Looking for family connections from Keokuk Co., IA
My g-grandfather, Alfred Fields Wright, was born to Samuel R. and Lucy Fields Wright in Van Buren Township, Keokuk Co., IA in a log cabin north of Sigourney, 6/20/1861.
The 11th of 12 children. I only know of 6 of his siblings, Jane, May, John, Henry, Newt and Ella. (I have scanned copies of pictures of some of them. Some were tin plates.)
Alfred attended Penn College in Oskaloosa one year.
Owned a coal mine in Monroe Co. for awhile but returned to farming after 5 years.
Married Clara Ellen Simpson 8/29/1888 at the M.E. Parsonage in Sigourney. He was 27, she was 24. They took up housekeeping in What Cheer, IA in a house he helped build on the north side of town.
(information obtained from a typed bio written by Alfred's daughter Gladys Wright Benson, my great aunt)
In 1912, two of Alfred and Clara's sons, Leo and Claude (who married sisters, Edith (to Leo) and Averil (to Claude) Shisler) moved to central Minnesota.
Leo (my g-father) took up farming and Claude took up raising turkeys, becoming one of the largest turkey farmers in the country in the 20's and 30's.
If anyone is interested I have lots of pictures from the late 1800's through today.
Thanks for any help!
Larry Wright