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Delaware County, Iowa

 

 Biography Directory

Matthew Van Deusen

Produce Business

Manchester

 

 

     Matthew Van Deusen is one of the venerable and highly esteemed residents of Manchester, where he has made his home continuously for the past forty-six years, living retired since 1896. For a period of twenty-eight years he was actively engaged in the produce business here, winning a gratifying measure of success in the undertaking. His birth occurred in Columbia county, New York, on the 3d of December, 1822, his parents being Cornelius and Maria (McKagg) Van Deusen, both of whom were natives of the Empire state. In 1836 they removed to Michigan, but at the end of four years residence in that state returned to New York, where they spent the remainder of their lives. They had seven children, three of whom survive.
     When a youth of fourteen Matthew Van Deusen secured a position as clerk in a store in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The year 1868 witnessed his arrival in Manchester, Delaware county, Iowa, and here he embarked in the produce business, conducting an enterprise of that character continuously and profitably until his retirement in 1896. He enjoys the distinction of having made the first pound of butter made in the first creamery in the United States and also made the butter that won the gold medal prize at the Philadelphia exposition in 1876. He now lives with his daughter, Mrs. Sabin, spending the evening of life in well earned ease and comfort.

      When a youth of fourteen Matthew Van Deusen secured a position as clerk in a store in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The year 1868 witnessed his arrival in Manchester, Delaware county, Iowa, and here he embarked in the produce business, conducting an enterprise of that character continuously and profitably until his retirement in 1896. He enjoys the distinction of having made the first pound of butter made in the first creamery in the United States and also made the butter that won the gold medal prize at the Philadelphia exposition in 1876. He now lives with his daughter, Mrs. Sabin, spending the evening of life in well earned ease and comfort.

         In 1847 Mr. Van Deusen was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Barnes, a native of the state of New York, by whom he had a daughter, Caro, who is the widow of Denison Sabin and resides in Manchester. The wife and mother died in 1897 and was laid to rest in the Manchester cemetery. Mr. Van Deusen belongs to Manchester Lodge, No. 165, A. F. & A. M., in which he has filled all of the chairs. He is an omnivorous reader and keeps well informed regarding current events. He is now in the ninety second year of his age and his life has ever been such that he can look back over the past without regret and forward to the future without fear.

 

 

~ source: History of Delaware County, Iowa and its People, Illustrated, Volume II. The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1914, Chicago. Page 252-253.  Call Number 977.7385 H2m; LDS microfilm #934937.

~transcribed and contributed by Constance Diamond for Delaware County IAGenWeb

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