USA > Iowa > Lucas County > Past and present of Lucas and Wayne counties, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 1
USA > Iowa > Wayne County > Past and present of Lucas and Wayne counties, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume 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
LUCAS AND WAYNE COUNTIES IOWA ×
A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME II
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CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1913
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BIOGRAPHICAL
HON. FRANK Q. STUART.
Earnest, purposeful, recognizing ever the obligations and the duties as well as the opportunities and advantages of citizenship, Frank Q. Stuart of Chariton stands with the eminent men of lowa who have labored persistently and effect- ively for the welfare of state and nation. A member of the bar, he brings to bear upon the questions of vital interest to the country the analytical power and logical reasoning of the lawyer. Ilis utterances indicate a mind trained in the severest school of reasoning and it is a recognized fact that policy never sways him in his position, which is the outcome of an earnest belief in the cause which he advocates.
Iowa is proud to number Mr. Stuart among her native sons, his birth having occurred in Monroe county on the 24th of January, 1856. He acquired a high- school education and afterward studied under special instructors for several years. In fact, throughout his entire life he has been a student-of books, of men, of events-and in the school of experience he has learned many valuable lessons. In early life he took up the study of telegraphy and was employed as an operator until 1874. Ile regarded this merely as an initial step to higher things, and, taking up the study of law, was admitted to the bar in the year in which he attained his majority. Ile then entered upon active practice, in which he has since been engaged save for intervals spent in editorial work and upon the publie platform. Along with those qualities indispensable to the lawyer-a keen, rapid, logical mind plus the business sense, and a ready capacity for hard work- he brought to the starting point of his legal career certain rare gifts-eloquence of language and a strong personality. He has ever been remarkable among law- vers for the wide research and provident care with which he prepares his cases. In no instance has his reading ever been confined to the limitations of the ques- tion at issue ; it has gone beyond and compassed every contingency and provided not alone for the expected, but for the unexpected, which happens in the courts quite as frequently as out of them. His logical grasp of Facts and principles of the law applicable to them has been another potent element in his success; and a remarkable clearness of expression, an adequate and precise detion, which enables him to make others understand not only the salient points, of his argument, but his every fine gradation of meaning, may be accounted;one,of his most conspien- ous gifts and accomplishments.
Mr. Stuart was married in Chariton, Iowa, Seproprber, 14, 1876, to Miss Ida M. Penick, and they have two children living. Martha was married in 1906 to William F. Jackson, of Lake Forest and Chicago, Ilinois, and they have two
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«Inldren Virgina Stuart, born in 190>; and Barbara Jackson. born in 1912. Adalbert. the only son of our subject, was born in 1885.
Mr. Stuart was for some years a resident of Colorado and served as a member of its legislature from 1955 nutil 1887, during which period he introduced and Secured the enactment of nine bills into laws, among which was a law preventing non-resident alien ownership of land in that state. a law prohibiting the contract- ing of conviet labor, and a law prohibiting the blacklisting of discharged employes. He also actively supported a proposed law for the regulation of railway rates and charges, which was passed by the house, but was defeated in the senate.
In the year of his retirement from the Colorado assembly Mr. Stuart published a brochure, entitled : "Natural Rights, Natural Liberty and Natural Law." Commenting upon this, one of the daily papers of Denver said: "Mr. Stuart's statement of the social problem and the land question is the clearest. most concise. most dispassionate and altogether the ablest we have seen, and we commend it to the thinkers of the country." > Cleveland (Ohio) paper wrote editorially : "The author states the points of his rase without ambiguity of language, and his argument is clear, logical and comprehensive. $
. It is eminently worthy of the careful perusal of all students of the social problems of the day."
In 1891 Mr. Stuart returned to Chariton, lowa, and almost immediately after- ward was elected mayor of the town, but soon resigned that position to become editor of the Des Moines Daily Leader, which he made one of the leading news- papers of the country in the discussion of social. rronomie and governmental sub- jeets. llis editorials were widely read by deep thinking men. It is well known that Mr. Stuart has always opposed monopoly. special privilege and legalized injustice in all their various forms and guises. He has agitated questions con- neeted therewith in arousing publie sentiment to the enormity of prevailing social. economie and industrial wrongs, and all of his public efforts, whether as speaker. writer or political worker, have been in the direct interest of social, economic and political reform. He has often been heard on the lecture platform and his oratory has enabled him to sway his bearers, while his logic has carried conviction.
It is well known that Mr. Stuart's position has never been an equivocal one. Hle stands fearlessly for what he believes to be right and nothing can swerve him from a course which his judgment sanctions as honorable and straightforward in the relations of man with man and in the duties of citizenship. This has been particularly notable in his recent espousal of the principles of the progressive parly, in which connection a contemporary writer said : "Prior to the campaign of 1912. Mr. Stuart had for many years been affiliated with the democratic party. and at different times he was signally honored by that party. In 1894 he was the democratic candidate for congress in the ' Big Eighth' district of lowa. In the state campaign of 1597 he was in charge of the democratie press bureau of lowa. In IsOS he was the temporary chairman of the democratic state convention, making the keyhoto: Sporth sehich Brech drew from Governor JJohn P. Altgold of Illinois the encommnom, " has a tremendous ring.' and caused Leslie M. Shaw, then republican candidate for governor of lowa and afterwards secretary of the treasury of the L'inter States, to class Mr. Stuart as one of the foremost political Gerators of the time. . During the presidential campaign of 1900 Mr. Stuart was official editor to the expentive committee of the democratic national committee at headquarters in Chicago In 1902 he was acting chairman of the democratic
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state committee of lowa during the campaign of that year. In 1907 (for a time residing in the south ) he was appointed as a delegate from Louisiana to the national conference which was held at Des Moines on the subject of election of United States senators by direet vote of the people. In 1910, having returned to lowa, he for a second time was nominated for congressman from the eighth Towa district, making a splendid race against a large opposition majority. In promoting his candidacy in that campaign his home friends issued the following statement, signed by the treasurer, anditor, clerk of district court and county attorney of his home county : 'We know of no man who has fought so aggressively against all forms of trusts, more earnestly for an honest rednetion of the tariff, so constantly for conservation, or so untiringly for honesty in government. He has sacrificed more time and more labor battling for the equal rights of all man- kind than any man of our acquaintance. In him as congressman the people will have one who is safe and fair in all things. frank and honest in every way, able and courageous in every battle.' While for years Mr. Stuart supported the democratic party when it was hopelessly in the minority in his home state, and nationally-that party appearing to him to afford greater latitude than the domi- nant party for the free discussion of social, economic and governmental problems -in 1912, at a time when the democratie prosperts were brighter than they had been in twenty years, he severed his connection with that party, resigning the eighth district vice presideney of the Iowa State Jefferson Club and other honor- ary positions, and came out promptly in support of the great declaration of principles promulgated by the progressive party in national convention at Chicago." Mr. Stuart entered aggressively into the campaign and his ability as a speaker led to his cooperation being sought not only throughout lowa, but in many other states, and he contributed much to the success which his party won in the campaign of that year. His utterances make strong appeal because of their clearness and simplicity of style to the average hearer: they leave an equally strong impress upon the mind of the logical thinker who readily sees the relation between cause and effect. The breadth of his own nature and of his vision are manifest in all that he says, and the record of Frank Q. Stuart, law- yer, orator and publicist, is one which reflects credit and honor alike upon the state of his nativity.
CLARENCE S. HU MESTON.
The Humeston family is so well known in Wayne county that Clarence S. Ilumeston needs no introduction to the readers of this volume. He is at present in partnership with his father in the condnet of a profitable grain and coal business in the city which bears the family name and is mimbered among the most able, progressive and representative men of the community. He is num- bered among Humeston's native sons and was born in the second house built in the town. June 22, 1877. Ile is a son of Alva and Annie E. (Brown ) Humeston, of whom extended mention is made elsewhere in this work. He grew to man- hood here and after completing his education in the public schools obtained employment in the office" of the Humeston New Era, in which he worked for
LUCAS AND WAYNE COUNTIES
some time. Throughout practically all his active career he has been associated with his father, serving from 198 to 1897 as assistant postmaster, while Alva Humeston was postmaster. In Is9s he was made assistant to his father in the conduct of a grain and coal business and acted in this capacity for one year, after which he interrupted his business career in order to pursue his studies in college at Dixon, Ilinois. In 1901 he was made a partner in his father's concern and has remained a member of the firm since that time. He is a capable business man, readily determining the outcome of any transaction and delight- ing in battling with complex business problems. Moreover, he has placed his dependener upon energy and perseverance and has as a result gained at an early age prominence and prosperity.
On the 21st of September, 195, Clarence S. Humeston was united in mar- ringe to Miss Ludeen Frisbie, who was born in Davis Chy, lowa, January 6. 1-76, a daughter of John R. and Rose ( Price) Frisbie, the former of whom has passed away. He was among the carly settlers in lowa and while conduct- ing a store at Davis City was robbed by the famous James brothers' gang. Mrs. Humeston's mother was horn in St. Louis and was a resident of Nauvoo, Ilinois, at the time of the Mormon expulsion. She can vividly recall the events of that exciting time. At present she is residing at Kellerton, lowa. Mr. and Mrs. Frisbie became the parents of eight children, William. Walter. Richard. Frank. Mrs. Ida Burnizer, Mrs. Humeston, Mrs. Blanche Dorsey and Mrs. Winona Graves, Mr. and Mrs. Humeston have become the parents of a daughter, Alice Louise. They reside in a modern and well furnished home in Humeston and are among the most prominent people in social circles of the city.
Clarence S. Humeston is a member of the Christian church and fraternally is affiliated with Fidelity Lodge, No. 228. A. F. & A. M. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party and he has held some important public offices. including those of city clerk of Humeston and deputy postmaster. He is a worthy representative of his name, which has long been known and honored in this section, and his life, which has been one of continuons and well directed activity, is as a result successful and happy.
NORMAN F. BAKER.
The financial and business history of Lucas county would be incomplete were there failure to make mention of Norman F. Baker, banker and merchant and a progressive and public-spirited citizen. He is at present cashier of the Farmers & Miners Bank of Lueas, an institution established by his father, and he has made his influence felt in the development and conservation of banking interests in this part of the state. He was born in Chariton, lowa. Inne 10. Isto, , son of a. C. and Martha Steffy Baker, the former a native of Brown county. Indiana, and the latter of Burlington, lowa, where her birth occurred Derember 26. 1slo The father was one of the early settlers in the town of Lucas and from the true of its organization was a force in development, giving his inthiener and aid to the promotion of many progressive publie movements and
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establishing and building up many of its finest business institutions, among which may be mentioned the Farmers & Miners Bank, which he organized in 1886. lle died in this city in 1901 and his widow survives him and is residing in Lucas. She has been a resident of lowa sinee her birth and was two days old when the state was admitted into the U'nion. In this family were five children: Albert L., who resides in Montana; Norman F., of this review; Laura G., who is assistant cashier of the Farmers & Miners Bank of Lucas: J. C., Jr., a former attorney of Lneas. who died in 1906; and Blanche, who is residing with her mother.
The common schools of Lucas afforded Norman F. Baker his educational opportunities, but he has carried forward his own studies since that time, being an apt pupil in the school of experience. Since 1886 he has been connected with the affairs of the Farmers & Miners Bank, established in that year, an institution of which he is now cashier. A financier of shrewd and resource- ful ability. he has by the application of sound and progressive methods made the concern grow and expand so that it is now not only the oldest bank in the county but also one of the substantial and prosperous financial concerns of the state. Mr. Baker is progressive and modern in all that he does and his spirit of enterprise is evidenced by the fact that he will allow in the bank only the newest equipment, having recently installed a new burglar proof manganese safe, of the Victor patent. one of the first to be introduced in southern Iowa. In addition to his banking interests Mr. Baker owns also a profitable general mer- chandise store in Lueas and two good farms in Jackson township, each of which is provided with an excellent set of improvements. Following his father's foot- steps. he has ever taken an active part in the development of Lucas, centering a great deal of his attention upon its growth along business lines and making his individual prosperity a factor in general expansion.
Mr. Baker married, in October, 1896, Miss Margaret Beatty, born in Wapello county, Iowa, June 4, 1874. She is a daughter of Thomas and Mary ( Hart) Beatty, the former born in Dubuque in 1848 and the latter near Sheldon, Iowa, December 25, 1852. When Mrs. Baker was two years of age her parents removed to Lueas county, where both died, the father passing away in 1880 and the mother in April, 1900. In their family were five children: Mrs. Ella Jones, the wife of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway agent at Indianola, Iowa : Mrs. Baker; James, who is engaged in the mercantile business in Ottumwa ; Mrs. Mary Warner, whose husband is also a merehant in Albia, Iowa ; and Susan, the wife of Arthur Knotts, interested in mining in old Mexico. The two eldest children in this family are natives of Wapello county, the three younger ones having been born in Lucas county. The family has been in Iowa since pioneer times, Mrs. Baker's grandparents having been among the carliest settlers in Dubuque county. Mr. and Mrs. Baker have two sons: Norman F .. Jr., born December 29, 1897, now a student in the public schools; and Gerald J., whose birth occurred April 19, 1900, and who is also pursuing his studies. Mrs. Baker is a member of the Catholic church of Chariton.
Until 1912 Norman F. Baker was identified with the democratic party and was one of the most active workers in its ranks, taking a deep interest in local affairs and proving his public spirit by official service. He held on the democratic
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ticket almost all of the town and township offices and was democratic candidate for state representative. When the progressive party was formed, however, he allied his interests with it and in 1912 was its candidate for the office of state treasurer of lowa. He has extensive fraternal connections, being a member of Good Shepherd Lodge, No. 414. A. F. & A. M., of Lueas: the Royal Arch Masons at Chariton : and Emmanuel Commandery. No. 50. K. T .. of the same place. Ne is identified also with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Yeomen. He has held all the offices in the Masonie lodge and is at present treasurer. In all the lines of activity which claim his attention Mr. Baker has followed pro- gressive, constructive and modern methods and in the development of his busi- ness interests, which are capably conducted. has proven himself a reliable. resourceful and far sighted business man. He possesses the elements of capacity and character that contribute largely toward success-elements of perseverance, self-reliance and good judgment. He is now one of the leading men of his region, and judging from his present success, the future will hold even greater victories and more substantial prosperity.
JOHN W. FREELAND.
An honest man, of high principles, of noble purposes, of kindly action and generous deeds, taking no especial credit to himself and in fact main- taining always a modest demeanor and an unassuming disposition, John W. Freeland left the impress of his individuality for good upon the history of the county in which he lived for more than half a century and the consensus of public opinion names him as one of its most honored and valued citizens. For many years he was actively engaged in the practice of law and was also prominent in the banking circles of the county, being one of the organizers and president of the Wayne County Bank.
Mr. Freeland was born in Owen county, Indiana. August 25, 1540, and became a resident of Wayne county, Iowa, when a youth of seventeen years. It was his purpose to enter upon the study of law here in the office of W. E. Taylor, then a distinguished member of the Wayne county bar. He con- tinned his reading for a few years and was then admitted to practice by the Hon. I. S. Townsend, who at that time was presiding judge. Immediately afterward he entered into partnership with his former preceptor under the firm style of Taylor & Freeland, which firm continued actively in practice until after the outbreak of the Civil war. Mr. Freeland continued the prac- tier of law with various partners until about four years prior to his death, his active connection with the Wayne county bar covering almost a half century. Following the dissolution of his partnership with Mr. Taylor he was later associated successively in practice with J. N. Mcclanahan, E. E. Clark, Lewis Miles. Il. K. Evans and II II. Carter. He came to the starting point of his legal career well qualified through natural ability and his broad study for the onerons duties of the profession and be prepared his cases with great thoroughness and skill. He had been in practice for but a comparatively brief period when he was elected county judge and remained upon the bench
JOIN W. FREELAND
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for one term. Ile more greatly enjoyed, however, the active work of the lawyer and was ever a close student of his profession. As a result of his strong legal mind, sound judgment, cool deliberation and clear reasoning powers he reached a position at the head of the Wayne county bar.
In January, 1862, Mr. Freeland was united in marriage to Miss Belle Kelley, a daughter of B. Il. Kelley, a prominent citizen of Corydon. The great grief of his life came to him in the death of his wife at Corydon on the 24th of April. 1903. They were the parents of three children. Mrs. J. S. Garrett, Mrs. Frank B. Selby and Mrs. F. M. West. The family have ever ocenpied a leading position in social circles- those circles in which intelligence and per- sonal worth are accepted as the passports to good society. Mr. Freeland made for himself a prominent position and yet there was nothing self-asser- tive about him. In fact he was unostentatious and massuming in manner, but his genuine personal worth received recognition. Ile was but a boy in years when he arrived in Corydon, which then contained a population of less than one hundred. Through the ensuing half century or more he took an active and helpful part in all that pertained to the welfare and advancement of the town and county.
In 1873 Mr. Freeland became associated with E. E. Clark, now president of the Bankers Life Association, in the ownership and conduct of a bank. They purchased the bank of Oeobock Brothers and under the style of Free- land & Clark continued the business until August, 1874. Mr. Freeland was then largely instrumental in organizing the Wayne County Bank, which took over the business of Freeland & Clark, and four years after its organization he became president and so continued until his death, remaining active in its management and control to the last.
Ile never regarded polities as something unworthy his attention. lle always recognized the duties and obligations as well as privileges of citizen- ship and he never failed to give honest expression to his opinions. lle was a stalwart advocate of democratic principles and from 1865 until 1895 was the recognized leader of his party in Wayne county, largely directing and shaping its course and influencing the choice of its candidates. He never songht nor desired office for himself but strove earnestly to place in publie positions men capable and worthy of the honor conferred upon them. Mr. Freeland was recognized as a man of wide general information, resulting from his broad reading, his earnest study and deep thinking. Ile frequently made addresses before the Corydon Friday ('Inb which were listened to with mneh interest. Few laymen have so comprehensive and acenrate a knowledge of geology and he had gathered from many parts of the United States a large collection of geological speriments.
Perhaps personal characteristics of Mr. Freeland may best be given in the words of a friend, who, following his death, which occurred April 27, 1912, wrote of him: "He was ever and always a courteous and pleasant gentleman. He was highly honorable and was a man of strictest integrity. He was an honest man, and well has it been said that 'an honest man is the noblest work of God.' While he was ever courteous, yet he was always open. plain and frank in conduct and speech. Ile never pretended to be otherwise than what he really was. He hated and despised sham and hypoe-
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risy. He was an exceedingly kind, loving and affectionate husband and father. His home life was very happy and was the most pleasant, the purest and the best. In his death his children and grandchildren have suffered an irreparable loss. He was always reticent in regard to religious questions and never said anything publiely on those matters. Whatever he may have said in relation to religion and a future life, if anything, was only to his most intimate friends. But, whatever his views may have been as to these matters, all who knew him and his life know that he lived an honest, upright and goodly life. That life shows that his heart. his intentions, his motives and purposes were strictly in line with reetitude and a clean, elevated and conscientious spirit." Another said: "lle was not an old man. People of his temperament never grow old. He enjoyed company and was a genial companion to both aged and young. He was quiet, massuming and very unselfish, yet his life was a material benefit to all, especially the young man, struggling for a start. to whom he was always a friend indeed. Words fail us to portray the good qualities of this friend whom we enjoyed as a near neighbor for over thirty years. Our children grew up together and mingled as one family through all those years, making our relations as near and dear as it was possible to be. During all those years we knew him as a neighbor, as a man and as a friend who could be relied upon under any and all eirenmstances. During all that time we never knew him to commit a selfish act or do an ummanly deed. Ile was not a man of words, but of deeds, and his many aets of kind- ness will live in memory long after his passing away. Though his outward demeanor was quiet, yet beneath his exterior he had a heart as true as steel and as firm as adamant to what he believed to be right. Mr. Freeland was a friend to everyone, but especially was he fond of children and in the sunset of his life there was no greater pleasure to him than to contribute to the pleasure of his grandchildren, who especially adored him."
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