Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1915
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 850
DANIEL C. FORDE

One of the most extensive farmers of Harrison County, Iowa, is Daniel C. FORDE, who came to this country from Ireland in 1886, and located in Harrison County. His career is a striking example of what can be accomplished by a man who directs his energies in well defined channels. When he arrived in this county, he was glad to find work at twenty dollars a month on a farm, and today he is one of the wealthiest farmers of the county and has attained his prosperity solely through his own unaided efforts.

Daniel C. FORDE, the son of Cornelius and Mary (Vaughn) FORDE, was born April 4, 1852, in Cork, Ireland. Twelve children were born to his parents, eight of whom are living. Six of the children still live in Ireland and Daniel and one sister, Mrs. Mary Klaub, are the only members of the family in the United States. His sister, who is a widow, lives in Missouri Valley. Cornelius FORDE was born in Ireland in 1824 and farmed until his death, in 1904. His wife was also born in Ireland and died in her native land in 1909.

Daniel C. FORDE was reared on his father's farm in Ireland and lived there until he was 24 years of age. He felt that there were much better opportunities for young men in America and decided to come to this country. It took him 15 days to make the trip across the Atlantic, and as soon as he arrived in New York City, he started at once for the West. He located in Harrison County, Iowa, and first started out working by the month on the same farm, which he now owns. For 15 years he worked and saved his money before he started farming for himself. He first bought four hundred sixty acres of land in Magnolia Township, for which he paid thirty dollars an acre. He farmed until 1898 and then rented his farm and moved to Missouri Valley, where he engaged in the buying and shipping of stock for the next ten years. In 1908 he moved back to his farm, where he has since resided.

Mr. FORDE has one of the best improved farms in the county. He has one barn which holds 100 tons of hay, and will accommodate 150 head of cattle at one time. He keeps high grade Hereford cattle, Duroc-Jersey hogs, and a good grade of horses. He has a handsome country home and five acres of trees surrounding his residence. Two driveways lead from the road to the house, and everything about his farm indicates that he is a man of taste as well as of thrift. Mr. FORDE now has 976 acres of land in this county, as well as stock in the Missouri Valley Savings Bank, and other interests.

Mr. FORDE was married in 1903 to Margaret Cooper, who was born in Canada in 1872. Her father died when she was young, and her mother married a second time, David Gee, and is now living in Mondamin, Iowa. Mr. Force and his wife are the parents of five children: Mary, Eileen, Phillip, Kathrine and Francis.

Mr. FORDE is not a partisan in politics and casts his ballot for the man whom he believes will best serve the interests of the public at large. He and his family are members of the Catholic Church, and he holds his membership in the Knights of Columbus at Missouri Valley. He is interested in the educational life of his community and is now serving as a director of the school board of his township.

Such, in brief, is the history of a man who came to this country with no resources except his indomitable energy and determination to succeed in spits of all obstacles. It also shows what may be accomplished in a county like this and should be an incentive to the young men of the coming generation to exert themselves to a greater effort. Mr. FORDE has not only been unusually successful as a farmer and businessman, but what is still more, he has won and retains the high esteem of everyone with whom he has been associated. It seems eminently fitting that the career of such a man be recorded in the annals of his county.

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