KASOWSKI, John

KASOWSKI, PULASKI, KLINGER, MATUSIK

Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 9/17/2007 at 19:52:33

History of Jefferson County, Iowa -- A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, Vol II, Published 1912, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Pages 378-380

John KASOWSKI, a successful farmer of Walnut township, is engaged in the operation of two hundred and seventy-five acres of land, two hundred of which he owns. He was born on the farm where he now resides, on the 19th of December, 1859, his parents being Albert and Josephine (PULASKI) KASOWSKI, natives of Poland. His father emigrated to the United States in 1851, first locating in Pennsylvania, where he remained for a brief period then went to Texas. During the succeeding year he hauled merchandise with an oxen team from St. Louis to Texas. He next took a position on a boat on the Mississippi river where he handled freight for a year, at the expiration of that time returning to Pennsylvania. There, in 1854, he was married and immediately following took a position in the coal mines. In 1856 he came to Iowa, locating in Jefferson county. Here, he and his brother bought a forty-acre tract of land in Walnut township, erecting thereon a log cabin, which for some years thereafter served as their residence. They placed their land under cultivation and when he was not engaged in the operation of his fields, Mr. KASOWSKI worked out. At the expiration of three years he had sufficient capital to buy the interest of his brother in their little farm. By reason of unremitting energy, self-denial and frugal habits he and his wife acquired the means to enable to him to buy other land from time to time, until he owned one hundred and sixty acres, which he continued to cultivate until his death on September 4, 1906. The mother passed away May 4, 1902.

Reared at home and educated in the district schools, John KASOWSKI remained under the parental roof until he was nineteen years of age. He left the farm in 1878 and went to Washington, Iowa, where for six months he worked on the Rock Island Railroad, from where he went to Chicago, taking a position on the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad as freight handler. A reliable and willing worker, at the end of a year he was promoted to the position of checker in the freight department, serving in this capacity for two years. He was next put on the road as sealer for a year, and then marked cars for three years, while for one year he was night switchman. At the expiration of that time he was sent back to the freighthouse as assistant foreman. He had held this position for about a year at the time of the Haymarket riot, when he went on one of the river boats. During the next year he checked freight on the Anchor Line, and then became foreman over the loading and unloading of the boats. When he had held the latter position for three years, he was given charge of the shipping department. At the end of six years he resigned this position and returned to Jefferson county, where, on the 5th of February, 1896, he purchased the old farm. Although his interests had been along entirely different lines for many years, Mr. KASOWSKI has not forgotten the efficient training he had received from his father in practical methods of agriculture in his youth, as is manifested in his remarkable success. His business experience proved most helpful to him, teaching him the value of method and system in any undertaking, and much of his prosperity can unquestionably be attributed to his recognition of the value of following a definite plan of action. Energetic, alert and progressive, as well as practical, he has met with more than an average degree of success in his endeavors, and now owns two hundred acres of fine land. He has improved his place during the period of his ownership by the erection of a modern residence, large, commodious barns and substantial outbuildings, thus providing ample shelter for both his stock and grains as well as his farming implements. Mr. KASOWSKI besides his large property interests is a stockholder and trustee of the Jefferson County Insurance Union, having been officially connected with this organization for the past six years. He also owns stock in the Brighton Mutual Telephone Company.

The 13th of November, 1888, was the wedding day of Mr. KASOWSKI and Miss Mary KLINGER, a daughter of August and Eva (MATUSIK) KLINGER, natives of Poland. Her father, who was a farmer in the old country, emigrated to the United States in 1855 and settled in Chicago. He worked for McCormick Harvester Company in that city until 1873, when he engaged in the retail grocery business until his death in 1899. He was long survived by his widow, who passed away in 1907. To Mr. and Mrs. KASOWSKI there have been born seven children: Albert and Robert; Margaret, who died in infancy; and Leo, Raymond, Bernard and Joseph.

The famiy are all communicants of the Roman Catholic church of East Pleasant Plain, of which Mr. KASOWSKI is one of the trustees. He is a democrat in his political views and for the past four years has served as a member of the board of school directors. In 1896, Mr. KASOWSKI had the misfortune to lose a large barn which was struck by lightning and very soon thereafter secured the agency for the lighning rods put out by both the Rayborn & Hunter Company of Chicago and Thomas Thompson Company of Burlington. Although he is too busily engaged with his farm to devote much attention to his agency, he has done sufficient business to make it worthy of consideration. Mr. KASOWSKI's business career reveals a steady and permanent progress from the first, every change making a definite point in the development of his prosperity, which has been achieved through unremitting energy and persistence.

*Transcribed for genealogy purposes; I have no relation to the person(s) mentioned.