his political affiliations he is a republican and has been honored with the office of mayor of Maxwell, which position he acceptably filled for one term. He has also been a member of the town council and of the school board continuously since the town was organized. He is today one of the most prominent business men and leading citizens of Maxwell, and the honorable position which he has attained is due entirely to his own well directed efforts, good management and sound judgment, for in starting out in life for himself he was without capital and had to make his way in the world unaided by financial support.
JAMES McCoy.
James McCoy, the senior member of the real-estate and insurance firm of James McCoy & Son, which he organized in August, 1907, is one of the leading and successful citizens of Colo. His birth occurred in West Virginia on the 28th of June, 1855, his parents being Rodger and Bridget (Manahan) McCoy, both of whom were natives of Ireland. They crossed the Atlantic to the United States in early manhood and womanhood, locating in West Virginia, where their marriage was celebrated and where they continued to reside until 1861. That year witnessed their removal westward to Clinton county, Iowa, where they made their home for two years, on the expiration of which period they went to Sabula, Jackson county, Iowa. They came to Story county in 1868 and on the 28th of May of that year Mr. McCoy purchased and located on a farm of eighty acres situated a mile and a half west of Colo in New Albany township. Subsequently he extended the boundaries of this farm at two different times, making the homestead one of two hundred acres. The further cultivation and improvement of the property claimed his time and energies until 1894, when he put aside the active work of the fields and took up his abode in Colo, where his demise occurred on the 22d of September, 1897. The period of his residence in Story county covered almost three decades and he gained a wide and favorable acquaintance within its borders. Both he and his wife passed away in the faith of the Catholic church, the latter being called to her final rest on the 8th of March, 1898.
James McCoy was reared under the parental roof and acquired his education in the public schools of Colo. When a youth of eighteen he began learning the blacksmith's trade and after completing his apprenticeship opened a shop in Colo, being engaged in blacksmithing for about thirty-five years. While still operating his shop he embarked in the implement business, becoming the proprietor of an establishment of this character about 1880. Some years later he abandoned blacksmithing and turned his entire attention to the conduct of his agricultural implement business, in which he was successfully engaged until the 1st of June, 1909, when he