Jackson, James A.

JACKSON

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 1/2/2009 at 16:25:12

James A. Jackson

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.32, Council Bluffs)
James A. Jackson, Council Bluffs, is one of the most prominent men of the West, and has done more for the good of the Missouri slope, in Iowa, than any other man whom we could name. His history has an interest for all the active business men of Council Bluffs and Omaha. He was born in Ohio in 1829. His parents moved to Missouri when he was very young, where his father soon after died, leaving the mother with a family of nine children, to be raised amid the hardships of a frontier life in Missouri. But she kept her trust well, and lived to the ripe old age of eighty-five, dying in Council Bluffs January 1, 1882. She was followed to her last resting place by a large number of friends, having been very highly esteemed by all who knew her. Of her children, two live in Council Bluffs - W. C. Jackson, and the subject of this sketch, James A. Jackson. Andrew P. and Franklin L., are in California, having gone there in 1852. One daughter, Mrs. Julia Record, now resides in Glenwood, Iowa. Subject's father was a native of Virginia, and was a near relative of Gen. Andrew Jackson. His mother was a Cessna, of Pennsylvania, the Hon. John Cessna being her nephew. Mr. Jackson has seen all of our Western country grow up. Attended the treaty held with the Indians, on the west bank of the Missouri River, in 1852, Maj. Gatewood acting on the part of the Government, Mr. Jackson assisting him. This treaty was held about fifteen miles south of Omaha. Mr. Jackson is a good conversationalist, and can entertain one for hours with his reminiscenses of the early days in Iowa and Nebraska, in fact of almost the entire West. He attended the first sale of lots in St. Joseph, Mo., so that he has watched its growth, as well as that of Sioux City, Omaha and Council Blufs, with the greatest of interest. He was one of the original owners of Sioux City and Omaha. Mr. Jackson came to this city in January, 1851, and opened in business in general merchandise, and in 1855, opened a branch establishment in Omaha. The successors to his Omaha branch are "Tootle & Maul," a very heavy firm to-day. Located another branch in Sioux City in 1856, chartering a steamboat and unloading the first goods that were brought there. He built what is known as the Empire Block, in 1854, which was burned in 1868. The part of the city known as Jackson's Addition, was named in his honor. His fellow-citizens appreciated his efforts in behalf of their town, and in 1852 elected him County Treasurer. About this time he met the beautiful young bell, Miss Henrietta St. Aubin, of New Orleans, and being as impressionable as young men generally are in the presence of beauty, fell in love with and married here, in 1852, thus exciting the envy of his young associates for bearing off so captivating a prize. Mrs. Jackson ist still living, and wears the charm which always clings about a once beautiful woman - perfect elegance. The State Bank of Iowa was organized here in 1860, Mr. Jackson being one of the stockholders, also its President. Our present First National Bank is its successor. Mr. Jackson let his efforts for the good of the west take in Omaha also. He built the first brick house erected there, taking his brick from Council Bluffs. The said house was used as a capitol building, which he was influential in securing to Omaha. Thus he kept on, all the time using his money for the public good. He continued in business here until 1865, when he sold out and moved to St. Louis, engaging there in the wholesale grocery business. His untiring energy and business talent took him to the front frank among successful men in that city, while his wife's beauty and accomplishments won them a prominent place in social circles. But, alas! his health broke down under his increase of care; and selling out there, he went to the Western plains, in 1876, to regain strength, which he soon did in the pure, bracing air, and freedom from anxiety. He then entered into the cattle business, in company with his son Andrew, and has been very successful in that, as in everything else, at present owning as extensive a ranch as he can take care of in justice - one of the most extensive in the West. Mr. Jackson has two children (still living), Andrew M. Jackson and Georgiana Jackson, the wife of Judge Andrew S. Wilson, of Kansas, whom she married in 1881. His son Andrew was married in April, 1878, to Miss Carrie Rice, of Council Bluffs, the daughter of A. T. Rice of the First National Bank. Andrew, while inheriting the tireless energy of his father, possesses in a great degree the grace and elegance of manner of his mother, and has her dark eyes and hair. He was engaged here for several years in a wholesale grocery trade, but finally sold out, in 1878, to enter into stock business with his father, in Wyoming. He has one son, a bright little feloow of three years, who bears his grandfather's name, and let us hope, will have his active business tact and clear-headed management.