John Grogan

John was born in Ireland in 1844, immigrated to America with his family at age seven and settled in New Jersey. In 1862, the family moved to Burlington, Iowa where he met and married Margaret Harrington in 1868. John arrived in the new town of Sanborn in 1879 and worked for the Chicago Milwaukee railroad's construction crew as the line expanded west into Dakota Territory. His wife and children arrived in O'Brien County a bit later and lived at Sheldon until John purchased a farm in Franklin Township. They were the parents of eight children and some descendants remain in the Sanborn area. Mr. Grogan is buried in St. Cecelia’s Cemetery at Sanborn.

St. Cecelias Cemetery

J.L.E. Peck 1852 - 1931

John Licinius Everett Peck was 27 when he walked into Primghar in 1877. He was a teacher turned lawyer, and he formed a law partnership with Isaac Daggett. In 1879, he was elected County Auditor for 2 terms. He participated in the re-bonding of the county's debt, laid out over 800 miles of roadways within the county and was instrumental in bringing about a peaceful solution to the Sanborn Courthouse raid of 1882. He was one of the 10 men who signed t he guarantee which brought the Illinois Central Railway to Primghar. Peck served as mayor, councilman, and president of the local school board for 15 years. He was also the cashier and manager of the Primghar State Bank and director and stockholder for the Primghar Savings Bank.

Pleasant Hill Cemetery

Lewis Clark Oct 16, 1820 - Oct 27, 1915

Lewis was born in Maryland and moved to Indiana in 1822. They started the journey in a cart but this gave out and they were obliged to make the remainder of the distance on horseback and foot. Lewis married Malinda Shaffer in 1840. The couple had ten children.

Two of the Clark daughters married and moved to O'Brien County. Malinda passed away in 1897, after which Lewis married her sister Sarah Shaffer Pitsenburger. Sarah died in 1911 and is buried in this (Pleasant Hill) cemetery.

Lewis was a farmer and made a good living for himself and his family. He held several local offices. He was President of the Old Settlers Association He was also a noted abolitionist and was a station agent on the underground railway. Many a poor Negro found him a true friend.

Pleasant Hill Cemetery

Wiley E Mayne Jan 19, 1917 - May 27, 2007

Wiley's grandfather, E.A. Mayne, came to Sanborn in 1887 as a clerk in W.A. Wasson's Country General Store. E.A. purchased the store in 1899 and took in his son (Wiley's father) as a partner in 1919. The Mayne's Store was operated by him until 1956.

Wiley E. Mayne was born in Sanborn. He graduated from Sanborn Public School in 1934 as Class Valedictorian. He graduated cum laude from Harvard College in 1938 and from Iowa Law School in 1941. He served as a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1941-1943 and as an officer in the United States Navy on a destroyer escort in the North Atlantic and Pacific in World War II from 1943-1945. He and Elizabeth Ellis Dodson were married on January 5, 1942 and had three children.

Wiley practiced law in the Sioux City firm of Shull, Marshall, Mayne and Marks from February 1, 1946 until January 1967 when he entered Congress representing Iowa's 6th Congressional District. In January of 1975, after four terms, he returned to Sioux City to resume his law practice with his son, John. Wiley continued to practice law until his retirement in 2005.

Roseland Cemetery