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Biographical History of Cherokee County, Iowa
W. S. Dunbar & Co., Chigago - 1889

[page 552-553]

    JOHN SPANTON, of Cedar Township, is one of the pioneer settlers of
    the State of Iowa, and has been identified with the interests of
    Cherokee County since 1872.  He was born in Yorkshire, England, June
    11, 1832, and is a son of JOHN and ANNA (SIMPKINS) SPANTON, natives
    of Yorkshire.  JOHN, Jr., was the youngest of seven children, and
    was reared to the life of a farmer, receiving his education in the
    common schools.  His parents died in Yorkshire.  At the age of nine-
    teen years he determined to see for himself all the wonders of the
    New World, and to find the fortune it might hold for him.  Accordingly
    he bade adieu to his native land, and sailed for America.  He located
    near Racine, Wisconsin, and engaged in farm work.  Later he went to La
    Porte County, Indiana, and in 1856 he came to Iowa, settling in Linn
    County, near Marion, where he lived until the breaking out of the
    great Rebellion.  He enlisted in August, 1861, in Company K, Ninth
    Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served three years and nine months. He
    participated in the battle of Pea Ridge, the expedition up the Yazoo
    River, Jackson, Mississippi, the siege of Vicksburg until the sur-
    render; he then returned to Jackson, Mississippi, and was in the
    battles at Chattanooga, Big Shanty, Missionary Ridge, Lookout Moun-
    tain, and was with General SHERMAN from Atlanta to the sea; he marched
    through the Carolinas, and attended the grand review at Washington,
    District of Columbia.  He has lost the sight of one eye from disease
    contracted while in the service.  Mr. SPANTON was married in Linn
    County, Iowa, December 20, 1868, to Miss NANCY ANN BECKNER, a daughter
    of JOHN and ELIZABETH (MENTZER) BECKNER.  She was born in Holmes
    County, Ohio, and at five years of age was brought to the Territory
    of Iowa, where her parents were early settlers.  JOHN and ELIZABETH
    BECKNER were natives of the State of Pennsylvania.  Mr. SPANTON'S
    farm in Cedar Township consists of 120 acres which is well improved;
    he has a substantial dwelling, a good barn, and has twelve acres of
    fine grove.  His family consists of three children: FRANK, born June
    5, 1871; HARRY, born March 24, 1874; and BELLE, born October 6, 1876.
    Mr. SPANTON affiliates with the Republican party.  He is a member of
    the General Custer Post, No. 25, G.A.R.  Frank and cordial in his
    disposition, he has gained a host of friends in the county.


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