Currie, John Jr.

CURRIE

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 9/16/2019 at 16:29:57

John Currie Jr.

(From the 1891 Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, p.683)
JOHN CURRIE JR., is an influential resident of Norwalk Township; was born near Edinburg, Fifeshire, Scotland, February 14, 1837, is thought to be the date of his birth, but on account of the records of the Currie family becoming lost when they came to the United States, the date is rather uncertain. He was the son of John and Tomema (BLYTHE) Currie, both of whom were born in Fifeshire, Scotland, where they were married and resided until coming to the United States in 1849. They landed in the port of New Orleans, after a perilous journey. They soon after came to Council Bluffs, then Kanesville, and commenced farming on the land where Streetsville now is, having entered the land from the government. In 1852 the family continued their trip to Utah, where they arrived after a long trip, in company with a large number of others. After a short stay in the Capitol of Utah, the family moved to Utah Valley, on the American fork. In 1863 they returned to Crescent City, which became their home, and where the father died in 1880, when seventy six years of age. His wife, our subject's mother, died at Kanesville the year after her arrival from Scotland. She was born in 1805.

John Currie, our subject's father, learned horse-shoeing and blacksmithing when yet a young man in Edinburg, at which he worked until coming to America. He was a farmer in Utah, a merchant at Crescent City, and was presiding Elder in the Latter Day Saints Church in Utah. He was justice of the peace a number of years and Postmaster of Crescent City from the beginning of his residence in that place to his death. After the death of his first wife, he married Amanda CHIPMAN, who died in Utah. By his first marriage, he had ten children, six of whom are now living: Agnes Toprith of Crescent City; James, a blacksmith by trade but at present is a commercial traveler; Ellen, for a time in business in Salt Lake City; John, our subject; Robert, a farmer of Norwalk Township; William, Deputy Sheriff of this county and residing at Crescent City; Euphemia, the wife of Robert Adams, a grain dealer at Underwood.. Thomas, Katherine, and Margaret are deceased, the latter when thirteen years of age, while preparing to start to Utah; she is buried at Fairview Cemetery.

Mr. Currie, our subject, spent his school days in Edinburg, Scotland, and when quite a young boy commenced to learn the blacksmith trade. After his arrival in Salt Lake, he and a brother worked in the Pacific shops, on Temple block, Salt Lake City. Soon after his arrival, he worked for Brigham Young on the Bee and Lyon house, and afterward turned his attention to farming and stock raising on the American fork. In 1866 he returned to Iowa, and with his father engaged in farming, first in Crescent Township, and afterward where he now lives. He owns a splendid farm of 200 acres. Mr. Currie, although not aspiring to public position, has held almost all the offices of Norwalk Township, and while in Utah was Constable two years.

In 1860 he married Miss Elizabeth A. FILCHBER who was born in England, in 1839, and died at Crescent City, April 13, 1881. She was the mother of eleven children, nine of whom are now living: Margaret Pratt, wife of Sylvester Pratt, a farmer of Crescent Township; John B., a rancher in California; Eliza, wife of Thomas Walton, deceased, who was killed in a railroad accident, and she resides in Underwood; Ann, the wife of Harry E. Fisher, a merchant of Underwood; Aggie, at home; Frank R. and Lorena May. The deceased are: Joseph A., at nine years and four months; Cora Jane, an infant.

August 20, 1887, Mr. Currie married Miss Jennie THOMPSON, who was born at Clermont, Ohio, near Williamsburg, January 29, 1843, the daughter of Alexander and Nancy (Wood) Thompson, natives of Virginia and Ohio. The father died in Ohio when sixty two years of age in 1875, and his wife two years later, when sixty five years of age. Mr. Thompson was a prominent citizen in his community, holding responsible positions of trust. Politically he was a Democrat.

Mrs. Currie was highly educated in Ohio at the State Normal School and at Terre Haute, Indiana, and taught school for a number of years. Mr. Currie is a Democrat in his political principles.