John A. Hogg is now living retired in Shelton, although in former years he was actively identified with farming interests. He was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, on the 29th of March, 1844, being a son of Robert and a grandson of Robert Hogg, Sr., who was one of the prominent figures in the War of 1812. In 1865 John A. Hogg became a resident of Iowa, establishing his home in Poweshiek county. He had previously taken up the carpenter's trade in Pennsylvania and continued to work at that occupation in Iowa. He was married in 1865 to Miss Margaret Hall, the daughter of a carpenter, William Hall, and for four years he and his father-in-law worked together, but in 1872 Mr. Hogg turned his attention to commercial pursuits, establishing a grocery business in Mitchellville. In seven years, however, he lost all that he had made in the years of his connection with carpentering and building.
In 1879 Mr. Hogg arrived in Nebraska and after paying freight on his goods and meeting other necessary expenses he found that his cash capital amounted to but three dollars. He secured employment on the Shelton mills at a dollar per day and a week later, demanding more salary, was given a dollar and a quarter per day. After the millwright took charge he was paid a dollar and a half per day, for his ability in the line of his trade was recognized. In 1879 he traded a gold watch for a relinquishment on a homestead, on which he subsequently built a sod house. He lived in that primitive structure, for a year without having a floor in it. He occupied the homestead until 1906, when he took a. trip to Oregon with the twofold purpose of recuperating his health and of visiting his son, Robert W., who had removed to the Willamette valley in 1904, settling near Salem, where in connection with his farming operations he engaged extensively in the breeding of thoroughbred hogs, winning a wide and well deserved reputation in that connection. For two years he was chosen superintendent of the stock exhibit at the state fair at Salem and he also made exhibits of his hogs at the San Francisco exposition in 1915, winning sixteen hundred and seventy-five dollars in prizes, which included the reserve champion prize for sows. He also sold twelve hundred and twenty-five dollars' worth of stock, selling nine animals for nine hundred dollars, which fact shows the high grade of hogs he has raised.
In 1908 John A. Hogg returned to Shelton, Nebraska, where he purchased town property and has since made his home, but he is still the owner of the old homestead, from which he derives a substantial and gratifying income.
As previously stated, Mr. Hogg was married in 1865 to Miss Margaret Hall, who was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, on the 9th of April, 1844, and is a daughter of William and Minerva (Thompson) Hall. In 1915 they celebrated their golden wedding and the accompanying picture is a group of their descendants. To them have been born twelve children, nine of whom still survive, as follows: Robert W., who is a resident of Salem, Oregon; Mary M., the wife of L. B. Van Dyke, of Custer county, Nebraska; Lola M., who gave her hand in marriage to A. P. Johnson, a practicing attorney of Broken Bow, Nebraska; Sarah, who is the wife of I. E. Lux, of Crookston, Nebraska; John A., Jr., the proprietor of a book and stationery store at Vancouver, Washington; Floyd Cleveland, an agriculturist of Buffalo county, Nebraska; Elizabeth, who is the wife of M. D. Nutter, a farmer of Buffalo county, this state; Rose F., the wife of Professor Earl Glendon, who is superintendent of the high school at Stapleton, Nebraska; and Irwin, who operates the home farm.
In politics Mr. Hogg is independent, considering the capability of a candidate rather than his party affiliation. In 1889 he was one of the organizers of the Farmers Alliance in Buffalo county and was one of five delegates chosen by that body to find out whether the Alliance wanted to go into political action. He was one of the five representatives from Buffalo County to the St. Louis convention of the people's party, being an anti-monopolist. In 1893 he was elected to the board of supervisors of this county. Fraternally he is connected with Shelton Lodge. No. 99, A. F. & A. M., while both he and his wife are active and prominent members in the Presbyterian church of Shelton, in which he has served as an elder for seven years, doing all in his power to promote the growth and extend the influence of the church and bring about that moral development for which the church stands. His life has ever been an honorable and upright one, fraught with integrity in every relation, and those who know him have ever felt that he is worthy of trust.