USA > Iowa > Appanoose County > Past and present of Appanoose County, Iowa : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. II > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
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Past and Present OF Appanoose County IOWA
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME II
CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1913
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 633617 ASTOR, LENOX AND TILD- N FOUNDATIONS. R 1913 L
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CLAUDE R. PORTER
Biographical
CLAUDE R. PORTER.
Prominent among the democratic leaders of Iowa, distinguished by rea- son of his patriotic and progressive service in the assembly and honored by reason of his ability in the practice of law, which he has made his chosen life work, Claude R. Porter has left and is leaving the impress of his indi- viduality upon the history of the commonwealth. He was born in Moul- ton, lowa. July 8. 1872. his parents being George D. and Hannah ( Rod- man ) Porter. The father was born in Williamstown, Perry county, Penn- sylvania, September 18, 1846, and was a son of the Rev. George D. and Sarah Jane ( McCoy) Porter, the former of Irish and the latter of Scotch ancestry. In 1851 George D. Porter accompanied his parents to Tipton, Cedar county, Jowa, where his father, who was a Presbyterian clergyman, became pastor of the church of his denomination there. In that city George D. Porter was reared to young manhood and in the interim pursued his education in the intermediate and high schools. When eighteen years of age he began teaching school in Cedar county and later followed the pro- fession in Ray county, Missouri, until 1870, when he entered upon the study of law in the office of the Hon. George W. Dunn, of Richmond, Ray county, Missouri. The same year he was admitted to the bar and located at Moulton, Appanoose county, lowa, where he practiced until the fall of 1877, when he came to Centerville, where he was accorded a liberal clientage. He gave his political support to the republican party until 1877, when he joined the independent movement. In 1870 he had been elected city solicitor at Richmond, Missouri, and served for one term. In 1883 he was chosen mayor of Centerville and as its chief executive guided the interests of the city through one term. On the 6th of June, 1871. he was married in Richmond, Missouri, to Miss Hannah R. Rod- man, a daughter of J. H. and Lydia ( Jennings) Rodman. They became the parents of five children. Claude R .. Sadie L., Northa 1 .. George McCoy and Anna M. George D. Porter died in Centerville, February 11. 1899.
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IHISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY
Passing through consecutive grades in the public schools Claude R. Porter was graduated from the Centerville high school with the class of 1889. and for one year was a student in Parson's College at Fairfield. lowa. He also spent a year in the St. Louis ( Mo. ) law school and follow- ing his admission to the bar in 1893 has practiced continuously in Center- ville. The date of his admission was the 6th of October, of that year, at which time he became junior member of the firm of Porter & Porter. of Centerville, which became one of the strongest law firms in southern lowa. Time brought changes in the partnership relations, he being now senior partner of the firm of Porter & Greenleaf. The ability and careful man- ner in which he prepares his cases is evidenced in the strength with which he presents his cause before court or jury. He seems never at a loss for a reply and prepares for defense as well as for attack. Moreover. he holds to a high standard of professional ethics and bases his reasoning upon a comprehensive understanding of the principles of jurisprudence and correct application thereof to the points in litigation. In addition to his professional interests Mr. Porter is connected with various finan- cial concerns including the Farmers & Merchants Bank of Plano, the Exline Savings Bank of Exline, and the Mystic Industrial Savings Bank of Mystic, lowa. Mr. Porter, however, has perhaps become even more widely known through his political activity, at least to the people at large through- out Iowa. Elected to the state legislature, he took his seat in 1896 and the indorsement of his first term's service came in reelections which con- tinued him in office until 1900. He was then chosen state senator for a four years' term and again took active and helpful interest in shaping Towa's legislation through another four years. In 1898 he was the candi- date of his party for secretary of state and was gubernatorial candidate in 1906 and 1910. On three different occasions in 1908. 1909 and 1910 he has received the democratic support of the Iowa legislature for the office of United States senator. He was one of the members of a committee appointed by the state legislature in 1897 to visit the state institutions of lowa, out of which grew the present board of control law. His mili- tary record covers service as sergeant major of the Fiftieth lowa Volun- teer Infantry during the Spanish-American war.
On the 27th of December. 1899, Mr. Porter was married to Miss Maud L. Boutin and to them have been born four children. George. Julia. Northa and Dorothy. The family attend the Presbyterian church in which Mr. and Mrs. Porter hold membership.
In its various lines of work he has been active and helpful. serving as one of the elders of the church and as superintendent of the Sunday school. He has taken high rank in Masonry and is a member of the Mystic
HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY
Shrine at Davenport. He also belongs to the Elks lodge of Centerville. Mr. Porter has figured prominently before the public for many years for when he was first candidate for state legislator on the populist and demo- cratic tickets in the fall of 1895 he was but twenty-three years of age. Since that time he has been a leader in public affairs and he has never low- ered his standard for the sake of public policy or to cater to public opinion in any way. His ideals of citizenship are high and his efforts to embody these in practical service have been untiring. He commands the respect of even those opposed to him politically while his ability and personal qualities have won him popularity among a large circle of friends.
WILLIAM KENNETH CURRIE.
William Kenneth Currie is a member of the firm of Currie & Dewey, owners of the Journal of Centerville, Mr. Currie devoting his attention to its management and to editorial duties. He was born at Oak Grove, Dodge county, Wisconsin, December 18. 1870, his parents being John and Sarah Ellen ( Byers ) Currie. The father was a native of the state of New York and was of Scotch descent. The mother was born in Virginia and was a representative of one of the old families that settled near James- town at a very early epoch in the colonial history of the country. John C. and Sarah E. Byers were married at Hagerstown. Maryland. in 1868, and removed westward, becoming residents of Wisconsin. Subsequently, however, they established their home at Mount Ayr. Iowa, and there in the public schools William Kenneth Currie pursued his education. In carly manhood he became connected with hotel interests and remained in that business for a number of years as proprietor of one of the hotels at Mount Ayr. Subsequently he became connected with journalistic inter- ests and was associated with the Hearst newspapers in Chicago for six years. He severed that connection in January, 1910. after which he engaged in promotional work for a year and a half in central Illinois and northern Ohio. In November. 1911, he came to Centerville and entered into partnership with Walter H. Dewey of Chariton for the publication of the Centerville Journal which is the only democratic paper in Appan- oose county. During the pre-convention campaign of 1912 the Center- ville Journal was one of the strongest newspaper supporters of Woodtew Wilson in that state and Mr. Currie was one of the executive board of the lowa-Wilson league. In his editorials he clearly sums up the situa- tion as he sees it and presents concisely and forcibly the vital principles
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY
and questions at stake. He cast his first presidential vote for Grover Cleveland, supported William JJennings Bryan three times, and in the fall of 1912 as a progressive democrat voted for Woodrow Wilson. His fraternal relations are with the Brotherhood of American Yeomen and with the Masonic lodge. He is a typical American citizen of the present age, alert and enterprising. keeping in touch with the significant questions and situations of the country and casting his influence on the side of advancement along the lines of reform and improvement.
ROBERT CRAWFORD FORSYTH.
Robert Crawford Forsyth is one of the oldest among the merchants of Appanoose county, having passed the eightieth milestone of life's journey. but he still remains an active factor in commercial circles as the senior partner in the firm of Forsyth & Son, druggists, and as such has con- tributed largely to the commercial activity and consequent prosperity of Mystic. He was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, June 2, 1832, a son of James and Margaret (Crawford) Forsyth, who always remained residents of the land of hills and heather. The father was a weaver. working at a hand loom throughout his entire life. Their son, Robert, was the youngest in a family of twelve children, six of whom reached years of maturity but he is now the only one surviving. He remained at home until he reached the age of seventeen years but when fourteen years of age he entered a drug store where he was employed for three years. At the end of that time he went to sea to improve his health which had become greatly impaired, and for nearly ten years he remained upon the water. In 1857 he was married to Miss Betsy Stewart Butter.
Leaving his bride at her old home. Mr. Forsyth two weeks after his marriage came to America on a sailing vessel as a seaman. He left the ship, however, at Quebec and went to Montreal where he joined a pro- peller. sailing on the Great Lakes until winter caused a cessation of navi- gation. Mr. Forsyth passed the winter in Kingston, Canada, after which he sailed on the lakes until June, but thinking to find better business opportunities in the interior of the country he made his way to Rock Island. Illinois, where he lived with his sister and brother-in-law. Soon after- ward he secured employment in a stone quarry in Mercer county, Illinois. at seventy-five cents per day and also took out the coal which was used in the operation of a grist mill. For twenty-three years he engaged in digging coal through the winter seasons and spent the summer months at
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY
farm labor. In two years he had saved enough to send for his wife who joined him in Mercer county, Illinois, and in 1866 he came to łowa and for three years met with different experiences in mining and farming in Mahaska county and then removed to What Cheer, where he continued for twenty-four years. There he followed coal mining and also general agricultural pursuits and during the latter part of that period purchased a farm, which he found was underlaid to some extent with coal so that he again engaged in mining as well as in the development of his fields. Eventually, however, he entered the drug business and for twenty-eight years has been engaged in that line of trade in this country. It was the business to which he first turned his attention on starting out in the world and his early experience served him in good stead when he once more became a druggist. In 1893 he removed to Mystic, where his son David had located in a drug store and, joining his son. has since been carrying on business here as a member of the firm of Forsyth & Son. Following the disastrous fire which occurred in Mystic he erected his present building. a fine two-story brick structure, twenty four by one hundred feet, at the corner of Second and Main streets. He also owns a half interest in two other business blocks and has, furthermore, become identified with business interests in this town as a director of the Mystic Savings Bank. to which position he was elected on its organization, becoming at that time one of its stockholders. He and his son are also interested in farm lands in Texas and Iowa and in city property in Mystic.
To Mr. and Mrs. Forsyth were born nine children: James, who is engaged in the drug business at Numa, Jowa: Donald William, who is a hardware merchant of Mystic: David. who is in partnership with his father: Isabella. who became the wife of Thomas Glendenning, and died in Minnesota, leaving four children : Mary, the wife of Robert Maxwell. of Keokuk county, Iowa: Robert, a tinsmith of Mystic; Mrs. Jessie Coop, who is with her father: Elizabeth, the wife of William Keffner, of Jerome, lowa: and Dougald R., who is engaged in the drug business at Redfield. Iowa. In 1911 the family were called upon to mourn the loss of the wife and mother, who died on the 6th of January of that year.
Mr. Forsyth has been a life-long republican, supporting the party since becoming an American citizen. He has never held office, however, preferring to concentrate his energies upon his business duties which have been of constantly growing volume and importance. Mr. Forsyth is a Master Mason and also an Odd Fellow. He belongs to the Presbyterian church, to the teachings of which he has ever been loyal. No history in this volume, perhaps, indicates more clearly what can be accomplished through a resolute will, unfaltering perseverance and carefully directed
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY
efforts. He worked hard and persistently year after year, scorning not the earnest toil which is the basis of all success. Gradually he advanced until his industry and economy placed him on the high road to success and from that point forward his progress has been assured, bringing him at length to a prominent position among the successful business men of his adopted country. His record may well serve as a source of inspiration and encouragement to others. showing what may be accomplished when energy and determination lead the way.
GEORGE WEST NEEDELS.
George West Needels who has been instrumental in making the Center- ville Citizen a prosperous daily paper, in which connection he has become widely known in this city and county, was born December 3. 1849. at New Albany. Franklin county, Ohio, his birthplace being about sixteen miles northeast of Columbus. His father was a member of the state board during the Civil war and his occupation was that of farming. which he carried on about four miles from New Albany. Two sons of the family, John and S. I. Needels, are residing near the old home. The four sisters are: Mrs. Eve Whiten, residing at Van Wert. Ohio: Rene Kirts. of Johnstown. Ohio; Mrs. Sarah Ross, of California: and Mrs. Alice Ross, of Portland, Oregon.
George West Needels supplemented his education acquired in the dis- trict schools by a term's study at the Albany school. When seventeen years of age he started westward and was employed at railroading in Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas and Texas, being connected with the con- struction department as one of the superintendents for five years. He afterward traveled for the Kilbourn-Jacobs Company, a wheel scraper company, for three years through Indiana. Illinois and lowa. and it was this which led him eventually to settle in Centerville, for being pleased with the city and its future he resolved to locate here, and did so in 1879. On the 31st of July, of that year. he purchased a livery barn which he conducted successfully until it was destroyed by fire. He next entered the Citizen's office and in 1892 he erected his present business block. In the meantime he gave careful study and attention to the publication of the paper which at that time was brought out as the Centerville Weekly Citizen but at the present writing a daily paper is published, having an extensive patronage and thereby returning to the owner a good profit.
On the 29th of August. 1883. in Centerville, lowa. Mr. Needels was
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY
married to Miss Margaret Crosby Jones, a daughter ot Mrs. Eleanor (Crosby) Jones and their children are three in number: Otis Crosby, born November 17, 1886; Eleanor C., July 13, 1888; and Samuel Lyman, who was born February 12, 1891, and died in infancy. Mr. Needels holds to the Unitarian faith and he is a charter member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge, No. 64, in which he has held all of the chairs. In poli- tics he has ever been a republican since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He has been a member of the city council for two terms of three and two years each, and he has been a member of the build- ing and loan association. Whether in office or out of it he stands for that which has most to do with the welfare and upbuikling of the city. advocating at all times progressive measures which work for the material. intellectual. social and moral progress of the community.
WILLIAM BRADLEY.
No history of Centerville would be complete without extended ref- erence to William Bradley who for many years was a controlling factor in business circles not only of this city but of this section of the country. his operations covering southern lowa and northern Missouri. In fact he became one of the successful business men of the state and his life record illustrates most clearly what can be accomplished when determination and energy lead the way, although one is hampered at the outset by lack of opportunities. He was, indeed, a self-made man, deserving all the praise and honor which that term implies.
A native of Pennsylvania, William Bradley was born near Pittsburg, on the 18th of December, 1825, a son of James and Phoche Bradley. The father was a carpenter in very moderate circumstances and as his son William was the eldest in a family of seven children it became nec- essary that he carly provide for his own support. As soon as old enough to assist in the work of the farm he took his place in the fields and was occupied with the plowing, planting and harvesting in spring, summer and fall, leaving him only the winter months in which to attend school and acquire such education as the schools of his locality afforded. He was about twelve years of age at the time of his mother's death and tor two months thereafter he worked on the Weatherspoon farm near hi- old home. He afterward went to Frankfort Springs, where he remained two years in humble labor that left him no leisure. He washed chishes. aided in the cooking and performed the work of a hostler. While his
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY
services brought him little pay the spirit of industry and diligence was developed in him with a recognition that earnest, persistent effort will eventually win. As a farm hand in the employ of Robert Patterson, near Burgettstown, he earned three dollars per month during the summer season and in the winter worked for his board and the privilege of attending school. There he remained for three years when he received an increase of a dollar per month for his services as a farm hand with a man living near Florence, Pennsylvania. Again he utilized the winter seasons in the attainment of an education. After a year and a half there passed he entered the government employ in carrying the mail from Washington to Georgetown, the distance made during the week being two hundred and forty miles, while his compensation was six dollars per month and board. He remained in this service for six months and saved all his earnings, ambitious and eager to avail himself of better opportunities, and when he thought he saw a chance for improving his condition he eagerly embraced it. Leaving the government service, at which time his capital consisted of thirty-six dollars, he began peddling. Going to Pittsburg he invested twenty-five dollars in novelties and started out to dispose of his goods, traveling from house to house. Four years thus passed. during which time he sold his goods at a profit. and he thus made an upward step on the journey of life. After he ceased peddling he spent a year in Burgettstown. Pennsylvania. and then turned his attention to the buying and selling of live stock.
Like hundreds of other young men Mr. Bradley was attracted to California by the discovery of gold and the consequent increased business activity along various lines resulting from the great influx of settlers. In the spring of 1849. therefore. he started for the west by the overland route and after a wearisome journey of ninety days reached Sacramento on the 15th of July. 1850. He then sought a favorable business opening and purchased an interest in a fishery, but after a short time sold out and purchased a team and began hauling hay to the mountains. With him. however, as with the great majority of others, the mines proved an ir- resistible attraction and he made his way to what was known as the Yankee Jim mines. In his search for the precious metal he met with fair success but after twenty-one months disposed of his interests there and returned to New York by way of the isthmus, reaching his old home at Burgettstown. Pennsylvania, on the 5th of December. 1852. There through the following year he engaged in buying and shipping wool and stock but in the spring of 1854 determined to remove to Iowa, having heard favorable reports of the country and its opportunities. At Pitts- burg he purchased watches, jewelry and table linen and at Cincinnati
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY
added to his stock some oilcloths. Thus equipped he arrived at Keokuk, Iowa, about the first of May and for a month peddled goods in that city. He then sent part of his stock to Eddyville while he started on foot, peddling his goods along the way. He had disposed of the entire amount before he reached Eddyville and then taking the goods that he had shipped to that place upon his back he started for Des Moines, reaching that city with nothing of his stock remaining except one watch. He then traded watches with a hack driver who agreed to take him in his hack to lowa City. From that point he walked to Muscatine, proceeded by boat to Rock Island and thence by train to his old Pennsylvania home. At Steubenville. Ohio, he had built a peddling wagon according to his own ideas, calling it the Star of the West. By this time his peddling business had reached considerable proportions and he admitted a partner, John Fugate, an old California friend. Purchasing a stock of goods at Phila- delphia they shipped them with the Star of the West to Keokuk and after reaching that city purchased a team of horses and started out upon the trip which brought them through southern lowa, visiting en route Bloomfield, Centerville, Corydon, Leon and Garden Grove. At the last named place Mr. Bradley purchased his partner's interest and con- tinued in the peddling business until he had disposed of all his stock. The next spring he again purchased a stock in Philadelphia and once more went upon the road. Later he traveled for two years with Mabry's Menagerie and Sands & Nathan's Circus, auctioneering goods at the various towns visited. After leaving the show he shipped his stock from place to place where he did an auctioneering business.
It was about that time, or in the fall of 1855, that Mr. Bradley was married to Miss Amanda T. Campbell, who was born in Virginia and in the spring of 1855 accompanied her parents to lowa. the family settling near Winterset. in Madison county. In the spring following their mar- riage Mr. and Mrs. Bradley arrived in Centerville where he purchased a lot and erected a store building twenty-two by one hundred feet. During the course of its construction he rented a room and sold goods. His business had increased to such an extent that he now employed several salesmen and two men drove ox teams in hauling his building material and goods from the river. With the completion of his store he went to Philadelphia where he purchased a stock of goods valued at thirteen thousand dollars. He then continued merchandising until the fall of 1859, when he traded his store for a tract of land a mile and a quarter east of the city and in the following spring took up bis abode upon the farm. After crops had been planted. however, he returned to the east. again purchased a large stock of goods and resumed merchandising in
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY
the building which he had previously erected. He was thus identified with commercial activity in Centerville until 1864, when he sold out. In the meantime he had embarked in another field of activity. having in February, 1863, organized the First National Bank. From that time until his death he was closely associated with banking, with farming and with the live-stock business. From the establishment of the bank his success was almost phenomenal and the prosperity which attended that undertaking led him to extend the scope of his activities into other fields. In 1870 he established a bank in Trenton, Missouri, soon afterward one at Princeton. Missouri, 'and later one at Allerton. None of these four banks failed or suspended during the financial panic of 1873. owing to the conservative business policy which Mr. Bradley instituted and fol- lowed. On the contrary, he soon afterward added to his interests by founding the Bradley Bank of Bloomfield: this was followed by the First National Bank of Milan. Missouri; the National Bank at Unionville, Missouri, in 1884: a bank at Eldon, lowa, in 1888; one at Moulton, in 1891; and the Mystic Bank, in 1892. He afterward disposed of his interests at Trenton and at Milan but remained a factor in the ownership and conduct of the eight other banks, becoming recognized as one of the most prominent financiers of the state. His judgment was sound, his enterprise unfaltering and whatever he undertook he carried forward to successful completion. He also won substantial prosperity along agri- cultural lines, becoming the owner of ten thousand acres of very valuable land in Iowa, his farms all being well stocked with high-grade cattle and horses.
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