Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1889

Source: Portrait and Biographical Album, Muscatine County, Iowa, 1889, page 394
JACOB VAN DORN, a farmer and stock-raiser, residing on section 33, Sweetland Township, is one of the settlers of Muscatine County of 1855. He was born July 12, 1833, in Somerset County, N. J., and is a son of John R. and Elizabeth ( Lee ) Van Dorn. When he was five years of age his parents removed to Hamilton County, Ohio, and there resided for six years, at the end of which time they emigrated to Indiana and located in Dearborn County, where Jacob passed eleven years of his life. He was educated in the common schools, and in that county resided until twenty-two years of age, when in 1855, he crossed the Mississippi River into Muscatine County, Iowa, since which time he has been engaged in farming in Sweetland Township. He made the journey with a company of friends in wagons from New Jersey to Ohio, the railroad not then having been built, and has been very successful in the line of work which he has followed since his arrival. Mr. Van Dorn is now the owner of 100 acres of fine land, which pays him a golden tribute for his labor expended upon it, and he is regarded as one of the leading farmers of the community.

While residing in Dearborn County, Ind., the death of our subject's father occurred, he departing this life in 1844. His mother was called to her final rest April 26, 1868, and his sister, now Mrs. Sarah Bigney, the only child besides our subject, is now living in Dearborn, Ind.

Mr. Van Dorn, in connection with farming, has for thirty years been engaged in the manufacture of molasses from sorghum, grown by the farmers of the community. He has been a supporter of the Republican party since its organization.

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