John B. Sutter
John B. Sutter
Probably no man is more familiar with pioneer customs and
conditions in Allamakee county than John B. Sutter, to whom they
are matters of personal experience rather than history. As a boy
of eleven years he came to this section of Iowa and he has since
that time witnessed practically the entire development of the
state, taking an active and honorable part in the work of
upbuilding. Although he is now about to retire from active life,
he has been for years numbered among the greatest individual
forces in agricultural development in this section and has by his
ability, untiring energy and steadfastness of purpose won
success, prominence and substantial fortune.
Mr. Sutter was born in Ripley county, Indiana, October 30, 1840,
and is a son of John B. and Elizabeth (Kiser) Sutter, natives of
Switzerland, where the father spent his early childhood. He
afterward took passage with his parents on board a vessel bound
for America, all of the family dying at sea with the exception of
the father of the subject of this review and his brother Joseph.
In order to pay for their passage across the Atlantic the
brothers after their arrival were bound out as farm laborers in
one of the eastern states, but Joseph Sutter ran away before the
expiration of the required term. However, John served out the
entire period and at the age of twenty-one received his release,
going immediately to Missouri, where for five years he worked as
a pilot on a flat boat. In 1850 he came to Iowa and landed at
Dubuque, where he remained for one winter. In the fall of 1851 he
moved to Allamakee county and entered government land and resided
in this part of Iowa until his death. In Indiana he had purchased
a number of soldier’s land warrants and he applied these on
Iowa land, accumulating over two thousand acres in Allamakee
county. He later sold this vast tract and purchased a farm in
Clayton county, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits until
he retired from active life, returning at that time and making
his home with his son until his death, which occurred March 29,
1898, when he was within twenty days of being ninety-two years of
age. He was a public-spirited and progressive citizen and active
in public affairs, having served for five years as county
assessor and for some time as county supervisor, school treasurer
and justice of the peace. He served on the school board for a
number of years and was a director in various banks and other
business enterprises, leaving the impress of his ability and
personality upon many fields of endeavor. He survived his wife,
who died in 1882, some sixteen years.
John B. Sutter was eleven years of age when his parents moved to
Allamakee county and he entered the class which was being held at
the home of Mr. Winslow just across the line in Clayton county.
Mrs. Winslow taught this school, which offered the only
educational facilities in this vicinity, there being no public
schools in those early days. Mr. Sutter grew up amid pioneer
conditions and as a boy assisted his father with the work of the
homestead. When he grew older he began driving a team from the
old mission to Dubuque, being employed by Mr. Linton, and he
would often be three days or more upon the road. It was no
uncommon experience for him to get stuck in a slough and remain
overnight in the open, the Indians often assisting him out of his
predicament. He and his brother afterward operated a breaking
outfit drawn by seven yoke of cattle and with this they broke
land all over Allamakee and Clayton counties. At one time they
went into Minnesota, where they broke three hundred and sixty
acres of land and in the following year a tract of one hundred
and sixty acres. They received two dollars and a half per acre
for breaking prairie land and five dollars for timber tracts.
During this time Mr. Sutter purchased a farm and at the age of
twenty-two moved upon this property, upon which he has since
carried forward the work of improvement and development. When he
took up his residence upon it it was all raw land upon which the
timber had not yet been cut. Mr. Sutter felled the trees and with
characteristic energy began cultivating the property, which
became more and more productive and valuable with the passing
years. Upon it he made substantial improvements, erecting a fine
residence, barns and outbuildings and installing modern machinery
to facilitate the work of the fields. His farm became one of the
finest and best managed agricultural properties in this vicinity
and he himself took rank among the most representative and
substantial men in the township. He has recently sold all but
forty acres of his homestead and has purchased a residence in
Monona, where he intends to live retired, having earned comfort
and leisure through well directed and untiring labor in the past.
On the 22d of October, 1863, Mr. Sutter was united in marriage to
Miss Mary Plank, who was born in Missouri in November, 1841, a
daughter of John and Elizabeth (Ebinger) Plank, natives of
Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, where the father was ordained to the
Methodist Episcopal ministry. The father crossed the Atlantic at
a very early date and located in Chicago, where he for some years
conducted a hotel, and he was afterward a resident of various
states to which he had been sent by the Methodist Episcopal
conference, and he later became a landowner in Allamakee county.
Selling out his interests here he moved to Dakota and entered
government land, dying there February 14, 1890. He had survived
his wife some years, her death having occurred in 1882. Mr. and
Mrs. Sutter have become the parents of five children: Viola, who
was born May 26, 1870, and who married Frank Jones, a farmer of
Fairview township; Edna, whose birth occurred on January 4, 1872,
and who married J. W. Bennett, who was a druggist but now has
turned his attention to farming in the vicinity of Janesville,
this state; Frank, who was born January 18, 1874, and who died
March 10, 1879; Clara M., whose birth occurred December 26, 1875,
and who graduated from the Iowa State Teachers College, being now
engaged in teaching in Aberdeen, South Dakota; and Nettie, who
was born October 19, 1880, and who married Theodore Schlitter, a
farmer, in Clayton county.
Mr. Sutter gives his political allegiance to the democratic party
and has served for nine years as township trustee, for a number
of years as constable, and for a long period as president of the
school board, the cause of education finding in him a loyal and
able supporter. At all times he has been interested in the
welfare of the county and has given active cooperation to many
movements for the public good, while his efforts in behalf of
public improvement have been effective and far reaching. Living
in Iowa for sixty-two years and having been active in
agricultural circles in Allamakee county for over forty, he is
one of the best known citizens of this locality, being recognized
as a man of tried integrity and worth, of business enterprise and
unfaltering diligence. Now that he is seventy-three years of age
he enjoys a well earned rest, for it is fitting that his former
business career should give him this period of leisure to enjoy
the fruits of his former toil. His fellow citizens honor and
respect him and wherever he is known he has an extensive circle
of friends.
-transcribed by Linda Earnheart
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