Whittaker, John Ervill

WHITTAKER, CALL, PIERCE

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 10/24/2009 at 10:30:51

Whittaker, John Ervill

One of the successful young farmers of Kellogg Township, Jasper County, is John Ervill Whittaker, a man who is deserving of the success that has attended his efforts because he has striven for it along conservative and legitimate lines, never permitting obstacles, small or great, to thwart him in his pursuit of the goal, and while laboring for his own advancement he has not neglected his larger duties to his fellow men and the public in general, having always stood ready to lend his support to all worthy movements having for their object the general good.

Mr. Whittaker was born in Des Moines, Iowa, January 22, 1879, and he is the son of Joseph Whittaker, who was born in England, October 7, 1850, but who was brought to America in 1852. He grew to manhood at Oil City, Pennsylvania, where he attended school, and he came to Iowa in 1864, during the Civil War, and located in Jasper County when the country was new, and remained here until 1872, when he entered the service of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company as fireman, finally becoming engineer, serving twenty-three years in that capacity, being well-known in railroad circles and regarded as one of the most capable and faithful of that road's employees. He is now living retired in Newton, Iowa.

John E. Whittaker attended school in Des Moines, after which he began railroading, serving as fireman and engineer until 1910, in fact, he alternated work on the road and his father's farm, and his services on the Rock Island system were highly satisfactory at all times. Finally desiring to turn his attention to farming exclusively, he located on his present farm in 1910. It consists of one hundred and twenty-five acres, about sixty acres of which is flat, the balance rolling. It is of excellent quality and produces abundant crops, being well adapted to general farming and stock raising.

Mr. Whittaker is a member of a family consisting of five children, three daughters and two sons, he being the eldest; the others are, Frederick, Jenny, Mabel and Alice.

The subject was married November 4, 1909 to Merle Call, who was born at Broughton, Kansas, January 30, 1887. She is the daughter of Dell P. and Amelia A. (Pierce) Call, the father born in Pennsylvania in 1854 and died September 1887, in Benton, Kansas; he made farming and school teaching his life work. Mrs. Call was born at Middlefield, Ohio, June 22, 1862, and her death occurred on May 12, 1902, in Herington, Kansas. Their family consisted of two sons and two daughters, Mrs. Whittaker being the eldest; the others are Verne, Nellie, Ralph B. and Merril.

To Mr. and Mrs. Whittaker one child, Homer O. has been born, his birth occurring on April 2, 1910.

Politically, the subject is a Republican and, fraternally, he belongs to the Masonic Order, including the Knights Templar, and religiously he belongs to the Congregational Church. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 1060.