are shown the respect and deference which should ever be youth’s tribute to honorable old age.