 |
|
 |
|
J[ames]. F. TRAER, cashier of the Vinton Savings Bank, was born April 30, 1867, at his present residence, at the corner of Whipple and Beckett streets; this place, one of the landmarks of the town, was occupied by his father for forty years and by his mother for fifty years. The parents, J. C. and Marcia (Ferguson) Traer, were both natives of Ohio, married in Linn county, in 1849. They came to Vinton in August, 1851, where J. C. Traer practised medicine and law for forty years. He organized the first bank in Ben-ton county, a private enterprise, and was associated with a number of men in business, among them Greene Brothers, of Cedar Rapids. After doing business in Vinton some twenty-six years, the bank was liquidated. Mr. Traer took an active interest in politics all his life, and was a member of the Constitutional convention of Iowa, in 1857. In early days in Vinton he served as postmaster, also as district clerk. Under the administration of President Harrison he again served as postmaster of Vinton. He was well known throughout the region, and was a prominent and influential man of affairs. He and his wife were Presbyterians, she being one of the charter members of the church of Vinton, two only of whom survive. J. C. Traer died July 1, 1898, in his seventy-third year, and his widow died May 18, 1906, in her seventy-ninth year. They were parents of eight children, all born in Vinton, namely: William M., now of Chicago; Florence, wife of L. Perrine, of Chariton, Iowa; George E., of California; Glenn W., in coal business in Chicago, of the firm of the Illinois Colliers Company; Jessie F., died about twenty-two years ago, at the age of twenty-four years; Mary, married W. J. Rammage, of Cedar Rapids, and died in 1895; James F., Clifford A., of the state of Washington.
James F. Traer was reared in Vinton, and graduated from the High School, after which he read law with his father, and was admitted to the bar in 1888, at the age of twenty-one years. After spending several years in the practice of his profession, and five years in the abstract office with Mr. Knapp, he accepted his present position in the Vinton Savings Bank. He has proven his fitness and ability for a position of trust, and is universally esteemed and respected. Mr. Traer has taken a fairly active part in local polities, and like his father before him, served the interests of the Republican party. He is a member of the Presbyterian church.
Mr. Traer married (first) Jennie, daughter of W. B. Van Horn, who died June 1, 1905; her family were early residents of Benton county. Mr. Traer married (second) Esther, daughter of Judge Kinne, late of the State Board of Control; he died some three years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Traer have one child, James Kinne, born August 20, 1909.
 |
