Posted on: Page Co. Ia Biographies Board URL: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ia/PageBios?read=3 Surname: SHUM, McCOWEN ------------------------- ALEXANDER SHUM Alexander Shum is one of the representative farmers of Nodaway Town ship, Page County, where he has resided since 1873. He was born in Rutland County, Vermont, June 26, 1852, and is a son of Peter Shum, who lives on section 5, Nodaway Township. Peter Shum was born in Canada in 1831, and lived there until he was seven years old, when his parents, Frank and Margaret Shum, removed to the United States and settled in Vermont. He was married to Elizabeth Pfenall at the age of twenty-one years, and in 1857 he removed with his family to Lee County, Iowa; they made this their home until 1873, when they came to Page County. Mr. Shum has a finely improved farm of 640 acres, a good residence and barns for stock and grain. He and his wife have had eleven children: Alexander, Peter, George, Lizzie, Joseph, John, William, James, Abe, Moses and Anna. Five of them are living at home. Alexander was five years old when the family removed to Lee County. He was brought up after the usual fashion of farmers' sons, receiving his education in the public schools. He was married June 8, 1878, to Mary McCowen, a daughter of James McCowen, one of the prominent old settlers of the county. Mrs. Shum was born in Page County, January 27, 1859. Two children have been born to this union: Carrie Maud and Bessie Laverne. Mr. Shum settled on his present farm in 1883; the land is in an advanced state of cultivation, and he has made many excellent improvements in the way of buildings; he has also planted a fine orchard. Politically he affiliates with the Democratic party, and has served his township on the school board. He is a member of Clarinda Lodge, No. 109, I. O. O. F., and holds an enviable position in the community. BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY IOWA; Lewis and Dunbar,Publishers,113 Adams Street, Chicago; 1890 - --------------------------------------------------------- ALEXANDER SHUM Alexander Shum, who for thirty-six years has made his home in Page County, residing throughout this period in the vicinity of Clarinda, owns and cultivates two hundred and forty acres of rich farming land of which one hundred and fifty-three acres is in the home place a mile north of the corporation limits of the city. He is far separated from the place of his birth, for he is a native of Rutland county, Vermont, his birth having there occurred June 26, 1852. The Shum family is of French descent and was established in Canada at an early date. The parents of Alexander Shum were Peter and Elizabeth (Penor) Shum, who were natives of the province of Quebec born near the Vermont line. They were married in the Green Mountain state, where both removed when about fifteen years of age. They continued residents of Vermont until 1857, when they removed westward to Iowa, settling in Lee county, where they lived for sixteen years, and then came to Page County in 1873. The father still resides in Clarinda but the mother passed away in that city in February, 1900, at the age of sixty-eight years. Alexander is the eldest of their ten children, the others being Peter, George, Joseph, John, William, Moses, James, Anna, all living; Elizabeth and Abraham, deceased. Alexander Shum was a little lad of five summers at the time of the removal of his parents to Lee county, Iowa. There he was reared and in the public schools of his home neighborhood pursued his education. While not busy with his text-books his time was largely given to the work of the fields on his father's place. He was twenty-one years of age when, in 1873, he came to Page county, since which time he has resided in the vicinity of Clarinda. His entire life has been devoted to farming and the place of two hundred and forty acres which he owns is the visible evidence of his well directed thrift and industry. He is numbered among the self-made men of the county owing his prosperity to his earnest labor and wise utilization of his opportunities. He has in his home place one hundred and fifty-three acres, situated a mile north of the corporation limits of Clarinda, and here he has lived for sixteen years. On the farm are found good buildings and all modern improvements, and these have been placed there by Mr. Shum, who carries on general farming and stock raising, meeting with well merited success in his undertakings. He is diligent, persevering and determined, and these qualities are always valuable elements in the attainment of prosperity. On the 8th of June, 1878, Mr. Shum was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary E. McCowen, who was born in Nodaway Township, this county, February 27, 1859, her parents being James and Hulda McCowen, who are mentioned elsewhere in this work in connection with the sketch of her brother, Noah McCowen. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Shum have been born four daughters: Carry Maude, now the wife of Arthur Apple, of Nodaway township, by whom she has two children, Dale and Nina; Bessie Laverne, who is the wife of J. E. Bean, of Nodaway county, Missouri, by whom she has five children, Thelma, John, deceased, Raymond, Burrell and Vera Bernice; Katharine and Geneva May, the younger members of the family, both at home. Mr. Shum has given his political allegiance to the democracy since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He has never held office save some minor local one, as his ambition is not in the line of office holding. He belongs to Clarinda Lodge, No. 109, I. O. O. F., and is in sympathy with the beneficent spirit of the order, for he is a gentleman of broad humanitarian principles. In the work of the farm his life has been passed and, realizing that success is not a matter of genius but rather the outcome of clear judgment, experience and industry, he has worked persistently to attain the creditable position which he now occupies as a representative of agricultural pursuits in his adopted county. HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY, IOWA ; by W. L. Kershaw; Volume 2, Chicago; The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1909