DANIEL H. WESTBROOK.

View Portrait of Mr. & Mrs. D. H. Westerbrook

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         An extensive landowner and successful farmer and stock-raiser of Grand View township is Daniel H. Westbrook, who during the thirty-eight years of his agricultural career has acquired fifteen hundred acres of land in Louisa and Muscatine counties. He was born in Chemung county, New York, on the 8th of January, 1841, his parents being James H. and Clarissa (Scott) Westbrook, also natives of the Empire state. His father was of Holland Dutch parentage and his mother of Dutch and Scotch extraction. He has a chart showing the family tree, dating back to 1746. His great-grandfather on his mother’s side was a colonel in the Revolutionary war under General Washington, while on his father’s side his great-grandfather was a paymaster in the Continental army.

         After his marriage James H. Westbrook engaged in farming in his native state until 1851, when with his family he removed to Pennsylvania. After remaining there for a short time they went to Illinois, where Mr. Westbrook farmed for . . .

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. . . seven years. At the expiration of that period they came to Iowa, locating in Bremer county, where they bought property and there Mr. Westbrook lived until his retirement to Letts. They continued to reside in the latter place until they were too feeble to live alone, following which they made their home with their son Daniel H. Both had attained the age of eighty-six years when they passed away, the father dying February 22, 1895, and the mother November 26, 1896.

         In their family were thirteen children: Andrew J. and James B., both residents of Oklahoma City; Daniel H., our subject; Edward D., a resident of the state of Washington; Hector H., who is living in Louisa county; Caroline, who married David Olin, both now deceased; Lydia Ann, Clarissa, and Laura M., all of whom are deceased; Emma, the wife of John Wilson, of Minnesota; Roanna, who married S. K. Diller, of Seattle, Washington; Delphine, the wife of Robinson Dowson, of Louisa county; and William Penn, who is deceased.

         Daniel H. Westbrook, who was a lad of seventeen years when his parents settled in Iowa, obtained his education in the common schools of New York and Illinois. Reared on a farm he was early trained to the work of the fields, having instilled in him from his boyhood the habits of thrift and industry characteristic of his Dutch and Scotch ancestry. At the age of twenty-two years he began working for himself, naturally adopting the vocation for which he had been trained from boyhood. During the forty-eight years which have elapsed since he first engaged in agricultural pursuits upon his own responsibility Mr. Westbrook has acquired fifteen hundred acres of land, all of which is well improved and under a high state of cultivation.

         Mr. Westbrook married Miss Malinda Wagner on the 9th of January, 1866. She is a daughter of Phillip and Elizabeth (Gower) Wagner, her birth having occurred in Louisa county on the 25th of November, 1846. She has a record of the family tree that traces back to 1779. Mr. Wagner was a native of Ohio, having been born in the vicinity of Dayton on the 3d of March, 1808. In his early manhood he removed to Indiana, and there he married Miss Gower, who was a native of Maryland, her natal day having been the 13th of August, 1813. They came to Louisa county in 1844, arriving here in the month of January, having made the trip across the country by wagon. Mr. Wagner, who was a pump-maker, followed his trade during his younger days but after coming to Iowa he engaged in farming. He was one of a family of ten children, all of whom are now deceased with the exception of his youngest sister, Mrs. M. D. Decamp, of Fruitland, Iowa, who is now eighty years of age. Mrs. Wagner, who passed away on the 18th of March, 1884, had three sisters and one brother: Nancy, Martha, Catherine and John, all of whom are deceased. The death of Mr. Wagner occurred on the 20th of April, 1885, one year after the demise of his wife. Their family consisted of five children: Lucinda, who became the wife of Alec Hidlebaugh, of Letts; Malinda, now Mrs. Westbrook; George W., who married Martha Small, both of whom are now deceased; and Clarinda and Louisa, also deceased.

         To Mr. and Mrs. Westbrook were born eleven children: Ella, the wife of Lem Dickerson, of Louisa county; Philip W., who is now residing in Montana; George W., who passed away at the age of fifteen months; Bessie F., who is at . . .

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. . . home; James H., who is a resident of Rowe, New Mexico; Emma, the wife of Frank Frye, of Louisa county; Martha, the wife of R. W. Furnas, of South Dakota; Fred S., who is living in Reliance, South Dakota; Harrison, who is at home; and the eldest and youngest, both of whom died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Westbrook also reared two children, a son and daughter of her brother, who passed away in 1894 and was survived but two years by his wife. The daughter, Mabel E., is attending college, while his son, Phillip H., has been given a business college education. Both are now of age.

         The religious affiliation of the family is with the United Brethren church, of which organization Mr. and Mrs. Westbrook are members of long standing. Definite aim and determination of purpose have been salient factors in the success of Mr. Westbrook, who despite obstacles and discouragements possesses the tenacity of will which enabled him to dominate conditions.