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    JAMES H. HICKLIN, a prominent merchant of Wapello, in this county, was one of the first settlers of the county. He came here in 1839. He was born on the 4th day of October, 1826, in Edgar County, Illinois, and was the sixth of nine children, whose parents were Thomas Hicklin and Mary Simms. His father was a Kentuckian by birth, and settled in Edgar County, Illinois, as an early settler in the year 1825, and lived there till his death. He was a man remarkable for intelligence and piety. During the War of 1812 he took a conspicuous part.

    The early education of the subject of this sketch was merely in the ordinary branches pertaining to an English education, as, during his boyhood days, and, n fact, for some years after he reached maturity, his home and surroundings were amongst the brave pioneers of western settlements. At the age of thirteen he started in life on his own resources, without money, but with a resolution to achieve for himself success in life. He followed agricultural pursuits from this time on in Illinois, and in this State till about the year 1864. In 1864 he renounced agricultural pursuits, and began the grocery business in Wapello. He is perhaps the most successful grocer in Wapello and his success has been achieved by the fact that his prices have been cheaper than those of any firm in the same business in Wapello.

    Although Mr. Hicklin’s time and energies in life have in the main been devoted to agricultural and mercantile pursuits, yet during the Mexican War he took an active part, and was a member of the Mounted Rifles of the Regular Army. During the War of the Rebellion he served in the Nineteenth Iowa Infantry for a period of twelve months. While Mr. Hicklin has naturally had an aversion to holding public office, yet, yielding to the solicitation of friends, he has performed the duties of various offices of a public responsibility. He at present is Mayor of Wapello.

    On the 4th day of March, 1851, he was united in marriage to Sarah E. Williams, a native of Indiana, and a daughter of Robert Williams, one of the first settlers of this county, and the first white man that built a cabin in the Indian Reserve west of Wapello. Mr. and Mrs. Hicklin are the parents of seven children, all of whom are living. Politically Mr. Hicklin is a strong republican. Socially he is pleasant and affable.—is a man who has had a great deal of experience in life of a rich and varied nature. His constitution, in spite of the excessive demands of a lifetime of unusual activity, is yet firm.