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Captain John MacKenzie, a resident of
Fulton, and Master of the steamer “Siver Wave,” of the Van Sant
& Musser line, plying between Stillwater, Minn., and Muscatine,
Iowa, is a native of Whiteside Co., Ill., being born in the town of
Ustick, July 3, 1850. His parents, John and Margaret (Ritchie)
MacKenzie, were born in the Highlands of Scotland and came to this country
in 1843.
John was reared on his father’s farm,
and when 18 years of age, or in 1868, he engaged as a deck hand on a
Mississippi River steamer. Before the expiration of two years he had
qualified himself for the position of pilot, and sailed as such. In 1800
he purchased a third interest in the steamer “Eclipse.” He sold out
his steamboat interests in the spring of 1883, since which time he has
sailed the “Sam Atlee” andf the “Silver Wave.”
Capt. MacKenzie was married near Creston,
Iowa, Dec 14, 1880, to Miss Abbie E. Devore, daughter of John and
Josephine (Smith) Devore. Mrs. MacKeenzie was born near Mt. Carroll,
Carroll Co., Ill.
The Captain is a stanch Prohibitionist,
of Republican antecedents. He is Chairman of the Prohibition County
Committee, and was the Prohibiton cadidate for Representative in the
late Campaign. He is a member of Fulton City Lodge, No. 189, A. F. &
A.M. Mrs. MacKenzie is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Captain MacKenzie has worked up through
all grades of a boatman’s duties from the lowest to the highest, and
has long been classed among the most popular and skillful of the
Mississippi steamboat Captains. He has made his home at Fulton, Ill.,
since 1881. |
