John CONFARR, a son of the above and the father of our subject, was born in Berkeley County, Virginia, and learned the blacksmith's trade.
At the age of nineteen years, he was married clandestinely to Eve C. STIMMEL, daughter of Abraham STIMMEL. To Mr. And Mrs. CONFARR were born eight children, viz.:
Eliza, William N., Mary C., John W., Sarah L., Isaac T., Charles E. and Susannah C. The father began business as a blacksmith near Winchester, Virginia, where he lived until about 1838,
when he went to Clifton, Greene County, Ohio, where he still resides. He was very prosperous and began loaning money before the Civil War, and is now worth at least $25,000.
He is greatly respected by his fellow townsmen and has been Treasurer of his township for twenty-five years and has also held the office of Township Trustee. Politically, he is a Democrat.
His wife is still living; they have been married sixty years.
William N. CONFARR, our subject, was born March 5, 1833, near Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia, and in early life learned the trade of
blacksmith from his father, and was also a clerk in a general store. He was then in the mercantile business at Clifton, Ohio, until 1883, when he came to James Township, Iowa,
and settled on his present farm of 160 acres. Politically, he is a Republican. He has served in the Civil War and was called out when Cincinnati was threatened by the rebels.
He also served in the National Guards for 100 days and is now a member and commander of the U.S. Grant Post, No. 123, G.A.R. at Avoca, Iowa. Socially, he is a member of the
Mount Nebo Lodge and Rabboni Chapter of Masons at Avoca, and both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church in which he is an elder. Mr. CONFARR has
served as Justice of the Peace and has also been a member of the Board of Education. He is an active man of wide experience and much practical information and stands
deservedly high as a citizen. The family are from old Colonial stock, and they should take an honest pride in the sterling ancestry from which they sprang.
Mr. CONFAR was married to Eliza BICKMORE, daughter of Sedate BICKMORE, who was of English descent, and emigrated from Maine to Ohio.
To Mr. And Mrs. CONFARR have been born one son, Herbert O., who is a well-read young man and has spent four years at Antioch College at Yellow Springs, Ohio.
The Bickmores own St. George's Island off the coast of Maine, which has been in the family for many generations.
WILLIAM N. CONFARR, one of the substantial farmers of James Township, Iowa, descended from
an old American family of German descent. His great grandfather participated in the War of the Revolution, and his remote ancestors settled near Reading, Pennsylvania.
Colonel LONG, the great-grandfather of our subject on the material side, was a colonel in the Revolutionary War and received his pay in Continental money,
which became worthless, and was used for papering the walls of a room in his residence. Michael CONFARR, the paternal grandfather of our subject, who spelled his name CONFER,
was a farmer in Berkeley County, Virginia, and was married to Elizabeth TILDNER, who lived to the great age of ninety-six years. They were the parents of three children:
David, John and Catherine.
Submitted by Mona Sarratt Knight. Extracted from Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa; pub. 1891 by The Lewis Publishing Co. Page 544.
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