A Narrative History
of
The People of Iowa
with
SPECIAL TREATMENT OF THEIR CHIEF ENTERPRISES IN
EDUCATION, RELIGION, VALOR, INDUSTRY,
BUSINESS, ETC.
by
EDGAR RUBEY HARLAN, LL. B., A. M.
Curator of the
Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa
Volume IV
THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Inc.
Chicago and New York
1931

JOHN W. MOFFETT. Eldora, the fine little city that is the judicial center
of Hardin County, has effective communal service of publicity through the
medium of the Eldora Herald, of which John W. Moffett is editor and manager.

Mr. Moffett was born at Grundy Center, county seat of Grundy County, Iowa,
October 24, 1903, and is a son of Howard E. and Eleanor (Sturgeon) Moffett,
the former of whom was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, August 27, 1872, and the
latter of whom was born near Peoria, Illinois, August 20, 1872.

Howard E. Moffett was a youth at the time of the family removal to Iowa, and
his father, the late William Moffett, was for many years engaged in the
abstract business at Grundy Center, with standing as one of the honored and
influential citizens of Grundy County, where he had much of leadership in the
council of the Republican party, though he had no desire for political office. He
was born and reared in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was one of the venerable
citizens of Grundy County, Iowa, at the time of his death, in 1920. Howard E.
Moffett was reared and educated in the old Buckeye State and was a young man when
he identified himself with the printing and newspaper business at Grundy
Center, Iowa. There, in the year 1900, he became editor and publisher of the
Grundy Republican, to the management of which he continued to give his
attention until 1906, when he sold the plant and business, he having passed the
ensuing year at Massillon, Ohio, and having then returned to Iowa, where, in 1908,
he purchased the Eldora Herald. Of this influential county seat newspaper
he continued the active executive head until 1928, when he retired, the active
management of the business having since been vested in his son John W.,
immediate subject of this review, who is well upholding the prestige of the
family name, both as a versatile and resourceful newspaper citizen. The parents
still maintain their home at Eldora, and the elder of their two children is
Josephine, who was born January 24, 1902, and who is now a resident of
Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Eldora Herald is consistently to be designated as one of the pioneer
papers of this part of the Hawkeye State, as it was founded in the year 1873,
and during the long intervening years it has been an approved vehicle of local
and general news, a staunch exponent of the varied interests of the
community, the county and the state, and a stalwart supporter of the principles and
policies of the Republican party. This newspaper had a circulation of 1,000
copies weekly at the time that Howard E. Moffett purchased the property from O.
J. Smith, a well known Iowa newspaper man, and in the intervening years its
circulation has been increased to 3,000 copies, issued on Thursday of each
week. Howard E. Moffett continues to be actively interested in community
affairs at Eldora, and is a citizen to whom is accorded the fullest measure of
popular confidence and esteem. Both he and his only son are members of the Pine
Lake Golf Club, the Community Club and the local Rotary Club. Father and
son are unswerving in their allegiance to the Republican party, and both have
given yeoman service in advancing its cause. Howard E. Moffett is affiliated
with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in
the Congregational Church of Eldora, of which he and his wife are zealous
members, he is serving as a member of the board of trustees.
John W. Moffett was graduated in the Eldora High School as a member of the
class of 1922, and during the ensuing two years he was a student in Coe
College, at Cedar Rapids, this state. He then attended the University of Missouri
two and one-half years, and in it s famous school of journalism he was
graduated as a member of the class of 1928, his earlier knowledge of the printing
and newspaper business having been acquired under the direction of his father
and in the office of the Eldora Herald, of which he is now the editor and
manager. After being graduated at the University of Missouri Mr. Moffett went
to El Paso, Texas, but in the same year, 1928, he returned to Eldora to assume
charge of the Eldora Herald and thus relieve his father of much of the
active responsibility thus involved. Mr. Moffett has affiliation with the Delta
Tau Delta and the Sigma Delta Chi college fraternities, and of his connection
with representative clubs in his home city mention has already been made.
The name of Mr. Moffett is still enrolled on the roster of eligible and popular
young bachelors at Eldora.



Debbie Clough Gerischer
Iowa History Project
Scott County, Iowa