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p. 43
R.W. NEWELL,
superintendent of schools at Emmetsburg, was born at Des
Moines, Iowa, March 18, 1893. He was educated in public
schools of Des Moines, graduated Bachelor of Arts from Des
Moines College in 1916 and received his Master of Arts degree
from the University of Iowa in 1928.
His record as a school man included the following positions:
Principal of high school at Lynville one year, 1915-16;
superintendent of schools three years at Lacey, 1916-19; three
years superintendent at Moravia, 1919-22; seven years
superintendent at Seymour, 1922-29; and in 1929 he became
superintendent of schools at Emmetsburg, Palo Alto County, his
present location. He is a member of the Phi Delta Kappa
fraternity and the Iowa State Teachers Association.
Mr. Newell is a Baptist and a Mason and Odd Fellow. He
married Lucile Schilling, a native of Ottumwa, Iowa, also a
graduate of Des Moines College, Bachelor of Music. She is a
member of the Eastern Star and P.E.O. Sisterhood. They have
two children, Ellen, born November 27, 1918, Dorothy, born
February 7, 1921.
p. 430
NEW MELLERAY ABBEY. Within
the borders of Iowa has existed for eighty years a community
of the Trappist Monks, whose good works, whose austere and
simple life, have been celebrated in literature and history
for centuries. The Trappist Monks, now known as Reformed
Cisterians of the Strict Observance, follow the rule of St.
Benedict and devote themselves to the esthetic or
contemplative life, in which prayer is the principal
occupation, mingled with manual labor. The Trappists are also
committed to the practice of silence, except as speech is
necessary, and in their community life no general conversation
is permitted. However, many of the stories regarding the
Trappists are erroneous. They lead a cheerful, wholesome life,
refraining from meat, but otherwise having a wholesome
dietary, ample periods of sleep, and, as has been officially
stated, their life is so tempered by thousands of peoples of
both sexes, age and condition. The Trappist has better health
and a longer life than the generality of mankind.
The home of the Trappist Monks in Iowa is known as the New
Melleray Abbey, located at Peosta, about twelve miles from
Dubuque. When, on October 28, 1928, the new public chapel and
guest house was dedicated, Archbishop James J. Keane in the
course of his address described the founding of the community
in a few brief sentences. "In 1849," he said, "when these
great stretches of fertile land were little more than a
wilderness, fifteen members of the Cisterian community of Mt.
Melleray in Ireland embarked at Liverpool for Dubuque, then an
outpost of civilization. They would, like Jacob, raise a 'holy
place' in the wilderness. They landed at New Orleans on the
forty-ninth day out, and after a brief rest, took passage on a
river boat for the north. Scarcely had the boat weighed anchor
when cholera broke out among the passengers and within a week
claimed six of the band, already weakened by the sufferings
and privations of the voyage. They were buried with all
possible reverence on the banks of the river.
"The survivors reached Dubuque in December, 1849. They had a second
baptism of suffering during the winter which had already set
in and was to try their spirit in the make-shift home, the
best that could be offered them. In the spring they set to
work to erect the temporary buildings which enabled them to
lead the regular monastic life until 1875, when the stately
monastic buildings then, and even now as much admired,
replaced the old frame structures.
"The monks brought with them the traditions and the spirit of
a great institution- that of monasticism to which St. Benedict
in the early part of the sixth century gave form and life and
undying energy.
"These traditions were revived and that spirit was renewed by
the great reformers of monasticism, St. Robert De Rance and
St. Bernard. Those who have looked into the history of the
Church know something of the great service rendered to
Christian religion and civilization by the monks.
"The purpose of the guest house in this, as in other Trappist
monasteries, is to provide accommodation for gentlemen, lay
and cleric, who may desire to come aside for a little while
from the pressure of business, home and social duties to
attend to life's greatest interest-their immortal souls. This
house of retreat has been long looked for, longed for, and
very many rejoice in this morning that it is now equipped for
the splendid service for which it was erected.
"This public chapel will afford opportunity for those who
desire to attend the monastic services so solemn and so
inspiring. The community is today too limited in number, but
we have every confidence that New Melleray will now draw large
numbers of young men to that service of God in which it is
engaged.
"I am authorized to say that the guest house is now open to
receive those who may desire to spend some days in quiet
recollection and prayer, and that the good prior and his
associates will meet with as cordial a welcome those who may
wish to join them as the saintly bishop of pioneer days
extended to the first members who laid the foundation of this
home of peace, this shrine of spiritual life."
JOHN WILLIAM
NEASHAM has been a business man of Ottumwa since 1892.
He is president and manager of the Ottumwa Iron Works, one of
the oldest of the industrial establishments of the city. The
Ottumwa Iron Works were established in 1867, and incorporated
in 1903. It is well known throughout the world as one of the
leading manufacturers of electric hoisting engines, roller
hearing trucks, mine and industrial cars and mine equipment,
continuous tooth herringbone gears and speed reducers.
Mr. Neasham is a native of England, son of Joseph and
Margaret (Hansell) Neasham. He was born in Easby, Yorkshire,
April 8, 1868, and when thirteen years of age his widowed
mother brought him, his two brothers and one sister, to the
United States. The family located at Nevada, Iowa, where John
W. Neasham grew to manhood and had his first commercial
experience. He had attended school in England and after wards
at Nevada.
When he was nineteen years of age he engaged in the jewelry
business at Nevada, and in February, 1892, moved to Ottumwa,
having purchased the jewelry store of F. P. Loomis & Company.
Mr. Neasham was in the jewelry business at Ottumwa for
thirty-five years, finally selling his business in January,
1927.
He has been financially interested in the Ottumwa Iron Works
since 1895, and is president and general manager of the
business. Since 1918 he has been a director of the Ottumwa
National Bank and since 1919 vice president of that
institution. He is also vice president of the Wapello County
Savings Bank. Mr. Neasham is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, the Wapello Club, Ottumwa Country Club,
Rotary Club and the Union League Club of Chicago.
He married in 1889 Miss Wilda Cessna, of Nevada, Iowa, a
daughter of Jonathan W. and Elizabeth Jane (Matthews) Cessna.
They have three children, Donald J., Elizabeth, wife of H. M.
Dancer, and Margaret, wife of I. W. Sears.
Donald J. Neasham was born in Ottumwa, July 4, 1895. He
attended public schools and the University of Iowa, and for
about a year was employed in the Ford plant in Detroit.
In the fall of 1917 he enlisted in the regular army for
service in the World war, being sworn in at Jefferson
Barracks, Saint Louis. For a bout six months he was at Fort
Riley, Kansas, spent one month at Spartanburg, South Carolina,
and on July 7, 1918, sailed for overseas from New York. He was
a non-commissioned officer as sergeant in the Sanitary Train
of the Sixth Division and participated in the Argonne
offensive. He was in France for five months after the
armistice, and received his honorable discharge at Camp Mills,
New York, May 31, 1919. Since the war he has been associated
with the Ottumwa Iron Works as vice president and treasurer.
Donald J. Neasham married, May 1, 1918, Ruth Wilkins, of
Anita, Iowa.
DRING D. NEEDHAM is a native
son of Iowa, graduated from law college just in time to join
the First Officers Training School when American entered the
World war, and since the close of the war has been steadily
building up a reputation and a successful practice at Des
Moines.
Mr. Needham was born on a farm in Butler County, Iowa, August
4, 1890, son of W. E. and Nancy (Graham) Needham. His father a
native of Ontario, Canada, and his mother of Iowa. She is
still living, a resident of Bristow, Butler County. W. E.
Needham spent all his life as a farmer. He was a Republican in
politics, and a member of the Masonic fraternity and the
Christian Church, while his wife is a Methodist. They had a
family of six children, and the three now living besides the
Des Moines attorney are: Joseph E., a farmer at Bristow; Mabel
M., wife of A. N. Morford, a farmer at Bristow; and Eunice I.,
wife of C. H. Bunker, a traveling salesman, with home at
Waterloo, Iowa.
Dring D. Needham grew up on a farm, and took the A. B. degree
from Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa, in 1914. This was
followed by his law course at Harvard University and he
graduated from there with a LL. B. degree in 1917.
He entered the First Officers Training School at Fort
Snelling, Minnesota, and subsequently attended the second camp
and was commissioned a first lieutenant. He was in service
under General Wood at Camp Funston, Kansas, until June 1,
1918, and was then assigned to the School of Fire at Fort
Sill, Oklahoma, becoming an instructor and promoted to the
rank of captain.
Captain Needham received his honorable discharge in December,
1918, and in June, 1919, was admitted to the Iowa bar and
began practice at Des Moines. He is a member of the firm
Brown, James & Needham, with offices in the Equitable
Building. They handle a general law practice at Des Moines,
with offices at Des Moines, Colfax and Stuart. Mr. Needham in
1927 was appointed assistant counsel for the Chicago Joint
Stock Land Bank, and in 1928, general counsel for the Iowa
Farm Credit Corporation.
He married, in 1920, Miss Ruth Cline, who was born in Greene
County, Iowa, and was educated at Des Moines, attending Drake
University. Her father, F. M. Cline, is a painting contractor
at Des Moines. Mr. and Mrs. Needham have two children: Sarah
Jane, born in 1922, and Ruth Mary, born in 1926. Mr. Needham
and family are members of the Plymouth Congregational Church,
and he is a deacon, and was formerly secretary of the Board of
Trustees. He is a York Rite Mason, member of the Acacia
College fraternity and a Republican in politics.
HARRY LUDWIG NEHLS is a native of Iowa, and has
been a factor in the business life of Cedar Rapids for over a
quarter of a century. His most important achievement in the
business field has been in connection with the growth and
development of the Iowa Mutual Liability Insurance Company and
the Preferred Class Mutual Insurance Company, which in 1929
celebrated their twentieth anniversary. The companies were
chartered in 1909, but it was not until 1913 that Dr. Richard
Lord, now chairman of the board, and Mr. H. L. Nehls,
secretary, treasurer and general manager, became active in the
organization. These two men, with the loyal cooperation of a
staff of trained insurance men, have carried the business of
the companies in increasing volume until they now have made
good their claim to the Iowa's leading casualty and automobile
insurance companies. These companies have built up their
business on the basis of providing sound protection at as low
a cost as is consistent with good business on such classes of
risks as workmen's compensation, employers' liability, plate
glass breakage, fire and tornado on dwellings, general
liability to the public, and all hazards in connection with
the operation of an automobile.
Harry Ludwig Nehls was born on a farm in Middlefield
Township, Buchanan County, Iowa, March 3, 1880. His people on
both sides were early settlers of Iowa. His father, Robert A.
Nehls, was born at Dayton, Ohio, and in 1858 accompanied his
father, Jacob A Nehls, to Dubuque County, Iowa, where the
latter developed a farm. Jacob A. Nehls came from Germany.
Robert A. Nehls became a farmer in Buchanan County and in 1902
moved to Independence, where he died in 1927, at the age of
seventy-five. He was a very prominent member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being affiliated with the
Subordinate, Canton and Encampment degrees of the order.
Robert A. Nehls married Caroline Sauer, who was born in
Dubuque County, Iowa, daughter of Henry Sauer, who came from
Germany in the early 1850s and acquired extensive bodies of
land in Buchanan County and carried on a large business as a
farmer and as a private banker.
Harry L. Nehls attended rural schools while a boy on the
farm, finished his education in the high school at
Independence, and in 1902 came to Cedar Rapids to attend the
Palmer Business College. After leaving school he conducted a
general real estate business and in 1913 organized the H. L.
Nehls Investment Company, providing a general real estate
service for Cedar Rapids. For a number of years he also gave
much of his time to homestead colonization and regularly ran
excursions to take home seekers over the newer districts of
Minnesota, North and South Dakota. Mr. Nehls has been a
director and officer since 1913 and has held the offices of
secretary-treasurer and general manager of the Iowa Mutual
Liability Insurance Company and the Preferred Class Mutual
Insurance Company since January 1, 1927.
He is a man deeply interested in civic and public affairs, is
a member of the First Christian Church, a thirty-second degree
Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, B. P. O. Elks and
Country Club. He married at Muscatine, Iowa, January 1, 1913,
Miss Clara Pelton, daughter of Mr. George W. Pelton, a retired
farmer. They have three children, Harry Ludwig, Jr., Rugh
Isabelle and George Robert.
P. MABEL NELSON, PH. D., holds a
professorship of foods and nutrition in Iowa State College, at
Ames, and has been executive head of this important department
since 1926. Professor Nelson is a woman of high scholastic and
scientific attainments and is a recognized authority in her
special field of educational service. She was born at
Brookston, Indiana, a daughter of Robert J. and Rebecca P.
(Benjamin) Nelson, who were born and reared in the fine old
Hoosier State and who have maintained their home in
California, first at Riverside and then at Georgetown, during
a period of nearly forty years. Robert J. Nelson was a farmer
in Indiana, and in California has been a progressive exponent
of the citrus-fruit industry, as the owner of a well improved
orange ranch, he being at the present time established in the
general mercantile business at Georgetown. Of the four
children P. Mabel, of this review, is the first born. Owen B.,
who was born at Brookston, Indiana, January 9, 1888, is an
electrical engineer and resides at Jamestown, California.
Robert E., who was born in Indiana on the 11th of March, 1890,
is engaged in the practice of law at Riverside, California.
Elizabeth, who was born at Riverside, California, April 21,
1897, was librarian of the southern branch of the University
of California, in the City of Los Angeles. She married B. L.
Kylberg, residing in Fresno. She is continuing library work,
being engaged part time in the Fresno Library.
Professor P. Mabel Nelson was graduated from high
school at Riverside, California, in 1906, and thereafter she
was a teacher in the public schools of Riverside County until
1909. During the period of 1909-11 she was a student in the
University of California; in 1911-12 she attended the Santa
Barbara State Normal School at Santa Barbara, in which she
pursued a course in home economics. She next gave two years of
service as teacher of cooking and sewing in the Riverside
public schools. In 1914 she resumed her studies at the
University of California, and was graduated in 1915, with
honors and with the degree of Bachelor of Science, she having
majored in nutrition during this period of study. In May,
1916, she received from the university the degree of Master of
Science. She then returned to the State Normal School at Santa
Barbara, where she was assistant in the department of home
economics until 1919. In the summer of that year she took
post-graduate work in the University of California, and in
September, 1919, she entered Yale University, in which
historic old institution she took graduate work in
physiological chemistry, the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
having been conferred upon her by that university in 1923. In
the summer vacation on 1922 she was a teacher of household
science in that department of the University of California. In
September, 1923, Professor Nelson became associate professor
in the foods and nutrition department of Iowa State College.
She was made acting head of the department, from January until
June, 1926, when she was advanced to the full professorship
and made the executive head of the department. Her
administration has been marked by characteristic professional
loyalty, by fine service of constructive order and by an
enthusiasm that has begotten like enthusiasm in the students
and staff of the department.
Professor Nelson is affiliated with the Sigma Xi, Phi
Kappa Phi, Alpha Nu, Iota Sigma Pi, Sigma Delta Epsilon and
Phi Upsilon Omicron, and with the Alpha Gamma Delta
fraternity, and is a member of the American Chemical Society.
She has active membership in the Christian Church.
Professor Nelson has been called upon for lectures before the
Iowa Federation of Women's Clubs, and also before Rotary Clubs
and Business and Professional Women's Clubs, besides which her
lectures have had radio broadcasting and she has given
addresses in connection with Farm and Home Week short courses.
Her lectures have been mainly on foods and nutrition, home
economics and social work. She has made many and valuable
contributions to the literature of her profession. Among such
contributions, may be noted the following: "The Cooking of
Meats." Iowa Homemaker, March, 1924; "Maternal Diet and
Lactation," Journal of Home Economics, Vol. XVIII, July, 1926;
"The Role of the Diet in Lactation," Journal American Dental
Association, September, 1926; "The Place of Meat in the Diet,"
Modern Priscilla, December, 1928; She has collaborated in the
preparation of various articles that have appeared in Journal
of Science of the Iowa State College: Leavell, Gladys and
Nelson, P. Mabel, The Soybean as Human Food, Mimeograph
Leaflet, Extension Service, 1926. Nelson. P. Mabel. The
Cooking of Meats, Iowa Homemaker, p. 10 March, 1924. Nelson P.
Mabel, Maternal Diet and Lactation. Jr. H. Ec., Vol. 18, 383,
July, 1926. Morgan, Agnes Fay and P. Mabel Nelson. A Study of
Certain Factors Affecting Shrinkage and Speed in the Roasting
of Meat. Jr. H. Ec., 18, 371, July-August, 1926. Nelson, P.
Mabel. The Role of Diet in Lactation. Jr. Amer. Dental
Association, p. 1, Sept. 1926. Sunderlin, G., Nelson, P. Mabel
and Max Levine. Studies in Home Canning, I. Some Factors
Affecting the Keeping Qualities of Vegetables and Meats Canned
by the Hot Water Bath Method. I. S. C. Jour, of Sc. 2,
189-212, April, 1928. Sunderlin, G., with Levine, Max and
Nelson, P. Mabel. Studies in Home Canning, II. Indices of
Spoilage in Home Canned Foods. I. S. C. Jour. of Sci. 2,
289-311, July, 1928. Redfield, Gail M., Nelson, P. Mabel, and
Sunderlin, Gertrude. Studies in Home Canning, III. Heat
Penetration in Meats and Vegetables Processed in Glass
Containers. I. S C. Jour, of Sc. 3, 7-28, 1928. Nelson, P.
Mabel. The Place of Meat in the Diet, Priscilla, December,
1928. Nelson, P. Mabel. The Place of Fish in the Diet,
Priscilla, March, 1929. Nelson, P. Mabel, Redfield, Gail M.
and Sunderlin, G. Pressure Cooker Operation in Home Canning.
Jr. H. Ec. 21, No. 2, February, 1929. Nelson, P. Mabel, Honey
in Fancy and in Fact. Amer. Bee Jour. 68, 561, November, 1928.
House, Margaret C., P. Mabel Nelson and E. S. Haber. The
Vitamin A, B, and C. Content of Artificially Versus Naturally
Ripened Tomatoes. J. Biol. Chem. 81; 495, March, 1929. House,
M. C., Nelson, P. Mabel and Haber, E. S. The Vitamin B Content
of Vegetables. Research Bull. No. 120, Iowa Agric. Exp.
Station, February, 1930. Nelson, P. Mabel, Lowe, Belle, and
Helser, M. D. Influence of the Animal's Age upon the Quality
and Palatability of Beef. II. The Roast Beef, Preparation,
Quality and Palatability. Iowa Agr. Exp. Station Bul. 272;
311-323. 1930. Nelson, P. Mabel. The Place of Sweets in the
Diet. Amer. Bee Jour., p. 444, September, 1930. Nelson, P.
Mabel, Irwin, Margaret H., and Peet, Louise J. Meat in
Nutrition, I. Preliminary Report on Beef Muscle. Jour. of
Nutrition, III, 303, November, 1930. Peet Louise J., Nelson,
P. Mabel, and Smith, Erma A. Meat in Nutrition, II. Some
Dietary Factors Influencing Lactation. Jour. of Nutrition III,
313, November, 1930. Peet, Louise J., Smith. Erma A., and
Nelson, P. Mabel. Meat in Nutrition, III. Hemoglobin
Formation. Jour. of Nutrition III, 325, November, 1930.
CLARENCE J. NESS. The career of
Clarence J. Ness, sole proprietor of the C. J. Ness Pattern
Company, of Waterloo, is illustrative of the opportunities
offered the youth of America in gaining fortune and position
through the exercise of industry and good judgment and through
giving their inherent talents full sway during the course of
every-day opportunities. A resident of Waterloo since 1912, he
has been engaged in business son his own account since 1919,
and while his personal affairs have been of such a character
to demand his constant attention, he has managed to find time
to contribute to worthy civic causes.
Mr. Ness was born at Minneapolis, Minnesota, a
son of Olaf Ness, who was a native of Trondhjem, Norway, of an
old and honorable family. In his youth he acquired a good
education and served an apprenticeship to the carpenter's
trade, and was still a young man when he came to the United
States and settled at Minneapolis. With him came a sister and
two brothers: Gena, who married a Mr. Myers and resides at
Minneapolis; Charles, who adopted the name of Nash and resides
at Minneapolis; and Iver, who likewise changed his name to
Nash, lived for a time at Minneapolis, and is now a resident
of Warsaw, Wisconsin. After his arrival at Minneapolis, Olaf
Ness engaged in business as a carpenter and builder and soon
built up a large and prosperous patronage, being known as a
skilled workman and a reliable and trustworthy man of affairs.
He also bore his full share of the burdens of public life, and
was for thirty-six years a member of the board of education of
the City of Minneapolis, where he died, honored and respected,
at the age of sixty-three years. Mr. Ness married Miss Agnette
Sanders, who was born at Faribault, Minnesota. Her father,
Richard Sanders, was born at Brugen, Norway, where he married
a native of that place, and on coming to the United States
settled at Faribault, where he passed the remainder of his
life. Mrs. Ness died at the age of thirty-one years, leaving
four children: Harold, Clarence J., Valmer and Esther.
Clarence J. Ness attended the public schools of
Minneapolis, including the high school, and then commenced an
apprenticeship at the trade of pattern maker. At the
completion of his apprenticeship he did journeyman work at
Minneapolis until 1912, when he accepted an offer from the
John Deere Company, by which Waterloo concern he was employed
for seven years. In 1919 he invested his hard-earned capital
in a modest pattern works of his own, which he has since
developed to large and important proportions, making this
enterprise, at 811 1/2 Commercial Street, one of Waterloo's
real business assets. He is licensed as a mechanical engineer
and is one of the valued members of the Iowa Engineering
Society and the Waterloo Technical Society. Mr. Ness was
reared a Lutheran, but now belongs to the United Brethern
Church. He belongs to Waterloo Lodge No. 500, A. F. and A. M.;
Tabernacle Chapter No. 52, R. A. M.; Ascalon Commandery No.
25, K. T.; and El Keher Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., at Cedar
Rapids. He is an enthusiastic Rotarian and joins with his
fellows in the promulgation and furtherance of constructive
movements calculated to be of civic betterment.
In 1918 Mr. Ness was united in marriage with Miss
Bernice Manning, who was born at Waterloo, daughter of Orville
Manning, and to this union there has been born one son;
Richard, who is now attending school.
ARTHUR H. NEUMANN. In the broad field of
general contracting many accomplishments are necessary to the
achievement of real success. These seem to have been embodied
and expressed in the career of Arthur H. Neumann, head of the
A. H. Neumann Company, who during the eighteen years he has
been engaged in this business at Des Moines has built up the
largest enterprise of its kind in the state and has to its
credit many of the finest structures of Des Moines.
Mr. Neumann was born in 1884 at Des Moines, and is a
son of William and Barbara (Kuefner) Neumann. His paternal
grandfather was Martin Neumann, who was born in Germany, and
late in life came to the United States, but lived a retired
life here and never engaged in business in Iowa. William
Neumann was born in Germany, and was still a young man when,
in 1867, he came to the United States and took up his
residence at Des Moines. Here he engaged in a modest way in
carpenter contracting and the manufacture of brick, and
gradually gave more and more of his attention to the latter
end of the business, in which he was a prominent figure at the
time of his death in 1899. He was a man of high character and
sound judgment, a faithful member of the Lutheran Church, and
a staunch Republican in politics. He married Barbara Kuefner,
daughter of John Kuefner, who was born in Germany and came to
the United States in 1848, settling in New Orleans, but then
moving to Cincinnati, and in 1856 came to Iowa in a covered
wagon. He conducted a bakery at Des Moines and was also
engaged in farming, becoming a well-to-do man for his day. He
was deeply religious and was one of the founders of the first
Lutheran faith at Des Moines. Mrs. Neumann survives her
husband and resides at Des Moines at the age of seventy-four
years. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Neumann of whom
the following five survive: Dr. W. J. Cameron, B. D. F. the
wife of a prominent Doctor of Dental Surgery of Des Moines;
Arthur H., of this review; Walter N.; Oscar D. and Harold C.
The four brothers are all identified with the A. H. Neumann
Company.
The plans for Mr. Neumann's education were interrupted
through the sudden and early death of his father. Even as a
boy Mr. Neumann knew that his calling would be that of a
builder, so after seventeen years in the public schools of Des
Moines he entered his business career as an apprentice in a
leading contracting firm in Des Moines. Studying nights with
private instructors he forged ahead rapidly and by 1912
established his own firm. After his brothers had completed
their college training, each in a special engineering line,
Mr. Neumann took them into his business as partners. The A. H.
Neumann Company is now accounted the largest general
contracting firm in the state. Among the work done by his
organization may be mentioned the Equitable Building, the
Steel Building, the Iowa Insurance Exchange Building, the Bell
Telephone Building, the Municipal Court Building and the
electric power plant, all at Des Moines; the Memorial Union
Building and several small structures at Ames; and the Field
House at Iowa City. Arthur H. Neumann is justly recognized as
one of the best informed and most energetic men in his line,
as well as one of the most reliable in fulfilling his
contracts to the letter. He is a member of the Lutheran Church
and belongs to the Des Moines Club, the Wakonda Club and the
Rotary Club. He has always been a Republican, but his business
has kept him so constantly engaged that he has been able to
take only a public spirited citizen's interest in political
affairs.
In 1914 Mr. Neumann was united in marriage with Miss
Elsa Rehmann, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Rehmann. Mr.
Rehmann was born in Germany, and after coming to the United
States and settling at Des Moines opened a private studio,
where he was a professor of languages and music. Mrs. Neumann
was educated in the schools of Des Moines and under the
guidance of her father, and also studied music in Europe. A
highly talented pianist and organist, her services have been
in demand in all of the large churches of Des Moines. Three
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Neumann; Elsa, a
student in the junior high school, and Barbara and Elizabeth
who are attending public school.
CLIFFORD L. NILES, banker, theater owner
and manufacturer of Anamosa, was born in that Northeastern
Iowa city August 4, 1878. His people were pioneers of Iowa,
and Mr. Niles in his career has carried out some of the lines
of business established by his father and has also broadened
his interests and activities.
His father was the late Charles L. Niles, who was born
at Hamilton, New York, and was a child when his parents came
to Jones County, Iowa, about 1858, and located on a farm.
During the years he was growing to manhood Iowa had great
abundance of wild game, and his enterprise showed him a way
toward getting financially established. He bought up great
quantities of prairie chickens, which could then be shot in
almost every field in the state, and hauled them to Dubuque,
Iowa, for shipment to the eastern market. Charles L. Niles was
best known as a banker. In 1871 he organized the First
National Bank of Anamosa. In 1905 this became the Niles &
Watters Saving Bank. He was head of the bank for thirty-five
years and during his lifetime he made it the largest financial
institution in the city. He also had other business interests,
being a buyer and dealer in grain, handled farms and was owner
of much real estate in Anamosa. He died in 1914. Charles L.
Niles married Nellie S. Scroogs, who was born at Anamosa and
is a resident of that city.
Their son, Clifford L. Niles, graduated from the
Anamosa High School and completed his college career at the
University of Michigan, where he was graduated in 1899. On
returning home, at the age of twenty-one, he entered his
father's bank, and for thirty years has been its vice
president. He owned and operated the American Cooperage
Company, comprising a butter tub plant at Anamosa and a lumber
mill at Wilson, Arkansas. Mr. Niles for a number of years had
been interested in the ownership and operation of theaters and
now has a chain of amusement houses in this section of the
state. He is a successful business man who has put his support
behind many important local and state projects. He is a former
chairman of the State Board of Conservation and is now
chairman of the Iowa State Highway Commission which last year
paved over 1,000 miles of rural roads and spent on roads over
forty-seven million dollars. This office gives him statewide
prominence. Mr. Niles is a Republican, a member of the Masonic
fraternity, B. P. O. Elks, has membership in the Wapsipinicon
Country Club and the Methodist Episcopal Church.
He married, October 29, 1902, Miss Clara Louise Holt,
of Anamosa. Her father, E. C. Holt, was a well known
contractor in that city. Both her parents are deceased. The
six children of Mr. and Mrs. Niles are Charles L., Mary Tirzah,
Helen, Jane, Betty and Katherine.
JOHN SCHOLTE NOLLEN, dean of Grinnell
College, has a long and distinguished record as an educator,
scholar and author. He is one of the well known triumvirate of
brothers, the other two being life insurance executives at Des
Moines, and there is hardly any family in Iowa that has
contributed more to the commercial and cultural life of the
state.
Doctor Nollen was born at Pella, Iowa, January 15,
1869, son of John and Johanna Sara Susanna (Scholte) Nollen,
and a grandson of the founder of Pella, Hendrick Peter
Scholte, an eminent scholar and religious and business
executive, who came from Holland community and settled at
Pella, Iowa. An interesting record of Hendrick Peter Scholte
is published on other pages. John Nollen was also a native of
Holland, settled at Pella in 1854, and for a number of years
was engaged in banking and in other lines of business. He
served as mayor of Pella, and was a trustee of Central
University at Pella. He died in 1914 and his wife in May,
1928. Their three sons are Henry S. Nollen, president of the
Equitable Life Insurance Company of Iowa, Dr. John S. Nollen;
and Gerard S. Nollen, president of the Bankers Life Insurance
Company of Des Moines.
John Scholte Nollen was educated in public schools and
privately by his father at Pella, graduated with the A. B.
degree from Central College in 1885 and was an instructor in
the college from 1885 to 1887. He went abroad and tutored the
children of David Page at Cham, Switzerland, during 1888-90.
He received his A. B. degree from the University of Iowa in
1888 and was engaged in graduate study in Zurich, Switzerland,
in 1890-91, at Leipzig, Germany, in 1891-92, and at Paris in
1892-93. Leipzig University gave him his Doctor of Philosophy
degree in 1893. During 1900-01 Doctor Nollen was again abroad
for study at the University of Berlin.
From 1893 to 1903 Doctor Nollen was professor of modern
languages at Grinnell College. He then accepted the chair of
professor of German in the University of Indiana at
Bloomington, where he remained from 1903 to 1907. From 1907 to
1918 he was president of Lake Forest University at Lake
Forest, Illinois. He resigned to engage in war work, as an
overseas Y. M. C. A. secretary, serving in France and later in
Italy, where he was general secretary of the Y. M. C. A. with
the Italian army during 1918-20, and during 1920 was connected
with the American Red Cross Commission in Europe. Since his
return from overseas he has resumed his work as an educator
and has been dean of Grinnell College, being one of the most
popular members of that fine college community. He is a
director of the Grinnell State Bank. During 1927-28 Doctor
Nollen had a leave of absence from Grinnell College for work
at the Pomona and Scripps Colleges at Claremont, California.
He attended as a delegate the World Conference on Faith and
Order at Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1927.
Doctor Nollen's research work and scholarship have found
publications in the following works: Goethe's Gutz von
Berlichingen auf der Buhne, published in 1893, as his Doctor's
thesis; Chronology and Practical Bibliography of Modern German
Literature, 1903; Outline History of Modern German Literature
for Lake German Series, 1903; Two Addresses, 1907; What is
That in thy Hand, 1911; The Warfare of Peace, 1913; God and
the Nation, 1914; Think on These Things, 1915. He is editor of
text books, including Kleist's Prinz Friedrich von Hamburg,
1899, Schiller's Poems, 1905, Schiller's Maria Stuart, 1909,
German Poems, 1800-18-50, published in 1912, and for years has
been a contributor to philogical and literary magazines.
Doctor Nollen is a Phi Beta Kappa, member of the Modern
Language Association of America, the Religious Education
Association, National Education Association, English Speaking
Union, was president in 1910-11 of the Presbyterian Social
Union of Chicago, and president of the Association of American
Colleges in 1917-18. The Italian government bestowed upon him
the Italian War Cross and made him a commander of the Order of
the Crown of Italy. Doctor Nollen is a member of the
Congregational Church and in 1925 was president of the Kiwanis
Club at Grinnell.
He married, September 11, 1906, Emeline Barstow Bartlett, of
Providence, Rhode Island. She died November 10, 1910, leaving
two children, Anna Barstow, of New York City, and Emeline
Bartlett, of Grinnell. On June 25, 1914, Doctor Nollen married
Louise Stevens Bartlett, of Providence, Rhode Island. |
