A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa, Part 10

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 752

USA > Iowa > Mills County > A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa > Part 10
USA > Iowa > Fremont County > A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa > Part 10

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himself and the Drexel estate, and which he edited for thirty years. He acquired con- trol of the paper at a time when it was be- ing published at a heavy loss, set it upon a firm basis of prosperity, and he made it more than a money-making machine-he made it respected as an exponent of the best side of journalism, and it stands as a monument to his sound judgment and up- right business principles. Mr. Childs' char- itable repute brought him many applications for assistance, and he never refused to help any one that was deserving of aid; and not only did he help those who asked, but he would by careful inquiry find those who needed aid but were too proud to solicit it. He was a considerable employer of labor, and his liberality was almost unparalleled. The death of this great and good man oc- curred February 3d, 1894.

P ATRICK HENRY won his way to un. dying fame in the annals of the early history of the United States by introducing into the house of burgesses his famous reso- lution against the Stamp Act, which he car- ried through, after a stormy debate, by a majority of one. At this time he exclaimed " Cæsar had his Brutus, Charles I his Crom- well and George III " (here he was inter- rupted by cries of " treason ") " may profit by their example. If this be treason make the most of it."

Patrick Henry was born at Studley, Hanover county, Virginia, May 29, 1736, and was a son of Colonel John Henry, a magistrate and school teacher of Aberdeen, Scotland, and a nephew of Robertson, the historian. He received his education from his father, and was married at the age of eighteen. He was twice bankrupted before he had reached his twenty-fourth year, when after six weeks of study he was admitted to

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the bar. He worked for three years with- out a case and finally was applauded for his plea for the people's rights and gained im- mense popularity. After his famous Stamp Act resolution he was the leader of the pa- triots in Virginia. In 1769 he was admitted to practice in the general courts and speed- ily won a fortune by his distinguished ability as a speaker .. He was the first speaker of the General Congress at Philadelphia in 1774. He was for a time a colonel of militia in 1775, and from 1776 to 1779 and 1781 to 1786 he was governor of Virginia. For a number of years he retired from pub- lic life and was tendered and declined a number of important political offices, and in March, 1789, he was elected state senator but did not take his seat on account of his death which occurred at Red Hill, Charlotte county, Virginia, June 6, 1799.

B ENEDICT ARNOLD, an American general and traitor of the Revolution- ary war, is one of the noted characters in American history. He was born in Nor- wich, Connecticut, January 3, 1740. He ran away and enlisted in the army when young, but deserted in a short time. He then became a merchant at New Haven, Connecticut, but failed. In 1775 he was commissioned colonel in the Massachusetts militia, and in the autumn of that year was placed in command of one thousand men for the invasion of Canada. He marched his army through the forests of Maine and joined General Montgomery before Quebec. Their combined forces attacked that city on December 31, 1775, and Montgomery was killed, and Arnold, severely wounded, was compelled to retreat and endure a rigorous winter a few miles from the city, where they were at the mercy of the Canadian troops had they cared to attack them. On his re-

turn he was raised to the rank of brigadier- general. He was given command of a small flotilla on Lake Champlain, with which he- encountered an immense force, and though. defeated, performed many deeds of valor. He resented the action of congress in pro- moting a number of his fellow officers and neglecting himself. In 1777 he was made major-general, and under General Gates at Bemis Heights fought valiantly. For some reason General Gates found fault with his- conduct and ordered him under arrest, and he was kept in his tent until the battle of Stillwater was waxing hot, when Arnold mounted his horse and rode to the front of his old troop, gave command to charge, and rode like a mad man into the thickest of the fight and was not overtaken by Gates' courier until he had routed the enemy and fell wounded. Upon his recovery he was made general, and was placed in command at Philadelphia. Here he married, and his acts of rapacity soon resulted in a court- martial. He was sentenced to be repri- manded by the commander-in-chief, and though Washington performed this duty with utmost delicacy and consideration, it was never forgiven. Arnold obtained com- mand at West Point, the most important post held by the Americans, in 1780, and immediately offered to surrender it to Sir Henry Clinton, British commander at New York. Major Andre was sent to arrange details with Arnold, but on his return trip to New York he was captured by Americans, the plot was detected, and Andre suffered the death penalty as a spy. Arnold es- caped, and was paid about $40,000 by the British for his treason and was made briga- dier-general. He afterward commanded an expedition that plundered a portion of Vir- ginia, and another that burned New Lon- don, Connecticut, and captured Fort Trum-

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bull, the commandant of which Arnold mur- dered with the sword he had just surren- dered. He passed the latter part of his life in England, universally despised, and died in London June 14, 1801.

R OBERT G. INGERSOLL, one of the most brilliant orators that America has produced, also a lawyer of considerable merit, won most of his fame as a lecturer. Mr. Ingersoll was born August 24, 1833, at Dryden, Gates county, New York, and received his education in the common schools. He went west at the age of twelve, and for a short time he attended an academy in Tennessee, and also taught school in that state. He began the practice of law in the southern part of Illinois in 1854. Colonel Ingersoll's principal fame was made in the lecture room by his lectures in which he ridiculed religious faith and creeds and criti- cised the Bible and the Christian religion. He was the orator of the day in the Decora- tion Day celebration in the city of New York in 1882 and his oration was widely com- mended. He first attracted political notice in the convention at Cincinnati in 1876 by his brilliant eulogy on James G. Blaine. He practiced law in Peoria, Illinois, for a num- ber of years, but later located in the city of New York. He published the follow- ing: "The Gods and other Lectures;" "The Ghosts ;" "Some Mistakes of Moses ;" " What Shall I Do To Be Saved;" "Inter- views on Talmage and Presbyterian Cate- chism ;" The "North American Review Controversy;" "Prose Poems;" "A Vision of War ;" etc.

JOSEPH ECCLESTON JOHNSTON, a noted general in the Confederate army, was born in Prince Edward county, Virginia, in 1807. He graduated from West Point

and entered the ariny in 1829. For a num- ber of years his chief service was garrison duty. He saw active service, however, in the Seminole war in Florida, part of the time as a staff officer of General Scott. He resigned his commission in 1837, but re- turned to the army a year later, and was brevetted captain for gallant services in Florida. He was made first lieutenant of topographical engineers, and was engaged in river and harbor improvements and also in the survey of the Texas boundary and the northern boundary of the United States until the beginning of the war with Mexico. He was at the siege of Vera Cruz, and at the battle of Cerro Gordo was wounded while reconnoitering the enemy's position, after which he was brevetted major and colonel. He was in all the battles about the city of Mexico, and was again wounded in the final assault upon that city. After the Mexican war closed he returned to duty as captain of topographical engineers, but in 1855 he was made lieutenant-colonel of cavalry and did frontier duty, and was ap- pointed inspector-general of the expedition to Utah. In 1860 he was appointed quar- termaster-general with rank of brigadier- general. At the outbreak of hostilities in 1861 he resigned his commission and re- ceived the appointment of major-general of the Confederate army. He held Harper's Ferry, and later fought General Patterson about Winchester. At the battle of Bull Run he declined command in favor of Beau- regard, and acted under that general's direc- tions. He commanded the Confederates in the famous Peninsular campaign, and was severely wounded at Fair Oaks and was succeeded in command by General Lee. Upon his recovery he was made lieutenant- general and assigned to the command of the southwestern department. He attempted

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to raise the siege of Vicksburg, and was finally defeated at Jackson, Mississippi. Having been made a general he succeeded General Bragg in command of the army of Tennessee and was ordered to check General Sherman's advance upon Atlanta. Not daring to risk a battle with the overwhelm- ing forces of Sherman, he slowly retreated toward Atlanta, and was relieved of com- mand by President Davis and succeeded by General Hood. Hood utterly destroyed his own army by three furious attacks upon Sherman. Johnston was restored to com- mand in the Carolinas, and again faced Sherman, but was defeated in several en- gagements and continued a slow retreat toward Richmond. Hearing of Lee's sur- render, he communicated with General Sherman, and finally surrendered his army at Durham, North Carolina, April 26, 1865.

General Johnston was elected a member of the forty-sixth congress and was ap- pointed United States railroad commis- sioner in 1885. His death occurred March 21, 1891.

AMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS, S

known throughout the civilized world as "MARK TWAIN," is recognized as one of the greatest humorists America has pro- duced. He was born in Monroe county, Missouri, November 30, 1835. Hespent his boyhood days in his native state and many of his earlier experiences are related in vari- ous forms in his later writings. One of his early acquaintances, Capt. Isaiah Sellers, at an early day furnished river news for the New Orleans "Picayune," using the nom- de-plume of " Mark Twain." Sellers died in 1863 and Clemens took up his nom-de- plume and made it famous throughout the world by his literary work. In 1862 Mr. Clemens became a journalist at Virginia,

Nevada, and afterward followed the same pro- fession at San Francisco and Buffalo, New York. He accumulated a fortune from the sale of his many publications, but in later years engaged in business enterprises, partic- ularly the manufacture of a typesetting ma- chine, which dissipated his fortune and re- duced him almost to poverty, but with resolute heart he at once again took up his pen and engaged in literary work in the effort to regain his lost ground. Among the best known of his works may be mentioned the fol- lowing: "The Jumping Frog," "Tom Saw- yer ," "Roughing it," "Innocents Abroad,"

" Huckleberry Finn," " Gilded Age," "Prince and Pauper," "Million Pound Bank Note," "A Yankee in King Arthur's Court, " etc.

C' HRISTOPHER CARSON, better known as "KIT CARSON;" was an Amer- ican trapper and scout who gained a wide reputation for his frontier work. He was a native of Kentucky, born December 24th, 1809. He grew to manhood there, devel- oping a natural inclination for adventure in the pioneer experiences in his native state. When yet a young man he became quite well known on the frontier. He served as a guide to Gen. Fremont in his Rocky Mountain explorations and enlisted in the army. He was an officer in the United States service in both the Mexican war and the great Civil war, and in the latter received a brevet of brigadier-general for meritorious service. His death occurred May 23, 1868.

JOHN SHERMAN .- Statesman, politi- cian, cabinet officer and senator, the name of the gentleman who heads this sketch is al- most a household word throughout this country. Identified with some of the most

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important measures adopted by our Govern- ment since the close of the Civil war, he may well be called one of the leading men of his day.

John Sherman was born at Lancaster, Fairfield county, Ohio, May 10th, 1823, the son of Charles R. Sherman, an emi- nent lawyer and judge of the supreme court of Ohio and who died in 1829. The subject of this article received an academic educa- tion and was admitted to the bar in 1844. In the Whig conventions of 1844 and 1848 he sat as a delegate. He was a member of the National house of representatives, from 1855 to 1861. In 1860 he was re- elected to the same position but was chosen United States senator before he took his seat in the lower house. He was re-elected senator in 1866 and 1872 and was long chairman of the committee on finance and on agriculture. He took a prominent part in debates on finance and on the conduct of the war, and was one of the authors of the reconstruction measures in 1866 and 1867, and was appointed secretary of the treas- ury March 7th, 1877.

Mr. Sherman was re-elected United States senator from Ohio January 18th, 1881, and again in 1886 and 1892, during which time he was regarded as one of the most promi- nent leaders of the Republican party, both in the senate and in the country. He was several times the favorite of his state for the nomination for president.

On the formation of his cabinet in March, 1897, President Mckinley tendered the posi- tion of secretary of state to Mr. Sherman, which was accepted.

W ILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, ninth president of the United States, was born in Charles county, Virginia, February 9, 1773, the son of Governor Benjamin

Harrison. He took a course in Hampden- Sidney College with a view to the practice of medicine, and then went to Philadelphia to study under Dr. Rush, but in 1791 he entered the army, and obtained the commis- sion of ensign, was soon promoted to the lieutenancy, and was with General Wayne in his war against the Indians. For his valuable service he was promoted to the rank of captain and given command of Fort Washington, now Cincinnati. He was ap- pointed secretary of the Northwest Territory in 1797, and in 1799 became its representa- tive in congress. In ISOI he was appointed governor of Indiana Territory, and held the position for twelve years, during which time he negotiated important treaties with the In- dians, causing them to relinquish millions of acres of land, and also won the battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. He succeeded in obtaining a change in the law which did not permit purchase of public lands in less tracts than four thousand acres, reducing the limit to three hundred and twenty acres. He became major-general of Kentucky militia and brigadier-general in the United States army in 1812, and won great renown in the defense of Fort Meigs, and his victory over the British and Indians under Proctor and Tecumseh at the Thames river, October 5, 1813.

In 1816 General Harrison was elected to congress from Ohio, and during the canvass was accused of corrupt methods in regard to the commissariat of the army. He demanded an investigation after the election and was exonerated. In 1819 he was elected to the Ohio state senate, and in 1824 he gave his vote as a presidential elector to Henry Clay. He became a member of the United States senate the same year. During the last year of Adams' administration he was sent as minister to Colombia, but was re-

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called by President Jackson the following year. He then retired to his estate at North Bend, Ohio, a few miles below Cincinnati. In 1836 he was a candidate for the presidency, but as there were three other candidates the votes were divided, he receiving seventy- three electoral votes, a majority going to Mr. Van Buren, the Democratic candidate. Four years later General Harrison was again nominated by the Whigs, and elected by a tremendous majority. The campaign was noted for its novel features, many of which have found a permanent place in subsequent campaigns. Those peculiar to that cam- paign, however, were the " log-cabin " and " hard cider" watchwords, which produced great enthusiasm among his followers. One month after his inauguration he died from an attack of pleurisy, April 4, 1841.

C HARLES A. DANA, the well-known and widely-read journalist of New York City, a native of Hinsdale, New Hampshire, was born August 8, 1819. He received the elements of a good education in his youth and studied for two years at Harvard University. Owing to some disease of the eyes he was unable to complete his course and graduate, but was granted the degree of A. M. notwithstanding. For some time he was editor of the " Harbinger," and was a regular contributor to the Boston " Chrono- type." In 1847 he became connected with the New York " Tribune, " and continued on the staff of that journal until 1858. In the latter year he edited and compiled "The Household Book of Poetry," and later, in connection with George Ripley, edited the "New American Cyclopædia."

Mr. Dana, on severing his connection with the " Tribune " in 1867, became editor of the New York "Sun," a paper with which he was identified for many years, and

which he made one of the leaders of thought in the eastern part of the United States. He wielded a forceful pen and fearlessly attacked whatever was corrupt and unworthy in politics, state or national. The same year, 1867, Mr. Dana organized the New York "Sun " Company.

During the troublous days of the war, when the fate of the Nation depended upon the armies in the field, Mr. Dana accepted the arduous and responsible position of assistant secretary of war, and held the position during the greater part of 1863 and 1864. He died October 17, 1897.

A SA GRAY was recognized throughout the scientific world as one of the ablest and most eminent of botanists. He was born at Paris, Oneida county, New York, November 18, 1810. He received his medi- cal degree at the Fairfield College of Physi- cians and Surgeons, in Herkimer county, New York, and studied botany with the late Professor Torrey, of New York. He was appointed botanist to the Wilkes expedition in 1834, but declined the offer and became professor of natural history in Harvard Uni- versity in 1842. He retired from the active duties of this post in 1873, and in 1874 he was the regent of the Smithsonian Institu- tion at Washington, District of Columbia.

Dr. Gray wrote several books on the sub- ject of the many sciences of which he was master. In 1836 he published his "Ele- ments of Botany," "Manual of Botany" in 1848; the unfinished "Flora of North America," by himself and Dr. Torrey, the publication of which commenced in 1838. There is another of his unfinished works called "Genera Boreali-Americana," pub- lished in 1848, and the "Botany of the United States Pacific Exploring Expedition in 1854." He wrote many elaborate papers

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on the botany of the west and southwest that were published in the Smithsonian Con- tributions, Memoirs, etc., of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of which in- stitution he was president for ten years. He was also the author of many of the government reports. "How Plants Grow," ."Lessons in Botany," "Structural and Sys- tematic Botany," are also works from his ready pen.

Dr. Gray published in 1861 his “Free Examination of Darwin's Treatise " and his " Darwiniana," in 1876. Mr. Gray was elected July 29, 1878, to a membership in the Institute of France, Academy of Sciences. His death occurred at Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, January 30, 1889.

W ILLIAM MAXWELL EVARTS was one of the greatest leaders of the American bar. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, February 6, 1818, and grad- uated from Yale College in 1837. He took up the study of law, which he practiced in the city of New York and won great renown as an orator and advocate. He affiliated with the Republican party, which he joined soon after its organization. He was the leading counsel employed for the defense of E.esident Johnson in his trial for impeach- sent before the senate in April and May of 1868.

In July, 1868, Mr. Evarts was appointed attorney-general of the United States, and served until March 4, 1869. He was one of the three lawyers who were selected by President Grant in 1871 to defend the inter- ests of the citizens of the United States be- fore the tribunal of arbitration which met at Geneva in Switzerland to settle the con- troversy over the " Alabama Claims."

He was one of the most eloquent advo- cates in the United States, and many of his

public addresses have been preserved and published. He was appointed secretary of state March 7, 1877, by President Hayes, and served during the Hayes administration. He was elected senator from the state of New York January 21, 1885, and at once took rank among the ablest statesmen in Congress, and the prominent part he took in the discussion of public questions gave him a national reputation.

JOHN WANAMAKER .- The life of this great merchant demonstrates the fact that the great secret of rising from the ranks is, to-day, as in the past ages, not so much the ability to make money, as to save it, or in other words, the ability to live well within one's income. Mr. Wanamaker was born in Philadelphia in 1838. He started out in life working in a brickyard for a mere pit- tance, and left that position to work in a book store as a clerk, where he earned the sum of $5.00 per month, and later on was in the employ of a clothier where he received twenty-five cents a week more. He was only fifteen years of age at that time, but was a " money-getter " by instinct, and laid by a small sum for a possible rainy day. By strict attention to business, com- bined with natural ability, he was promoted many times, and at the age of twenty he had saved $2,000. After several months vacation in the south, he returned to Phila- delphia and became a master brick mason, but this was too tiresome to the young man, and he opened up the "Oak Hall " clothing store in April, 1861, at Philadelphia. The capital of the firm was rather limited, but finally, after many discouragements, they laid the foundations of one of the largest business houses in the world. The estab- lishment covers at the present writing some fourteen acres of floor space, and furnishes

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employment for five thousand persons. Mr. Wanamaker was also a great church worker, and built a church that cost him $60,000, and he was superintendent of the Sunday- school, which had a membership of over three thousand children. He steadily re- fused to run for mayor or congress and the only public office that he ever held was that of postmaster-general, under the Harrison administration, and here he exhibited his extraordinary aptitude for comprehending the details of public business.

D AVID BENNETT HILL, a Demo- cratic politician who gained a na- tional reputation, was born August 29, 1843, at Havana, New York. He was educated at the academy of his native town, and removed to Elmira, New York, in 1862, where he studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1864, in which year he was ap- pointed city attorney. Mr. Hill soon gained a considerable practice, becoming prominent in his profession. He developed a taste for politics in which he began to take an active part in the different campaigns and became the recognized leader of the local Democ- racy. In 1870 he was elected a member of the assembly and was re-elected in 1872. While a member of this assembly he formed the acquaintance of Samuel J. Tilden, after- ward governor of the state, who appointed Mr. Hill, W. M. Evarts and Judge Hand as a committee to provide a uniform charter for the different cities of the state. The pressure of professional engagements com- pelled him to decline to serve. In 1877 Mr. Hill was made chairman of the Demo- cratic state convention at Albany, his elec- tion being due to the Tilden wing of the party, and he held the same position again in 1881. He served one term as alderman in Elmira, at the expiration of which term,

in 1882, he was elected mayor of Elmira, and in September of the same year was nominated for lieutenant-governor on the Democratic state ticket. He was success- ful in the campaign and two years later, when Grover Cleveland was elected to the presidency, Mr. Hill succeeded to the gov- ernorship for the unexpired term. In 1885 he was elected governor for a full term of three years, at the end of which he was re- elected, his term expiring in 1891, in which year he was elected United States senator. In the senate he became a conspicuous figure and gained a national reputation.

A LLEN G. THURMAN .- " The noblest Roman of them all" was the title by which Mr. Thurman was called by his com- patriots of the Democracy. He was the greatest leader of the Democratic party in his day and held the esteem of all the people, regardless of their political creeds. Mr. Thurman was born November 13, 1813, at Lynchburg, Virginia, where he remained until he had attained the age of six years, when he moved to Ohio. He received an academic education and after graduating, took up the study of law, was admitted to the bar in 1835, and achieved a brilliant success in that line. In political life he was very successful, and his first office was that of representative of the state of Ohio in the twenty-ninth congress. He was elected judge of the supreme court of Ohio in 1851, and was chief justice of the same from 1854 to 1856. In 1867 he was the choice of the Democratic party of his state for governor, and was elected to the United States senate in 1869 to succeed Benjamin F. Wade, and was re-elected to the same position in 1874. He was a prominent figure in the senate, until the expiration of his service in 1881. Mr. Thurman was also one of the

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A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa, Part 10

Author: Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 752

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 752