Being very favorably impressed with what they had heard concerning this section of Iowa, Mr. Shenkle outfitted with a team of horses and a wagon and his friend purchased an ox team and wagon as their means of transportation to their new home. On the 2d day of May they arrived at Edenvine, now Rhodes, Marshall county, Iowa, where they remained for a time. Mr. Shenkle visited Story county and being very much pleased with the appearance of the country, purchased a tract of raw prairie land which he broke, also erecting a log cabin to which he removed his family in the fall of 1856. His farm consisted of two hundred acres, of which eighty acres was timber and was considered a choice piece of land on account of the timber, but the price which he paid–five dollars an acre–was thought by settlers to be highly exorbitant. The same land would now readily bring one hundred and fifty dollars per acre. The first election for the organization of the township was held at Mr. Shenkle's home, and as the country was quite thinly inhabited, there were only five votes cast at this time. The township was named Collins in honor of a township in New York state, from which one of the nearest neighbors of Mr. Shenkle came. Mr. Shenkle was active in the councils of the democratic party and was first clerk of the township, holding that position until his death, which occurred in 1865. Mrs. Shenkle continued on the home farm until after her children were grown up, and then she made her home with the subject of this review, being called to her reward May 3, 1898, at the age of eighty-three years.
W. T. B. Shenkle was reared under the healthful conditions of a country home and acquired his early education in the common schools. At twelve years of age he was placed in charge of the home farm, his older brothers having gone out into the world, and when he reached his eighteenth year he began operating rented land on his own account. After his marriage he removed to a farm of eighty acres, which he had purchased a year previously, located two and one-half miles east of Collins. He continued upon that place for ten years and then removed to Collins, where in 1898 he was placed in charge of a hardware business, which he managed successfully for one year. In 1899 he went to Churdan, Greene county, Iowa, and was identified with the hardware business there, in partnership with a brother-in-law, the title of the firm being Tipton & Shenkle. After eighteen months' experience they closed out the business and Mr. Shenkle returned to Collins and opened a real-estate office. He has since been interested in farm lands and has found the business so congenial to his taste that it is probable he will so continue for a number of years to come.
In 1887 Mr. Shenkle was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Tipton, of Collins township, a daughter of Leonard and Isadora (Eatherton) Tipton, natives of Ohio. They came to Cedar county, Iowa, in 1851, and located in Story county in 1877. The mother passed away February 4, 1904, and the father is now making his home with his daughter at Collins. One child, Eva, who died in infancy, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Shenkle.