MUSCATINE CO., IA: BIOGRAPHY: J. C. Tralt
From the A.T. Andreas Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa, 1875

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NOTE:  For more information on Muscatine County, Iowa 
       Please visit the Muscatine County, IAGenWeb page  
       at http://iagenweb.org/muscatine/
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Honorable J. C. TRALT.--This gentleman, who is the oldest living settler now 
residing in Vinton, is a native of Knox County, Ohio, where he was born September 7, 
1825.  His early education was received on a farm and at the district school until he was 
sixteen years of age, when he was apprenticed, and served three years and six months at 
the tanning and currying business.  He removed to Iowa in November, 1845, settling near 
West Liberty, in Muscatine County, where he remained most of the time until March, 
1848, when he removed to Cedar Rapids, and read medicine for two years with Dr. M. 
Merrith; and was married, November 4, 1849, to Miss Marcia W. Ferguson.  In August, 
1851, he settled in Vinton, where, for a number of years, he practiced medicine, in 
connection with various other business enterprises.  In February, 1856, with other parties, 
he established the first banking house ever opened in Vinton, which he has since 
managed and is still carrying on in connection with his brother, Honorable J. W. Tralt.  
Politically, he was an old-time Whig; opposed to the adoption of the Constitution of 
1846; assisted in the organization of the Republican party in 1856, and has ever since 
been an active Republican.  Was elected Clerk of the District Court in 1852, and served 
two years; was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1857; admitted to the bar in 
1858; and elected Mayor of the City of Vinton in 1871, and re-elected in 1872.