dred and sixty acres of land in Worth county and he has more recently acquired three hundred and twenty acres in the Panhandle of Texas. Thus the aggregate of his realty holdings is seven hundred and ninety acres, all of which is valuable land. His home farm is well stocked, its fertile fields yield abundant harvests and it contains a comfortable residence and commodious barns.
Mr. Handsaker was united in marriage to Miss Emma Cook, a daughter of the late Michael Cook and Rose Cook. To this couple have been born four children, three daughters and one son, as follows : Eva, who died in infancy; Lulu, who is attending school; Bertha and Harold.
Ever since he attained his majority Mr. Handsaker has given his political allegiance to the republican party. He has never been particularly active in politics, not aspiring to public office, but always discharges his duties as a citizen by casting a vote at each election for the candidates of the party of his choice. He has always been an active, progressive, energetic man, who has met with more than average success in his life work and at the same time has won and held the esteem and goodwill of those who have known him from childhood.
W. S. HEMPING.
W. S. Hemping, a general farmer and stock-raiser of New Albany township, Story county, is winning success in his chosen life work owing to the fact that his efforts in that direction have ever been characterized by unfaltering industry and intelligently applied labor. He was born in Ogle county, Illinois, on the 3d of June, 1861, and represents a family which was founded in the United States in the early part of the nineteenth century. In the year 1803 his paternal grandfather came from Germany to the new world, locating at Halifax, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, where the remainder of his life was spent. He was a minister of the Lutheran church and his entire time was devoted to preaching the doctrines of that faith.
His son, J. N. Hemping, the father of our subject, was born on the 17th of October, 1818, in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania. He was afforded the advantage of a college education, and it was his father's wish that he devote himself to the ministry. This occupation, however, did not appeal to J. N. Hemping who, taking up farming as a life work, was identified with that enterprise throughout his active life. In 1856 he came west, taking up his abode in Ogle county, Illinois, and in May, 1866, arrived in Story county, where he resided until his demise. In April, 1840, he was united in marriage in St. John's Lutheran church near Elizabethville, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, to Miss Eva Brosius, who was also a native of the Keystone state, her birth occurring in Dauphin county, July 28, 1824. Mr. Hemping passed away on the 6th of March, 1896, on the