John W. English, section 24, Carroll Township, is a native of Canada, born in the city of Ottawa January 7, 1824. He was left an orphan at the age of five years, and was obliged to depend upon himself. When but ten years old he went to Palmyra, New York, and learned the trade of a saddler, at which he worked until he came to Carroll County, Iowa. In 1848 he came West and located at Racine, Wisconsin, and while living there started what is now Secor’s trunk factory. When the civil war broke out he took the contract of manufacturing knapsacks, haversacks and cavalry saddles for the Government. In the year 1862 he removed his factory to Randolph street, Chicago. At the close of the war he moved on a farm in the vicinity of Ripon, Wisconsin, and in the year 1866 engaged in brick-making in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with George Ginty (Editor of the Green Bay Gazette), as partner. In 1872 he moved to Carroll County, Iowa, where he now resides. Mr. English was married at Niagara, Canada, to Miss Jane H. Fry. They have eight children—H. J., a farmer and land agent at Clear Lake, Pocahontas County, Iowa; F. E., of Council Bluffs, engaged in selling machinery; W. H., a farmer, of Clear Lake, Iowa; W. G., principal of the school at Breda; Sarah, wife of J. W. Hobbs, of Jasper Township; Ernest A., photographer; E. D., a farmer in Carroll Township, and Nellie at home. Mr. English in politics is a Republican.

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