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Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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William
Pritchard William
Pritchard, President of the Mitchellville Savings Bank, and for many years a
successful farmer of Washington
Township, Jasper County, furnishes in his life an example well worthy of the
emulation of the young and the admiration of the old. A penniless lad of
thirteen when he came to America, his early experiences were of such a nature as
to discourage a boy less determined and energetic than he.
For three years (1852-53-54) he was employed as porter or errand boy in a
Philadelphia store, receiving $1
per week in return for his services. Humble as was his position, he was faithful
to every duty, and gradually, by force of ability and energy, worked his way
upward until he became foreman in the grocery store of Robert J. Black, on
Eighteenth and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia. On
September 26, 1836, William Pritchard was born in County Down, the North of
Ireland. His father, Henry, a native of County Down, emigrated
to America, and in May 1865,located in Henry County, IL, where he settled upon
an eighty-acre farm in the vicinity of Atkinson.
There he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1885, at
the age of about seventy. His first
wife, whose maiden name was Mary Waranook, was a native of County Down, Ireland,
and died there when our subject was seven years old. After ward Henry Pritchard married Miss Mary Boyd, who bore
him three sons and three daughters, all living, as follows; Alexander L., Robert
L., Hugh W., Alice, the wife of John Pritchard of Ireland; Mary Jane, who
married Jesse Lamont, of Geneseo, IL, and Sarah, wife of Samuel McCollough, a
resident of Marina, Iowa. Our
subject is the eldest of the four children of his father's first marriage, the
others being James J., Samuel and
Henry. As
above stated, William Pritchard was employed as a clerk in Philadelphia for some
time after immigrating to America, his clerkship covering a period of seven
years. In 1858 he removed to Illinois and engaged in farming in Henry County.
Prior to leaving Philadelphia he was there married, October 28, 1857, to
Miss Ellen, daughter of Joseph Walker, both natives of County Down, Ireland.
Mrs. Pritchard is the second of five children, and immigrated to the
United States about 1854, locating in Philadelphia, where she remained until her
marriage. After
operating as a renter for a number of years, our subject removed in 1865 to the
vicinity of Atkinson, Henry County, IL, where he purchased eighty acres and
engaged in tilling the soil. He added to his landed possessions from time to
time until, when he disposed of his property there in 1880, he had accumulated
five hundred and sixty acres of valuable land.
He came to Jasper County in 1880 and located on the farm
where he has since resided. His
landed possessions in this county aggregate nine hundred and fourteen acres,
upon which he has conducted general agricultural pursuits.
As a stock-raiser he has met with especial success, and has made
extensive shipments to Chicago. Since
his election to the Presidency of the Mitchellville Savings Bank, he has
purchased property in that city and now resides there. While
not actively interested in political affairs, Mr. Pritchard maintains a deep
interest in everything calculated to promote the best interests of the county,
and is a loyal, public-spirited citizen. As
a Republican, he has been elected to various positions of trust and honor in his
township, and during his incumbency of the office of Road Supervisor was
instrumental in securing many needed improvements in his community.
In his religious connections he and his wife are identified with the
Congregational Church at Mitchellville, and he is one of its trustees.
He and his wife and their daughter, Sarah J., are highly esteemed in the
social circles of the corn in unity, and arc prominent in religious and
benevolent projects. Portrait and Biographical Record, Jasper, Marshall and Grundy Counties, IA, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, IL, 1894, p. 238. |
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