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Biographical History of Cherokee County, Iowa
W. S. Dunbar & Co., Chigago - 1889

[page 489-490]

    ROBERT T. McCREADY, breeder of pure Clydesdale horses and Polled
    Angus cattle, Cherokee, Iowa, is probably as widely known as any
    man in Northwestern Iowa.  His beautiful farm of 960 acres lies
    in Diamond and Silver townships, eleven miles southeast of the
    county seat of Cherokee County, and the reward of a life of hard
    struggles and hardships, coupled with intelligence and determin-
    ation. ROBERT T. McCREADY was born in the old historic city of
    Edinburgh, Scotland, June 19, 1844. His parents were ROBERT and
    JANE (MATHEWS) McCREADY.  His father was born at Paisley, in the
    Highlands, August 29, 1800.  The father of ROBERT, Sr., was a
    Presbyterian minister, and the mother lived to the advanced age
    of 104 years.  ROBERT McCREADY, Sr., was a stocking and silk
    weaver by trade, and determined to emigrate to America in 1849.
    After arriving in the United States he settled in Kenosha, Wis-
    consin, where he conducted his business for three years; he then
    engaged in farming in Sauk County, Wisconsin, until 1865, when
    he met with financial reverses; he at once returned to his trade,
    working in Fayette County, Wisconsin.  The latter years of his
    life were passed in Cherokee County, where he died July 16, 1882.
    His wife had died in 1859, and he had never re-married.  His
    family consisted of seven children: ELIZABETH and ANNA died in
    childhood; WILLIAM died at the age of fifteen years; JOHN died in
    California, aged thirty-one years; ALBERT W. resides in Madison,
    South Dakota, and GEORGE died in infancy.  ROBERT T., the subject
    of his notice, enlisted in his country's service September 9, 1861,
    in the Sixth Wisconsin Light Artillery.  His command was sent to St.
    Louis, and soon joined General ROSECRANS at Cairo; he participated
    in the action at Island No. 10, and at Corinth, where he was wounded
    in the right hand by a minie-ball.  He was sent to St. Louis, where
    he was discharged in April, 1863, the surgeon in charge not consid-
    ering him able for further service.  Not content to remain inactive,
    he secured employment with the Government as mule driver, and while
    engaged was taken ill at Nashville, Tennessee, and was compelled to
    give up his work.  He returned to McGregor, Iowa, and found work in
    Clayton County, but his health was so shattered he was not equal to
    the demands upon his strength, and was dismissed with only ten cents
    in his pocket.  A few months afterward he secured a position as fire-
    man on the Milwaukee & Prairie du Chien Railroad, which he held for
    nearly two years.  Mr. McCREADY spent one year working for his father-
    in-law, and then decided to seek a home in Cherokee County. Accor-
    dingly, in the spring of 1869 he set out on foot, and finding a
    suitable location he entered eighty acres of land in Pilot Township,
    and that summer brought his wife and baby, driving from Postville
    with two yoke of oxen and one yoke of cows.  For three months they
    lived in the wagon, and by that time a sod shanty had been erected
    which served as a dwelling for six years.  In the year 1875 he re-
    moved to his present beautiful tract of land, which is one of the
    finest farms in the county; about one-half of the 960 acres is seeded
    to grass.  Mr. McCREADY makes a specialty of stock-growing; he keeps
    150 head of cattle, and feeds two to five car-loads annually.  He
    breeds the finest grades of cattle, and makes a marked success of
    breeding fine-blooded horses.  He has two commodious barns and other
    farm-buildings; his residence, now in process of erection, will add
    much to the beauty and attractiveness of the farm.  The family con-
    sists of ALBERT W., ROSILLA MAY, wife of JOHN KLEM, and LUCY JANE,
    wife of THOMAS KLEM.

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