Wheatly, Matthew M.

WHEATLY, MIDDIEWOOD, MORTON, YOUNKER

Posted By: Roseanna Zehner
Date: 7/25/2006 at 20:58:27

WHEATLY, MATTHEW M.

Matthew M. Wheatly, a resident of Elgin Township, Lyon County, and the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres in section 29, is a native of Yorkshire, England, where he was born August 28, 1855, the fifth member of a family of twelve children born to Charles and Mary (Middiewood) Wheatly. Seven members of this large and interesting family are now living.

The subject of this writing was born on an estate that had been in the hands of the Wheatly family for more than two hundred years. His mother had spent several years of her girlhood in this country and her accounts of its possibilities made him leave England while he was still under age. He arrived at Quebec, June 18, 1876, and made his way to Lapeer, Michigan, where he found employment for a short time on a farm, and though he was a good engineer, he decided that in the New World he would be a farmer. In 1883 he came to Lyon County, where he purchased the farm he now owns, paying for it the very modest price of $18 per acre. Here he settled with his family the following spring, and in the twenty years intervening has won his standing as a keen and intelligent farmer and a successful stockman. He has done not a little to improve the grade of cattle handled by Lyon County farmers and owned one of the first full-blood Galloways in the county. He has also devoted much attention to the culture of Shropshire sheep.

For twelve years Mr. Wheatly has been justice of the peace and has long been actively interested in local politics, having served two years as town trustee. In school matters he is progressive, and believes in surrounding the children with the best educational advantages that money can command. He is a Republican, is a Methodist, and belongs to the Modern Brotherhood of America. He attends the county convention regularly.

Mr. Wheatly was married in 1876 to Miss Emily Morton, a native of Lincolnshire, and to their union have come seven children: Edith, now the wife of E.K. Yonker, a farmer in South Dakota; William, a stockman of North Dakota; Marian, a teacher of Lyon County; Albert; Eva; Matthew; and Paul. It has been a hard struggle to meet and overcome the difficulties of the situation; but that he has done, so the conditions of the farm indicate.

Source: Compendium of History Reminiscence and Biography of Lyon County, Iowa. Published under the Auspices of the Pioneer Association of Lyon County. Geo. Monlun, Pres.; Hon. E. C. Roach Sec’y; and Col. F. M. Thompson, Historian. Geo. A. Ogle & CO., Published, Engravers and Book Manufacturers. Chicago, 1904-1905

Transcribed by Roseanna Zehner, Darlene Jacoby and Diane Johnson