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Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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Alva A. Highley For a number of years Alva A. Highley, of Washington
Township, Jasper County, has directed his efforts toward the goal of success and
by patient continuance has been amply rewarded, having made the rough path of
life smooth by untiring perseverance. When one thus wins in the battles of life,
whether it be by calm, consecutive endeavor or by sudden meteoric
accomplishments, his example must abound in both lesson and incentive and prove
a guide to the young men whose fortunes are still matters for the future to
determine. Mr. Highley was born in Hocking County,
Ohio, September 21, 1862, and he is the son of Thomas Jackson Highley and Mary
Jane (Walsh) Highley, the father born in Pennsylvania, February 4, 1830, and the
mother was born in Ireland, of Scotch descent, on May 26, 1829.
She came to America when a young girl and she and Mr. Highley were
married in Pennsylvania, in which state he grew up, and there he was engaged in
the salt works for some time. In 1858 he moved to Ohio, locating in Hocking
County, where he became the owner of an eighty-acre farm.
Remaining there until about 1865, he moved to Barton County. Missouri,
and settled at LeMars, then a new town and in that vicinity he bought a farm of
one hundred and sixty acres and there he remained until 1870, then moved to near
Fort Scott, Kansas, where he owned one hundred and sixty acres.
In 1875 he moved to Warren County, Iowa, where he rented land, later
moving to Black Hawk County, this state, renting farms near Waterloo.
In 1896 he moved to Palisades, Colorado, and became the owner of a fruit
farm there. He was very successful
as a farmer and was favorably known in the various localities in which he lived.
His death occurred on February 4, 1909. Politically, he was a Republican and
religiously, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His family consisted of four sons and one daughter,
namely: Frank is living in Idaho;
Alva A., of this review, was second in order of birth; Theodore W. is living in
Minneapolis, Minnesota; Mrs. Mettie Hampton was next in order: and Grant, who makes his
home in Idaho, was the youngest. Alva A. Highley grew up on the farm and he
attended school in 0hio and in Pleasant Hill, Missouri. When thirteen years of
age he began working out by the month on farms in Warren County, Iowa, and after
his marriage he began renting land in Jasper County, having come here in 1881.
He bought a farm in Calhoun County, this state, which he sold and six
months later bought eighty acres, in Jasper County, southeast of Mitchellville.
In 1892 he bought one hundred and fifty-one acres in Washington Township,
known as the old Evans farm, and here he still lives, having improved the place
in every way, including the building of a good barn.
He has prospered by reason of close application and good management and
since the purchase of this place he has bought three hundred and twenty acres
more. He raises good stock and
feeds quite a number of cattle each year. Politically, Mr. Highley is a Republican,
and he has been school director and road supervisor. He is a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he belongs to the Methodist Church of
Colfax. Mr. Highley was married on March 4, 1885,
to Carrie M. Hibbs, who was born in Polk County, Iowa, May 27, 1866.
She was the daughter George H. Hibbs, a very early settler of Polk
County, having taken up his home there in 1852.
Six children have been born to the subject and wife namely:
Edwin A. died at nine years of age; Rachel J. died at the age of seven
years; Oscar G. died in infancy: Rosa, born November 6, 1895 ; Edna born June
30, 1899; May, born March 27, 1908. The Past and Present of Jasper County, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-In-Chief, 1912 B.F. Bowen Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. 723. |
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