Representative John E. Dempster View All Years

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John E. Dempster

Scott County

HON. JOHN E. DEMPSTER.

MR. SPEAKER—Your committee appointed to prepare a memorial to commemorate the life and public service of the Honorable John E. Dempster, an honored member of the Twenty-seventh General Assembly, beg leave to submit the following report:

John E. Dempster was born in Morgan County, Ohio, January 3, 1837. In the early days of his life he attended the district schools of Ohio, and later came to settle on the fertile acres of his father’s farm in Scott County, Iowa.

By his industry and thrift he was able while still a young man to purchase a small farm near his parents, which, as the years went by, increased to 180 acres.

Mr. Dempster was twice married. In 1868 he was joined in marriage to Esther E. Burch and to the union were born two daughters and one son. On December 24, 1873, this union was broken by the death of his wife. He was again married in 1875 to Josephine Fitzsimmons, who bore him two sons and one daughter.

He gave his time liberally to public service, being for thirty-one years secretary of the School Board. In 1897 his great activity and interest in public affairs brought him to the attention of the community in which he lived, and he was elected by the Republican party as Representative of Scott County to the Legislature of the Twenty-Seventh General Assembly.

He was a faithful and consistent follower of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was for more than twenty years Sunday school superintendent in that church.

In 1900 Mr. Dempster moved to Poweshiek County where, at the time of his death, he owned a 320-acre farm.

One of the sturdy Iowa pioneers who laid the foundation of our material prosperity, Mr. Dempster was one of the most agreeable and loyal of friends.

He was candid and outspoken in his ideas, a close and analytical student of men and of affairs, and liberal and tolerant in public and private life.

Resolved, That we extend to his family and friends our sincere sympathy, and that a copy of these resolutions be entered upon the Journal of the House, and that a copy of the same be forwarded to the bereaved family of the deceased.

THOS. W. GRIGGS,

RALPH SHERMAN,

HENRY H. BOETTGER,

Committee.

Adopted March 26, 1913.

House District 43