My Genealogy Hound

H. M. Spencer, who is engaged in general farming and in breeding and dealing in trotting horses, is numbered among the old settlers of Union county, dating his residence here from 1870. He is a native of Illinois, his birth having occurred in Stark county on the 21st of March, 1846, his parents being Isaac and Emma (Gardner) Spencer. The father was a pioneer settler of Stark county, Illinois, having made his way there from Vermont in the year 1834. He was married, however, in Peoria county to Miss Emma Gardner, a native of New York, and he followed farming as a life work.

H. M. Spencer, whose name introduces this review, was reared in Stark county, his boyhood and youth being passed much as that of the usual farm lad, assisting in the work of the fields during the summer months, while in the winter seasons he attended the district schools. This knowledge, however, was supplemented by a course of study in Lombard University, at Galesburg, Illinois, so that he was well fitted for the responsible duties of life when starting out upon his own account.

He remained under the parental roof until after he had attained his majority, when he came to Iowa, and for a year or more he was engaged in the milling business. He then came to Union county in 1869 and purchased two hundred and forty acres of raw and unimproved land in Douglas township, and in the following spring located thereon. At that time the railroad was under construction in this section of the county and had been graded to within two miles of his farm property. Previous to the time he located on his farm he had broken forty acres of his land and after removing to the tract he began in earnest the development and cultivation of the entire tract and in due course of time had it all under a high state of cultivation. He likewise improved the place with a good two-story residence, barns and outbuildings for the shelter of grain and stock, set out an orchard and altogether made it a valuable property. He lived on that farm until 1882, when he disposed of it and purchased his present farm of seventy-five acres situated in Douglas township and adjoining the corporation limits of Creston. He has likewise improved this property with a good residence and substantial outbuildings, has planted an orchard and maple grove, and his place is now one of the valuable farm properties of this section of the state, owing not alone to its well kept condition but to its proximity to the city of Creston. In addition to carrying on general agricultural pursuits Mr. Spencer is likewise engaged in breeding and dealing in standard bred horses. He has some good trotters, one of these having made a record of 2:7 ¾ , and sold for two thousand dollars. For many years he was also engaged in the ice business but disposed of this interest in 1905 and now gives his entire attention to his farming and stock-raising interests.

It was prior to his removal to this state that Mr. Spencer was married in 1869, in Stark county, Illinois, to Miss Rose A. Gustin, who was born in Canada and was there reared to the age of sixteen years. Their marriage has been blessed with one son and two daughters: Harry S., who is express agent at Creston, is married and has two children, Charles and Mary; May, who is acting as secretary and bookkeeper for the Iowa Printing Company, at Des Moines, Iowa; and Beulah, a young lady at home.

Mr. Spencer gives unfaltering support to the republican party, casting his first presidential ballot for U. S. Grant in 1868 and has voted for each candidate of the party since that time. He served as county supervisor at one time but aside from filling that office has never sought or desired political preferment. His wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and fraternally he is connected with the Woodmen of the World. He is justly accorded a place among the prominent and representative citizens of Creston, for he belongs to that class of men whose enterprising spirit is used not alone for their own benefit but who also advance the general good and promote public prosperity by ably managed individual interests.