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John Hutchinson

John Hutchison, a lawyer of Brush Creek, is one of the Scotch-American citizens of Iowa. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, January 2, 1837, and his parents, William and Janet (Hamilton) Hutchison, were also natives of the same country, where they spent their entire lives, the father dying at the age of seventy-three years, and his wife reaching the advanced age of eighty-four. In their family were thirteen children, eleven of whom grew to mature years, but only two of this number crossed the water to America - John and William. The latter came to the United States in 1850, and is now engaged in wagon making in Richland Center, Wis. He married and his daughter Jessie is a practicing attorney.

With one exception, our subject was the youngest of the family. His advantages in youth were very limited. Only until eleven years of age did he have the opportunity of attending school and it proved a great trial to the studious lad who would spend his nights poring over his books. In later years he read extensively, thus counteracting the defects of his youth and adding to his store of knowledge until he is now a well-informed man. His business education was acquired in a grocery store where he was employed from the age of eleven to nineteen years. At length he determined to try his fortune in the New World, where he believed a young man could better advance in life than in the older countries, so, bidding good-by to home and friends, he embarked for New York. On reaching that metropolis, he at once resumed his journey by land and traveled westward until he arrived at Belleville, Mich., where in his brother's shop he learned the trade of carriage and wagon making. Nine years he spent in that State and in 1865 came to Fayette County, Iowa, and built a house for Z. G. Allen. In the autumn of that year he opened a wagon shop in Taylorville, where he carried on business until 1875, when he sold out and came to Brush Creek. Here he again built a shop but has devoted much less of his attention to that business than formerly. For some six years he read law and was admitted to the bar in 1877, since which time he has engaged in the practice of the legal profession.

On the 14th of December, 1859, Mr. Hutchison was joined in wedlock with Miss Martha M. Lickiss, the marriage being celebrated in Belleville, Mich. The lady, who was born in that State, is a daughter of John and Maria (Webster) Lickiss, natives of England, who when young came to the United States. Unto them have been born seven children - Minnetta I., wife of W. H. Thompson, an attorney-at-law of Grand Island, Neb.; Jennie M., wife of E. C. Ecker who resides in Burlington, Iowa; Byron, who is operating a creamery in Madison, Neb.; Mary G., wife of W. H. Walrath; Robert R., a printer; Orson R. and Frank E.

Mr. Hutchison identified himself with the Republican party until Hayes' administration, since which time he has supported the Greenback movement. For ten years he served as Justice of the Peace and in 1878 was elected on the Greenback ticket as Recorder of Deeds, the first Republican defeat in the county. He was a leading spirit in securing the town organization of Brush Creek, was elected its first Mayor, was prominent in the organization of the Brush Creek Fair Association and was its first secretary, a position which he is now also filling. In November, 1890, he was nominated on the Democratic ticket for County Attorney and made a strong race. Socially, he is a Mason and a Woodman. Mr. Hutchison is now doing a general law business, having practiced with success for fourteen years and is a man of much natural ability. His official positions he has filled with honor to himself and constituents, and his public and private life have alike won for him the regard of friends and acquaintances.