Sidle, John

SIDLE, YOHE, GRIFFIN, SMITH, SNYDER, YOST, ANDERSON, PHILLIPS, DYER, BADER, BENTLEY, GOODNOW, HURST, BOLLINGER, MCCORD, HANEY

Posted By: Volunteer Transcribers
Date: 1/31/2003 at 02:04:20

Source: "The 1901 Biographical Record of Clinton Co., Iowa, Illustrated" published: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1901.
JOHN SIDLE

Honored and respected by all who knew him, no man in the community more fully deserved the esteem in which he was held than John Sidle, who for many years was prominently connected with the agricultural interest of Clinton county. His principles were manly, his actions sincere, and he left to this family the priceless heritage of an untarnished name.

A native of Wayne county, Ohio, he was born on the 13th of September, 1842, a son of Jacob and Susan (Yohe) Sidel. The father was born in Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, May 10, 1812, and in Ohio married Miss Yohe, who was also a native of Pennsylvania. She died when her son John was only two years of age, and he afterward married Mrs. Griffin, a widow. His death occurred August 20, 1890, and his remains were interred in a cemetery at Fostoria, Ohio. By the first marriage there were two children. Henry Sidle, the brother of our subject, enlisted in an Ohio regiment during the Civil war. He had been taken prisoner and had been exchanged, when on his way up the Mississippi Rover the steamer on which he was a passenger was blown up and he was killed. The children of the second marriage wee Jacob, of Tyndall, South Dakota, who married Anna Smith and has three children; and Mary, the wife of William Snyder, of Fostoria, Iowa. By her former marriage Mrs. Sidle, the second wife, had three children: Frank, who resides near Cleveland, Ohio, and is married and has five sons and a daughter; Mrs. Susan Yost, who resides near Fostoria, and has even children; and Jacob, who was drowned in the mill pond at Maquoketa, Iowa, when sixteen years of age.

When only two years of age, at the time of his mother’s death, John Sidle went to live with the Stayman family, and in his boyhood he attended the school in the Stayman district, south of Maquoketa. Later he went to that city and worked his way through the public school, putting aside his test-books when about twenty years of age. He then worked as a farm hand, and later became overseer of a large farm, his business ability and trustworthiness winning him the position.

On the 31st of May, 1866, at the home of the bride, southwest of Maquoketa, Mr. Sidle married Malinda Agnes Anderson, who was born November 10, 1847, in Rockingham, Virginia, a daughter of Eugene and Jane (Phillips) Anderson, the former born in Rockingham county, Virginia, May 4, 1808, the latter in Augusta county, of the same state, March 12, 1809. Her parents were married on the Old Dominion, where the father engaged in farming until 1854, when he came with his family to Iowa, driving across the country with a “prairie schooner” a and a two-seated carriage. The party made their way to a place six miles southwest of Maquoketa, in Clinton county, and Mr. Anderson purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, for which he paid two dollars and a half per acre. It was then raw prairie land, but with characteristic energy he began to break and improve it, and soon placed his fields under a high state of cultivation. His first home was a frame house sixteen by twenty-four feet, to which he afterward added, and he also built large barns and other necessary farm buildings. There he carried on agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred May 14, 1884, his remains being interred in the Union cemetery, two miles south of Maquoketa. His widow remained upon the old homestead until three months prior to her demise, when she went to live with her daughter, Mrs. Sidle, passing away December 30, 1889. She too was laid to rest in the Union cemetery. This worthy couple were the parents of four sons and four daughters: Elizabeth M., who was born April 2, 1831, married G.L. . Dyer, who came to Iowa with his father-in-law. She died December 7, 1864, and his second wife is also deceased. He now lives at Maquoketa. Marie Jane, the second of the family, born March 29, 1833, is the wife of S.R. Bader, of Hawarden, Iowa, and they had two children, one now living. James William, born May 15, 1836, died October 30, 1838. Jesse Addison, who was born September 6, 1839, and resides seven miles southwest of Maquoketa, married Anna Bentley, and has six children. David Henry, who was born August 24, 1842, is a grocer of Maquoketa, wedded Mary Goodnow and has two daughters. George Harvey, a resident of Scotland, South Dakota, was born July 14, 1845, and married Amanda Hurst, by whom he has five children. Malinda Agnes, now Mrs. Sidle, is the next younger. Hannah Virginia, the youngest of the family, was born June 4, 1850, and died June 20, 1865.

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Sidle was blessed with six children: George Henry, who was born August 22, 1876, and resides just opposite the homestead farm, was married February 9, 1893, to Katie Bollinger, and they now have five children; Jennie Mary, born December 24, 1869, was married December 31, 1895, to Dr. E.S. McCord, of Delmar; Maria Elizabeth, who was born December 21, 1871, became, on the 16th of March, 1892, the wife of James T. Haney, who resides three and a half miles south of Delmar, and unto them have been born six children, three sons and three daughters, of whom one daughter and one son are now deceased; Arthur Jacob, who was born December 20, 1874, died July 1, 1884; William James, born April 6, 1879, resides with his mother and manages the home farm; Agnes Jane, born June 19, 1881, is also at home.

After his marriage John Sidle purchased eighty acres of farming land in Bloomfield township, improved with a small house and barn. He at once proceeded to place the field under cultivation, and afterward added to his possessions until he owned three hundred and ninety acres of valuable and highly productive land, which annually returned to him good crops and enabled him to provide handsomely for his family. He also made a specialty of the breeding of black Polled Angus cattle and black Poland China hogs, and he kept a large herd of cows for dairy purposes. He possessed excellent judgment concerning matters pertaining to the farm and the stock, and his enterprising efforts brought to him rightly-merited prosperity. His was a busy and useful life, and to his fellow townsmen he rendered valued service in public office. He erected a large and beautiful residence upon his farm and built extensive barns, sheds, and corn cribs. In fact, his is one of the best improved farms of the entire county, and well indicates the progressive spirit and careful supervision of John Sidle, who for so many years was prominently connected with the agricultural interests of the county. He was township treasurer for thirteen years, road supervisor and school director for a number of years, yet he was never an aspirant for public office, being called to those positions by a constituency that recognized his worth and ability. He voted with the Democratic party, and in religious faith and membership was a Methodist. He died February 21, 1895, at the age of fifty-two years, five months and eight days, and was buried in Union cemetery. He was successful, and to his own exertions he owned his prosperity, for from early life he was dependent upon his own resources, not only for a livelihood, but also an education. He made rapid advancement, and at all times he commanded uniform confidence and respect, for he was a man of high honor and strong principles, who ever followed closely the path of duty.