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         JOHN S. CURRAN, a prominent pioneer and representative farmer of Louisa County, residing on section 15, Morning Sun Township, was born Sept. 7, 1837, in Somerset County, Pa., and is a son of Francis and Mary M. (Dell) Curran, whose sketch appears in that of F. F. Curran on another page of this work. When John was only about a month old he came with his parents to Louisa County, and since that time has made his home on the farm that was first located by Peter Curran, of Willsburg, Va., who bought it from the Government, and erected the first cabin on the claim, after which he returned to Virginia, . . .

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. . . where his death occurred. The land was bequeathed by Peter Curran to the mother of our subject.

John S. Curran received his education in the pioneer school-house of the early day, which was built of logs, and contained a puncheon floor and slab seats. To the pioneers of those early days much credit is due, for it was they who laid the foundation upon which Louisa County has been built. Mr. Curran can well remember the frequent visits of the Indians during his boyhood days, before they were driven further westward by the ever advancing white race.

After the death of his father our subject purchased the old home farm, upon which he has since made many valuable improvements, but the house which his father had started to build but was never permitted to finish, he dying in the previous fall, still continues to be Mr. Curran’s home. His farm now consists of 190 acres, 130 of tillable land, and sixty acres of timber and pasture land. His farm has all the latest improvements, the machinery which he now owns presenting a marked contrast to the wooden moldboard plow with which he turned the first furrow on what is now section 16, Morning Sun Township, and to which was attached five or six yoke of oxen. Mr. Curran also turned the first furrow on section 27, where Mrs. D. P. Curran now resides. One of the scenes of those early pioneer days he will probably never forget. It was in the year 1846 when he started with his father to the Wilson mill, located on Skunk River, taking two yoke of oxen. They were from Tuesday until Friday making the trip, and, as was customary in those days, had to wait their turn to have the grist ground. In the meantime the river was rising rapidly, carrying with it immense quantities of drift-wood, which soon clogged up the machinery, and stopping the grinding. This indeed was a sad situation, as the people in the surrounding country had to depend upon that mill for the grinding of their grain, so all hands set to work to clear away the rubbish. They were compelled to wade into the water and work hard, but with the oxen, were enabled once more to start the old mill. To the pioneers who endured all the trials and hardships of making homes in a new country the highest praise is due, for were it not for their labor, patience and perseverance, Louisa County would not now hold the present high position which she occupies in the great State of Iowa. Throughout his life Mr. Curran has been an ardent supporter of the principles of the Republican party, and does everything in his power to advance its interests.