HOWARD DARLINGTON COPELAND

COPELAND, DARLINGTON, CUSTER, WHICHER

Posted By: Frank Myers (email)
Date: 7/29/2009 at 18:31:38

LIFE OF HOWARD DARLINGTON COPELAND
Tribute to His Memory Written by His Friend, Hon. T.M. Stuart of
Chariton
(The Chariton Patriot, 12 May 1910, Page 1)

Chariton has seldom lost as loyal and valuable a citizen as was H.D.
Copeland, and the beautiful memorial tribute to him, written by Atty.
T.M. Stuart, expresses only in part the loss the county and the state
sustains in Mr. Copeland's death, recorded last week. The large
attendance of out-of-town visitors at the funeral, the lavish floral
offerings, and the many words of comfort and sorrow that have come to
the family, but warrant the high estimate that the people of this
community placed upon Mr. Copeland.

One of the most touching letters received was from an employee of the
Copeland Commission Co. of Chicago, who writes to this paper ---

Chicago, Ill., Union Stock Yards
May 10, 1910

Please permit me on my own behalf and my fellow co-workers to kindly
express through the columns of your esteemed paper, the deep and sincere
sorrow we all feel over the death of our fellow business associate and
esteemed friend, the late Howard D. Copeland. Knowing him as we did, his
death is a personal loss to us all. No man here at this great commercial
business center ever stood higher in the estimation of his associates.
He was the soul of honor, strictly honest in all his dealings, he
endeared himself to all. His kindly and genial disposition made him
hosts of friends. By his nobility of character and upright life, he has
left a name to his family and friends that will be fondly cherished
throughout all time. To have known such a character and been numbered
among his friends is an honor we most highly regard.

(signed) A Friend

Those in attendance at the funeral from out of town, besides the
pallbearers, were:

Arthur P. Copeland, Rochester, Ind.; George D. Copeland, Marion, Ohio;
Mr. and Mrs. C.H. Boothroyd, Chicago, Ill.; Mr. and Mrs. J.L. Long,
Osceola, Ia.; Simon Press, Sedalia, Mo.; Henry F. Mitlan, Kirksville,
Mo.; Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Trump, Kahoka, Mo.; Geo. A. Young, A. H. Corey,
F.H. Dewey, Fred Corey, H.P. Smith, H.B. Morgan, Des Moines; Mrs. Jennie
Yetts, Dr. G.W. Whitehill, L. Cristy, A.E. Holcomb, Ottumwa; H.J. Green,
Deocrah, Ia.; E. A. Patterson, Iowa City; F.M. Barner, Ames; T. G.
Bilson, Knoxville; L.D. Jones, Coffeyville, Kan.; G. W. Humpsted,
Victor, Ia.

The memorial tribute written by Hon T. M. Stuart is as follows:

Howard Darlington Copeland has passed away. He died at his home at 2:45
o'clock p.m. on the 3d day of May, 1910. The following is an epitome of
his busy life:

He was born at Marion, Ohio, on the 19th day of August 1853, being the
eldest child of Howard and Catherine Darlington Copeland. He was
educated in the public school of that city, and at the Ohio Wesleyan
University of Delaware, Ohio. He came of a family of bankers, two of his
brothers and four of his uncles are bankers. At the age of fourteen
years he entered the bank of his uncle, Guild Copeland, on Wall Street
in the city of New York, and continued in that business, under the
directions of another uncle, Arthur C. Copeland, at Rochester, Indiana.
He came to Chariton in the fall of 1873 and was employed in the bank of
his uncles, Percy and Elijah Copeland, where he remained for nine years,
the bank in the meantime becoming the property of Manning and Penick. He
was then appointed State Bank Examiner for the state of Iowa, and acted
in that capacity for about eight years. At the close of his services as
State Bank Examiner, he entered the law office of T.M. Stewart with the
expectation that he would study law and fit himself for the legal
profession which he always liked, but circumstances were such that he
was required to engage in other business, and he drifted into the real
estate business and has continued to pursue that business in part ever
since, buying and selling real estate for himself and others. In 1893 he
founded the commission house of H.D. Copeland & Co. at the Union Stock
Yards in Chicago, becoming its president and he continued to act in that
capacity up to the time of his death. In 1904 he organized the
Burlington Savings Bank at Burlington, Iowa, became its president and
continued to operate that bank for about two years, when his growing
business enterprises at Chariton demanded his time and attention to such
extent that he concluded to and did sell his interest in this bank at a
fair profit. But true to the men who assisted him in organizing that
bank he did not consent to part with his interest therein until he
obtained the express consent of such parties thereto. In August, 1907,
he purchased the controlling interest in the Chariton National Bank and
became its president and he acted in that capacity up to the time of his
death. In the same year he became owner of a hallf-interest in the
Osceola Sentinel, which proved to be a profitable investment. He also
became interested in the First National Bank of Rochester, Indiana,
becoming its vice president. He was one of the promoters of the
Fraternal Organization known as the Homesteaders and became its surpreme
treasurer. He was also a member of the republican state central
committee, and notwithstanding his numerous other duties, he found time
to advise with that committee, always being stalwart in politics.

He was married Jan. 25th, 1877, to Carrie Custer, daughter of James and
Susanna Custer, pioneers of Lucas county. He left surviving him his
widow and two children, Mrs. Sue Copeland Whicher and Howard Custer
Copeland. He was confirmed in St. Andrews church in 1901 and has since
that time filled the position of senior warden of the vestry. He was
active in all church duties, and very liberal in his support thereof,
and in his death the church has sustained an irreparable loss.

His pall bearers consisted of one representative from each of the
business enterprises that he founded, viz.: Mr. C. H. Boothroyd, of H.
D. Copeland & Co. of Chicago, Mr. J.A. Penick of the Chariton National
Bank, Mr. M. F. Roberts, representing his farming interests, Mr. J. L.
Long of the Osceola Sentinel, Mr. R. T. Gilson of the Homesteaders, and
his brother-in-law, W.S. Custer,

A large number of people of Chariton and friends from other cities
attended his funeral, which was held at St. Andrew's Episcopal church on
Friday afternoon a two o'clock, conducted by Rev. Webster Hakes. His
brothers, J.C. Copeland, A.P. Copeland and G.D. Copeland, were present.
The Chancel and all of its departments was a mass of beautiful flowers.
The casket was covered with rare flowers, the gifts of loving friends.
The family pew in St. Andrew's was left vacant, with the exception of a
wreath of beautiful flowers hung on the end thereof.

"His life was gentle, and the elements so mixed in him that nature might
stand up and say to the world, this was a man."

Yes, his life was gentle; it was more like the placid lake, fringed with
pines and flowers, basking in the moonlight than it was like the rushing
river. While friends and acquaintances by the score sought his
association, yet so quiet and unostentatious was his life, that few,
comparatively realized the full extent of his mental capacity, or fully
comprehended the big heart that led him to quietly shower blessings upon
others. Think for one moment on the cares and the responsibility
necessarily attending the founding, management and control of the
numerous and extensive business enterprises epitomed in the foregoing
brief statement. Think of the magnitude of the interests involved and
then note the quiet, safe, and masterly manner in which he operated the
same. H. D. Copeland was a natural financier, and yet he did not permit
the pursuit of money to harden his heart, or close his eyes to the
rights of others. He was always just.

His beautiful suburban home, DarlingtonHeights, through his efforts and
hospitality, became the favorite resort of his friends, who were always
assured of a hearty welcome, but above all, Mr. Copeland was a Christian
gentleman. At the time of his death he was one of the chief supporters
of St. Andrew's Episcopal church, and was regarded as its chief advisor
in all temporal matters, but he came to his position so quietly that
perhaps very few remember when this church work began. The writer feels
that he may speak frankly concerning that part of Mr. Copeland's
history, when he commenced the study of law. He came to my office with
the hope that he would complete the study of law and become a member of
the legal profession. Strange to say, his services in my law office were
valuable from the very beginning. He possessed a legal mind, and he
seemed to go intuitively to the legal points in a case. I shall never
forget his valuable service in an important personal injury case in
which he assisted me in looking up the facts and law of the case. The
party was injured in a coal mine at Lucas, and while we became satisfied
that he had a meritorious case, yet it became very difficult to find the
evidence necessary to sustain the case. Mr. Copeland became very much
interested in the case and without my knowledge he visited the coal
mines in other parts of the state and came back with affidavits of
expert coal men, making it so clear that we were in the right in regard
to a certain question, that the case was promptly settled, and our
client received ample compensation for the injury he had suffered. I
have no doubt if Mr. Copeland had devoted himself to the law, he would
have become one of the finest lawyers in the country. Perhaps not as an
advocate, but as a judge of law.

Our dear friend has gone, his body moulders in the tomb, while his
spirit has returned to the God who gave it, but his example is left for
us, and may we not cherish the thought, that time, the destroyer of all,
whose almighty arm blots from the face of earth empires and kingdoms,
under whose power the eternal hills dissolve, will fail to destroy the
influence for the right arising from the acts and deeds of H. D.
Copeland.

His friend,

T.M. Stuart

(Transcribed and submitted by Frank D. Myers)