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- "William H. Zentmire, now living on section 1, Belknap Township, where he owns and operates one hundred and ninety acres of land, has for the past twenty years been engaged in breeding registered shorthorn cattle and now makes a specialty of handling polled Durhams. He is a successful businessman and a worthy representative of agricultural interests in Pottawattamie County.
He was born in Warren County, Ohio, September 1, 1844. His father, David Zentmire, was a native of the same state and was of German ancestry. The paternal grandfather served as a soldier in the War of 1812.
David Zentmire was a carpenter by trade and followed that pursuit in early manhood, but afterward turned his attention to farming and became fairly well-to-do. His political allegiance was given to the Whig Party and he afterward supported the Republican Party. He married Diana Minick, who was born in Pennsylvania and was a member of the Quaker or Friends church. She represented one of the old Pennsylvania Dutch families. By her marriage she became the mother of the following named: Angeline, the wife of Robert J. Black, a retired farmer living in Chautauqua County, Kansas; Amanda, deceased; Samantha, who makes her home with her sister Angeline; William H.; Sylvester, deceased; Wilson, who is superintendent of the county infirmary of Mercer County, Illinois; Elizabeth, the wife of Hale McClure, a cattleman of North Dakota; George, a cattleman of Montana; Harry, who is engaged in farming near Big Mound, Iowa; Alice, the widow of Horace McLean, of Red Oak, Iowa; and Eva, the wife of Adam Hemingway and a resident of Red Oak, Iowa.
The usual experiences that fall to the lot of farm boys came to William H. Zentmire in his boyhood and youth. He attended the country schools and when not busy with his textbooks aided in the work of the fields or in the care of the stock. He has always followed farming and stock-raising, and upon coming to Iowa in the spring of 1872 he located at Big Grove, where he has since resided. He is now living on section 1, Belknap Township, where he owns and cultivates one hundred and ninety acres of land. A part of this is used for pasturage, and for the past twenty years Mr. Zentmire has been engaged in breeding registered shorthorn cattle, making a specialty at the present time of polled Durhams, of which he has a fine herd of thirty-five head. He has been very successful in tilling the soil and in raising stock and is recognized as a man of good business ability and unfaltering enterprise.
On the 22nd of April, 1872, Mr. Zentmire was married to Miss Eliza Kiddoo, who was born in Illinois in 1850. The became the parents of seven children, of whom Rena, Alva, Frederick and Elsie are all now deceased. The others are Etta, the wife of James O. May, pastor of the Broadway Methodist Church of Council Bluffs; Frank and Martha, both at home.
The parents are faithful and consistent members of the Methodist Church, in which Mr. Zentmire has long been an officer, serving also as a teacher of the bible class in the Sunday School for many years. In politics he is a Republican and has held several township offices. He is deeply interested in the welfare of his community, especially in its moral progress, and has labored untiringly and unceasingly for the upbuilding of the church and for the best interests of the community at large."
Source: 1907 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa
Pages 734 & 735
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