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.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 280.

Fred Puleston was reared at home, acquiring his education in Owens College, now known as Victoria University. At the age of nineteen, he went to Africa on a hunting expedition, but his stay on that continent was prolonged until it covered a period of twelve years. During that time he became well acquainted with Stanley, the immortal explorer, and his party, accompanying them upon many of their trips into the interior and for four years he served as British consul to the dark land. Many were the exciting experiences he encountered in those years, for the country had not then become as well known as it is at present, and when he returned to England he brought with him many trophies of his skill in the chase and relics of the native tribes he had visited. It was in 1887 that he went to his home and after a stay of one month there he came to the United States on a visit, as he thought, but to remain permanently, as it has proved. A sister whom he had not seen for nineteen years was living in Anamosa Iowa, and when she heard that he had come to America she begged him to visit her, and then prevailed upon him to remain here.

About nine months after his arrival, Dr. Puleston took up the study of medicine and in the fall of 1897 entered the medical department of the Iowa State Medical College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1901. During his period as a student, he had shown unusual adaptation for the profession so that he was made demonstrator of pathology and assistant demonstrator of anatomy, while to increase his efficiency as a practitioner he took a special course in bacteriology, so that he is now able to perform his own work in that department of his profession, a thing which few physicians are able to do. Immediately after his graduation Dr. Puleston opened an office in Monticello, making it one of the most complete in the county, for he intended building tip a large practice. The years have proved that his ambitions have not failed of realization. His record at the college and the fact that he was made intern, in the hospital during the last year of his work there, gave people confidence in his ability from the start, while his personality, his thoroughness, his ready sympathy and his skill in handling the cases brought to him, have won their increased regard. He makes a specialty of treating the ear, nose and throat, and of skin and nervous diseases, but he is also engaged in the general practice of medicine.

In 1895, Dr. Puleston returned to England from the African jungle to marry Miss Sarah Mosely Davis, of Manchester, England, who accompanied him when he went back to his work on the dark continent and then to America. Since he has become a resident of this state, Dr. Puleston has allied himself with the Iowa Legion of Honor and with the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias, while he, keeps abreast with the advances made in his profession through Ills membership in the Jones County Medical Society and in the Iowa State Medical Society. Highly cultured of broad interests and of wide experience, not only is he able to assist all those who entrust their physical well being to his care, but socially he is a great addition to the town.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 261.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 631.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 632, and submitted by Mary Kay Kuhfittig.