WI LLIAM CATTRON, a pioneer merchant of Delaware county, and one of
that county's most highly esteemed citizens, is a native of Washington county,
Ind., but a descendant of Southern-born parents, his father, Valentine Cattron, and his mother, Frances Bohannon, both having
been born and reared in Tennessee. They moved to Indiana at an early date, and there died,
the mother in 1829, at the age of forty-five, and the father in 1839, at the
age of sixty. They passed all their years in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture,
leading the industrious, useful lives common to their calling. In the family to
which the subject of this notice belonged, there were nine children, of whom he
was the sixth, the full list being—-Hezekiah, Thomas, Polly, James, John A. G.,
William, Samuel, Wesley and Nelson. William Cattron
was born October 24, 1823. His parents resided in Washington county
only a year after his birth. They moved in 1824 to Fountain county, the family
residing there ten years, after which it moved to La Porte county.
The earlier years, therefore, of the subject of this notice were passed in the
two last named counties. He grew up on his father's farm, and led the life of
the average farmer's son. He received only a meager common-school education,
getting what little school training fell to his lot during the three winter
months' session of the district schools, which were taught in the log
school-houses of the olden times. By the death of his last surviving parent,
his father, which occurred in 1839, he was thrown upon the world at the age of
seventeen, to make his fortunes in whatever way fate might determine for him.
Having been reared on the farm, he naturally stuck to farming pursuits,
residing at first with his brothers, dividing labor and profits with them, and
afterwards in 1843 marrying and settling down to himself, and pursuing his
calling alone. He followed farming up to 1850, when on account of a failure of
health he decided to give up agriculture and seek other employment. He was
variously engaged for three or four years, and then came the change that made
him a citizen of Iowa, he like others had heard many glowing accounts of the
advantages that the then newly opened trans-Mississippi country of the
Northwest was offering to young men of energy and industry, and with a view of
bettering his condition he joined the great tide of emigration that was
steadily rolling on towards the West, and in the spring of 1854, came to Iowa,
locating in May of that year in Delaware county. He made his first stop in what
is now Elk township, opening, the following year, a
store where the present town of Greeley stands. He was one of the first
merchants in the county. The country was then but sparsely settled and there
were no towns of any consequence in the county. The temporary seat of justice
was at Delhi, Manchester not then having been thought of.
The place where Mr. Cattron settled was then called
Plum Spring. He continued there till 1860, moving then to Earlville, where he
was engaged in the mercantile and produce business
till 1863. The village of Manchester having been started, he cast his fortunes
with that place in the fall of 1863, moving there and embarking in the grain
and elevator business. A few years afterwards he gave up this and again taking
up mercantile pursuits has since continued in them, being now the junior member
of the firm of Goodell & Cattron.
Mr. Cattron's life has been devoted wholly to
business, and it is proper in this connection to say that he has met with the
success which for his patient industry, close application and fair dealing he
has well deserved. It is no exaggeration of the facts to record that during the
thirty-five years that he has been engaged in the mercantile business in
Delaware county, he has sold thousands and thousands
of dollars' worth of goods, having supplied many homes in this county with the
necessaries, comforts and luxuries of life. He has always enjoyed a good patronage,
and the heavy invoices of staple and fancy merchandise that line the counters
and fill the shelves of his handsome two-story brick store on Franklin street,
are some evidence of the business which goes on in his house, as well as a
splendid commentary upon the neatness, order, skill and taste that prevail
there, Mr. Cattron continues to give his daily
personal attention to the affairs of his store, and he is probably as well
posted on the details of the business as any clerk he employs. With that
knowledge of himself—his own special tastes, aptitudes and abilities—which
unhappily all men do not possess in the same degree, he has limited his
aspirations of every nature to the possibilities of his endowments. Knowing
himself to be best fitted for a plain, practical man of business, he has
allowed no pursuits or diversions of a conflicting nature to interfere with his
development of himself and his interests along this line to the highest point
of attainment possible with his surroundings. This biography, therefore, is
not to be marred in the interest it may possess for the casual reader, neither
will the subject of it nor his descendants be embarrassed by any recitals
herein of attempted strivings for the unattainable; no failures, political or
otherwise. It is the plain record of an unassuming citizen, who conscious as
well of what he is not, as of what he is, has plied his utmost sense and the
full measure of his strength to labors of diligence, bettering his own
condition and the condition of those around him. Of necessity he has been
called to fill the usual number of minor offices in connection with the
administration of local affairs, and the duties of these offices he has discharged
.with the same unflagging interest, and the same marked success with which he
has met his own personal obligations. In politics Mr. Cattron
is a republican, a man of good general information on matters of public
interest, and one who possesses pronounced opinions, political and otherwise.
April 9, 1843, Mr. Cattron
married Miss Judith Eaheart, who was born August
15, 1824,
being at the time of her marriage a resident of La Porte county, Ind. The fruit of this union has been
four children —three daughters, Mary, Emily and Eva, and one son, Thomas, now
deceased. Mr. Cattron and his family are members of the
Methodist church, zealous in all church work and liberal contributors to charity.
Mrs. Cattron is a daughter of Wm. and Sarah (Clark) Eaheart,
natives of Virginia, where she was also born. From Virginia the family moved to Michigan, from Michigan to Indiana, where the father died. The mother
died while on a visit to her daughter in Manchester, Iowa. Both are buried in New Durham township,
La
Porte county, Ind. The mother was a sincere member of
the Baptist church.
Grandmother
Elizabeth (McKinsie) Clark, when only nine years of
age, was captured by the Indians in Virginia, and was to be burnt for helping a
white prisoner escape, but the old chief, who had adopted her, prevented her
death. She lived among the Indians until she was twenty-three years old, when
she married Alexander Clark, and when discovered by her parents was his wife, living
in Detroit. When he died she went to her parents in Virginia, but died in La Porte, Ind., about the year 1835, at an extreme
old age, having been an invalid for seventeen years. She was well taken care
of by her children, and they did all to make her old age comfortable. Mrs. Cattron's ancestry, as will be seen by the foregoing, dates
back to the early pioneers of Virginia.
Back
to Biographies
Back to Main Page
Back to Iowa AHGP
Back to AHGP