Zach De Groat, b 20 Nov 1835

MCNEIL, SWEET, BOONE, GILROY, NEWBERRY

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 3/3/2004 at 16:06:01

Zach De Groat, the gentleman who laid out the village of Preston, came to this county in 1856 when a young man of twenty years and settled in Buckeye, Van Buren Township. A native of Deerfield, Oneida Co., N.Y., the old home of Horatio Seymour, and the county in which Roscoe Conkling was born, our subject first opened his eys on the 20th of November, 1835. His first recollections are of the vicinity of Utica, and he remembers hearing, when a boy, Cassius M. Clay at Fulton.

In the latter place our subject was then living with his older brother, Merrick, who had removed thither. He attended the public school, and at an early age gave evidence of a bright intellect. When seventeen yrars old he entered Whitestown Seminary, where he spent three winters and worked at home on the farm in the summer. At an oratorical contest, Feb. 17, 1858, he carried off the Freshman second prize in declamation. He at an early age conceived the idea of seeking the great West for his future home, and setting out with the blessing of his parents and $500 given him by his father, arrived in Floyd County, this State, in April, 1856, and purchased 160 acres of land at $2.50 per acre. The country being very wild and unsettled he came to Jackson County and established himself in Van Buren Township, which then contained about 100 voters. He had $1.50 in his pocket and engaged to work for Robert Hunter, a farmer, six months for $100. They harvested a big crop, and the winter following our subject taught school in a log school house. The next summer he engaged in the butchering business. In the fall, upon the death of his brother he returned to the old home in New York State, and Dec. 8, 1858, was married to Miss Minerva R. McNeil.

The wife of our subject was the daughter of Miller and Rowena (Sweet) McNeil, who were natives of New York State, and the father of Scotch-Irish ancestry, closely allied to the nobility, who owned a large estate in Ireland. Mrs. De Groat was born on the McNeil homestead in the Mohawk Valley, Onondaga Co., N.Y. She was educated in Whitestown Seminary, and is a niece of Prof. Samuel (Niles) Sweet, who is well known to the bar of New York, not only as an attorney but as the author of a work on elocution which was published in 1850.

In the fall of 1858 our subject returned with his young wife to this county and traded his land for the Buckeye farm. He engaged extensively in wheat growing and was prospered. About the time of the Civil War a company of thirty-five came in, Rebel sympathizers, and much hard feeling ensued, but Mr. De Groat stoutly maintained his Union sentiments. He finally engaged in stock-buying, was prospered, and in due time paid into the County Treasury the largest income tax of any man excepting Capt. Potter. In the meantime he added to his landed estate, and is now the owner of 1,200 acres, highly improved and lying in Van Buren Township.

For a period of twelve years Mr. De Groat engaged extensively as a grain dealer, and for several years was the general agent of the Sabula Packing Company, purchasing stock throughout the State, and received for his services $300 per month besides expenses. He then embarked in the agricultural implement trade, and now handles the Walter A. Wood machinery. He is a man who enjoys the full confidence of the people, and was elected Supervisor, notwithstanding the fact of a Democratic majority, in 1876-77. Many times he has been solicited to accept other offices, but has invariably declined. He is particularly interested in the establishment and maintenance of schools, serving as a member of the Board, and has always shouldered his portion in the matters pertaining to the building up of the town. He donated two lots for the Catholic Church, and has put up eighteen houses in Preston.

Mr. De Groat was born a Whig, and while his father in later years became a Democrat, together with his brothers, our subject joined the Republican party. The father, John De Groat, was born in Montgomery County, N.Y., in 1800, and the mother, formerly Rebecca Boone, was born in 1802 in Herkimer County, at a time when there were but three log houses upon the present site of Utica. The De Groats were of French origin, and the paternal great-grandfather of our subject, crossing the Atlantic, settled in New Jersey and served in the Revolutionary War. Grandfather Joseph De Groat located in Montgomery County, N.Y., and there probably spent his last days. John De Groat died in Oneida County, in 1874. The mother of our subject was his first wife, and they had seven children, five of whom lived to mature years: Merrick, Sophia, George who died in Hancock County, Ill., in October, 1857; Elizabeth and our subject, twins. Elizabeth is the wife of Thomas Gilroy and resides in Woodson County, Kan. The mother died when our subject was only three and one-half years old. By his second marriage John De Groat became the father of three more children, one of whom, Hattie, is the wife of Gen. Newberry, ex-Postmaster of Chicago.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois.)