Warren County IA Archives Biographies.....Hollingsworth, Levi 1817 - ************************************************ 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: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 12, 2007, 1:17 am Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1896) LEVI HOLLINGSWORTH, one of the well-known pioneer farmers of Otter township, located within the borders of Warren county before it was organized. He has therefore been an eye- witness of almost its entire development, has seen its wild lands transformed into beautiful homes and farms, while towns and villages have sprung up and the work of civilization has been carried forward until to-day the county bears little resemblance to the region in which Mr. Hollingsworth settled many years ago. A native of Ohio, he was born in Montgomery county, July 31, 1817. It was a frontier region and the family lived in true pioneer style. His father, George Hollingsworth, was a native of North Carolina, and his mother was born in South Carolina. Early in the present century they accompanied their respective families to Montgomery county, Ohio, where they were afterward married and became the parents of six children, namely: Mary, who became the wife of James Shaw and died at the age of eighty-six; Eli, who died when a young man; Zimry, who lost his life in the gold mines of California, being there murdered by Indians; Hannah, who died in early girlhood: Levi, of this sketch; and Sallie, wife of Alexander Canutt, of Colfax, Washington. The father of this family died at Attica, Fountain county, Indiana, where he was the owner of extensive tracts of land. In politics he was an old-line Whig, and was an honorable gentleman whose excellencies of character won him the regard of all. His wife died in the same place several years previous to the death of her husband. Levi Hollingsworth was thus thrown upon his own resources. Early in life he was bound out as an apprentice to a tanner, but he did not serve his term, for his employer was a very dissipated man and he preferred other associations. Subsequently he was apprenticed to some millers, with whom he continued for two years. He then started out to fight life's battle single-handed. Whatever success he has achieved in life has been due to his own efforts, and he may truly be called a self-made man. On the 26th of March, 1838, Mr. Hollingsworth was joined in wedlock with Miss Anna Benge, a native of Indiana, born in 1821, and a daughter of Thomas Benge, a native of Clay county, Kentucky. Her people were in limited circumstances and early in life she was trained to habits of frugality and economy, learning lessons that later proved of incalculable benefit to her. She was thus fitted to become an able assistant to her husband, and was indeed a helpmeet. Her life has been filled with many acts of kindness and generosity and now in her seventy-fourth year she rests content in the care and love of her children and a large circle of friends. She is a member of the Christian Union Church, and has been an earnest worker in the Master's vineyard. In the family were seven children, six sons and a daughter: Thomas, the owner of a good farm in Clarke county, Washington; James J., a resident of Belmont township, Warren county; George, who resides in Squaw township, Warren county; Sallie Jane, wife of John R. Milligan; John W., who is living in Wheatland, Wyoming; Charles G. and W. C., who are both residents of Otter township, Warren county. Mr. and Mrs. Hollingsworth began their domestic life in Warren county, Indiana, and on the 19th of March, 1848, arrived in Warren county, Iowa, where our subject made a claim of 200 acres in Otter township, entering the same at the land office in Fairfield. He afterward entered more land and ultimately became the owner of 1,000 acres. Farming has been his life work, and his energy and enterprise have been the means of bringing to him a handsome competence. He is familiar with all the history of pioneer life in this locality. Many a deer has he brought down with his unerring rifle; wolves were still numerous in the neighborhood and made several inroads on his stock; the land was all wild; and the work of civilization seemed scarcely begun. There were only five or six families living in Otter township, no roads had been cut, markets were long distances away, and few indeed were the comforts and luxuries enjoyed in those pioneer days; there was, however, a warm-hearted hospitality and kindly feeling existing in neighborhoods that is scarcely equaled at the present. The first election held in Otter township was at Mr. Hollingsworth's home. He aided in the erection of the first school-house in the township, and was one of the directors of the second school. He can relate many interesting incidents of those early days ere the busy hum of industry was continuously heard and before railroads had been introduced into this section of the country. He is still living upon his first farm of 200 acres, and now in his declining years is surrounded with the comforts and luxuries which a well spent life merits. Additional Comments: Extracted from: A MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF IOWA ILLUSTRATED "A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants."'—MACAULAY. "Biography is by nature the must universally profitable, universally pleasant, of all things."—CARLYLE "History is only biography on a large scale"—LAMARTINE. CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 1896 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ia/warren/bios/hollings134gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/iafiles/ File size: 5.9 Kb