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Below is a family biography included in History of Union County, Iowa published by S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., in 1908.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Charles H. Bacon, well remembered in Union county, where he was highly esteemed, was born in Hancock county, Ohio, in 1844, and died in 1904, at the age of sixty years. When he was but four years of age he was taken to Illinois by his parents, Harvey and Betsy Bacon, who for a time lived in Lee county and then removed to Bureau county. The father was a native of New York and the mother of Vermont, both becoming early settlers in Ohio. In their family were six children, of whom two died in infancy and three are still living, namely: George H., a retired farmer of Peoria, Illinois; Seymour A., an attorney of Chicago; and Josephine, who is the widow of William Harsh and is also a resident of Chicago.

Charles H. Bacon attended the district schools near his boyhood home and afterward continued his studies in the academy at Princeton, Illinois, and also a business college at Galesburg. In July, 1873, he arrived in Adams county, Iowa, and settled on a farm which he purchased and cultivated. As the years passed he demonstrated the rich fertility of the soil in the abundance of crops which he gathered, resulting from the care and labor which he bestowed upon the fields. In the year 1900 he retired from active business life and took up his abode in Creston. He was a very successful man, who carefully controlled his business interests. A good farmer, he dealt largely in stock in addition to cultivating the cereals best adapted to soil and climate, and following his removal to Creston became a real-estate dealer. He accumulated six hundred and forty acres of land lying in Adams county, which still constitutes a part of his estate.

On the 6th of April, 1873, Mr. Bacon was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Harrington, who was born in Providence, Bureau county, Illinois, in 1851, a daughter of William W. and Mary J. Harrington. Her father was a native of Rhode Island, while the mother’s birth occurred in Manchester, England. Becoming residents of Illinois in 1840, Mr. Harrington settled in Bureau county and was one of the pioneer farmers of that section of the state. Three years later the lady whom he later made his wife, arrived there. They were the parents of four children: George A., a member of Company K, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, enlisted at the last call for volunteers, being then not quite sixteen years of age, and soon after while in camp at Nashville, Tennessee, he died after eating pie supposedly poisoned by a female spy. Mrs. Bacon is the second of the family. William W. is a resident farmer of Bureau county, Illinois. Charles Herbert, who was principal of the schools at Buda and Tiskilwa, Illinois, spending seven years in each place. He was a graduate of Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, of the class of 1891, and won the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. It is supposed that he was lost in the steamer Columbiana off the coast of California in the summer of 1907, while on a trip to the teacher’s national convention. He held membership in the Congregational church at Providence, Illinois, in which he was serving as deacon.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Bacon were born six children: William H., who is on the home farm in Adams county; Charles Allen, who is in Chicago and writes advertising matter for the International Harvester Company of America; Fanny Edna, the wife of Alden Smock, a farmer of Adams county; Georgiana, who is with her mother; Ira Francis, a student at Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois; and Ralph Waldo, who is on the homestead farm in Adams county. There are also five grandchildren.

In his political views Mr. Bacon was an earnest republican and held a number of township offices, the duties of which he discharged with promptness and fidelity. He occupied a prominent place in public regard as a man, neighbor and citizen. He belonged to the Congregational church, in which he took an active and helpful interest, serving as trustee for a number of years and also as treasurer, while his life was at all times in harmony with his professions. He continued to engage actively in real-estate dealing from the time of his retirement from farming until his death, which occurred when he had reached the age of sixty years. He was devoted to the welfare of his wife and children and counted no sacrifice on his part too great if it would enhance the happiness of the members of his household. Mrs. Bacon, like her husband, belongs to the Congregational church and takes great interest in church, missionary and temperance work, being now president of the Foreign Missionary Society of the Congregational church of the Council Bluffs Association. In every relation of life she has displayed sterling traits of character and is greatly esteemed in the community where she makes her home.

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This family biography is one of 247 biographies included in The History of Union County, Iowa published in 1908.  For the complete description, click here: Union County, Iowa History and Genealogy

View additional Union County, Iowa family biographies: Union County, Iowa Biographies

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