A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa, Part 22

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 22
USA > Iowa > Fremont County > A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa > Part 22

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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regular armny he was made colonel of in- fantry. In 1880 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, and in 1890 to that of major-general. He successfully con- ducted several campaigns among the In- dians, and his name is known among the tribes as a friend when they are peacefully inclined. He many times averted war with the red men by judicious and humane settlement of difficulties without the military power. In 1892 General Miles was given command of the proceedings in dedicating the World's Fair at Chicago, and in the summer of 1894, during the great railroad strike at the same city, General Miles, then in command of the department, had the disposal of the troops sent to protect the United States mails. On the retirement of General J. M. Schofield, in 1895, General Miles became the ranking major-general of the United States army and the head of its forces.

UNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH, the great actor, though born in London (1796), is more intimately connected with the Amer- ican than with the English stage, and his popularity in America was almost un- bounded, while in England he was not a prime favorite. He presented "Richard III." in Richmond on his first appearance on the American stage in 1821. This was his greatest role, and in it he has never had an equal. In October of the same year he appeared in New York. After a long and successful career he gave his final perform- ance at New Orleans in 1852. He con- tracted a severe cold, and for lack of proper medical attention, it resulted in his death on November 30th of that year. He was, without question, one of the greatest tra- gedians that ever lived. In addition to his professional art and genius, he was skilled

in languages, drawing, painting and sculp- ture. In his private life he was reserved, and even eccentric. Strange stories are related of his peculiarities, and on his farm near Baltimore he forbade the use of animal food, the taking of animal life, and even the felling of trees, and brought his butter and eggs to the Baltimore markets in person.

Junius Brutus Booth, known as the elder Booth, gave to the world three sons of note: Junius Brutus Booth, Jr., the husband of Agnes Booth, the actress; John Wilkes Booth, the author of the greatest tragedy in the life of our nation; Edwin Booth, in his day the greatest actor of America, if not of the world.

TAMES MONTGOMERY BAILEY, fa-

mous as the "Danbury News Man," was one of the best known American humor- ists, and was born September 25, 1841, at Albany, N. Y. He adopted journalism as a profession and started in his chosen work on the "Danbury Times," which paper he pur- chased on his return from the war. Mr. Bailey also purchased the "Jeffersonian," another paper of Danbury, and consolidated them, forming the "Danbury News," which paper soon acquired a celebrity throughout the United States, from an incessant flow of rich, healthy, and original humor, which the pen of the editor imparted to its columns, and he succeeded in raising the circulation of the paper from a few hundred copies a week to over forty thousand. The facilities of a country printing office were not so com- plete in those days as they are now, but Mr. Bailey was resourceful, and he put on re- lays of help and ran his presses night and day, and always prepared his matter a week ahead of time. The "Danbury News Man" was a new figure in literature, as his humor was so different from that of the newspaper

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wits-who had preceded him, and he may be called the pioneer of that school now so familiar. Mr. Bailey published in book form "Life in Danbury" and "The Danbury News Man's Almanac." One of his most admirable traits was philanthrophy, as he gave with unstinted generosity to all comers, and died comparatively poor, notwithstand- ing his ownership of a very profitable busi- ness which netted him an income of $40, 000 a year. He died March 4, 1894.

M ATTHEW HALE CARPENTER, a famous lawyer, orator and senator, was born in Moretown, Vermont, December 22, 1824. After receiving a common-school education he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, but only remained two years. On returning to his home he commenced the study of law with Paul Dillingham, afterwards governor of Vermont, and whose daughter he married. In 1847 he was admitted to practice at the bar in Vermont, but he went to Boston and for a time studied with Rufus Choate. In 1848 he moved west, settling at Beloit, Wisconsin, and commencing the practice of his profes- sion soon obtained a wide reputation for ability. In 1856 Mr. Carpenter removed to Milwaukee, where he found a wider field for his now increasing powers. During the Civil war, although a strong Democrat, he was loyal to the government and aided the Union cause to his utmost. In 1868 he was counsel for the government in a test case to settle the legality of the reconstruc- tion act before the United States supreme court, and won his case against Jeremiah S. Black. This gave him the election for sen- ator from Wisconsin in 1869, and he served until 1875, during part of which time he was president pro tempore of the senate. Failing of a re-election Mr. Carpenter resumed the

practice of law, and when William W. Belknap, late secretary of war, was im- peached, entered the case for General Belknap, and secured an acquittal. During the sitting of the electoral commission of 1877, Mr. Carpenter appeared for Samuel J. Tilden, although the Republican man- agers had intended to have him represent R. B. Hayes. Mr. Carpenter was elected to the United States senate again in 1879, and remained a member of that body until the day of his death, which occurred at Washington, District of Columbia, Feb- ruary 24, 1881.

Senator Carpenter's real name was De- catur Merritt Hammond Carpenter but about 1852 he changed it to the one by which he was universally known.

THOMAS E. WATSON, lawyer and congressman, the well-known Geor- gian, whose name appears at the head of this sketch, made himself a place in the his- tory of our country by his ability, energy and fervid oratory. He was born in Col- umbia (now McDuffie) county, Georgia, September 5, 1856. He had a common- school education, and in 1872 entered Mer- cer University, at Macon, Georgia, as fresh- man, but for want of money left the college at the end of his sophomore year. He taught school, studying law at the same time, until 1875, when he was admitted to the bar. He opened an office and com- menced practice in Thomson, Georgia, in November, 1876. He carried on a success- ful business, and bought land and farmed on an extensive scale.

Mr. Watson was a delegate to the Demo- cratic state convention of 1880, and was a member of the house of representatives of the legislature of his native state in IS82. In 1888 he was an elector-at-large on the

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Cleveland ticket, and in 1890 was elected to represent his district in the fifty-second congress. This latter election is said to have been due.entirely to Mr. Watson's " dash- ing display of ability, eloquence and popular power." In his later years he championed the alliance principles and policies until he became a leader in the movement. In the heated campaign of 1896, Mr. Watson was nominated as the candidate for vice-presi- dent on the Bryan ticket by that part of the People's party that would not endorse the nominee for the same position made by the Democratic party.

FREDERICK A. P. BARNARD, mathe- matician, physicist and educator, was born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, May 5, 1 809. He graduated from Yale College in 1828, and in 1830 became a tutor in the same. From 1837 to 1848 he was professor of mathe- matics and natural philosophy in the Uni- versity of Alabama, and from 1848 to 1850, professor of chemistry and natural history in the same educational institution. In 1854 he became connected with the Univer- sity of Mississippi, of which he became president in 1856, and chancellor in 1858. In 1854 he took orders in the Protestant Episcopal church. In 1861 Professor Barnard resigned his chancellorship and chair in the university, and in 1863 and 1864 was con- nected with the United States coast survey in charge of chart printing and lithography. In May, 1864, he was elected president of Columbia College, New York City, which he served for a number of years.

Professor Barnard received the honorary degree of LL. D. from Jefferson College, Mississippi, in 1855, and from Yale College in 1859; also the degree of S. T. D. from the University of Mississippi in 1861, and that of L. H. D. from the regents of the

University of the State of New York in 1872. In 1860 he was a member of the eclipse party sent by the United States coast sur- vey to Labrador, and during his absence was elected president of the American Asso- ciation for the Advancement of Science. In the act of congress establishing the National Academy of Sciences in 1863, he was named as one of the original corporators. In 1867 he was one of the United States commis- sioners to the Paris Exposition. He was a member of the American Philosophical Society, associate member of the Amer- ican Academy of Arts and Sciences, and many other philosophical and scientific societies at home and abroad. Dr. Barnard was thoroughly identified with the progress of the age in those branches. His published works relate wholly to scientific or educa- tional subjects, chief among which are the following: Report on Collegiate Education; Art Culture; History of the American Coast Survey; University Education; Undulatory Theory of Light; Machinery and Processes of the Industrial Arts, and Apparatus of the Exact Sciences, Metric System of Weights and Measures, etc.

E 'DWIN McMASTERS STANTON, the secretary of war during the great Civil war, was recognized as one of America's foremost public men. He was born Decem- ber 19, 1814, at Steubenville, Ohio, where he received his education and studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1836, and was reporter of the supreme court of Ohio from 1842 until 1845. He removed to Washington in 1856 to attend to his prac- tice before the United States supreme court, and in 1858 he went to California as counsel for the government in certain land cases, which he carried to a successful conclusion. Mr. Stanton was appointed

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attorney-general of the United States in December, 1860, by President Buchanan. On March 4, 1861, Mr. Stanton went with the outgoing administration and returned to the practice of his profession. He was appointed secretary of war by President Lincoln January 20, 1862, to succeed Simon Cameron. After the assassination of Presi- dent Lincoln and the accession of Johnson to the presidency, Mr. Stanton was still in the same office. He held it for three years, and by his strict adherence to the Repub- lican party, he antagonized President John- son, who endeavored to remove him. On August 5, 1867, the president requested him to resign, and appointed General Grant to succeed him, but when congress convened in December the senate refused to concur in the suspension. Mr. Stanton returned to his post until the president again removed him from office, but was again foiled by congress. Soon after, however, he retired voluntarily from office and took up the practice of law, in which he engaged until his death, on December 24, 1869.

A LEXANDER CAMPBELL, the eminent theologian and founder of the church known as Disciples of Christ, was born in the country of Antrim, Ireland, in June, 1788, and was the son of Rev. Thomas Campbell, a Scoth-Irish "Seceder." After studying at the University of Glasgow, he, in company with his father, came to America in 1808, and both began labor in western Pennsylvania to restore Christianity to apostolic simplicity. They organized a church at Brush Run, Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1811, which, however, the year following, adopted Baptist views, and in 1813, with other congregations joined a Baptist association. Some of the under- lying principles and many practices of the

Campbells and their disciples were repug- nant to the Baptist church and considerable friction was the result, and 1827 saw the separation of that church from the Church of Christ, as it is sometimes called. The latter then reorganized themselves anew. They reject all creeds, professing to receive the Bible as their only guide. In most mat- ters of faith they are essentially in accord with the other Evangelical Christian churches, especially in regard to the person and work of Christ, the resurrection and judgment. They celebrate the Lord's Supper weekly, hold that repentance and faith should precede baptism, attaching much importance to the latter ordinance. On all other points they encourage individual liberty of thought. In 1841, Alexander Campbell founded Bethany College, West Virginia, of which he was president for many years, and died March 4, 1866.

The denomination which they founded is quite a large and important church body in the United States. They support quite a number of institutions of learning, among which are: Bethany College, West Virginia; Hiram College, Hiram, Ohio; Northwestern Christian University, Indianapolis, Indiana; Eureka College, Illinois; Kentucky Univer- sity, Lexington, Kentucky; Oskaloosa College, Iowa; and a number of seminaries and schools. They also support several monthly and quarterly religious periodicals and many papers, both in the United States and Great Britain and her dependencies.

W ILLIAM L. WILSON, the noted West Virginian, who was postmaster-gener- al under President Cleveland's second ad- ministration, won distinction as the father of the famous " Wilson bill," which became a law under the same administration. Mr. Wiison was born May 3, 1843, in Jeffer-

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son county, West Virginia, and received a good education at the Charlestown Academy, where he prepared himself for college. He attended the Columbian Col- lege in the District of Columbia, from which he graduated in 1860, and then attended the University of Virginia. Mr. Wilson served in the Confederate army dur- ing the war, after which he was a professor in Columbian College. Later he entered into the practice of law at Charlestown. He attended the Democratic convention held at Cincinnati in ISSo, as a delegate, and later was chosen as one of the electors for the state-at-large on the Hancock ticket. In the Democratic convention at Chicago in 1892, Mr. Wilson was its per- manent president. He was elected pres- ident of the West Virginia University in 1882, entering upon the duties of his office on September 6, but having received the nomination for the forty-seventh congress on the Democratic ticket, he resigned the presidency of the university in June, 1883, to take his seat in congress. Mr. Wil- son was honored by the Columbian Uni- versity and the Hampden-Sidney College, both of which conferred upon him the de- gree of LL. D. In 1884 he was appointed regent of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington for two years, and at the end of his term was re-appointed. He was elected to the forty-seventh, forty-ninth, fiftieth, fifty-first, fifty-second and fifty- third congresses, but was defeated for re- election to the fifty-fourth congress. Upon the resignation of Mr. Bissell from the office of postmaster-general, Mr. Wilson was ap- pointed to fill the vacancy by President Cleveland. His many years of public serv- ice and the prominent part he took in the discussion of public questions gave him a national reputation.

ALVIN S. BRICE, a successful and noted financier and politician, was born at Denmark, Ohio, September 17, 1845, of an old Maryland family, who trace their lineage from the Bryces, or Bruces, of Airth, Scotland. The father of our subject was a prominent Presbyterian clergyman, who removed to Ohio in 1812. Calvin S. Brice was educated in the common schools of his native town, and at the age of thir- teen entered the preparatory department of Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, and the following year entered the freshman class. On the breaking out of the Civil war, although but fifteen years old, he enlisted in a company of three-months men. He re- turned to complete his college course, but re-enlisted in Company A, Eighty-sixth Ohio Infantry, and served in the Virginia campaign. He then returned to college, from which he graduated in 1863. In 1864 he organized Company E, One Hundred and Eightieth Ohio Infantry, and served until the close of hostilities, in the western arınies.

On his return home Mr. Brice entered the law department of the University of Michigan, and in 1866 was admitted to the bar in Cincinnati. In the winter of 1870- 71 he went to Europe in the interests of the Lake Erie & Louisville Railroad and pro- cured a foreign loan. This road became the Lake Erie & Western, of which, in 1887, Mr. Brice became president. This was the first railroad in which he had a personal interest. The conception, build- ing and sale of the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad, known as the "Nickel Plate," was largely due to him. He was connected with many other railroads, among which may be mentioned the following: Chicago & Atlantic; Ohio Central; Rich- mond & Danville; Richmond & West Point

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Terminal; East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia; Memphis & Charleston; Mobile & Birmingham; Kentucky Central; Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic, and the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon. In 1890 he was elected United States senator from Ohio. Notwithstanding his extensive business inter- ests, Senator Brice gave a considerable time to political matters, becoming one of the leaders of the Democratic party and one of the most widely known men in the country.

B1 BENJAMIN HARRISON, twenty-third president of the United States, was born August 20, 1833, at North Bend, Hamilton county, Ohio, in the house of his grandfather, General William Henry Har- rison, afterwards president of the United States. His great-grandfather, Benjamin Harrison, was a member of the Continental congress, signed the Declaration of Inde- pendence, and was three times elected gov- ernor of Virginia.

The subject of this sketch entered Farm- ers College at an early age, and two years later entered Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio. Upon graduation he entered the office of Stover & Gwyne, of Cincinnati, as a law student. He was admitted to the bar two years later, and having inherited about eight hundred dollars worth of property, he married the daughter of Doctor Scott, pres- ident of a female school at Oxford, Ohio, and selected Indianapolis, Indiana, to begin practice. In 1860 he was nominated by the Republicans as candidate for state supreme court reporter, and did his first political speaking in that campaign. He was elected, and after two years in that position he organized the Seventieth Indi- ana Infantry, of which he was made colonel, and with his regiment joined General Sher-

man's army. For bravery displayed at Re- saca and Peach Tree Creek he was made a brigadier-general. In the meantime the office of supreme court reporter had been declared vacant, and another party elected to fill it. In the fall of 1864, having been nominated for that office, General Harrison obtained a thirty-day leave of absence, went to Indiana, canvassed the state and was- elected. As he was about to rejoin his command he was stricken down by an attack of fever. After his recovery he joined General Sherman's army and participated in the closing events of the war.

In 1868 General Harrison declined to be a candidate for the office of supreme court reporter, and returned to the practice of the law. His brilliant campaign for the office of governor of Indiana in 1876, brought him into public notice, although he was defeated. He took a prominent part in the presidential canvass of 1880, and was chosen United States senator from Indiana, serving six years. He then returned to the practice of his profession. In 1888 he was selected by the Republican convention at Chicago as candidate for the presidency, and after a heated campaign. was elected over Cleveland. He was inaugurated March 4, 1889, and signed the Mckinley bill October 1, 1890, perhaps the most distinctive feature of his administration. In 1892 he was again the nominee of the Republican party for president, but was defeated by Grover Cleveland, the Democratic candidate, and again resumed the practice of law in Indian- apolis.

JOHN CRAIG HAVEMEYER, the celebrated merchant and sugar refiner, was born in New York City in 1833. His father, William F. Havemeyer, and grand- father, William Havemeyer, were both sugar

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refiners. The latter named came from Buckeburg, Germany, in 1799, and settled in New York, establishing one of the first refineries in that city. William F. succeeded his father, and at an early age retired from business with a competency. He was three times mayor of his native city, New York.

John C. Havemeyer was educated in private schools, and was prepared for college t Columbia College grammar school. Owing to failing eyesight he was unable to finish his college course, and began his business career in a wholesale grocery store, where he remained two years. In 1854, after a year's travel abroad, he assumed the responsibility of the office work in the sugar refinery of Havemeyer & Molter, but two years later etablished a refinery of his own in Brooklyn. This afterwards developed into the immense business of Havemeyer & Elder. The capital was furnished by his father, and, chafing under the anxiety caused by the use of borrowed money, he sold out his interest and returned to Havemeyer & Molter. This firm dissolving the next year, John C. declined an offer of partnership from the successors, not wishing to use borrowed money. For two years he remain- ed with the house, receiving a share of the profits as compensation. For some years thereafter he was engaged in the commission business, until failing health caused his retirement. In 1871, he again engaged in the sugar refining business at Greenport, Long Island, with his brother and another partner, under the firm name of Havemeyer Brothers & Co. Here he remained until 1880, when his health again declined. During the greater part of his life Mr. Havemeyer was identified with many benev- olent societies, including the New York Port Society, Missionary Society of the Methodist Church, American Bible Society,

New York Sabbath School Society and others. He was active in Young Men's Christian Association work in New York, and organized and was the first president of an affiliated society of the same at Yonkers. He was director of several railroad corpo- rations and a trustee of the Continental Trust Company of New York.

W TALTER QUINTIN GRESHAM, an eminent American statesman and jurist, was born March 17, 1833, near Cory- don, Harrison county, Indiana. He ac- quired his education in the local schools of the county and at Bloomington Academy, although he did not graduate. After leav- ing college he read law with Judge Porter at Corydon, and just before the war he be- gan to take an interest in politics. Mr. Gresham was elected to the legislature from Harrison county as a Republican; previous to this the district had been represented by a Democrat. At the commencement of hostilities he was made lieutenant-colonel of the Thirty-eighth Indiana Infantry, but served in that regiment only a short time, when he was appointed colonel of the Fifty- third Indiana, and served under General Grant at the siege of Vicksburg as brigadier- general. Later he was under Sherman in the famous "March to the Sea," and com- manded a division of Blair's corps at the siege of Atlanta where he was so badly wounded in the leg that he was compelled to return home. On his way home he was forced to stop at New Albany, where he re- mained a year before he was able to leave. He was brevetted major-general at the close of the war. While at New Albany, Mr. Gresham was appointed state agent, his duty being to pay the interest on the state debt in New York, and he ran twice for congress against ex-Speaker Kerr, but was

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defeated in both cases, although he greatly reduced the Democratic majority. He was held in high esteem by President Grant, who offered him the portfolio of the interior but Mr. Gresham declined, but accepted the appointment of United States judge for Indiana to succeed David McDonald. Judge Gresham served on the United States district court bench until 1883, when he was appointed postmaster-general by Presi- dent Arthur, but held that office only a few months when he was made secretary of the treasury. Near the end of President Arthur's term, Judge Gresham was ap- pointed judge of the United States circuit court of the district composed of Indiana, Illinois and contiguous states, which he held until 1893. Judge Gresham was one of the presidential possibilities in the National Re- publican convention in 1888, when General Harrison was nominated, and was also men- tioned for president in 1892. Later the People's party made a strenuous effort to induce him to become their candidate for president, he refusing the offer, however, and a few weeks before the election he an- nounced that he would support Mr. Cleve- land, the Democratic nominee for president. Upon the election of Mr. Cleveland in the fall of 1892, Judge Gresham was made the secretary of state, and filled that position until his death on May 28, 1895, at Wash- ington, District of Columbia.

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A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa, Part 22

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