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Samuel Cairy Mayberry
Born April 13, 1854 |
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Agricultural pursuits characterized the efforts of Samuel Cairy Mayberry, deceased, throughout his entire business career, and the farming interests of Cass township found in him a worthy representative. Born in Pennsylvania on the 13th of April, 1854, he was a son of Alexander and Jane (Walker) Mayberry, who came from Pennsylvania to Iowa when our subject was a little lad, locating upon a farm in Jackson county, where their remaining days were passed. In their family were four children, of whom Samuel Cairy, of this review, is the eldest. The names of the others are: Mahala, the deceased wife of E. J. Head, of whom mention is made elsewhere in this volume; William, who is operating the old home place in Jackson county; and Nancy, who married Charles Chapman and makes her home near Blairsburg, Iowa.
No event of special importance came to vary the routine of life for Samuel Cairy Mayberry during the period of his boyhood and youth, which were spent amid the scenes and environments of rural life. At the usual age he became a pupil in the district schools, where he acquired a fair knowledge of the various branches of English learning, while the periods of vacation were devoted to assisting in the work of the home farm. He early became familiar with the tasks that fall to the agriculturist and continued to remain under the parental roof until two years after his marriage. In the spring of 1876 he came to Jones county and purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres on section 1, Cass town-ship, where he made his home until his demise. He erected a comfortable dwelling and made many improvements upon the place while about two years ago :a good barn was built. He carried on general agricultural pursuits and was also ,engaged to some extent in the dairy business, milking from ten to twenty-six ,cows at a time. Under his careful management the farm became a well improved property and his industry, energy and well directed efforts were salient characteristics in the creditable degree of prosperity which he enjoyed.
It was on the 20th of October, 1874, that Mr. Mayberry was united in marriage to Rachel Barkley, whose birth occurred in Mercer county, Indiana, on the 10th of September, 1854, her parents being Henry and Matilda (Davis) Barkley, both of whom have passed away, the latter when their daughter was only three years of age, and the former when she was seventeen years old. Mrs. Mayberry was the youngest in a family of three children, the others being: Serepta, The deceased wife of Raymond Diley, of Kansas; and Silas, who is also married and resides on a farm in Maquoketa, Iowa.
Unto the union of Mr. and Mrs. Mayberry were born seven children, who are as follows: Elmer, of Sherman county, Kansas; Henry J., who also resides in Sherman county, Kansas; Luella, the wife of John Daily, of the same place; Matilda, who married W. F. Hubbard, of Sherman county; John, who went to r Stanley county, South Dakota, when twenty-three years of age and took up a homestead claim; Leona, who married Henry Uhr, of Cass township; and Ernest, who operates the home farm. The husband and father passed from this life on the 14th of March, 1892, when the youngest child was but twenty months old, and after his death the widowed mother continued to rear her family on the old homestead until one by one the six eldest were married and established homes of their own. She has proved an excellent mother and something of the wholesome influence which she exerted in the home is manifest in the upright lives of her children. She and her husband were faithful and consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Langworthy, in which she still holds membership.
In politics Mr. Mayberry was a stanch republican, giving stalwart support to the principles of that organization although he never sought nor desired public office as a reward for party fealty. He had been ill for about three years previous to his demise and with his passing away the township lost one of its representative and valued citizens whose interests had been thoroughly identified with those of the community and whose influence was ever on the side of improvement, reform and progress. Honorable and just in all of his dealings, his honesty and geniality made him popular with all who knew him and the standard of life that he set up for himself was one that commanded for him the confidence and respect of his fellow citizens.
Source: History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 232. |
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