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ANNALS OF
IOWA
Transcribed by Debbie Clough Gerischer
JANUARY,
1921
THIRD SERIES VOL. XII, No. 7
NOTABLE DEATHS
Benjamin
Townsend Nix
was born in Butler County, Kentucky, September 15, 1840, and
died at Afton, Iowa, March 18, 1914. He obtained his
education in the common schools and at La Grange, Kentucky.
In 1862 he enlisted in the Union Army in a Kentucky regiment,
was made captain of his company and served one year, when the
regiment was mustered out. He then re-enlisted in the
Fifty-third Mounted Infantry and was again chosen captain of
his company, and served until the end of the war. In 1868 he
removed to Des Moines County, Iowa, in 1870 to Clarke County
and in 1875 to Union County, following farming during this
time. In 1880 he was elected clerk of the district court of
Union County and, because of re-elections, served eight years.
In 1906 he was elected representative and served in the
Thirty-second and Thirty-second Extra General Assemblies.
Sabret T. Marshal
was born at Keokuk, Iowa, November 20, 1869, and died there,
September 20, 1914. He attended public school in Keokuk,
later read law with his father, Col Samuel Taylor Marshal, and
was admitted to the bar in 1895. Because of ill health he
spent a few of the following years in Colorado and in the
southwest. He was elected representative from Lee County in
1899 and re-elected in 1901, serving in the Twenty-eighth and
Twenty-ninth General Assemblies.
William B. Towner
was born at Castleton, Vermont, December 25, 1831, and died at
Charles City, Iowa, October 3, 1914. He came to Floyd County,
Iowa, in 1864, purchasing land in Cedar Township. He served
as school director, justice of the peace over twenty year,
township trustee, a member of the county board of supervisors,
and in 1897 was elected representative, and re-elected two
years later, serving in the Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth
General Assemblies.
Madison Bartlett Davis
was born at Canaan, New Hampshire, November 12, 1838, and died
at Sioux City, Iowa, July 28, 1914. He attended school at
Salisbury, New Hampshire. He enlisted in the First New
England Cavalry, later changed to the First New Hampshire
Cavalry, and came out at the close of the war as an orderly
sergeant. Soon after the war he came to Denmark, Lee County,
Iowa. He read law with J. M. Casey, of Ft. Madison, and was
admitted to the bar in December, 1871. In June, 1874, he
removed to Sioux City and soon became a successful and noted
lawyer, practicing largely in the federal courts. He was
attorney for the settlers in the Iowa railroad land grant
cases. he also gained prominence as a real estate owner and
promoter. He was department commander of the Grand Army of
the Republic, in 1900.
William
Henry Freeman
was born at Rockford, Illinois, in 1844, and died at Oakland,
Iowa, January 23, 1914. He removed with his father in 1855 to
Lafayette County, Wisconsin, remaining there until he was
twenty-one years old. He came to Big Grove (now Oakland) in
1865 and engaged in railroad culvert construction a few years.
In 1869 he engaged in the sawmill business and then the
mercantile business at Oakland. In 1876 he went to Green
County, Wisconsin, and followed the lumbering business until
1881 when he returned to Oakland and engaged in banking. He
was elected mayor of Oakland in 1882 and also served as
justice of the peace and on the school board. He was first
elected representative in 1901 and served in the Twenty-ninth,
Thirtieth and Thirty-first General Assemblies.
Timothy
P. Murphy was
born at Boston, Massachusetts, September 28, 1832, and died at
Sioux City, Iowa, September 4, 1914. When four years old he
came with his parents to Waupon, Wisconsin, and afterwards to
Iowa City, Iowa. Here he attended the State University for a
time and then read law with his brother, Jeremiah Murphy, then
of Marengo, later of Davenport, and who was congressman from
that district. He removed to Sioux City in 1880 and obtained
an extensive law practice. He was appointed United States
attorney for the Northern District of Iowa by President
Cleveland in 1885 and served until 1890. He was a leader of
the Democratic party in Woodbury County. At the time of his
death he was the oldest practicing attorney in Sioux City.
William W.
Hawk was born in
Ohio November 26, 1843, and died at Newton, Iowa, September
15, 1914. Interment was at Colfax, Iowa. He came with his
parents to Keokuk County, Iowa, when a boy and when the car
came on enlisted in Company E, Thirty-third Iowa Infantry, and
served three years. He graduated from Keokuk Medical College
in 1876 and commenced practice at Greencastle, near the
present town of Mingo, Jasper County, where he attained
success in his profession. He removed to Colfax in 1890 and
thereafter remained a resident of that place. In 1899 he was
elected representative and was re-elected two years later,
serving in the Twenty-eight and Twenty-ninth General
Assemblies. He was postmaster at Colfax from 1908 to 1913.
John A.
Cousins was born
in what is now Dubuque County, Iowa, but which was then
Dubuque County, Wisconsin Territory, on April 15, 1837, and
died at his home in New Hartford, Butler County, Iowa, March
12, 1918. He attended common school and, later, Epworth
Seminary. Farming was his vocation in early life. In 1865 he
removed to Grundy County, continuing farming. In 1873 he
removed to New Hartford and engaged in hardware, lumber and
implement business, continuing this until 1900. He was also
interested in banking at New Hartford and Plainfield. In 1908
he was elected representative and re-elected two years later,
serving in the Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth General
Assemblies.
Edward
Knott was born
in London, England, March 4, 1842, and died at Waverly, Iowa,
August 16, 1914. He removed with his parents to Boone County,
Illinois, in 1855 and, in 1863, to Bremer County, Iowa. He
did farm work, then bought grain, did a livery business and
also imported horses from England and France. In 1876 he was
appointed United States marshal for the Northern District of
Iowa, and held the position until 1891. He was again
appointed in 1897 and served until 1914, making in all
twenty-three years' service in that office. He was an active
and influential Republican.
John Schoenenberger
was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, June 5, 1850, and died at
his home near East Peru, Madison County, Iowa, April 23, 1915.
He came with his parents to Madison County in 1855, attended
country schools and eventually became a very successful farmer
and stockman. At different times he served at township
assessor, clerk, trustee and school treasurer. Although a
Democrat, in 1906 he was elected representative form Madison
County, which was strongly Republican, and served in the
Thirty-second and Thirty-second extra General Assemblies. In
1912 he was his party's candidate for senator in the
Adair-Madison District, but was defeated.
John
Parker was born
in Lincolnshire, England, December 18, 1837, and died at his
home at Malvern, Iowa, April 7, 1915. He had to quit school
when seven years old and work to help support the family. He
emigrated to America in 1857, settling in Marion County, Ohio.
He came to Mills County, Iowa, in 1867, and became a
progressive and successful farmer. He was elected
representative in 1895 and was re-elected in 1897, serving in
the Twenty-sixth, Twenty-sixth extra and Twenty-seventh
General Assemblies.
William Lytle Carpenter
was born at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, October 5, 1841, and died
at his home in Des Moines, September 26, 1915. He came with
his parents' family to Dubuque, Iowa, in 1852, and a few years
later they removed to a farm in Black Hawk County. He
enlisted in the Thirty-second Iowa Infantry in 1861 and served
four years, becoming adjutant of the regiment. After the war
he returned to farming in Black Hawk County, but in 1866
removed to Des Moines. For many years he was secretary of the
Iowa State Grange and as secretary of the Farmers' Protective
Association lead in organizing a barb wire manufacturing
company in Des Moines and became its manager. The famous
legal battle of the barb wire trust against the independent
manufacturers was fought out over this plant. Mr. Carpenter
had associated with him in this contest such leaders as John
H. Given, Henry Wallace, James Wilson, Col. John Scott, L. S.
Coffin, M. L. Devin, G, H. Crosby, B. F. Gue and others. Hon.
A. B. Cummins, then a rising young lawyer, was their attorney,
and won for them a signal victory, the price of barb wire soon
declining from fourteen cents to three cents a pound. Mr.
Carpenter became prominent in politics. He was the Democratic
candidate for congress in 1886 against Maj. Conger in the
Seventh District, was elected mayor of Des Moines in 1888 and
served one term, and was custodian of the State Capitol under
Governor Boies from 1890 to 1894. he lived in retirement the
last few years of his life. He left many of the records of
his activities in the collections of the Historical Department
of Iowa.
Christopher T. Jones
was born in Barren Count, Kentucky, September 11, 1837, and
died at his home in Des Moines, September 14, 1915. He came
with his parents to Iowa in 1842, settling in Louisa County.
The following year he was left an orphan in the care of
friends, but at twelve years of age became self-supporting.
In 1850 he went to Washington, attended public school and
took a partial course in Washington College, which was broken
up by the war. He studied law and was admitted to practice in
1859. When the war broke out he enlisted in Company H, Second
Iowa Infantry. In the fall of 1861 he was discharged because
of sickness and a hurt he received while in the service, and
from which he never fully recovered. In 1865 he was elected
clerk of the courts in Washington County and served until
1875. Then for a few years he practiced law, but because of
poor health he abandoned it. In 1880 he was a Republican
presidential elector. He came to Des Moines that year and on
January 1, 1881, went into the office of the clerk of the
Supreme Court as an assistant, remaining for two years. From
1883 to 1895 he was a deputy clerk under G. B. Pray. He was a
clerk of the Supreme Court from 1895 to 1903. For some years
after that he assisted later incumbents of that office. He
was an efficient public servant.
George W. Ball
was born near Fairfield, Jefferson County, Iowa, June 7, 1847,
and died at his home in Iowa City, July 18, 1915. He spent
his youth on his father's farm in Jefferson County, attended
common school, and Wesleyan University, Mt. Pleasant,
graduating in 1867. He also graduated from the law department
of the State University of Iowa in 1869. He practiced law a
short time in Des Moines and in Mt. Ayr, Iowa, and then in
Chicago, but in November, 1874, he removed to Iowa City and
formed a partnership with Charles Baker, which continued until
Mr. Baker's death in 1910. Then he formed a partnership with
his son, George W. Ball, Jr. In 1885 he was elected
representative and served in the Twenty-first General
Assembly. He was county attorney of Johnson County for four
years, 1893 to 1896. In 1899 he was elected senator and
served in the Twenty-eight and Twenty-ninth General Assemblies
and was mayor of Iowa City from 1905 to 1909. He was vice
president of the First National Bank of Iowa City. He was a
member of the board of curators of the State Historical
Society. He was prominent in the different branches of
Masonry, and was grand master of the Grand Lodge of Iowa two
terms, 1895 and 1896.
Lew
Wallace Anderson
was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, June 6, 1867, and died at his
home in that city, September 21, 1915. He graduated from
Cedar Rapids High School in 1884 and for a year was on the
editorial staff of the Cedar Rapids Republican. He
entered the insurance business with his father, and after his
father's death in 1905, he conducted the business alone. He
built up one of the largest insurance agencies in the state.
From 1907 he was actively engaged in real estate developments
in Cedar Rapids. He was the leader in purchasing, landscaping
and putting on the market Vernon Heights, and other fine
residential districts of the city. He also was the foremost
promoter in building the Montrose Hotel, the Killian
department store and the principal new office buildings in the
city. He was alderman-at-large in 1906, was a member of the
public library board, and a member of the River Front
Improvement Association. Governor Carroll appointed him on
the Iowa State Waterways Conservation Commission. He was for
several years considered the leader in the big enterprises
that marked his city's progress.
John A.
Green was born
in County Roscommon, Ireland, December 10, 1844, and died at
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, February 25, 1920. Burial was in Holy
Cross Cemetery, Anamosa. He emigrated to America with his
parents in 1852, stopping in Boston, where he attended school.
He then for ten years worked as a stonecutter and letterer.
He came to Joliet, Illinois, in 1865, and to the hills west
of Anamosa, later known as Stone City, in 1868. Here he
opened the limestone quarries which in a few years developed
into a concern employing at one time several hundred men,
thriving until cement came into general use, when the quarries
declined. Mr. Green also successfully conducted farming and
fine stock raising. He was progressive, successful and
generous, and was a liberal supporter of church and hospital
work. He was a leader in the Democratic party of his county
and district. In 1891 he was elected senator from the
Cedar-Jones district, and served in the Twenty-fourth and
Twenty-fifth General Assemblies. In 1904 he was the
unsuccessful candidate for congress in the Fifth District.
William F. Johnston
was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, August 20,
1833, and died at Toledo, Iowa, August 8, 1914. He came to
Iowa City, Iowa, in 1856 and removed to Toledo in 1858 and
entered the mercantile business, continuing until 1879. He
was actively interested in banking and railroad building and
became the largest individual land owner in Tama county, where
he owned some 3,200 acres, with some 3,000 acres elsewhere.
He was interested in many corporations. When Leander Clark
resigned as representative in the Ninth General Assembly to
enter the Union Army, Mr. Johnston was elected at the regular
election of 1862 to fill the vacancy, but as there was no
extra session called after that election and before the
expiration of his term, he never sat in the assembly. For
forty-three years he was a member of the board of trustees of
Cornell College, Mount Vernon, and from the time Leander Clark
College was located at Toledo, or for over thirty years, he
was a member of the executive committee of that institution.
Thomas
D. Foster was
born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, November 25, 1847, and
died in Ottumwa, Iowa, July 22, 1915. He removed with his
parents in 1858 to County Kilkenny, Ireland. There he
attended public school until sixteen years old when he began
work for John Morrell & Company, a meat packing concern. In
1865 he was by them transferred to Liverpool, in 1868 to New
York City, and in 1871 to Chicago. In 1872 he became that
company's general manager for the United States and Canada.
In 1878 he removed to Ottumwa, Iowa, and established the
packing plant there. In 1893 he was elected chairman of John
Morrell & Company, Ltd., which position he held at the time of
his death. Owing to failing health he retired in 1914. For
many years he had been active in Y. M. C. A. work. He
received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Lenox College in
1906. He was a member of the board of trustees of Parsons
College and a member of the State Board of Education from 1909
to 1911.
Alexander M. Garrett
was born on a farm near Letts, Iowa, March 31, 1857, and died
at Letts, August 15, 1915. He attended common school in that
community, became an extensive farmer and stockman and also
engaged in the grain business at Letts, to which place he
removed in 1900. In 1910 he was elected senator and served in
the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth General Assemblies. He was
a Democrat in politics.
Thomas
B. Hanley was
born in Ohio December 11, 1853, and died at his home in Des
Moines, Iowa, September 22, 1919. When a small boy he came
with his parents to LeClaire, Iowa. Considerable time was
spent in his boyhood in employment on the Mississippi River.
After attending school one year at the State College at Ames
he followed school teaching a few years and in 1880 graduated
from the law department of the State University of Iowa. He
commenced practice at LeClaire but in 1888 removed to Tipton,
forming a partnership with William P. Wolf as Wolf & Hanley,
which continued until Mr. Wolf went on the bench in 1895. He
was mayor of Tipton two years. In 1894 he was the leader in
organizing the Modern Brotherhood of America, a fraternal
insurance association, an became its first president. He
continued to hold that office until his death. The Modern
Brotherhood of America has had a phenomenal growth, largely
due to Mr. Hanley's leadership. The headquarters were removed
to Mason City where the order erected a million dollar office
building a few years ago. He removed to Des Moines in 1907
and maintained his office there. He was one of the most
prominent fraternal as- (Note: This is how the book left
it! )
George
Carson was born
in Jennings County, Indiana, February 5, 1841, and died at
Council Bluffs, Iowa, February 18, 1919. In his youth he
attended public school and an academy. He enlisted as a
private in the Union Army in 1861 and was discharged in 1865
as a first lieutenant. After the war he attended Hartsville
University for a time and the law department of the Michigan
State University, graduating from the latter in 1868. In 1869
he removed to Council Bluffs and the following year formed a
law partnership with S. Smith, the firm being Smith & Carson.
In 1879 it became Smith, Carson & Harl. In 1877 he was
elected representative, and re-elected two years later,
serving in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth General Assemblies.
In 1883 he was elected senator and served in the Twentieth
and Twenty-first General Assemblies. In 1886 he was elected
one of the judges of the Fifteenth Judicial District and
served four years. In 1896 he was elected mayor of Council
Bluffs. His services in all these public stations were marked
by a high sense of duty.
Charles McAllister
was born at South Lee, Massachusetts, February 1, 1840, and
died at South Lee, July 20, 1913, while there making his
annual visit to the old family homestead, which he still
owned. His interment was there. After obtaining an education
in the common branches, he taught school two years, then
entered Williams College and graduated in 1863. He graduated
from Berkshire Medical College in 1865. He practiced medicine
at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, five years and at Dixon,
Illinois, two years. He came to Spencer, Iowa, in 1872 and
was in an active and extensive practice there forty-one years,
or until his death. He was a representative in the
Seventeenth General Assembly, being elected in 1877.
A. D.
Garlock was born
in Otsego County, New York, December 4, 1842 and died at his
home in Escondido, California, April 5, 1913. He emigrated to
De Kalb, Illinois, in 1859. In 1861 he enlisted in Company K,
Forty-second Illinois Infantry, as a first sergeant and later
was commissioned a lieutenant. He removed to Pocahontas
County, Iowa, in 1869 and became the first permanent settler
of Cedar Township for that county. In 1871 he was elected
county auditor and served eight years. In 1887 he was elected
stare senator and served in the Twenty-second General
Assembly. He engaged in banking in Pocahontas County but
removed to Des Moines in 1890. After 1902 he spent most of
his time in California.
Thor O.
Hanson was born
in Dane county, Wisconsin, June 15, 1859; he died at his home
near Bode, Iowa, February 18, 1915. He removed with his
parents to Emmet county, Iowa in 1869. His early education
was received in the rural schools and in 1878 he engaged in
teaching in Emmet, Kossuth and Humboldt counties for about ten
years. From 1886 to 1892 he was in the general mercantile and
real estate business and after that time was connected with
the state bank of Bode. He was the first mayor of Bode and a
member of the school board for fourteen years. He served as
representative from Humboldt county in the Thirty-second,
Thirty-second Extra and Thirty-third General Assemblies.
Henry M.
Eicher was born
in Marion township, Washington County, Iowa, May 29, 1858, and
died at Washington, Iowa, July 27, 1919. In the early '80's
he read law in Washington with Dewey & Templin. In 1883 he
entered a partnership with A. R. Dewey which continued until
1891, when Mr. Dewey went on the district bench. He then
formed a partnership with C. J. Wilson. Later he was of the
firm of Eicher, Livingston & Eicher. For three years during
President Cleveland's last administration he was Assistant
United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa. In
1912 Governor Carroll appointed him a member of the State
Board of Education, where he served until his death. He was
an active member of the Council of Defense during the World
War.
George W.
Hanna was born
in Waterloo, Iowa, June 3, 1850, and died at Luverne, Iowa,
January 16, 1918. He attended common school at Waterloo and
at Goldfield, Wright County, and spent some time at Upper Iowa
University. Early in life he taught school and herded cattle.
When the Northwestern railroad was constructed through Iowa
to Eagle Grove, and north of there in 1878, he and a partner
started a store at what is now Luverne. He has been
considered the real founder of that town. He was postmaster
and mayor and was interested in baking there. He early began
to invest in land and at the time of his death owned 6,000
acres in Luverne township, Kossuth County, as well as large
mining interests in Mexico. He became a leader in politics in
his part of the state, was a delegate to the Republican
national convention in 1888, and was elected representative in
1903, and served in the Thirtieth and Thirty-first General
Assemblies.
Edgar
S. Garrison was
born at Clarence, Iowa, January 10, 1873, and died at
Herconcitos, Province of Cheriqui, Republic of Panama, July
16, 1915. He removed with his parents to Denison, Iowa, when
seven years old, attended school there, spent two years at
Notre Dame University, and graduated from Iowa State
University in 1895. He then entered the law office of his
father, T. J. Garrison, of Denison, but later removed to
Missouri Valley, forming a law partnership with J. S. Dewell.
In 1896 he was elected clerk of the district court of
Harrison County, and was re-elected clerk of the district
court of Harrison County, and was re-elected the two
succeeding terms, going out of office in 1903. Soon
thereafter he went to the Panama Canal Zone entering the
office of the prosecuting attorney as an assistant. In 1908
he was appointed district judge there and served until 1914,
when he resigned, traveled extensively in Venezuela and other
countries and entered into stock ranching business in Panama.
He met his death through a prevalent tropical disease.
William
Desmond was born
in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1850, and died in Seattle,
Washington, March 28, 1915. His parents brought him with
them, in 1852, when they removed to near De Witt, Clinton
County, Iowa. He served as constable and marshal of De Witt
from 1872 to 1876, as deputy sheriff of Clinton County from
1876 to 1882m as sheriff from 1882 to 1885, as United States
marshal for the Northern District of Iowa from 1885 to 1889,
as sheriff again from 1889 until 1894, and again as United
States marshal from 1894 to 1898. In 1909 he removed to
Seattle where he was largely interested in real estate. He
was one of the best and most popular peace officers of Iowa,
singularly adapted physically, intellectually and morally for
such responsibility. He was over six feet tall, weighed two
hundred pounds and was a terror to evil doers, but kind to
others. He broke up the famous "Fan" Burns gang of thieves as
well as many other gangs. It is said President Cleveland
first appointed him marshal chiefly because he looked to be
what his friends claimed for him, "Iowa's greatest peace
officer."
Louis
F. Springer was
born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, in 1853, and died at
Reading, Pennsylvania, April 19, 1914. He graduated from
Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, and came to
Independence, Iowa, in 1880 and engaged in the practice of
law. In 1881 he was elected county attorney of Buchanan
County and was re-elected two years later, serving four years.
In 1885 he was elected mayor of Independence and served one
year. He was clerk of the district court from 1891 to 1895.
In 1901 he was elected representative and regularly
re-elected until 1906, serving in the Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth,
Thirty-first, Thirty-second and Thirty-second extra General
Assemblies. As this was a Republican county and he was a
Democrat, his career attested to the confidence his
constituents reposed in him. Owing to his declining health he
returned to and remained a resident of his old home in
Pennsylvania a year or so before his death.
Albin
C. Blackmore was
born in Alleghany, New York, August 19, 1843, and died at
Northwood, Iowa, August 29, 1915. He lived on a farm with hi
parents until August, 1861, when he enlisted in Company I,
Sixty-fourth New York Volunteer Infantry, and served three
years, attaining the rank of first lieutenant. He was
seriously wounded in battle at Spottsylvania Court House.
After the war he went to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where his
parents had removed. He came to Worth County, Iowa, in 1866
and followed farming and stock raising. he was elected
township clerk and then county supervisor. In 1883 he was
elected county auditor and served nine years, Following that
h was manager of the Farmers' Lumber Company at Northwood. In
1906 he was elected representative and re-elected in 1908,
serving in the Thirty-second, Thirty-second extra and
Thirty-third General Assemblies.
Norman
Haskins was
born in New York in 1825, and died March 2, 1914, at Denver,
Colorado. Burial was at Rockford, Illinois. He came to Des
Moines in 1876 and taught school for some time. He then
engaged in the operation of coal mines and prospered
financially. He withdrew from coal mining and dealt in Des
Moines real estate, and was very successful in that
business. He also made investments in Colorado land which
proved profitable because of mineral discoveries thereon.
He was a great friend of Drake University, was a trustee
and gave liberally to it. He was one of the group of men
with George T. Carpenter, the first president, who selected
the site of the main building of the University. He gave
the University the Drake Stadium as a memorial to his son,
Alvin Haskins, who died a few years after graduating from
Drake.
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