John Hoskin is one of the leading merchants of Alden. He is a son of Stephen and Jane (Chesterfield) Hoskin, of Iowa county, Wis., and was born in that county October 20, 1848. In 1850 his mother died, and his father followed her four years later. In 1854 he went to live at Platteville, Wis., with an uncle, and received a good education at the public schools of that city. In September of 1863 he enlisted in Comapny E, 11th Wisconsin Infantry, and served until honorably discharged at Madison, Wis., at the close of the war, in 1865. He then engaged in farming in Grant coutny, Wis., until 1870, when he moved to Palo Alto county, Iowa, where he spent four years on a farm, after which he spent three years in Wright county, and then one and a half years as proprietor of the “Central” house at Alden. He then returned to Palo Alto county, and remained one year; and in April, 1880, he returned to Alden, and has since been engaged in trade. He was married in 1875, to Miss Elinor M. Davis, who is a daughter of M. J. Davis and wife, of Alden.

Source: Alden Biographies Project