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Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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James A.
Oldham Mr. Oldham was born in Knox County, Illinois, September 6,
1851. He is the son of Joseph and Margaret (Scott) Oldham, both
born in England, the father in Cheshire in 1811.
He grew up in his native country and there learned the trade of
machinist. When twenty-one years of
age he emigrated to Philadelphia where he worked two or three years, then moved
to Knox County, Illinois, where he rented land until 1865, but in the same year
he came on to Warren County, Iowa, and bought one hundred and sixty acres,
selling out a year later and moving to Des Moines, where he worked a year at his
trade. In the fall of 1866 he came
to Jasper County and rented land a while, finally buying forty acres in Fairview
Township and there he remained until his death, in 1876.
His wife, whom he married before leaving Philadelphia, subsequently
married R. S. Buckley. Mr. Oldham
was a Democrat. His family
consisted of three sons and two daughters, namely:
Joseph died in infancy; Silas is deceased; Mrs. Selina Tool, Mrs. Edna
Hancock; James A., of this sketch, was the oldest.
He had little opportunity to get an education. He remained at home until
he was twenty-four years old, then rented a farm, later buying a few acres, to
which he has added until he now owns five hundred and fifty acres of valuable
and desirable land in Fairview Township. He
has kept it under modern improvements and a high state of cultivation and for
many years he has ranked with the leading farmers of the County and the
substantial citizens of his Township. He
has a pleasant and attractive home and in connection with general farming he has
long been one of the leading stock raisers of the County. Politically, Mr. Oldham is a Democrat, and he belongs to the Methodist Church. He was married on December 25, 1875, to Sarah E. Tool, who was born in Jasper County, the daughter of James A. Tool, who came to Jasper County in 1843, being one of the very earliest settlers in the County. To Mr. Oldham and wife the following children have been born: Ernest J., Mrs. Minnie B. Blackledge, Cora (deceased), Horace T. Mrs. Olive Blackledge, Arie, Earl and Grace. The Past and Present
of Jasper County, Iowa, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-in-Chief, 1912, B. F.
Bowden & Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. |
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