DOYEN, J. C. 1853-1924

DOYEN, NEESSEN

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 2/1/2015 at 10:07:59

Several Old Residents Are Called in Death

J. C. Doyen, Wellsburg, Grundy Pioneer, Dies at Iowa Falls Following Operation

J. C. Doyen died at the hospital at Iowa Falls about nine o'clock Monday morning. He had been a sufferer for some time from Bright's disease. A week before he submitted to an operation and for several days following he appeared to be getting better. His condition took a change for the worse on Saturday and continued until the end came. The remains were taken to the home in Wellsburg Monday evening.

Funeral service will be held tomorrow (Friday) at the Reformed church in Wellsburg. Interment will be made in the family lot.

Mr. Doyen was in his seventieth year. He spent nearly all of the active years of his life in Wellsburg. He was one of its oldest residents and had been in business there longer than any other. During most of that time he was engaged in the hardware and implement business. He was known by everyone in northwest Grundy and during the most active period of his life he was one of the leading boosters for the town. He was a big-hearted, open-handed citizen and neighbor.

Mr. Doyen is survived by three sons, Heiko, George and John. The daughters are Mrs. W. E. Reed, of West Bend; Mrs. Peter Peters, from Bigelow, Minn.; Mrs. Hummel, Waterloo; Mrs. George F. Mach, Chicago; Mrs. Andrew Meyer and Miss Bertha.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 20 March 1924, pg 1

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Large Attendance at Doyen Funeral

The funeral services of the late J. C. Doyen were held at Wellsburg last Friday afternoon. Business houses in town were closed during the funeral. Friends were present from nearly every town in the county and many from towns outside the county. Aside from these, old friends within trading distance of Wellsburg were all there. The church could accommodate only a portion of those who came to pay their last tribute to the deceased. The floral offerings were the largest and most beautiful ever seen at a funeral in this section.

A complete account of Mr. Doyen's life is given below:
J. C. Doyen was aged 70 years, 6 months and 7 days at the time of his death, having been born in Lubbertsfehn, Ostfriesland, Germany, on Sept. 10, 1853.

He came to America with his parents at about 14 years of age, and the family settled near Ackley. Later he met the girl whom he was to wed, Miss Johanna Neessen, a sister of George, Chris and Thomas Neessen--who lived in Chicago. When they were married in 1876, they removed to Chicago, where Mr. Doyen engaged in the ice business with the Rustman Bros., afterward one of the big ice companies of Chicago. When the brothers of his wife arrived from Europe on the Moselle in company with others from that section, the whole party numbering 28, Mr. Doyen met them in New York, piloted the party to the west and sent them on to Iowa, where the greater part of them, including Chris and George, settled in this section. This was in 1880. In 1881, when the old B.C.R. & N. railroad was extended west from Holland passing through Wellsburg, Mr. Doyen came here. He erected a store building, being the first merchant in the town, and conducted a general store. In 1885 this store was burned, when the entire block was wiped out. Mr. Doyen carried no insurance and suffered a heavy loss.

But he later rebuilt and engaged in the hardware and implement business, also conducting other enterprises of various kinds, among them a blacksmith shop, where the Eygabroad house stands.

From the time of his arrival here, J. C. Doyen was one of the active figures in the town's life. He and his wife were interested in all the activities of the new community. Mrs. Doyen, who died April 10, 1912, is remembered by every resident of the town and country roundabout who knew her as one of the kindest and most helpful of the older generation.

Those who attended the funeral from a distance are: Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Reed and family, of West Bend; Mr. and Mrs. Peter Peters, of Worthington, Minn.; Dr. and Mrs. Geo. F. Mach and daughter, Georgette, of Chicago; Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Doyen and son Joe, of Marshalltown; Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Hummel, of Waterloo; Mrs. Cornelia Wuertzinger, of Minneapolis, Minn.; Mr. and Mrs. Heye Miller, of Little Rock, Iowa; Mr.and Mrs. Geo. Albers and family, Mr. and Mrs. Oran Shugar, Mrs. Earl Johns, all of Iowa Falls; Miss Margaret Doyen and Geo. Doyen, of Holland, Minn.; George Lubberts of Parkersburg; Mr. and Mrs. M. H. Thomas, of Marshalltown.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 27 March 1924, pg 6