Reedsburg Free Press
Reedsburg, Wisconsin
Thursday, December 31, 1908

   Rev. John B. Dearholt died Friday, Dec. 18, 1908 at the advanced age of ninety seven years, eight months, twenty six days. The funeral was held Sunday from the M. E. church, the pastor, Rev. J. E. Kundert delivering the sermon. The remains were interred in the Loganville cemetery.
   The deceased had long enjoyed the distinction of being the oldest citizen of Reedsburg and possibly the oldest in Sauk County.
   He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, March 22, 1811. Soon after he reached his majority he moved to Morrow county, Ohio, where he was married. By trade he was a blacksmith but his duties did not deter him from intellectual pursuits and for seventeen years he was pastor of a Christian church in that county. Of six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Dharholt [sic] but two, Sylvester and Temperance are living at the present time. In 1855 he joined the rush to Wisconsin and located in the town of Ironton. His religious zeal never waned and soon he had organized the pioneer Christian church in Sauk county and as long as his age and health permitted he ministered to the spiritual needs not only of his congregation but to all who asked his services as a minister of the Gospel. His wife died in 1871 and three years later he again married and two adult children survive, Lulu and Irwin.
   As a lad of three years, it is said that he, being held on his fathers shoulder’s, witnessed the mustering out of the soldiers of the war with Great Britain in 1814. During his long life he was not only a constant student of the Bible but was a great reader on the topics of the day, keeping himself well informed on current topics and the history of passing events. His punctual, annual visits to the Free Press office and his other calls for a friendly chat are remembered with pleasure by the writer and it was a matter of pride and wonderment to his friends that the aged man was so able to keep and use his faculties and to keep his life in complete accord with the progress of years even long after he had passed the four and a half score mark. 
   Besides the family as mentioned above the deceased is survived by one sister, Mrs. Eliza Wheeler who lives with her son U. G. Wheeler near Lime Ridge.
Submitted by
Darlene UPHOFF Penisten