HUTCHINSON, John W. 1852-1929

HUTCHINSON, DUNHAM

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 5/5/2015 at 07:20:21

Beaman Station Agent Dead

J. W. Hutchinson Dies Suddenly Last Friday

John Wesley Hutchinson, who for thirty-one years was station agent for the Northwestern Railway Company at Beaman, died very suddenly at his home there last Friday. Mr. Hutchinson has been a continuous resident of Beaman for fifty-two years. For thirty-one years of that time he served as station agent. Everyone in Beaman and community knew him and they liked him. He liked the town he lived in and the fact that he was in the employ of a railroad company didn't lessen his interest in community upbuilding. He served the town as mayor for a number of years, an honor that is seldom conferred upon employees of corporations in a small town. He was a good public official as he was a citizen during the many years that he lived in Beaman.

John Wesley Hutchinson, 77, one of the oldest residents of Beaman, died suddenly at four o'clock Friday afternoon at his home. He was taken ill on the preceding Sunday, but felt much better on Friday, the day of his death. He was out in the yard for a time. On going into the house he laid down on the lounge and in a short time passed away.

Mr. Hutchinson was a resident of Beaman for fifty-two years and had been there nearly as long as the town existed. He was born in Mechanicsville, Iowa, July 28, 1852, and in 1871 entered the employ of the Northwestern railroad as a brakeman at Clinton. He came to the Badger Hill neighborhood near Gladbrook, with his father, the late W. G. Hutchinson, in 1876, and on December 9th, 1877, he was married to Flora O. Dunham, Justice of the Peace H. H. Beaman, father of the town where he was married, officiating.

In July, 1881, Mr. Hutchinson was appointed station agent of the C. & N.W. at Beaman and served in that capacity for thirty-one years until he was pensioned September 12, 1912. He is survived by his widow, one brother, George B. Hutchinson, of Pomona, Calif.; two sons, Ray of Fort Dodge and Lee of Mason City; and a daughter, Mrs. Claude Nickerson of Marshalltown. His many friends regret the passing of one of Grundy county's finest old pioneers.

Short rites were held at the home after which the Masonic lodge took charge. Mr. Hutchinson has been a member of the Masonic lodge of Conrad for a good many years. The pallbearers were all Past Masters of the lodge, Eldon Smith, Will Draper, Ed. Martin, Tom Evans, William Stewart and E. G. Elliott. Masonic rites were held over the grave.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 10 October 1929, pg 9