Lincoln Harbold of Plano

By Bill Heusinkveld

The Daily Iowegian - 8 November 2007

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  Lincoln Harbold (1863-1945) came to Appanoose County from Kentucky as a very small child in the late 1860’s. He was to become one of the biggest and best-known stockmen in Iowa. and a large benefactor in his home town of Plano.
  His parents, Samuel L. Harbold (1833-1895) and Mary P. Harbold (1844-1872), brought the family to Appanoose County from Kentucky in the late 1860’s. There were at least seven children, the fourth of which was Lincoln. They also brought Samuel’s parents, William (1811-1890) and Catherine Harbold (1816-1889) with them.
  Lincoln, often called Link, was born in West Virginia in 1863. He grew up on his father’s 160 acre farm in the southwest quarter of Section 16 in Johns Twp., about one mile north of the town of Plano. It is believed the old farmhouse remained in the Harbold family for many years.
  Lincoln was born on August 7,1863. He was reared to manhood under the sturdy discipline of the home farm and early acquired an insight into the practical working of the business to which he was later to give his utmost efforts. As he grew older and the possibilities of the farming business became apparent, he increased his facilities until he eventually owned 660 acres of fine land near Plano and 280 acres near Truro, Iowa, which he devoted to the thousands of cattle handled by him every year. He purchased large quantities of grain for their consumption.
  In 1887 at age 24, Lincoln Harbold was married to Caroline (Callie) Kirkland (1868-1940), the daughter of Benson and Mary Kirkland who had come from West Virginia and located on a place two miles west of Mr. Harbold’s home. Link and Mary became the parents of three children, one of whom was Grace, who remained in the area for many years. After their marriage, they first began housekeeping on the farm and later lived in a beautiful, spacious home in the north part of Plano. This became his center of operations for his many enterprises
  Lincoln Harbold became one of the biggest and best-known stockmen in Iowa. He had a number of farms including a large operation at Sedan. In 1913 he shipped out 204 cars of live stock, grain and seed. He has specialized in cholera immune hogs for serum making purposes and supplied 1400 such hogs per month.
  In 1917 Link Harbold was known as the King of the hog raisers In the early part of the year he sold one lot of hogs for $26,000 on the Kansas City market. There were 800 head in the shipment, and it took 11 train cars to transport them. They brought an average price of $12.00 per hundred. It was one of the largest shipments of hogs ever made to the Kansas City livestock yards.
  In 1877 William Bradley bought some land at Sedan in a tax sale. He continued accumulating land until it was the largest farm in the area. Then, at the turn of the century, his son D.C. Bradley inherited the Bradley Ranch.
  In 1919, D.C. Bradley deeded an interest in the farm to Lincoln Harbold and it became known as the Bradley-Harbold Ranch. Seed corn was raised on the farm, some of the popular brands being Reed’s Yellow Dent, U.S. 13 and Long Tom. Mules were used to do the work because they were tough and could stand the heat.  Link Harbold also owned some land south of Plano at what was known as the Hog Farm corner, where the road to Jerome went south from the old Highway No. 2 before the highway was relocated to the north. The Hog Farm corner was a well known landmark. It must have been a very dangerous corner, because there were several bad car accidents at that corner clear up into the 1960’s.
  Richard Gorden told me that, at one time, Mr. Harbold utilized the Hog Farm corner as a location for a gas station. He gave me copies of pictures of the gas station and of a card advertising the services available at the Lincoln Log Cabin Tourist Camp and Service Station, eight miles west of Centerville and seven miles east of Promise City. It promised day and night service and sold Peppy Gas and Atlas Tires.