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Books

Harlan, Edgar Rubey.
A Narrative History of the People of Iowa.
 Vol IV. Chicago: American Historical Society,  1931

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PAUL C. TAFF, B. S. Practically the entire educational career of Prof. Paul C. Taff has been identified with the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts at Ames, where he received his own training and where he is now assistant director of the extension department. He serves also as the state leader for the Boys' and Girls' 4-H Club work, is a lecturer of ability and has been judge of corn and grains at numerous national exhibitions.

Professor Taff was born in McLean County, Illinois, February 28, 1887, and is a son of Alexander and Ann (Kaiser) Taff. His father was born at Richmond, Indiana, in 1856, and grew up in an agricultural community, where he received a rural school education. In young manhood he moved to Illinois, where he engaged in farming for many years, becoming one of the substantial citizens of that community, but since 1920 has been living a retired life at Ames. Mrs. Taff was born in Germany, in 1857, and was eighteen years of age when she came to Illinois, where she met and married Mr. Taff. She also survives and resides at Ames. Paul C. Taff attended school in Illinois and Iowa and in 1913 was graduated from the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts with the degree of Bachelor of Science in agriculture. He then entered the extension department of his alma mater as head of crops and soils, later supervised correspondence courses and then was made assistant director of the extension department, a position which he still retains.  He has shown a great deal of interest and has done much valuable work as state leader in the Boys' and Girls' Club work, and has lectured on extension work all over the state and on boys' and girls' club work in general. In addition to having been judge of corn and grains at numerous national shows, he has written ten or twelve bulletins on grain and club work, and produced one entire course on farm plants and soils, which is printed in sixteen catalogues. He belongs to several honorary and social fraternities, and takes an active part in civic affairs. Professor Taff is a Roman Catholic in his religious faith and member of the Knights of Columbus.

On June 18, 1913, at Panora, Guthrie County, Iowa, Professor Taff was united in marriage with Miss Gertrude Carberry, who was born and reared at Panora, where she attended school, and then took a course at St. Joseph's Academy, Des Moines. Professor and Mrs. Taff are the parents of five children: James A., born July 6, 1915; Ann M., born June 10, 1918; Regina E., born November 6, 1920; Mary, born July 4, 1921; and Marjorie, born October 6, 1922. All of the children were born in Ames.

CHARLES F. TAYLOR, assistant superintendent of the Iowa State Sanitarium at Oakdale in Johnson County, was born and completed his medical education in Chicago, and had a general experience and training in surgery and in private practice before he came to the state institution at Oakdale.

He was born in Chicago, Illinois, September 22, 1891, son of Charles F. and Alice B. (Webster) Taylor, both of whom reside in Chicago. The Taylors are of Scotch-Irish and the Websters of English ancestry. The Websters have been in America for about 2 centuries. Charles F. Taylor was born in Ohio, which was also the native state of his wife. He has for many years been in the real estate and insurance business. The four children of the parents are: Mrs. Flora Marie Hufton, of Chicago; Mrs. Mary Webster Sawyer, of Chicago; Dr. Charles F. Taylor; and Dr. Ray H. Taylor, of Chicago.

Charles F. Taylor attended public schools in Chicago, graduating from high school in 1912, and paid part of his own expenses while in high school, working for individuals and business concerns, including the National Oxygen Company. In 1912 he entered the University of Chicago, where he took his pre-medical course and graduated with the B. A. degree in 1916. His last two years of medical college work were done in Rush Medical College of Chicago, from which he received the M. D. degree in 1918. He was still in medical school when America entered the World war and was put in the Thirteenth
Hospital Unit and later sent to Camp Lincoln, at Springfield, with the Eleventh Regiment. Doctor Taylor was honorably discharged from the Government service in 1918 and completed his interne experience in the hospital of the Illinois Steel Company, where he was an assistant surgeon.

Doctor Taylor came to Iowa in 1919 and carried on a successful general practice at Prairieburg until 1923. While there he acted as medical examiner for the city schools. He was put in charge of the General Hospital of the State Sanitarium of Oakdale in 1923, and since 1928 has had the official title of assistant superintendent. Doctor Taylor passed the Illinois State
Medical Board in June, 1918, and was licensed to practice in Iowa in November 1919. He is a member of Johnson County and Iowa State Medical Societies, is a member of the state Sanitarium Association and secretary of the Mississippi Valley Sanitarium Association. He is a Republican in politics and is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and Knights of Pythias.

Doctor Taylor married, November 8, 1917, at Chicago, Miss Harriett M. Sack. They are the parents of seven children: J. David, born in 1918, Charlotte Bernice, born in 1920, Richard Ray, born in 1922, Harriett Louise, born in 1924, Thomas Fletcher, born in 1926, Daniel Webster, born in 1927, and Philip Alan, born in 1928.

 

OTHO S. THOMAS is a well established lawyer in Lyon County, at Rock Rapids, and several times has enjoyed the honor and responsibility of serving as mayor of his home community.

Mr. Thomas was born at Des Moines, Iowa, August 17, 1885, son of William H. and Alice Theresa (Buckingham) Thomas. He grew up at Des Moines, attended public schools there and at Valley Junction and at the age of eighteen entered Drake University. He graduated Bachelor of Philosophy in 1908 and in 1910 took his LL. B. degree at the college of law of Yale University. He remained at Yale another year in post-graduate study, taking the Master of Laws degree in 1911 and during 1911-13 was instructor in law in Drake University. During 1913-14 he was assistant to the attorney general of Iowa, and when he engaged in private practice he brought to his work a degree of training and experience such as few young attorneys possess.

Mr. Thomas practiced in Des Moines for about a year and in 1915 moved to Oakland and in 1919 to Rock Rapids. Here he was associated with Samuel D. Riniker until the death of Mr. Riniker in 1924. Subsequently he took in a young attorney as a partner, Homer C. Myers, who is now practicing in Chicago. Mr. Thomas carried on a general law practice and has an important routine of duties in connection with his profession.

He was first elected to the office of mayor of Rock Rapids in 1922 and has served four terms in that office and has given the town a progressive and economical administration of its affairs. Mr. Thomas is a Republican in politics, is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner and is a Methodist. He is a member of the Iowa State Bar Association and the American Bar Association, also a member of the State Historical Society of Iowa.

He married, December 15, 1920, Miss Julia Olive Waldron, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, daughter of Sherman T. and Rosella (Coulter) Waldron, of Glidden, Iowa.

SETH THOMAS, A.M., LL. B., controls in the City of Fort Dodge a law practice that marks him as one of the leading members of the bar of Webster County. In this vital and important city, metropolis and judicial center of the county, he has been established in the practice of his profession during a period of twenty years.

On the parental home farm in Morgan County, Ohio, the birth of Seth Thomas occurred May 18, 1873, and he is a son of William H. and Louisa J. (Wilson) Thomas, the former of whom was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, and the latter in Mason County, West Virginia, their home being now maintained near Charleston, Illinois, where Mr. Thomas is living retired, at the venerable age of eighty-three years, his wife being eighty years of age. William H. Thomas in the active years of his life rendered good account of himself as a farmer and blacksmith, and he still gives a general supervision to his farm near Charleston, Coles County, Illinois, a property that he purchased in 1920, upon his removal to that state from Ohio. Of the six children in the family all are living except one: Simeon E. is a member of the faculty of the Teachers' College at Charleston, Illinois; Seth, of this review, was next in order of birth; Margaret is the widow of F. H. Birthisel and now resides in the home of her venerable parents; Melvin resides at Charleston, Illinois, and is serving as farm agent of the Coles County; Cora is the wife of T. Roush, a farmer in Mason County, West Virginia. The parents are earnest members of the United Brethren Church, and the father is a Democrat in political alignment, he being a man of superior intellectual ken and having always taken deep and intelligent interest in community affairs. He is a son of Enos Thomas, who was born in Pennsylvania and who became a pioneer settler in Ohio, from which state his son Franklin went forth as a loyal soldier of the Union in the Civil war. Mrs. Louisa J. (Wilson) Thomas is a daughter of the late George W. Wilson, who was born and reared in Virginia and who became a prosperous farmer in that section of his native commonwealth that later became the State of West Virginia. He was a gallant soldier of the Union in the Civil war, as were many other men from West Virginia.

Seth Thomas received the advantages of the West Virginia public schools and thereafter was a student two years in the University of West Virginia. In continuing his education he found it expedient to come to the West, and in 1904 he graduated in the University of Iowa with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, while two years later the university conferred upon him, after his
effective post-graduate work, the supplemental degree of Master of Arts. The same university was the medium through which he prepared himself for his chosen profession, as he was graduated in its law department in June, 1910, his reception of the degree of Bachelor of Laws having been forthwith followed by his admission to the Iowa bar and by his opening an office in the City of Fort Dodge, where he has since continued in the active and successful general practice of law and where his law business is now one of important and representative order. Under the administration of President Wilson he served as assistant United States district attorney for the northern district of Iowa. He has membership in the Webster County Bar Association, the Iowa State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.

Mr. Thomas gives staunch allegiance to the Democratic party and has been influential in its councils and campaigns in this section of the Hawkeye State. He is affiliated with the local Blue Lodge and Royal Arch Chapter of the Masonic fraternity, and he and his wife are zealous members of the Congregational Church.

July 25, 1905, was marked by the marriage of Mr. Thomas to Miss Ella Brown, who was born in Washington County, Iowa, where her father, Benjamin F. Brown, gained no minor precedence as a progressive and successful exponent of farm industry, he having been born in Brooke County, West Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have two children: Eleanor is a graduate of Iowa State College, at Ames, and Reynolds B. is a student in the Fort Dodge High School.

CHARLES E. THOMPSON, Doctor of Osteopathy, is one of the older graduates of Still College at Des Moines, is a former president of that institution, and has been carrying on the work of an osteopathic physician in the capital city for over a quarter of a century.

Doctor Thompson was born at Momence in Kankakee County, Illinois, December 14, 1864, son of John M. and Phoebe Jane (Mott) Thompson, his father a native of New York State and his mother of Canada. His grandfather, Nicholas M. Thompson, was born in New York State, and the family of Thompsons have been in America since Colonial times and were represented in the Revolutionary war. They have always been leaders in their communities. John M. Thompson was educated in New York, went to Michigan and then to Illinois, and spent most of his life as a farmer and school teacher. He held township offices, was a Republican in politics, and he and his wife were Methodists. Of their five children three are now living.

Dr. Charles E. Thompson attended the public schools in Illinois, continuing his higher education in Ewing College of that state, and taught both in Ewing College and in public schools. He also had some school work in Texas. Altogether he gave about fifteen years to educational interests, and in 1900 came to Des Moines and was made instructor of chemistry while carrying on his osteopathic studies in Still College. He was graduated in 1902, and then remained with the college as a teacher until 1905, when he was elected president. Doctor Thompson was president of Still College for six years, and since resigning had devoted his attention to a growing practice and is one of the ablest representatives of his profession in the state. He is a member of the National Osteopathic Association.

Doctor Thompson married, in 1895, Miss Berta Carr, who was born in Illinois and was educated in that state. Her father, J. C. D. Carr, was a physician at Galatia, Illinois. Doctor and Mrs. Thompson have one daughter, Dorothy Octavia, a highly cultured young woman, who was educated in Des Moines, graduated A. B. from Grinnell College, Master of Science from Iowa State College at Ames, and taught both at Grinnell and Ames. Doctor Thompson is a member of the First Baptist Church, and has been a deacon of the church for twenty-three years. He is a Republican in politics.


HIRAM H. THOMPSON, Davenport artist, painter of portraits and murals, was born in a family of artists, and from earliest boyhood had no other thought than that he would follow the family traditions in the use of the pencil and brush.

Mr. Thompson was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, February 18, 1885, son of Thomas Edward and Rhoda (Wright) Thompson. His mother is now deceased. His father, a resident of Chicago, has been a scenic painter for many years. Hiram Thompson has a brother, Frank Wright Thompson, who has also made a creditable record as a scenic artist in the City of Chicago.

Hiram H. Thompson attended school in St. Louis. After leaving school he began his serious study of art as a profession and means of livelihood. He attended the Chicago Art Institute and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and later studied privately under Walter Ufer, N. A., who took a great deal of interest in his talented pupil and regarded him as one of the most promising students he ever had. Mr. Thompson while living in Chicago became a member of the Palette and Chisel Club, membership in which organization is a coveted honor among artists.

On removing to Davenport Mr. Thompson engaged in the field of commercial art and for twelve years handled the work of the U. N. Roberts Company. He now has a spacious studio in the Davenport Turner Hall Building, where he handles such nationally known accounts as Montgomery Ward & Company, the Gordon-Van Tine Company, the Ferry-Hanly Advertising Company, the L. W. Ramsey Company, the Cribben Sexton Company, the Rock Island Stove Company, the Hydraulic Pressed Brick Company, etc.

Although the larger portion of Mr. Thompson's accounts and commissions come to him from the larger cities of the East and West, he makes his home in Iowa, preferring the beauty and peace of Iowa's rivers and hills to the hectic existence of the large cities.

Mr. Thompson's training and ambitions have been toward the painting of portraits. During the past several years he has come into the realization of his ambitions, having brilliantly executed a number of portrait commissions. Chief among these were the portraits of Judge Charles McGhee Waterman, former justice of the Supreme Court of Iowa, and Dr. Clarence Theodore Lindley, donor to the Davenport Municipal Art Gallery. This latter commission was by the City of Davenport after Mr. Thompson won the L. W. Ramsey award for the best work in any medium with his portrait "Louise."

Many thousands of Davenport people have greatly admired what is perhaps his largest piece of work, the mural painting depicting the signing of the Indian treaty between the chief of the Sac and Fox tribes and General Winfield Scott, an event that might be considered the cornerstone of Davenport's history. This painting occupies a prominent place in the handsome American Commercial Bank Building.

Mr. Thompson is a trustee of the Davenport Friends of Art. He is the 1930 master of Roosevelt Lodge No. 626, A. F. and A. M. also belongs to the Consistory and is an Elk. He married, in 1902, Bertha Reichow, a native of Chicago. Their children are Dorothy, Janette and Hiram H., Jr.


JOHN A. THOMSEN, JR. This is a name that has been prominent in the agricultural, business and civic affairs of Clinton County for a great many years. The late John A. Thomsen, Sr., came to this section of Iowa from Denmark when a boy of fourteen, and his energy, thrift, good judgment and integrity made him a substantial figure in that community.

John A. Thomsen, Sr., was born in Denmark January 20, 1857, and died at his home in Sabula December 19, 1926, at the age of sixty-nine years, ten months and twenty-nine days. His early education was given him in the schools of his native country. When the family came to America they located near Mount Algor, where the son John contributed his part to the upkeep of the family by working as a farm hand. Later he and his brother Fred rented a farm and provided a home for their parents.

John A. Thomsen married, in 1883, Miss Elisa Petersen, also a native of Denmark. She came to America when seventeen years of age. After their marriage they lived on a farm a mile north of Teeds Grove, later purchasing the land, and in 1901 they bought the R. E. Walker farm six miles southwest of Sabula. Mr. Thomsen engaged in farming there until about 1920, when he moved to the town of Sabula. He was in every respect a self-made man. His hard work, practice of thrift and the exercise of good business judgment brought him the competency that enabled him to spend his last years in comfort. For two years before his death he had been an influential member of the Sabula City Council. He was baptized when a child in the Danish Lutheran Church, and was also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being buried under the auspices of that order.

He was survived by his widow, who lives at Sabula, and of their seven children two daughters died in infancy and the son Frank in 1905, at the age of sixteen. The surviving children are: Mrs. J. H. Petersen, of Sabula; Le Roy, of Sabula; John Thomsen, Jr.; and Carl, whose home is near Teeds Grove.

John A Thomsen, Jr., is a representative of the family who has made himself a factor in the business and financial affairs of the Teeds Grove Community. He was born on the home farm near the town June 1, 1896. His education was supplied by country schools, the Sabula High School and in 1915 he graduated from the Clinton Business College. After a year on his father's farm he entered the Teeds Grove Savings Bank, in 1917, as clerk. Later another year was given to farming, and since 1919 he has been cashier of the bank at Teeds Grove. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mr. Thomsen married, February 22, 1922, Miss Vera Jackson, daughter of William H. and Florence Jackson. Her parents were born in Iowa and her father was a farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Thomsen have two daughters, Myrna and Velma.


GEORGE KING THOMPSON. Among the members of the legal profession of Iowa, George King Thompson, of the firm of Barnes, Chamberlain, Hanzlik & Thompson, of Cedar Rapids, is perhaps best known as a trial and corporation lawyer. His hard-headed common sense, his keen insight into human nature and his personal charm and magnetism seem to bring him into immediate and close touch with a jury. Thus he has gained and held a commanding position at the bar, and while so doing has found time to enter actively into those civic movements which commend themselves to all progressive and right-thinking citizens.

King Thompson, as he is familiarly known, was born near Jamaica, Guthrie County, Iowa, November 24, 1887, and is a son of William Jenkins and Ida (King) Thompson. His grandfather, John Thompson, came from Franklin County, Indiana, to Iowa in 1879 and settled down to agricultural pursuits, in which he was engaged until the time of his death. William Jenkins Thompson was educated at Earlham College, and always engaged in farming and live stock raising, although he also carried on a hardware and implement business at Jamaica. A Democrat in politics, he was active in his party and served as a delegate to the national convention at Saint Louis in 1904. Fraternally he was affiliated with the Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mrs. Thompson was born in Guthrie County, Iowa, a daughter of George King, who came to Iowa in 1850 and spent his life as an agriculturist. In young womanhood Mrs. Thompson was a public school teacher, and since the death of her husband, in 1919, has made her home at Cedar Rapids.

King Thompson attended the Jamaica public schools and the Guthrie County High School, following which he spent three years in farming in association with his father. Not caring for the life of a farmer, he decided upon a higher education, and accordingly was a student at the University of Iowa for seven years, receiving from that institution the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1911 and the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1914. He was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Phi Delta Phi fraternities, and while attending college was co-owner and editor of the Daily Iowan, and correspondent to the Chicago Record-Herald, Des Moines Register and Leader, Omaha Bee, Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Minneapolis Tribune, Davenport Democrat and Cedar Rapids Gazette. He was, from the time of his graduation, city editor of the Iowa City Citizen until January, 1915, when he resigned to locate at Cedar Rapids and take up the practice of law, as a member of the firm of Rickel, Dennis & Thompson. In May, 1917, he joined the firm of Barnes & Chamberlain, and in 1920 joined the present firm of Barnes, Chamberlain, Hanzlik & Thompson, with offices at 612-622 Higley Building, Third Avenue and Second Street. This firm is noted for its large corporation, insurance and trial practice, and is counsel for the Cedar Rapids National Bank, Peoples Savings Bank, Cedar Rapids & Marion City Railway Company, United Light & Power Company and numerous other large enterprises. Mr. Thompson, in the various cases which he has conducted, has shown himself absolutely at home in the court room and familiar with its every detail. He has at his fingers' tips every intricacy of practice and is never at a loss what to do. While open and above board himself, he knows how to meet trickery, and his faculty of anticipation and forestalling a move of his opponent is one of his strongest assets. He is a master of cross-examination, holding his case well in hand at all times and driving his points home with telling force. From 1923 to the present he has served in the capacity of assistant county attorney of Linn County. He is a member of the Linn County Bar Association, the Iowa State Bar Association and the American Bar Association, belongs to the Lions Club, Country Club, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is a thirty-second degree Mason and Shriner, and a member of the board of trustees of the Westminster Presbyterian Church. Mr. Thompson is a Republican in his political allegiance and one of the strong members of his party. He is a great love of out-door sports and athletics of all kinds.

Mr. Thompson married Miss Margaret Kane, of Iowa City, Iowa, who died in 1918, leaving one son: George King, Jr. The present Mrs. Thompson was Miss Grace Byfield, who prior to her marriage to Mr. Thompson was superintendent of nurses at Saint Luke's Hospital, Cedar Rapids. They have one son: William Byfield.


WILLIAM V. THORNBURG is a physician and surgeon now practicing at Guthrie Center, and has been favorably known both as a man and a doctor in Guthrie County since early manhood.

He was born in Dallas County, Iowa, November 12, 1879, son of Thomas A. and Jennie (Vestal) Thornburg. His father was born in Indiana, April 9, 1847, and came to Iowa in 1856. The Thornburgs were pioneers, since practically all the families that came before the Civil war had to go through the era of hardships in improving the land and establishing the facilities of civilization. Thomas A. Thornburg in 1864, when he was seventeen years of age, enlisted in the Union army and served until the close of the war. He was numbered among the substantial representatives of the farming industry in Dallas County for many years, and was elected and served as a state representative in the General Assembly in the Twenty-second and Twenty-third Sessions. He died July 1, 1912. His wife was born October 27, 1848, in Indiana, was bought to Commerce, Iowa, where she was reared, and they were married October 11, 1871, at Linden, where she still has her home, being now eighty-two years of age. Their family consisted of five sons and one daughter, and the three sons now living beside Doctor Thornburg are: Mark G., state secretary of agriculture at Des Moines; Carroll K., a farmer at Linden; and Thomas H., a farmer at Dallas Center, Iowa.

William V. Thornburg grew up on a farm, but completed his education in Des Moines, where he graduated from the Oak Park High School then spent two years in Highland Park College, and in June, 1905, took his M. D. degree at the University of Iowa, at Iowa City. Doctor Thornburg in September, 1906, engaged in private practice at Yale in Guthrie County, and in September, 1928, moved his home and office to Guthrie Center, but still does a large practice among his former patients around Yale. He is a member of the Guthrie County, Iowa State and American Medical Associations. Doctor Thornburg is much interested in Masonry and is district deputy grand lecturer. He belongs to the Lodge, the Scottish Rite bodies of the Consistory and the Mystic Shrine. He is a ember of the Lions Club.

Doctor Thornburg married, June 30, 1920, Miss Adele Sonaglia. She was born at Brazil, South America, was graduated from high school in Hibbing, Minnesota, and completed the nurses' training course in Saint Joseph's Hospital at Saint Paul, Minnesota, graduating in 1917. For one year she was an army nurse at Fort Des Moines Hospital. Doctor and Mrs. Thornburg have one daughter, Mafalda Jane, born at Yale June 30, 1921, now attending school at Guthrie Center.


KENT H. THORNELL is a junior partner of the Clasrinda law firm of Stephens & Thornell. He was born in Southwestern Iowa, was with the colors during the World war and has been practicing law at Clarinda since he left the service.

He was born at Sidney, Iowa, September 8, 1891. His father, Andrew B. Thornell, is a prominent resident of Sidney, whose career is sketched on other pages of this publication. The son was graduated from the Sidney High School in 1910, and subsequently spent one year as a student in the University of Nebraska and two years at the University of Michigan. In 1917 he was graduated from the law department of the University of Iowa and on the fourteenth of May of the same year enlisted and joined the First Officers Training Camp at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Mr. Thornell was commissioned a second lieutenant, later was promoted to first lieutenant and had assignments of duties in several training camps over the country, but did not have the opportunity to get overseas.

He received his honorable discharge from the service January 6, 1919, and immediately returned to his native section of Iowa, and since July 4, 1919, has been practicing law at Clarinda, with Homer S. Stephens as his senior partner.

Mr. Thornell married in March, 1917, Miss Helen H. Hill, at Hamburg, Iowa. She was educated at the University of Iowa, and is a daughter of Frank W. Hill, a retired druggist of Hamburg. Mr. and Mrs. Thornell have one daughter, Elaine, born in 1919.

Mr. Thornell is a Presbyterian, has taught a class in Sunday School and has served as president of the Men's Class. Mrs. Thornell is a Methodist. Fraternally he is affiliated with Nottaway Lodge No. 140, A. F. and A. M., at Clarrinda, is a member of the Phi Gamma Delta and Phi Delta Phi college fraternities, a Republican in politics, and is a member of the Iowa State Bar Association and the American Legion Post at Clarinda.


HON. ANDREW BARNETT THORNELL. Few of the old-time lawyers who made their mark at the Fremont County bar still remain amid earthly scenes. For the greater part they have passed away. Some have handed in their briefs and resigned from active participation in the profession which they honored and which, in turn, showered honors upon them. Among those who are still in active practice, and foremost in the ranks, is Hon. Andrew Barnett Thornell, a member of the bench and bar for fifty-five years at Sidney, who during this long period has been identified, either as lawyer or judge, with some of the most important litigation that has been fought in the courts of the state.

Judge Thornell was born on a farm five and one-half miles west of Rochester, in Monroe County, New York, October 22, 1846, and is a son of Joseph B. and Susan (Maxfield) Thornell. His father was born in England and came to the United States at the age of four years, settling in New York State, where he spent his entire life as an agriculturist. He was a stanch Republican in politics and a strong abolitionist, assisting many slaves to escape to Canada via the "Underground Railway" system, but did not live to see the abolition of slavery, his death occurring in 1857. Mrs. Thornell was born on the Mohawk River, new York, and was of Holland descent, her ancestors having been among the first settlers of New York. She died May 23, 1861. Mr. and Mrs. Thornell were originally Baptists, but later adopted the faith of the Second Adventist Church. Of their seven children Judge Thornell, the second youngest in order of birth, is the only survivor.

Andrew Barnett Thornell attended the public schools of New York and the Wesleyan Seminary at Lyman, that state, following which he took the freshman course at Knox College, Illinois. He graduated from Tabor College in 1873 and attended the State University of Iowa as a member of the law class of 1875, following which he studied law privately and under the preceptorship of Judge L. W. Ross, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and was admitted to the bar in 1875, commencing practice at Sidney April 3 of that year. From the start he made rapid progress in his profession, serving as district attorney of the Thirteenth District from 1885 until 1887, when the district was reorganized and changed to the Fifteenth District, to which he had been elected District judge in 1886. For thirty years he dispensed justice from this honorable court, resigning in 1917 to return to private practice with his son, A. V. Thornell, and C. M. Adams. This is one of the most formidable combinations of this part of the state, and Judge Thornell still remains in active practice, although he has passed his eighty-third birthday. During his long career on the bench he secured the confidence and esteem of those with whom he came into contact in any way. He was stern in the administration of justice, but his decisions were always tempered by the quality of mercy, and few of his findings were reversed by the higher courts. Thoroughly grounded in principles and precedents, and possessed of the true judicial tempercible and dignified manner, which made him one of the most respected as well as one of the most beloved members of the bench. He is a valued and venerated member of the Fremont County Bar Association, the Iowa State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. For many years he has been interested in politics as a Republican, and his interest in the cause of education has shown itself in his long and faithful service as a member of the school board. Fraternally he is a Mason, and for fifty-three years he has been a consistent member of the valuable contributor to the Presbyterian Church.

On January 25, 1877, Judge Thornell was united in marriage with Miss Olive B. Gray, who was born in Coles County, Illinois, a daughter of John B. Gray who moved from Illinois to Missouri and thence to Iowa during the Civil war period. He was a substantial farmer and prominent citizen, and at one time served as recorder of Fremont County. Of the nine children born to Judge and Mrs. Thornell seven grew to maturity: Elizabeth, who married Morton Adams, whose son is one of her father's law partners at Sidney; Susanna, the wife of C. R. Barnes, an attorney of Shenandoah, this state; A. V., educated in the public schools of Sidney, Wabash College at Crawfordsville, Indiana, the law department of the University of Iowa, and the University of Chicago, where he spent one year, now practicing law in association with his father and Mr. Adams, at Sidney, married Miss Sarah Yount, of Crawfordsville, and has three children, Andrew Yount, John and Barbara Caroline; Frances Ellen, the wife of H. H. Steven, an attorney of Clarinda, Iowa; Major John G., deceased; Kent H., who is engaged in the practice of law at Vlarinda; and Dr. Joseph B., a physician and surgeon of Council Bluffs. The mother of these children, who had been a member of the Presbyterian Church for fifty-four years and was greatly beloved in her community for her many fine qualities of heart and mind, passed away at Sidney, October 28, 1927.

John G. Thornell, son of Judge Thornell, was a graduate of West Point in 1910 and was a captain in the regular army. When the United States entered the World war he was assigned with a mechanical detachment and was sent by the United States Government to Europe, where he was transferred, with the rank of major, to the air service as a balloon observer. Following the war he remained in the regular army as a major in the Flying Corps and was sent to Italy by the United States Government to complete the negotiations for the purchase of the giant dirigible Roma. This was successfully effected, but after its arrival in the United States the ill fated ship was wrecked. February 21, 1922, at Hampton, Virginia, after leaving Langley Field, and having been outfitted by him for a long cruise. In the fall this brave and efficient officer was one of the thirty-three who were killed. Thornell Avenue at Langley Field is named in his honor and memory.


THOMAS F. THORNTON, M.D. A physician of more than ordinary skill, widely-known throughout Blackhawk County, Dr. Thomas F. Thornton is a leading member of the medical profession of Waterloo. He was born on a farm in Lincoln Township, Blackhawk County, Iowa, a son of Thomas Thornton, and a grandson of a native of Ireland, whose entire life as spent on that island. After his death his widow, grandmother of Doctor Thornton, moved with her children to Glasgow, Scotland.

The father of Doctor Thornton, Thomas Thornton, was born in County Mayo, Ireland, but accompanied his mother to Glasgow, and he and his brother William were the only members of the family to come to the United States. William Thornton settled in Wisconsin, but is now deceased, although his son and daughter survive him. From the time he was seven years old until 1861 Thomas Thornton lived at Glasgow, and in the latter year came to the United States and went into the lumbering industry in the vicinity of Green Bay, Wisconsin. After ten years of hard work in the lumber camps, during which period he saved his money, in 1871 he came to Blackhawk County and bought a tract of land from the Government for $1.25 an acre, a few acres of which were broken. Returning to Wisconsin he spent the winter in that state, and then, in 1872, came back to his claim, arriving in the spring. On it he erected a small frame house that was occupied by the family for thirty years. He also planted all the fine large trees that now beautify the place, as there were no trees there at the time. This first home has been replaced with one much more commodious. All of the necessary farm buildings have been erected; the machinery is modern and well cared for, and the 200 acre farm is one of the best-improved and productive properties in the county. At the time Thomas Thornton came to Blackhawk County this section was but sparsely settled, although Waterloo was a thriving village. Wild game was plentiful, but there were difficulties in getting in commodities; there were but few improvements, and it took faith to venture into a region where so much remained to be done before living was comfortable. The mother of Doctor Thornton was Miss Hannah C. Hagerty before her marriage, and she was born at Calumet, Michigan, a daughter of Dennis Hagerty, of Irish ancestry, and an early settler of Michigan. During the war between the states Mr. Hagerty served in the Union army, and following his honorable discharge from the army at the close of the war he settled in Texas, and there died of yellow fever when only thirty-nine years old. His wife was a member of the Kelly family, and she survived him many years, dying in 1914, at the age of eighty-seven years. Mr. and Mrs. Thornton had twelve children born to them, and all of them were living in 1930.

When the Thorntons came to Blackhawk County the development at Waterloo was mainly along the west side of the river, and it was considered a great treat by the children to be permitted to ride to town with their father. Doctor Thornton first attended the rural schools of Lincoln Township, and later the Iowa State College, Cedar Falls. Still later he entered the Creighton School of Pharmacy, Omaha, Nebraska, and was graduated therefrom in 1909, after which he entered the medical department of Creighton College, and was graduated therefrom in 1913, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. From the summer of 1912 until the fall of 1913 he served as an interne at Saint Joseph's Hospitals, Omaha, after which he came to Waterloo, where he has since remained, building up a very large and valuable practice. At different times he has done post-graduate work in the best hospitals of Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago, and is one of the best surgeons of Waterloo.

In the year 1915 Doctor Thornton married Miss Veronica M. Finley, daughter of John C. and Maria (Denning) Finley, farmers at Ferryville, Wisconsin. Mrs. Thornton was born at Ferryville, Wisconsin, and they have four children: Thomas F., born April 24, 1916; John F., born September 30, 1917; R. Joseph, born March 12, 1920; and Maurita, born April 5, 1924. By a former marriage Doctor Thornton has two other children: Edna Marie, born March 29, 1910, is a member of the Foreign Mission Sisters of St. Dominic of Maryknoll, New York, and is now known as Sister Miriam Thomas. The work of this order is among the oriental countries, such as China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Hawaii and also mission son our own Pacific coast for oriental immigrants. Sister Miriam Thomas is now in training for this type of service and will be ready for foreign duty in January, 1932. The other child of Doctor Thornton is T. Eugene, who is in the class of 1934 at Columbia College at Dubuque. Doctor Thornton and his family belong to Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and he is a member of the Knights of Columbus, B. P. O. Elks and Kiwanis Club, of which he is past president and in 1923 was delegate to the National Convention at Atlanta, Georgia. He also belongs to the Blackhawk County Medical Society, of which he is also a past president; the Iowa State Medical Society, of which he was chairman of the Surgical Section in 1929, and the American Medical Association, of which he has for the past five years been a delegate to the House of Delegates, and he is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. In 1929, Doctor Thornton took with him as partner, his cousin, Dr. John W. Thornton, a graduate of Rush Medical College and interne of Cook County Hospital. He is a son of Dr. John H. Thornton, deceased, formerly of Lansing, Iowa.

In the pursuit of his honorable professional career Doctor Thornton has gained a strong position by the ability with which he has accepted and discharged his responsibilities; and while he has made a steady progress in the peaceful accumulation of the traits of his vocation, he has established himself in the confidence and hearts of the people of Waterloo, and few men stand any higher in popular esteem than he.


HENRY THUENEN has had a long and honorable career as a lawyer, member of the Davenport bar, and his career has been identified in lines outside of his profession with his native city. he is now senior member of the law firm Thuenen & Thuenen, his junior associate being his son. Their offices are in the Kresage Building.

Mr. Thuenen was born at Davenport July 9, 1868, son of Henry and Elizabeth (Busch) Thuenen. His parents were born in Germany, his father on May 19, 1832, and his mother on June 30, 1829. They were married in Davenport, where Henry Thuenen established his home in 1855. They lived to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary together in 1906, and the wife passed away the following year, and Henry Thuenen, Sr., in 1914. Henry Thuenen was a wagon maker and blacksmith, and one of the old substantial mechanics who did their work thoroughly, and only a few years ago a man from the western part of the state told Henry Thuenen, the lawyer, that he was still using a wagon built by his father years before.

Mr. Henry Thuenen was educated in public schools at Davenport, graduating from high school in 1887, and following that studied law in the office of Judge French and Judge Waterman. He successfully passed the bar examination in October, 1890, and is now rounding out forty years of successful work as a lawyer. He has handled a general practice, and from time to time has been called upon to perform the duties of public office. For many years he has been chairman of the local Republican committee. He has elected and served in the Twenty-eighth General Assembly, but resigned to become city attorney of Davenport. He was city attorney until 1906, and again held that office from 1922 to 1926. In 1895 he was elected a member of the board of alderman and served three years. He is a Mason and an Elk.

Henry Thuenen married in 1892 Miss Emma Neumiller, who was born at Davenport, daughter of Joseph and Marie Neumiller. Six children were born to their marriage, Joseph H., Harold F., Henry W., Millie M. the wife of Thomas M. Manley, Helen L., the wife of Leroy C. Wallace, and Edna Viola. The junior partner of Thuenen & Thuenen is Harold F. Thuenen, who is a graduate of the law department of the University of Iowa. He is a past commander of St. Simon of Cyrene Commandery No. 9, Knights Templar, a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and one of the officers of Kaaba Temple of the Mystic Shrine.


LUCIAN C. TILDEN has been a resident of Ames from the time of his infancy and has here been actively concerned in civic and material progress during the period of his mature life, the while he has maintained impregnable vantage-ground in the confidence and esteem of the community, in which he was reared and educated. He is now serving as postmaster of Ames, and he has held other local positions of public trust.

Mr. Tilden was born at Rochester, Vermont, November 15, 1868, and is a son of Major George G. and Lydia (Cooper) Tilden, both likewise natives of Rochester and both representatives of Colonial New England ancestry. Major George G. Tilden was one of the youthful sons of the old Green Mountain State who went forth in defense of the Union when the Civil war was precipitated, he having been but twenty yours of age when he was chosen captain of his company in the Eleventh Vermont Volunteer Infantry, which was assigned to the Army of the Potomac and with which he participated in the various campaigns of that splendid organization, including the Gettysburg campaign. He took part in many battles and minor engagements, and while at the front won advancement to the rank of major, with which grade he received his honorable discharge.

After the close of the Civil war Major Tilden continued his residence in Vermont until 1869, when he came with his family to Iowa and established himself in the general merchandise business at Ames, which was then a mere village. He was founder of the now large and important business that is conducted under the corporate title of the Tilden Store Company, the business having been incorporated in 1910 and being conducted on the site of the original store here opened by Major Tilden fully sixty years ago. Major Tilden was prominently identified with the development and progress of Ames, was a citizen of prominence and influence, and his sterling character and worthy achievement marked him for unqualified popular confidence and esteem. His political allegiance was given to the Republican party, he was affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic and he and his wife were earnest members of the Congregational Church. The death of Major Tilden occurred in 1892, and his widow passed away in 1925, at a venerable age and as one of the loved pioneer women of Ames. Of the children Lucian C., of this review, is the eldest and he was not yet one year old at the time the family home was established at Ames, where were born all other children of the family: J. Galen was born March 28, 1874, and continues his residence in Ames, where he is one of the principals in the corporation of the Tilden Manufacturing Company and the Union National Bank; George, next younger of the sons, was a resident of Seattle, Washington, at the time of his death, in 1921; Mary is the wife of Harry F. Brown, who is the general representative at Ames of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Milwaukee; Winifred R. is professor of physical education for women in Iowa State College, at Ames.

After completing his studies in the Ames High School Lucian C. Tilden here entered Iowa State College, which was then known as Iowa Agricultural College, and in this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1888 and with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He then became associated with his father's general merchandise business, and upon the death of the honored father of the firm name of Tilden Brothers & Company was adopted, this title having been retained until 1910, when the business was incorporated as the Tilden Store Company, he being still one of the executive officers of this representative mercantile corporation, which is one of the most important in Story County.

Mr. Tilden has ever shown loyal and helpful interest in all things touching the welfare and advancement of his home city, served as a member of its municipal council in 1894-96, was mayor in 1897-98, and for nine years he was a member of the local board of education, of which he was president a portion of the time. In 1923 he was appointed postmaster of Ames, and by reappointment he has since continued the incumbent of this office, in which his administration has been signally progressive and popular. He has been influential in the local councils of the Republican party, he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, being a Knight Templar Mason, he is a valued member and former officer of the local Rotary Club, and he and his wife are active members of the First Congregational Church.

July 20, 1897, recorded the marriage of Mr. Tilden to Miss Ruth Duncan, who was born at Darlington, Wisconsin, and who was a child when her parents established their residence at Ames, Iowa, in 1882. John E. Duncan, father of Mrs. Tilden, was long editor and publisher of the Ames Intelligencer and also served as postmaster of this city. Mrs. Tilden was reared and educated at Ames, and was here graduated in Iowa State College as a member of the class of 1895 and with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. She is a popular factor in the social, cultural and church activities of her home community. To Mr. and Mrs. Lucian C. Tilden were born two children, a son and a daughter. The son, Clark D. Tilden, was born April 25, 1898, was graduated in Iowa State College, the alma mater of his parents, and is now manager of the Tilden Store Company, and treasurer of the corporation that conducts this business that was founded by his paternal grandfather. In 1923 he married Miss Dorothy McCorkindale, and they have two children, John Duncan and Robert C. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lucian C. Tilden is Harriet Tilden, who was born June 22, 1902, and who remains at the parental home. She is popular in the social life of her native city, having graduated from Iowa State College as a member of the class of 1923, she then taught art for two years in the State University of Texas, at Austin, Texas, after which for some time she was engaged in an executive capacity in mercantile business in Chicago and in her home city of Ames. At the present time (1930) she is majoring for her M. A. degree at Columbia University, New York City.


MRS. LYDIA COOPER TILDEN came to Iowa when a young woman after graduating from one of the most famous colleges for women in the East. Education might be called the ruling interest of her life. She was for many years prominent in the educational and community life of the city of Ames, the seat of Iowa State College.

She was of staunch New England ancestry and was related to the Cooper family of which James Fennimore Cooper was a representative, and was also related to the Emerson family of Concord. She was a graduate of Barrie Academy, and was a member of the class of 1866 of Mount Holyoke Seminary, Massachusetts. She participated in the fifty-fifth annual reunion of her class. Shortly after graduating from Mount Holyoke she came to Iowa, and taught in a private school at Keosauqua. Keosauqua at that time was one of the most cultured communities of the state. While teaching there she lived in the home of Judge Manning. She was married to Mr. George G. Tilden, of Rochester, Vermont, and moved to Ames in 1869. Mrs. Tilden for many years was president of the high school board of education at Ames. She was always a student, and she completed and received diplomas representing six courses in Chautauqua clubs. She was also a leader in the First Congregational Church at Ames, and for many years superintendent of the Sunday School, president of the Missionary Society, and in later years a devoted and beloved leader of the Women's Bible Class. Mrs. Tilden passed away in 1925.

Her influence as an educator has been continued through the career of her daughter, Miss Winifred R. Tilden, who holds the chair of professor of physical education for women in Iowa State College.

Miss Tilden was born at Ames, attended public schools there, and the cultural environment of New England. In 1899 she was graduated from the Dana Hall School at Wellesley, Massachusetts. From there she entered her mother's alma mater, Mount Holyoke College, where she was graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1903. It was a number of years later before the subject of physical education was given recognition as an essential of the curriculum. On her return from Mount Holyoke she was put in charge of girls' athletics both in the Ames High School and in the Iowa State College. In 1904 she was made instructor of physical training and education at the college. In this field she did the work of a pioneer. For a time she was the only instructor in the department. Now she has six assistants, and the department serves 1,300 students.

Miss Tilden was primarily instrumental in establishing the annual May Day celebration and the Jack O'Lantern observances at Iowa State College. She wrote the pageants that were presented in connection with the semi-centennial celebration at the college in 1920. Her work has made her deservedly one of the most popular members of the faculty.

During the World war Miss Tilden went to France, in 1918, and, representing the national board of the Y. W. C. A., was appointed recreational director at Toul. It was after this war service abroad that she was raised to the rank of professor in the Iowa State College and put at the head of the department of physical education for women. In 1904-05 she took a special course in physical training at the summer school of Harvard University and in 1908 a course in the Chalif Normal School of Dancing at New York City. She also took post-graduate work in physical education at Columbia University, New York City, in 1927.

Miss Tilden is affiliated with Chapter AA of the P. E. O. society; is a Gamma Phi Beta; member of the Omieron Nu, the Home Economics Honorary Society; and the Phi Kappa Phi sorority. She belongs to the church of which her mother was so devoted a member, the First Congregational at Ames. She is a member of the National Physical Education Association, the Mid-West Physical Education Association, the National Association of the Directors of Physical Education for Women in Colleges and Universities, and a member of the women's division of the National Amateur Athletic Federation. She served as state chairman for the national section on women's athletics, working especially in the interest of basketball for women. Miss Tilden was a member of a conference called by Mrs. Herbert Hoover at Washington in April, 1923, in the interest of athletics for women and girls.


ANTON F. TILL, who on his business stationery always signs his name Tony F. Till and is known as Tony in the community of Bellevue, where he has spent practically all his life, has made a tremendous success of the hatchery business. Till's Hatchery was started by him seven or eight years ago and has been developed into an industry that now supplies baby chicks to customers all over the Middle West in quantities of several hundred thousand every season.

Mr. Till was born in Jackson Township, Jackson County, Iowa, September 1, 1897. His parents, Peter J. and Anna (Herrig) Till, were also natives of Iowa and still have their farm near Bellevue. Of their six children Anton F. is the oldest, the others being Lena, Louis, Leo, Oscar and Clarence.

Anton F. Till attended country schools and had one year in the Bellevue High School. Up to the age of twenty-three he assisted his father in the routine of farm work and then farmed for himself two years.

It was in 1922 that he launched into the hatchery business as his special field. The first season he operated a 2,400 egg incubator. The second year his capacity was increased to 9,600 eggs, the following year by an additional 10,000, giving him a total capacity of 22,000 eggs. After a change of equipment he had a plant for incubating 47,000 eggs at a time, and at present his capacity is 186,000 eggs, with every possibility that this equipment will be doubled in a short time. In order to take care of his rapidly increasing business and provide one of the most modern hatcheries in the state, he erected, in the fall of 1927, a brick building eighty by forty-four feet, two stories, with basement, every feature being either the product of his own specialized experience or in accordance with the highest standards set by poultry authorities. In the spring of 1931 he established the Live and Grow Hatchery, at Dubuque, and also the Preston Hatchery, at Preston, Iowa.

The Till Hatcheries are certified hatcheries, and those familiar with the poultry industry understand the high requirements maintained in any plant operating on a certified basis. Every flock producing eggs for this hatchery is certified as well as the hatchery itself. Mr. Till operates his business on a three-fold guarantee, the first being that all chicks sold are true to breed and the quality of stock described, and he also guarantees the live arrival of the full number of chicks ordered. His hatchery is a member of the American Baby Chick Producers Association and the American Poultry Association, and what local business men think of his enterprise is typified in the words of the president of the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce, who says: "Mr. Tony F. Till has resided in this vicinity all his life and has established for himself a reputation for business integrity and honesty. He is thoroughly familiar with the details of the operation of a first class hatchery."

Mr. Till is a member of the Knights of Columbus and the St. Joseph Catholic Church at Bellevue, and is a Democrat in politics. In addition to his hatchery he does an extensive business dealing in Purina farm and poultry feeds and supplies. His business requires the services of five persons besides himself.

Mr. Till married, February 16, 1919, Virginia Pollock, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Pollock, natives of Iowa. Her father is a well-to-do farmer. Her mother is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Till have two daughter, Bernice and Loretta.


EMMET TINLEY, head of one of the largest law firms in Iowa, has been a resident of Council Bluffs sixty years, since he was two years old.

He was born in Macon County, Missouri, September 22, 1867, son of Mathew and Rosas (Dolan) Tinley. Both parents were born in Ireland and were brought to America when children. Mathew H. Tinley and wife were married in Illinois, lived there two years, then went to Missouri, and on April 28, 1869, arrived in Council Bluffs. He died in 1907 and his wife in 1913.

One of the reasons for the family making its permanent location at Council Bluffs, in the opinion of Emmet Tinley, was the excellent schools there, which at that time were regarded as highly as any schools in the country. All the children were liberally educated. The two sons who came with the parents to Council Bluffs were Hubert and Emmet. Hubert for many years has been cashier of the State Savings Bank of Council Bluffs. The children born after the arrival of the family in Council Bluffs were: Mary L., John P.., Beatrice, Mathew A., Aurelia and George L. Mary L., is practicing medicine and John P. is practicing law in Council Bluffs. Beatrice received training as a nurse at Bellevue Hospital and is now Mrs. A. V. de Goicouria, of Santa Barbara, California. Mathew A., a physician by profession, served with the rank of colonel in the World war and is now a major general in the Thirty-fourth National Guard Division. Aurelia is assistant cashier of the State Savings Bank at Council Bluffs. George L., a Spanish American war veteran, is a city official.

Emmet Tinley attended the common schools at Council Bluffs and the high school, graduating in 1886. He studied law in the office of Col. D. B. Dailey, and was admitted to the bar in 1888. Since his admission to the bar he has carried on a general law practice, and at the present time Mr. Tinley is head of the law firm Tinley, Mitchell, Ross & Mitchell. In 1919 he was president of the Iowa State Bar Association. Mr. Tinley is a member of the Knights of Columbus and B. P. O. Elks, and St. Francis Catholic Church.

Mr. Tinley married, February 19, 1901, Elsie, daughter of N. M. Pusey, a pioneer lawyer of Council Bluffs. Mr. and Mrs. Tinley have two children, Gertrude Mary and Lesie Pusey, Gertrude is the wife of George A. Spooner, a Chicago architect, and has two children, George A. and Marjorie Spooner. Elsie is the wife of Folsom Everest, now a partner in Mr. Tinley's law firm, and their three children are Mary Rose, Frances and Emmet.


JOHN P. TINLEY is a native son of Council Bluffs, a lawyer by profession, and his reputation as a criminal lawyer is well established over half a dozen states bordering on the Missouri River.

Mr. Tinley is member of one of the pioneer families of Council Bluffs, where he was born January 29, 1871, son of Mathew H. and Rosa (Dolan) Tinley. His parents were born in Ireland, were brought to America when children, were married In Illinois and lived for a time in Northern Missouri before coming to Council Bluffs. The family arrived at Council Bluffs April 28, 1869. At that time there were two sons, Hubert and Emmet, the latter a prominent member of the Council Bluffs bar. The children born since then were Mary L., John P., Beatrice, Mathew A., Aurelia and George L., all of whom have made records for themselves. Hubert for many years has been a Council Bluffs banker, Mathew, a physician, was colonel in the World war and is now a major-general of the Thirty-fourth National Guard, while George L. is a Spanish-American war veteran and a former city official of Council Bluffs, now in the state tax department at Des Moines.

John P. Tinley attended the city schools of Council Bluffs and studied law under his brother Emmet, who had begun practice in 1888. He was admitted to the bar October 5, 1892, and in the spring of 1894 moved to the Town of Doon in Lyon County, Iowa, where he remained about eleven years. In 1905 he returned to Council Bluffs, and from the first his abilities have made him pronounced in the work of a criminal lawyer. He has handled cases before court and jury and of counsel not only in Iowa, but over Nebraska, Minnesota and the Dakotas.

Mr. Tinley married, July 18, 1892, Miss Margaret G. Starr, who was born and educated in New Jersey and in 1888 came out to Nebraska. They have had five children: Miss Beatrice, now teacher of domestic science in the Junior High School; Genevieve, wife of Donal Fox, an Omaha attorney; Gertrude, a clerk in the State Savings Bank of Council Bluffs; John P., Jr., who was educated in the University of Iowa, and is now practicing law with his father, married Helen Yepson, who also attended the University of Iowa, and they have three children, Helen, born in 1926, J. P. III, born in 1929, and Mary, who was born in 1930; and Patricia, wife of Max E. Duckworth, a Sioux City attorney, and has a daughter, Patsy, born in 1926.

Mr. Tinley and family are members of Saint Francis Catholic Church. He is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, B. P. O. Elks, Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Macabees and Modern Woodmen of America. By preference he has kept his work and interests close to his profession, but while living at Doon he was elected mayor of the town and has always been interested in the success of the Democratic party. He was a delegate to the national convention at Houston, Texas, in 1928.


NELLIE GREGG TOMLINSON. To say that Mrs. Nellie Gregg Tomlinson, collector of customs, Federal Building, Des Moines, Iowa, came into the world, received a good education, taught school, married, bore children, and trained them for right living would indicate that she has lived a natural, wholesome and well-rounded life and would adequately chronicle life achievements which would satisfy most women. But such a summary would give only a hint with which this exceptional woman has pursued lofty aims and has accomplished work of national significance.

The romance of her attainments reaches far back into America's pioneer history and begins with Elijah Billingsley, born in Tippecanoe, Ohio, and with Simon James Gregg, a native of Pennsylvania. The latter was a contractor of considerable means whose wanderlust led him through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois to Iowa and, after a period of work and further accumulation of resources, to Kansas, where he and his wife died.

To Iowa, too, in 1842, bringing his bride, Prudence Strong, came Elijah Billingsley. The Billingsleys were accompanied by the bride's mother, Prudence Elliott, and her five children. Leaving his wife and her mother's family at Keokuk, Elijah Billingsley walked fifty miles to Jefferson County, Iowa, where he made arrangements to buy a farm. Before returning to Keokuk for his family he planted a field of flax, which was the source of a tablecloth woven by his wife and taken by him as a present to his mother when he returned to Ohio in the spring of 1843 to pay his mother a visit. Thus did the old world art of Prudence Elliott (who had sailed from Ireland at the age of nine), handed down to her daughter, find beautiful expression in the rough and hard conditions which attended the settlement of the Northwest Territory.

James M. Gregg was a boy of nine when his father, Simon James, brought him to Jefferson County, Iowa, in 1854. It was there that he met Elizabeth Billingsley, daughter of Elijah, whom he married in 1869. Four daughters issued from this union, - daughters worthy of their patriot father who, under age and under size, went into Company G of the Thirtieth Iowa Infantry at the age of seventeen; who took part in several important engagements; who lost his voice during the Atlanta campaign; and when he passed away, January 28, 1929, at the age of eighty-four, still suffered from that old trouble.

Nor do the lives of the forebears of the Nellie Gregg Tomlinson who is the subject of this sketch show greater evidence of integrity, courage and enterprise than do her descendants. Of her four daughters, Margaret has manifested a remarkable aptitude for commercial life; Gulielma Dorothea, though a successful wife and home maker, still follows her chosen profession of painting; Florence Stone has received a university education and is now going in for law; and Prudence Gregg is preparing herself for a life of social service by her work in Ames College, where she is majoring in the economic sciences.

Both Mrs. Tomlinson and her husband, Isaac H. Tomlinson, in early days attended Howe's Academy, Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Their further education was received in different schools, she preparing for pedagogical work and he for the practice of law. He is now a prominent and successful attorney in Des Moines.

Mrs. Tomlinson taught only three years before her marriage in 1892. The years that have intervened since that event have been filled with worth-while activities in the Presbyterian Church (of which she is a devout member); in editorial and feature article writing for newspapers and magazines; in the Women's Federation of Clubs, of which she has served as president; in National League of Women Voters, in which he has also served as president; and in local politics, in which she has always taken the keenest and most intelligent interest.

Since taking her present office in January, 1926, Mrs. Tomlinson has devoted her entire time to her office in Des Moines. As this is headquarters for the two subsidiary ports of Sioux City and Dubuque, her staff of six men is kept constantly busy. The unique features of Mrs. Tomlinson's personal history are as pronounced as the official distinction she enjoys. The latter consists in being one of an exclusive and conspicuous group of national officers. She was the second of three women appointed to fill out the corps of forty-seven federal customs collectors. She was a member in 1930 at a conference called by the secretary of the United States Treasury and Commissioners of Customs held in Washington, D. C., and was attended by every collector of customs in the United States and island possessions. While attending this meeting she was informed that her reappointment for another four year term had been confirmed by the Senate and signed by President Hoover. It would be difficult to say anything more eloquent than that she graces the position she holds.


CLAUDE J. TRAWVER. Probably no one factor in the world's history has had such a widespread and changing effect upon commerce and industry as the invention of the automobile. The manufacture of the motor car alone has revolutionized transportation to a degree that would have been unbelievable a little more than two decades ago. But it is not the manufacture and sale of the automobile alone that should be taken into consideration, for some of the most prominent and successful industries of the county have been built up on the foundation of the allied interests of the industry, which are numerous and varied, and not the least of which is the sale of automobile supplies. One of the leading dealers in this line at Des Moines is Claude J. Trawver, president of the Iowa Automobile Market, which is known as American's only automobile department store.

Mr. Trawver was born at Paris, Edgar County, Illinois, March 17, 1882, and is a son of Joseph C. and Sophia (Davis) Trawver. Joseph C. Trawver was born on an Edgar County farm and received his education in country schools. The outbreak of the war between the states found him an adventurous and patriotic lad, who, with several boon companions, walked forty miles to a recruiting station to volunteer their services to the Union. However, Mr. Trawver was only twelve years of age at the time, and he was rejected and sent home, sadly disappointed. Immediately after his return he began to do a man's share of work on the farm in Illinois, where he remained until 1900, in that year coming to Iowa, where he purchased a farm, but sold it two years later. In 1902 he went to Winterset, Iowa, where he resided on a farm for six years, and then retired. He now makes his home with his son, Claude J., at Des Moines. He is a Republican in his political convictions, and during his active life held a number of local offices. In spite of the fact that he attended country schools intermittently only until he was twelve years of age, he is a well educated and well read man. Mrs. Trawver, who was also born in Edgar County, died in 1916. They were the parents of four sons, of whom two are living: Claude J., of this review; and Harry, who is associated with his brother in charge of the service department. Another son, William L., who was also associated with the company, met his death in an automobile accident in 1927. Mrs. Trawver was active in the work of the Presbyterian Church, to which Mr. Trawver also belongs. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias.

Claude J. Trawver attended the high school at Paris, Illinois, later the high school at Clarinda, Iowa, and finally the school at Winterset, this state. Upon the completion of his educational training he began his career on the home farm, where he was engaged in agricultural operations near Winterset for six years. Following this he purchased a farm in Polk County, of which he was the operator until 1922, when he sold out. In the meantime, in May, 1912,he had recognized and accepted the opportunity for the founding of a large enterprise identified with the automobile industry, and so firm was his faith in the success of this concern that he invested his entire capital of $25,000 in it. The new concern was given the name of the Iowa Automobile Market, Inc., and at the start the officers were: Orval B. Van Hosen, president; Claude J. Trawver, vice president; and Sam Gordon, secretary and treasurer. The present officials are: Claude J. Trawver, president; L. J. Muffett, vice president; and N. L. Van Horn, secretary and treasurer. This company, as before noted, is the only automobile department store in America, but while being unique in this character, is conducted strictly as any other big mercantile concern, and has sixteen different departments, doing both a wholesale and retail business. The company is incorporated for $100,000, and now has $300,000 invested, did over $1,000,000 worth of business in 1928, and maintains a sales force of nine men on the road. While he is largely immersed in business affairs, Mr. Trawver has found time to be a good citizen, and is an enthusiastic and active member of the Kiwanis Club and a liberal supporter of good reads movements. Politically he is a Republican, belongs to the Masonic Lodge at Winterset, and is a member of the Plymouth Congregational Church at Des Moines. The large modern store of the Iowa Automobile Market is situated at 1309 to 1369 Locust Street.

In May, 1916, Mr. Trawver was united in marriage with Miss Vera Van Hosen, who was born at Winterset, Iowa, and educated in the public schools of that place, where her father was a well known merchant and capitalist. To Mr. and Mrs. Trawver there have been born two children: Van J., born in 1917; and Patricia, born in 1922, both of whom are attending public school.


VERNON L. TREYNOR, specialist in internal medicine, is one of the men who have constituted such a successful and important organization as the Council Bluff's Clinic. Doctor Treynor has been a prominent physician at Council Bluffs for over thirty-five years.

He was born in that city September 28, 1866. His people were among the earliest pioneers of Southwestern Iowa, crossing the states in wagons from the Mississippi River long before the advent of railroads. Doctor Treynor himself was born about the time Council Bluffs became prominent as a railroad center. He is a son of Thomas P. and Mary E. (Smith) Treynor. His father was born in England, son of a British army officer who lost his life while serving in India. Thomas P. Treynor was left dependent on his own resources, came to America at the age of seventeen, and went through many hard experiences in getting established. He lived in Northern Ohio for some years, educated himself, and was always a constant leader and had a wide knowledge of many subjects. After coming to Iowa in 1853 he was engaged in the newspaper business for several years and was postmaster of Council Bluffs for eight years. Later he bought a farm and lived on it until his death. He was city recorder at one time and during the Civil war was draft officer for the Government. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife, Mary E. Smith, was born in Northern Ohio, daughter of Sylvester Smith, who came out to Iowa in 1853. He was a man of considerable fortune when he came to Iowa and bought property which enabled him to live retired.

Dr. Vernon L. Treynor attended school in Council Bluffs, and graduated from the medical department of the University of Iowa in 1891. He began practice in Council Bluffs the same year, and his increasing experience has identified him more and more with work as a specialist in internal medicine.

He married in 1891, the year he graduated from medical college, Miss Susan C. Clark, who was born in Iowa City and grew up there. her father, George Clark, was a prominent attorney, and served as an officer in the Union army. Her uncle, Rush Clark, was an Iowa congressman for many years, and another uncle was George Boal, a noted railroad attorney who for a number of years was at Denver, as attorney for the Denver & Rio Grande Railway. Doctor and Mrs. Treynor have two children. Their son Thomas P. spent six years in the University of Iowa in the College of Liberal Arts and Medical School, received his hospital training in the Harper Hospital at Detroit, and is now practicing at Big Rapids, Michigan. For two years he was in the army, most of the time in the Army Medical School at Washington, working in the X-Ray department, and was promoted from private to sergeant, and was refused permission to go overseas. The second son, Jack Bernon, attended high school at Council Bluffs, also spent six years in the University of Iowa and three years in special training in New York hospitals, and is now practicing at Council Bluffs.

Dr. Vernon L. Treynor was for six years professor of physiology in the Omaha Medical College. He served six years on the board of regents of the University of Iowa. Mrs. Treynor is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and he is a Royal Arch Mason, and a member of Lodge No. 531, B. P. O. Elks. Doctor Treynor for eleven years was secretary, is a past president and is now a trustee of the Iowa State Medical Association. He belongs to the Pottawattamie County Medical Society, the Council Bluffs, Southwestern Iowa, Missouri Valley and American Medical Associations, and has attended many conventions of his fellow workers in medicine and surgery and has contributed a number of papers giving the results of his researches and observations. Doctor Treynor is a Republican in politics.


MYRON C. TULLAR. The entire career of Myron C. Tullar, sheriff of Webster County, has been an interesting and colorful one, filled with action and abounding with unusual experiences. Starting life as water boy with a railroad construction gang, he has engaged in a variety of activities, largely identified with the maintenance of law as a peace officer, and his reputation is that of a courageous and conscientious official whose services have been of material value to his community.

Sheriff Tullar was born at Plano, Illinois, in November, 1875, and is a son of Abner and Martha (Lathrop) Tullar. Abner Tullar was born at White River Junction, New York, in which state he married Miss Lathrop, who was born in Vermont, near the New York State line. Following their marriage they moved to Illinois and in 1872 first took up their residence in Iowa, but returned to Illinois, and did not settle permanently in Iowa until 1876, in which year they took up their residence at Fort Dodge. Abner Tullar was a mine superintendent while in Illinois, subsequently was a stockman and railroad construction contractor in Iowa, and later in life devoted himself to the business of buying and selling live stock. Both he and his wife died in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which they had been active workers. Mr. Tullar was a Republican in politics, and while he did not seek public office on his own account was an active worker in his party, particularly in support of the campaigns of U. S. Senator Dolliver. There were four children in the family: Fred, who is deceased; Frank, a locomotive engineer in the employ of the Great Western Railroad, with a run out of Council Bluffs, Iowa; Myron C., of this review; and Mattie, the wife of A. E. Muzzy, an employee of the Detroit Street Railway Company.

The Fort Dodge public schools furnished Myron C. Tullar with his educational training, and as a boy he began work carrying water for railroad construction gangs. He was then promoted to the position of mule-driver in railroad construction work and followed this line until the age of twenty-six years, when he secured a position on the Fort Dodge police force. He rose through all the positions in the department until he made chief, but subsequently resigned to accept a position in the secret service department of the Chicago & Great Western Railway, and one year later was made chief special agent of the entire system. At the death of A. B. Stickney the line was taken over by the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Company and conditions became such that Mr. Tullar resigned and entered the business of buying wild horses. At the outbreak of the World war, in 1914, he began buying horses throughout the entire country for war purposes and continued in this line until after the signing of the armistice. Returning to Fort Dodge, he opened a private secret service office, having a large private clientage and doing some work for the United States Government. In 1926 he entered politics as a candidate for the office of sheriff. There were six candidates for this office and the fight was a bitter one. According to the law it was necessary for one candidate to secure at least 35% of the votes to gain the election, and as Mr. Tullar, the leading candidate, secured only 31 - 1/2 per cent the matter was thrown into a convention. In this he was defeated by the candidate who had run second to him, but he announced himself subsequently an independent candidate, and as such, with no party organization behind him, won by a majority of more than 500 votes. After two years of splendid service in the office he was elected without opposition in 1928, when he received more votes in Webster County than were cast for the President or for any other candidate. Sheriff Tullar has four deputies on his staff, but does the brunt of the work himself and takes entire responsibility for the most dangerous assignments of his office. During his first term of office he arrested forty-six people who received terms in the penitentiary, from short periods to life sentences. In the discharge of his duties he had displayed the utmost courage, but at the same time has been tactful and judicious, winning not only the respect but the friendship of the law-abiding element throughout this section. In politics he is a Republican and his fraternal affiliations are with the Woodmen of the World, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

In 1898 Sheriff Tullar was united in marriage with Miss Mary Johnson, who was born in Norway and was brought as a child to the United States by her parents, who settled in Webster County, where she received her education in the country schools. Her father was for many years identified with the construction department of the Minneapolis & St. Paul Railroad. Mrs. Tullar is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been very active in its work. To Sheriff and Mrs. Tullar there have been born two children: Lyle, who received his education at Fort Dodge and at Georgetown University, Washington, D. C., and now is a deputy sheriff to his father's office; and Roland, who was educated at Fort Dodge and at Columbus College, South Dakota, and now employed by the Mona Motor Oil Company, at Fort Dodge.


FRANCIS A. TURNER is one of the veteran and representative members of the bar of Pottawattamie County, where he has been established in the practice of his profession at Avoca, during a period of more than forty years, and as loyal citizen and able and successful lawyer he has conferred honor on his native State of Iowa.

Mr. Turner was born on the pioneer farm of his parents, near West Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa, and the date of his birth was November 29, 1856. He is a son of Jerome and Margaret (Perry) Turner, the former of whom was born near Zanesville, Ohio, and the latter in Washington County, Pennsylvania, their marriage having been solemnized at Burlington, Iowa, and the remainder of their lives having been passed in this state, where the father gave the major part of his active career to farm industry. Of the ten children six are living: Francis A., who is the subject of this review; J. H., who resides in Council Bluffs and is overseer of the poor in the City of Council Bluffs; William P., who is a retired farmer residing at Oakland, Pottawattamie County; Thomas J. R., who is engaged in the produce business at Oakland; Mildred D., who is the wife of E. C. Anthony, present (1930) auditor of Shelby County, Iowa; and Oscar B., who remains on the old home farm of his parents. Jerome Turner was a Republican in politics and he and his wife hold membership in the Protestant Methodist Church. Mr. Turner came to Iowa about the year 1852, and in 1857, the year following the birth of their son Francis A., of this review, they removed to and established their home on the old homestead farm in Washington Township, Pottawattamie County, where were born all of their children save the subject of this sketch. Mr. Turner was a son of J. H. Turner, who was born in Ohio and who was a farmer and a clergyman. T. J. R. Perry, father of Mrs. Margaret Turner, was born in Pennsylvania and became a pioneer settler and influential citizen near Burlington, Iowa.

Francis A. Turner gained his early education by attending the rural school near the old home farm in Washington Township, and thereafter was a high school student during a period of six months. He studied law in the office of Smith & Cullison, of Harlan, and in 1887 he was admitted to the bar, he having since been established in the practice of law at Avoca and having long controlled a substantial and representative practice. He is one of the honored members of the Pottawattamie County Bar Association, of which he is now serving as vice president, and he is also a member of the Iowa State Bar Association, has been long active and influential in the local councils of the Republican party, and he and his wife attend the Congregational Church in their home community.

April 7, 1896, marked the marriage of Mr. Turner to Miss Rose M. Woodward, who was born in Ohio, where her parents were visiting at the time, their home having been previously established in Iowa. J. D. Woodward, father of Mrs. Turner, became a leading farmer in Monona County, where his extensive operations included the raising of broom corn, in the utilizing of which he established on his farm a broom factory that long was maintained in successful operation. He finally retired from his farm, removed to Onawa, the county seat, and there passed the remainder of his life. Joseph W., eldest of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Turner, was born January 31, 1897, was graduated in the law department of Georgetown University, District of Columbia, after having previously been a student two and one-half years in the University of Iowa, and since 1923 he has been associated with his father in the practice of law at Avoca. He is a Republican in politics and is affiliated with the Delta Chi college fraternity. May 20, 1923, recorded his marriage to Miss Elizabeth Clark, who was born at Danville, Pennsylvania, and they have two children, Richard Clark and David Howard. Frances Alberta, next younger of the children, is the wife of C. L. Byers, who is assistant city attorney of San Diego, California. Robert G. resides in Council Bluffs, the metropolis of his native county, and is a salesman for the International Harvester Company. Howard M., is the air service of the United States army and at the time of this writing, in 1930, is assigned to Brooks Aviation Field, near San Antonio, Texas, where he is an instructor in aviation.

 

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