JOHN H. LANDERS

LANDERS

Posted By: Jake Tornholm (email)
Date: 4/23/2020 at 14:11:34

JOHN H. LANDERS resides on section 26, where he has a farm of 160 acres, comprising the northwest quarter of this section. He has owned this land since the spring of 1883, and has been a resident of the county since the fall of 1882, at which time he settled in Corning. He was born in Adams county, Illinois, in 1840, but grew to manhood in LaSalle and Bureau counties. His father was John Landers, who emigrated from Canada with teams, in 1839, and settled in Adams county, Illinois. The following spring he removed to Knox county, where the family resided seven years, and after other moves finally settled near the present city of Rochelle, in 1853. There he located on Government land, and made a home for himself and family, and there lived till 1867, when he removed to Montgomery county, Iowa, and now resides at Lamoni, Iowa. He has attained the advanced age of ninety-seven years, having been born in 1794. His father, the paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a resident of the colony of New York when the Revolutionary war began. He enlisted in the Continental army and served seven years in that struggle. After the war he settled in Canada. John Landers was a resident of Canada when the war of 1812 broke out, and was drafted into the British army; but all his sympathies were on the side of the Americans, his father having fought for liberty in the war of the Revolution. He therefore deserted the British army, and served in the pioneer corps in the United States service, in which he received a severe gunshot wound. After the war he returned to Canada and was arrested as a deserter; but in consideration of his youth and the fact that the war was over, he was spared the extreme penalty of the law for desertion, and sentenced to seven years in the British service; but owing to an order for the decrease of the Canadian army, his regiment was disbanded at St. Johns, New Brunswick.

He married in Nova Scotia a Miss Griffin, by whom he had two children, a son and a daughter. The former was killed after he had attained manhood by falling from the mast-head of a vessel at sea. The latter is now a resident of Harrison county, Iowa, the wife of Wm. Small.

Mr. Landers, Sr., was married the second time near Prescott, Canada. This union was blessed with nine children, only three of whom are living, among then the subject of this notice. In order of birth they are: Catherine, wife of Charles Stedman; Alexander, a resident of Washington county, Kansas, the subject of this notice being the youngest of the three survivors. All of the family but two attained to mature years. The mother is still living, being eleven years the junior of her husband. Henry, the youngest son, served in Battery G, Second Illinois Artillery, and died after the war from disease contracted in the service. His parents have received a pension for his services in the cause of the Union.

John H. enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and Fortieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served 130 days in Tennessee, Alabama and Missouri. He returned to Illinois, where he resided until spring, 1869, when he came to Montgomery county and purchased land in Pilot Grove township, which he improved and on which he lived five years. He purchased and improved a farm of 160 acres near Red Oak. He then removed to Villisca, where he purchased a hotel, which he ran for a time, when he engaged in the livery and stock business. He then bought a farm in West township, Montgomery county, of 160 acres, which he sold. He next purchased a farm in the northern part of Page county and came to Corning in the fall of 1880. Mr. Landers is engaged in general stock business, buying, breeding and shipping.

He was married in Rochelle, Illinois, in June, 1867, to Miss Margaret Ann Swartz, a native of Canada. Her parents are William and Eunice Swartz. They have nine children, five sons and four daughters. They lost their oldest at the age of six years.