USA > Iowa > Howard County > History of Chickasaw and Howard counties, Iowa, Volume II > Part 1
USA > Iowa > Chickasaw County > History of Chickasaw and Howard counties, Iowa, Volume II > Part 1
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IVO Chick 25 TON Fair bairn
HISTORY OF
Chickasaw and Howard Counties, Iowa
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME II
CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1919 TE
-
THE NEW YORK PUTLIY EMINARY 260946B
1913
Sender 24 Não. 1943
Mckown
BIOGRAPHICAL
WILLIAM C. BROWN.
Not by leaps and bounds but by orderly progression did William C. Brown advance from a humble position on a western railroad to the presidency of one of the greatest railroad systems of the country. Today he is practically living retired personally overseeing the operation of one of the finest farms of Iowa, situated near Lime Springs, in a district in which his boyhood days were passed. He has thus come to a fulfillment of one of the dreams of his life, his attention being now given to improved and scientific agriculture. Mr. Brown was born in Norway, Herkimer county, New York, July 29, 1853, his parents being the Rev. Charles E. and Frances (Lyon) Brown. He comes of Scotch Irish ancestry, the line being traced back to William Brown, who came from England in 1686 and established his home in Massachusetts, where he became a leader in civic affairs of the colony. He served as judge of the colonial court and was also a military officer. His son, Captain John Brown, was born near Concord in 1703 and served as a soldier in the French and Indian war, commanding a company in the Louisburg expedition of 1745. He became one of the prominent and influential citizens of his district and was a member of the general court of the colony for twenty years. His son, Parley Brown, born May 27, 1737, was one of the farmers who responded to the call of Paul Revere on his famous night ride on the 18th of April, 1775. He was in the fight at Lexington and was a member of the company commanded by Captain Seth Washburn at the battle of Bunker Hill, in which engagement his brother, John Brown, was badly wounded. Parley Brown carried his brother from the battlefield and afterward went west with the American army under command of General George Washington and was killed in the battle of White Plains, New York, on the 28th of October, 1776.
Nathaniel Brown, son of Parley Brown, was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, November 5, 1767, and afterward became a resident of Vermont, from which state he removed to New York, then a western wilderness. He died in Hamburg, New York, in 1854. His son, the Rev. Philip Perry Brown, was born in Bennington, Vermont, September 17, 1790 and was a Baptist missionary and preacher of central New York to the time of his death, which occurred in Madison, that state, on the 23d of September, 1876.
Charles Edwin Brown, father of William C. Brown of this review, was born February 23, 1813, in Augusta, New York, which at that time was situated on the frontier. In a volume of personal recollections written in his eightieth year, Elder Brown says "it was a new and heavily timbered country, and here, amid the priva- tions and hardships of pioneer life with very limited means, we lived until my eighteenth year." He was converted at a revival meeting in September, 1832, was baptized by his father and joined the Baptist church. He became very strongly impressed with the conviction that it was his duty to preach the gospel and, giving up his employment, he entered upon a course of study preparatory for the ministry at the Hamilton Literary and Theological Seminary. By working after study hours and during vacation periods, in cutting timber in the woods and doing other jobs of manual labor that he could get, he met the expenses of his college course and was able to complete his studies in 1838. On the 20th of September of that year he was regularly ordained to the ministry and on the 26th of September he was married to Frances Lyon at Little Falls, New York. His bride was a school teacher, a woman of marked refinement and liberal education, a devoted Christian, and 7.
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once entered with earnestness upon the work of the church and Sunday school. For almost fifty years she was a loving and devoted helpmate and companion to her husband. Her happy, cheerful disposition made the cabin of the pioneer preacher out on the frontier, as well as the more pretentious home of later years, the abode of happiness and contentment. In a volume of recollections published by Elder Brown near the close of his life, the title page bears the following: "In loving remembrance of my wife, Frances Lyon Brown, who for nearly fifty years shared with me the labor, trials and privations of pioneer missionary life, whose cheery presence made the humble log cabin on the western frontier the happiest of homes and whose sunny, hopeful disposition found for every cloud a silver lining, these recollections are affectionately inscribed."
For four years the Rev. Charles E. Brown was minister of the Baptist church at Norway and Warren, New York, both in Herkimer county, after which he had the opportunity of carrying out a long cherished desire of becoming a home missionary in the west. He was sent to the "forks of the Maquoketa river" in the territory of Iowa and for nine years continued his missionary work, preaching in log cabins, organizing new churches, making long journeys across the trackless prairies of that western prontier, and then on account of impaired health was obliged to return to the state of New York. He spent six years thereafter in preaching in various locali- ties in central New York and was then again sent by the Baptist Home Mission Society to Iowa, where he was permitted to select his own field of labor. In July, 1857, he arrived in Howard county, which became the field of his future life work. In August, 1857, he located at Vernon Springs, organized the Baptist churches at Vernon Springs and Lime Springs and was pastor thereof for many years. His work extended all over Howard and adjoining counties and there are few of the old pioneer schoolhouses in which he did not preach and organize Sabbath schools. He was always deeply interested in the public schools and became the first superin- tendent of schools in Howard county and was one of the early teachers in the school at Vernon Springs. In the late '70s he was selected to represent his district in the state legislature and was a leader in every movement for public improvement and civic betterment. Throughout his life he was intensely loyal and patriotic, an uncompromising enemy of the liquor traffic, and he advocated his religious and political opinions with earnestness, sincerity and fidelity. He had the courage of his convictions and when his conclusions were reached upon any subject they were definite and positive. He was never known to compromise with what he believed to be wrong. He passed away July 23, 1901, in his eighty-ninth year, and was laid to rest by the side of his wife, who died in 1887, in the beautiful cemetery of Lime Springs. The legislature during the session of the following winter passed the following resolutions:
"WHEREAS Rev. Charles E. Brown, an honored member of the seventeenth general assembly of Iowa from Howard county, died in Ottumwa, July 23, 1901, and,
"WHEREAS The life and character of the deceased were such as to command our love and esteem, and his public services to the state and country were of such distinction as to demand the respect and gratitude of his fellow citizens; therefore be it
"Resolved, That in his death the state has lost an able, conscientious citizen, a man who suffered the inconvenience and hardships of pioneer life in the cause of religion, and state that we extend to his children our sincere sympathy in their affliction.
"Resolved, That these resolutions be entered in the Journal of the House and that chief clerk of the House be instructed to present engrossed copy thereof to his sons."
Amid the environment of a Christian home upon the frontier William C. Brown spent the days of his boyhood and youth, working on the farm in the summer months and attending the district school in the winter seasons. From 1857 the home of the Brown family was maintained in Howard county save for the years 1868 and 1869, during which Elder Brown was pastor of the Baptist church in Thompson, Illinois, and it was with keenest pleasure that William C. Brown returned to the scenes
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of his boyhood after putting aside the arduous cares of railroad management. While living at Thompson, when sixteen years of age, he began work with a shovel as a section hand on the southwestern division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad and while thus employed he took advantage of an offer of the station agent of the privilege of learning telegraphy by studying and practicing nights in the office. A year later, the family having returned to Howard county, he continued his studies in the telegraph office at Lime Springs and in the summer of 1870 secured his first position as an operator. In the summer of 1871 he was made night operator in the train dispatcher's office at Minneapolis and a year later .was offered and accepted a position as train dispatcher for the Illinois Central at Waterloo, Iowa, in which position he remained for two years. While there residing he returned to Lime Springs and on the 3d of June, 1874, he was married to Miss Mary Ella Hewett, a daughter of Squire C. C. Hewett, one of the early settlers and prominent citizens of Howard county. Three daughters and seven grandchildren, all living in Chicago, comprise the family.
In 1875 Mr. Brown was made train dispatcher at Wilton Junction, Iowa, for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, and a year and a half later secured employment as train dispatcher on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, with which road he remained for twenty-six years, being promoted from one position to another in the regular line of service until he became general manager of the system east of the Missouri river on the 1st of January, 1896, with offices in Chicago. On the 1st of July, 1901, he was offered and accepted the position of vice president and general manager of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad and Lake Erie & Western Railroad, with headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio. On the 1st of March, 1902, he was made vice president of the New York Central & Hudson River Rail- road, in addition to the lines west of Buffalo above mentioned, and on the 1st of June, 1906, he was elected senior vice president of all the roads in the system of the New York Central, comprising about twelve thousand miles of important rail- road, extending from New York and Boston on the east to Chicago and St. Louis in the west and from Montreal, Canada, and Mackinack City on the north to Louisville, Kentucky, and Cairo, Illinois, in the south. On the 1st of February, 1909, Mr. Brown was elected president of the New York Central System and con- tinued in that position until he tendered his resignation in a letter addressed to the board of directors which gave his reasons for desiring to lay down the heavy burdens of official railway work, as follows: "I have for two years contemplated
asking to be relieved of the very exacting duties and responsibilities of the position of chief executive of the New York Central Lines. I have been in railroad service continuously for more than forty-four years, twelve years of this service with the New York Central Lines, five years in charge of the operation and maintenance of the property, two years as senior vice president and five years as president, and feel that I have earned that freedom from care, hard work and responsibility which can only be secured by retiring from active service. In addition to my desire to be relieved of the burden and responsibility of my position, I am admonished by my failing hearing that I cannot, without serious embarrassment, continue to perform the duties of the position, either in the board room or in frequent important con- ferences in which I must necessarily participate. For these reasons, I beg to very respectfully tender my resignation as president, effective January 1, 1914. In leaving the service, I desire to express my sincere and grateful appreciation of the cordial cooperation which has always been extended to me by this board, and of the loyal, intelligent and efficient support rendered by all the officers of the company.
Very respectfully yours,
W. C. Brown."
At a meeting of the several boards of directors held in New York on November 18th the resignation was accepted and the following resolutions unanimously adopted.
At meetings of the boards of directors of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company, the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad Company, the
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Michigan Central Railroad Company and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company, held at the general office building, Grand Central terminal, city of New York, on Tuesday the 18th day of November, 1913, Mr. William C. Brown having presented his resignation as president of the companies named, effective December 31, 1913, the following was presented and adopted:
"This board accepts with regret the resignation of President William C. Brown. When he joined our System he had been for thirty-two years in active railroad work. He had risen from the bottom through every grade of operation and admin- istration to the highest positions in the important lines with which he was con- nected.
His demonstrated ability as vice president and general manager of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company, led by rapid promotion to vice president in charge of operation and maintenance of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad Company, vice president in charge of maintenance and operation of all the railroads in the Central System; senior vice president in charge of all the departments of the entire System, and president.
He had won all these positions through a wide and varied experience, hard work and close study. He was unusually equipped for its great responsibilities when he came to be the executive head of this System with its twelve thousand miles of railroad, extending through nine states and into the Dominion of Canada, and having in its employment one hundred and sixty thousand men. He has kept in harmony while maintaining discipline and efficiency with this great working force.
Under his administration the relations have been cordial between the railroads and the people in the territory which it serves. The business of the system has doubled in revenue and tonnage.
The vast construction and engineering work in the remodeling and remaking the New York terminal and station has been uninterruptedly carried on, and railway operators at home and abroad have expressed their admiration that difficulties have been so overcome that train service has been maintained, and the electrification of the Central in and about New York carried to completion without delaying or retarding the engineers, architects and contractors.
Mr. Brown has been a pioneer in agricultural experiments for the increase of the output of the farms, at the expense of and under the management of the rail- road company. It brings the railroads and the farmers together for their mutual advantage.
At three score, and after forty-four years of unremitting labor in his chosen profession, Mr. Brown has earned the privilege of retirement from active and exacting responsibilities. He leaves this company carrying with him our highest respect for him as an official, and our warmest regard for him as a man. May he enjoy long years of health and happiness.
Resolved that this minute be engrossed and attested by the officers of the company and presented to Mr. Brown.
(Signed ) Chauncey M. Depew, Chairman, D. W. Pardee, Secretary."
Since his retirement from active service Mr. Brown has continued as a member of the board of directors of several of the roads and makes occasional trips to New York to attend meetings and renew acquaintances of his many friends there, both in the service and in other lines of business; but his chief interest is in his farms and in the important subject of improved agriculture, to which he gave much attention during his railway life. He owns farms in Iowa, Colorado and California, the management of which gives him congenial and ample employment. Oaklawn Stock Farm, located on the bank of the Upper Iowa river, one mile north of the village of Lime Springs and the home of Mrs. Brown's grandfather, M. M. Marsh, is perhaps his favorite, and a more beautiful location or a finer farm could scarcely be found in the entire state. The farm residence is a solid, comfortable
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stone house built by Esquire Marsh a half century ago, and there in the shade of the fine oak trees on the lawn, under which they played as children, Mr. and Mrs. Brown are spending the evening of life. They also have a home in Pasadena, California, to which they go to escape the rigors of the northern Iowa winters. Mr. Brown is most happy amid his present surroundings, as it has ever been the dream of his life to return to the farm, for he is a lover of nature and the various phases of outdoor life.
EDMUND GILLETTE.
Edmund Gillette is a valued and respected citizen of Cresco now living retired, al- though for many years he was actively, prominently and successfully connected with agricultural interests in Howard county, where he has a circle of friends almost co- extensive with the circle of his acquaintance. He came to the middle west from the Empire state, his birth having occurred in Benton Center, Yates county, New York, October 9, 1828. He is a son of Jewel H. and Mabel (Bainbridge) Gillette. His father was born in Orange county, New York, in 1789, while the mother was a native of Seneca county, New York. They were married in that state, where the father en- gaged in business as a miller, operating flour mills for a number of years. In 1843 he removed westward with his family to Niles, Michigan, at which period that district was wild and undeveloped. He purchased farm land and began the cultivation and improvement of his fields, converting the farm into a very productive tract of land. At the time of his arrival there was much wild game in the country and comparatively little indication of progress and improvement there, but he took his part in the work of bringing about changed conditions until death suddenly cut short his career, for he was killed in a runaway accident in 1844. His wife survived until 1869 and was seventy- two years of age at the time of her demise. In his political views the father was a democrat. The ancestry of the family can be traced back to a very remote period, for the first of the name came from France to the United States in 1634, making settlement in New York, where successive generations of the family have resided. The grand- father of Edmund Gillette was Jeremiah Gillette, a native of Orange county, New York, his birthplace being on the Hudson river. He built the first mill at Penn Yan, New York, and remained a substantial citizen of that place until his death, which occurred in 1844. His wife also passed away there.
Edmund Gillette spent his boyhood days in the Empire state to the age of seventeen years and then accompanied his parents on their westward removal to Niles, Michigan, after which he spent two years upon the home farm. He then entered the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad Company, assisting in building the road in the capacity of labor foreman, and subsequently removed to Chicago, where he became identified with the lumber business of Charles Mears, with whom he continued for two years. He also managed a lumber camp for the company in northern Michigan and while thus engaged did some trading with the Indians. Later he assisted in building the Michigan Southern Railroad, doing contract work, and afterward he was connected as labor fore- man with the Chicago & Galena Union Railroad on construction work. He next became active in the construction of the Illinois Central Railroad and occupied the position of paymaster with office at La Salle, Illinois. In the winter of 1854-5 he came to Iowa, es- tablishing his home near what is now the town of Cresco, but the district was then a wild prairie tract. He took up his present farm as a claim, securing one hundred and sixty acres which he at once began to develop and improve. From that day to the pres- ent he has been an active, valued and honored resident of Howard county. In the early days McGregor was the nearest market and the unsettled condition of the country is indicated by the fact that there were many Indians here. His labors have been of the greatest benefit in promoting public progress and his enterprise made him one of the foremost farmers of this section of the state. As the years passed his lands were brought under cultivation and returned to him very substantial and gratifying harvests.
In 1856 Mr. Gillette was united in marriage to Miss Helen M. Barber, a daughter of Horace and Elizabeth (Burbank) Barber, the father a furniture manufacturer of
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Laporte, Indiana, at which place Mrs. Gillette was born. To Mr. and Mrs. Gillette have come six children: Nettie M., who died in 1891; Fred E .; Arthur B .; Edmund C .; Nellie M .; and Gertrude E.
Mr. Gillette has taken an active part in public affairs as the years have gone on. In 1855 he was elected clerk of the district court, which position he acceptably filled for ten years, and he was also elected to the office of sheriff of Howard county. Foi sixteen years he filled the position of justice of the peace and he has also served in other offices of public honor and trust. His political support is given to the republican party and his religious faith is that of the Congregational church. His life has ever been actuated by high and honorable principles and his entire record is that of an upright man and public-spirited citizen. He still occupies the old homestead farm on which he has lived for so many years, but now having almost reached the ninetieth milestone on life's journey, he is living retired and in fact for a number of years has enjoyed a well earned rest.
TIMOTHY T. DONOVAN.
Timothy T. Donovan, banker, has spent practically his entire life in Iowa, having been but two years of age when brought to Chickasaw county. The record of his career therefore is as an open book to his fellow townsmen, who have watched his continuous progress as the years have passed-a progress that has resulted from close application, keen study of existing business conditions and a recognition of opportunity. He is the vice president of the First National Bank of New Hampton, the president of the First National Bank of Fredericksburg, president of the Alta Vista Savings Bank of Alta Vista, Iowa, vice president of the Security National Bank of Mason City, vice president of the Farmers' & Traders' Savings Bank of Bancroft, Iowa, and a member of the board of directors not only of all these insti- tutions but also of the Mason City Loan & Trust Company of Mason City, Iowa.
Mr. Donovan was born in New Market, Rockingham county, New Hampshire, on the 8th of June, 1856, and is a son of Timothy and Abbie ( Harrington) Donovan, extended mention of whom appears elsewhere in this work. He was but two years of age when brought by his parents to Chickasaw county, which was then largely an undeveloped wilderness. His boyhood days were spent in one of the old pioneer log cabins and his educational opportunities were limited to those offered by the public schools and the Decorah Institute. During his boyhood and young manhood he resided upon his father's farm and his early life was passed in a manner usual to that of most farm-bred boys of the middle west. Early in life, however, his ambition to make for himself a place in the business world was developed. He likewise became keenly interested in politics in early manhood and on the 1st of March, 1884, became deputy auditor and deputy clerk of the courts. On the 2d of November, 1886, he was elected clerk of the district court and was re-elected to that office November 6, 1888. He served for four years as clerk of the district courts, performing the duties of the office without the aid of a deputy.
On the 1st of August, 1890, Mr. Donovan was elected cashier of the First National Bank of New Hampton but did not take charge of the work in the bank until January 1, 1891, when he assumed the duties of cashier, in which responsible position he continued to serve until the 11th of June, 1906, when he was elected vice president of the bank and has since acted in that capacity. During this period he has assisted materially in advancing and maintaining the high standards of the institution and making it one of the strong financial concerns of northern Iowa. In becoming connected with banking Mr. Donovan found the line of life for which he evidently was best fitted, as his success from that time has been continuous. Extending the scope of his activities, he has been instrumental in founding other banks and has become identified with other financial institutions until his name is today a well known one in financial circles of northern Iowa. He has also become the possessor of heavy land holdings in Chickasaw county and his investments have
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