and business circles, and, being a man of unusual energy and 'determination, his friends prophesy for him a brilliant future. Thoroughly honorable and straightforward, he is always loyal to his convictions, never swerving from what he believes to be just and right. It is men of his class, possessing virility, intelligence and progressiveness that add to the prosperity of the county, state and union.
CHARLES J. Porter.
In Scott county, Iowa, on the 27th of September, 1855, was born Charles J. Porter, a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Sykes) Porter. The father was an Irishman by birth but the mother was a native of England, both coming to this country after reaching maturity. The mother was a widow when she married Mr. Porter, her first husband being a Mr. Todd, with whom she had lived in New York city for several years, but after his death she removed to Iowa and here she met and married Mr. Porter. In 1867 they removed to Story county, locating on eighty acres of land which they bought in Indian Creek township, adding to their holdings from time to time until they had acquired two hundred acres. The father died on this farm in 1882, but the mother is still living at the advanced age of eighty-five years and makes her home in Des Moines.
The early years of Charles J. Porter's life were spent under the paternal roof and were occupied in acquiring an education and in assisting in the work of the farm. His leisure hours were employed very similarly to the majority of young people. He laid aside his textbooks when he felt that he had acquired such knowledge as he deemed essential for the vocation he elected to pursue and then assumed the heavier responsibilities of life. At the age of twenty-one years he left home and the first two years of his independent life were spent as a farm hand but at the end of that time he rented land and thereafter worked for himself. Diligence, good management and application enabled him to acquire sufficient capital to buy a place, so he purchased a farm just one mile north of his homestead and lived there for four years. At the expiration of that period he rented his present farm, which at that time was the property of his father-in-law, N. P. Hall, for seven years and then bought it in 1898. This is one of the best farms in Indian Creek township, containing one hundred' and thirty acres of well tilled land, with good improvements which are in excellent repair. Mr. Porter also owns sixty-five acres on section 34 of the same township, which he purchased in 1895, the aggregate of his realty holdings thus being one hundred and ninety-five acres. For the past twenty-five years he has made a specialty of feeding stock for the market, making it a practice to consume all of his crops in this manner, and he has been most successful in his undertakings.