| 43 | Our Home Town | 43 |
| George E. Roberts | Meat Market |
| Henry D. Moon | Dray |
| Clarence G. Cary | Pool Hall |
| George A. Fox | Photographer |
A complete list of Zearing businesses and business men from 1881 to 1956 would be almost impossible to compile. It would serve no particular historical purpose. It would seem that a survey of early Zearing business plus sketches of the oldest business firms and business men active in 1956 would be sufficient. Many individual business firms and business men are mentioned in other parts of our history.
Joseph Johnson and his father-in-law, George Patton, established the Patton & Johnson hardware store immediately after Zearing was founded in 1881. The store was sold to Frederick Wohlheter & Son in 1888. The Johnson family moved to Chicago, Illinois.
At the suggestion of Dwight Elmo Johnson, Joseph Johnson bought the Allen & Son hardware store in 1908. The Johnson family returned to Zearing.
After the retirement of Joseph Johnson, his son, Dwight Elmo, took charge. Dwight Elmo Johnson is retired in 1956. Everett L. Johnson; the son of Dwight Elmo, is the 1956 manager. Everett is assisted by his brother, Donald E. Johnson, and by Everett's son, Kempton C. Johnson.
The Johnson family is the only one of the original business families of Zearing active in a business on Main Street in 1956.
William C. Young became a Zearing business man on September 9, 1903. He entered the blacksmith business on his own on that date. He is the dean of Zearing business men in 1956. He will have a record of fifty-three years as a Zearing blacksmith in September of this year.
William C. was born at Nevada, Iowa, on October 28, 1877. His parents moved to a farm in Lincoln township in 1878.
On September 12, 1900, William married Tessie Millard of Montour, Iowa. William and Tessie were the parents of a daughter, Ada Young Taylor. Tessie died on January 10, 1933. On March 26, 1948, William married Mrs. Gertrude Golly Davis.
William C. Young has always been a highly respected Zearing business man. He served for many years on the Zearing town council and as a Lincoln township trustee.
Dr. Robert A. Ricketts is the dean of Zearing's professional men and women. Dr. Ricketts moved his family from Churdan, Iowa, to the Roadenizer property in Zearing in early October, 1911.