My Genealogy Hound

William H. Engels, farmer, was born in Independence County, Ark., August 27, 1830. His father, Henry A. Engels, was born and reared in Washington, Ky., and at the age of nineteen years left his home to seek his fortune in the West, locating in Independence County, Ark., where he engaged in farming, and became one of the leading citizens of the county. He was the first sheriff of the county after the State was admitted, and held the office six years. He died December 9, 1843, and his wife, whose maiden name was Eliza Allen, and whom he married in 1829, died in 1835. She was born in Alabama, a daughter of Andrew Allen, one of the prominent men of Independence County and became the mother of three children: Abraham A., Sarah J. (wife of W. F. Woodruff) and William H. The latter was but five years old when his mother died, and he was reared by his uncles, William and Abraham Allen, of Washington County, Ark. He returned to his father in a few years, but at the latter’s death returned to his uncles, with whom he remained until grown. In 1852 he went to Fort Smith and entered the employment of Sutton, Griffith & Co., wholesale merchants, with whom he remained four years. In 1854 ha went overland to California with a drove of stock, returning the following year, and in 1856 returned to Washington County, where, in December of that year, he was married and settled on the farm where he now lives. During the war, being exempt from service, he remained at home and had charge of the Allen Grist-mills, and in 1865 removed the mills to Farmington, built the Farmington Grist-mills, and also operated a saw-mill. He laid out the town of Farmington, and owned the land on which the town was built. In 1876 he retired from the milling business and devoted his attention to farming, and for about ten years operated a steam thresher. His wife, Isabella (Kinnibrugh) Engels, was born in Washington County in 1834, and to her union with Mr. Engels four children were born: Mary (wife of John Smith), Alice, William A. and Bertha. Mr. Engels owns a good farm of 140 acres, with eighty under cultivation, and he and wife are devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Engels supplies the following data of interest: The first thresher was brought to Washington County in 1844; the first reaper in 1857; in 1858 he (Mr. Engels) went to St. Louis in a two-horse wagon for a reaper, a distance of 350 miles, taking twenty-nine days to make the trip. The first steam flouring mill in the county was erected in 1854, at Fayetteville, by Stirman & Dickson, merchants of that place. There are now (close of 1888) sixteen in the county.