William Joseph Sherren

   Another name for William was Will.

  General Notes:

From "History of Buchanan County and It's People"
Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1914, 1293 pgs.

William Sherren

William Sherren is the owner of a valuable farm in Byron Township. The place is beautiful in the lay of the land and in the improvements that have been made upon the farm. There is a large residence standing in the midst of highly cultivated fields and the extensive barns indicate that stock-breeding and feeding must be one of the important features of the place. Mr. Sherren was born in Dubuque, Iowa, May 12, 1858, and is a son of Joseph and Jane (Lincoln) Sherren. The father, a native of England, was a gardener and when about thirty years of age came to the United States. He first settled in Ohio, where he probably worked at his trade, and later became a resident of Dubuque, Iowa, where he engaged in draying for three years. In 1864 he went to Fayette county, where he rented land for a year and then removed to Buffalo township, Buchanan county, where he again cultivated rented land for two years. Death then terminated his labors when he was but fourty-four years of age.

The widow of Joseph Sherren, Mrs. Jane Sherren, had come to the United States in her young womanhood on the same vessel which bore her future husband. It was on shipboard that they became acquainted and started the friendship which later terminated in their marriage. They had five children, one of whom died in infancy and another at the age of two and a half years. After the death of her first husband, Mrs. Sherren became the wife of David Slater, who has also passed away, and now she lives with a daughter, Mrs. Fred Sampson, in Winthrop, Iowa.

William Sherren spent his boyhood upon the home farm and at the age of fourteen began earning his own living by working as a farm hand in the employ of neighbors, being thusly busily engaged in the fields through the summer months. In the winter seasons he attended the district schools. That he was faithful in his work is indicated by the fact that he remained in the employ of one man through seven summers. He afterward worked for three years by the day in this county and subsequently drove a peddler's wagon for five and one-half months. At the end of that time, he rented his mother's farm, which he continued to cultivate for four years and during that period he carefully and systematically saved his earnings. He next purchased one hundred and seventy-nine acres of land in Buffalo township but was only able to make a partial payment upon the property. He rented his place to his brother and continued to cultivate his mother's farm for three or four years longer. He then sold his land in Buffalo township and purchased his present home place of one hundred and sixty acres, which he has since improved with good buildings and on which he has carefully carried on general agricultural pursuits with the result that his efforts are manifest in large crops which find a ready sale on the market.

Mr. Sherren was united in marriage to Miss Dora Myer, a daughter of Henry Myer, and they have become the parents of five children, of whom, three died in early life, those still living being Verna and Maurice. In his political views Mr. Sherren is a republican but has never consented to accept office, desiring to concentrate his undivided attention upon his business affairs. He has worked persistently and energetically as the years have gone on and that his labors have been intelligently directed finds evidence in his fine farm, now one of the best improved in the township. He has closely studied the best methods of tilling the soil and caring for the crops with the result that his place is most productive, his farm work bringing him a substantial financial return annually.

William married Isodora Meyer on 30 Dec 1891 in Winthrop, Iowa USA. (Isodora Meyer was born on 2 Sep 1871 and died on 5 Aug 1955.)