and graduated with the first class in 1872. After this he spent two years in Chicago as bookkeeper, and in the employ of the North-Western Railroad, in the engineering department, and for two years was a teacher in the schools of Illinois. He then returned to Story County and since then has been engaged in agricultural pursuits, owning at present 300 acres of excellent land. In politics he has always been rather retiring, but in the fall of 1889 he was nominated by the Independent Republicans, for Representative of the county. He was defeated by only 178 votes, in a county which gave Hutchison 1,258 Republican majority for governor. Although never very active in politics, he has always affiliated with the Republican party. He was married on the 18th of September, 1879, to Miss Alzina E. Loring, a native of Illinois, born at Marseilles, on the 1st of January, 1856, and one child, Reine G., is the result of this Mr. Wells is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Nevada Lodge No. 99, and is also a prominent member of the Farmers' Alliance of the county. Quiet and unobtrusive, at the same time Mr. Wells possesses strong personal characteristics; he is one of the self-made men of the county, and is thoroughly posted on all the current topics of the day.
Andrew D. Wherry, farmer and stock-raiser, Ames, Iowa. Mr. Wherry has been a resident of Story County since 1879, and during this time has been actively and successfully engaged in tilling the soil, the occupation to which he was reared, and has done much to promote the agricultural and stock-raising interests of the county. A long experience in the business has rendered him well acquainted with every detail connected with it. He owes his nativity to Guernsey County, Ohio, where his birth occurred in 1837, and was the seventh of nine children born to John and Catherine (Bonnell) Wherry. John Wherry was born in 1800, and was one of seven children, the result of the marriage of David Wherry. They were named as follows: James, David, Joseph, Ann (wife of William McBurney), Sarah (wife of Mr. Patterson), and Mary (wife of M. Meltain). The brothers and sisters of our subject are named as follows: David, Isaac, Mary (Deceased, wife of Hamilton Hicks, of Marion, Grant County, Ind.), Samuel, Harriet (now Mrs. Burton Fuller, of Seward, Neb.), John of Greene County, Iowa), Matthew (of the same county), and Sarah (now Mrs. John Shannon, of that county also). Andrew D. Wherry remained in Ohio until 1854, after which he came with his father's family to Jones County, Iowa, where he was married, in October, 1862, to Miss Mary Hubbard, of the Buckeye State. Four children were the fruits of this union: Lloyd (at home), Lida (now Mrs. William Templeton, of Story County), Lilly (Deceased), and Levie (now Mrs. Charles Goodyear, of Medina County, Ohio). Mrs. Wherry died in September, 1872, and he was again married, in 1873, to Miss Eliza McCool, who died in 1874. Two years later he married Miss Emma J. Bailey, and they have two interesting children: Maggie and Lulu B. Mr. Wherry came to Story County in 1879, located on Section 35, where he owns eighty acres, and is also the owner of a farm in Section 36. He has good buildings, and his farm is considered one of the best in the part of the county where he resides. He is a man of judgment and sound practical sense, and a citizen esteemed by all acquainted with him. In politics he is a stanch Democrat. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Ames.
Thomas Whitaker, farmer and stock-raiser, Nevada, Iowa. It is a fact unnecessary of denial that a person is better fitted to follow the occupation with which he became familiar in early life than to engage in an undertaking