James Ralph Nutting was born in Washington County, New York. His paternal grandparents were Ralph and Hannah (Wright) Nutting. His father was Daniel Nutting. His maternal grandparents were James and Aurelia Burch, and his mother was Eliza (Burch ) Nutting.
In 1854 he moved with his parents from northeastern Washington County, New York, to Davenport, Iowa. His boyhood was spent on a farm and he began the study of medicine with Dr. A. J. Ennis of Davenport, but after a time abandoned it and returned to the farm. He then went to Troy, New York, to learn the hardware business, and has been in this line of business ever since.
In 1864 he returned to Davenport and obtained employment as clerk in the hardware store of Sickels & Preston. In August of 1865 he was sent by Sickels & Preston to Chicago, where they also had a store, and remained there about a year, returning to Davenport in 1866 and continuing with this same firm until 1870.
In 1869 he was married to Ida Elizabeth Hosford, daughter of Dr. W. H. Hosford of Davenport, and the following year he organized the firm of Hosford & Nutting, his father-in-law becoming his partner. This copartnership continued until the death of Dr. Hosford, September 9, 1874. In 1875 Mr. Nutting took into partnership L. C. Dessaint, the firm becoming Dessaint & Nutting. In 1878 this firm was dissolved and Mr. Nutting became interested as a partner with Sickels & Preston, tlie firm becoming the Sickels, Preston & Nutting Company, of which firm Mr. Nutting has since been the active manager.
He is a stockholder and for many years was a director in the Daven port National Bank, was one of the reorganizers of and a stockholder in the Davenport Woolen Mills, and is a stockholder in the Davenport Foundry & Forge Company, in the Masonic Temple building, in the Turner Hall building and also in the Davenport Syrup & Refining Company. He organized the Ceylon Importing Company for the importation of teas, cocoa and cocoanut oil, and is president of the company. He was a trustee of Griswold College for a number of years and for a long period has been a vestryman of Trinity parish.
Mr. Nutting helped to "break ground” for the Hennepin canal, and being chairman of the committee on ceremonies, the spade with which the earth was turned was presented to him. He was afterward offered five hundred dollars for this historic implement, but was not mercenary enough to part with it in that way, but instead had it appropriately finished and embellished and presented it to the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, District of Columbia.
BIOGRAPHIES