History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/John Herriott
JOHN HERRIOTT was born at Herriottsville, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, October 24, 1844, where his youthful years were spent on a farm. He usually attended school a few weeks in the winter season until he was twelve years of age when he received three months' instruction in the Normal School in the winter of 1865. When the Civil War began young Herriott enlisted in a Pennsylvania regiment and served as a private soldier in nearly all of the great battles fought by the Army of the Potomac up to September 27, 1864, when his term of service expired. In August, 1865, he emigrated to Iowa, settling on a farm near New Liberty, Scott County. In 1872, Mr. Herriott removed to Stuart where he opened a drug and book store. He was elected on the Republican ticket treasurer of the county, serving two terms and making a record which brought him out as a prominent candidate for State Treasurer. He received the Republican nomination for that position in 1894, was elected and twice reëlected, serving three terms. He brought marked ability to the discharge of the duties of that office, introducing many new methods in the transaction of its important duties, which met general approval. As a member of the Executive Council Mr. Herriott took an independent stand in advocacy of whatever he believed to be right. He was a courageous advocate of important reforms in the assessment of corporate property, acting alone in that respect in the Executive Council. So warmly was his position indorsed by the people, that his Congressional District gave him a unanimous support for Governor in the Republican State Convention of 1901. The convention, however, nominated A. B. Cummins for Governor and Mr. Herriott for Lieutenant-Governor, to which position he was elected by a large majority.