B., has been born. Mr. Vasey is independent politically, and thus is free from partiality in casting his ballot and is able to take a broad view of political questions. He is actively interested in public affairs and served three terms as town clerk, two terms as mayor of Collins, and at the present time is a member of the school board. He previously filled the office of secretary of that body for several years and was a member of the board when the handsome new school building was erected, being largely instrumental in the inception and accomplishment of that important work. He is identified with Amity Lodge, No. 361, I. O. O. F., and also with Sunbeam Lodge, No. 181, Mystic Workers of the World. He ranks as one of the leading business men of Collins, and as he has always dealt fairly with others, never seeking to advance his personal interest to the injury of his fellowmen, he possesses in an eminent degree the respect and esteem of the entire community.
JOHN R. HALL.
The name of John R. Hall holds a prominent place in the list of the pioneers of Story county, where he has lived for more than fifty years. He was born in Ross county, Ohio, on the 2d of December, 1835, his parents being Thomas and Eliza (Rosenbarger) Hall, both natives of Virginia, who removed to Ohio with their parents in the early days and were there reared and married. In. 1836 they went to Kosciusko county, Indiana, where they lived until the fall of 1854, when they again started westward, their destination being Story county, Iowa. When they were nearing the end of their journey, which was made in wagons across the prairie, cholera broke out in their party, and one member succumbed to the dread disease and was buried nine miles this side of Marengo, while two more were laid to rest in the little cemetery at Grinnell, one of them being Amos Hall, a brother of our subject. Upon their arrival in Story county they located on two hundred acres of land which Thomas Hall had purchased in Indian Creek township and where they continued to live until both parents passed away, the father at the age of sixty-nine years and the mother just after passing the seventy-second anniversary of her birth. They were the parents of eight children and of the six surviving four have passed their seventieth year, namely : Noble Porter Hall, a resident of Maxwell, Iowa; Mary Jane, the widow of Augustus Berlin, of Ottawa, Kansas; John R., our subject; James H., also of Maxwell; William C., of Golden Prairie, Wyoming; Thomas, of Bagley, Iowa.
The boyhood and youth of John R. Hall was very similar to that of other farmer lads in pioneer days. The educational facilities afforded by the district school provided him with the fundamental principles of the three "R's," an introduction to which was acquired in a log school, with