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John bought his brother's interest. From this seemingly brief experience he has broadened out to be one of the most successful hotel men in the west and at present operates four hotels on the line of the Rock Island between here and Colorado Springs, one of them being located in the last named city, another at Limon, one at Goodland, the fourth, the Grier house of Norton: all first class and very popular with the transent (sic) public.
He is a public spirited gentleman, having served with the writer on the city council when the water works and electric lights were put in.
He is a democrat. His wife was born al Grandville, Milwaukee county, Wisconsin, she being, a sister of Tim McCarthy, an able young attorney formerly of this place but now in St. Louis. Mr. and Mrs. Grier have no children. Mr. Grier is looked upon as a man of considerable wealth, and he has been for years director of the First National bank of this city. John F. Harris came here when the B. & M. arrrived (sic) and built an elevator in this city, also in all the points from Oberlin to Lincoln. Harris made his headquarters in this city for several years, then moved them to Lincoln then to Omaha, and they are located in Chicago at this time. John F Harris is looked upon as the most expert judge of grain that ever lived in the west; a man of rare judgment in every way, a well read man, being a graduate of Lincoln university, and born with all the eccentricities of genius. His head bookkeeper, Oliver Olmsted, is a graduate of Yale college and is well remembered here as being the best base ball player that ever scrambled dust on the Norton diamond. 
Thomas Burton was [born] in Harrison county, Ohio, November 3, 1839. He lived on a farm with his father with whom he combined the cooper's trade with farming.
In 1861 he enlisted in company G, 74th Ohio, serving three years and seven months, till the close of the war.
He was in the battles of Stone River, Mission Ridge, Chicamauga and several others, and before taking Atlanta was wounded and sent back to the hospital in Jeffersonville, Indiana.
At the battle of Stone River he was wounded in the forehead, grazing the skull, but not so seriously hurt as to disable him from immediate duty.
After a stay of about six months at the hospital he joined his regiment at Goldsborough, North Carolina, and went with the regiment to Washington for the grand review, later he was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky. After the war he returned home to Ohio where he was married in August, 1865, to Hattie West. They never had any children. From there he moved to Iowa where he husked corn fifty-two days near Summerset, and worked for his board the balance of the winter. In the spring of 1866 he settled on a farm in Jasper county where he resided until |
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