- JOHN FRANKLIN LITEL, a retired business man of Albany, Green
county, has had a varied
- and eventful career in the commercial world. He has been
active and industrious, and has always believed in hustling to
get on in the world. He is highly spoken of by those who remember
him as an active business man, and is now taking his ease, which
he has richly earned by long and arduous years.
- Mr. LITEL was born in Bond county, Ill., Oct. 13, 1831, son
of John Franklin, Sr., and Lucretia
- (DUDGEON) LITEL, natives of Tennessee. They were the parents
of fourteen children, of whom five are still living at this distant
day: John Franklin, of Albany; Lewellyn A., of Belleville, Ark.;
Francis Marion, of Conway, Mo.; Rowena, wife of Mr. WHITTIER,
of Smith Center, Kans.; and Ellen, wife of Henry C. BOONE, of
Kansas. The father was a farmer, and moved to Illinois in the
early days, settling in Bond county. In 1832 he enlisted in the
Black Hawk war, and while in the service came to Wisconsin. He
was entranced with the country, and in 1833 brought his family
to Platteville, where he engaged in lead mining. In 1841 he moved
to Buchanan county, Mo., and helped to survey the city of Saint
Joseph. Two years later he came back to Platteville, and was
engaged in farming for two years. In 1847 he moved to Highland,
and was established in farming there until 1867, when he removed
to West Bend, Iowa, and ten years later located in Downs, Kansas,
where his wife died in 1880, at the age of sixty-eight years.
He and his youngest daughter then went to Conway, where he died
in 1898, at the age of eighty eight. He and his wife were members
of the Methodist Church. William LITEL, the father of John Franklin,
Sr., was a native of Tennessee, and a farmer of Irish descent;
he had a small family, and died when old. John DUDGEON, the father
of Lucretia, was a native of Alabama, of a French lineage; he
was a tanner by trade, and lived to be over ninety years of age.
- John Franklin LITEL was a child of two years of age when
his parents moved from Illinois into
- Wisconsin, and he attended the public schools at Platteville,
and then followed the lead mining until 1852. That year he crossed
the Plains to California, and was six months on the way. For
four years he was a gold miner, and his efforts were crowned
with fair success. He came to Wisconsin in 1856, and in the spring
of 1857 engaged in the mercantile business at Highland. He was
successively in Avoca, in Lone Rock, and in Footville, following
the same line. At Afton he built a flour mill, and in 1880 he
came to Albany, and went into a general store. In 1892 he retired
from active business interests, and, as it is possible for him
to do, he is taking pleasure and comfort in the passing years.
He has lately made a trip to California, and another into Mississippi.
- On August 16, 1860, Mr. LITEL was married to Miss Mary A.
MEARS, a daughter of Michael
- and Mary (MAHER) MEARS, and six children have come to bless
this union: James Edward, John F., Jr., and Cora May are living;
three died in early childhood. James Edward is mentioned elsewhere
in this volume; John F., Jr., is a banker in Oregon, Wis.; and
Cora May married John CARAWAY, of Biloxi, Miss. Mrs. LITEL was
a member of the Catholic church. Mr. LITEL was a Democrat in
his active years, though he is not taking an active part in politics.
He has been supervisor of the town of Albany three terms, and
was a member of the village board for several years.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin,"
(c)1901 Union Publishing; pp. 871-872.
-
- Courtesy of Carol.
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