D. E. SOAR.

HARNESS AND SADDLERY.--D. E. Soar was born at Nottinghamshire, England, in 1843. When seven years of age he crossed the Atlantic with his parents to fair America, and settled at Council Bluffs, Iowa, then a town or trading point of small importance. There he resided and attended school until the year 1861. He then moved to Exira, Audubon county, Iowa, a place at that period which was not blessed with sufficient population to be called a town, there being only seventy-five voters in the entire county. From June 1861 until the next summer he worked on a prairie farm near Exira. In '62 he returned to Council Bluffs and learned the harness making trade. Shortly after he advantageously devoted the years until '66 in traveling, visiting during the period a great portion of the United States between the Atlantic and Pacific. In the year '66 he returned to Audubon county, upon which the sun rays of progress and prosperity had just beamed forth, and started the first harness shop in the county at Exira. He commenced his present business at Audubon about 1879. His business developed with the rapid progress of the town until it is now one of mamoth [sic mammoth] proportions, his trade extending over a number of the Western States, including Washington, and extremely heavy in his own county. He carries constantly one of the heaviest stocks in western Iowa. Mr. Soar has proven a valuable citizen to the town and county. He has erected at a cost of upwards of $4,000 one of the handsomest residences in this section of the country, and one of the many that gives Audubon its magnificent appearance. He served for six consecutive years on the board of school directors of this independent district and under his term in this important capacity, the school progressed and advanced to a wider field of usefulness. He is a member of the K. of P. and I. O. O. F. lodges. D. E. Soar is a gentleman of unimpeachable honor and integrity, whose success may be attributed to these requisits [sic requisites] of a successful life. He is a gentleman around whose heart charity has ever lingered and is a citizen ever valuable to the city and its welfare.

Transcribed April, 2023 by Cheryl Siebrass from 1878 1892 History of Audubon. (Audubon County,) Iowa, From Its Foundation to the Present Together With a Complete Directory of Its Leading Business Men, State Historical Publishing Company, 1892, pg. 55-56.

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