Ida County IA Archives Biographies.....Preston, Andrew 1850 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com July 21, 2007, 10:38 pm

Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1893)

ANDREW PRESTON, proprietor of the "Bonnie Brae" stock farm, and a dealer in
shorthorn cattle, is one of the best-known men in Ida county, Iowa, and is
highly respected and esteemed for his many good qualities.

  He dates his birth at a place near Dundee in Forfarshire, Scotland, May 8,
1850. His parents, John and Matilda (Hill) Preston, passed their lives and
reared their family of nine children in their native land, Scotland, and both
died there, the mother at the age of forty-nine years and the father at sixty.
Three of their sons and two daughters are residents of Ida county, Iowa. The
parents were Presbyterians and in that faith reared their children.

  Andrew lived on his father's farm until he was nineteen, when he came to
America and located in Chicago. From there he went to Dundee, Kane county,
Illinois, and went to school one winter. In 1872 he took up his abode on wild
land in Ida county, Iowa, and has since been identified with the farming and
stock interests of this county. Now he owns 240 acres, one of the best farms in
this part of the State. He has one of the finest groves in the county, it being
composed of one acre of walnuts, one acre of maples, one acre of evergreens,
hedges, wind-breaks, etc. —eight acres in all. His cottage home is nicely
located and has attractive surroundings, lawn, orchard and fruits. He has two
barns, one 18 x 26 feet, with an addition 14 x 26 feet, and the other 48 x 50
feet. He also has other farm buildings and improvements, and the general
appearance of his premises indicates the owner to be a man of marked
intelligence and good management, as well as industry.

  Mr. Preston has been twice married. When he was twenty-four he was married in
Ida county, Iowa, to Elvira M. Smith, who was born in New York, daughter of
Samuel Smith. She died in 1879, leaving one son, Ellson G. In November, 1882, he
married Anna J. Ferguson, his present companion. She was born in Chicago and is
a daughter of D. C. Ferguson, who is a Board of Trade man and is prominently
known in that city. Her mother's maiden name was Hall. Mr. and Mrs. Preston have
four children: Archibald C., Howard H., Matilda E. and Winifred H.

  Mr. Preston is one of the Ida county "wheel horses" in the Republican party.
He has served as Township Trustee, as Assessor, and is Secretary of the School
Board. He is a member of the Farmers' Alliance, is an earnest temperance worker,
is an Elder in the Presbyterian Church, and is Superintendent of the
Sabbath-school. For four years he has served as secretary of the Ida County
Agricultural Society. He is also United States Crop Reporter for Ida county.

  Such is a brief sketch of one of the most prominent and popular citizens of
Ida county.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF 
Crawford, Ida and Sac Counties, Iowa.

Containing Portraits of all the Presidents of the United States, with
accompanying Biographies; a Condensed History of Iowa, with Portraits and
Biographies of the Governors of the State; Engravings of Prominent Citizens of
the Counties, wth [sic] Personal Histories of many of the Early Settlers and
Leading Families.

"Biography is the only true history."—Emerson.

CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1893.


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