Adair County Iowa
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| Adair County Iowa |
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James M. Broadfoot is a prominent and prosperous farmer and stock-raiser, his home place being situated on sections 19 and 20, Eureka township. In all of his business career his close application and indefatigable energy have led him steadily forward and he is now the owner of four hundred acress of rich and valuable land. He was born in Ontario, Canada, April 11, 1870, and is a son of Alexander and Jane (Thorp) Broadfoot, the former a native of Ontario, Canada, and the latter of Huron, Canada. On leaving that country the father went to Kansas in 1872 and took up a claim there, also purchasing land. For ten years he continued in the cultivation of property in the Sunflower state, but at the end of the decade sold out and in 1882 became a resident of Henry county, Iowa, where he purchased a farm; which he cultivated until 1884. In that year he came to Adair county, Iowa, where he bought more land, which he improved, and at one time he owned four hundred acres, which he operated until 1900, when he retired. He removed to Atlantic, Iowa, where he resided for four years, but at the end of that time he returned to the farm, whereon he continued to make his home until 1910. Once more he retired from active business and took up his abode in Berea, where he is now living, at the age of sixty-six years, while his wife has reached the age of sixty-four years. His careful management of his business affairs, his earnest, unremitting labor and his judicious investment were the means of bringing to him gratifying success. James M. Broadfoot was reared and educated in Kansas and in Henry and Adair counties, Iowa. The days of his boyhood and youth were spent under the parental roof but on attaining his majority he began working out as a farm hand by the year, spending six years in that way. He then purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Eureka township, but afterward traded that for his present place of two hundred and forty acres on sections 19 and 20, Eureka township. This he at once began to improve and later he bought one hundred and sixty acres more on section 21, so that his place now comprises four hundred acres of finely improved land, which he has since owned and cultivated, with the exception of four years spent in Nebraska on account of his health. In addition to cultivating the fields, in which work he is very successful, Mr. Broadfoot is extensively engaged in stock-raising, feeding about three or four carloads of cattle annually. He is likewise a stockholder in the Berea Horse Company. On the 26th of December, 1894, occurred the marriage of Mr. Broadfoot and Miss Lavina Hale, a daughter of James and Mary Hale, who were natives of Indiana. On coming to Iowa her father first settled near Burlington, but afterward removed to Cass county, where he purchased land. Later he sold that property and removed to Adams county, Iowa, where he spent his remaining days, his death occurring November 16, 1904. His widow survied for about six years and was called to her final rest on the 25th of March, 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Broadfoot have become the parents of four children: Acile A., who was born September 23, 1896; Grace B., born October 23, 1900; and Vera M., born January 25, 1908. Alta H., who was born March 25, 1906, died in January, 1907. In his political views Mr. Broadfoot is a republican, voting for the men and measures of the party, yet never seeking office as a reward for party fealty. He and his wife are members of the Church of Christ and guide their lives according to its teachings, so that the respect which is freely accorded them by their fellow-townsmen is merited.
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