Hon. A. M. Fellows

A spirit of enterprise, aggressiveness and initiative, guided and directed by sound judgment and discrimination, has actuated A. M. Fellows in all the activities of his career, bringing him through successive stages of progress and advancement to a place of prominence in business circles of Lansing, his native city, and to a position of power in the political life of the state of Iowa. As president of the People’s State Bank of Lansing, and as proprietor of one of the largest lumber concerns in the county, he is connected in an important way with business interests, while as a member of the state senate his work is proving able, constructive and public-spirited- well worthy of a place in local political history.

Mr. Fellows was born in the city where he now resides, March 1, 1864, and is a son of Judge L. E. Fellows, a sketch of whom appears on another page of this work. Our subject was reared in Lansing, acquiring his education in the public schools of the city and in the Upper Iowa University at Fayette. After completing his studies he entered the offices of a large lumber company in Lansing and, commencing at the bottom, learned the business in principle and detail, winning promotion as his knowledge increased and his ability developed and rising finally to be proprietor of the business, which he now conducts, controlling an important trade in lumber and building materials. He aided in the organization of the People’s State Bank, which was opened for business in October, 1911 with Mr. Fellows as president and R. G. Miller, cashier. The bank has a capital stock of forty thousand dollars and has some ninety stockholders, all prominent business men or prosperous farmers of this community. A general banking business is carried on and this has since the beginning steadily increased in volume and is of extensive proportions at the present time.

Mr. Fellows married in Cresco, Howard county, Iowa, on the 4th of September, 1899, Miss Elsie Smith, who was born and reared in that city. She is a daughter of L. E. Smith, editor of the Howard County Times, and one of the prominent and able men in that section of the state. Mr. and Mrs. Fellows have six children: Minerva, now in the junior class at Grinnell College, where she is president of the Glee Club; L. E., a student at the University of Wisconsin at Madison; and John and Kenneth, at home.

Although Mr. Fellows is so closely connected with the financial and general business life of Lansing, and although his activities along these lines have been so fruitful of good to the community, they by no means mark the limit of his interests, for following in his father’s footsteps, he has always borne his full share in the political advancement of his city and state. He has held various important positions of trust and honor, serving on the school board for twenty years and as a member of the city council for eight years, in addition to being for four years mayor of Lansing. In November, 1912, he was elected to the state senate and is a member of the present assembly, serving on a number of important committees and acting as chairman of the committee on commerce and trade. He is a practical, progressive and able politician, giving his vote and influence only to project of reform and advancement and adhering closely to high standards of political and public morality. He has served the state ably and well in important ways, and his name is honored by his constituents and political opponents alike as that of a man whose sagacity is far-reaching and whose integrity is beyond all question.

Mr. Fellows is a member of the Masonic order, belonging to the lodge at Lansing, in which he has served through all the chairs and is now past master. He and his wife are affiliated with the Order of the Eastern Star and Mrs. Fellows has served through all the chairs of this organization. She is part worthy matron and has represented the Lansing lodge in the grand lodge of the state of Iowa. Mr. Fellows belongs also to the Modern Woodmen of America and the Yeomen. Few, if any, men of Lansing are better known throughout the state than he, for his activities have influenced a great many important phases of state development, his success and the standards which influenced it being counted today among valuable political and business assets.

-source: Past & Present of Allamakee County; by Ellery M. Hancock; S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.; 1913
-transcribed by Diana Diedrich

Return to 1913 biography index