My Genealogy Hound

John H. Lichty, who since 1876 has been a resident of Creston, was for many years closely and actively associated with commercial interests as a grocery merchant but is now living retired in the enjoyment of a rest that he has truly earned and richly merits. His life record, too, may well serve as a source of inspiration to others, showing what may be accomplished through laudable ambition and unfaltering determination, proving also that success and an honored name may be won simultaneously.

Mr. Lichty was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, in 1829, and is a son of Jacob Lichty, who was a native of the same county. The original American ancestors of the family came from Switzerland. The paternal grandfather, Joseph Lichty, was so loyal to the whig party that he made whigs of seven of his sons and seven sons-in-law and they all went with him to the polls in 1840 and cast a vote for William Henry Harrison. Joseph Lichty lived to be nearly ninety years of age, and all of his fourteen children, seven sons and seven daughters, the latter all married, were present at his funeral, his death causing the first break in the family circle. Throughout his entire life he had never been ill nor taken medicine except on one occasion when he was bitten by a mad dog. He soon recovered, however, from this and lived to enjoy a ripe old age, honored and respected by all who knew him.

Jacob Lichty, father of our subject, was an industrious farmer, who owned and cultivated an excellent tract of land of three hundred and forty acres in Somerset county. He provided well for his family and his careful management of his farm brought to him a gratifying financial return. Mr. Lichty was a member of the German Baptist, or Dunkard church, and served as deacon in the church for many years. His duty before each communion was to go among the brethren and see to it that there was no strife among them and that they were on friendly terms with each other so that they could consistently join in the communion service, and only brotherly love should prevail among them as they partook of the emblems which indicated to them the sacrifice of the Christ in their behalf. In politics Jacob Lichty was an ardent whig, helpful to his party in various ways, but having no political aspirations for himself. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Catherine Hunter, was born near Gransville, Maryland, in 1812, and died in 1858, while Mr. Lichty survived until 1863. She was of Scotch descent and was also a member of the German Baptist church. A very active woman, she was a constant reader of good books and possessed an excellent memory. Both she and her husband spoke and wrote German and English fluently and were recognized as people of more than average intelligence and worth.

The family of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Lichty numbered nine children, namely: Edward, a farmer, who became a physician and died at Detroit, Michigan, where for several years he served as city physician; Lewis, of Waterloo, Iowa, who practiced law for a time and became the first city attorney of Waterloo, after which he filled the office of mayor of that city for several years, while later he was connected with the Building & Loan Association for a long period; John H., of this review; Mary Ann, who became the wife of Frank B. Countryman, a carpenter and farmer now deceased, while her death occurred in 1903; Ezra J., who is foreman of the repair department for the Burlington Railroad Company at Creston and has taken a great interest in civic and community affairs, serving on the town council and at the present writing is truant officer; Silas, who in early life followed farming and later became an implement dealer and commercial traveler but is now deceased; Lydia, deceased; Joseph J., a merchant of Lincoln, Nebraska; and Lavinia, the wife of Austin A. Benford, a retired farmer and merchant living in Shenandoah, Iowa.

John H. Lichty acquired only a district school education but through experience in later years has learned many valuable and practical lessons. He was reared to farm life and coming to a realization of the importance and value of a more advanced education, he attended the normal school in his native place and qualified himself for teaching. He then taught for about nine terms but farming was to him a very genial occupation and he applied himself more largely to that pursuit than any other business calling. In 1868 he left Pennsylvania and located at Waterloo, Iowa, where he engaged in no business for a few years because his health was somewhat impaired. He finally took up carpentering and followed that for a number of years. Later he returned to Pennsylvania, where he was married a second time.

Mr. Lichty was first married to Miss Mary Ann Flick, who was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, and died in 1867, at the age of thirty-two years. They were the parents of four children: George E., who is engaged in the wholesale grocery business at Waterloo, Iowa, as a member of the Smith, Lichty & Hillman Grocery Company; Annie C., the wife of Johnson Vivian, a merchant of Calumet, Michigan; Lizzie, who died at the age of two and a half years; and Nettie, who is with her sister Annie. In 1870 Mr. Lichty wedded his present wife, who was formerly Miss Clara E. Countryman, and who was born in Somerset, Pennsylvania, in 1841. They had four children: Franklin B., a grocer, now living in Des Moines, Iowa; Elvie, teacher in the public schools of Creston; Edward, who is a member of the firm of Lichty Brothers, grocers of Creston; and Howard, who is a traveling salesman. There are also eleven grandchildren.

The year 1876 witnessed the arrival of Mr. Lichty in Creston. At that time he had little capital saved and some money in the Waterloo bank, which was lost by the failure of that institution. It was this which caused him to remove to Creston and in order to secure employment he hired out to a railroad company, being thus engaged until he had saved from his earnings a sum sufficient to enable him to engage in the grocery business on a small scale. He delivered his goods with a push cart at first but the business steadily increased and a little building, twelve by eighteen feet, which he occupied, was improved until it was twelve by twenty-eight feet. He prospered and his building was further enlarged until its dimensions were twenty by twenty-eight feet. In the course of time he sold that building and bought a larger one, which he disposed of in 1907, when he erected a brick building on the adjoining lot, forty by eighty feet and two stories in height. It has a pressed brick front, is modern in its appointments and is a valuable addition to the town, presenting an attractive appearance. Throughout the years Mr. Lichty continued in the grocery business until 1897, when he retired from business, in which he had made marked success, his boys succeeding to the ownership of the store, which is still carried on under the old family name.

Mr. Lichty is a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church, has always taken an active interest in its work and in most of the different societies connected therewith. He has ever been an ardent republican since the organization of the party and he cast his first presidential vote for General Winfield Scott in 1852. Throughout the years of his residence in Creston, which numbers more than thirty-one, he has so lived as to enjoy in unqualified measure the confidence and trust of those with whom he has been associated. He has made an excellent record as a business man and citizen and now in the evening of life well deserves the rest that has been vouchsafed to him. He has been a loyal son of the republic and has attained to a position of distinctive prominence in the thriving little city in which he has retained his residence to the present time, being now one of the revered patriarchs of the community.