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David Stanton
Born 1857 |
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| David Stanton, a prosperous member of the agricultural community of Washington township, was born upon the place where he now lives in the year 1857. His father, William Stanton, was born in Ireland in 1815 and came to Washington township, Jones county, Iowa, in 1838, settling upon part of what is now known as the Stanton homestead. It was raw land when he first obtained it, but through the diligent cultivation to which he subjected it the farm soon became one of the most fertile in the locality, returning such large rewards for his expenditure of time and labor that in the course of years he was able to increase its area to two hundred and forty acres. Although he enjoyed a gratifying income himself he was not permitted to see his sons win a success of equal proportion, for he died in 1864, leaving a widow and nine children. Only five of these are now alive, but Mrs. Stanton was allowed to witness the advancement of her sons, and had the cheerful knowledge that they were well established in life. She had been Miss Mary Gunand in her maidenhood, was born in Paris, France, in 1888, and died in 1894, about half a century after she had linked her fortune with those of her husband.
Associated as his home has been with the dearest memories of childhood and youth and with the first endeavors of young manhood, David Stanton could not find it possible to part with the homestead. And yet there are other reasons beside these of sentiment to make him satisfied with his father's investment. The religious, educational, moral and social advantages of Washington township are unexcelled in rural life. As the eldest of the sons at home considerable of the responsibility for its operation devolved upon his shoulders even during the period when he was a pupil in the district school, for he was only seven years of age when his father died. He now owns one hundred and twenty acres devoted to general farming, and at one time he was also dealing in horses, but recently he has given up that part of his business. He has, however, achieved a pronounced and gratifying success in his work, so that he well deserves the name of being one of the more prosperous men of a community in which the energetic and industrious have won rich rewards for their labor.
It was in 1892 that Mr. Stanton was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary Curran, a daughter of Timothy Curran. They are the parents of seven, children, namely: Annetta, born in 1892; Viola, in 1895; Harriet, in 1897; Johanna, in 1899; William, in 1901; Ellena, in 1903; and David, in 1908. For almost fifty years, the citizens of Washington township have witnessed the steady advancement of Mr. Stanton along the treacherous road of life. While they have seen his many Endeavors meet with unequivocal success, they have also noted that it was by his own efforts that he has prospered, and that in his work, or his achievements there has been nothing that need be withheld from their gaze. In consequence they are unanimous in according him praise as a farmer and fellow citizen.
Source: History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 521. |
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