ALEN LOVE.
One of the few citizens of Delaware
county remaining of the original old settlers is
Allen Love, who located on part of the present town site of Manchester
in the fall of
1852. Mr. Love is a native of Scotland,
having been born in the city of Glasgow on
the twenty-second of
April, 1813. He came to America
in 1852, and shortly afterwards settled in this county, having therefore resided here
now nearly forty years. He has witnessed all
the changes which have marked the
progress and development of his adopted home since it has had a history, and as an
humble and unpretentious citizen he has contributed his share to the patient labor that has brought about many of these changes. The space his
biography occupies in this volume is worthily filled.
Being a Scotchman by
birth, Mr. Love also comes of Scotch ancestry; a descendant he
is of that hardy, tenacious, thrifty, intelligent people who have poured a steady stream of warm, rich blood into the great current of American life from the earliest times.
His ancestors lived for generations about Glasgow
and filled various industrial, official andf
other positions, such as their talents and energies raised them to in that land where, happily,
talent and energy are as much appreciated as
in this " land of the
free." His parents, Alien and
Catherine Love, always resided in Glasgow,
which was also their birth-place, and there, too. they died. Not the least of their services to their country was their
giving to it five well born and well trained
children, most of whom now, however, after filling their positions in
life creditably to themselves, have died, only two surviving, these being the
two youngest, Alien and Agnes, the three oldest, John and Graham dying in the
place of their birth, Robert dying in Minnesota, U. S.
Alien Love, the subject
of this notice, was reared in the place of his nativity and there married in
1836, taking to share his life's fortunes
one of his own fair countrywomen, Miss Elizabeth Oliver, who was born
in the city of Edinburgh and is a descendant of
Scotch ancestry, being a daughter of Thomas and Jane (Dictson)
Oliver, natives of Scotland.
Learning the trade
of a tailor in his youth, Mr. Love followed
it for a number of years in Glasgow, and was doing a large
and prosperous business when he decided to
leave there and come to America.
He came, as we have noted, to Delaware county in 1852. At that time this country was
almost a prairie and forest wilderness, and -so uninviting was it to those who had
been reared in a densely-populated city,
where, on every hand were the many evidences of advanced civilization
that no one, certainly not the subject of this sketch, foresaw the greatness of
its future or indeed strongly believed in it. Mr. Love's first step on locating in the county was to purchase
a tract of land consisting of three hundred and twenty acres, on part of which the town of Manchester
now stands. This
he purchased of a Norwegian named Emerson, and locating on it he set about in
an industrious way to make for himself a home. The place which he bought
had a log cabin, twelve by sixteen, on it, and this is still standing,
being the oldest building in the vicinity. In the spring of 1853 the town of Manchester was projected and Mr. Love sold half of his homestead
to James Dyer, who laid out the new town and conducted it through the first
steps of its growth. "What the town of Manchester now is, every one at
all familiar with the history of northeast Iowa, knows. It is not the
purpose of this article to speak further of it. It will be quite proper,
however, to say in this connection that Mr. Love became early identified with its interests and bore an active and conspicious part in building it up, selling the town site
in the first instance fora
small consideration) and helping by his own personal exertions to secure immigration and different industries
for its improvement. As his means would allow he improved his own real estate
in the new town, building homes for
those who sought homes here, and thus
adding also to the public convenience and
public revenue. In the promotion of the school and church interests and
the founding of those social organizations which contribute to the peace and welfare of
society, and to the building up of home life, he has also done all that
could be expected of a good citizen.
Although now well advanced in years, Mr. Love
still retains a lively interest in the affairs of the prosperous little city
which he has seen grow up around him, and although he has made no noise about
the part he has taken in its growth, there is probably not another man in it
who feels more warmly towards it or wishes it greater good fortune in the
future than he does. He has been drawn towards it by long residence and participation in its struggles. Here also reside
many of the friends of his
early manhood; here were the scenes of his first
activities in the new world ; and more than
all, here is where his children have grown up and begun, under his supervision
and with the aid of his kindly counsel, the
same life struggle, only on a modified scale, through which he has passed. Mr. Love has been married
now for more than a half a century and the
wife of his youth still abides with him, having borne him a faithful and affectionate companionship during all these years. This union has been
blessed with four children, only two of whom, however, are now living, a daughter, Jane, now wife of William McIntosh, of Manchester,
a sketch of whom appears in this work, and a son, Robert,
now residing also in Manchester.
Mr.
and Mrs. Love are both members of the Presbyterian church, having been brought up
in the teachings of that faith and having
led lives consistent with their professions even down to serene and happy old age, rendered doubly so possibly by
reason of that faith;
Mr. and Mrs. Love have
made two visits to their native
country since they came to the United States.
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