JOSEPH RAY SYPHRIT.

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         There are few citizens of Iowa who can claim a more worthy line of ancestry than Joseph Ray Syphrit, of Port Louisa township, the family on the paternal side having been traced to very early settlers of Pennsylvania and to Germany. He is a native of Louisa county, born December 7, 1856, a son of Joseph B. and Harriet F. (McNatton) Syphrit. The father was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and the mother in Pike county, Ohio. They . . .

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. . . were married in Louisa county, Iowa, April 5, 1855. The father taught school for more than thirty years and also served as an instructor at teachers’ institutes. In 1865 he purchased one hundred and twenty acres of timber land near Grand View and cleared and put under cultivation ninety acres with his own hands, continuing in charge of this farm until 1880. In 1874 he was elected principal of the public schools of Grand View and later served for two years as professor of mathematics at the Eastern Iowa Normal School. In 1878 he bought four hundred acres of land near Red Cloud, Nebraska, which he later disposed of. He sold his homestead near Grand View in 1880 and rented a place in Port Louisa township, which he cultivated for several years. He also taught school in winter. In the fall of 1884 he purchased a farm of ninety acres in Wapello township, in the neighborhood of Fairview, upon which he moved in 1886. He is now residing upon this farm and engages successfully in agriculture and in the handling of bees. He is a member of the Methodist Protestant church and has been a lifelong worker in the Sunday school. He has always been a diligent student and understands thoroughly both the English and German languages. His wife died March 8, 1893. There were eight children in their family, namely: Joseph Ray; Emma W., who became the wife of George Varner, of Louisa county; Rhoda J., who died at the age of two years and eight months; Nevada E., who married Charles H. Hendricks, of Muscatine county; Mary E. and William O., twins, born August 22, 1866, the former the wife of Joseph Scull who resides near Fairview church in Louisa county and latter who resides near his sister Mary in Louisa county; Alfred M., of Letts; and Henry E., who died at the age of eighteen years.

         Our subject’s paternal grandfather, Jacob Syphrit, was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, June 13, 1804, and received a good education in both the English and German languages. He devoted his attention to farming after reaching maturity and was married June 29, 1829, to Elizabeth Bott, who was born February 8, 1802. They came to Iowa in the spring of 1852, travelling by steamboat down the Ohio river to its mouth and then up the Mississippi river, finally locating in Louisa county. Here the grandfather resided until his death, November 4, 1857, his wife passing away October 27, 1866. They were buried side by side in the Mallory cemetery, near Toolesboro. Both were consistent members of the Presbyterian church. In their family were four children, Joseph B., Catherine E., Christopher J. and Jacob B. Of this family Christopher J. Syphrit was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, July 25, 1834, and in April, 1852, came to Iowa, where he enlisted in April, 1861, in Company I, Eleventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He died at his home in this state in 1862, from exposure at the battle of Shiloh.

         The great-grandfather, Christian Syphrit, was born in Westmoreland county in 1777 and was also educated in both the English and German languages. He devoted his attention to farming, also operating a sawmill. He lived during the administrations of all the presidents from Washington to Grant. His wife was Mary Shank before her marriage and was of German descent. They moved to Canada in 1806 but six years later returned to Westmoreland county, where he . . .

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. . . farmed and conducted a sawmill for forty-eight years. At the age of eighty-two, in 1860, he sold out and removed to a farm which he purchased near Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio. He still retained his physical strength in a remarkable degree and was able to perform a day’s work notwithstanding his old age. He remained hale and hearty until the last day of his life, passing away at the age of ninety-five years. He was the father of two sons and five daughters: Jacob, Elizabeth, Barbara, Mollie, Sarah, Nancy and Joseph.

         Sebastian Syphrit, the great-great-grandfather of our subject, was born in Westmoreland county in 1750 and was also a farmer. His wife was likewise a native of that county and she and her husband conversed in Pennsylvania Dutch. He died at the age of about eighty years. The early ancestors of the family in America came from Germany as members of William Penn’s colony.

         Joseph Ray Syphrit received a good preliminary education and was graduated from the high school and also from the commercial course of the Eastern Iowa Normal School. At the age of twenty-two years he became a teacher of writing and at twenty-five began teaching school, in which vocation he continued for fourteen years. He also taught for one year in a Normal school. In 1895 he turned his attention to farming and has since devoted his energies to agriculture and fruit-raising, being the owner of a small farm in section 23, Port Louisa township, two miles from Wapello.

         On the 10th of September, 1884, Mr. Syphrit was married to Miss Amy J. Fitzgerald, who was born in Muscatine, November 2, 1859. Her parents, Ezekiel and Eliza (Predmore) Fitzgerald, were both natives of Clermont county, Ohio, and the former was of Irish lineage, while the latter was of Scotch descent. Her paternal grandfather, Grant Fitzgerald, was a cabinetmaker of Batavia, Ohio, which place he left in the summer of 1853, bound for Cincinnati, but was never heard from again. Mr. and Mrs. Ezekiel Fitzgerald were married in the county of their nativity and in 1857 came to Muscatine, Iowa, but shortly afterward removed to Fairview and later located on the farm in Louisa county which is still owned by the family. The father was a cooper by trade and was a solider of the Civil war. He died on the 14th of August, 1883, and is still survived by his widow, who has now attained the age of eighty years. They were the parents of nine children, two of whom died in infancy, the others being: Fostick, who makes his home in Wapello; Laura B., the widow of Richard O. Chaney and a resident of Thomas county, Kansas; Amy J., now Mrs. Joseph R. Syphrit; George L., of Louisa county; Mary E., the wife of O. P. Dotson, of Eldon, Iowa; and William D. and Arabella, both of whom died at the age of two years.

         Mr. and Mrs. Syphrit are the parents of five children: Roy O., born March 1, 1886, who received a high-school education and resides with his parents; Lee A., born April 1, 1888, who is married and is engaged in farming in Louisa county; Joseph E., who was born September 24, 1889, and is now living in South Dakota; Ora May, who died in infancy; and Glen C., who was born April 29, 1895, and resides at home.

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         Mr. Syphrit is a member of the Odd Fellows lodge at Wapello. He and his family are connected with the Methodist Episcopal church and are earnest workers in all movements that aim to promote the permanent welfare of the community. He has given the attention of an intelligent citizen to politics and as a result is an adherent of the republican party. He has never been an office seeker although he has filled the position of secretary of the township schools, an office for which he is eminently fitted by education and experience. He has always aimed to make himself useful and in the opinion of his associates he has ably performed his part and therefore is greatly respected wherever known.