WILLIAM F. PLUNKET of Section 19, Hardin Township, is one of the prominent and well-known settlers of the township, where he has resided since September 19, 1870. He was born in Menard County, Illinois, November 29, 1833, the son of Zeno A. and Sarah (Foster) Plunket, both natives of Kentucky. They were also married in this state. The father was among the early settlers of Sangamon county, where he settled in 1831 and remained until 1835, when they moved to Henry County, Iowa, which was then a Territory, inhabited by the Fox and Winnebago Indians; he was also one of the first settlers of this county. The father died in September 1841 leaving a widow, three sons and one daughter, viz.: William F., Elizabeth who died in Henry County near Wayland; J.H. of Garner Township; and Samuel who was killed at Vicksburg I 1863. He was a member of the Twenty-Fifth Iowa Infantry. The mother now resides with her son, William F., at the age of seventy-eight years.

William F., our subject, passed his youth in Henry County assisting at farm work. April 6, 1854, he started for California with an ox team, crossing the Missouri River at Council Bluffs, when there was only one log cabin where the boat landed at Omaha. At the end of four months he reached Shasta County, California where he remained until December 5, 1856, when he returned home via the Isthmus of Panama to New York, and thence to Henry County, Iowa. In the fall of 1870, he came to Pottawattamie County, and purchased 200 acres of partially improved land, which he has since converted into one of the best-improved farms in the township. He has since added to this tract until he now has 280 acres. He has a grove and orchard of four acres, and everything about the farm shows the thrift and prosperity of the proprietor.

Politically Mr. Plunkett is a Democrat and has served as Township Trustee and as a member of the school board, serving with credit to himself and the best interests of the people. He is a man fifty-seven years of age, but bears his years lightly; he is frank and cordial in his manner. He has lived fifty years in Iowa, and has witnessed the growth and prosperity of this part of the county, and has shred in its development. He is numbered, socially, financially and politically, among the solid men of the township. He was married in Henry County, October 7, 1858, to Miss Nancy Ann Caughey, a native of Pennsylvania, and the daughter of Josiah and Elmira (Malone) Caughey, both natives of Pennsylvania.

Mr. and Mrs. Plunket have seven children living, viz.: John F., who lives adjoining his father; Charles C., a physician at Anita, Cass County, Iowa; Edward, a machinist at Des Moines; William O., Albert F., at home; Ira Z. and Casper A. They lost their second child, Samuel, by death, at the age of two years.