Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 558
MATTHEW BLENKIRON

Matthew BLENKIRON, a banker and large land holder, residing at Missouri Valley came to the county, in 1870, and dealt land and followed farming in Cincinnati Township, for ten years. He was born in Yorkshire, England, near Richmond, July 18, 1817. He is the son of William and Elizabeth BLENKIRON. The father followed farming for a living and died when our subject was a mere boy; his mother died in Harrison County, December 13, 1879, and was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery.

Our subject received his education in England, prior to coming to America. He came to this country in 1839 and settled in Wisconsin, at British Hollow, where he began smelting, and has the honor of being the first "slag smelter" in the United States. He followed that business for three years, and then turned his attention toward mining and agricultural pursuits, for the next ten years, but after that devoted his entire attention to the latter, until 1870, when he came to this county, and still followed farming until 1880, when he moved to Missouri Valley, and rebuilt the grist mill at that point, which had been destroyed by fire. He conducted this mill for a time and then sold to L. M. KELLOGG. In 1884, he became one of the principal stock holders of the First National Bank, of which he is now the Vice President.

Our subject was united in marriage, July 13, 1846, at a place called New Diggings in Lafayette County, Wisconsin, to Miss Mary HARKER, whose father was James HARKER, who came from England, at the same time that Mr. BLENKIRON did, they being a colony of seventy-five, who came to the New World.

Mr. and Mrs. BLENKIRON are the parents of thirteen children -- William B., born May 14, 1847; was drowned at the age of fourteen months; Matthew W., born July 23, 1849, and resides in Nebraska; Elizabeth A., born October 3, 1851, wife of George NOWLIN, residing in California; John C., born January 31, 1856, married and resides at Coleridge, Nebraska; Isabella, born March 25, 1858, wife of James T. BURTON, from Galena, now lives in South Riverside, California; Sarah J., born November 15, 1859, wife of Charles SWANSON, and resides at Oakland, Nebraska; James Harker, born December 22, 1861, residing in Nebraska; Joseph E., born November 27, 1863, living at Bancroft, Nebr.; Ester, born November 27, 1865, married Crawford KENNEDY, a mail agent and she makes her home with her parents; Emaline, born May 22, 1867, died in infancy; Leonard and Emaline (twins), born August 9, 1869.

In politics, Mr. BLENKIRON, votes the straight Republican ticket. Mr. and Mrs. BLENKIRON are the grandparents of twenty children, still living, and eight deceased. The wife of our subject is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which she has belonged eleven years.

In glancing over the sketch of this man's life one sees what good business management can accomplish for a man coming to America away back in 1839, say nothing of the advantages of to-day. Upon arriving here he was only twenty-two years old with but little capital save his own hands to work with. Besides rearing and educating a large family he has succeeded in gaining ownership at one time of over three thousand acres of land in Harrison and adjoining counties. At this writing, 1891, he is classed among the wealthiest citizens of Harrison County.

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