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C. J. Murfield
September 3, 1857 |
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C. J. Murfield, who is filling the office of county supervisor, making a creditable record by his faithfulness and promptness in the performance of every duty that devolves upon him in this connection, was born in Greenfield township, Jones county, September 3, 1857. The days of his boyhood and youth were here passed in the usual manner of farm lads, the labors of field and meadow early becoming familiar to him. His father, J. S. Murfield, had come to this county in pioneer times, settling in Highland Grove, while from the government he entered one hundred and sixty acres of land in Greenfield. It was a wild and uncultivated tract, upon which not a furrow had been turned or an improvement made, but with characteristic energy he began its conversion into rich and productive fields, his labors being in time rewarded with good crops. He married Miss Mary E. Bancroft. Upon the home farm they reared their family consisting of five sons and three daughters, of whom C. J. Murfield was the fifth in order of birth.
At the usual age, our subject entered the public schools and therein mastered the common branches of learning through the winter seasons, while in the summer months, he attended to the labors of the field that were assigned him by parental authority. Thus he gained broad practical experience in the best methods of tilling the soil and caring for the crops. He has ever been a man of enterprise and diligence, carefully performing the tasks that have devolved upon him, doing with all his might whatever his hand has found to do. Throughout his business life he has followed farming and has devoted considerable attention to the breeding of shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs.
In 1884, Mr. Murfield was united in marriage to Miss Arra Belle Gregory, a daughter of Samuel Wesley Gregory, who became one of the early settlers of Cedar county, Iowa. He married Miss Isabelle McKay and Mrs. Murfield is the only living child of that marriage. Both Mr. and Mrs. Murfield are well known in this part of the county, having a circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of their acquaintance.
At the present time Mr. Murfield is serving as county supervisor and his election was more remarkable in that he was the candidate on the democratic ticket and lives in a district which usually gives a large republican majority. He is appreciative of and adheres to his settled plan of equal rights to all and special privileges to none. He is well known in fraternal circles, affiliating with White Rose Lodge, NO. 79, K.P., of Martelle, and with the D.O.K.K., at Maquoketa, Iowa, of which he is a charter member. He has attained high rank in Masonry, belonging to Lodge NO. 46, A.F.&A.M., at Anamosa, while in the consistory at Clinton, Iowa, he has attained the thirty- second degree of the Scottish Rite. He is likewise a member of the Mystic Shrine at Cedar Rapids. His salient qualities are such as have won for him the confidence and regard from all and he is popular and prominent in social and fraternal circles, in politics and in business life, in all which his reliability is recognized as one of his most pronounced traits.
Source: History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 246. |
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© Copyright 1997-2013, The Art Department, © Copyright 2014-2020, Richard Harrison.
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