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THE BLUE BOOK OF IOWA WOMEN
WINONA EVANS REEVES
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
Ms. Olde Book Shoppe 208 EAST 4TH STREET EACH, CAUT 00019
THE BLUE BOOK
OF IOWA WOMEN
A HISTORY OF CONTEMPORARY WOMEN
Edited and Compiled by WINONA EVANS REEVES 1914
1667156
To your mother, and to my own of blessed memory, to whom we owe all that we are and to whose inspiration we are indebted for all we have tried to do, this book is dedicated.
Press of the Missouri Printing and Publishing Company. Mexico. Mo.
PREFACE
O STATE in the union has produced a bet- ter or a higher type of womanhood than Iowa. From pioneer days until the pres- ent they have had a very helpful interest in the advancement of education, of the arts, of literature, of religious and moral training, in the great work of philanthropy and of social service in all of its phases. Some of them have been women of unusual talent and have a national reputation, and somne have a world-wide reputation. To record the achievements of these exceptional women, and to make a permanent record of the lives and work of the women who within the State and in their own commu- nities have given their service to the common good is the object of this book. It is not claimed that all the women deserving recognition are included in these pages, no book would be large enough to contain them all.
The labor involved in collecting and compiling this history has been far beyond our expectation, yet if we have added to the written history of our state, or if the lives herein recorded prove an inspiration to others, it will be compensation for all the labor it has cost.
In compiling this history of Iowa women, the first to be published in the state, we have been aided by many prominent women, by the Historical Dept. of Iowa and by the State Historical Society. We here give grateful acknowledgment of that aid.
WINONA EVANS REEVES.
"The common problem, yours, mine, everyone's Is not to fancy what were fair in life, Provided it could be,-but, finding first What may be, then find how to make it fair Up to our means: a very different thing." -Robert Browning.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
MRS. GEORGE W. CLARKE
Mrs. George W. Clarke, the wife of the Governor of Iowa, was born at Adel, Jany. 16, 1857, her maiden name being Arletta Greene. She is the daughter of Benjamin Greene and Parmelia Catherine Sturges, who came to Adel in 1847 when there were only two or three families there. The settlement was called Penoach and later Mr. Greene gave the town the name Adel.
Mrs. Clarke was educated at the Oskaloosa College with the degree M. S. She was married on June 25, 1878, at Adel to George W. Clarke, a young attorney who had just graduated from the Law Dept. of the State University. Their home is still in Adel. He was a member of the Iowa legislature for four terms and was speaker of the house for two additional terms. He was elected Lieut. Governor in 1908, and in 1912 became Governor, and he is a very popular executive. Four children have been born to them: Fred Greene Clarke, Charles F. Clarke, Portia Clarke Van Meter and Francis Ada Clarke. Mrs. Clarke is a member of the Christian church and has been a Sunday school teacher and an active worker in the Missionary Society for many years. She is an interested club woman in her home town and in Des Moines where they reside a part of the year. She is a member of the Civic Service and Social Reform committee of the I. F. W. C. and is an earnest advocate of equal suffrage. She is a charming woman socially and in every way graces her position as the First Lady of the common- wealth.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
MRS. W. L. HARDING
Mrs. Carrie May Harding, the wife of W. L. Hard- ing, Lieutenant Governor of Iowa, was born in Dun- barton, Wis., Nov. 17, 1879. She is the daughter of H. H. Lamareaux and Margaret Annetta Phoenix, both natives of Wyoming county, Penn. She received her education at Morningside College, Sioux City, having been graduated from that institution in music and expression. On Jany. 9, 1907, she was married at the home of her parents at Meriden, Ia., to W. L. Hard- ing, an attorney by profession. Lieut. Gov. Harding is the son of Mr. and Mrs. O. B. Harding, natives of Pennsylvania, who came to Osceola county, Iowa, in 1874, being among the early settlers of that part of the state. He was graduated from the law school of the State University of South Dakota, in 1905. He imme- diately opened a law office in Sioux City and is now the senior member of the firm of Harding & Oliver. He was elected Representative in 1906 and re-elected in 1908. When George W. Clarke was elected Gover- nor of Iowa, he was elected to the office of Lieut. Gov. Since 1906 Mr. and Mrs. Harding have spent a part of the year in Des Moines. Mrs. Harding is a member of the Board of Directors of the Legislative Ladies' League, and has been both prominent and popular in the social life of the capital city. She is a charter member of the Sioux City Woman's Club. She is a home lover and does fine needlework and china paint- ing, and has for a creed, "East or west, home's best."
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
MRS. A. J. BARKLEY
Few women in the state are more widely known than Mrs. A. J. Barkley. The creed and policy of her life are embodied in this motto which is over the fire- place in the library of her home: "I shall pass this way but once. Any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again."
Flora E. Spencer was born in Rice county, Minn., Feb. 28, 1860. She is the daughter of Wilson Spencer and Caroline Beaver Goodykoontz. On her father's side her lineage is traced to a soldier of the war of 1812. Her mother is descended from the Beaver fam- ily of Pennsylvania, whose ancestors came from Al- case in 1740. The family were leaders in public af- fairs in the great commonwealth and have furnished "food for powder" in every war which America has waged since they became citizens of this country. In 1865 the Spencer family moved to Waukon, Ia., where the daughter was educated in the public schools, later taking a course in the Normal School of Valparaiso. Ind. She was a high school teacher for eight years, after having taught four years in the country graded schools.
On July 28, 1891, she was married to Alonzo J. Barkley, one of the organizers of the Boone county bank, and its president until he retired from business in 1911. Many distinguished guests have been graciously entertained in their home, whose doors swing wide, welcoming the rich and poor, who meet together to enjoy the hospitality. A nephew, Earl
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Barkley Spencer, makes his home with them and is being carefully educated by them.
Mrs. Barkley is an active member of the M. E. church. She has taken a deep interest in the library work of the state, and was president of the State Li- brary Association in 1907-08. It was largely through her influence that the 28th General Assembly passed a law providing for the establishment of a State Library Commission. She is now a member of that commission, having been appointed by the Governor. She has been a member of the Library Board of the Erieson Public Library of Boone since 1898, and upon the death of its founder, Senator Erieson, she became president of the Board. She is chairman of the Lit- erature and Library Extension Committee of the I. F. W. C. She has served the I. F. W. C. as vice-president and has represented the state at four general federa- tions. She is a member of the board of the Eleanor Moore hospital. She was the first president of the city federation of Women's Clubs and has served De Shon chapter, Daughters of the American Revo- lution as its regent, and represented the chapter in the National Congress in 1913. She was a charter mem- ber of the Lowell elub which was one of the first clubs to join the I. F. W. C. She has had a great interest in and influence upon the public schools and has taken a personal interest in many pupils who needed aid and encouragement. The tremendous energy and systematie efforts of this unselfish woman have enabled her to accomplish something worth while without neg. lecting her home duties.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
MRS. CYNTHIA WESTOVER ALDEN
Iowa is proud to claim "The Sunshine Lady," Mrs. Cynthia Westover Alden, President General of the In- ternational Sunshine Society. Born in Afton in 1862, the daughter of Oliver S. and Lucinda Lewis West- over. When a child her parents moved to Colorado. She was graduated in the first class of the State Uni- versity at Boulder. For years she was one of the best known newspaper women in the United States, one of the few holding the degree Master of Literature. While she was one of the editors of the Daily New York Recorder, she organized half in jest, "The Sun- shine Society" among those connected with that pub- lication. There were eighteen who promised "To do the thing that was needed whenever it was needed, whether it was a little or a big one," and to pass on any article in their possession, not needed, but might be of use to another. There are now over 3000 or- Head-
ganized branches with 300,000 members.
quarters are at 96 Fifth Ave., New York. With the growth of the society Mrs. Alden gave up her news- paper work and with it a yearly salary of $5,000. For ten years she was on the staff of the Ladies Home Journal and through it made the Sunshine Society known to the world. The society has done every sort of work imaginable-founded schools, playgrounds, nurseries, clothed the naked, helped the sick, buried the dead. Mrs. Alden thinks their greatest work is the homes established for blind babies and the cam. paign to prevent infant blindness. This work was in- augurated by them and is now far reaching in its scope. No letter from a troubled heart-rich or poor -ever failed to receive a reply from the Sunshine Lady.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
MRS. HELEN READ ANDREW
A woman of broad culture and a gentle woman of the highest type is Mrs. Helen Read Andrew of Ot- tumwa. She was born in Byron, Ill., Jany. 17, 1844, the oldest daughter of Lucius and Emily Read who came from Vermont to Illinois when the state was considered on the far frontier. She graduated from Wheaton College in 1863, having had unusual educa- tional advantages for the time. She is the widow of Archibald Andrew and has one son, Lucius A. Andrew, who is president of the Citizens' Saving Bank of Ot- tumwa. She taught school after her husband's death in Illinois and Wisconsin for twenty years and was in- terested in newspaper work for ten years. She has always been a woman of keen thought and a great reader. She keeps abreast of the times and is much interested in the advancement of women. She believes sincerely in the justice of equal suffrage. She has been prominent in the State W. C. T. U. work; for five years she was press superintenent and later dis- trict president. For thirty years she has been a club woman; for several terms she was president of the Ottumwa Woman's Club, treasurer of the City Fed- eration of Clubs, president of the Bay View Club and of the Union Bible Class. As president of the Visit- ing Nurse Association she has directed a splendid work for Ottumwa's dependent classes. She is a member of the Presbyterian church and devoted to its interests in the Sunday school and missionary work. She has traveled extensively in this country and in Europe.
Mrs. Andrew has always been a woman of vision, who saw possibilities of human advancement and up- lift and has done her part to make real her vision.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
MRS. ALICE BIRD BABB
Alice Bird was born in Mt. Pleasant, Ia., May 8, 1850. Her father, Dr. Wellington Bird, was a leading physician of Southeastern Iowa from 1849 to his death in 1897. Her mother, Sarah Thornton, descended from one of the leading families of Bloomsbery, Penn. She received her education in the public schools, in Howe's Academy and. in the Iowa Wesleyan Uni- versity from which she graduated with honors in 1869. She was immediately elected principal of the high school and took high rank as a teacher. In 1872 she was elected to a professorship in the I. W. U., at the end of the year she resigned and was married on Oct. 8, 1873, to Judge W. I. Babb, then a young lawyer at that place. Four children were born to them, Max Wellington, born July 28, 1874, who is vice-president and general attorney of the Allin Chalmers Manufac- turing Co. of Milwaukee. Miles Thornton, born Feb. 27, 1878, is a successful business man representing the Western Wheel Scraper Co., and other corporations at Kansas City. Clara Belle, born Feb. 16, 1883, died when seven years of age, and Alice, born March 29, 1887, still remains at home. Mrs. Babb's children have ever been her greatest joy and pride. It was her guiding hand and her loving, sympathetic, counsel which fashioned their lives which today reflect honor upon her. Mrs. Babb has a bright, vigorous, versatile mind and a keen appreciation of everything beautiful in life and in nature. She has a peculiar sympathy which has rendered much of her life devoted to the service of others and makes her an ideal wife, mother and friend. She has rare literary and dramatic talent and is a delightful platform speaker. Had it not been
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
for the charm of her home life and her devotion to it, she might have had a brilliant career as a lecturer. She has always been in demand as a speaker and has captivated many audiences with her wit and with her scholarly presentation of her theme. For twenty years she had charge of the annual class plays given by the seniors in the Iowa Wesleyan University and only gave it up upon their removal to Aurora, Ill., in 1906. On July 21, 1869, Alice Bird, Mary Allen, Hat- tie Briggs, Aliee Coffin, Frane Roads, Suella Pearson and Ella Stewart, seven congenial girls in the Iowa Wesleyan University, met in the musie room of the main building and organized the P. E. O. Sisterhood. Allie Bird wrote the constitution and was the first to take the oath and was the first president serving for three successive years. During the thirty-seven years she afterward lived in Iowa she was an earnest and enthusiastie worker in Chapter Original A. When chapter A celebrated the thirty-third anniversary they presented Mrs. Babb a handsome star. the emblem of the sisterhood, richly studded with diamonds, in recognition of her great service. The P. E. O. sister- hood today has a membership of 22,000, with chapters in 27 states, in the District of Columbia and in British Columbia. Its membership is made up of a high type of women, the standard of culture having been set by the seven college girls. The principles embodied in the first constitution written by Mrs. Babb remain unchanged today. When the growth of the sister- hood made necessary State Grand Chapters and a Su- preme Chapter, Mrs. Babb was chairman of the com- mittee to formulate the laws governing them. She is held in highest honor and love by this great body of women.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
DR. MARGARET V. CLARK
Dr. Margaret Vampel Clark of Waterloo, was born at Pleasant Ridge, Lee county, Iowa. She is the daughter of John Christian Vampel and Clara Sand- ganger. She received her early education in the pub- lic and private schools, receiving her classical educa- tion in the University of Wisconsin. Her professional education was received at the Woman's Medical Col- lege of New York Infirmary, and Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago. She took post-graduate work in London, Berlin and Vienna. She was ever an am- bitious and conscientious student, and as a result is a woman of broad education, as well as having unusual professional knowledge and skill.
In 1886 she was married at Humboldt, Ia., to Dr. G. Hardy Clark, who is a very successful practitioner She is a member of the American Medical Association, the Iowa State Medical Society, the Public Health Com. of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, the Public Health Com. of the I. F. W. C. She is medical director of the baby health contests and compiled the grade cards for the contests, which cards received the approval of the National Medical Association and are used in the contests in many states. She is a mem- ber of the Public Library Board of Waterloo, of the State Association of Charities and Correction, of the W. C. T. U., the Waterloo Political Equality Club, the Iowa Woman's Professional League, the Audubon So- ciety, is chairman of the local Civic Club and is a de- voted church woman, being on its Board of Trustees. Through the lives and by the efforts of such busy, able women as Dr. Clark, do the agencies for the better- ment of society, the raising of health and moral stand- ards of the race move toward accomplishment.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
MRS. MATILDA A. VON SCHMIDT ARP
Matilda Anna von Schmidt is the daughter of John and Anna Elizabeth Lenz von Schmidt, both of whom were born in Germany and met for the first time on board the ship which brought them to America. She attended school until sixteen years of age when her father died, leaving her mother with eight children. She began to help her mother in the support of the family by conducting a millinery store, and the brave spirit of the girl was manifested in the success of the undertaking. On Oct. 31, 1884, she was married to Mr. Arp in Denison. Two children have been born to them, Myrtle Wilhelmina, the wife of Dr. H. T. Ken- nedy, of Pierre, S. D. She is a graduate of the Chica- go Musical College and took post-graduate work in Boston. Esther Anna, the second daughter, is a stu- dent at the State University of South Dakota. Mrs. Arp has always been an active worker in the church and Sunday school, and is a warm advocate of study classes and clubs for women. When she moved to Sioux City in 1910 she found no Woman's Club. She advocated its organization for several months and then invited a few women to a parlor meeting at her home from which the Sioux City Women's Club was organ- ized on Nov. 25, 1911, having in its membership some of the brightest women in that city. Mrs. Arp is a member of the Equal Suffrage Club and an earnest advocate of its principles. Her life has been saddened by the tragic death of her brother, the Rev. Lewis J. Schmidt, a man of great ability and usefulness in the world. She has two brothers, Charles and John Schmidt, living in Manning, Iowa, and a sister, Mrs. Minnie Behrens, living in South Dakota.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
MRS. LUCIUS A. ANDREW
Hazel Summerwill Andrew, the daughter of Wm. James and Florence Slemmons Summerwill, was born in Prairie City, Nov. 1, 1876. Her father's ancestors came from England and he was born in Kingston, Canada. Her mother was the oldest daughter of Ben- jamin and Rhuhemia Slemmons, who came from Ohio and were among the early settlers of Iowa near Eddy- ville. Mr. and Mrs. Summerwill went to Northern lowa in its early development period and took up their residence in Odebolt, where for many years he was a prominent business man and banker, a man of highest integrity, and sound business judgment. Mrs. Summerwill was a charming woman of many social graces and a warm steadfast friend. They had three children, Hazel, who is now Mrs. Andrew, Ben S. Sum- merwill, who is a lumber dealer in Canton, S. D., and Miss Katherine Summerwill of Ottumwa.
Mrs. Andrew was educated in the public schools and in the Ohio Wesleyan University. She was mar- ried in Newton, June 8, 1894, to Lucius A. Andrew, who is president of the Citizens' Savings Bank of Ot- tumwa. Two children have been born to them, a daughter who died in infancy and a son, Lucius A. Andrew, Jr., who was born in 1908. Mrs. Andrew is a member of the Presbyterian church, of the Ottumwa Woman's Club, which she has served several years as treasurer and is chairman of the Domestic Science department. She is a member of the P. E. O. sister- hood and of the Country Club. She has traveled ex- tensively in this country and in Canada. She presides over a beautiful home on Prairie Ave .. and finds there her highest pleasure.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
MRS. DAVID CRAWFORD BROCKMAN
Mrs. Lucy Nottingham Warden Brockman was born in Ottumwa, Aug. 29, 1868, and has lived there all her life. Her father was Dr. Charles Warden whose an- cestors as far back as colonial days lived in Virginia and Kentucky; they were slave holders and had to- bacco plantations. Dr. Warden was educated in the Medical College at Cincinnatti, coming to Wapello county in 1843 and was the first practicing physician in that county. He was for years a member of the Board of Trustees of the Agricultural College at Ames.
Mrs. Brockman's mother was Martha Williams. Her father, Washington Williams, crossed from Ohio to Oregon in a wagon with a short stay in Ottumwa where his daughter and Dr. Warden were married on June 13, 1846. For twenty years before her marriage, Mrs. Brockman was a teacher in the public schools of Ottumwa, for the greater part of the time was princi- pal of the Lincoln building. She was married Feby. 2, 1910, to Dr. David C. Brockman, a surgeon who is well known throughout the State, having a wide practice. She is a member of the Episcopal church. She is vice- president of the Play-ground and Recreation Associa- tion, and has had an active part in the establishment of public play grounds. She has done a great deal of archeological research and has a large collection of Indian curios, many of them she gathered on long tramps in Wapello and Van Buren counties. She is versed in bird lore and is an enthusiastic botanist. She has a special talent for painting and drawing, especially in water colors and in designs for china painting.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
MRS. DRAYTON W. BUSHNELL
Among the Iowa women well known not only in her own state, but throughout the nation is Mrs. Drayton W. Bushnell of Council Bluffs, than whom few women have done more to promote the best and highest inter- ests of the Daughters of the American Revolution. At the twenty-third congress of the national society she was elected to the life office of Hon. Vice President General in recognition of her meritorious work. Sophia Walker Hyndshaw Bushnell was born in Hen- ry, Ill., and is the daughter of Silas Condict Hyndshaw and Elizabeth Walker, who were married in Cincin- natti, Ohio, in 1858, later moving to Norwood Park, a Chicago suburb. Mrs. Bushnell was educated at Mon- ticello, having taken a four years course in this well known school. In 1878 she was married to Drayton Wilson Bushnell, going to Council Bluffs, which has since been their home. Mr. Bushnell served in the Civil War, having enlisted at the age of seventeen and served for nearly four years. He enlisted in the famous Crocker brigade. He is always in attendance at the reunions of the Crocker Brigade and has for years been corresponding secretary of the organiza- tion.
In 1897 Mrs. Bushnell joined the Council Bluffs chapter D. A. R., as a charter member, and has been on its Board of Management since the organization. For three years she was chapter regent. She was for two years Historian of the Iowa society D. A. R., and State Vice Regent for one year. She was Vice-Pres. General of the National Society for four years, and in April, 1914, was elected Hon. Vice-Pres. Gen'l. for life. She
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is a member of the Colonial Dames, the Huguenot society, the Society of Founders and Patriots, and the United States Daughters of 1812. Her line of ances- try through her father embraces many prominent New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New England names. Her father was named for the Hon. Silas Condict of New Jersey, who was a member of the first Continental Congress and speaker of the House. Mrs. Bushnell's great-great-grandfather, Capt. James Hyndshaw, was a distinguished soldier in the French and Indian wars, a fort near the Delaware Water-gap having been named for him in recognition of his service. Mrs. Bushnell's mother, Elizabeth Walker, of Ohio, traces her lineage to the Walkers, Fosters, Hicks and Millers of Mary- land, and to the Wiltsees and other Dutch families of New York.
When Mrs. Bushnell was elected Vice-President General from Iowa she suggested to the Daughters of Iowa that they furnish a room in Continental Hall, which they did. She was chosen chairman of the com- mittee and largely through her efforts the Iowa room was furnished. In recognition of her service to Iowa, the Council Bluffs chapter had her name placed on the Roll of Honor Book in Continental Hall. Mrs. Bush- nell is a woman of charming personality, quite un- spoiled by all the honor that has come to her. Her motives are always of the loftiest and she is loved in her home city, the state, and in the national society.
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MRS. W. E. BLAKE
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