JOHN PEARSON

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John Pearson and Mrs. John Pearson

The financial interests of Cedar county find a worthy representative in John Pearson. Alert, enterprising and progressive, his energy and diligence have enabled him to accomplish what he has undertaken and in both agricultural lines and in financial circles he has made a most creditable record. He is now closely associated with banking interests, having for the past five years served as president of the West Branch State Bank. He thus continues in active touch with the business world, although he has passed the eighty-fourth milestone on life’s journey.

Mr. Pearson was born in Miami county, Ohio, December 8, 1825, and there made his home until March, 1857, devoting his life to the occupation of farming. His father, John Furnace Pearson, was a native of South Carolina and became a resident of Ohio in 1805 or 1806, only two or three years after the admission of the state to the Union. He married Miss Mary Pegg, who was a native of North Carolina and accompanied her parents on their removal to Indiana, the family home being established about fourteen miles north of Richmond. Mr. and Mrs. Pearson were married in Indiana, after which they took up their abode in Ohio, where they spent their remaining days, living upon the farm which was the birthplace of their son John. The father was the owner of ninety-five acres of land and to the development and improvement of his property he devoted his energies. In the family were six children: Benjamin, deceased; Margaret, who has also passed away; Mrs. Esther P. Steddon, of Lebanon, Ohio; John, of this review; Joseph, deceased; and Mrs. Mary Mendenhall Greenlee, who died January 27, 1909, on the old home place, where she spent her entire life. The eldest son, Benjamin Pearson, came to Iowa in 1854 and continued to reside here until called to his final home. He lived in Tama county for a number of years and in 1867 took up his abode in Cedar county, where he lived until his death in 1886.

No event of any particular importance occurred to vary the routine of farm life for John Pearson in the days of his boyhood and youth. He worked in the fields from the time of the early spring planting until the crops were harvested in the late autumn and continued to live in Ohio until more than thirty years of age, when he determined to try his fortune in Iowa. On the 14th of March, 1857, he crossed the Mississippi river with his wife and four children. They traveled by steam cars to Cincinnati and thence by boat to St. Louis. As the Mississippi river was then full of floating ice, they had to proceed by rail to Rock Island, at which point they crossed the river bridge, although people were still driving across the ice. They located at Springdale and Mr. Pearson has since resided within a mile of his first home. For ten years he lived upon a farm a mile north of Springdale in Gower township,and then crossed the road into Springdale township, where he made his home upon a farm until 1892. He has since lived in the village of Springdale and has practically retired from business life. He was, however, interested in general agricultural pursuits for many years and was the owner of two hundred acres of valuable land, which he successfully cultivated. Care and judgment were exercised in planting his crops and managing his property, and thus as the years passed on he accumulated a comfortable competence. He is now the president of the West Branch State Bank, with which he has been connected since the second year of its organization, a which time he was elected a director. Soon afterward he was chosen vice president of the institution and for the past five years has been its president.

On the 23rd of September, 1847, at Raysville, Indiana, Mr. Pearson was united in marriage to Miss Mary Ray Miller, who was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, April 20, 1821, and resided there until twenty years of age. At that time she went to Indiana. She had lost both of her parents before she was thirteen years of age and went to Indiana to live with an uncle, with whom she resided for a number of years. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Pearson were born five children: Mrs. Louisa Jane Lindley, who spent her married life in California but died in Cedar county, Iowa, in 1894; Albannus, who is living in Springdale township; Alvira, who died in 1892 after devoting her life to the care of her parents in their advanced years; Linneus, who died in 1858; and Horace Greely, who passed away in September, 1910, at Baker City, Oregon.

The Pearson family were originally supporters of the old Whig party and John Pearson of this review has been a republican since the days of Fremont. He well remembers John Brown, the abolitionist leader, whom he entertained in his home a number of times and who drilled a company of men in this vicinity. Mr. Pearson represented Gower township on the board of supervisors for a time and has always been progressive in matters of citizenship. His first presidential vote was cast in 1848 for Zachary Taylor, and he has never missed an election since that time. He is a birthright member of the Society of Friends and believes in all that the Bible teaches. He was an active worker in the Sunday school and taught a class for over forty years, but on the 13th of September, 1909, he resigned for his health would no longer permit of the performance of that duty. He has held official posts in the church and his life has been an exposition of his Christian faith and belief. He has lived honorably and peaceably with all men, has never been known to overreach another in a business transaction, and in fact has closely followed the golden rule, his life proving the worth and value of uprightness and honesty.