Elswick, John C. (1859-1933)

ELSWICK

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 9/15/2019 at 12:56:15

John C. Elswick
Jan 18, 1859 - Dec 2, 1933

[From the 1891 Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, p.374]
J. C. ELSWICK of section 36, Carson Township, is one of the enterprising and successful citizens of the county, and one who has been a resident of Pottawattamie County all his life. He was born in Grove Township, January 18, 1859, the son of William ELSWICK, who was born in Rush County, Indiana, about 1826. He was the son of Andrew ELSWICK, of German descent, and Elizabeth (CASTLE) ELSWICK. The father was reared in Rush County, Indiana, and came to Iowa some years before his marriage. He was among the early pioneers of Monroe County, Iowa. In 1851, he was married to Martha S. SAGERS, who was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, March 4, 1833, the daughter of Henry SAGERS, a native of Pennsylvania. The same year they were married, they came to Pottawattamie County, with an ox team. They had a serious time crossing the sloughs, rivers and streams. They settled in Grove Township, where Mr. ELSWICK resided until his death. In 1859 he went to Pike's Peak but returned the same year. He died in March 1861. Politically he was a Democrat and had served as member of Pottawattamie's first Board of Supervisors. He left a widow, three sons and one daughter; his three sons, Marshall, Marion, and John C., our subject, reside in Carson Township; and his daughter, Arabelle, is the wife of Charles CLISE of Atlantic, Iowa. Mrs. ELSWICK was married to O. P. MACE, March 29, 1864.

J. C. ELSWICK was reared at farm work in the early days of Pottawattamie County. Arriving at the age of majority, he went to Colorado in 1880 where he spent three years engaged in mining. He was successful and after he returned to this county, he purchased his present farm of eighty acres. Its improvements consisted mostly in the land being broken out and one crop had been raised on it. All the buildings Mr. ELSWICK has since erected. Everything about the ELSWICK farm shows the thrift of the proprietor.

He was married February 22, 1883, in this county, to Miss Rhoda DURHAM, a daughter of William DURHAM, a prominent and well known citizen of Carson Township, whose sketch appears on another page. Mr. ELSWICK and wife have three children: Ira Carl, Mabel G., and Ethelinda M. Politically Mr. ELSWICK is a Democrat and is a member of the I.O.O.F. Lodge No. 444 of Carson Township. Both he and his wife are members of the Church of Christ.