J. O. H. SPINNEY
J. O. H. Spinney came to Victoria township, Cass county, in March, 1877, having previously bought the southwest quarter of section 14, which was at that time an unimproved prairie. Since his settlement he has purchased other land, and now owns 800 acres of land. He has planted a fine orchard, built a dwelling house, and has erected necessary farm buildings for sheltering stock and grain. Mr. Spinney was born in Freedom, Maine, on the 9th of November, 1837. He was there reared and educated in public school. At the opening of the war he enlisted in the service, being in most of the principal battles. He was honmored by several minor promotions, and in June, 1862, he was promoted to fourth duty sergeant, and so remained until 1864, when he was honorably discharged in November, 1865, and went to Stark county, Illinois, where he had moved before the war, and worked at the carpenter's trade until 1869, when he went to the Pacific coast, where he entered large tracts of timber land, and was engaged as depositor at the land office in Olympia, Washington Territory. In 1870, he concluded to return east, and traded the timber land which he had entered for the land which he now owns in Cass county. On his return home he resumed the management of the water cure at Davenport, for two years, when he returned to Stark county, and there remained until coming to his present location, in 1877. Mr. Spinney was married on the 1st of January, 1866, to Julia H. Beville, a native of New York. They have been blessed with three sons...Burton A., Louis B. and Howard H.
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, pg. 582.
