Past and present of Greene County, Iowa / by E. B. Stillman ... Chicago:
S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907. LaCrosse, WI : Brookhaven Press,
2000. [Reprint]

O. B. Dutton, a native of Oswego, New York, born in 1825. The removal of the Dutton family to Illinois occurred at a time when there was no railroad west of Buffalo, all travel being done by way of the lakes or across the country with teams. The family home was established in Will county, Illinois, where O. B. Dutton was reared amid the wild scenes and environments of pioneer life. After attaining his majority he engaged in merchandising at different times in Crete, Galesburg and Joliet, Illinois, after which he came to Iowa. In 1870 he established a bank at Nevada, Story county, which he conducted until his death. In the early '80s he organized the First National Bank at Missouri Valley, Harrison county, Iowa, where he resided for five years and during his residence at that place he served as mayor of the town in 1885-5. On selling his interests there he returned to Nevada and his death occurred in Manning, Iowa, where he was visiting. He was then sixty-six years of age. In business affairs he was energetic, prompt and notably reliable and won a measure of success which always results from these qualities. His political allegiance was given to the democracy and for many years he was an exemplary representative of the Masonic fraternity.

O. B. Dutton married Miss Lyda Chapman, who was born in New York and died in Galesburg, Illinois, when O. J. Dutton was but three years of age. Having lost his first wife the father was again married, his second union being with Elizabeth Beaver, who died in Missouri Valley in 1887. There were five children by the first union, namely: Mrs. M. L. Leonard, who resides with her family at Lake City, Iowa; O. E., cashier of the First National Bank at Manning, Iowa; O. J., of this review; J. G., president of the Farmers Bank at Nevada, Iowa; and Jennie, the wife of Dr. F. H. Conner, also of Nevada, Iowa.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the name of Dutton is closely associated with the banking history of western Iowa and the record of Dutton is one which reflects credit upon an untarnished family name.

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News Items/ History of Story County, Iowa

October 2, 1878---"Messrs. Dutton & Son have just had shipped to their bank, to accommodate the business wants of the community, $1,000. legal tender silver dollars. They paid for them $1,000 in currency, besides paying three of four dollars expressage to get them here. Mr. Dutton told us in speaking of this shipment, that they paid in about a year over sixty dollars expressage on small change, silver dimes, quarters, halves, dollars, &c., besides paying full face value of the money which they had shipped to this town to accommodate the business wants of this community." page 79

January 12, 1881---At the annual election, March, 1875, John Hoel and O.B. Dutton were added to the board. In July, 1875, applicants for positions in the High School were numerous, and great caution was exercised by the board that a wise selection should be made, as a new era in the educational affairs of our town was to be established. page 448

The Dutton Farm, (now T.E. Alderman & Son,) is in Grant Township and probably when minutely considered is the most valuable farm in the county. There are about nine hundred and sixty acres in it, all in one body. It is being thoroughly drained by tiling. A very large and commodious brick building, standing on a beautiful elevation, was built some three or four years ago by Mr. Dutton which cost about $4,700., and the three barns, one of which is one of the good ones of the county, with other valuable improvements in the vicinity, will swell the amount to about $8,000. Then add to it the value of nine hundred and sixty acres of land at not less than twenty-five dollars per acre, and it sums up to about $32,000. This is a noble showing for Story County, and will be hard to beat.

Additional information about this story
Description Book: History of Story County, Iowa page 225
Date written about 1887
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O. B. Dutton

Historians say that Orson the first settler in Norway, and whom we know to be the first grocer here. He was also Norway's first postmaster of the post office established on the railroad near Mud Creek, Feb. 9, 1863.

Orson was born June 2, 1825 at Hanibal, Osage County, N.Y. (note discrepancy in location of Ira, Cayuga, NY). He moved with his parents to Illinois, coming via the Great Lakes in 1835. He was employed as a cheese maker until he was 19, and at age 20 he married Lydia M. Chapman. They set up housekeeping in a log cabin on an 80 acre farm he bought from the U.S. Government at $1.25 per acre. They lived there 4 years. He bought his wife a dress for $1.50, with the money he received from the sale of wheat he raised, cut with a cradle and threshed with a flail and cleaned by throwing it up in the air to blow off the chaff. In 1860, he sold his farm and started a small store in Crete, IL. His first child, Martha, was born on the farm, Dec. 20, 1847. His first son, Orson Ernest, was born at Crete on June 10, 1851. After the Illinois Central Railroad was built, he moved his store to Monee, a small station on that road. His second son, Orin John, was born there Aug. 22, 1853. From there, O.B. Dutton moved his family to Galesburg, IL, and continued in the mercantile business. His wife died there and was buried at Galesburg. He then moved to Joliet, IL, and in 1857 to Minneapolis, MN, and the following year to Masonville, IA, where he married Elizabeth Beaver. He was appointed railroad agent, ran a general store, built a warehouse and handled grain. He had a very profitable business there. In 1862 he moved to a new town called Norway, in Benton County, IA, late that year. It was to this new station that railroad agent Orson B. Dutton came by train. The railroad set him off on a siding with two cars of lumber, his household goods and a small stock of merchandise which he had purchased from John Farwell in Chicago. He was on the virgin prairie with no other settlement in sight.

Charles P. Murray, in a letter to the Benton County Star on the occasion of the eighth annual Norway Pioneer Association Picnic in 1935, describes his first visit to the new grocery in Norway. His parents, Thomas and Ann Keating Murray, heard about it and decided to pay a visit. Their farm was five miles southeast of where the new station was, and all the farmers living in that vicinity (with the exception of an occasional trip to Iowa City and Cedar Rapids) did all of their trading in the Amanas. The Murrays hitched a team to a lumber wagon and started out, a part of the way angling across the unbroken prairie, forded Prairie Creek (there was no bridge there then) and finally reached Norway. By this time, the few lamps in the town were being lighted (Which seems to indicate there were a few people living here then.) They were unable to find the new store, until a bright light down by the railroad tracks attracted their attention. They went down there to find the gleam was coming through the partially open door of a box car which had been set off on a temporary siding. They mounted the steps to the car and entered to find it filled with groceries, and Mr. O. B. Dutton back of the counter in the west end of the car. A large oil lamp hung from the ceiling, and the makeshift store was equipped with regulation scales and scoop. Groceries were all in bulk - brown sugar in hogsheads, dried apples strung on wrapping cord, and coffee nor browned or ground. Mr. Murray wrote, "This was our first meeting with Mr. Orson B. Dutton, whom we later learned to honor and respect for his fair and honest dealings."

Mr. Dutton, in addition to his many other commendable qualities, was a staunch Democrat. During the presidential campaign of 1868, when Grant and Colfax, heading the Republican ticket, were opposed by Seymour and Blair on the Democratic slate, Mr. Dutton took a leading part in getting up a Democratic rally. John P. Irish was to have been the principal speaker, but couldn't come, so attorney Samuel J. Fairall substituted. Mr. Dutton, providing against the possibility of inclement weather, had a large temporary building erected with a seating capacity of several hundred. It was referred to as a wigwam, and was set up south of the railroad tracks near Henry Behle's blacksmith shop. It turned out to be a beautiful day, and men came from all direcctions, near and far, regardless of political affiliation.

Dutton later built a store on the site of the building known as the Hofferd Building, now occupied by Anjie's Place and enlarged it the next year. He sold out in 1866 and spent the winter in Marshalltown, IA. He moved back to Norway and opened a lumber and grain business, which he operated until 1877, when he traded for a business in Iowa City. He later moved to Nevada, IA, and established the first bank in Story County. In 1884, he founded the First National Bank at Missouri Valley, IA. When he retired, he moved back to Nevada, where he died in April of 1891, at the age of 66. He was one of the movers and shakers of his time.


Additional information about this story
Description from an article in "The Newspapers of Benton County" titled "Cue was first in area, Dutton helped build Norway in the 1800's"; by Aloise Holland.

***Parent Information from Dr. J #47055001