Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Biographical History of Cherokee County, Iowa W. S. Dunbar & Co., Chigago - 1889 [page 425-426] JOHN M. STARBUCK, proprietor of the Cherokee Brick and Tile Works, one of the largest concerns in the entire State of Iowa, is the subject of this biographical notice. This plant was at first started near the Fountain House and magnetic well in 1874, but two years later it was removed to its present site. A full description of these works may be found in the city history of Cherokee. Mr. STARBUCK has come to be widely known throughout Northwestern Iowa, and to acquaint the reader with his earlier career the following facts have been learned from our subject. He was born in Logan County, Ohio, near West LIberty, October 24, 1840, and is the sec- ond son and fourth child of JOSEPH and REBECCA (LUPTON) STARBUCK. The parents died when JOHN M. was four years of age, and he then went to live with his uncle, WILLIAM LUPTON, with whom he remained until he was thirteen years old. He then started out in life to battle for himself, and his journey has been a successful one. He enjoyed only limited educational advantages, and after leaving school went to learn the trade of a brick-mason and stone-cutter. In a short time he abandoned this, and concluded he would learn the jeweler's trade, but it was not long until he tired of indoor work and returned to his former trade. He soon drifted west to Jay County, Indiana, and afterward lived in Fort Wayne and Camden, Indiana. His next move was to Fulton County, Illinois, where he engaged in work at his trade. In 1856 he came to Linn County, Iowa, and stopped there but a short time before he went to Wisconsin, where he resided eighteen months. He then returned to Iowa and built a stone mill on the Wapsa. In 1861 Mr. STARBUCK was married to MISS HATTIE E. WIGGINS, of Waubeek, Iowa, a daughter of GEORGE W. and HATTIE WIGGINS; she was born in New Hampshire. In 1862 our subject became a member of Company A, Twent- ieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and was sent to the State of Mississ- ippi; he belonged to the Thirteenth Army Corps, and took part in the following battles: The siege of Vicksburg, including its final fall, Yazoo City, Port Hudson, New Orleans, and Brownsville, on the Rio Grande River. He then returned to New Orleans, and thence up the White River, where he participated in numerous engagements; he was at Fort Powell and Fort Gaines; afterward went to Florida, and was at the capture of Mobile. On July 8, 1865, he was mustered out of the service, and in 1865 he came to Cherokee, Iowa, and engaged in the manufacture of brick, as above stated; this has grown to be a large and profitable business, the pay-roll of the establishment amounting to about $4,000 monthly. Politically Mr. STARBUCK is an adherent to the principles of the Republican party. He belongs to Custer Post, No. 25, G.A.R. at Cherokee, Iowa. ===========================================================================