Born August 17, 1850, in the State of Maryland Mr. Hinkhouse in 1853 was brought by his parents to Iowa, the family arriving at Davenport after six weeks en route. Soon afterward they removed to a place known as Limestone Farm, Sugar Creek township, and it was there that R. W. Hinkhouse was reared to the age of twenty-one years, spending his youthful days in the usual manner of farm lads, save that the routine duties of the farm were varied by the work of burning lime, for the father had a large lime kiln upon the place. Throughout the period of his youth he attended the country school and later became a student in the Normal School at Wilton. In the winter of 1870 he broke one of his legs and was thus unable to do any manual labor for some time. While going around on crutches he taught the first term of school conducted in the White Pigeon schoolhouse. When the injured member had healed he turned his attention to general agricultural pursuits, operating a rented farm. In 1873, Mr. Hinkhouse went to Kansas, where he engaged in prospecting and farming for a few months and at the end of that time he resumed farming in Cedar County, settling in Farmington Township, where he resided until 1900. For ten years he rented land and then purchased one hundred and sixty acres which he improved and developed. In 1900, however, he sold his property and temporarily located upon a farm east of Rochester. In 1901, he traveled over the corn belt of the United States and became convinced that the best opportunities and the cheapest lands were to be secured in and around West Liberty. Accordingly he invested in five hundred and fifty-five and one-half acres known as the A. E. Kimberley farm and another farm adjoining West Liberty on the north. The land was devoted to the raising of grain and stock and the business there conducted proved very profitable. It has not been agricultural lines alone, however, that Mr. Hinkhouse has won success. He is recognized as a business man of marked enterprise and of an initiative spirit and because of these qualities he has assisted in organizing four different banks, including the Union Savings Bank of Wilton, Iowa, of which he was a director for a number of years, the Wilton Savings Bank, the Atalissa Savings Bank, and the Downey Savings Bank. He was also a stockholder in the Iowa State Bank at West Liberty and one of the directors of the White Pigeon Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Wilton. In his political views Mr. Hinkhouse has been a life-long democrat and in one of the three members of that party who have been chosen to represent the county in the state legislature. He served as a member of the Twenty-sixth regular session of the General Assembly and through the extra session called by Governor Drake. Previous to his election to the legislature he served as county supervisor for six years and during four years of that time was chairman of the board. Mr. Hinkhouse has always stood for progress and advancement, and his labors as a public official and as a private citizen have constituted an important element in the county's growth and upbuilding. His religious faith is indicated in the fact that he is a member of the Presbyterian church of Sugar Creek. On the 23d of September, 1875, Mr. Hinkhouse was united in marriage to Miss Anna Smiley, who was born near Clearfield, Pennsylvania, and came to Cedar County with her parents in 1869.