My Genealogy Hound

W. S. Mills is actively engaged in general farming and in the breeding and sale of pure blooded registered Shropshire sheep. His carefully directed business interests have brought him a gratifying measure of success, making him one of the substantial residents of Douglas township. His home is on section 8, where he has one hundred and sixty acres of good land, and he also cultivates other farms, which he rents.

Mr. Mills is a native of Ohio, his birth having occurred in Preble county on the 18th of August, 1862. His father, Amos Mills, was one of the early settlers of that county, where he remained until 1865, when he went with his family to Illinois, becoming a prominent farmer of Marshall county, that state. He owned and cultivated a half section of land there and carried on the work of the farm continuously and successfully up to the time of his death, which occurred in Marshall county in 1904. His widow still survives him and now resides upon the old homestead with some of her children.

W. S. Mills was reared in Marshall county, being but three years of age at the time of the removal of the family from Ohio. The common schools afforded him his early educational privileges and he afterward enjoyed the advantage of a few terms’ instruction in the high school at Minonk, Illinois, and in the Lake Forest (Illinois) Academy. Subsequently he pursued a teacher’s course in the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso and engaged in teaching during the fall and winter months for five years in Marshall and Woodford counties of Illinois, proving a capable educator by reason of the readiness and clearness with which he imparted to others the knowledge that he had acquired.

On the 21st of March, 1888, Mr. Mills was married, in Woodford county, to Miss Alice C. Rogers, a native of that county and a lady of good education, who prior to her marriage was a successful teacher. Mr. and Mrs. Mills began their domestic life upon a farm in Illinois and in the fall of 1890 Mr. Mills came to Iowa, where he selected a location, purchasing a farm in Douglas township, Union county. In the following February he and his family took up their abode upon this place, which has since been their home, and his life of unremitting industry and diligence is indicated in the excellent appearance of the place. He remodeled and practically rebuilt the house, also put up a large barn and fenced the entire farm, adding to the fertility of the land by the judicious use of tile. He likewise planted shade and ornamental trees and also set out considerable fruit. The farm is now a good property, from which he derives an excellent annual income. Mrs. Mills also owns a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Douglas township, near the home place, which she now rents. Mr. Mills produces the cereals best adapted to soil and climate and also raises, feeds and fattens hogs and cattle for the market. He is well known as a breeder and dealer in pure blooded Shropshire sheep and makes frequent exhibits at the county fairs, where he has won many premiums. At the Union county fair in Creston in the fall of 1907 he gained thirteen premiums out of sixteen animal exhibits. He/now has a fine flock of over one hundred head of pure blooded registered Shropshire sheep. In January, 1907, he took a short course at Ames Iowa Agricutural College in corn and stock studying.

Politically Mr. Mills votes independently but is a believer in the temperance cause and the principles of prohibition. He has never sought nor cared for public office but is not remiss in the duties of citizenship, giving active co-operation to many movements for the general good. Both Mr. and Mrs. Mills are members of the Congregational church at Cromwell, are active in its work and liberal in its support. They assist materially in the work of the Sunday school, both having been teachers, and Mr. Mills was for some years chorister of the church. He has also been superintendent of the Sunday school and for a number of years has filled the office of secretary of the County Sunday School Association. He is well known in Creston and Union county as one of the progressive and public spirited citizens of this part of the state and his life has been so honorable in its purposes and so reliable in conduct that he enjoys the uniform confidence and trust of all with whom he has been brought in contact.