My Genealogy Hound

TERENCE McGOWAN.
The farming interest of Jones township find a worthy representative in Terence McGowan, who is one of the prosperous and well known agriculturists and stock-feeders of Union county. He owns and cultivates a farm of one hundred and twenty acres and throughout his entire life has been identified with agricultural interests here. He is a native son of Union county, his birth having occurred on the 1st of November, 1869, in Jones township, on a farm near Thayer.

His father, John McGowan, was numbered among the earliest settlers of this county and in 1867 he built the second house in Thayer. He was a native of Ireland. Coming to Iowa from Pennsylvania, he went first to Council Bluffs and afterward made his way to the present site of the village of Thayer. He worked for a time at railroad construction on the Burlington road and later, when he took up agricultural pursuits, became closely associated with the farming interests of this part of the state. He had previously served as a soldier in the regular army, belonging to Company B, of the Seventh Regiment, with which he remained for five years. He afterward wore the blue uniform of the nation in the Civil war and participated in the battle of Chancellorsville. He joined the army as a private but was promoted to first sergeant and when all the officers above him were killed he assumed command of the company, acting as captain five or six months. He was with the Army of the Potomac under General G. B. McClellan and afterward under General Burnside and was discharged on account of physical disability following the engagement at Chancellorsville.

Following the building of the Burlington Railroad through this section John McGowan purchased land and began converting the raw prairie into richly cultivated fields. He fenced the place, erected good buildings thereon and made substantial farm improvements. Here he reared his family and spent the last years of his life, being called to his final rest in the fall of 1904, at the age of seventy-eight years. He had for several years survived his wife, who died at the age of sixty-four. She bore the maiden name of Alice McGuire.

Terence McGowan was one of a family of two sons. He remained upon the farm with his father and assisted in the work of the fields. In the common schools he acquired his education and when not busy with his textbooks he aided in the work of plowing, planting and harvesting. Thus he gained his start in life. In Afton on the 24th of August, 1904, he was married to Miss Mae Holt, who was born and reared in Union county, and was a daughter of Charles Holt, a substantial farmer of Jones township.

Mr. and Mrs. McGowan began their domestic life on the farm where they now reside and in connection with the cultivation of his crops he raises high grade cattle and hogs and draft horses. He feeds and fattens stock for the market and each year has a number of hogs for sale. In both branches of his business he has been quite successful and justly merits the prosperity that has come to him.

Mr. and Mrs. McGowan have one child, a daughter, Alice Elizabeth. The parents were reared in the Catholic faith and are communicants of the church at Afton. In politics Mr. McGowan has been a life-long democrat, discharging the duties of every office to which he has been called with the utmost fidelity and promptness. He was elected and served for two consecutive terms as assessor and later was appointed to fill out an unexpired term in that office. For six years he filled the position of township clerk and has now served for four years as township school treasurer. Two years ago he was the candidate of his party for county auditor. He has continuously figured in public affairs in his township since arriving at years of maturity, state conventions of his party and has also been one of the committeemen of Jones township. His worth is widely acknowledged and the. confidence is reposed in him to a marked degree by reason of the fact that he has ever been loyal to public interests, while in private life he has maintained a high standard of conduct in business and social circles. In 1900 he accompanied his father on a trip to Ireland.