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from Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa by Manoah Hedge The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1906
Richard Barrowman, living on section 4, Spring Creek township, is a substantial farmer and also part owner in a coal mine which is being operated and which is situated on the old Barrowman homestead. Thirty-seven years have passed since he became a resident of this county, being at that time a young lad of six years. He is a native of Wisconsin, his birth having occurred near Sparta on the 3d of September, 1862. His father, William Barrowman, was a native of Scotland and was reared to manhood in his native country, where he married Miss Agnes Kinnon, also born there. Mr. Barrowman was a coal miner of Scotland for a number of years. He then emigrated to the new world, locating first in Pennsylvania, while later he became a resident of Kentucky. He afterward spent a short time in different states and in 1857 settled upon a farm in Wisconsin, where he resided for ten years. In 1867 he removed to Iowa, taking up his abode in Mahaska county, and in 1868 he bought a farm in Spring Creek township, upon which coal had been discovered. He opened up the coal bank and with the aid of his sons began to operate it. Later he purchased another farm upon which he continued to make his home until his death, which occurred at the age of seventy-five years, carrying on general agricultural pursuits and also developing the coal resources of the farm. In his family were three sons and four daughters, of whom one daughter is now deceased. One brother, William, is in Colorado and a sister, Agnes, is the wife of M. J. Ely, a resident of California. Mary is the wife of J. H. Smith, of Spring Creek township, and Elizabeth is the wife of David Oakley, a partner of Richard Barrowman in the coal business. Under the parental roof Richard Barrowman spent the days of his childhood and youth, acquiring a good public-school education and receiving practical training in business methods under the direction of his father. His present partnership with Mr. Oakley was formed in 1901 and they are now operating the coal bank which is being profitably conducted. Mr. Oakley owns and carries on the farm on which the coal mine is located and Mr. Barrowman owns a neat and well improved tract of land of fifty- two acres adjoining Mr. Oakley's property. In Oskaloosa, on the 2d of April, 1903, Mr. Barrowman was married to Miss Emma Stanley, a daughter of Charles Stanley, one of the pioneer settlers of Mahaska county. Mr. and Mrs. Barrowman have three children: Charles W., Mary B. and Nellie M. Politically Mr. Barrowman has been a lifelong republican but has never sought nor desired office, giving his time and attention to his farm and other business interests. He is well known in Oskaloosa as a man of integrity and worth, possessing good business ability and having the confidence of the community.
Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy