George H. Scofield

SCOFIELD, INGERSON, WING, JAKWAY, BLAKE

Posted By: Becky Teubner (email)
Date: 1/21/2004 at 11:32:01

GEORGE H. SCOFIELD. Probably in the history of the representative business houses of Strawberry Point no better example can be found of the
results of energy and well directed efforts than is strikingly illustrated by the firm of G. H. Scofield & Son. The proprietor of this establishment is one of the most successful business men of Strawberry Point, and is the
owner of the substantial two-story brick block in which are situated his store, a drug establishment and the Postoffice. Chautauqua County, N. Y., is the birthplace of our subject, and November 2, 1841, his natal day, His father, W. W., was born in 1818 in Essex County, N. Y., and was the son of Azariah Scofield, a merchant of the Empire State. So far back as there is any record of the family, they have been engaged in
the mercantile business. W. W. followed that occupation in De Wittville, N. Y., until 1859, when he came to Iowa. Three years later he embarked in the mercantile business in Strawberry Point, and the succeeding years have been devoted mainly to that enterprise. For a time he operated as a druggist, but this he disposed of in 1893, since which time he has lived in retirement. At the age of eighty-one he is still living (1894), but has lost his hearing and is nearly blind as well.

The mother of our subject, known in maidenhood as Maria Ingerson, was a native of the Empire State and an own cousin of her husband. She had two sons, George H. and N. W., and one daughter, Martha, who is unmarried and lives in Strawberry Point. N. W. enlisted as a private in Company B, Twenty-first Iowa Infantry, and died in Missouri while in active service.

Our subject received a practical education in the schools of New York, and in his father's store was thoroughly initiated in the mercantile business. He was eighteen when the family came to Iowa and settled in Strawberry Point, where in 1862 he entered the mercantile business with his father. Subsequently he succeeded to the business, and from 1862 to the present time has conducted the leading store in the place.
As a citizen, Mr. Scofield has maintained a deep interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of the people. The principles of the Democratic
party have been upheld by him since he became a voter, and upon the party ticket he has been elected to many positions of honor and responsibility. For two terms he served as a member of the County Board of Supervisors, a
portion of which time he was Chairman. He is the present Mayor of Strawberry Point, and since his election to this office has introduced a number of needed improvements and reforms calculated to benefit the town. As a public official, he is painstaking, thorough and capable, displaying
in all his decisions sound judgment and more than ordinary sagacity. He is the owner of valuable property in Strawberry Point, and also a farm in Clayton County. Socially he is a member of the Knights of Pythias.

The estimable wife of our subject bore the maiden name of Susan Wing, and was born in Livingston, Mich., being the daughter of John L.
Wing, a shoemaker of that place. They have had nine children, one of whom died in infancy. The others are: Mary O., Harry W., Effie L., Georgia M., Guy F., Susan E., Bessie K. and William J. Harry W., who married Mattie Jakway, is the junior member of the firm of G. H. Scofield & Son, and is a popular young business man; socially he is identified with the Masonic
fraternity and the Knights of Pythias. Effie L. is the wife of P. J. Blake, an attorney of Ft. Dodge, Iowa. The family is one of prominence in social circles, and its members are welcomed guests in the best society of the county.

-source: 1894 Dubuque, Jones and Clayton Co., IA History pgs. 478-481