Mah. J.F. Cheney, senior proprietor of the Merchants and Depot Hotels at Sioux City, Ia., also of a Hotel at Blair, Neb., and the Union Hotel at Missouri Valley, was born in Grafton County, N.H. In 1861 he enlisted in the 1st Ill. Light Art. as a private, was soon promoted to first lieutenant, then to captain, then to major and when discharged at the close of the war was lieutenant colonel. He then opened the Nachusa house at Dixon, Ill., also a summer resort at Spring Lake, Mich., called the Spring Lake house. He moved to Sioux City and opened the Merchants Hotel, in 1880, and his other hotel soon after. Major C. is one of the oldest hotel men in the country, and all of his hotels will be found to be first class.
