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History of Adair
County, Iowa, 1915.

Biographical.  Volume 2.

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Peter Schofield.

Peter Schofield

Peter Schofield is a retired farmer residing in Fontanelle.  In fact he is one of the most venerable citizens of the county, being now in the eighty-seventh year of his age, and he receives the respect and veneration which should ever be accorded one of his years whose life has been well spent.  His birth occurred in Greene county, New York, November 26, 1828, his parents being Amzi and Margaret Schofield, who were likewise natives of the Empire state.  They removed westward to Wisconsin in 1855 and settled on a farm in Jefferson  county, which was then a frontier district in which the work of improvement and progress seemed scarcely begun.  The father built a log cabin, which he covered with a clapboard roof.  The door was also clapboard and there was a puncheon floor and stick chimney.  There were many hardships and privations to be endured in the effort to establish a home amid such ungenerous surroundings but neighbors were helpful to each other and in the Scofield home the latch string always hung out.  The parents of Mr. Scofield continued their residence in Wisconsin until they were called to their final rest and their labors brought good returns in the development of a farm.  In their family were eight children, of whom two survive, Peter and Charles, both residents of Fontanelle.

Peter Scofield spent the entire period of his boyhood and youth in his native state and was in his twenty-sixth year when in 1854 he left the east and removed to Wisconsin, where he purchased one hundred acres of timberland, residing thereon until 1875, which year witnessed his arrival in Adair county, Iowa.  Here he secured one hundred and sixty acres of land in Jackson township and continued to engage in general farming, bringing his fields to a high state of cultivation.  He lived upon this place until 1893 and his practical work and well managed interests brought him merited success.  He acquired a handsome  competence that at length enabled him to retire.  He was sixty-five years of age when he put aside further business cares and removed to Bridgewater, where he lived until he came to Fontanelle, where he now makes his home.  Industry, economy and honorable business dealing were the foundations upon which he built his success, a success which has enabled him for more than two decades to live in retirement from active business and yet enjoy the comforts of life.

Mr. Schofield was married twice.  In 1848 he wedded Miss Abigail Wheeler, who was born in New York, and they became the parents of four children, Mary E., the wife of J. Aspinwall, now a resident of Florida;  Charles H., living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin;  Lilly M., the wife of L. J. Slocum, of Iowa;  and Ellen, the wife of William Vese, of Springfield, Missouri.  The wife and mother passed away in 1899 and was laid to rest in Fontanelle cemetery.  In 1907 Mr. Schofield was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Clara (Gibbs) Simmons.  She was born in Vermont, a daughter of Stephen and Betsy (Hodges) Gibbs, both of whom were also natives of the Green Mountain state.  On leaving New England they removed westward to Wisconsin, where their remaining days were passed.  By her former marriage Mrs. Scofield had two children, Mariette, the wife of S. M. Jacobs, now of Tennessee;  and Nettie, the wife of William Green.

After leaving his farm Mr. Scofield sold that place and purchased property in both Bridgewater and Fontanelle.  He may truly be called a self-made man, for he started out in life empty-handed and has since depended entirely upon his own resources, working his way upward through energy and determination.  For forty years he has made his home in Adair county, where he now has a wide acquaintance and through this period he has witnessed many notable changes as the county has developed.

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