Early Life & Career
Isaac the Elder’s first wife, Sarah (Atkinson) Struble, gave birth to John T. in Sussex County, New Jersey, on November 5, 1828. She died when John T. was about the age of four, but after a period of a year or two Isaac remarried, and Emma Teasdale raised Sarah's four children and gave birth to eight more of her own. By March, 1852, John T. had left the family fold for Iowa City, to be joined there five years later by his parents and several of the children.
The Iowa City area - mostly the western part of Scott Township in Johnson County - remained John T.'s home from about the age of 24 until his death in his 89th year. Soon after arriving in Iowa City, John met Virginia Snyder, daughter of William B. Snyder, a prominent settler and architect who oversaw construction of the original state house when Iowa City was still the capitol. John and Jenny married on September 28, 1854.
John T. pursued two careers. At first he was a builder but after more than a decade in that profession he began the transition to full-time farmer. During his 20’s and early 30’s, his main line of work was as a building and bricklaying contractor. Among the various projects where he left his mark were St. Mary's Catholic and the Congregational Churches, both located in central Iowa City near the U of I campus and still in use as of Summer, 2007. Published obituaries and earlier sources report that Struble won the contract to build the 19th century court house of Johnson County (see photo); also that he built or helped build St. Agatha's Catholic seminary (1861), now refurbished as the Berkley apartment building, 130 Jefferson. “He also designed Iowa City's first hostelry, the old Truesdell hotel, long afterwards metamorphosed into the Thomas Brennan home.”
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