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

[page 522-523]

  W. E. SIMONS, an enterprising and progressive farmer of Tilden Township,
  was born in Iowa County, Wisconsin, August 4, 1851, and is the son of
  WILLIAM and JULIA (SIELEY) SIMONS.  He is the oldest of a family of
  twelve children, and was reared to the occupation of a farmer.  He
  obtained his education in the district schools, which afforded rather
  meager advantages in those early days.  After he had attained his maj-
  ority he spent one year in the pineries of Wisconsin, and then returned
  to his old neighborhood and rented a farm, on which he lived for two
  years.  In 1876 he came to Iowa and located in Cherokee County.  He
  rented a farm in Sheridan Township for one year, and then removed to
  Tilden Township, where he bought 160 acres of raw prairie land.  The
  same spring he erected a small residence and began life in earnest.
  His nearest neighbor was two miles away, and they were few even at
  that distance, there being only eighteen families in the township at
  that time.  He was in the county two years before he had any grain for
  market, on account of the grasshoppers, and one with less pluck and
  energy would have been discouraged with this unfortunate beginning.
  Nothing daunted, however, he persevered, and in 1880 he was enabled
  to make an additional purchase of eighty acres of land in Tilden
  Township.  He has made many valuable improvements; in 1886 he erected
  a fine two-story residence, and in 1887 a commodious barn, admirably
  adapted to all requirements of a stock and grain farm.  When one
  considers that Mr. SIMONS started with nothing but a determination to
  succeed, and then views all that he has accomplished, he is impelled
  to offer his hearty congratulations and best wishes.  March 19, 1874,
  occurred the marriage of W. E. SIMONS and Miss ANNA CHENHILL, a daugh-
  ter of STEPHEN and JANE (TRURAN) CHENHILL.  She was born in Wisconsin,
  June 20, 1854.  They are the parents of six children: EUGENE, MYRA,
  MELVILLE, ROSS, MIRRELL and CARRIE.  Mr. SIMONS is a firm believer in
  the principles of the Greenback party.  He was elected assessor of
  Tilden Township in November, 1888, and has served as trustee for nine
  years.  During 1881 he filled the office of secretary of the School
  Board very acceptably.

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