curred in 1878, when he was in his seventy-seventh year. His wife died in 1880, at the age of seventy-one years. Politically he gave his support to the republican party. There were eleven children in the Ballard family : Russell W., deceased; Hudson L., now living in Missouri at the age of eighty-two years; Amos B., who enlisted from Minnesota as a soldier of the Civil war and is now deceased; Devillo P., who served as captain of Company A, Twenty-third Iowa Infantry, and is now living in Wisconsin; Mary C., who married George Smith and is now deceased; Samuel A. and Volney P., both of whom are deceased; Henry D., who served in Company A, Twenty-third Iowa Infantry, in the Civil war and is now living at Lincoln, Nebraska; Sarah E., who married H. H. Boyes, a farmer of Homer township; Martha J., now Mrs. Hiram F. Ferguson; and Ruth S., who is the wife of O. M. Robbins, a farmer of Kansas.
Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson: Jason D., now living upon a land claim in South Dakota, who married Angie Elder and has four children; Addie R., now the wife of E. W. Kimball, a farmer of Milford township and the mother of three children; and Mabel C., who married D. L. Sowers, also a farmer of Milford township, and is the mother of five children.
Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson are valued members of the Methodist church. He is a member of Ferguson Post No. 31, G. A. R., of Nevada, and ever since he arrived at manhood has voted the republican ticket. He has not aspired to political honors but has held a number of township offices, discharging his duties in such a way as to merit the approval of all concerned. In the course of a long and active life he has performed his part in the development of the west and in establishing society on the substantial basis upon which it exists today. In the evening of his career he enjoys the confidence of a host of friends and a comfort and repose which he has fully earned.
ALEXANDER HENDERSON.
As mayor of Story City Alexander Henderson has proved one of the most efficient officials the municipality has ever known. He has attained an enviable reputation in this locality, being identified with one of the most prosperous concerns in the town. He was born in Hamilton county, Iowa, February 6, 1872, a son of Lars Henryson, whose twin brother, Torkel, is now living on a farm adjacent to Story City and has reached the venerable age of eighty-nine years. Lars Henryson, a native of Norway, was a carpenter and farmer by occupation. He emigrated to America in 1855 and spent ten years in Illinois, removing to a farm near Randall, Hamilton county, Iowa, in 1865. He kept a postoffice on his farm for over twenty years and was one of the leading men of the county, serving as county