Coutts, William P.

COUTTS, ANDERSON, BEATTIE, SOUTER, LEE, WASSON

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/12/2009 at 07:04:16

William P. Coutts

A successful news paper is usually representative of the people of the place in which it is located, and Its value to a community is beyond estimate. In Jasper County there are a number of papers, and they have materially aided in promoting the interests of the county in every useful way. Prominent among this number may be mentioned the Enterprise, which is published weekly at Kellogg and of which Mr. Coutts is editor.

A native of Scotland, our subject possesses the traits of industry and thrift for which the people of that country are noted. His ancestors for many generations lived and died in the "land of the thistles." His paternal grandfather, James Coutts, passed his entire life in that country, where his eyes were closed in death. The father of our subject, Adam Coutts, was born in Scotland, whence in 1875 he immigrated to America and located in Poweshiek County, Iowa, where seven weeks afterward he was called from earth. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Ellen Anderson and was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

The parental family comprised eight children, all but one of whom are still living. They are named as follows: Elizabeth, wife of Alexander Beattie, of Aberdeen, Scotland: Anna, Mrs. John Souter, who died in Poweshiek County in May1875; Margaret, wife of John Lee, a resident of Grinnell, Iowa; Alexander, who follows the occupation of a stonecutter and has no fixed abode; Robert, who is a contractor by trade and resides in Grinnell, Iowa; William P., of this sketch; James, who is on the editorial staff of the Britt Tribune, in Hancock County, Iowa; and Mary, who is unmarried and resides with her mother in Pleasant, Poweshiek County.

The natal day of our subject was August 1, 1858, and he is therefore now in the prime of manhood. He was reared in Aberdeen, Scotland, and for a time was a student of a grammar school at Insch. It was during the year 1875 that he accompanied his father to America and located in Poweshiek County, where for twelve months he worked on a farm. In January 1876, he entered the office of the Montezuma Republican, where he remained for two year~, until the death of the editor. From there he proceeded to Malcolm, and did typographical work on the Malcolm Gazette, a paper that had recently been established by J. H. Duffus.

After remaining for two years on the force of the Gazette, our subject visited his native land, where for three months he remained in delightful association with the scenes and friends of childhood days. Returning to the United States, he came to Kellogg in 1880, and for eight months was on the staff of the Kellogg Post. Later he formed a partnership with J. W. Burke, and in April 1880, established the Kellogg Enterprise. The partnership lasted for six years, since which time Mr. Coutts has conducted the paper alone. The Enterprise is the organ of the Democratic Party in this section of the country, but is not partisan in opinions, aiming rather to promote the progress of the community along general lines of development.

December 14, 1882, Mr. Coutts married Miss Eva B. Wasson, who was born at Peoria, Ill., in 1858. Her father, Ebenezer Wasson, was for some time a member of the police force of Peoria, but about 1863, removed from that city to Poweshiek County, Iowa, where he engaged in farming. Mr. and Mrs. Coutts are the parents of two children: Glancha, who was born January 26, 1887, and Clifford Glen, born May 25, 1893. In his financial undertakings, our subject has been prospered, and if now the owner of a comfortable residence in Kellogg, as well as his printing office and other valuable real estate. His success is due not to fortuitous circumstances or to what people vaguely call luck, but to diligence, probity and the energetic conduct of his business affairs. He has served the citizens of Kellogg as Town Treasurer, and at one time filled the position of Justice of the Peace.

In his religious convictions he is a believer in the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church and is a member of that denomination. Portrait and Biographical Record, Jasper, Marshall and Grundy Counties, IA Page 312.