J. S. Tracy

TRACY, SNODGRASS, MOREHEAD, RAAB, PIERCE

Posted By: Anne Hermann (email)
Date: 5/7/2010 at 23:19:41

History of Jackson County, Iowa, James W. Ellis, 1910

J. S. TRACY.

J. S. Tracy needs no introduction to the readers of this volume, for he is a leading grocer of Maquoketa with a business that is indicative of his commercial enterprise and integrity and of the high regard entertained for him by his many patrons. He was born in Brandon township, this county, March 21, 1854, of the marriage of Henry F. and Mary (Snodgrass) Tracy, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. The father came with his parents to this county in his boyhood days, the family arriving about 1846, when the work of progress and development here had scarcely been begun. In fact the district was largely an unbroken wilderness, and the family had to clear a space from the brush in order to build thereon a log cabin. At night the deer would come and browse off the brush and also feed on the timber which was cut during the day. The family home was in Brandon township, where the grandparents of our subject continued to reside until called to their final rest. It was upon the old homestead farm that Henry F. Tracy was reared, and, continuing to make it his home through the years of manhood, he there spent almost his entire life, closing his eyes in death in the same house in which his father and mother had passed away. It was in 1893, at the age of sixty-five years, that he was called to the home beyond. He had prospered through the period of his manhood and as the result of his diligence and perseverance had become the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of land. His wife's parents had died in Ohio, and Mrs. Tracy came as a young woman to Iowa in company with her brothers Henry and Washington, but subsequently her brothers Joseph and Hugh joined them in this state. Mrs. Tracy is still living and now makes her home in Onslow, Iowa, with her youngest daughter.
J. S. Tracy as a farm boy became familiar with all the duties and labors incident to the cultivation and development of the fields. He worked through the summer months and in the winter seasons attended the district schools, while for one term he was a pupil in the Maquoketa high school. At twenty years of age he began teaching and for six years was identified with educational work, displaying pronounced ability in imparting practical instruction.
Mr. Tracy laid the foundation for a happy home life in his marriage in 1876 to Miss Mary C. Morehead, of Farmers Creek township, Jackson county. They began their domestic life on a tract of land of fifty acres, given him by his father on his marriage, and there he managed and cultivated his farm while also engaged in teaching. In 1880, however, he sold his Jackson county property and went west to Pottawattamie county, Iowa, where he purchased a quarter section of land. After two years, however, he disposed of that farm and returned to this county, making investment in one hundred and fifty acres of land in Farmer Creek township, then known as the Elijah Green farm. The succeeding two years were devoted to its cultivation, on the expiration of which period he rented his place and turned his attention to merchandising at Iron Hills, where he was prominently associated with commercial pursuits for eighteen years. He conducted a well equipped store and enjoyed a large patronage, which made his undertaking a very profitable one. In the meantime he had added forty acres to his farm, making it a tract of one hundred and ninety acres. In 1903 he disposed of his business and farm land and came to Maquoketa, where for five years he was extensively engaged in the stock business. In February, 1909, he entered mercantile circles by purchasing the grocery store of D. H. Anderson. As proprietor of this establishment he has already built up a good trade, for he carries a large and well selected line of goods, is reasonable in his prices and fair in his treatment. For the past ten years he has been quite extensively interested in farm lands in the Dakotas, in Missouri and Michigan and still has large holdings in Aurora county, South Dakota, and Montmorency county, Michigan. He likewise owns a small farm in Brandon township, Jackson county.
The home of Mr. and Mrs. Tracy was blessed with five children, of whom three are yet alive: Estella, the wife of John Raab, of Maquoketa; Elsie, the wife of R. M. Pierce, of this place; and Luta, at home. The family are widely and favorably known here. Mr. Tracy is a democrat in politics with firm belief in the principles of the party but without ambition for office, as he has always preferred to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs, and their capable and successful management demonstrated his sound judgment and close application.