On the 27th of May, 1854, Mr. Mitchell was united in marriage to Miss Berintha R. Mott, who was born at Keene, Essex county, New York, in 1827, and was a daughter of Rev. Ebenezer and Berintha (Knapp) Mott. Mrs. Mitchell having departed this life October 19, 1864, our subject was married in 1866 to Miss Hannah C. Bixby, who was born in Ogle county, Illinois, April 15, 1848, and is a daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Daniels) Bixby. Two children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell: Mary Berintha, who was born July 11, 1867, and died March 29, 1875; and Clara Maria, who was born January 24, 1870, and passed away October 15 of the same year.
Mr. Mitchell was an adherent of the republican party from the time of its organization as a national body in 1856 and an earnest worker in its behalf. He was a man of high principles, unswerving in any cause that he considered right. He was an outspoken advocate of temperance and a stanch friend of public schools, believing the schools to be the bulwark of the nation. His honesty and probity were unquestioned. He was generous almost to a fault and from him no needy or suffering fellow being was ever turned away unassisted. In his wife he found a truly worthy and able companion. She is now living at Nevada in the enjoyment of good health and the acquaintanceship of a host of friends, to whom she has endeared herself by many acts of courtesy and kindliness.
O. H. HEGGER.
O. H. Hegger, a retired agriculturist residing in Cambridge, is now serving as road supervisor of Union township. His birth occurred in Norway on the 8th of April, 1857, his parents being Hans and Randa Hegger, who crossed the Atlantic to the United States in 1870, locating in Polk county, Iowa. The father, who was a painter by trade, worked at that occupation during his active business career, passing away some six years after his emigration to the new world.
O. H. Hegger, who was a youth of thirteen when he came to America with his parents, attended the public schools of both this country and Norway. When still very young he began work on a farm, thus early becoming familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. Going to Des Moines when a youth of sixteen, he was there employed on a dairy farm for nine years. On the expiration of that period he was married and, coming to Story county, here started out as an agriculturist on his own account. In the spring of 1883 he removed to Ballard Grove, this county, operating a rented farm for five years, at the end of which time he purchased the property. Nine years later he disposed of the place and took up his abode in Cambridge, cultivating land in the vicinity of that town for four years, while during the next five years he resided on