William N. Dearborn was educated in the public schools of Anamosa but did not graduate. Ambitious to engage in business on his own account, at the age of nineteen years he began learning the stone cutter's trade in his father's quarry and was thus employed until he attained his majority, when he was admitted to a partnership by his father, his brother, H. F. Dearborn, being also a member of the firm. They successfully engaged in quarrying and selling stone and are still in business. In 1903 under the firm name of H. Dearborn's Sons, Mr. Dearborn became associated with M. S. Jackson of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in a general contracting business. This firm now maintains offices in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, Iowa, and are among the foremost building and paving contractors of this part of the state. They have recently completed a large paving contract at Cedar Rapids and also sewer contracts at that place and at Waterloo, Iowa, Batavia, East Moline and Rock Falls, Illinois and Kirksville, Missouri. They now have contracts for work of this character at Waterloo, Prophetstown and Maquoketa. Their business has reached very extensive proportions and is now a very profitable undertaking, necessitating the employment of a large force of workmen in the execution of their contracts.

Mr. Dearborn is also the vice president of the Anamosa National Bank, is president of the Jones County Telephone Company, and is associated with the firm of H. Dearborn's Sons and with H. Dearborn & Company of Stone City, and with the Johnson Gas Light Company of Cedar Rapids. On the 1st of January, 1896, was celebrated the marriage of William N. Dearborn to Miss Ora Belle Thompson, at Maquoketa, Iowa. His political allegiance is given to the republican party which finds in him a strong supporter but not an office seeker. He is well known in Masonic circles, belonging to Anamosa Lodge, A.F.&A.M., of which he was master for two vears; Mount Sinai Chapter, R.A.M., Mount Olivet Commandery, K. T., of which he was eminent commander for three years, and El Kahir Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Cedar Rapids, of which he was potentate in I901-02. He has also attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, belonging to the consistory at Cedar Rapids. He is likewise a member of the Elks lodge of Cedar Rapids, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Order of the Eastern Star. These, however, are but minor interests in the life of Mr. Dearborn, who has directed his energies and efforts along the lines where mature experience and discretion have led the way. His interests have constantly broadened until the extent of his business connections makes him one of the most prominent contractors of Iowa.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 590. Photo from Picturesque Amamosa, compiled and published by W. Leon Hall, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, ca. 1900, and submitted by Lois O'Donnell.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 694.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 623.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 702.

John Dennison, who enjoys the reputation of having one of the neatest farms in Jones county and who has been prominent in the affairs of Clay township for more than thirty years, was born in Ireland, November 12, 1833. His parents, John and Mary (Orr) Dennison, were also natives of the Emerald isle, which remained their home until their death. Ten children were born to them, six of whom are living: Martha, who is the widow of Alex Campbell and lives in Clay township; John, the subject of this sketch; Mary, who is the widow of William Neelans and lives in Clay township; George, who remained in Ireland; Sarah, who is a widow and lives in Ireland; and Margaret, who is also a widow in her native land.

John Dennison came to America in 1851, when he was about seventeen years of age. He had received some education in the land of his birth and after his arrival on the shores of this country he devoted himself solely to the work of procuring a livelihood and of bettering his condition. First he lived in Connecticut and then went to Minnesota, which he was compelled to leave on account of the cholera. Next he came to Iowa, locating in Dubuque first and then, on May 28, 1852, coming to Jones county. The following February he entered eighty acres of government land in Clay township, not taking up his residence upon it, however, until 1857. Nine years later he bought two hundred acres adjoining his first farm and, moving to that, made it his home until 1908, when he sold it, purchasing instead the seventy-six acres on which he is living at present. Part of this is within the corporate limits of the village of Onslow, but it is a good tract of land, which with the inborn skill of a successful agriculturist Mr. Dennison has made one of the most fertile tracts in his locality, while the orderly appearance of his fields and the excellent condition of his buildings have secured for it an enviable reputation among farms of even larger size in Clay township and beyond its borders. Mr. Dennison also owns one hundred and forty acres in Clay township, one hundred and twenty of which he rents and the other twenty is timber land.

In 1869 Mr. Dennison married Miss Mathilda Campbell, who was born in Ireland in 1848 and came to America at the age of twenty, making her home in Jackson county, Iowa. Ten children have been born to them: John, Jr., who is living in Los Angeles, California; Agnes, who is the wife of John Canada, of Clay township; Mary M., who married Harbison Orr, of the same township; Elizabeth M., who is the wife of John McAlister, of Delaware county, Iowa; Anna L., who is the wife of J. G. Boomhour, professor in a school of North Carolina; William M., who lives in Dallas county, Iowa; Jackson B., at home; and three who died in infancy.

Mr. and Mrs. Dennison are consistent members of the Presbyterian church, and he has given stanch support to the democratic party in political matters. He has filled a large place in local affairs, for during a period of twenty-five years he has served intermittently as township assessor; has been a member of the school board for twenty-one years; and for the past thirty years has acted as the justice of the peace. Successful in his calling and punctilious in the performance of his official duties, he has wielded a strong influence for good and improvement during the years he has been a resident of Jones county.

From History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 470.

From The History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Co., Chicago, 1879, p. 644.