WILLIAM E. FIERCE, a prominent farmer of Long Creek Township, resides on section 34, where
he owns 320 acres of land, 120 acres under cultivation, the other 200 acres
being pasture land. He was born in Hamilton County, Indiana, March 10,
1843, son of E. W. and Mary (Criswell) Fierce, natives also of
Indiana. When he was seven years of age his parents moved to Knox County,
Illinois, and in the fall of 1857 came to Iowa, first living three years in
Jefferson County. He was reared to farm labor, an occupation he has since
followed successfully. During the late war he went forward in defense of
his country, enlisting in 1862, in Company I, Thirty-fourth Iowa Infantry, but
was rejected on account of disability. In 1864 he again enlisted in
Company C, Forty-eighth Iowa Infantry, and served till his term of enlistment
expired. He was married in Decatur County, in 1867, to Miss Ann West,
daughter of William and Elizabeth West, natives of Circleville, Ohio, who was
born in 1850, in Pickaway County, Ohio. Their children are — Charlie F.,
Ebenezer W., William W., Mertie M., John E., Nellie E., Bertha E. and Dora
M. Mr. Fierce is at present post-master of Fierce. The office was
named for his father, an honored pioneer of the settlement. Himself and
wife are members of the Methodist Protestant church. Politically he is a
Republican, and does all he can to promote the best interests of the party.
SOURCE: “Biographical and Historical Record of Ringgold and
Decatur Counties, Iowa,” p. 549-50
