My Genealogy Hound

John K. Ewing, the efficient postmaster of Shannon City, and one of the popular residents of the town, with many friends whose esteem he has won and retained during the long years of his residence here, has made his home in the county since 1878. He was born in Madison township, Perry county, Pennsylvania, October 30, 1843, a son of Clark Ewing, who in 1845 removed with his family to Illinois, settling in LaSalle county, where he died in 1851.

John K. Ewing was reared in Magnolia, Illinois, and pursued his education in the district and graded schools. He was not yet eighteen years of age when, in response to his country’s call for troops, he enlisted in June, 1861, joining Company A, First Illinois Cavalry. He participated in the battle of Lexington, Missouri, where he was wounded, being shot through the left knee, while he also had a horse shot from under him. This company furnished their own horses and were paid fifty cents per day. It was so expensive they were disbanded in July, 1862, and on the 14th of August, 1862, Mr. Ewing became a member of Company F, One Hundred and Fourth Illinois Infantry, with which he served until the close of the war. He was seriously wounded at Chickamauga and left on the field for dead. A tree cut off by artillery fell over him, and supposing that life was extinct his comrades did not bear him from the field until sometime later. He was permanently disabled and was sent to the field hospital at Chattanooga, but he could not content himself to remain there and made his escape, rejoining his regiment in time to participate in the battle of Kenesaw Mountain. He took part in the battles of Thomkinsville, Hartsville, Elk River and Tallahoma. He was ordered back to Chattanooga and was detailed as clerk in the office of the chief of ordinance for the Army of the Cumberland, remaining in that service until the spring of 1865. He was then sent to Goldsboro, North Carolina, for clerical work and wrote seven copies of the official statement of the assassination of President Lincoln. When the war was over he was mustered out at Washington, D. C., and was honorably discharged at Chicago in June, 1865, having served for four years, lacking one month. He had scarcely more than attained his majority when the war was over but the experience of army life was a school of rapid development and he, who went to the front as a boy with limited experience, returned as a man tested in the school of war and learning there many valuable lessons of life.

Feeling that his mental discipline was insufficient, he made arrangements for continuing his education, becoming a student in Magnolia Academy, of Illinois. Later he attended Bryant & Stratton’s commercial college in Chicago and thus qualified for life’s practical and responsible duties.

Mr. Ewing made arrangements for having a home of his own by his marriage on the 18th of February, 1869, to Miss Amelia E. Alexander, a native of Illinois, who was born and reared at Magnolia. Unto them were born seven children: Mabel, now the wife of William Wolf, of Pendleton, Oregon; Herbert Clark, who died on his twenty-fifth birthday; Milo, a resident of Shannon City; Rose, the wife of George Edward, of Shannon City; Arthur L., who is married and lives in Omaha, Nebraska; Avis and Fred A., both at home, the latter now serving as assistant
postmaster.

Mr. and Mrs. Ewing began their domestic life upon a farm and for three years Mr. Ewing engaged in agricultural pursuits in Putnam and Livingston counties, Illinois. He then removed to Streator, that state, where he engaged in merchandising from 1872 until 1878. In the latter year he sold out and came to Iowa, where he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, purchasing a tract of raw prairie in Grant township, Union county. For ten years he carried on general farming and in 1888 accepted a position in Shannon City with the St. Paul & Kansas City Grain Company, whom he represented as grain buyer for two years following the building of the railroad through the town. In the fall of 1888 he also began dealing in coal in Shannon City and in the spring of 1889 he established a lumberyard, continuing in that department of business until the spring of 1895 in connection with his son-in-law, Mr. Wolf.

Mr. Ewing has taken a very active and prominent part in public affairs, being mayor of Shannon City for four terms, and serving either as a member of the council or as mayor from the time the town was started until the spring of 1908. He has also been a member of the school board most of that time and is now filling the position of postmaster. He has been a life-long republican, casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln and supporting every presidential nominee of the party since that time. He is senior past commander of Henry Damon Post, No. 473, G. A. R.; the present deputy grand of the Knights of Pythias lodge; and is trustee and steward of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is regarded as one of the progressive business men and enterprising citizens of the community. He possesses keen discrimination in his business affairs, together with marked energy, and in social life his genial nature and unfailing courtesy have gained him the high regard of those with whom he has been brought in contact.