MOIR, John 1835-1924

MOIR, SYMS, DURNO, TULLER, GILLEN, KERR, SCHROEDER, HENDERSON

Posted By: S. Ferrall - IAGenWeb volunteer
Date: 10/21/2012 at 11:25:27

Death Claims Pioneer Citizen of Community
John Moir, a Long Time Resident of This City, Dies Sunday Night, at Ripe Age of 88 Years.

John Moir was born December 3rd, 1835, on the Big Sioux, near Cornwell, Canada, and passd to the great beyond January 20th, 1924, aged 88 years at the home of his niece, Miss Josephine Durno, who with others of his family have lovingly cared for him all through the declining years of his life.

He leaves two nieces, Josephine Durno and Mrs. Frank Tuller; Blanche Bell [Durno] awaits him, having passed on some two years ago; also a nephew, Wm. E. Durno of this city, a grand nephew, R.W. Tuller of Des Moines, and John Gillen of Sioux City, a cousin of the deceased, to mourn his departure. There are also a host of friends who will miss his familiar face as he went about in his chair for many years.

His parents sailed from Fraiser Burrough, Scotland, in the spring of 1835, came to Canada and from whence later they came to Joliet, Ill., where two sisters were born, Jessie and Anna L. Moir. Jessie died at Joliet in 1839 aged three years. His mother died in 1840, aged 32. His father died on November 5th, 1883.

His father moved to Roscoe, Winnebago county, Ill., where he worked his trade as a blacksmith. Mr. Moir went into his father's shop to work when fourteen years of age. Later, in the year 1853, at the age of 18 he emigrated to Iowa with his father, taking two yoke of oxen, wagon and breaking plow. They settled on a farm on Henderson Prairie, his father having purchased the land from the government at $1.25 per acre. This farm is now owned by Melvin Helgerson.

In 1860 he was hurt in an accident by being caught in a tumbling rod of a threshing machine and has been a cripple ever since.

He moved to Postville in 1864 and built a business house, went into the grocery and confectionery business in 1865 and was married in the spring of 1866 to Mary E. Syms. He was appointed postmaster March 15th, 1866, and was retained until May 5th, 1878.

With others not members of the M.E. church he took an interest in locating the present site of the M.E. church. There were two sites to choose from and they carried the vote and the church was built on the site where it now stands. He signed [next line cut off] quite liberally for the church [word cut off] it was dedicated and at the dedication the elder called on ten to give one hundred dollars on a year note. Mr. Moir was one of the ten and afterwards joined the church.

"Uncle John," as he was familiarly called by his friends, was a warm-hearted and generous giver, always remembering the sick and afflicted in making inquiry of them and was a man who took great interest in the welfare of his town, a great reader, always interested in the political and national affairs of his country and especially during the World War.

The above records were written out by Mr. Moir in his own handwriting and placed in an envelope to be given to the writer after his death. The writer has known Mr. Moir for a period of a half-century and knew him for his sterling character and trust-worthy manhood and in his own chosen words he leaves a message to the world. That no one need be afraid of what is good as God is good. We come before him in judgment for mind cannot comprehend God any more than mind can comprehend that there is no end to space, that other worlds float in space and bright stars shine in. It is too vast for mind to comprehend, but God is the ruler of all things and so must it be.

His call came quickly; just a stepping over.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."

Postville's oldest citizen has passed into the great beyond. Greater than any monument are the memories left by our neighbor and friend. Even in his crippled condition he had the courage and power of will to do his bit in the business world.

He believed that everyone has an element of good in him.

And alas, one more leaf has fallen, ripe and true. A relative true has gone, a citizen, neighbor and friend has crossed the bar as the shadows of night had gathered, but in the East the glow of a brighter day has dawned and the beckoning hands of those gone before with outstretched arms welcomed the liberated soul into that country where no accidents are recorded.

So, brother and friend, farewell till we meet again.

H.S.

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The funeral was held from the home at two o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, conducted by Rev. J.A. Saathoff of the Community church. Interment in Postville cemetery.

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Life Reminiscences of the late John Moir

C.M. Kerr, who has known the late John Moir perhaps as intimately as anyone now resident in this section, provides the following reminiscenses of his life:

John Moir as a young man had a splendid physique, as he was the only one at Roscoe, Ill., who could dive from the Rock River bridge to the water below, a distance of thirty feet.

When he first came to Iowa he and George Kerr drove a team of six yoke of oxen on a three and a half foot breaking plow to break the virgin sod on Henderson Prairie. His father had a blacksmith shop near the corner of the farm now owned by C.H. Schroeder and sharpened the plows and shod the oxen and horses for the neighbors, leaving most of the farm work for John.

When twenty-one, in helping Thomas Henderson Sr., he was caught in a tumbling rod and twisted out of shape and lay in the Henderson home for six weeks, no one thinking he would pull through. But his youth and splendid constitution enabled him to pull through, and he faced the future as a cripple with cheerful courage.

He was always very patriotic, always having his flag out on holidays. He is the last of the early settlers who has lived in Postville from almost the beginning to link the past with the present, and many of us will miss him greatly as a rugged landmark of the community.

~Postville Herald, Thursday, January 24, 1924
~transcribed from a photocopy contributed by Reid R. Johnson