a public-spirited and businesslike administration which receives the indorsement of the general public. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons, belonging to the blue lodge and chapter at Nevada. Excalibur Commandery, K. T., at Boone, Iowa ; and Za-ga-zig Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Des Moines. He is regarded as an exemplary representative of the craft, and no history of Nevada would be complete without the record of his life, so worthily has he borne himself as a factor in its public affairs and in the progress of the city.
OBADIAH D. Allen.
For more than three decades Obadiah D. Allen was numbered among the worthy citizens of Story county and those who knew him entertained for him warm regard, for he was always straightforward in business, living peaceably with his fellowmen and sought at all times the welfare and progress of the community. He was born in Fairview township, Erie county, Pennsylvania, on the 4th of September, 1836, his parents being Lorenzo D. and Jane (Culbertson) Allen, the former a native of Otsego county, New York. and the latter probably of .Erie county, Pennsylvania, where both died. On leaving the Empire state the father walked to Pennsylvania, driving before him an ox team. He followed farming, devoting his entire life to that pursuit. His family numbered seven children: Joshua, now deceased; L. C., of Franklin township, who came to this county in 1868; Obadiah E.; Andrew, who served for three years in the Eighty-third Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the Civil war and is now deceased; Ebenezer, who was killed in the battle of Gettysburg; Mary, who died in childhood; and Martha, the wife of Jay Frances, of Erie county, Pennsylvania.
Obadiah D. Allen remained with his parents until twenty-one years of age and then removed westward to Wisconsin, but after a short time returned to Erie county and was there married in 1862. He afterward went to Branch county, Michigan, where he lived for six years, and in 1868 came to Story county, Iowa, settling in Franklin township, where he resided until his death, which occurred February 23, 1899. He was a life-long farmer and was the owner of an excellent property of one hundred and twenty acres about a mile north of College.
In 1862 Mr. Allen was married to Miss Sarah S. Strickland, who was born at East Gainesville, Wyoming county, New York, May 27, 1840, and there resided until ten years of age, when she went to Erie county, Pennsylvania, with her parents, William and Betsy (Wadsworth) Strickland. Her father, who was born in England, October 23, 1808, came to the United States when about twenty years of age and died at the age of seventy-one. He was a miller by trade. His wife was born near Rome,