Elliott, John Wickliff

ELLIOTT, HICKS, WEST, KITCHEN, STEPHENS, GRIFFIN, MARROW

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/12/2009 at 13:46:14

John Wickliff Elliott

Of the many prominent farmers of Jasper County, Mr. Elliott is well worthy of mention, for he has resided here for many years and has ever had its interests at heart. Like many of the representative citizens of the county, he is a Hoosier by birth, born in Owen County, December 17, 1846. His grandfather, John Elliott, who was a Virginian, was of Scotch ancestry, and at an early date moved to Kentucky, where the remainder of his days were spent. He had three sons. John S., the youngest, was a prominent merchant and grain dealer. He moved to Nebraska and there died. The second son, William M., who was a farmer, moved to Missouri, where his death occurred. The eldest child was the father of our subject, James H. Elliott.

The latter was born in Kentucky in 1820, and came to Iowa in 1851, purchasing the land on which the town of Prairie City now stands. Five years later he laid out the town, and it was at that time called Elliott. He had little means when he came to the state, but being prudent and economical, he accumulated a moderate fortune. Later he moved to Taylor County, Iowa, and there he resides at the present time. While residing in his native state he married Miss Emeline Hicks, a native of Georgia, and the daughter of one of the pioneers of the state, a man who was quite prominent in his day. To Mr. and Mrs. Elliott were born sixteen children, eight of whom died when small. Martha J. married Stephen West and lives in Taylor County; Mr. West was a soldier in the Union army during the war, and died while in service. Mary A. married Dr. Carl Kitchen, a prominent physician of Polk County, Iowa; Ellen married James Stephens, who was a soldier in the late war; she died in 1873. Sarah I. married Frank Griffin, and resides in Taylor County; James E. is a merchant and grain dealer in Taylor County; Robert E. is a farmer in Taylor County, and Etta May married Byron Marrow, who is a farmer of Taylor County.

The original of this notice was but five years of age when his parents moved to Iowa, and as a consequence all his recollections are of this state. His educational advantages were limited, and on the 29th of February 1864, before he was eighteen years of age, he enlisted in Company A, Third Iowa Cavalry. He went to the front at Little Rock, Ark., and engaged in the pursuit of Forrest in Tennessee, and Price in Missouri and Kansas, and was in the campaign through Georgia near the close of the war. He was mustered out at Atlanta, Ga., on the 9th of August 1865, and soon afterward returned to Prairie City, Iowa, where he engaged in farming. This has been his occupation ever since, with the exception of one year, when he was engaged in merchandising in Taylor County. He has met with fair success, and is considered a progressive and enterprising farmer.

Mr. Elliott has traveled quite extensively in the west, is a man of ample means, and has been taking life easy for some time. He selected his life companion in the person of Miss Anna E. Elliott, who, though bearing the same name, was not a relative. She was a native of Ohio, where her parents were early settlers. Her mother, Clara Elliott, is a widow of ample means, living on a farm near our subject. Mr. Elliott is a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and in politics is a Republican. He has held no public offices, and has not been spoiled by success. Portrait and Biographical Record, Jasper, Marshall and Grundy Counties, IA