M. V. Plank, a successful farmer of Pottawattamie County, was born in Lewis County, New York, November 28, 1823, a son of Henry Plank, a native of Mohawk Valley, and a soldier in the war of 1812. He was a son of Josiah Plank, a Revolutionary soldier. Our subject's mother was Margaret C. (Vaningen) Plank, a native of New York, and the daughter of Joseph Vaningen, a native of Holland. The parents lived in New York until their death. The father was a farmer all his life, and in his religious relations was a member of the Presbyterian Church.

M. V. Plank was reared on a farm in Lewis County until his eighteenth year, when he served an apprenticeship at the carpenter and joiner's trade and as a stair-builder for three years. In 1857 he came to Lyons, Clinton County, Iowa, where he was engaged at his trade two years. He then moved to Iola, Allen County, Kansas, but on account of the famine that year and also of the breaking out of the war, he went to Whiteside County, Illinois, near Morrison; in 1866 he returned to Clinton County, Iowa; in 1867 he removed to Delaware County, and in 1872 he went to Sioux City, where he made his home until 1875. That city was then a small village, and in 1872 he was elected a Master mechanic at Fort Buford, which position he filled with credit.

In 1875 he came to his present farm of eighty acres in Belknap Township. At that time his nearest neighbor north was about seven miles distant, and south four miles, and the whole country was wild prairie; now it is a nice farming country. Besides his farming, Mr. Plank is also engaged in raising horses, of which he has some very high grades.

He was married October 18, 1846, in Lewis County, New York, to Miss H. A. Witherbee, who was born in Otsego County, New York, and was reared and educated at Watertown, Jefferson County. She was a successful and popular teacher before her marriage, and while in Kansas held the position of Principal in a high school. She was the daughter of David and Eliza (ST. Clair) Witherbee, the former a native of Manchester, Vermont, and the latter of Westminster, same State, and a daughter of General Arthur ST. Clair, of Revolutionary fame. The mother was a member of the Universalist Church, and the father of the Episcopal. They lived in New York until their death. Mr. and Mrs. Plank have six children: Zelia Eliza, wife of David Van Alstine, of Belknap Township; W. J., a carpenter and contractor, of Cora Valley, Oregon; Hattie, wife of George L. Boals, of Dakota County, Nebraska; Ida Belle and Ada N., twins, the former the wife of J. A. Fletcher, of Forrestville, Colorado, and the latter the wife of Marion Barton, of Valley Township, Pottawattamie County; Iona L., wife of B. S. Leader, of Belknap Township. They lost a babe, William L., when seventeen months old, in New York.

Politically Mr. Plank is a Republican, and religiously an Adventist. Mrs. Plank is an ordained minister of the Adventist Church, and has preached at Sioux City, Yankton and Omaha. She is a faithful and zealous worker in this county for her Master, and has performed the marriage ceremony of all her children but one. The children are all well married and have left their parental home, and Mr. and Mrs. Plank now feel very lonely, but they are reconciled to their lot.

Contributed By: Mona Sarratt Knight