JOHN MCGRAIN
John McGrain settled on the northeast quarter of section 1, where he owns eighty acres, in March, 1876. This land was entered by Charles C. Marsh, and the first improvements upon it were made by James R. Silvers. Mr. McGrain was born in Lafayette county, Indiana, in 1829. He was brought up in Illinois, and lived with his parents until twenty years of age. In 1849 he went overland to California. The company with which he went was one of the first to cross the plains to California after the discovery of gold in that State. He drove an ox team, consuming about five months in making the trip. He remained there about eighteen months, engaged in mining. At that time the news of the discovery of gold in Australia reached California, and Mr. McGrain, with a number of other miners, determined to go to the new land of gold. Accordingly, they took passage for Australia in the second ship that left San Francisco bound for that place. He spent nearly thirty years in Australia, returning in 1876, the year in which he located here. He spent the time in Australia, first in mining and later in stock-raising. He was married in that country to Eana Rollins, a native of Australia, but of English parentage. They have one child, William, born here in 1879.
Transcribed by Gloria Goltiani from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pp. 645-646.
