John Edwin Goldsberry 1869-1962

GOLDBERRY, IRWIN, DAVIS, GREMS, CATLIN, MARTIN

Posted By: Merllene Andre Bendixen (email)
Date: 7/22/2010 at 22:44:55

Longtime Resident of County Dies
John Edwin Goldsberry, 93, well known Gruver resident who moved with his parents in a covered wagon to Emmet County in 1883, died yesterday at 1:15 p.m. in Holy Family Hospital where he had been taken by ambulance Saturday. Death was attributed to complications of advanced age.

Born April 24, 1869 near Sheffield, he was the son of John and Caroline Goldsberry. He came with his parents and two brothers to this county, arriving here June 1, 1883. The family settled in what was then the town of Swan Lake where Mr. Goldsberry grew to manhood. The trip from the former home in Chickasaw County took two weeks.

Mr. Goldsberry, when the new Emmet County Courthouse was being built in 1958, recalled that when he and his family moved here in 1883 a hassle was going on as to whether the courthouse should be located at Swan Lake or in Estherville and later watched the building of the first “new” courthouse here in 1884.

Since his arrival in the county, Mr. Goldsberry spent his entire life in Center Township. He farmed northwest of Gruver until 1919 and then moved into Gruver, continuing to make his home there until the time of his death. A fire last spring badly damaged the Goldsberry home and it was just a few months ago that Mr. and Mrs. Goldsberry moved back into their completely remodeled home.

After moving to Gruver he entered the well-drilling business known as the Goldsberry and Grems Drilling Company.

John E. Goldsberry and Fannie A. Irwin of Gruver were married April 4, 1893. Mrs. Goldsberry died Oct. 10, 1910. One son, Floyd, was born to the couple.

He later remarried, on Aug. 27, 1913, to Bertha Davis of Estherville.

Mr. Goldsberry is survived by his widow, two daughters, Mrs. John (Margaret) Catlin, Inglewood, Calif., and Mrs. Vernon (Carolyn) Martin, Estherville; two sons, Floyd of Gruver and Kenneth of Burlington; eight grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and a brother, George Grems, Rock Island, Ill.

He was preceded in death by his wife, three sisters and five brothers.

Funeral services for Mr. Goldsberry are to be Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the United Presbyterian Church at Gruver. A family service will be at 11:30 a.m., the Rev. L. V. Osborne officiating at both services. Burial will be in East Side cemetery.

Friends may call at Sandin-Fuhrman Funeral Home from Tuesday until 10 a.m. Wednesday at which time the body will be taken to the church to lie in state until time of the services. The casket will not be opened after the service. (Estherville Daily News, Estherville, IA, November 26, 1962)