From "History of Fayette County, Iowa"
(1910)
Typed and contributed by Richard Smith
HANCE FRANKLIN SHIPTON
To no one else can the life of any one have the same significance which it has for its possessor. No one else so completely know our hopes and fears, our ambitions and our motives, the things which make life worth living. Nor can we judge by outward show the proper valuation to place on the life of a comparatively obscure farmer. In his community he may stand high above others,--even so his distinction is lost in the mass of others in the nation. But so is the distinction which the men acquire whom we judge greatest by our standards, but fleeting and evanescent, and perhaps in some truer test of character and worth than worldly distinction the plain farmers may over balance them.
Hance Franklin Shipton was born in Fayette county, Iowa, on September 12, 1861, the son of Joseph Shipton, a native of Lincolnshire, England, and Sarah (Cummings) Shipton, a native of Canada, who came to Fayette county in 1851 and took up one hundred and sixty acres of government land which he farmed until his death, October 19, 1903, and where his wife died August 13, 1895. He was one of the organizers of the Clermont Valley Creamery Company, established in 1890, and was its first treasurer. He was a Republican, and an ardent member of the United Brethren church, in the work of which he was always very active. He was a man of strong and admirable Christian character. He was the father of nine children, four of whom are now living.
Hance Franklin Shipton was brought up on the farm he now owns and was educated in the public schools of the county. He rented his father's farm for eighteen years, then bought it, and now has two hundred and forty acres. His farming has been general in character. When the creamery was organized he was a member of the building committee, was director for about three years, and in 1900 was made president of the company and has since held that office, discharging its duties in such a manner as to add greatly to the success of the undertaking. He is a Republican. In 1884 he was married to Bertha May Hosford, a native of Wisconsin, the daughter of Henry Hosford and Myra (Wason) Hosford. Ten children have been born to them: Joseph H., Ella N. (deceased), Myra S., T. Franklin, John B., Addie M., Ruth R., Harry R., Bertha and one who died in infancy. Mr. Shipton is ranked by all among the most prosperous and most progressive farmers of the county. His farm is one which attracts attention by the manner in which it is cultivated.