Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1889

Source: Portrait and Biographical Album, Muscatine County, Iowa, 1889, page 500
J. L. GIESLER, cashier of the Union Bank at Wilton, is a representative of one of the early families of that town. His father, Henry S. Giesler, became a resident of Wilton in the spring of 1855. He was a native of York County, Pa., born in 1828, and a son of John Giesler, whose father was of German birth. Henry Giesler was reared to the occupation of farming, and wedded Mary Wildasin, also a native of York County. Her brother Samuel Wildasin, having made a trip to Wilton and reported favorably of the town and this portion of the State, and of the prospect of its future growth and development, Mr. Giesler resolved to make it his future home, and acting on the resolution, arrived at his destination in 1855. He was one of the early and successful business men of the place, served as its first Postmaster, and was one of the prominent merchants. He did not live, however, to witness the changes and progress that later years have made, for death claimed him in October, 1861. He died leaving a widow and two sons; Henry F., the eldest son was born Oct. 15, 1853, and was graduated at Iowa State University, after which he studied law. He engaged in practice at Vinton, Iowa, for about a year, and then returned to Wilton, and assisted his brother in the banking business for two years and a half, and then went to Carroll, where he was engaged in the Carroll County Bank for a year and a half, and then went to Oakley, Kan.

J. L. Giesler, our subject, has passed his entire life in Wilton, where he was born on the 17th of March, 1857. He was educated in the city schools, and began his business career in 1874 as a clerk in the banking-house of J. L. Reed. In 1876 he entered the Farmers and Citizens' Bank at Wilton, as a clerk, and was one of the organizers of the Union Bank in 1878, of which he was made cashier, a position he has held continuously since. Although comparatively young, he is recognized as a successful business man and a representative citizen. In politics he is a Democrat, and an able defender of the principles of that party. In those enterprises which have for their object the best interests of his town and the community at large he is ever found in the front ranks, and by all he is held in the highest regard.

Our subject has been twice married, his first wife being Miss Sarah F. Stone, daughter of John Stone, of Newburg, N. Y. Her death occurred in May, 1884, she leaving one child, a little daughter, Sarah Edna. He was again married, his second union being with Miss Mildred Hilbert, the accomplished daughter of one of the pioneers of Scott County, Iowa. One child has graced their union, Herald Lee.

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