BYNG, John

BYNG, BIRD

Posted By: Administrator
Date: 10/2/2001 at 20:20:28

From the book "The History of Clinton County Iowa" by L. P. Allen (1879) Pages 669-697
Biographical Sketches of Clinton Residents

John Byng, retired; Riverside; is a native of England, and was born in 1820, he grew up to manhood there, and came to America in 1842. He went to Wisconsin and engaged in farming for a short time, then returned to England. In the spring of 1850, he again came to America; he came to Iowa the same year and located in Clinton Co., about seven miles west of Camanche. He engaged in farming until 1868, when he bought an interest in the mills at Riverside, and the firm became Lamb, Byng & Co.; they continued in the business until January 1878, when he disposed of his interest in C. Lamb & Son. Since then, he has retired from active business. He married Elizabeth Bird, from England, and they lived together until her death in February, 1874, leaving one son, Enoch F. In October, 1876, he married Emma Hulme, a native of England. Mr. Byng had nothing when he began life, and his success is owing to the industry and good management of himself and wife. Enoch F. Byng, his son was in the army; he enlisted in the Twenty-sixth Regiment Iowa Infantry; he was wounded before Atlanta; he resigned his commission of First Lieutenant on account of the wounds he received there. After his return, he was in the County Treasurer's office for one year; he was with his father in the mills here, and was foreman of the yard; he went to Paducah in 1877, and is now engaged in the saw-mill business there.