Delos J. Crain is one of the
most progressive farmers of the younger generation in
his native township and is a popular factor in
community affairs, influential in connection with
public interests and loyal in his support of those
things that tend to advance the general welfare. He
is the owner of one of the fine landed estates of
Sperry township and it is specially interesting to
record that on this homestead he has lived from the
time of his birth, which here occurred on the 31st of
July, 1879.
He is a son of James and
Jane (Broker) Crain, both of whom passed the closing
years of their lives in Volga. James Crain was born
in England, where he was reared to 15 years of age,
and he came to the United States in the year 1852. He
first located at Lockport, New York, and in 1854 he
came to Iowa and numbered himself among the pioneers
of Clayton county. He settled on a tract of wild land
now included in the well improved farm of the subject
of this sketch, and his ability and well ordered
enterprise as a farmer enabled him to accumulate a
large landed property and to gain substantial success
as an exponent of farm industry. He was thrice
married, and the two daughters of his first marriage
are now married and reside in the village of Volga,
this county. Of the two children of the second
marriage the elder was William, who died when seven
months of age; and the younger is Delos J., to whom
this sketch is dedicated.
The mother of Delos J. Crain
was born February 14, 1853, and reared in the State
of New York and came to Clayton county in her youth,
her marriage to James Crain having here been
solemnized and she having been 52 years old at the
time of her death, August 25, 1905. Both she and her
husband were earnest members of the Methodist
Episcopal church and they so lived as to merit and
receive the high regard of those with whom they came
in contact in the various relations of life.
Delos J. Crain continued his
studies in the public schools until he had attended
the high school at Volga for one year, and thereafter
he was a student during one term in the business
college at Fayette, this state. He assisted his
father in the affairs and work of the home farm until
he had attained to his legal majority, and he then
rented the old homestead, on which he continued his
farming operations under these conditions for a
period of five years. He then became the owner of the
valuable property which comprises two hundred and ten
acres of as fine land as is to be found in Clayton
county, the farm being situated in sections 1 and 11,
Sperry township, and which was part of his father's
estate. Here he carries on general farming, and also
gives considerable attention to the breeding and
raising of Shetland ponies, and the modern house that
Mr. Crain has erected on the place being looked upon
as one of the finest rural domiciles in this
township, even as its hospitality has caused it to
become a center of much of the representative social
life of the community.
Mr. Crain is aligned as a
stalwart supporter of the cause of the Republican
party, and the year 1916 finds him serving with
characteristic loyalty and efficiency as township
trustee and as president of the school board of his
district. He is affiliated with lodge No. 72, Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons, in Elkader, and there he
and his wife are zealous and valued members of the
Methodist Episcopal church, he being a member of its
board of trustees.
On the 25th of September,
1900, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Crain to
Miss Ethel Smith, who was born in Delaware county,
this state, and who is a daughter of William B. and
Orril (Cowles) Smith, the former a native of Ontario,
Canada, and the latter of the State of Massachusetts.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith were pioneer settlers of Iowa and
continued to reside in this state until their death,
all save one of their seven children still surviving
them.
Mr. and Mrs. Crain have four
children, whose names and respective dates of birth
are here noted : Cecil Orril, July 23, 1902; Erma E.,
April 24, 1904; Mildred Ruth, August 8, 1906; and
William B. Smith Crain, May 25, 1908.
source: History of
Clayton County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical
Times Down to the Present; by Realto E. Price,
Vol. II, 1916; pg. 75-76
-OCR scanned by S. Ferrall
