JOHN F. MERRY
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 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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