Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1915
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 677
JOHN F. SMALL

It is not an easy task to describe adequately a man who has led an eminently active and busy life and who has attained a position of relative distinction in the community with which his interests are allied, but biography finds its most perfect justification, nevertheless, in the tracing and recording of such a life history. It is then with a full appreciation of all that is demanded in the painstaking scrutiny that must be accorded each statement that the writer essays the task of touching briefly upon the details of such a record as has been that of John F. SMALL, the honorable subject of this sketch.

John F. SMALL, the manage of the grain elevator at Persia, Harrison county, Iowa, was born April 27, 1860, in Lee county, Illinois the son of William and Mary (LANDERS) SMALL, the former born in 1822 in the state of Maine. William SMALL was a sailor for seven and one-half years on the schooner Congress. In 1857 he moved to Lee county, Illinois, where he engaged in farming. He owned land there, but sold out and came to Harrison county, Iowa, in 1876. He bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in Cass township, on which he made many improvements and set out a fine grove of trees. He farmed until his retirement in 1889, when he moved to Persia, where he died one year later. His wife, Mary LANDERS, the mother of our subject, was born in 1822 in New Brunswick, Canada, the daughter of John and Mary (GRIFFEN) LANDERS. Her fathr was a soldier in the War of 1812. He also was a minister in the Baptist church and later in the church of the Latter-Day Saints. He was married twice, his first wife being the mother of Mrs. SMALL. John LANDERS died in 1896 at the age of ninety-eight at Lomona, Iowa, and his wife died in 1823.

William and Mary (LANDERS) SMALL were the parents of ten children: James W., deceased; William L., who lives at Hope, Idaho; Judson, a retired business man, of Leavenworth, Kansas; Alfred, who lives at Hope, Idaho; Charles, deceased; John F., the subject of this sketch; Alexander, deceased; Julia C., who lives in Cass township, Harrison county, Iowa; Mary, deceased , and Mrs. Ellen SPRINKLE, who lives in Harrison county.

John F. SMALL was reared on the farm and attended the district schools and the public schools of Creston, Illinois. He worked and farmed for his father until 1882, and then bought eighty acres of land in Harrison county, Iowa, on which he started to farm for himself, and on which he made the first improvements. He built a house and barn and made other important improvements. Later he sold this farm and traded in live stock for a number of years. In 1899 he became engaged with the Neola Elevator Company of Persia, Iowa, buying and selling grain for this company. He is now the manager of the company at Persia.

John F. SMALL was married in 1882 to Etta D. TRIPP, who was born in 1864 at Niles, Michigan, a daughter of Nelson and Martha (RICHARDSON) TRIPP, the former a native of New York and a carpenter by trade, who came to Iowa in 1874. He engaged in farming in Calhoun county and continued in this vocation until 1876, when he came to Harrison county and purchased land in Jefferson township. He died in 1901. Mrs. SMALL's mother died in Michigan in 1872. She was a native of that state and the mother of six children, Mrs. Mary CASE, deceased; Albert, deceased; Mr. Ida Henderson, of Harrison county; Etta, the wife of Mr. SMALL; Mrs. Lora CASE, of Logan, Iowa, and Hiram, who lives in Jefferson township.

To John F. and Etta D. (TRIPP) SMALL two children have been born, Winona and Lisle. Winona, born in 1883, in Cass township, Harrison county, married Clyde R. PEASLEY, and lives on a farm in Washington township. She was graduated from the Persia schools and then took a summer course at the Woodbine Normal School. She also was graduated from the University of Music and Art at Lincoln, Nebraska, and has taught music and art in the Logan and Missouri Valley grade schools. She also taught in the Persia schools for a number of years. Lisle, born in 1895, at Persia, has made wonderful progress in his educational career, and Mr. and Mrs. SMALL are extremely proud of the progress he has made. He is now a student in the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.

John F. SMALL always has taken an active interest in the welfare of the county where he lives. He has always been a Republican, and in the campaign of 1898 was nominated on the Republican ticket for sheriff of Harrison county, but was defeated for election. He is now city clerk of Persia, which office he has held four terms. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, at Persia, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. SMALL attend church, but they are not active members. The SMALL family are well known in Harrison county and eminently deserve the respect which is accorded them by all people with whom they have come into contact.

Return to 1915 Biographical S Surnames Index

Back to 1915 Biographies Index