“David Ezra Ware  was the owner of an extensive and valuable farm in Afton township, Cherokee county, at the time of his demise.  He had lived upon that place for more than a third of a century and was a prominent representative of the agricultural interests of those section of the state.  Iowa numbered him among her native sons, his birth occurred in Dallas county, November 7, 1852, his parents being John and Mary Elizabeth (Rhudy) Ware.  The father was born in the east and the mother in Virginia.  The former followed farming as a life work and subsequent to his removal to the west lived for a time in Webster county, Iowa, and afterward in Dallas county, where his death occurred about 1866.  His wife still survives and now makes her home in Afton township, Cherokee county.  Their children were seven in number: Lucy deceased; David E.; George, a resident farmer of Afton township; William F, living in the same township; Lee H., of Cherokee township; Sarah, the wife of George Jenks of the city of Cherokee; and Nancy, the wife of Patrick Cuffe, of Effington, South Dakota.

The schools of his native county afforded David Ezra Ware his educational privileges.  At an early age he became familiar with all the duties and labors devolving upon the farmer and he continues to assist his father in the development and improvement of the home farm until he reached the age of about twenty-five years, when he came to Cherokee county, arriving in 1876.  He bought a farm of eighty acres in Afton township, to which he afterwards added a forty acre tract and later acquired more extensive holdings by purchase until his place comprised three hundred and twenty acres.  This he brought under a high state of cultivation, transforming the land into rich fields from which he annually gathered harvests.  He also had a section in Texas.

On the 13th of October, 1878, Mr. Ware was united in marriage to Miss Laura Adele Whitney, who was born in Outagamie county, Wisconsin, December 21, 1861, a daughter of John and Harriett (Bratt) Whitney, formerly residents of Afton township, Cherokee county…

Mr. and Mrs. Ware had a family of seven children: James H., a resident farmer of Afton township, is married and has three children, Ruby Mae, Lois Adele and John H.; Fannie is the wife of Arthur N. Funk of Afton township and their children are, George E., Nora Mae, Blanche M. and Agnes Adele; William and John are both at home; Emma is the wife of Calvin Wymore of Red Falls, Minnesota, and has two children, Donald N.E. and Dola E.E.; Jennie is the wife of Burt Dunn of Whitetail, Montana, and before her marriage was a teacher in the schools of Cherokee county; and Lucy is at home.

Mr. Ware was a school director and the cause of education found in him a warm friend.  He voted with the Democratic party, but did not seek or desire office, preferring to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs, which, well conducted, had brought him a substantial financial return err he passed away on the 4th of January, 1910.  His success was entirely attributable to his own labors and his record proves what many be accomplished when perseverance and determination lead the way.”

Source:  History of Cherokee County Iowa, by Thomas McCulla, Vol. 2, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1914, pages 362-3