John T. Struble
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John Truesdale Struble (November 5, 1831-November 27, 1916) was a builder and farmer during the formative years of the state of Iowa. He was an older brother of two prominent Iowa polititians: Congressman Isaac S. Struble and Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives George R. Struble. Except for any financial assistance to his brothers' political campaigns, his own primary contribution was to the state's developing economy.
Mr. John T. Struble's great-grandfather, Dietrich Struble (1714-1807) was the famed progenitor of the Struble family in America. After Dietrich and his wife Elisabeth emigrated from Albig bei Alzey, Germany in 1748, they raised a large family. Their many children included ten sons. From this patriarchate most Strubles in the United States trace their lineage.
The third son, Daniel, served under General Washington at Morristown. The seventh son, John (1763-1849), begot Isaac, and it was he, Isaac the Elder (1802-1891), who led his family on a migration in stages – to more than one location in Virginia (including the future state of West Virginia), thence to Knox County, Ohio, and finally to Johnson County, Iowa. Three of Isaac’s twelve children (John T., George & Isaac the Younger) were destined to play prominent roles in the early polity and economy of Iowa.
Isaac the Elder’s first wife, Sarah (Atkinson) Struble, gave birth to John T. in New Jersey on November 5, 1831. John T. was not quite 21 years old when the family arrived in Iowa City, Iowa. Before long, John met Virginia Snyder, daughter of William B. Snyder, a prominent settler of Iowa City and architect who helped build the original state capitol building. (For eleven years following statehood in 1846, Iowa’s capitol was Iowa City; and the venerable structure is still standing today on the Univ. of Iowa campus). The young couple married on September 28, 1854.
John T. soon prospered in his dual occupation as farmer and builder. The pedigreed horses he bred were for many years the highlight of his farming/ranching initiatives, but for the first fifteen years of his career, it was as a building contractor that he made his mark. Among his various constructions in Iowa City were St. Mary’s Catholic Church, the Congregational Church, the original Johnson County court house on S. Clinton Street, and the old St. Agatha’s Catholic seminary (1861), known after 1909 as Svendi Hall.
Having earned a small fortune, John T. purchased in 1856 a large landholding in Scott township, some three miles west of Iowa City. They named the family homestead “Woodlawn Home,” and John T. lived on that farm for the remaining 60 years of his life. Virginia bore him eight children, three girls and five boys including George M. Struble, father of Robert Struble. John T. was active in fraternal circles, and was one of the founders of Eureka Lodge, I.O.O.F.
John T. Struble was in relatively good health until his death at the age of 85. (Some accounts give his birth year as 1828, however, indicating an age of 88). His passing came suddenly, November 27, 1916. His widow, Virginia, died in 1926, aged 91.
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Sources: Early Germans of New Jersey, pp. 508-509; History of Johnson County, p. 932; “A Fact a Day About Iowa City,” unidentified 1935 newspaper clipping; research and correspondence conducted by John T.'s granddaughter, the late Lois (Struble) Lawson of Spokane WA.
