For
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume II, Biographical, 1911, page 642
WILLIAM STOCKDALE. William Stockdale was the founder of the family in America which has its representatives in Muscatine county, the number including Mrs. Thomas Francis Barry. He was a native of Hornsea, Yorkshire, England, and was post carrier from Hull to Atwick. He had three wagons and handled produce and other merchandise. About 1830 he came to America and settled at Rotterdam (now Constantia), New York, but was not permitted to enjoy his new home long, his death there occurring when he was but forty-six years of age. He had a brother who was keeper of the lighthouse at Flamborough Head, Yorkshire.William Stockdale was united in marriage to Mary Cook, who was born at Long Riston, Yorkshire, England, in 1793, and died in Cicero, New York, in 1846, having for a number of years survived her husband. She married again, her second husband being a Mr. Cook. She had two brothers, Hartley and Fred, who settled near Lansing, Michigan. The children of William and Mary (Cook) Stockdale were: James, born in 1813; Caroline, in 1817; Tamer, in 1819; Ann; Amelia; William; Robert; and John, born in 1828.
The last-named, John Stockdale, came to Muscatine about 1857 or 1858 and for more than four decades remained a valued and representative resident of this city, his death here occurring about 1899. He wedded Maria Curran, a daughter of James Curran, and a granddaughter of Thomas and Honor (O'Conor) Curran. James Curran was born in 1804, his birthplace being probably County Mayo, Ireland. He had two brothers, James, older, and Edward, younger than himself. While in Ireland he was steward of the estate of a man named Burke at Loughboy, near Ballyhaunis, Connaught, County Mayo, Ireland. When Mr. Burke lost the estate James Curran left it and began farming for himself on land that had been given him by Mr. Burke and which was near or at Tulrahan, living in a stone house at the crossroads. He came to America in 1845, going first to Buffalo, New York, thence to Chillicothe, Ohio, and in 1855 or 1856, he arrived in Muscatine. He met his death by drowning while crossing the bridge at night at Fredonia, Iowa. He had wedded Mary Quinn, who was probably born near Clare or Tuam in County Mayo, Ireland. She was a daughter of Patrick and Mary (Holyon) Quinn and had two brothers, Luke and Timothy, and a sister, Honor Quinn. The children of James and Mary (Quinn) Curran were: Thomas, born in 1835; Ann, in 1838; Maria, in 1840; James; and John.
Of these Maria became the wife of John Stockdale and their children were: Mary, who was born in 1862 and in 1885 became the wife of Thomas Barry, who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume; James, who was born in 1863 and was married in 1906 to Ann P. Robinson; Harriett, born in 1866, who became the wife of William L. Thompson in 1890 and has a daughter; Mary Gladys, born in 1897; Ann, born in 1871, who was married in 1893 to Louis W. Chambers, who died in 1906, and in 1908 was married to Edwin W. Forester. They have one son, Robert, born in 1909. The names of Stockdale and Curran are both synonymous with progressiveness and activity in business, and reliability and public spirit in citizenship.
James Stockdale, another representative of this family, was born in Muscatine on the 19th of November, 1863, and received his early education in St. Mathias school. In 1877, he entered the Muscatine high school and was graduated from that institution in 1880. The following five years were devoted to railroad engineering and surveying in Iowa, Wyoming and California, and from 1886 to 1892, inclusive, he taught school in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, California. He was also principal of the Salinas high school one year, in 1887, and principal of the Monterey schools from 1888 to 1892, during the same period being also a member of the county board of education. From 1893 until 1898 he was connected with the General Electric Company at San Francisco, and from there was transferred to the general offices of the same company at Schenectady, New York, where he is now employed in the power and mining department. In 1906 he married Miss Anne Poultney Robinson, of Baltimore, Maryland.
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