Luther CHISMAN is a self-made man, whose industry and energy in his chosen life work have made him one of the well-to-do agriculturists of his community. His birth occurred in Dearborn county, Indiana, October 21, 1851, and he comes of an old Pennsylvania family of German descent. His paternal grandfather, John CHISMAN, was a native of the Keystone state [Pennsylvania], but became a resident of Iowa, and both he and his wife died in Wapello county and were laid to rest in a cemetery near their home. Their son, Edward CHISMAN, was born in Indiana and spent the days of his youth upon a farm in Dearborn county. When he had reached man's estate he desired a companion and helpmeet for the journey of life and married Miss Keturah CLARK, who was born in Ohio, and belonged to a prominent family of that state of English ancestry, but was reared in Indiana.

In 1853 they left their home in Dearborn county and with their family came to Iowa, settling in Polk township, Wapello county, near the Monroe county line, he having here purchased a tract of government land in 1850. It was then raw prairie, on which not a furrow had been turned or an improvement made, but with characteristic energy he began to plow the fields and in course of time made his tract a valuable farm property. In the family were the following children: Amanda, the wife of Pete BURJESON, of Blakesburg, Iowa; Anna, the wife of H. D. LANE and died in Wapello county; Trumbull; and Josephine, deceased. The father died upon the homestead farm in 1861, at the age of forty-one years. He was a Democrat in his political views and served as justice of the peace and as a member of the school board. He held membership in the Baptist church, to which his widow also belongs. She still resides upon the farm and on the 13 th of November, 1902, she attained her eight-first year.

Luther CHISMAN spent his early boyhood days with his parents, but at the age of fourteen years started out to earn his own living. Previous to this time he had been a student in a district school, in which there were seventy-five students and tow teachers in a room twenty-two by twenty-four feet. It was known as the Liberty school, and to that institution he is indebted for all the mental training he received inside a schoolroom. Mr. CHISMAN was married on the 5 th of February, 1874, to Miss Tennie BURJESON, a native of Sweden, in which country she was educated. Her parents were Jacob and Lena BURJESON, and the latter died during the infancy of Tennie. The father, however, came to America and for six years was a resident of Iowa.

Mr. CHISMAN's first purchase of land comprised eighty acres in Cedar township, Monroe county, and was bought with money acquired through his own labor at farm work. After four years he sold this property and removed to Kansas, where he remained for four years and then returned to Iowa, settling on a rented farm in Ringgold county, near Kellerton. In 1888 he purchased a farm of William WILCOX in Mantua township, Monroe county, comprising one hundred and sixty acres of land, and has since resided on this property, which constitutes one of the best farms in the locality because of its many excellent improvements, its good grades of stock and highly cultivated fields. There are blue-grass pastures, verdant meadows and grain fields which give promise of rich harvests, and the farm is well fenced and everything is in good condition.

To Mr. and Mrs. CHISMAN have been born six children: James, who is twenty-four years of age and assists in the cultivation of the home farm; Ina, the wife of Charles SPRINGER, a prominent farmer of this township; Retta, who is a student in the high school of Albia; Alta, who is eleven years of age; Edward, who died at the age of twenty-one years; he was a young man loved by all for his good qualities and his loss was deeply felt throughout the community; and Sarah, who died a the age of two and a half years, in the state of Kansas. Mr. CHISMAN's study of political questions has led him to endorse the principles of the Democratic party, and he has frequently been a delegate to its county conventions. He is regarded as one of the substantial citizens of the community, being found on the side of progress and improvement in all matters pertaining to the general good, and in matters of business his straightforward and reliable dealing is one of his strong characteristics and has led to his success.

SOURCE:  History of Appanoose and Monroe Counties Iowa   Lewis Pub. Co. Chicago. 1903.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, December of 2008