John F. Fouts (1856-1917)

FOUTS

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 11/3/2022 at 21:48:21

John F. Fouts
(July 19, 1856 – October 5, 1917)

The subject of this sketch is one of the best known and most enterprising farmers of Calhoun County, and is now successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits on section 19, Center Township. He was born in Stark County, Illinois, on the 19th of July, 1856, his parents being Louis and Sarah A. (Culton) Fouts, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Illinois. The father was only two years old when he came to Illinois. He is now living a retired life in Rockwell City, Iowa. John F. Fouts, of this review, remained under the parental roof long after he had attained man's estate and had the advantages of a good common-school education, attending the graded schools of Bradford, Wyoming and Bryant, Illinois, and Lamar, Missouri. In the fall of 1882, when his father retired from active labor and removed to Bradford, Illinois, our subject took charge of the old home farm, which he successfully carried on for one year. Mr. Fouts lived alone until the 11th of March, 1883, when he was united in marriage with Miss Maria J. Owens, who was born in Marshall county, Illinois, September 13, 1856. Her parents were natives of England, and on their emigration to America in 1842 settled in Fulton County, Illinois. The father is now deceased, but the mother is still living and now makes her home with her children. Mr. and Mrs, Fouts have three children, namely: Harlan J., born August 21, 1884; Vernon R., born December 30, 1890; and Sarah E., born July 13, 1893. For the past two seasons Harlan J. has attended the graded schools of Rockwell City. In the fall of 1883 Mr. Fouts and his brother-in-law purchased a meat market in Bradford, Illinois, which they conducted until the fall of 1886, and in the meantime bought a house and five lots at that place. Selling all his town property, he then came west in search of a suitable location, and decided to settle in Carroll County, Iowa, where he purchased eighty acres of land. The same fall he also bought one hundred and sixty acres in Pawnee County, Kansas.
In the spring of 1887 he and his family moved to Carroll County, Iowa, and in connection with the operation of his farm he also run a threshing machine for three years. It was in the fall of 1889 that he first came to Rockwell City and purchased a half interest in a meat market, of which he took possession in January, 1890. That spring his family took up their abode here, and on the 1st of April he purchased a restaurant, of which his wife took charge, but the following fall he disposed of all his city property and once more resumed farming, having bought one hundred and sixty acres of partially improved land on section 2, Lake Creek Township, Calhoun County, where he located in the spring of 1891, and where he continued to reside for four years. During the summer of 1891 he traded his Kansas land for horses and cattle, and a year later traded some of the horses for seven and a half acres of land within the corporate limits of the town of Carroll, Iowa. In the fall of 1893 Mr. Fonts traded his Carroll County property for a farm of one hundred and thirty acres in Jackson Township, this county, and on selling his farm in Lake Creek Township in the summer of 1894 he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 19, Center Township, which he still owns. On the latter farm the family located in the spring of 1895 and there they have since made their home. In the fall of 1898 Mr. Fonts traded for a house and one acre of land in the southern part of Rockwell City and rented the place until the fall of 1901, when he sold it. He embarked in the agricultural implement business in that city in the spring of 1898, and in the summer of 1899 added a stock of hardware. He conducted the store in a most successful manner until the winter of 1901, when he sold out. In the meantime he had made his home upon the farm and is now devoting his time and energies to its operation. He gives considerable attention to the raising and feeding of stock, and has shipped several carloads of his own feeding. Upon his farm he has built a good two-story house and a good barn, and made many other improvements which add to the value and attractive appearance of the place. He raises only the best grades of stock, making a specialty of Poland China hogs and Hereford cattle. In his herd of hogs are two registered animals, Black Bess, No. 159232, and Belle, No. 159230. For the last few years Mr. Fouts has taken quite an active and prominent part in local politics and has been called upon to fill a number of offices, serving as road supervisor, school director, president of the school board two years and township clerk two years. In the fall of 1901 he was elected a member of the board of county supervisors from the fifth district for a term of three years, and is now filling that office with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of his constituents. Politically he is identified with the Republican party, and socially he is a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge, No. 279, of Carroll. Iowa. [Source – Biographical Record of Calhoun County, Iowa, by S.J. Clarke, 1902, p.418]