Jackson County IA Archives Biographies.....Golding, John 
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Ken Wright wright@prestontel.com January 5, 2011, 2:38 am

Source: History of Jackson County, Iowa, 1910
Author: J. W. Ellis

JOHN WILLIAM GOLDING. 

John William Golding, a substantial and enterprising stockman of Bellevue, who 
although numbered among the more recent arrivals in this city, is not unknown 
in business circles of the community, having been identified with various lines 
of activity in this district for a number of years. One of Jackson county's 
native sons, he was born in Washington township on the 15th of April, 1858, a 
son of John and Katharine (Reed) Golding, natives of Kent county, England, and 
Londonderry, Ireland, respectively. The father, whose birth occurred on the 
16th of May, 1820, was the son of a gamekeeper in the employ of a nobleman, and 
he continued to make his home in his native country until twenty years of age, 
when he came alone to the new world, landing at New York about 1840. He did not 
tarry on the eastern coast, however, but worked his passage through by way of 
the lakes and canal to Potosi, Wisconsin, a lead mining district. Thence he 
went to Memphis, Tennessee, where for two years he was employed as a laborer, 
at the expiration of which period he came up the Mississippi river to Iowa, 
locating in Jackson county. In 1843 he hired out to Charles Harrington, 
proprietor of the Harrington Wood Yards, with whom he continued until the 
outbreak of the Mexican war, when, on the 17th of March, 1847, he enlisted at 
Galena, Illinois, and served throughout the entire period of hostilities under 
General Scott. On the 7th of April, 1850, he started overland to California, 
where the following five years were spent, and during most of this time he was 
connected with Sheets, Harrison & Kellogg, near Sacramento. Upon his return to 
Iowa he purchased a tract of land in Washington township, where he established 
what later became known as the Golding Wood Yards. As he prospered from year to 
year he added to his original purchase until at the time of his death he was 
the owner of eighteen hundred and sixty acres, all in one body in Washington 
township, most of which was timber land. He devoted himself to farming and to 
the wood business, most of his time being given to the latter undertaking, in 
which he became very successful. He made a specialty of selling wood to 
steamboats and in the year 1869 sold over thirteen thousand dollars worth of 
wood to steamers. He was recognized as a good hunter and a very fine shot, and 
it is told of him that one day in 1863 he went out in his skiff with his gun 
and only five cartridges and took home seventy-five ducks, which he had secured 
with only the five shots. He continued in the management of his wood yard until 
the time of his death, which occurred on the 29th of January, 1873. About the 
year 1856 he was united in marriage to Miss Katharine Reed, who was born on the 
Emerald isle in 1821 and came with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Reed, to 
the United States in 1837, the family home being established in Washington 
township, Jackson county, Iowa. She passed away December 3,1865, leaving two 
sons: John William, of this review; and Thomas H., who passed away at the age 
of two years. Later, in 1867, Mr. Golding wedded, Elizabeth Carroll, a native 
of Pennsylvania, who still survives her husband and makes her home in Sumner, 
Iowa. Unto this second union were born two children: Charles, born June 22, 
1869, who is now a resident of Frederika, Iowa; and Rosa, who was born in 1872 
and passed away in 1878. 
John William Golding, whose name introduces this review, was a lad of twelve 
years when his parents removed to the farm in 1870, and upon the death of his 
father, in 1873, went to live with his uncle, the Hon. William H. Reed, of 
Washington township. He acquired a good education in the public schools and 
continued to make his home with his uncle until twenty years of age, when he 
went to Montana, spending a year and three months in Butte, most of which time 
he worked in a quartz mill. He returned to Iowa in the fall of 1879 and in the 
following spring took up agricultural pursuits on the old homestead, renting 
his brothers' and stepmother's shares. Together with general farming he 
continued to conduct his father's wood business and also engaged to some extent 
in the stock business, carrying on his various pursuits until 1892. In that 
year he purchased the interest of the other heirs in his father's estate, which 
consisted of eighteen hundred and sixty acres, so that, with a tract of eighty 
acres which he had previously bought, he became the owner of nineteen hundred 
and forty acres, constituting him one of the most extensive landowners in this 
section of the state. In 1896, however, he sold his entire property and 
purchased the Kilborn mill property, consisting of four hundred and fifty acres 
west of Bellevue, to which he removed on the ist of March, 1897. There he 
carried on milling and farming for a number of years, installing a steam power 
plant in connection with his gristmill. In 1904 he sold out and removed to 
Bellevue, and here he has since continued to make his home. Since May, 1905, he 
has devoted his time and energies to the conduct of a large and growing stock 
business, in which line of activity he has been interested more or less for the 
past twenty-five years. He is an extensive buyer and shipper of stock and his 
efforts in this direction have been potent forces in stimulating and 
encouraging stock interests in his section of the county. He has also dealt 
extensively in real estate, purchasing the Collins property on Third street, 
which he now makes his place of residence. He went to Oklahoma and bought four 
hundred acres of land near Edmond, which he later sold, and subsequently 
purchased four hundred and eighty acres near Grand Forks, Polk county, 
Minnesota, which is still in his possession. He is also the owner of several 
dwellings and lots in Bellevue and his various realty holdings form a source of 
most gratifying additional revenue. 
It was on the 26th of September, 1882, that Mr. Golding was united in marriage 
to Miss Margaret McGovern, whose birth occurred in Washington township on the 
igih of February, 1864. Her parents were Frank and Bridget McGovern, natives of 
County Mayo, Ireland, who came to Iowa in 1847, taking up their abode in 
Jackson county, where the rest of their lives was spent, the father passing 
away in January, 1873, while the mother's death occurred November 7, 1909. 
Their family consisted of the following children: Julia, the wife of John 
Sweeny, of Washington township; Mary, the widow of Peter Kuntz, of Portland, 
Oregon; Frank, also residing in Washington township; Delia and John, both of 
whom are now deceased; Edward, of Butte, Montana; Sarah, who has also passed 
away; and Margaret, the wife of our subject. 
In politics Mr. Golding has ever been a stalwart supporter of the democratic 
party, although he has never been an aspirant for public preferment. During his 
residence in Washington township, however, he served as assessor of that 
township for fourteen years, and served one term as township clerk of Bellevue, 
but aside from this has had no office, preferring to concentrate his energies 
upon the conduct of his personal affairs which, carefully managed, are proving 
a source of most gratifying income. A man of resourceful ability, constantly 
watchful of opportunities, he has seized legitimate advantages as they have 
arisen and has never hesitated to take a forward step when the way was open. 
With him perseverance, diligence and integrity have constituted the guide posts 
of life, and success has come to him as the legitimate and logical result of 
intelligence and well directed effort. 
J. W. Ellis, History of Jackson County, Iowa, 1910




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