DAVENPORT, FRANCIS M., attorney, Oskaloosa; born in Gallia, county Ohio, May 1, 1840; when seven years of age, he came with his parents to Iowa, and arrived in Oskaloosa, Oct. 5, 1847; they located on section 1, Adams township, and entered from the government the land where his father now lives; there was only four neighbors at that time on the north bank of the river, from Currier's Mills to Warren's Mills. Francis entered school in 1859, and graduated at Mount Pleasant, in classical course, in 1864, teach- school winters during that time. He studied law and attended law school, at Ann Arbor, Michigan, one year; then entered the law office of Seevers & Cutts, and was admitted to the bar, and since then has practiced his profession here, and holds the office of city solicitor; married Miss Martha M. Griffith, from Pennsylvania, in Mount Pleasant, May 1, 1870; she was born in Pennsylvania, and removed to Ohio and came to Iowa in 1862; she achieved a reputation throughout this State as a lecturer on temperance and self-dependence of women; they have one son, William Warren, born August 17, 1874.

DAVIS, J. D., farmer, Sec. 16; P. O. Oskaloosa; owns 242 acres of land, valued at $40 per acre; born in West Virginia, in 1814; came to Iowa in 1869, and settled on present farm in 1870; married Rachel J. Barnes, in 1841; she was born in 1817; have five children, Milton, Leander, Charles L., Jennette and Matilda; has been township trustee three years; are members of the M. E. church. Republican.

DEAVER, GEORGE W., farmer, Sec. 27; P. O. Beacon; born in Hampshire county, Va., December 5, 1812, and was raised there until fifteen years of age; then removed to Dayton, Ohio, and lived in that State seventeen years; then came to Iowa by wagon and arrived in this county in October, 1844, and settled on Six-mile prairie; he was one of the earliest settlers and there are only a few here now that were here when he came; he engaged in making brick, and furnished some of the first brick that were used in Oskaloosa; he engaged in farming and has lived on his present place twenty-seven years; his farm contains 100 acres; he married Mary Ann Wilson, from Hampshire county, Va., in 1848; they have eight children, five sons and three daughters, and have lost two children.

DELASHMUTT, VAN B., retired, Oskaloosa; born in Ohio county, afterward Tyler county, Va., January 4, 1802, and was brought up there; he came to Burlington Iowa, June 22, 1837, and lived there three years, and removed to Jefferson county, and lived there until coming to Mahaska county in April 1843, before the Indians had left, and before the settlers were allowed to take possession of the land; he made a claim and entered land from the government at the first land sale held in Iowa, and engaged in farming; he is one of the oldest settlers in Mahaska county, and has been through it all. Many and very interesting are the incidents which he and Dr. Boyer and a few others recite, of the early days of this county; he had but little when he came, but by industry and good management, he long ago secured an ample fortune. He was elected sheriff in Va., in 1829, and served two years, and was again elected for two years; he was elected to the State Legislature in Virginia, and served during the sessions in winters of 1833, 1834, and 1835; after coming to Iowa he was elected in Burlington to the first State Legislature held in Iowa, and was a member of the first constitutional convention, and held office of swamp land commissioner, and held town and school offices. He married Martha W. Inghram from Greene county, Pa., in 1821; she died in August, 1853; he married Mary H. Inghram in June 1868; he has six children, three sons and three daughters.

DILLEY, JACOB, farmer, Sec. 27; P. O. Oskaloosa; owns 168 1/2 acres of land, valued at $40 per acre; born in Virginia in 1810; came to Iowa in 1853, and settled on his present farm; married Elizabeth Bird, in 1832; she was born in Virginia, in 1810; they have four children: David, Jane, Floyd and William H. Mr. D. has held the office of justice of the peace. Are members of M. E. Church.

DIRR, A. J., agent of the Central R. R. of Iowa at Oskaloosa; born in Mansfield, Ohio, in 1843, and at very early age removed to Naperville, Illinois, and was brought up there. He went south and remained there until 1870, then went to Parsons, Kansas, and made some investments; and engaged in railroading, and remained there until coming here in 1877; in May of the same year he was appointed agent of the Central R. R. of Iowa in this city; he still retains his interest in Parsons, Kansas. He married Miss Ella Lundy from Naperville, Dupage county Ills., in My, 1876. They have one daughter.

DIXON, J. N., farmer and orchardist, Sect. 4; P. O. Oskaloosa; born in Fayette county, Pa., February 20, 1821, and when quite young came with his parents to Ohio; having a taste for fruit culture when only twenty-two years of age, in 1844, he set out an orchard of 1,100 apple trees, having planted the seed, and when they were large enough grafted them; it was a large orchard in that early day; his father not sharing the confidence of his son in the result of the enterprise, he disposed of the orchard; that was thirty-four years ago, and the orchard is still in vigorous bearing; Mr. Dixon came to Iowa in 1855 and located in Mahaska county; he came, expecting to give his attention to orcharding, and set out some trees, but the winter killed them; he started his present orchard in 1868 and 1869; it consists of 115 acres and is one of the largest in the country; his mercantile orchard consists of eight varieties, but he has some forty or fifty different varieties; his fruit commands a good price and he has demand for it as far west as Virginia City, Nevada; Mr. Dixon has been prominently connected with the State Horticultural Society and is one of its most active members.

DOAK, ROBERT, farmer, Sec. 2; P. O. Rose Hill; owns 230 acres of land, valued at $35 per acre; born in Champaign county, Ohio, in 1838; came to Iowa in 1869; married Sarah Arnold in 1874; she was born in Indiana in 1836. Mr. Doak has three children by a former marriage, Maggie, Mattie, and Charlie; he enlisted in the 66th Ohio Infantry in 1861, and was discharged in 1865. Republican.

DODD, C. J., attorney, New Sharon; born in Morgan county, Illinois, in 1839; came to this country in 1855; his father came to this State in an early day, and built the first cabin on the ground where the city of Mt. Pleasant, in Henry county, stands; he owns 80 acres of land in this county; holds office of city solicitor; he enlisted in the 3d Iowa Infantry in 1862, and served in various capacities until his muster out in 1865; he was detailed by Gen. Curtis to act in the Secret Service, and was the person to discover and disclose the Gunpowder Plot to release the prisoners in the Gratiot Street Prison; he also acted as enrolling officer; he married Miss M. A. Kirkpatrick in 1861; she was born in Pike county, Illinois; has seven children, Lillian E., William T., Minnie M., Emma A., Nellie, Lula B., and Hattie E.

DODDS, JOHN, farmer, Sec. 15; P. O. Bucyrus; owns 56 acres of land, valued at $30 per acre; born in Pennsylvania, in 1820; came to Iowa in 1861; married Lydia Bobo, in 1853; she was born in Ohio, in 1828; have 8 children, James P., William E., Sarah E., E. V. P., J. C., M. F., C. L. and L. L.; was Representative one year.

DORLAND, EDWIN H., physician; born in Duchess county New York, March 31, 1842, and when four years of age came with his parents to Salem, Henry county Iowa; he entered Erlham College at Richmond, Ind., and remained five years, graduated there; after graduating engaged in teaching in academy and private high school. after traveling for one year he came to Oskaloosa; he married Miss Lydia A. Jones from Waynesville, Warren county Ohio, September 1, 1869; she died July 1, 1876, leaving one son, Walter E.

DOWNEY, JOHN, farmer, Sec. 33; P. O. White Oak; owns 80 acres of land, valued at $30 per acre; born in Bedford county, Pa., in 1824; came to Iowa in 1862; married Emeline Swickard in 1858; she was born in Ohio in 1826; have two children, Mathias S., and Ann Eliza.

DOWNING, FOSTER L., proprietor Downing House, Oskaloosa; the subject of this sketch was born in Madison county, Ohio, April 11, 1828; Mr. D. received all the advantages of a common school education in his native state; January 23, 1851, he married Miss Sarah A. Croney; he emigrated to Iowa in 1855, landing at Muscatine, October 12th; in My of the following year he came to Oskaloosa; upon his arrival he bought the old Madison House, which stood on the same location where the Downing House now stands; and with the exception of 5 years, has been in the hotel business since; in 1874 he built the Downing House at a cost of $40,000; during the war he was quarter-master of the 19th Iowa Infantry; he has been connected with the Iowa Agricultural Society since 1862; he was elected President of the National State Bank in January 1871, which office he held until bank stock changed hands; has been a member of the city council of Oskaloosa; and for many years among the most active members of the Mahaska county Agricultural Association, and of which he was for a long time its president; his wife died August 3d, 1869, leaving one son and one daughter: Dwight F., who is now practicing law in Beloit, Kansas; and Ollie H., who resides with her father; February 21, 1871, he married Miss Eunice, daughter of Dr. Albert Dart, of Oskaloosa, Iowa; she was born in Clarmont county, Ohio; Mr. D., is an energetic and thoroughgoing business man, and whatever he undertakes to do, he does with all his might.

DRENNAN, JAMES M., farmer, Sec. 35; P.O. New Sharon; born in Ireland, in 1842; came to America in 1860, and to this county, in 1869; owns two hundred and forty acres of land. He married Miss Flora T. Getts, in 1868; she was born in Wisconsin; has four children, Jessie M., Sarah A., William E. and J. Leslie.

DRINKLE, A. T., dealer in furniture, Oskaloosa; born in Huntington county, Pennsylvania, May 12, 1845; when six years of age he came to Lockport, Illinois; lived there until 1858, when he came to Iowa, and came to this county in 1861; was in the army in the Twelfth Regiment Michigan Infantry, and was connected with the band; married Miss Mary E. Cricket, from Ohio, in November, 1871; they have four children, Fred C., Alice Maud, Harry A., Willie E.

DUDGEON, HUGH, farmer, Sec. 14; P. O. Union Mills; born in Knox county, Ohio, April 1, 1835; came to this county in 1867; owns 87 1/2 acres of land; he enlisted in the 38th Iowa Infantry, in the late war; he married Miss Melissa Lepley, in 1865; she was born in Knox county, Ohio; has 2 children, Alice and Edgar.

DUMONT, RICHARD, abstracts and conveyancer, Oskaloosa; born in Hightstown, Warren county, New Jersey, July 24, 1820; he removed at an early age to the city of New York, and was brought up there; was afterward engaged in the sash, blind and door business, and ship work; lived there until 1848; he lived in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Mansfield, Ohio, and came to Iowa in 1854, to this county, and put in the sash and blind machinery in Roup's mill, and was in cabinet business; in 1857 was appointed deputy clerk, and was elected clerk in 1862, and re-elected in 1864; has been engaged in abstract business since 1872; married Miss Sarah Grafton, from city of New York, in May, 1842; they have five children, Mary E., Thomas, Maria L., John H., Charles; lost one son.

DUNSMORE, A. E., farmer, Sec. 14; P. O. Leighton; was born in Morgan county, Ill., October 5, 1823, where he lived until 1848; he then came to this county, and located where he now lives; he entered 200 acres of land, and his present farm contains 160 acres; he married Miss Aria A. Hoover, May 1, 1851; she was born in Mifflin county, Pa., February 9, 1838; they have five sons and four daughters, Mary, Evaline, Frederick, George, Marion, Elanor, Irene, Josephus and Abraham; he was justice of the peace six years, and held the office of township clerk and other offices of trust.

DYE, T. W., farmer, Sec. 25; P. O. Oskaloosa; owns 610 acres of land, valued at $25 per acre; born in Virginia in 1834; came to Iowa in 1864, and settled on his present farm; married Rosanna Peper, in 1858; she was born in Virginia, in 1836; they have six children: Charles, George, Thomas, Cora, Rosa and Maud; he has been town ship trustee.

DYSART, JOHN, retired farmer, Sec. 24; P. O. Flint; born in Virginia October 15, 1808; in 1827 he emigrated to Ohio, and in 1839 he removed to Indiana, coming to this county in 1855; owns 86 acres of land; he married Miss Susanna Williams in 1839; she was born in Virginia, and died in 1866; has four children, Margaret, Mark, Phillip, and Rachel A.

DYSART, M., farmer, Sec. 34; P. O. Flint; born in Henry county, Indiana, August 18, 1844; came to this county in 1855; he married Miss Fannie E. Osborn September 12, 1872; she was born in Connecticut April 10, 1849.