Unless otherwise specified, biographies submitted by Dick Barton.

Ambrose F. Aikman

Among the successful self-made men of the present generation of farmers in Audubon county, Iowa, whose efforts and influence have contributed to the material upbuilding of the community, Ambrose F. Aikman occupies a conspicuous place. Being ambitious from the first, but surrounded with none too favorable environment, his early youth was not especially promising. Resolutely facing the future, however, he has gradually surmounted the difficulties in his way and in due course of time has risen to a prominent position in the commercial, agricultural and financial circles of his community. Besides all this he has won the confidence and esteem of those with whom he has come into contact, either in a business or social way, and for years he has stood as one of the representative farmers of this section of Audubon county. Mr. Aikman realized early in life that there is a purpose in life and that there is no honor not founded on worth and no respect not founded on accomplishment. His life and labors have been worthy because they have contributed to a proper understanding of life and its problems. The strongest characters in our national history have come from the ranks of self-made men to whom adversity acts as an impetus for unfaltering effort, and from this class has come Ambrose F. Aikman, a retired farmer of Gray, Iowa.

Ambrose F. Aikman was born on September 3, 1850, in Whiteside county, Illinois, on a farm. The Morrison court house now occupies the site upon which he was born. He is the son of Robert D. and Sarah Ann (Finch) Aikman, the former of whom was born in 1810, and who died in 1894, and the latter, born in 1820, and who died in 1904. Robert D. Aikman was a native of Columbia county, Pennsylvania, and his wife a native of Toronto, Canada. Robert D. Aikman was the son of James Alexander Aikman, who came from Scotland and who settled in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, before the Revolutionary War. He first settled on Cabin run, but was driven away by the Indians. He took part in the Revolutionary War. Robert D. was a pioneer in Whiteside, Illinois. He came from Pennsylvania to Lyons, Iowa, at a very early day, crossing the Mississippi river on a horse ferry. He located in Iowa and lived awhile here. He owned a great deal of land and very much town property and became extremely wealthy. The town of Morrison is built on the site of his farm. At the time of his death he owned land in both Iowa and Illinois. Robert D. and Sarah Ann (Finch) Aikman has eight children, namely: James and Almeda are deceased; Ambrose F., is the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Mary Antoinette Forsbeck lives in Audubon county; Josephine, Irene and Helen are deceased; Frank lives south of Gray, in Lincoln township.

Ambrose F. Aikman came to Audubon county in 1873, and invested in one hundred and sixty acres of land in section 26, Lincoln township. He then went back to Illinois, but in 1879 returned to Audubon county and settled here permanently. For some time he had rented the land and had it partly improved. Mr. Aikman was married in Rock Island, Illinois, and brought his wife to Audubon county in 1882. They prospered and added one hundred and twenty acres to their holdings, making two hundred and eighty acres. The land is well improved and has excellent buildings. Mr. Aikman moved to Gray in the spring of 1913. He bought a fine home and a city block containing two sets of buildings. Mr. Aikman's one-hundred-and-twenty-acre farm is now occupied by his son.

Ambrose F. Aikman was married on February 22, 1882, to Mary Amelia Hunt, born on February 22, 1861, in England. She was a native of Yorkshire, and the daughter of George and Anna (Marston) Hunt. In 1865 she came to Whiteside county, Illinois. Her father was a brick manufacturer and owned the brick works at Morrison, Illinois. He was born in 1829, and died in 1905. His wife, Mrs. Anna (Marston) Hunt, was born in 1829, and died in 1904. George and Anna (Marston) Hunt were the parents of nine children, as follow: John lives at Morrison, Illinois; Mrs. Sarah Winsby lives at De Kalb, Illinois; William died at Morrison, Illinois; Elizabeth is deceased; Helen lives at De Kalb, Illinois; Mrs. Ambrose F. Aikman is the wife of the subject of this sketch; Thomas is deceased; Arthur lives at Morrison, Illinois; and Mrs. Etta Fox lives at De Kalb, Illinois.

To Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose F. Aikman two children have been born: George married Mary May Campbell and lives in Lincoln township; Helen Irene is a teacher in Lincoln township, and is a graduate of the Gray high school.

Mr. Aikman operated a merchandise store in gray, in 1890 to 1891. His father built the third house in Lyons, Iowa.

Ambrose F. Aikman is a Republican. He has held various township offices, not because he wanted to hold office, but because he considered it his duty to serve when called upon. He and his wife and family are members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Aikman is identified with the Yeomen of America.

Robert F. Aikman

To the honest, hard-working, law-abiding citizen, there is bound to come the inevitable success which goes hand in hand with such a character, and no man has been more plentifully provided with these qualities than Robert F. Aikman, an outline of whose history is here briefly given. Being especially interested in agriculture and all that pertains to it, the task if it might be called such, of writing a biographical sketch of a man who has been wise enough to live so near to nature, gives an unusual amount of pleasure, especially in view of the fact that the desired results are not accomplished without a full share of discouraging obstacles.

Robert F. Aikman, general farmer and stock raiser, of Lincoln township, was born in Clinton county, Iowa, March 29, 1866, the son of R. D. and Sarah Aikman. He attended the public schools in the county, quitting school at the age of eighteen years, to go to work for his father on the farm, and remained with him until he was twenty-one years old. He then rented a farm of eighty acres from his father for three or four years, when he gave this up and moved to Audubon county. When he was twenty- one years of age, his father gave him a farm of eighty acres, and Mr. Aikman has invested about five thousand dollars in improvements on his farm. His principal crop is grain, all of which he feeds to the stock on his place. He devotes his attention principally to thoroughbred Duroc hogs, of which he sells about two carloads annually, netting him about one thousand five hundred dollars. In 1914, he built a fine barn thirty-four by forty-six, which holds sixty tons of hay.

R. D. Aikman, father of our subject, was born in Pennsylvania, and his wife is a native of Canada. They were united in marriage in Clinton county, Iowa, where he owned and cultivated a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. After a time, he moved from this place to Illinois, about the year 1866, remaining there some twenty or twenty-one years. He bought four hundred and twenty acres in Whiteside county, Illinois, which he later sold and moved back to Iowa, where he bought two hundred acres in Audubon , where he spent the remainder of his life. They were the parents of seven children, as follow: James, Almeda, A. F., Nettie, Josephine, Irena, and Robert F.

Robert F. Aikman was married in 1897 to Jennie Andre, daughter of Harvey and Mary E. Andre, of Crawford county. They are the parents of the following children: Vera, Floyd, Olive, Donald and Myron, all of whom are still at home.

In religion, Mr. Aikman's views are of the Methodist belief, and he is a regular attendant of that church at Gray. Politically, he votes the Republican ticket.

DAVID L. ANDERSON, a native of Virginia , married in Highland county, Ohio , in 1840, Mary Smith. He was a blacksmith and farmer. He went to Highland county, Ohio , in 1839; thence to Wappelo county, Iowa , in 1849; to Marion county, Iowa , in 1851, and to Audubon county in 1855. He lived at Exira before the town was laid out. He was a Republican and served as justice of the peace, school director and first postmaster at Exira. He was a famous hunter in his day. He and his son, John, served in the Seventh Iowa Cavalry. Another son, William, was killed in the army. He died at Audubon in 1901, and his wife died at Exira in 1900. Their children were, William S., unmarried; Lysanius M., married Tryphena S. Hopkins ; John A., unmarried, murdered in 1883; Samuel, married Hannah Hughes; Catherine, married John McFadden; Laura, married William E. Hensley; Adelbert, married Elizabeth _______.