*Jeremiah S. West*, section 2, Lester Township, was born in Cattaraugus County, New York, November 9, 1826, and when he was nine years old his parents, James and Julia A. West, removed to Kane County, Illinois, locating near Elgin in 1835. Here he was reared to manhood, remaining in Kane Countytill the fall of 1854, when he came to Iowa, and after living one year in Buchanan County he came, in October, 1855, to Black Hawk County. He received but a limited education in his youth, but after he had reached his twenty-first year he attended school six months. He has resided on his present farm since coming to the county, which at that time was an unimproved tract of land. He has now one of the best farms in his neighborhood, and has in all 200 acres of land, 160 acres on section 2, and the remainder on section 11. He has seventy-five acres under high state of cultivation, the rest being pasture and meadow. He has a very comfortable house which was built in 1867 at a cost of $1,200, his barn and shed being built in 1863, costing $1,000, and in 1883 he erected a new shed, his farm buildings being large and commodious. This he has made by industry and good management, being obliged to borrow $50 when he came to Iowa with which to make a start. Mr. West was married September 21, 1854, to Abigail Potts, daughter of Jacob H. and Catherine (Huntsman) Potts, her father born in Knox County, Ohio, June 22, 1813, and her mother in Richland County, Ohio, September 25, 1813. They were married in Knox County, February 25, 1834, and about three years later moved to Noble County, Indiana, where they remained two or three years. They then moved to Missouri, where Mrs. West was born; thence to Kane County, and after living there about fifteen years came to Black Hawk County, Iowa, where they made their home in Lester Township till the fall of 1885, with the exception of one year spent on a farm in Buchanan County, Iowa. They then, in 1885, went to Cherry County, Nebraska, where they have taken a homestead of 160 acres. Mr. and Mrs. West have a family of six children-Sytheria, born May 24, 1857; Arista, born November 29, 1859; Theresa, born October 11, 1861; George B., born June 11, 1864; Frederick A., born December 17, 1872, and Lurena E., born January 4, 1879, all natives of Black Hawk County. In politics Mr. West affiliates with the Democratic party. James West, father of our subject, was born November 10, 1801, in Genesee County, New York, and in early life moved to Cattaraugus County with his parents. During the war of 1812 he ran away from home and served in that war. He was a waiter for General Brock. He was married in Cattaraugus County to Julia A. Jolls, who was born May 8, 1803, in Boston, Massachusetts, and when quite young came with her parents to Cattaraugus County. James West was a son of Thomas P. and grandson of Rufus West, who was of English descent. Our subject's Grandmother Jolls was a native of Scotland, and came to Americawith her parents in an early day. His grandfather, Gardener Jolls, was a native of England, and followed the sea the greater part of his life. Mrs. West's father was a justice of the peace for twenty years, holding that office while living in Lester Township. He has a good farm, well improved, where he resides, beside owning 320 acres of land in Lake County, Dakota. History of Black Hawk CO. Biographical Sketches pp. 375-376