English, Robert T.

ENGLISH, HENRY, HUTT, MORGAN

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/12/2009 at 14:00:41

Robert T. English, who is at present holding the office of Mayor of Lynnville, Jasper County and also that of Justice of the Peace, is numbered among the self-made men of this county. He is a son of Robert and Esther (Henry) English, natives of Armstrong and Clarion Counties, PA, respectively. The father was a tanner by trade, and when but thirteen yours old was bereft of both parents, they having died on the same day. He was consequently bound out to learn the tanner's trade and followed this occupation for many years. He came to Clinton County, this state, in 1856, and starting a farm lived on it for ten years, and the remaining ten years of his life were spent in retirement in De Witt, the same county.

Our subject remained at home until eighteen years of age, when he came to Iowa, settling in Scott County, where he worked with a brother, William R., at the carpenter's trade until the spring of 1859. He concluded to go with an expedition to Pike's Peak and California, the journey consuming the time from May to September. He landed at Placerville and engaged in mining for a short time, then engaged in farming until 1865, and subsequently returned to Clinton County, this state. He here purchased eighty acres of land, remaining on the same for four years, when, selling it, he removed to Tama County and located on one hundred and twenty acres. From 1871 to 1883, the family resided on this estate, when our subject again sold and went to South Dakota. Remaining in this last-named place but eighteen months, he came to Lynnville and erected a home, where he yet resides. The furniture business had an attraction for him, and ever since arriving here he has been actively and prosperously engaged in this pursuit. He has ever been popular with the people, and his sense of honor and justice makes his counsel and advice much sought after.

Our subject had no educational advantages other than those afforded by the district schools in the vicinity of his home, but being a keen observer and of an ambitions disposition he has achieved for himself both fame and fortune. The Hon. Mr. English was clouted to the office of Justice of the Peace in 1886 and has been the efficient incumbent ever since. One year later he was nominated and elected the head of the municipal government and served his people three years. In 1893 he was again elected to the same office and is still the honored member of the council. He has been Secretary of the School Board and has held other minor offices in his township. The duties of all these he has discharged with satisfaction to the people and with credit to himself. He is in sympathy with the Republican Party and is much interested in everything that advances the welfare of the community in which he makes his home. He and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is, in fact, a man whose sketch will do honor to our volume and prove interesting to the many friends who hold him in the highest possible esteem. Socially Mr. English is connected with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He formed his ideas of political life from the kind of crowds who attended the meeting and cast in his lot with the best crowd. His first vote was polled for John C. Freemont.

Robert T. English was united in marriage in the year 1869 to Cynthia A. Hutt, who was born in Scott County, Iowa. Mrs. English is a daughter of Abraham and Eliza J. (Morgan) Hutt. Her parents came to Iowa from Ohio in 1840 and settled on three hundred and twenty acres of land, there passing their last days. They had born to them five children. Mrs. English stands with her husband in the best social circles of the place and is amiable and genial at all times. They have one daughter, Grace, who is still at home. Blanche, another daughter, died aged five years. Portrait and Biographical Record, Jasper, Marshall and Grundy Counties, IA Page 239