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John F.
Merry was born in Peninsula, Summit county, Ohio, March 24, 1844, a
son of Horace C. and Pamelia
(Trowbridge) Merry. The father, born at Phelps, Ontario county, New
York, on the 15th of July, 1814, was an early settler of the Western
Reserve of Ohio, residing in Summit, Portage, Geauga and Cuyahoga
counties. He came to Iowa from Geauga county in 1856, settling first
in Elk township, Delaware county, where he purchased a farm and made
his home until 1866. In that year he removed to Oneida township and
during the remainder of his life resided near Earlville, passing
away on the 18th of January, 1882. He gave his political allegiance
to the republican party and for seven years served as justice of the
peace in Elk township, while he also held the office of school
director for a similar period and for three years acted as assessor
in Oneida township. He was a Presbyterian in religious belief and a
man of strong character and high integrity. On the 21st of February,
1838, at Solon, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, he wedded Miss Pamelia
Trowbridge, whose birth occurred in Ontario, Wayne county, New York,
June 1, 1818, and who died in Oneida township on the 28th of January, 1892. To
them were born six children, as follows: Martha E., born December 15, 1838, in
Summit county, Ohio, who gave her hand in marriage to Lucius H. Waldo, a farmer,
on the 27th of
August, 1860, and January 18, 1889, passed away in Oneida township; Adaline,
whose birth occurred in Portage county, Ohio, on the 30th of July,
1842, and who died at the age of five years; John F., of this review; Henry J.,
born in Summit county, Ohio, February 18,
1846, who wedded Miss Ella Welch on the 3d of December, 1868,
and resides at Hartley, O'Brien |
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county, Iowa; Caroline M., born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, on the 20th of March,
1850, who gave her hand in marriage to Charles Cruise on the 29th of September,
1868,and resides in Earlville; and William H., who was born February 18, 1863,
and died in early life.
John F. Merry came to Iowa with his parents in an immigrant wagon during the
month of October, 1856, his father locating the following spring on a farm in
the northern part of Delaware county. A few years later he taught school a
couple of winter terms in what was known as the Merry District. In August,
1862 he enlisted in Company K, Twenty-first Iowa Infantry, and in March,
1863 was discharged for disability. In April, 1864, he again enlisted, recruited
a company and as second lieutenant was mustered into Company F, Forty sixth
Iowa Infantry. At the close of the war, he entered the service of Congar
Brothers & Company, a mercantile firm at Manchester, Iowa. Two years later
he engaged in the same business on his own
account, and at different times was a
member of the following firms: Sherwood, Wheeler & Merry, William Cattron
& Company and Merry & Goodell. In 1880 he
entered the service of the Illinois Central Railroad Company as excursion
agent. After three years he was promoted to general western passenger agent,
then to assistant general passenger agent of Western Lines, after which he was
made assistant general passenger agent of the entire system, a position he held
until July 15, 1905, when he was promoted to general immigration agent. In the
latter position, all his time was devoted to the settling up of the country
adjacent to the Central's southern lines. On the 1st day of July, 1911, he
retired on a pension after thirty one years
of continuous service.
Captain Merry was twice married. On the 26th of November, 1866, in Manchester,
he wedded Miss Emma J. Cattron, her parents being William and Judith (Eahart)
Cattron, pioneer residents of Delaware county. Mr. Cattron
is deceased, while his widow resides at
Tacoma, Washington, at the age of ninety years. To Mr. and Mrs. Merry
were born four sons, all of whom died young. The wife and mother passed away on
the 18th of January, 1903, and on the 4th of February, 1904, Captain Merry was
again married, his second union being with Miss Katharine Shimmin, a daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. John Shimmin, of Pecatonica, Illinois. For more than twenty years
prior to her marriage Mrs. Merry taught in
the primary schools of Manchester.
Captain Merry has been a great worker, as he is a natural leader. He was
a member of the Iowa Trans -Mississippi and
International Exposition Commission held at Omaha. He was a member of the Iowa
commission for the erection of a state soldiers' monument at Des Moines.
He was also the originator and promoter of the Vicksburg, Mississippi, National
Military Park, and in Grand Army circles he is known as the "Father of the
Vicksburg Park," an attraction annually visited by thousands of people. He was
chairman of the Iowa Vicksburg monument commission that had in charge the
expenditure of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars appropriated by the Iowa
legislature for the erection of monuments and markers to commemorate the part
Iowa troops had in the campaign and siege of Vicksburg. For years the Captain
was secretary of the Dunleith & Dubuque Bridge Company. He prides himself on
being a Lincoln republican. In 1896 he was a
delegate to the national republican convention held at St. Louis and was
prominent in urging the adoption of a gold plank in the republican platform. The
Captain is a Methodist and in 1900 was a lay delegate to the general conference
of that church held in Chicago. He is past commander of W. A. Morse Post, G. A.
R.; is a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion and also of the
Society of the Army of the Tennessee. He is a director of the Delaware County
State Bank, the oldest banking house in the county. He has recently sold a model
farm of two hundred and eighty acres only three and one-half miles from
Manchester, which is known far and near as "Merryland." For fifteen years he has
taken great pride in his Holstein cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs. Captain Merry is
secretary pf the Delaware County Farmers' Institute and also an officer in the
Jones Mill Grange. Few men have been more interested in the young people of the
community than the Captain, and hundreds of them are indebted to him for good
positions. Captain Merry is a cheerful
and liberal giver to everything that stands for high ideals or for aid to the
unfortunate
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