John Crooke,
agent for the Home Insurance Company of New York, the
Hartford of Connecticut, the Phoenix of Connecticut, the
Franklin of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Fire Insurance
Company, German American of New York, Girard of
Philadelphia, Liverpool, London and Globe of England,
Royal of England, American Central of St. Louis, Mo.,
established his office in McGregor in 1871. Mr. Crooke
was born in Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, England, Dec. 22,
1826, a son of John Crooke, Sen., and Mary, nee Dawson.
His father was a Baptist minister, and died April 9,
1861; his mother, July 6, 1876, both in England. They had
ten children, five sons and five daughters. John was the
second child and oldest son; he attended school and
studied until fifteen years of age, when he began
teaching in the High School, where he taught eighteeen
months then engaged in the dry-goods trade three and
one-half years. Soon after he opened a private school in
Nottingham, England, where he taught until 1852, when he
came to America to join his brother in Winnebago County,
Ill. He and brother owned and managed a stock-farm and
saw-mill. In 1855 Mr. Crooke came to Iowa and located at
Strawberry Point, Clayton County, where he clerked a
couple of years in a general merchandise store, then
purchased a parnership in a grocery store, which he held
for one year, when he was elected Justice of the Peace,
and appointed Postmaster and notary public, and engaged
in the collection business. He remained in Strawberry
Point until January, 1867, when he was appointed Deputy
County Recorder at Elkader; he held that office four
years, then came to McGregor and engaged in the insurance
business, which he still prosecutes. He was formerly a
member of the Baptist church, and is at present Secretary
of the Board of Education, a position he has held since
his election in 1874. He is one of the enterprising
representative men of McGregor, and has been identified
with the county since 1855. In politics he is a
Republican. source: History of Clayton
County, Iowa, 1882, p. 973-974 |