For
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume II, Biographical, 1911, page 45
JOSEPH B. VAN ATTA. Joseph B. Van Atta, is now occupying his town residence at No. 113 West Fourth street, Muscatine, but is also the owner of a fine farm in Muscatine county, on which he made his home for fifty years, it being the place where he was born. He is actively identified with business interests and is known as one of the sunstantial and progressive citizens of the county. He was born in Seventy-six township, Muscatine county, May 23, 1853, and is a son of James and Katie Anne ( Broreck ) Van Atta. The father was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in November, 1811, and came to Iowa in 1846 with his wife and three children in a wagon drawn by an ox team, locating first in Bloomington township but the next year moved to Seventy-six township. Politically he was in sympathy with the republican party, and religiously he was identified with the Presbyterian church. He departed this life in 1886 and was buried in High Prairie Chapel cemetery, Seventy-six township. The grandfather on the paternal side was of German parentage and the grandmother was a native of Ireland. The mother of our subject was born in Pennsylvania and was married in that state. She was called away in 1892. Of her ten children eight grew to maturity : Philip, of Vandalia, Missouri; Mary, the wife of William Dorr, of Nortonville, Kansas; John, deceased; William, of Enid, Oklahoma; James, of Collinsville, Oklahoma; Josephine, who became the wife of John Holston, now foreman in the railroad shops at Madison, South Dakota; Joseph B., our subject; and Annie, the wife of William Smalley, of Muscatine.Joseph B. Van Atta received his preliminary education in the district schools of Seventy-six township, later attending the high school at Muscatine, but he did not graduate. He grew up on the home farm and after the death of his parents continued there and became a leading live-stock man, feeding and shipping as many as two hundred and fifty carloads of stock per year. He removed to Muscatine August 3, 1903, and for four years engaged in the insurance business. For some months past he has been connected with the American Telephone & Telegraph Company as right-of-way man. He is the owner of a well improved farm of one hundred and eighty acres in Muscatine county and also of two residences in this city, in one of which he lives.
In 1875 Mr. Van Atta was united in marriage to Miss Mollie O'Brien, and five children have blessed the union: Fanny, the wife of George Eitman, who is engaged in the grocery business at Muscatine; Fred, a resident of Muscatine; Mabyl, the wife of E. I. Leiber, manager of the Woolworth store at Muscatine; Maude, the wife of Lauren Henderson, a druggist, of Muscatine; and Desmond now connected with the Woolworth store at Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he is learning to be a manager. Maybl was the youngest teacher of Muscatine county up to the time when she received her certificate and began teaching at the age of sixteen years.
Mr. Van Atta is in sympathy with the principles of the republican party and although he has not been an office seeker, he served for one term as assessor of his township. He and his family are members of the Presbyterian church and he is connected with the Knights of Pythias, The Modern Woodmen of America, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Fraternal Bankers Reserve, all of Muscatine.
He is remarkably well posted concerning the resources of Muscatine county and few men in the county are better prepared to discuss its possibilities. His memory carries him back to before the Civil war when pioneer conditions prevailed and many of the conveniences and comforts of the present time were unknown. These conditions he has seen gradually pass away before the advance of new ideas. He applied himself diligently and by wise foresight and good management attained the position of comparative independence which he occupies today.
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