John W. Downie. In
connection with the various personal sketches
appearing in this history it is most pleasing to note
the large percentage of native sons of Clayton county
who have here been born and reared under the sturdy
discipline of the farm, who have continued to pay
loyal allegiance to the fundamental art and industry
of agriculture, and who stand forth as substantial
farmers and stockgrowers of this opulent section of
the Hawkeye State. Such an one is Mr. Downie, who is
a representative of a well known and highly esteemed
family of this county and whose prestige as a farmer
bases its claims on his ownership and individual
management of a fine landed estate of 212 acres in
Boardman township, the improvements on the place and
its general air of thrift making it one of the model
farms of the county.
On the homestead farm which
is now his place of abode John W. Downie was born on
the 2d of February, 1878, and he is a son of John and
Ruth (Williams) Downie, the former of whom was born
in the Dominion of Canada, of staunch Scottish
lineage, and the latter of whom was born at Lockport,
New York. John Downie was a man of strong
intellectual powers and of mature judgment, with
energy and resourcefulness in connection with
business and imbued with those sterling attributes of
character that ever beget objective confidence and
good will. In his youth he became skilled as a
surveyor and upon coming to Clayton county, Iowa,
about the year 1841, he not only found much demand
for his interposition along this important line of
civil engineering work, but also made judicious
investments in land, with the result that he
eventually accumulated the large and valuable estate
now represented in the fine farm owned and operated
by his son John W., of this review.
On his farm he lived in
peace and plenty until the close of his life, his
death having occurred in 1884. The only child of his
first marriage was Henry R., who was a resident of
Boardman township at the time of his death, when
about 55 years of age. John Downie exemplified in his
career the sturdy integrity and the business sagacity
so typical of those of Scottish ancestry, and no
citizen of Clayton county had more secure place in
popular confidence and esteem. His political support
was given to the Republican party and as a citizen he
was well qualified for not a little of leadership in
popular sentiment and enterprise.
Mrs. Ruth (Williams) Downie
long survived her honored husband and was 70 years of
age at the time of her death, which occurred on the
12th of March, 1903, on the old homestead farm which
had long been her place of residence, and which was
endeared to her by many hallowed memories and
associations. Of the five children the eldest is
Lillian, who is the wife of Samuel D. Bergerson, of
Berien Springs, Michigan; Rose was 39 years of age at
the time of her death in 1903; Warren W. is now a
resident of Harrington, Washington; Ray H. resides at
Davenport, that state; and John W., of this review,
is the youngest of the children as well as the only
representative of the immediate family in Clayton
county.
To the public schools of
this county John W. Downie is indebted for his early
education, and he remained on the home farm until
after the death of his mother and his sister Rose,
both of whom passed away in the year 1903, as noted
in the preceding paragraph. Thereafter he completed
an effective course in a business college at La
Crosse, Wisconsin, in which he was graduated as a
member of the class of 1906, and soon afterward he
assumed personal charge of the fine old homestead
farm, to the supervision of which he has since
devoted himself with marked efficiency and
progressiveness, with the result that he stands forth
as one of the essentially representative
agriculturists and stock raisers of his native
county, with secure place as a loyal and liberal
citizen who merits the unqualified esteem in which he
is uniformly held.
Mr. Downie pays unfaltering
allegiance to the Republican party and is zealous in
support of its cause, though he has never manifested
aught of ambition for public office. Both he and his
wife attend the Congregational church and are popular
factors in the representative social life of the
community; the while their attractive home is known
for its generous hospitality and good cheer.
On the 7th of March, 1907,
was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Downie to Miss
Leona Hulverson, who likewise was born and reared in
this county and who is a daughter of Lars L, and
Isabel (Thompson) Hulverson, honored citizens of
Boardman township. Mr. and Mrs. Downie have a winsome
little daughter, Marjorie Lillian, who was born on
the 5th of November, 1912.
source: History of
Clayton County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical
Times Down to the Present; by Realto E. Price,
Vol. II, 1916; pg. 94-96
-OCR scanned by S. Ferrall
