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John Llewellyn Prouty
Born March 4, 1856 |
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| The loyalty of John Llewellyn Prouty to Jones county is eloquently attested by the fact that he has chosen to live all his life here with the exception of two years which he spent in Texas. He was born in Clay township on the 4th of March, 1856, and the significance of the date has caused some of his admiring friends to believe that he is yet destined to occupy the presidential chair. He is, the son of Alonzo and India Ann (Harris) Prouty, both natives of Knox county, Ohio, where the. were married and about 1880 came to Iowa, locating in Clay township, Jones county. His grandfather, Abijah Prouty, was associated with, the father in entering some four hundred acres of land on the Maquoketa river. All of the open prairie land to the west of them, unsettled as it was, did, not attract them, for they were impressed with the idea that they could not live away from the timber. The land was secured in the grandfather's name and was entered from the government at one dollar and a quarter an acre. Here, both the father and grandfather lived until the time of their death.
When a lad of fourteen years, John L. Prouty went to work as a farm. hand in the winter, availing himself of the schooling afforded by the district in which he lived. In the fall of 1876, when twenty years of age, he went to Texas, where be spent the two years before alluded to and then returned to Tones county. In 1881 he bought a threshing machine, which was a horse power machine and later he became, the owner of the first steam thresher brought to this section of country, and for twenty-five years he followed threshing as a pursuit.
In 1890 he removed to Scotch Grove and engaged in the horse breeding business. His residence there lasted for some twelve years, at the end of which time he began buying land where he now lives and which served as the nucleus of his present homestead. He now owns one hundred and ninety acres and very properly congratulates himself that some of it was bought decidedly at a bargain.
Mr. Prouty was married October 27, 1906, the lady who became his wife being Miss Frances Breeden, of Jackson county. He is republican in politics and is a prominent member of Monticello Lodge, No. 117, I.0.0.F. Mr. Prouty is one of the substantial and influential men of Scotch Grove township and has taken an active part in the growth and development of Jones county for over half a century.
Source: History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 280. |
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© Copyright 1997-2013, The Art Department, © Copyright 2014-2020, Richard Harrison.
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