John R. JAMISON, b. 1832
John K. Jamison, one of the active and progressive farmers and sheep-raisers of Mahaska
county, owns and operates a neat and valuable
farm of two hundred acres within three miles
of Oskaloosa. It is situated on sections 28 and
29, Spring Creek township, and here he conducts his business along progressive lines of
farming, so that his success is well merited. He
has been a resident of Mahaska county since
1858 and was born in Canada near the city of
Toronto, February 13, 1832. His parents were
Andrew and Mary Jane Jamison, natives of
Ireland, who in 1824 removed to Canada. After remaining there for a short time they went
to Harrison county, Ohio, about 1835, and in
that locality John R. Jamison was reared, assisting his father in farm work. He also attended the common schools, but the advantages
of education were very meagre as compared
with the methods of instruction at the present
time.
John R. Jamison remained at home until his
twenty-fifth year, when he rented land and
began farming on his own account. As a companion and helpmate for life's journey, he chose
Miss Sarah Welling, to whom he was married
on the 14th of August, 1856, a daughter of
John Welling, a native of Ohio. Mr. Jamison
farmed in that state for two years after is marriage.
He then invested his savings in sheep
and in connection with Mr. John Milliken
purchased six hundred ewe sheep, which he drove
across the country to Iowa, making his way to
Prairie township, this county. There they
camped and corralled their sheep and later
Mrs. Jamison joined her husband there,
making the journey by rail to Iowa. He engaged
exclusively in the sheep business for eight years
meeting with success, and when the
government compelled him to give up his prairie
grazing, he purchased one hundred and
fifteen acres of land, which is now a part
of the home place
in Spring Creek township, Mahaska county.
Here he has continued in sheep-raising in
connection with general farming, and has enlarged
the boundaries of his place by an additional
purchase of eighty acres. He has improved his
land, bringing it under a state of rich fertility
and he has added to the house and built good barns and outbuildings until he now has
a neat and attractive home as well as a valuable farm.
He still continues in the sheep industry and
has done much for improvement in breeding.
He now raises only registered grades of the
improved American Merino sheep, and his efforts
in this direction have been of material benefit to
the county, doing much to improve the grade
of sheep raised and thus advance the price.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Jamison have been born
ten children, of whom six are now living. They
lost three in infancy, while James C. passed
away at the age of seventeen years. Those who
still survive are: Jessie, at home; Fred, who is
married and lives in Nodaway county, Missouri;
John, who is married and makes his home in
Beliville, Republic county, Kansas; Dane, who
operates the farm for his father, although living
in a separate house, and who married Laura
Cruzen, a daughter of Harvey Cruzen, of the
township, by whom he has seven children;
Hazel, Bert, Frank, James, Marie, Majorie and
Clarence; Bert, the next member of the father's
family, is married and lives in Oskaloosa;
Sadie, young lady at home.
Mrs. Jamison and her family attend and are
members of the First Presbyterian church of
Oskaloosa. Politically Mr. Jamison is a lifelong
republican and cast his first vote for John
C. Fremont, since which time he has supported
each nominee of the republican party. He has
been a school director and treasurer for some
years, but has never sought for office nor cared
for notoriety, preferring to give his time to his
home and business. He has witnessed much of
the upbuilding of Mahaska county and its development along along lines of modern improvement
until there is no trace left of pioneer conditions, but on
the contrary every evidence of an advanced civilization is here seen.
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from Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa by Manoah Hedge
The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1906
Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy
Iowa Genealogy
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