USA > Iowa > Page County > Biographical history of Page County, Iowa, containing portraits of all the presidents of the United States from Washington to Harrison, with accompanying biographies of each; a condensed history of Iowa, with portraits and biographies of the governors of the state; engravings of prominent citizens of Page County, with personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families; and a concise history of the county, the cities, and the townships > Part 45
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
ber of the bar and has a lucrative practice. He does an extensive business in real estate, which branch was added to that of his pro- fession in 1888; he is also agent for several leading insurance companies. In 1888 he was appointed organizing agent for the " Blne Grass League," and by special effort succeed- ed in getting seventeen counties in working order. He was selected manager of the land company at Clarinda in the spring of 1887.
Mr. Good was united in marriage Febru- ary 16, 1872, to Miss Malinda McKie, a daughter of William D. and Sarah (In- graham) McKie. Her father was a native of North Carolina and of Irish descent; the mother was born in Virginia of English an- cestors. Mrs. Good is a native of Savannah, Missouri. Three children were born of this union: Grace A., Pearlie M. and John Ross. The parents are members of the Methodist Epis- copal Church. Mr. Good is identitied with the Masonic, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias fraternities. Politically he is a Republican. By his own efforts he lias come to be one of Page County's well-to-do lawyers, and bears the esteem of a large circle of admirers. Was elected and held the office of Mayor of the city of Clarinda for two years, 1887 and 1888.
The following sketch was written by Mr. Bailey himself.
S. BAILEY. The subject of this sketch has had a long and varied newspaper experience, but has not profited thereby. If making money and lay- ing up a store of wealth be a test of genius or a token of a successful life, the man who is poor at the end of fifty years may write himself down a general failure.
In 1851, at the age of fourteen, I went to
Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, to learn the printer's trade in the office of the Observer, a Whig paper ; served an apprenticeship of three years and then attended the University, of which James Harlan was president, for a period of perhaps three months. That fin- ished my education except the schooling I got at the case. I lielped found the Wash- ington (Iowa) Press in 1856. In 1858, while connected with that paper, was elected a clerk of the State Senate at the first session of the Legislature at Des Moines. Kirkwood, Grinnell and Governor Alvin Saunders of Ne- braska were in the Senate, and James F. Wil- son was a member of the House. Grimes was the retiring Governor and R. P. Lowe was the new Governor. That was about the time Page County was born. I got $4 a day for my services, which were not worth a dollar.
In 1860 I started the Sigourney News just in time to aid in carrying that Democratic county for Lincoln. Two years later I sold ont, and about that time occurred the South English War, in which I saw service ; that is, I stood on picket guard one night with an old shot-gun that wouldn't shoot, anxiously waiting the arrival of the Rebel army. The "rebels" were a body of copperheads whom exaggerated rumor said numbered 5,000 ; bnt afterward it was found that fifty or a hundred Democrats, Southern sympathizers, had gathered at a distillery on Skunk river, and at the time we were gallantly guarding the town against them they were trembling in their boots for fear the militia would gob- ble them ! That " war " made a big stir. Governor Kirkwood called out a little army of home gnards and marched into Keokuk County, but no rebels were found. I never received a military title nor a pension for my service in that war.
In 1863 I returned to Washington and
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
again becaine connected with the Press. In. 1867 I started the Washington Record, now the Gazette. In 1872 I printed a Granger paper, and was elected to a county office, which I filled two years. From 1875 to 1879 I published the Brighton Star, and leaving that, landed in Clarinda on the first day of 1880 to take a position on the Herald, then owned by J. W. Cliaffin. In the fall of 1882 Mr. C. sold the Herald, and I, being "out of a job," started a small evening paper, the Daily Star, which was facetiously called the Twinkler. It took and did right well, but the work was too hard and I had to quit it at the end of two years. At that time Mr. L. S. Hanna owned the Journal, and health failing him he went South, putting the paper in the hands of A. P. Skeed and me under a lease. In the spring of 1888 I bought it of Mrs. Hanna, brought it out in a new dress, and, putting it on an independent political platform, I conducted it for some time, until I finally made it a prohibition paper.
All these years have been full of incident, but nothing above the common-place. Neither honor nor shekels came to me. I have per- formed a great deal of hard work and written a vast amount of stuff, some good, but much more bad, and nothing worth preserving. I have won some praise and much more cen- sure. Selah !
E. HILL, of the law firm of Clark & Hill, has been associated with Page County and its interests since 1860. He is a native of Ohio, born in Highland County, February 26, 1844. Our subject was reared on a farm, where he remained until 1860, when with an idea that there was a better country for him farther west he came to Page County, Iowa, and went to work on a farm.
In the beginning of the civil war he enlisted in the service June 15, 1861, as a member of Company F, First Nebraska Volunteer In- fantry. In August of that year he was sent to St. Louis and thence to Pilot Knob, Mis- souri, where he remained until October; his regiment then joined the forces under the leadership of General John C. Fremont. In 1862 he was with General J. C. Davis, and was with Pope's expedition when 1,300 pris- oners were taken. The regiment joined Gen- eral Grant at Fort Donelson, and participated in the fierce struggles at that point, Shiloh, Cape Girardeau, Chalk Bluff, Jackson Post, and was in many skirmishes. Upon the re- organization of his regiment in the fall of 1864 he re-enlisted, and was sent to the western plains to quiet the Indians. He served until July 1, 1866, when he was honor- ably discharged without having been in the hospital or receiving a single wound. After the close of the war he returned to Page County and engaged in agricultural pursuits.
In 1870 Mr. Hill removed to Clarinda, having been appointed deputy sheriff, which office he filled three years. In the autumn of 1874 he was elected clerk of the courts of Page County, and was re-elected five consecu- tive terms. His early education was received in the common schools before he was sixteen years of age. While in the clerk's office he read law and was admitted to the bar May 17, 1884, Judge D. D. Gregory presiding. In 1885 he began the practice of liis chosen profession at Clarinda. In November, 1887, he formed a copartnership with the Hon. T. E. Clark, which still exists.
Mr. Hill was united in marriage July 4, 1867, to Miss R. A. Wright, a native of Adams County, Ohio. By this union five children were born: W. W., E. E., G. G., Mabel, deceased, and Helen.
Mr. Hill married for his second wife, Miss
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
Emma J. Spunaugle, a native of Virginia. Two children have been born of this mar- riage: Belle and Joseph. Our subject is an honored member of the Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Grand Army Post at Clarinda. Politi- cally he is an nncompromising Republican.
JON. THOMAS R. STOCKTON, ex- Judge of the Circuit Court, and the present attorney of Page County, formns an important part in the history of the county, and is entitled to a space in the rec- ord of the leading men. He is a native of Illinois, born near Quincy, Adams County, August 16, 1834. He is the second child of the Rev. James M. Stockton, one of the first pioneers to proclaim the gospel in this por- tion of Iowa, of whom honorable mention is inade elsewhere.
Our subject spent his youthful days in Hancock and Henderson counties, Illinois, at farm labor and attending the district schools. In the spring of 1852, when he was eighteen years of age, the family started for Oregon, but on account of sickness on the plains they returned to Iowa and settled in Taylor County near the east line of Page County. In 1853 the father entered 320 acres of Government land, which Thomas R. assisted in opening up and placing under cultivation. During the winter months he taught school and re- mained on the farm until 1858; he also taught school during the winters of 1858, '59 and '60. In 1859 he began reading law, and in October, 1860, he came to Clarinda and entered the law office of J. J. Barwick as a student; he was admitted to the bar in May, 1861, under Judge Sears. In the fall of the same year he went to Montgomery County, Iowa, and taught school, and in January,
1862, he opened a law office at Clarinda and began the practice of his profession. The saine year Mr. Shoemaker, proprietor of tlie Clarinda Herald, entered the Union armny and Mr. Stockton took charge of that journal, managing it until November, 1863. At the October election of 1863 lie was elected pro- bate judge of the county and served two years, still following his profession. May 1, 1866, he removed to Sidney, Fremont County, Iowa, where he practiced law until November, 1872, when he was elected circuit judge of the Thirteenth Judicial District for Iowa, which included Fremont, Mills, Pottawattamie, Shelby, Audubon, Crawford, Carroll, and Greene counties. From 1866 to 1870 he was a law partner of Major A. R. Anderson. In the summer of 1878 he removed to Council Bluffs, that city being nearer the center of the district. His term of four years having been faithfully served, January 1, 1877, he opened a law office at Council Bluffs. In May of the same year, however, he caught the Black Hill mania and went to Deadwood City; but this proved an nnsuccessful adven- ture. He returned to Sidney, and in No- vember, 1877, he opened a law office and con- tinued to practice until 1879, when he was elected a member of the Iowa Legislature from Fremont County.
In May, 1883, he removed to Shenandoah, Iowa, and there formed a partnership with C. S. Keenan, which existed until November, 1886, when he was elected County Attorney and removed to Clarinda. In 1888 he was re- elected to the office, and is the present incum- bent.
Mr. Stockton was united in marriage August 20, 1863, to Miss Elizabeth Pierce, a native of Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Joseph and Mary (Woods) Pierce, natives of the " Keystone " state, and of Scotch-Irish extraction. They died near College Springs,
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
Iowa, in the winter of 1866, not having quite attained the " three score years and ten " al- lotted to man. Mr. and Mrs. Stockton are the parents of three children: Lillian J., a ste- nographer employed by the Wells-Fargo Ex- press Company at Omaha, Nebraska; Nellie P. and Fred R. The family are members of the Presbyterian Church at Clarinda.
Politically the Judge has always affiliated with the Republican party. He is a man of inuch general knowledge and possesses a remarkably good memory. He is a constant reader of law and current literature, and this with his excellent conversational powers makes him a pleasant companion and has won for him a wide circle of friends through- out southwestern Iowa. As a counselor he lias but few equals in this part of the State. Possessed of sound judgment his decisions while upon the bench were looked upon as near the line of justice. He has won the confidence and esteem of the members of the bar of Page County and of the people through- out this and the adjoining counties. It may be added that Judge Stockton is one of the few good and honest lawyers who esteem integrity more than money.
ILLIAM PETERS HEPBURN be- gan his residence in Page County, in Clarinda, on the last day of June,
1867. He was born in Wellsville, Colum- biana County, Ohio, November 4, 1833. His father, Lieutenant James Schmidt Hepburn of the Second United States Artillery, was graduated at West Point in the class of 1819. He died in New Orleans, May 5, 1833. His inother, Ann Fairfax Catlett, was the eldest daughter of Dr. Hanson Catlett, Surgeon in the navy and later in the army of tbe Uni- ted States. He died at the arsenal in Pitts-
burg, Pennsylvania, in 1824. Mr. Hepburn's step-father, George S. Hampton, for a long time Clerk of the Supreme Court of Iowa, removed from Olio to Iowa in 1840, and settled, and opened a farm in the woods, a few miles north of Iowa City-in 1843 removing to Iowa City. In the latter place Mr. Hep- burn learned the printer's trade; later he spent a year and a half in the law office of Colonel W. Penn Clark. He was also in the law office of Messrs. Higgins, Beckwithı & Strothers, Chicago, during part of 1854 and 1855. He was admitted to practice law and returned to Iowa City in the fall of 1855. On the 7th of October, of that year, he was married to Malvina A. Morsman, the eldest daughter of Dr. M. J. Morsman, of Iowa City. In February, 1856, the young couple removed to Marshalltown. In August of that year he was elected Prosecuting Attor- ney of Marshall County, and in December one of the clerks of the House of Represent- atives. In January, 1858, he was the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives at the first session of the Legislature at Des Moines; and at the October election of that year was elected District Attorney of the Eleventh Judicial District, in which position he served until the summer of 1861, when he resigned his position, raised a company of cavalry in Marshall and Story counties, and with it be- came a part of the Second Iowa Cavalry in August, 1861. In November of that year he was promoted to be one of the Majors of his regiment, and in January, 1863, to be Lieu- tenant Colonel. In June, 1862, he was de- tailed upon the staff of General Sheridan as In- spector, and in September upon the staff of General W. S. Rosecrans, then commanding the Army of the Mississippi, as Judge Advo- cate. The last of October, when General Ro- secrans took command of the Army of the Cumberland, he was assigned to duty with
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
him, first as Judge Advocate, and later as Inspector General of Cavalry of the depart- ment. In August of that year he resigned his staff position and rejoined his regiment in West Tennessee. In the early part of February 1864, by order of General Grant, then Commander in Chief of the Army of the United States, he was assigned to the cominand of the Second Brigade of Cavalry, Division of the Sixteenth Army Corps. Later, when the cavalry veteranized, he was placed in command of the non-veteran cavalry of that army corps --- about 2,700 men. At the expiration of his term of service he removed with his family to Memphis, where, by order of the general in command of the District of West Tennessee, he was placed in command of a cavalry regiment, raised by that officer for local defence, which command he retained until in May following. He remained in Memphis engaged in the practice of liis pro- fession until June, 1867: After removing to Clarinda, he was for fifteen years actively en- gaged in professional pursuits in Page and adjacent counties. For a considerable por- tion of time he represented the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company in their cases in the courts of Western Iowa. After a very animated contest in
1880, he was nominated by the Repub. lican party as its candidate for Congress in the Eighth Congressional District, and was elected. He was three times subse- quently nominated by the Republicans of the Eight District for that office, and twice elect- ed. In 1886, however, he was beaten by the Hon. Albert R. Anderson, of Sidney. Dur- ing his six years in Congress he served on the committees of Public Lands, Pensions, Patents, Elections, Commerce, Judiciary, and on the select committees for the Sup- pression of the Alcoholic Liquor Traffic, and Woman's Suffrage. He was a Presidential
Elector at large in 1876 and 1888, casting his vote for Presidents Hayes and Harrison. He was also a member of the Republican national convention in 1860 and 1888, and in the latter was selected to present the name of Hon. William B. Allison as a candidate for the Presidential - nomination. During the campaign of 1888, at the instance of the Republican National Committee, he assisted in the canvass in Maine, New York, New Jersey, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa. April 16, 1889, he was appointed by President Harrison, Solicitor of the Treasury.
Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hepburn: Edith, in 1856; Frank H., in 1858; Margaret, in 1862; Charles B., in 1867, and Bertha, in 1871. The latter died at the age of a few months. Editlı, in 1875, mar- ried Mr. Warren F. Thummel, who was for a long time associated with her father in the practice of the law. Frank; in 1879, married Ella, the eldest daughter of Jolin D. Marlin, Esq., of Lincoln Township.
HARLES ALBERT LISLE, editor and proprietor of the Clarinda Herald, has been associated with the interests of Page county since 1885, not an early set- tler, but one whose history will be read with mnuch interest. He was born in Belmont county, Ohio, and is a son of Joseph and Mary (Evans) Lisle. The family removed to Iowa in the spring of 1861, and located in Guthrie county on a farm. Charles A. ob- tained his early education in the common schools and then attended the Iowa Wesleyan University at Mt. Pleasant, graduating from the classical conrse in 1872. He worked his way through college by teaching one term each year in the country school. Soon after his graduation he went to Burlington, Iowa,
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
a3 principal of the West Hill school; he served in this capacity one year and was re- elected to the position, but resigned to accept the superintendency of the Red Oak schools. After one year he returned to Burlington and accepted the principalship of the High School and held this position eight years. In June, 1882, he bought the Fort Madison Plain- Dealer and resigned his position in the High School to take up the life of a journalist. He started the Daily Plain-Dealer in Sep- tember, 1882. In February, 1883 he was appointed Postmaster of Fort Madison under President Arthur, serving until November, 1885, when he moved to Clarinda, having pur- chased a half interest in the Clarinda Herald. (See press chapter.) May 1, 1886, he bought the balance of the Herald plant and still conducts it in a successful manner.
While at College Mr. Lisle became ac- quainted with Miss Vina Spry, who was born in Zanesville, Ohio, but moved to Iowa with her parents, E. A. and J. M: Spry, when she was but a child. Miss Spry was a stu- dent in the college and was graduated in the class of 1870. Her family removed to Red Oak in 1871, and January 3, 1872, she was united in marriage to Mr. Lisle. By this nnion seven children have been born: Vesta, Vernon, Stella May, Edwin, Edna; Harvey Hugh, and Lawrence Lee. In religious be- lief the parents are Methodists. Politically Mr. Lisle is a Republican, and edits a clean, newsy, party journal.
When sixteen years of age Mr. Lisle enlist- ed as a recruit for the Fourth Iowa Cavalry, and was quartered in Camp McCellan at Dav- enport for some time, but on account of an attack of typhoid fever he was never mus- tered into the service.
No man stands higher in the estimation of the people of Page county than Charles A. Lisle. He is an earnest, deliberate, journal-
ist, working in the interests and for the wel- fare of his patrons.
AMUEL GORMAN was born in Wash- ington County, Ohio, July 21, 1821, and is a son of John and Margaret (Alden) Gorman, natives of Pennsylvania and New York, respectively. The father died in Olio, and the mother passed away at the home of her son, Robert, in this county. When he was six years of age his parents re- moved to Baltimore, Ohio, on the Ohio Canal, where they spent two years, at the end of this time they went to Crawford County, Ohio. He remained at home with his parents until his marriage to Miss Elizabeth Drake, which occurred February 7, 1847. She was born in Ohio February 8, 1826.
Mr. Gorman invested in a small tract of land after liis marriage, buying directly fron the Government; hie built a log cabin, doing all the work himself; the cash outlay was $1.40. In this structure he and his wife began housekeeping. There were forty-six and a lialf acres, which had cost $2.50 per acre. As his means increased Mr. Gorman made additions to his first purchase of land and finally had seventy-five acres. When he was able lie erected a good frame house, and continued to make improvements until the fall of 1867, when he disposed of the whole at about $38 per acre. He had caught the western fever and emigrated to Page County, Iowa, going by rail to Chariton, the terminus. February 25, 1868, he located on his present farm of 160 acres in Nebraska Township, which is well improved and under good cultivation. In 1859, previous to his removal to Iowa, he had bought eighty acres in Page County.
Mr. Gorman has ever taken an active inter-
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
est in the county's welfare, and las supported all measures tending to its advancement. Politically he casts his vote with the Re publican party, having been an old-line Whig. He has served one term on the county Board of Supervisors, one term as township trustee, and one as assessor. He has faithfully per- formed all the duties he has assumed, and has the esteem and good will of the whole com- munity.
Mr. and Mrs. Gorman have had nine cliil- dren: Prince, deceased; Mary Etta, wife of Abe Lawrence; Jessie, the wife of Charles Hicks; Josephine, wife of Harry Hardin, and Annie and John, at home.
Mrs. Gorman was called from her husband and children to her last rest, September 11, 1881, respected and inonrned by all who knew her.
D. ELLIOTT, M. D., was born ill Henderson County, Illinois, September 0 21, 1857, and is the son of Jesse and and Nancy (Laswell) Elliott, natives of North Carolina and West Virginia, respectively. He was reared in his native State to the life of a farmer, and attended the common schools until he was seventeen years old; he then en- tered Howe's Academy at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, where he continued his studies for two years. When he left school he moved with his parents to Page County and engaged in farming for three years; he then embarked in the mercantile trade at Villisca, remaining there one year. He then completed a course at Bryant & Stratton's College at St. Joseph, Missouri, after which he again engaged in mercantile business. He entered into part- nership witlı G. W. Collier at Hawleyville, Page County, Iowa, and they conducted a
general store under the firm name of Collier & Elliott.
After he had retired from this business he entered the office of Doctor Rumbaugh, a successful, pioneer physician at Hawley ville, for the purpose of studying medicine; there he pur-ued his studies until 1880, when he went to Keokuk, Iowa, and took two courses of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, graduating March, 1882. In March, 1882, he commenced his practice at Hawley- ville, succeeding his former friend and teacher, Dr. Rumbangh, who died in June, 1882.
Doctor Elliott was married October 5, 1876, to Miss Savilla Collier, daughter of A. M. and Nancy (McAlpin) Collier. They are the parents of two children: Leslie Elmo, born January 24, 1878, and Lena Ethel, boru June 8, 1879.
The Doctor is a prominent member of the I. O. O. F., Orphans' Hope Lodge, No. 254, at Hawleyville, and is its present secretary. Politically he is an active Republican, and has served his township as clerk for a term of nine years. He has also been prominently identified with the politics of the county as a member of the central committee.
Doctor Elliott has a farm of sixty-five acres in Nebraska Township, where he conducts a profitable stock business, making a specialty of the graded Galloways.
Owing to his thorough knowledge of the science of medicine and surgery, and his whole-souled, accommodating disposition, he has gained the confidence of the community and has built up a lucrative practice.
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ARY BENTLY, one of the pioneer settlers of Nebraska Township, was born August 9, 1820, three iniles Ashburne, England. Iler parents,
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
Thomas and Elizabeth (Siran) Smith, were also natives of England, and were engaged in farming; they reared a family of eight chil- dren, of whom Mary was the third. She attended the common schools for a short time and assisted her parents by working in a cotton factory as reeler and spooler, in which she was very expert.
When she liad attained hier twenty-sixth year she was united in marriage to Mr. James Bently, a son of John and Annie Bently, na- tives of England. He was born November 10, 1820, and was a carpenter by trade. After marriage they lived in the city of Manchester for twelve years. Thinking that they might better their condition, they decided to emi- grate to America, and accordingly, in 1858 they set sail for the United States. The voyage from Liverpool to New York con- sumed one month. After landing they pro- ceeded at once to Boston, where Mr. Bently left his wife with friends, and started for the West. He located in Page County, Iowa, and worked at his trade for three years. Mrs. Bently joined her husband in a few months, and has since made her home in Page County.
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