Palo Alto County IA Archives Biographies.....Downs, George W. July 19, 1853 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ia/iafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Debbie Clough G-erischer Bare67deb@aol.com and Mari Modlin ddmmjm@netins.net July 27, 2005, 4:17 am Author: NORTHWESTERN IOWA ITS HISTORY AND TRADITION NORTHWESTERN IOWA ITS HISTORY AND TRADITION VOLUME II 1804-1926 G. W. Downs Among the residents of Palo Alto county who have gained enviable reputations because of their progressive and enterprising methods, and whose efforts have been rewarded with a goodly measure of success, stands George W. Downs, secretary of the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company of Palo Alto county and special agent for a number of other mutual insurance companies. Mr. Downs was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, on the 19th of July, 1853, and is a son of John and Mary S. (Kuhn) Downs, the father a native of Ireland and the mother of Westmoreland county. John Downs came to this country in young manhood and for a number of years was employed on the construction of the York & Erie Railroad. In 1854 he came west, locating in Allamakee county, Iowa, where he bought a tract of government land, on which in later years he engaged in farming. He lived in his seventy-fifth year, long surviving his wife who died at the comparatively early age of thirty-tow years. George W. Downs attended at the Upper Iowa University. He then engaged in teaching school for a number of years, after which he began farming. In 1878, with twelve or fifteen companions, he came to Palo Alto county, walking from Algona to Emmetsburg, the railroad not having yet been constructed through this locality. Their object was to secure work on the building of the railroad and Mr. Downs was so employed for one summer. During the period, he and his brother, James P., bought a quarter section of land near the town of Emmetsburg on the south, and they farmed this land in partnership for eighteen or twenty years. He then sold his interest to his brother and bought two hundred acres, located two miles west of his first farm. Later he added eighty acres to this tract and cultivated that place until 1915, when he moved into Emmetsburg, where he has since lived, though he still owns the farm. For a number of years before leaving the farm he had been actively interested in the Farmers mutual Insurance Company of Palo Alto County and in 1916 was made secretary of this company, for which reason he moved into the town in order to keep in closer touch with his office. From that time he has been a conspicuous figure in insurance circles of this locality, also representing other mutual insurance companies in this field. he is a man of sound and reliable judgment and is energetic and progressive in his methods, his record in the insurance business being one that reflects very creditably on him. In 1879 Mr. Downs was united in marriage to Miss Sarah J. Dungan, of Allamakee county, Iowa, and to them were born nine children, of which number eight survive, namely: Mary Irene, James F., Margaret C., Charles J., Leo A., Ruth Estella, Blanche I. and Harold D. Mr. Downs is a member of Palo Alto Lodge, No. 252, Knights of Pythias, and the Modern Woodman of America. His religious faith is that of the Roman Catholic church. He is a man of sterling character, takes a commendable interest in everything pertaining to the progress or the welfare of his locality and by his life and achievements he has merited the high place which he holds in the estimation of the public. Debbie Clough Gerischer Iowa Gen Web, Assistant CC, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ IAGENWEB: Special History Project: http://iagenweb.org/history/index.htm Gerischer Family Web Site: http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/ This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/iafiles/ File size: 4.1 Kb