Wheatcraft, John

WHEATCRAFT, OBERLIER, POWNELL

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 10/24/2009 at 10:10:21

Wheatcraft, John

Holding prestige among the successful agriculturists and stock men of Poweshiek Township, Jasper County, and ever since his birth an honored resident of this locality, John Wheatcraft, popular Township trustee and one of the most energetic and public-spirited local citizens, is entitled to more than passing notice in the biographical history of this section of Iowa. As a tiller of the soil he has labored long and arduously, improving his fine farm until he has brought it to a high and successful state of cultivation.

Mr. Wheatcraft was born in Buena Vista Township, this county, on August 24, 1865, and he represents one of the old and highly honored families of the same, being the son of D. H. and Margaret (Oberlier) Wheatcraft, the mother being a sister of John and George Oberlier, of Lincoln, Nebraska, leading wholesale coal and lumber dealers there, and leaders of the business, social and religious life of the Nebraska capital. Their father was Lewis Oberlier. D. H. Wheatcraft was born in Logan County, Ohio, and there he spent his boyhood days, coming to Jasper County, Iowa, in the forties. He located on a farm in Buena Vista Township and started life as a pioneer, undergoing the usual deprivations and hardships always incident to the life of a first settler, but he was a hard worker and succeeded in developing a good farm and establishing a comfortable home and there he still resides, being one of the best known and highly respected men of Buena Vista Township. He has reached an advanced age and can interest one immensely with his reminiscences of early days and the subsequent development of the County. He is now living retired, enjoying the fruits of his earlier years of labor.

John Wheatcraft, of this review, grew up on the home farm, which he worked during the summer months, and he attended the district schools in the wintertime, remaining at home until he started in life for himself.

On May 22, 1887, Mr. Wheatcraft was married to Eliza Listen, daughter of Jonathan and Mary Jane (Pownell) Listen, one of the honored pioneer families of Buena Vista Township. To the subject and wife two children have been born, Earl and Nora.

John Wheatcraft has devoted his life to farming and he is the owner of an excellent place in Poweshiek Township, consisting of two hundred acres, which he has placed under a high state of improvement and cultivation an where he has a pleasant home and is very successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising on a large scale.

Mr. Wheatcraft has always taken an abiding interest in political affairs, and in 1908 he was elected trustee of Poweshiek Township and he made such a splendid record in this office that he has been twice re-elected to the office. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 815.