A Biographical Record of Boone County, Iowa - 1902 - I

Boone County >> 1902 Index

A Biographical Record of Boone County, Iowa. 
Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1902.

I


Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Dick Barton.

JOHN IVIS

Ireland has furnished to America many men who have become valued citizens of the locality in which they have cast their lot. Such a one was John Ivis, who for a number of years was an esteemed resident of Boone. He was born on the Emerald isle, his birth having occurred in the county of Cork on the 24th of June, 1825. When he was about twenty- one years of age he came to the United States. He had previously acquired a good education in the common schools and believing that he might have better business advantages in the new world he determined to cross the Atlantic. Landing at New York, he spent some time there and afterward removed to Alabama, locating in the city of Mobile, where he was employed in a hardware store as a clerk. He afterward owned a dray line and was engaged in that business for a number of years, meeting with good success. Subsequently he crossed the Mississippi river, making his way north to Iowa. This was about 1856, and he located in Lyons, Clinton county, where he engaged in business as a dealer in live stock. He afterward purchased a farm in that county and cultivated it for a time, but subsequently sold it and bought a farm at Center Grove, Clinton county, upon which he lived for a number of years, engaged in the cultivation of the grains best adapted to the soil and climate, also giving some attention to stock-raising. In 1872 he removed to Boone county and purchased a farm in Jackson township, comprising an entire section of land, which continued to be his home until 1889, when he removed to the city of Boone, where he lived a retired life until called to his final rest. He was a very progressive and enterprising farmer, kept his fields under a high state of cultivation and everything about his place was characterized by neatness and thrift. As the years passed his indefatigable labors and careful management brought to him a very desirable competence and enabled him in his declining years to enjoy a well merited retirement from labor.

In 1853 Mr. Ivis was united in marriage to Hannah Buckley, who was born in County Cork, Ireland, and came to the United States about 1851. Their marriage was celebrated in Mobile, Alabama, and was blessed with seven children, five of whom are yet living. Ellen, the eldest, died at Mobile, at the age of eighteen months, while William died at the age of eight years. Mary, the wife of John Rock, resides in Pueblo, Colorado, where her husband is employed as a car repairer. She had previously married Bartholemew Sweeney and by that marriage had one son, who was named for his father. Annie is the wife of John Griffin, a merchant of Harrison township at Griffin postoffice, where he is serving as postmaster. They had seven children: Gertrude, now deceased; Leo; William; Bessie; Morris; one that died in infancy; and Joseph. John, who resides in Boone, is a carpenter and contractor. He married Ellen McKone and they have three children, Arthur, Cleo and Gertrude. Dennis, a farmer residing in Jackson township, Boone county, wedded Kate Menton and they have four children, Mary, John, Irene and Eleanor. Kate, the youngest of the family, is at home. All of the living children were born in Clinton county, Iowa, and the two deceased were born in Mobile, Alabama.

Mr. Ivis died August 30, 1895, at his home in Boone, and was laid to rest in Boone cemetery. In politics he was a Democrat, but he never sought or desired office, although he was a public-spirited citizen and advocated every cause tending to promote the general welfare of the community in which he lived. He held membership in the Catholic church and by all who knew him was esteemed as an upright citizen. In all his business affairs he was reliable and trustworthy and through the years of his manhood he gained many friends by reason of his genuine worth. His widow still resides at No. 1118 Marshall street in Boone, where she has a pleasant home, and there her many friends delight to gather. The family is one well known in Boone.