TIGGES, John

TIGGES, John. (Dubuque, IA-). Author. Tigges has written more than thirty-eight books. His pen names include "Ned Stone" and "William Essex." In 1976 Tigges was commissioned to write Jean Marie Cardinal, a historical novel. Teaming with James SHAFFER, he wrote Dubuque: The 19th Century, Dubuque: The 20th Century, Iowa’s Last Narrow-Gauge Railroad, and Railroads of Dubuque, Iowa. Using the name William Essex, Tigges has written such novels as Garden of the Incubus, Unto the Altar, Kiss Not the Child, Evil Dreams, The Immortal, Hand of Lucifer, As Evil Does, Vessel, Comes the Wraith, The Pack, Venom, From Below, and Book of the Dead. He wrote Mountain Massacre, and Rails to Hades using the name Ned Stone.

Tigges made many contributions locally to the field of music. He established the Dubuque "Pops" orchestra and co-founded the DUBUQUE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA in 1956. Tigges served as business manager of the symphony for ten years and played violin with it from 1958 to 1968 and again from 1971 to 1973. In 1972 Tigges founded the Julien Strings, a society string orchestra. He led the group and played violin.