Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1889

Source: Portrait and Biographical Album, Muscatine County, Iowa, 1889, page 329
DR.JAMES S. HORTON, who for thirty-one years was a prominent citizen of Muscatine, and whose death occurred March 23, 1879, was born in Blooming Grove, Orange Co., N. Y., in December, 1805, and was reared under the influence of refinement and cultivation. He was the son of John B. Horton, and received good educational advantages. After finishing a course in the grammer school, he entered Union College, from which he was graduated. He then took a regular course in the study of medicine, being graduated from one of the first medical schools of the country, after which he established himself in practice at Goshen, where he succeeded in building up a large and lucrative practice.

At Florida, Orange Co., N. Y., in 1847, Dr. Horton wedded Miss Mary G. Cummins, daughter of Rev. Dr. Charles Cummins. Mrs. Horton was born in the Empire State but was reared in Virginia. Their union was graced with a family of four children, three sons, and a daughter : Col. Charles C., of Muscatine, who was a Colonel of the 2d Iowa Cavalry, wedded Miss Isabella Ogilvie ; James, who served as First Lieutenant of Company K, of the 8th Iowa Cavalry, enlisted Sept.3, 1861, in the 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry, and was killed in the battle of Lovejoy Station, Ga., in 1864; Sarah L., the only daughter, resides with her mother at the old homestead near Muscatine; Edwin W., also resides at the old homestead, and has the management of the farm.

In 1848 Dr. Horton emigrated to Iowa and settled at Muscatine, intending to retire from practice, and three years later established his rsidence at his farm adjacent to the city, where he made his home until called from this earth. While considering himself retired from the active practice of his profession he was yet called upon to render his professional services, more or less, among his friends and acquaintances. He was a man of rare physical vigor, and even in his old age was capable of a great endurance up to a short time before his fatal illness. He possessed marked peculiarities and individuality, and was firm in his convictions on all important subjects on which he had thought deeply and studied thoroughly. He was an earnest member of the Presbyterian Church, in which he had acted as Elder for many years. In politics he was a warm Republican, zealous in his devotion to the cause of the Union during the great struggle of the late Civil War. Public spirited, he took a warm interest in all that related to the advancement of the best interests of the city and county. Religious and educational matters enlisted his zealous interest and support, as did every cause that was calculated to make his fellow-men better and happier. It can be truthfully said of him that he was true to every trust, faithful in the discharge of duty, conscientiously upright and honorable, and that he deserved and enjoyed the highest esteem and respect of his fellow-citizens. Mrs. Hortom, who is a lady possessing many excellencies of character, and well worthy of such a companion, survives her husband, and resides on the farm with her younger children.

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