Hon. John F. Dayton
There is scarcely a phase of legitimate activity in Allamakee
county in which Hon. John F. Dayton is not successful and
prominent and to the advancement of which he has not by his
ability, industry and enterprise made substantial contributions.
He is one of the county’s political leaders, an able and
successful member of the bar, a force in the development of the
fruit growing industry and each year of his activity since he
came to Waukon in 1873 has witnessed his growing prominence in
all of these fields of endeavor.
Mr. Dayton was born in Saratoga county, New York, January 10,
1849, and is a son of Dr. Simon N. and Lydia (Houghton) Dayton,
natives of New York. Dr. Dayton spent his youth and early manhood
in that state and afterward moved to Illinois, locating in
Rockford, where he engaged in the general practice of medicine
until 1890, when he returned to New York and located in Corinth,
where he spent the last years of his life, dying there in the
fall of 1899. His wife survived him only a few months, passing
away in February, 1900.
John F. Dayton grew to manhood in Rockford, Illinois, and
acquired his education in the public schools, graduating from the
Rockford high school with the class of 1867. He was afterward a
student of Beloit College for three years and when he left that
institution read law in Rockford. In 1873 he came to Iowa and
settled in Waukon, where he was admitted to the bar. In the same
year he formed a partnership with his uncle, Hon. Henry Dayton,
and their association has continued since that time, the firm
being today one of the strongest in the county, connected through
its patronage with much important litigation. Mr. Dayton served
as county attorney for two years and in public life proved as
able, far-sighted and progressive as he is in the private
practice of his profession.
Aside from his work in the general practice of law Mr. Dayton is
also well known in Allamakee county as an extensive fruit grower.
In 1878 he planted almost forty acres of land in grapes,
strawberries and raspberries and later added a nursery, where he
specializes in raising apple trees and others bearing the hardy
fruits. He issues an annual catalogue and does a large mail order
business, shipping his products by express and freight. He owns a
neat and well improved property of sixty acres, just outside and
corporate limits of Waukon, and is numbered among the successful
farmers and business men of the locality.
On the 14th of October, 1875, Mr. Dayton was united in marriage,
in Rockford, Illinois, to Miss Laura Hewitt, born and reared in
that city, a daughter of John Hewitt, a pioneer of Winnebago
county, who settled in that section in 1833.
Eminently public-spirited and progressive in citizenship, Mr.
Dayton has since taking up his residence in Iowa been
continuously identified with public life in the state and is an
active and able politician. He was the first mayor of Waukon,
giving to the city a constructive, efficient and businesslike
administration, and he was afterward elected to the state
legislature, serving in the twenty-second, twenty-third and
twenty-fourth general assemblies. During his term of office he
was connected with much constructive legislation, his vote and
influence being always on the side of right, reform and progress.
He was a member of a number of important committees, including
the committee on railroads and commerce, and so efficient,
far-sighted and businesslike was his work that he was named as
the democratic candidate for speaker of the house in the
twenty-fourth general assembly. His public career has been varied
in service and faultless in honor and the work he has
accomplished in the interest of the community is destined to find
a place in its history. Fraternally he is connected with the
Knights of Pythias and has served through all the chairs of that
organization, being now past chancellor. He is also a member of
the Modern Woodmen of America and is one of the most popular men
in Waukon, known to his personal friends as “Frank.” In
all respects his life has been exemplary and useful-the life of
an upright, honorable and straightforward man and a progressive
and public-spirited citizen.
-source: Past & Present of Allamakee County; by
Ellery M. Hancock; S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.; 1913
-transcribed by Diana Diedrich
Return to 1913 biographies index