USA > Iowa > Keokuk County > A genealogical and biographical history of Keokuk County, Iowa > Part 16
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CHARLES A. JOHNSON.
Charles A. Johnson, the father of the leading physician of Sigour- ney, Iowa, Dr. Johnson, was born May 8, 1825, at Yster, Sweden, a son of Peter and Boel Johnson, who passed their whole lives in that country
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and reared a family of eleven daughters and one son. At the age of sixteen years, this son left home and traveled from place to place, work- ing at tailoring, through Sweden, Norway, Russia, England and France. After an absence of eight years he returned to the old home and for three years conducted a tailoring shop there, but he started then upon his travels again, which landed him in New York in September, 1851. He remained in this city until the following April and during this time met and was warmly welcomed by his famous cousin, the Swedish night- ingale, Jenny Lind. From New York City he drifted to Albany, thence to Buffalo, Dunkirk, Detroit and then to Chicago, leaving the latter place hurriedly on account of the prevalence of cholera. For a short time he was at La Salle, Illinois, and then remained for six months in Princeton, went then to Peoria, on to St. Louis, to Burlington and Fair- field, Iowa, and on May 24, 1854, located at Lancaster, Iowa, where he opened a tailoring establishment.
In September, 1861, he enlisted in Company D, Thirteenth Iowa Infantry, and served his adopted country faithfully for three years and two months and is now an honored member of the Grand Army of the Republic. In 1855 he married Mary Gray, who became the mother of eight children, and died in 1896. In 1900 he married Mrs. Eliza (Davenport) Roberts. Mr. Johnson has traveled over almost all of the west and has spent considerable time in Kansas and Colorado.
ALBERT P. JOHNSON, B. C. E., M. D.
Albert P. Johnson, M. D., is a leading physician of Sigourney, Iowa. in which state he was born, in the village of Lancaster, Keokuk county,
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May 29, 1862, and he is the son of Charles A. and Mary G. (Gray) Johnson, who are mentioned above.
The rearing of Dr. Johnson was among farm surroundings and his education was obtained in the public schools, later becoming an instructor himself in the country neighborhoods. After a year of teach- ing he entered the Iowa State Agricultural College, where he graduated in the department of civil engineering in November, 1886. Prior to this, however, he had spent two years engaged in surveying in Wyom- ing and New Mexico, and immediately after graduating was offered and accepted the principalship of the schools of What Cheer, lowa. Two more years were devoted to civil engineering in the upper peninsula of Michigan, and then he was prepared to put into of ation a plan which had been his desire from youth, that of studying medicine. In 1889 he entered the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis, Missouri, and graduated therefrom in 1891, locating at Sigourney, where he has since remained. In 1892 he took a post-graduate. course in the Post-Graduate School of Medicine, at St. Louis, and thus thoroughly equipped, has built up a large and lucrative general practice.
Dr. Johnson is not only educated in his special line, but, as we have seen, is thoroughly competent to fill other professional positions. He is a deep thinker and great student and keeps abreast of the dis- coveries in his science, and is an active and useful member of Keokuk county, the South-eastern Iowa and the Iowa State medical societies, and is also a member of the insane commission for Keokuk county. In politics he is a Republican, but his strenuous life leaves little time for activity in that direction. His fraternal connection is with the Knights of Pythias. In 1891 Dr. Johnson was united in marriage 27
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with Miss Viola Passig, of Sigourney, and one son has been born to this union, namely Alcuin Passig.
LEONARD BRIGGS OLIVER, M. D.
Among the representative physicians and surgeons of Iowa, Dr. Leonard Briggs Oliver, of Sigourney, occupies a prominent place. He was born in Davenport, Iowa, January 20, 1858. His parents were Albourne and Eliza (Newhall) Oliver, both natives of Massachusetts. The progenitor of the Oliver family in America came from England and settled in Boston as early as 1632. Our subject's parents removed from Massachusetts to Iowa in 1856. They located in Davenport, and here spent the rest of their lives. The father died in 1877, aged sixty- three years. The mother's death occurred several years later, she being sixty-seven years of age at her demise. In Massachusetts, during his early life, the father was successfully engaged in the manufacture of morocco leather, but after removing to Davenport the remainder of his days were spent in partial retirement. Unto these parents twelve chil- dren were born, our subject being the tenth in the order of birth.
He received a liberal literary education, and in the fall of 1884 entered the medical department of the Iowa State University, where he graduated three years later. Locating at Dublin, Washington county, Iowa, he practiced there with success for a period of three years. He then took a post-graduate course at the Chicago Post-Graduate school and in May of 1891 located in Sigourney, where he has continued in an active general practice, also doing much work in surgery. He has gained reputation as a skillful physician and surgeon. In surgery he has performed innumerable and successful operations, and is local sur-
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geon for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, and is a member of the International Society of Railway Surgeons. He is also a men- ber of the Keokuk county and the Iowa state medical associations. The Doctor is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine -- Kaaba Temple, Davenport.
GEORGE B. BAKER.
The subject of this review, who holds marked prestige among the members of the bar of Keokuk county, is a lawyer who is using his pro- fession for the benefit of his fellow-man, to advance the interests of good government, to promote the general welfare, entertaining a just conception of the purpose of law as the conservator of the rights of the people, as the protector of the weak against the strong, the just against the unjust. As few men do, he will live to realize some of the ideals of the profession to which he devotes himself, and his reputation as a young lawyer has been won through earnest, honest labor, and his high standing at the bar is a merited tribute to his ability.
Mr. Baker is at the present time a resident of the stirring com- munity of Hedrick, in whose marvellous advancement he takes a keen interest. He was born in Placerville, California, October 13, 1870, and is a son of Adam M., and Mary (Engledeiger) Baker. Mr. Adam Baker was a native of Germany, emigrating to this country when a lad of sixteen. He located in Iowa in 1838, settling first in Washington county, but in 1858 he moved to California. He came to Keokuk county in 1873, and located in German township, where he died at the age of sixty-seven years, and where his wife still continues to reside.
Mr. Baker is one of seven children, and was but three years of age
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when he came Keokuk county. He was reared on a farm, where he passed his boyhood days quietly, and in the district schools of German township acquired his elementary education. He later became a matric- ulate of the Iowa City Academy, where he graduated in 1889. For a period following he taught school in the district schools of Keokuk county, and deciding upon law as a profession, began his reading. He was for a number of years engaged in the drug business. In 1897 he sold out this business and entered the law department of the Iowa State University, where he graduated. on the 7th of June, 1899, with the degree of LL. B. He located immediately at Hedrick, and has since been engaged in the practice of his profession. Here he has secured the confidence of the public to a marked extent, and is gradually build- ing up a lucrative practice.
Mr. Baker was marreid in 1893 to Ell: Jester, of Marshalltown, Iowa. This lady was the daughter of William and Martha Jester, and has borne her husband two children : Marie and Millard F. The social life of Mr. Baker takes in a number of the prominent fraternal organ- izations, he being a member of the Knights of Pythias, Modern Wood- men of America, and the M. B. A. In political affiliations he is an earnest supporter of the principles of the party of Lincoln and Gar- field. Mr. Baker is an example of what any young man of hustling qualities can do in this western country without assistance from any source and depending entirely upon his own exertions. He is a rep- resentative of that class of citizens who deserve and receive recognition at the hands of an admiring public.
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DR. J. W. PORTER.
An instance of what persistence and concentrated effort will do for a man in any given line coupled with a mental temperament and educa- cional equipment adapted to that line may be found in the case of Dr. J. W. Porter of Hedrick. In the twenty-three years of his practice this gentleman has made for himself a reputation unsurpassed in Kco- kuk county, as a general practitioner, his broad and comprehensive knowledge of therapeutics causing him to be much sought after. He is a deep student of the profession, and is always on the alert for new methods of the treatment of disease. He was the very first physician that located in the city of Hedrick, and has always commanded a large and lucrative practice.
Mentioning briefly the salient points in the life of Dr. Porter, his birth occurred in Bourbon county, Kentucky, March 24, 1854, he being the son of Rev. H. C. Porter and Jane Dougherty. His parents were natives also of the Blue-grass state. Rev. Porter was reared in Paris, the county seat of Bourbon county, and educated at Georgetown Col- lege. He passed an active life in the ministry of the Baptist church. and is still living at the age of eighty years, though he has retired from the active work of the ministry. Dr. Porter's mother died in 1871. There were ten children in the family of which he was a member, eight of whom are still living, the doctor being the eldest of these children. Amid the refining influences of a good home our subject was reared, and in thic public schools he secured his scholastic training, completing the pre- scribed literary course in the Normal school at Ottumwa. For ten and a half successive terms he engaged in teaching in the public schools. During this time, having decided to make the medical profes-
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sion his life work, he began reading with Dr. W. B. Searle, of Ottum- wa, and matriculating at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago he became a graduate there in 1889. To evidence the light in which Dr. Porter regards his profession, and to show his character as a student, we note here that he has taken four special courses since that time in Chicago, and several others in different branches of his profession. He first located at Long's Mill, lowa, but on the organiza- tion of the town of Hedrick he cast in his lot here, as stated, being the first physician on the ground. This was in the year of 1882, and he has been constantly engaged in that profession in the city of Hedrick since that time. During that time the doctor has kept himself in close touch with his brother physicians through being a member of the Des Moines Valley Medical Society, and of the Keokuk County Medical Society. In religious belief Dr. Porter favors the Baptist faith, of which church he is a member at Hedrick. The doctor was united in marriage September 3, 1882, to Miss Phoebe Ebelsheiser, daughter of John and Caroline Ebelsheiser, old settlers of Keokuk county, where Mrs. Porter was born. To this marriage there were born one son and one daughter : Mamie, and James Arthur.
JOSEPH K. MCELROY.
Joseph K. McElroy is a well-known citizen and an old resident of the state. Since 1856 he has been identified with many of its business interests and has a wide acquaintance with its leading men. The birth of Joseph McElroy occurred May 2, 1836, in Columbiana county, Ohio, and he is a son of Hugh and Fredericka ( Mueller) McElroy.
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Hugh McElroy landed in Philadelphia, an Irish lad of twenty-one years, and almost immediately entered upon a successful business career. He was born near Belfast, county Down, on December 26, 1798, a son of Andrew and Mary Jane McElroy, who lived out their lives in their native Ireland. Securing a position as clerk in the great mercantile house of Dickie Hewey and Stephen Girard, he very soon attracted the attention of his employers and in less than two years was sent by them to Pittsburgh to manage their flour shipments to New Orleans. Young Hugh accompanied the flour to the southern city on the flat-boat. as that was the means of transportation afforded at that time, but his impatience made him return by foot to Philadelphia, rather than await the slow river route. Another trip was successfully undertaken, and from this trip he returned by sea.
Soon after, his business instincts and an adventurous spirit induced him to make his way to the new portions of Ohio and after making a trial venture in the mercantile business in Somerset, Perry county, he embarked on a larger scale at New Lisbon, in Columbiana county, operating a store and a distillery and introducing the first steam engine ever in use in the state. To conduct his business properly it was neces- sary for him to make frequent trips to various points and as this was prior to the building of any railroads in this vicinity, Mr. McElroy crossed the Allegheny mountains fifty-two times, either on horseback or by the lumbering old stage. In 1838 his business enterprise induced him to locate at Sidney, in Shelby county, Ohio, and here he became the first merchant and also built and operated a grist-mill, a carding- mill, a saw-mill and also a cooper shop, providing thus for the wants of the community, and accepting raw material in return for merchandise, a great accommodation on account of the scarcity of money in these
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regions. In 1840 he was one of the prime movers in the building of the Ohio Mainland canal, sixteen miles in length, which has a feeder lo- cated at Lockport, Ohio. After promoting all these activities, his ener- gies turned in another direction, and in 1850 he sold his interests and embarked in the business of pork packing, at Sidney, Ohio; Madison, Indiana; Peoria, Illinois; Muscatine and Keokuk, Iowa; and Hannibal, Missouri. To buy pork he made his first trip to the west in 1856, mak- ing his head-quarters at Oskaloosa, Iowa, paying unheard of prices for the commodity and returning in the same business in 1857 and 1858. Mr. McElroy then disposed of his business and closed out his trade relations, and went back to his old home at Sidney. There as one of the leading capitalists, he opened a state bank, known as the Shelby State Bank, and continued his financial operations until his death in 1864. His was a remarkable career. Born with great natural gifts, he devel- oped them for the benefit of others as well as himself, and attached to him many of the leading men of his time. It was no secret that he was a valued adviser of Salmon P. Chase even after the latter had attained his high office in the government.
In his early voting days, Hugh McElroy was a Whig, and later became a zealous Republican and exerted decided influence in his party. Mr. McElroy was twice married. His first wife was Frederica Muel- ler and was of German parentage, the three sons born them being: John Andrew, who resides at Beloit, Kansas; William B., who is de- ceased ; and Josephi K., who is the subject of this biography. The death of William B. McElroy took place in 1857, in Sigourney, Iowa. He was a man of education, in earlier years had an adventurous life in whaling vessels, but later operated a hardware store in this city, where
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he was well known and respected. The second wife of Hugh McElroy was Ann Stephenson, by whom there were no children.
Joseph K. McElroy was reared in Sidney, Ohio, and obtained his education there in the public schools. In 1856 he accompanied his father to Iowa, and upon the death of his brother, William, settled up the latter's business affairs at Sigourney. He then went back to Sid- ney and engaged in the hardware business, removing in 1859-60 to Marion, Indiana, in the same line of business, and in the spring of 1863 located permanently in Sigourney and followed farming until 1865. Our subject then opened up a general store in this city, which he suc- cessfully conducted for a period of twelve years, selling out in order to enter upon a partnership with E. Laffer in another similar enterprise, which continued for two years, and for two more years he was asso- ciated with A. G. Brown in the dry-goods business. In 1889 Mr. Mc- Elroy first engaged in the hotel business in Sigourney, selling out three years later. He conducted hotels at several other points for short sea- sons, at Keota, and Winfield, and remained two years at Columbus Junc- tion, returning to Sigourney in 1898, at which time, in partnership with his son-in-law, C. C. Berry, he took charge of the Merchants Hotel. In the fall of 1902 he disposed of his interest in this business.
Mr. McElroy has been a life-long supporter of the Republican party and well recalls the occasion of his first presidential vote, cast for John C. Fremont. He numbers many friends among the old residents of Sigour- ney and has been identified with much of the permanent development of Keokuk county.
In 1858, at Sigourney, Mr. McElroy was united in marriage with Miss Harriet E. Cattell, and one daughter, Cora, was born to this union, she now being the wife of C. C. Berry. She was born in Marion, Ohio, 28
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and her one son, Leonard, is now agent for the United States Express Company at Sigourney.
The birth of Mrs. McElroy was in Stark county, Ohio, and she is a daughter of Samuel G. and Elizabeth ( Hair) Cattell, the former of whom was born January 11, 1812, at Mount Holly, New Jersey, and died in Si- gourney in February, 1900. His widow resides with her daughter, Mrs. McElroy. In 1857 Mr. Cattell located in Sigourney and followed an agricultural life. He was a quiet man of exemplary life and character, a consistent member of the Presbyterian church, and a good citizen. He voted with the Republican party. His two children were a son and daughter, the former of whom is John B. Cattell, a resident of Wichita, Kansas. For a number of years the mother of Mrs. Cattell lived in Sigourney and her venerable appearance is still recalled, as her age reached ninety years. A most interesting picture is in the possession of the family, which shows five generations together, all at one time resid- ing with our subject.
JOSEPH H. WENGER.
Joseph H. Wenger resides in Liberty township, where for many years he was an active factor in agricultural circles, but at the present time he is leaving the work of the farm to others and is enjoying a richly merited rest. He was born in Edom, Virginia, November 15, 1835, and comes of a family of German lineage. Christian Wenger, his pater- nal great-grandfather, was born in the Palatinate, Germany, where he remained until 1727, when he braved the dangers incident to an ocean voyage at that day and crossed the Atlantic to the new world. He
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located in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where he married Eve Gre- biel and reared his family and made his home until his death.
Among his children was Joseph Wenger, the grandfather of our subject. He was born, reared and educated in Lancaster county, Penn- sylvania, and in the year 1785 removed to Edom. Virginia, settling on a farm of between five hundred and six hundred acres, which he pur- chased, cleared and improved, making it a productive property. He there married Barbara Hoover and they become the parents of thirteen children, seven sons and six daughters. His first wife died in January, 1792, and on the Ist of December, 1793, he married Anna Hockman, a native of Page county, Virginia, by whom he had five children, three sons and two daughters, of whom the eldest was Joseph Wenger, Jr., the father of our subject. His birth occurred in Edom, September 17, 1794, and there he spent his early childhood, acquiring his education there and also following the occupation of farming in his youth. He was married April 28, 1818, to Barbara Beery, a native of the Old Do- minion, born near Newmarket, March 12, 1795, and a daughter of John Beery, of Edom. To the parents of our subject were born ten children, five sons and five daughters: Catherine and John B., both deceased ; Elizabeth, who is living in Georgia, at the age of eighty years; Isaac, who is now seventy-nine years of age; Abraham, Anna, Jacob and Bar- bara. all deceased : Mary, who lives at the old homestead in Edom, Vir- ginia ; and Joseph H., of this review.
After his marriage the father of our subject removed to the old homestead upon which all of his children were born. He was a farmer by occupation and there carried in agricultural pursuits until his life's labors were ended in death, February 14, 1865, when he was seventy years of age. Throughout his entire life he was identified with the
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Whig party and was a member of the Mennonite church, his life being actuated by his Christian principles.
Joseph H. Wenger spent his childhood in the county of his nativity, being trained to habits of industry, economy and honesty upon the home farm and thus laying the foundation of an upright character. He assisted in the cultivation of the fields upon the old homestead until twenty-five years of age, when he came to lowa, reaching Liberty town- ship, Keokuk county, in September, 1861. There he was employed 11) various ways, although his attention was principally given to farming. In 1866, however, with the money he had saved from his earnings he purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land in Liberty township, just east of South English, and began farming on his own account. This land was partly under cultivation, and he at once began to further im- prove and develop it. As his financial resources were increased he also added to the property until he had over five hundred acres of very rich, arable and valuable land, which he has since divided among his children, while he is now practically living retired from the active duties . of the farm.
On the 5th of April, 1868, Mr. Wenger was married to Elizabeth McAfferty, a native of Wayne county, Ohio, but reared and edu- cated in South English. They are the parents of four children, three sons and a daughter: John H., who is living in South English; Ben- jamin F., who died May 1, 1896, at the age of twenty-five years ; Homer C., who resides upon a part of his father's old farm; and Mollie D., the wife of William D. Groves, who is also living on the old homestead. The parents are members of the Dunkark church, of Liberty township and are both well known and highly respected people of the community. Mr. Wenger has had a successful career and though when he left home
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he had no money and was dependent entirely upon his own resources for a living, he prospered as the result of his energy and capable manage- ment, became a prosperous land owner and is now the possessor of a handsome competence.
LANDON UTTERBACK.
Landon Utterback, son of Corbin and Saralı (Hanks) Utterback, of whom mention is made in the personal sketch of Josialı Utterback elsewhere in this volume, was born September 3, 1845, and was about five years old when the family came to Iowa. In the district school of the neighborhood he received his early instructions. At an early age he began to assist on the farm and throughout his life has been a successful farmer. His farm consists of one hundred acres of finely cultivated land, on which he carries on a general farming business.
Mr. Utterback was twice married. In 1868 Hannah M. Moore became his wife and bore him one son, Allen F., a resident of Ottumwa, Towa. His second wife was Julia J. Vittetoe, of Keokuk county, and of one of the oldest families of the county. Her father was a native of Tennessee and her mother of Kentucky, and they came to Keokuk coun- ty in 1845. Mr. and Mr. Utterback had four children : Lustella, de- ceased; Alvin L. deceased ; Arthur C., at home; and Lullu M., at home.
Our subject is a life-long Democrat and has never missed voting on election day since he became old enough. He belongs to the lodge of Woodmen of the World at Sigourney; and he is a faithful member of the Christian church at Lancaster. Among his fellow men he com- mands the respect of all and his career is one of which he may be proud.
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