JOHN WINGERT

View Portrait of Mr. & Mrs. John Wingert

John Wingert, who is now living practically retired in Tipton after many years devoted to farming and stock-raising, was born in the neighboring state of Illinois, his birth occurring near Trivoli, Peoria county, October 22, 1845. He is the second in order of birth in a family of eight children born to Peter and Isabelle (Garey) Wingert, of whom extended mention is made in the sketch of F. D. Wingert on another page of this volume.

It was in 1856 that our subject accompanied his parents on their removal to Cedar county, Iowa, the family locating on York Prairie in Springfield township. During his boyhood and youth he aided his father in the work of the farm and continued to engage in its operation until his marriage, after which he began farming for himself on York Prairie, his father giving him eighty acres, while he bought another eighty acre tract, making one hundred and sixty acres of raw prairie land. This he broke and improved and continued to engage in its cultivation until his retirement from labor in 1899, when he removed to Tipton and purchased his present comfortable residence on Meridian street. By industry and economy he prospered as time went by and he added to his property until the farm comprised four hundred and eighty acres on sections 28, 29 and 31, Springfield township. On his removal to Tipton he disposed of half of that property. At one time he was the owner of nineteen hundred and fifty-nine acres of land, including eight hundred acres in South Dakota, which he has since sold, while he gave to his son a farm of one hundred and sixty acres south of Tipton and sold another tract of one hundred and sixty acres near it. He still owns one hundred and thirteen acres in Center township, south of the city, and two hundred and forty acres in Kossuth county, Iowa. With the exception of the eighty acres given him by his father, at that time worth about sixteen dollars per acre, he has acquired all his possessions through his own efforts, being regarded as one of the most energetic, progressive and reliable farmers of this community. The most of his land was purchased at from forty dollars to one hundred and sixty dollars per acre. Mr. Wingert, however, attributes much of his success to his stock-raising interests, for he always devoted considerable attention to the raising of a high grade of cattle, horses and hogs. Prosperity having crowned his efforts, he felt justified in laying aside the more active duties of life and is now living retired in the enjoyment of a well earned rest.

On the 22d of October, 1868, Mr. Wingert was united in marriage to Miss Josephine Tevis, who was born in Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, September 17, 1847. She was only seven years of age when brought by her parents, John and Elizabeth (McNamee) Tevis, to Cedar county, Iowa. Her father was a native of Kentucky and her mother of Pittsburg, but they were married in Wheeling, West Virginia. For some time they made their home in the Keystone state before coming to Iowa. Mrs. Tevis died in Worthington, Minnesota, on the 3d of February, 1898, at the ripe old age of eighty-four years, and her husband passed away at Lexington, Nebraska, August 1, 1893, at the age of eighty-two years. He followed farming in Springfield township, this county, until 1888, when he removed to Nebraska and at one time owned two hundred acres of land in that state. His family consisted of five sons and four daughters. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Wingert are: Lizzie Belle, now the wife of Ed Roberdee, living six miles east of Tipton; Arthur Albert, who died at the age of nineteen years; and Peter Earl, who resides in Center township, south of Tipton.

Although his business interests have ever been extensive, Mr. Wingert has found time to devote to other affairs and served as justice of the peace while living in York Prairie for four or five terms. In his political views he is a democrat and fraternally is identified with Alhambra Lodge, K. P., of Tipton. He is an earnest and faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church and assisted in the erection of the beautiful church edifice in Tipton, serving on its building committee. He also helped to build the Methodist Episcopal church in York Prairie and has ever taken an active interest in those enterprises which he believed would prove of benefit to his fellowmen. In business affairs he was always regarded as thoroughly reliable, and he stands deservedly high in the esteem of his fellow citizens.