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Permanent LinkRepresentative John H. Darrah View All Years
JOHN H. DARRAH, retired merchant and former state legislator, died in Kansas City January 12, 1961; born in Wenona, Marshall County, Illinois January 1, 1874, one of the sixteen children of Matthew and Jane (Bryson) Darrah, Scotch-Irish immigrants who settled in the state in 1857; removed with his family to Adams County, Iowa in 1876, went to graded schools until twelve years of age, then worked on his father’s farm, attending the Corning Academy a few months each winter; became a clerk in a store in 1894, was placed in charge of a branch store at Cumberland in Cass County the following year, purchased the limited stock of goods from his employer and in 1896 opened a small notion store at Chariton which grew into one of the largest department stores in southern Iowa; was president of the Chariton school board for several years, elected to the city council in 1904, Republican state representative from Lucas County in the fall of 1905 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Eli Manning, and re-elected in November, 1906 and 1908; returned to the General Assembly as state senator from the Fourth district, composed of Lucas and Wayne counties, in 1912, serving in the 35th and 36th sessions; owned and operated his mercantile business till the family moved to Kansas City in 1926; his wife preceded him in death, passing away in 1944; described as a generous, public-spirited, high-minded man.