township where he lived for seven years. He then bought a farm about a mile and a half south of College, in Washington township, and continued its cultivation successfully until about five years ago, when he sold the property and bought his present home just west of the corporation limits of Ames in Washington township. He is now living retired on a five-acre tract of land in the midst of which. stands a comfortable and commodious residence. His energy, capable management and determination in former years brought to him the capital that now enables him to live retired. He manages to employ his time in the care of his little place so that idleness does not weigh heavily upon his hands, and yet he has ample leisure for the enjoyment of those interests which are to him a source of pleasure.
The home of Mr. and Mrs. Hurst has been blessed with seven children : John, who is living in Trenton, Nebraska; Martin, of Idaho; Alice, the wife of Arthur Walker, a resident of Boone county; Wilbur H., whose home is in Chadron, Nebraska; Harriett, the wife of Jesse Bennett, of Ames; Carrie, the wife of Eugene Burton, of Ames; and Dan W., of Rapid City, South Dakota. Wilbur H., who has the degree of D. V. M., is in the employ of the United States government as veterinary inspector in an interstate movement for the inspection of live stock. He was graduated from the veterinary department of the Iowa State College in 1902. Dan Hurst, also won the D. V. M. degree at the Iowa State College of which he is a graduate of 1908, and he holds a similar position to that of his brother in South Dakota.
Mr. Hurst has been a stalwart republican since age conferred upon him the right of franchise and has held nearly all of the township offices. He also keeps well informed upon the questions and issues of the day, and his influence is always on the side of progress and improvement, whether in behalf of the community or of individual interests. His course has been marked by steady advancement, and as the architect of his own fortune he has builded wisely and well.
JOHN A. QUAM.
John A. Quam, one of the substantial farmers of Howard township, was born in La Salle county, Illinois, on the 16th of August, 1870, his parents being John and Lier (Stambusch) Quam. The father was also a native of La Salle county but was of Norwegian extraction. In the family were seven children, five of whom still survive, as follows: Edward, who lives in Howard township ; Hannah, deceased ; John A., our subject ; George, deceased; Luther, a resident of Howard township; William, living in the same township ; and Porter, of Pipestone, Minnesota. The father passed away in the county of his nativity in 1880.
The boyhood and youth of John A. Quam were passed on the family homestead in Illinois, while his education was obtained in the district