ANDREW MILBURN. The meet reward of a well spent and active career is an honorable retirement from labor and a season of rest in which to enjoy the fruits of former toil. Consecutive endeavor, resolute purpose, sound judgment and unfaltering energy bring success in the active affairs of life, and when prosperity is attained these should be followed by a period of leisure, when one may carry out his individual desires and find pleasure in pursuing plans from which business cares had formerly withheld him, For many years Andrew Milburn was prominently identified with the agricultural interests of Madison County. His career was an honorable one, in which his straightforward dealing and indefatigable labor brought him a handsome competence that now enables him to put aside the heavier burdens and find pleasurable recreation in his home and among his friends.
Mr. Milburn was born on the homestead in Stony Creek Township which he now owns, June 3, 1856, a son of Isaac and Nancy (Gwinn) Milburn, natives of West Virginia (then Virginia), From their native place Mr. Milburn’s parents migrated to Madison County in a wagon, pioneer fashion, and located in Stony Creek Township, where the grandfather of the subject of this review bought one hundred and sixty acres of land from the government, paying a dollar and a quarter an acre, and this he deeded to his son Isaac. On his arrival here Isaac Milburn’s cash capital consisted of two dollars and a half, and this sum he paid a neighbor to assist him in digging a well, but from this humble start he became one of the leading land owners of his section of the County, He was a quiet, unassuming man and never aspired to public prominence, but lived a clean and upright life, was greatly respected by his neighbors, and in his death, February 12, 1901, his Township lost one of its best citizens, He and his wife had three children, of whom but the subject of this sketch now survives.
The educational advantages of Andrew Milburn were somewhat limited, being confined to three terms of three months each in the district schools and a short attendance in a subscription school, but in later years this has been, supplemented by much observation and study, which have made him a well educated man. He was reared on the home farm, but at the age of fifteen years, his home life not proving congenial because of a critical stepmother, he left the parental roof and faced the world on his own account, Making his way to Kansas, he there found work in the farming regions at a salary of twenty dollars a month, but with youthful irresponsibility failed to save his earnings, and when he met the lady of his choice he was possessed of a capital of but seventy- five dollars, However, his optimism and self reliance were as great as had been his free heartedness, and on April 29, 1884, he was married to Miss Minnie Holmes, who had been born in Nebraska June 17, 1860. She had received a common school education, but having lost her parents when young had, like her husband, been compelled to make her own way, To this union there were born thirteen children: Ella, who is the wife of Orville McDole; Ethel, who is deceased; Bessie, the wife of Roy Adams; and Willie, Cyrus, Isaac, Earl, Jessie, Bertha, Ernest, Orville, Grace and Andrew, Jr. Of these Bertha and Ernest are twins.
After his marriage Mr. Milburn returned to Madison County, where he took charge of his father’s farm, and here he has been carrying on operations ever since, He is now the owner of four hundred acres, all in a high state of cultivation, with substantial and handsome buildings and modern improvements of all kinds, Although he left the farm in December, 1905, and settled in his comfortable home in Lapel, Mr. Milburn still continues to buy and sell horses and to deal in and ship stock, and he is known as a shrewd trader and an excellent judge of live stock of all kinds, He has ever been known for his strict integrity and reliability in business matters, and few men are better known in the Township. His life has been one of temperance and probity, and he is a liberal contributor to all religious and charitable movements, being, with his family, a consistent member of the United Brethren church, His politics are those of the Democratic party, and, while he has not been an office seeker, he has not been indifferent to the duties of citizenship and has served as a member of the town board of Lapel and as treasurer of the board of trustees of his church, During his long residence in this section he has formed a wide acquaintance and his numerous friends testify to his popularity among all classes.
