JAMES C. PAINTER, proprietor of the flour-mills at Osceola,
is a native of England, born in Berks County. He came to America when quite young,
locating in the State of Illinois. He began learning the miller’s trade in
Fulton County, Illinois, finishing his trade at Peoria. He enlisted in the Union Army in 1862 in
Company F, Fifty-seventh Illinois Infantry to serve three months. At the
expiration of his term of service he reenlisted in the Ninth Iowa Cavalry, in
which he served till June 30, 1863. Mr. Painter is a thorough, practical
miller, and has been connected with the milling business since 1861. He came to Clarke County, Iowa, in 1868, and
for about ten months worked for Raymond & Kelley, proprietors of the City
Mills, at Osceola. He then went to Union County, Iowa, becoming a partner in
the Afton Mills, being associated with the Grant Brothers, under the firm name
of Grant, Painter & Grant. About five years later he disposed of his
interest in the Afton Mills and returned to Osceola, Clarke County, forming a
partnership with D. R. Raymond, which continued until June, 1881, when he sold
his interest to his partner, and in October of the same year built his present
mills, which are the principal flouring mills in the county. It is run by the
roller process and turn out about forty barrels in twenty-four hours.
SOURCE: Biographical and Historical Record of Clarke
County, Iowa, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1886 p. 390
