supports the measures of the Republican party. His marriage, which occurred April 25, 1876, was to Miss Hattie Beverstock, who died on May 20, 1877. His second marriage was consummated October 17, 1878, his wife being Miss Mary C. Hoag, of Vermont, and by her he is the father of three children : Harrie H., Beulah and Ethel.
Alphonso Chandler is a purchaser of produce for the well-known firm of Boardman Bros., of Cambridge, Iowa. He was born in the " Pine Tree State," at Lincolnville, on the Penobscot Bay, March 28, 1841, being the eldest of five children—four sons and one daughter—their names being as follows: Washington W. (is married to Nellie , and is an exceptionally successful commission merchant of Gray's Harbor, Wash.), Serena ( who died when between one and two years of age), an infant (deceased), and Alice (who is the wife of Charles Nellis, a wagon-maker of Cambridge, Iowa). The father of these children was born in Maine in 1812, and was a ship-carpenter and joiner by trade. In 1851 he emigrated to Story County, Iowa, and entered about 320 acres of land, on a portion of which the town of Cambridge now stands. The father identified himself with the building up of this section of the country, and until his death, which occurred in 1861, he was one of the leaders in all worthy movements. His wife, also a native of Maine, born in 1818, died at about the age of sixty-two years, having been a worthy Christian, and a faithful wife and mother. Alphonso Chandler obtained his first educational training in the State of Maine, and after acquiring a fair knowledge of the English branches in the common schools, he completed his education in the graded schools of Iowa, being well fitted at that time, so far as education was concerned, to successfully make his own way in the world. He has always been deeply interested in educational matters, for in the hands of the children rests the destiny of the nation, and he has been a member of the board of education, and for seven years was secretary of the same and a director for perhaps five years. When twenty-one years of age he began earning his own living, and for twenty years his attention was given to engineering. He is a practical engineer in the true sense of the word, and takes pride in being so called. He has always identified himself with the Democratic party, and has strenuously upheld the true principles of Jeffersonianism, his first presidential vote being cast for Horatio Seymour, of New York. He has not been an ultra partisan, but has ever exercised his right of franchise, and has upheld what he considered right principles. He has served as township clerk, and has also been recorder of Union Township for a number of years. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Tabernacle Lodge No. 452, at Cambridge, and also belongs to the K. of P. of Tama City, and the I. O. G. T. of Cambridge. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Cambridge, and have ever contributed most liberally of their means to laudable enterprises which have been presented to them for their worthy consideration. Mr. Chandler has resided in Story County, Iowa, since he was nine years of age, at which time Story County was not organized, and then the towns of Nevada, Ames, Maxwell, Cambridge, and in fact all the lovely towns now so well known, were then undreamed of. He was one of the very earliest settlers here, and much of the country which then looked irreclaimable, has been converted into fine fertile farms, covered with waving fields of grain. He well remembers seeing his father shoot deer from his doorway on the present site of Cambridge, and their nearest market was the city of Des Moines, its popula-