History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/John L. Waite
JOHN L. WAITE, journalist, was born in Ravenna, Ohio, August 29, 1840. He was educated in the public schools of his native place and attended business college at Chicago. For twelve years he was a telegraph operator; and later was one of the projectors of the Burlington & Missouri Railroad telegraph line which he helped to construct, and of which he became superintendent. In 1869 he became identified with the Burlington Hawkeye, first as city editor and in 1874 became associate editor. In 1877 he was promoted to managing editor and in 1881 he was appointed postmaster of Burlington. At the close of his term he became editor in chief and general manager of the Hawkeye which, under his direction, has wielded wide influence among the Republican journals of Iowa. In 1898 Mr. Waite was again appointed postmaster of Burlington retaining the management of the Hawkeye.