USA > Iowa > Polk County > Des Moines > Des Moines, the pioneer of municipal progress and reform of the middle West, together with the history of Polk County, Iowa, the largest, most populous and most prosperous county in the state of Iowa; Volume II > Part 117
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Robert Fullerton received his early education in the common schools of County Antrim and at the age of twenty-two came to America. He crossed the ocean in 1867, proceeding at once to Ottawa, Illinois, where he had friends and for three months worked on a farm in La Salle county. He then returned to Ottawa and spent three years learning the carpenter's trade in the employ of Caldwell, Clark & Stebbins, in the course of which he developed into a skilful woodworker. In 1870 he went to La Cygne, Kansas, and engaged in the con- tracting and building business, making the acquaintance of M. T. Greene, a prominent Chicago lumberman, who offered the young carpenter the position of manager of the Greene lumber yards at La Cygne during Mr. Greene's absence on his wedding trip. Mr. Fullerton promptly accepted the position and demon- strated his ability so successfully that he was transferred to Tecumseh, Nebraska, and to Clay Center, Kansas, and later to Des Moines, being manager at each of the places named and also being given general supervision of other Greene yards in Iowa, which were operated as the Chicago Lumber Company. His services to the company became so valuable that he was given an interest in the con- ceri as was also his brother, Samuel H. Fullerton, who was placed in charge of the yards at Tecumseh, Nebraska, operated under the name of Fullerton Brothers. The Chicago Lumber Company had started a chain of yards in north- ern Kansas, and the subject of this review was intrusted with the responsibility of establishing the various branches, during which time Mr. Fullerton made his headquarters at Clay Center, Kansas. Yards were established in the Missis- sippi and Missouri valleys in order to meet the unprecedented demand for lum- ber caused by a great movement of settlers into the western states. In 1875 Mr. Fullerton took up his residence in Des Moines and was succeeded at Clay Cen- ter by his brother as general manager at that point. The financial panic seri- ously interfered with many branches of business, but through careful manage- ment the Chicago Lumber Company survived the ordeal, although its develop- ment was greatly retarded for a number of years. In 1891 Mr. Fullerton and his brother purchased the interest of Mr. Greene and continued under the title of the Chicago Lumber Company as a partnership until 1895, when the business was merged into the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company, which was incorporated by Robert and Samuel H. Fullerton, Frank Goepel and C. T. Millard, the object being to engage in manufacture as well as distribution of lumber. Samuel H. Fullerton was made president of the new company and Robert Fullerton vice president. The business was extended so as to include yards in Colorado, Ne- braska, Iowa and Missouri. In order to meet the growing demand for yellow pine a sawmill was established at Logansport, Louisiana, in a short-leaf yellow pine belt. This mill was equipped with modern machinery and a ready market was found for its products. With the growth of demand for long-leaf pine other mills were acquired from time to time and during the recent years the company has controlled a daily output of more than five hundred thousand feet of lumber. About one-third of the total output of the yellow pine of the com- pany is distributed through the company's own yards in addition to millions of feet of white pine and Pacific coast lumber. The company is now manufac- turing lumber in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and maintains seventy retail yards. The wholesale business of the company extends practically into every northern state from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast.
As an inventor, Mr. Fullerton has also been highly successful, having origi- nated the best lumber stacker that has been up to the present time placed upon the market. He is also the inventor of a cross-cut saw, operated by compressed
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air for cutting down trees, which is now handled upon an extensive scale. He pos- sesses marked literary ability, as has been shown by articles he has contributed to various publications and also by interesting and instructive papers he has read before gatherings of lumbermen. Among the latter may be mentioned "The Advent of Yellow Pine," read before the sixteenth annual meeting of the Southern Lumber Manufacturers Association at New Orleans, June 23 to 24, 1906; a paper on "Public Interest in the Lumber Industry," presented at the annual meeting of the Yellow Pine Manufacturers Association at New Orleans, January 19-20, 190y; and also a paper entitled "Let Justice Prevail-the People vs. the Standard Oil Company," read before the Lumbermen's Club at St. Louis ; "The Automobile as a Factor in the Lumber Industry," etc.
On the 10th of March, 1885, Mr. Fullerton was united in marriage to Miss Fannie Parsons, a daughter of Galusha Parsons of Des Moines, and by this union four children were born, namely: Robert, Jr .; Lawrence, deceased; Don- ald, now attending the State University; and Catherine, attending Ogontz Semi- nary, Ogontz, Pennsylvania. Robert, Jr., is a graduate of the Iowa State Uni- versity and also completed a course in a military academy. He is now in charge of the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company at Kansas City, Missouri. The father of Mrs. Fullerton was a native of Buffalo, New York, and one of the early set- tlers of Des Moines, for many years a prominent lawyer of this city.
Politically, Mr. Fullerton has been from the time of reaching manhood identified with the republican party, but has always declined to be a candidate for public office. He takes a lively interest in governmental affairs as a private citizen and is an active worker in the Civic League of Des Moines, of which he is now president. His religious faith is indicated by membership in the Presby- terian church and he has been a generous contributor to its charities. He is also a member of the Grant, West End and New Des Moines Clubs and of the Golf and Country Club, being an enthusiastic golfer. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition at St. Louis, he was disbursing agent for the United States government and paid out nine million six hundred thousand dollars, every dollar of which was satisfactorily accounted for. This speaks volumes as to his ability and integrity and it is no exaggeration to say that he represents the best class of honorable, efficient and progressive citizenship and stands today in the front rank among the leading men of Des Moines. His chief source of recreation is golf, hunting and fishing, but he is an enthusiastic advocate of all outdoor sports.
WILLIAM McLEAN.
William McLean, a native son of Polk county, who resides on a one hundred and fifty-four acre farm in Union township, was born on the 24th of March, 1878, his parents being W. J. and Nancy (Messersmith) McLean, natives of Ohio and Iowa respectively and now living in this county. In their family are seven children, William being the second in order of birth.
William McLean acquired his education in the district schools of this county, and when he felt prepared to assume the heavier responsibilities of life laid aside his text-books and began assisting his father in the cultivation of the home farm. He remained a member of his father's household until he attained his majority, at which time he was married and engaged in farming as a renter for two years. Thrift and ambition combined with good management and tireless energy enabled him to accumulate the means to invest in real estate at the end of that time and he purchased the place upon which he now resides. He has improved the appearance of the place almost beyond recognition. The land is now tiled and well fenced, barns and outbuildings have been added and the residence remodeled, so that everything now has an air of comfort and pros-
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perity. He engages in general farming and stock-raising and makes a specialty of buying cattle for the market, in all of which ventures he is meeting with more than a moderate degree of success.
Mr. McLean established a home of his own by his marriage on the 3Ist of December, 1899, to Miss Maude Wylie, a daughter of Benjamin and Mary J. (Thompson) Wylie, the father a native of Pennsylvania and the mother of Iowa. Mr. Wylie came to Iowa in 1872 from Minnesota with his parents, who settled in Polk county, where he has been for many years engaged in farming. He is a veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted in Company L, First Minnesota Heavy Artillery, and serving until the close of the Rebellion, being mustered out at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, in September, 1865. Mrs. McLean is the sec- ond in a family of four children, her birth occurring on the 26th of October, 1880. Three children have been born unto Mr. and Mrs. McLean: Hubert, Mamie and Helen.
They attend the United Brethren church of which Mrs. McLean is a mem- ber Mr. McLean has been an ardent supporter of the principles of the republi- can party since attaining his majority. He most zealously participates in local affairs and is at the present time serving as a township trustee. Both he and his wife are popular in the social circles of their community and are well regarded.
OSCAR HOWARD ROBINSON.
Oscar Howard Robinson, who since 1892 has engaged in the farm loan busi- ness in Des Moines as a partner in a firm which throughout the intervening years has enjoyed an unsullied reputation for integrity as well as progress- iveness, was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, on the 8th of Novem- ber, 1851. His parents were Thomas A. and Mary (Anderson) Rob- inson. The father was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, and was a son of Samuel Robinson, a native of Scotland, who when a young man came to the United States and settled in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, where he was married and where his wife died. In 1854 he came to Scott county, Iowa, with his son and here engaged in agricultural pursuits, though he had followed mer- chandising in Pennsylvania. He died at the age of seventy-seven years. Our subject's mother was born in Ireland, of Scotch-Irish parentage, and was four- teen years of age on the emigration of the family to America. Her father, who was about forty years old at that time, settled in Butler county, Pennsylvania, where he lived to be over ninety, while his wife was over eighty years of age at the time of her death. By occupation he was a farmer.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Robinson became residents of Davenport, Iowa, when their son Oscar was but three years of age. The father died at Carabou, Colorado, in 1862, leaving a family of four children, who were thus thrown upon their own resources, Oscar H. Robinson, the youngest of the family, being then ten years of age. His education was acquired in the public schools of Davenport and in Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York, where he pur- sued a course in 1873. His early manhood was devoted to the profession of teaching in Indiana and Iowa, and in 1884 he removed to Wichita, Kansas, where he engaged in the real-estate and loan business, but changed the field of his labors in 1886 to become manager of the Kansas City Investment Com- pany at Beloit, Kansas. In 1892 he formed a partnership with George M. Van Evera and in March of that year they opened an office in the Clapp block in Des Moines, Iowa, for the conduct of a farm loan business. In addition to many private interests they have handled the investments of the Union Cen- tral Life Insurance Company in Iowa since that time. They now have an extensive clientage which covers a wide territory and brings them into close
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connection with real-estate operations in farm lands in various sections of the country. In 1908 the firm established an office in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to handle its business in that state which has grown to large proportions. The firm has handled many millions of farm loans, but never with the slightest ques- tion as to fairness, integrity and reliability. In addition to his other interests Mr. Robinson is a stockholder in the Iowa National Bank and the Des Moines Savings Bank.
On the 12th of September, 1877, Mr. Robinson was married at Blue Grass, Iowa, to Miss Jennie Van Evera, a daughter of James and Phoebe (Matteer) Van Evera, early residents of Scott county, Iowa, and natives of New York state. Her maternal grandparents, Charles and Zilpah Matteer, settled in Scott county in 1839 and her paternal grandparents, John and Hannah Van Evera, were also pioneers of that county. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Robin- son are: Le Roy, who was married in 1907 to Laura Kirby, of Mount Pleasant ; Orin H .; Irene, who was married in 1908 to Carl H. Kahler, one of the leading shoe merchants of Des Moines; and Georgia V., who in 1910 became the wife of John F. Huber, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Mr. and Mrs. Robinson are members of the First Unitarian church, to which Mr. Robinson is one of the most generous contributors. As chairman of its building committee he personally supervised the construction of the church, concentrating his energies upon this work without other thought than to obtain for the church the best results for the least outlay of money. His political alle- giance is given to the republican party and his fraternal relations are with Des Moines Lodge, No. 98, B. P. O. E. He likewise belongs to the Grant and Eureka Clubs, the Des Moines Business Men's Club and the Five Hundred Club, while his wife is a member of the Woman's Club and is on the managing board of the Home for the Aged. Mr. Robinson is a whole-souled, genial man, broad-minded and of kindly spirit. In his business he has displayed that close application and intelligent judgment which never fails to overcome obstacles, and judicious investment has won him success which places him in a prominent position among the most successful real-estate firms of Des Moines.
CLARK B. HALL.
The business interests of Bondurant find a worthy representative in Charles B. Hall, who is a well established dealer in lumber and grain, and by his energy and perserverance has attracted a lucrative patronage. He is a native of Franklin township, and is the son of George W., and Margaret (Scott) Hall, the former born in Sullivan county, New York, and the latter in West Virginia. The father came to Polk county, Iowa, early in the '50s, and here met the lady who after- wards became his wife. He was a farmer and also taught school and followed surveying for a number of years. He took an active part in the development of the county and was prominent in political affairs, serving as member of the election board of the county and in other capacities. His death in 1893 was the occasion of deep regret to many friends and acquaintances who admired him for his manly qualities. Soon after he arrived in this county he entered one hundred and forty acres in Franklin township, which became the family home- stead. Part of this land now belongs to an uncle of our subject. There were three children in the family of Mr. and Mrs. Hall : Hubert; Effie Jane, who mar- ried Henry Miller and lives at Mitchellville; and Clark B.
Educated in the district schools, Mr. Hall of this review was reared on the home farm and early became acquainted with the details of agriculture and stock raising. However, he turned his attention to mercantile affairs and for two years has been identified with the lumber and grain business at Bondurant.
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He carries a large and well selected stock of lumber and building materials. His success is well merited as he devotes his best energies to his business and is highly popular with the people throughout a radius of many miles around Bon- durant. He is unmarried, and socially, is identified with Pocahontas Lodge of Red Men at Bondurant. He is not connected with any religious denomination but is friendly toward all efforts to advance the permanent welfare of his fel- lows. Politically he gives his support to the democratic party. He is now acting as deputy postmaster of Bondurant. Energetic and capable in anything he un- dertakes, he represents that class of men whose minds are open to modern lines of progress and improvement and his success is well merited.
JOHN A. McCALL.
Prominent among the lawyers of Des Moines is John A. McCall, who for more than thirty-five years has been engaged in general practice in this city. He has also been an important factor in the changes which have been wrought, making Des Moines one of the leading cities of the great west. A native of Polk county, he was born on the 15th of February, 1852, and is a son of Captain Thomas Clifton McCall, who was for forty-six years a resident of Iowa. Cap- tain McCall was born in Ross county, Ohio, September 4, 1827, a son of Samuel W. and Ann (Clifton) McCall, and was of Revolutionary stock, his grand- fathers on both sides having taken part in the war for independence, while Sam- uel W. McCall was a soldier of the War of 1812. The last named was a native of Kentucky and when a young man entered the army as a private and was wounded in the battle of McQuaggy. After the war he settled on a farm in Ross county, Ohio, where he engaged in farming and also served as justice of the peace and sheriff of the county.
About 1836 the family removed to Fulton county, Illinois, and ten years later Thomas C. McCall came to Iowa and afterward taught the first school ever opened in Polk county east of Des Moines. He was a merchant at Lafayette and Rising Sun for a time and later of Des Moines, being associated in this city with W. W. Moore. He was also interested in the real-estate business in Des Moines but in 1858 removed to the town of Nevada. In 1861 he was elected a member of the house of representatives, serving in both the regular and extra sessions, and in the fall of 1862 entered the army as quartermaster of the Thirty- second Iowa Volunteer Infantry, with the rank of lieutenant, participating in the Meridian, Red River and Tupelo campaigns. After about eighteen months' service with his regiment he was appointed by President Lincoln as quarter- master of volunteers with the rank of captain and so continued until he was hon- orably discharged in November, 1865. He then returned to Nevada and became one of the most prominent citizens of Story county, from which he was elected to the legislature, being a member of the lower house during the nineteenth and twentieth general assemblies and a member of the senate in the twenty-fourth general assembly. Politically he gave his support to the republican party and fraternally was prominent in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, twice serving as a representative to the grand lodge of the state. . He was for many years an elder in the Presbyterian church.
Captain McCall was three times married. His first wife, to whom he was married March 1, 1849, was Sarah Amanda Garrett, a native of Ohio and a daughter of William and Mary (Dean) Garrett, of Polk county. Her father was born in Abbeville, South Carolina, but her mother was a native of Ross county, Ohio. In 1847 they came to Polk county, Iowa, in company with their family and were participants in the organization of the First Presbyterian church of Des Moines. Mr. Garrett served in the capacity of elder for many years in this
JOHN A. McCALL
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church and his daughter Sarah Amanda early became one of its members. She died January 19, 1855, leaving as her only surviving child John A. McCall, whose name introduces this sketch. On the 28th of October, 1858, Captain McCall wedded Miss Mary A. Boynton, of Marion, Linn county, Iowa, who died August 4, 1875. There were seven children by this union, three of whom survive the mother, namely : Mrs. Minnie E. Cronnenwelt, of Monrovia, California ; and Fred C. and Edward M. McCall, both prominent citizens of Story county, Iowa. The father was again married October 10, 1876, his third union being with Miss Clara Kennedy, of Carrollton, Ohio, and to them was born one child, who died infancy. Captain McCall died before the expiration of his term as state senator, passing away on the IIth of August, 1892.
John A. McCall received his preliminary education in the public schools of Nevada and at the age of fourteen matriculated in the collegiate department of the State University at Iowa City and was graduated from the law department with the degree of LL. B. in 1872. He began practice in Story county but in 1875, desiring a wider field for his labors, he removed to Des Moines, where he has since made his home. From the start he applied himself assiduously to his profession and soon gained recognition as a young man of unusual energy and decisiveness of character, his knowledge of law and his skill in the conduct of cases securing for him a liberal patronage. He has held to high ideals in his profession and also in his business and social relations, thus commanding the con- fidence of his brethren at the bar and of all with whom he has come in contact. His clientage includes many of the leading business firms as well as many of the most prominent citizens of this section.
Politically Mr. McCall is a stanch republican, but he is a man of broad views and in purely local affairs has often voted irrespective of party lines. He has never held any public office except that of attorney for the board of supervisors, to which position he was appointed in 1880. He is a member of the Masonic order and, by heredity, of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. Socially he is identified with the Grant Club, in which he has taken special interest. He was one of the originators of the club and for four terms served as a member of the board of directors, also very acceptably occupying the office of vice president. Always thoroughly competent in what he has undertaken, he has discharged his various duties in such a way as to advance the best interests of his clients and the community, and his name is a synonym for reliability and progressiveness. Mr. McCall is a fluent and eloquent orator and during his long residence in Des Moines has been placed upon numerous and various programmes. Retiring by nature, he has never failed to rise to any occasion to which he has been invited to respond. He has also been in demand as a campaign and convention speaker but has never been a candidate for office. A man of extensive reading and wide observation, he possesses a richly stored mind, especially in all departments of jurisprudence, and has met with most gratifying success. His friends are many throughout Des Moines and this part of the state.
JESSE O. WELLS.
Des Moines had taken on few of the elements of city life when the Wells family was founded within its borders, and in all the intervening years repre- sentatives of the name have figured actively in support of all that stands for progress and improvement in municipal affairs as well as advancement in bus- iness interests. It was in this city that Jesse O. Wells was born April 9, 1858. His father, Levi J. Wells, was a native of Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, born January 28, 1831. His first American ancestors were among the passengers of the Mayflower from England and settled in Connecticut. Levi J. Wells spent Vol. II-49
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the period of his minority in the east, and in 1856 became a resident of Des Moines, where he was first employed in hauling brick for Jim Savery, who was then building what is now known as the Kirkwood Hotel. Mr. Wells, however, was a carpenter and master workman and in 1860 rebuilt for Alexander Williams and his son John J. the old dilapidated flourmill and flood-beaten dam at First and Center streets. This was exclusively a toll mill and was a business enterprise of vast importance to the farmers and the community at large for more than thirty years, but was finally demolished during the Civil war period. Mr. Wells continued to follow contracting and building and at the time of hostilities between the north and the south was an ardent advocate of the Union cause but did not en- list because of physical imperfection, having lost a thumb and two fingers from his right hand, while working with a buzz saw. In 1866 he leased the old Grout House at the corner of East Seventh street and Court avenue, which was then a popular home for legislators and state officers, including ex-Governor Gue, who made it his home for some time. But Mr. Wells did not fancy the life of a hotel host and after a year's experience, though he had won profit in the ven- ture, he retired and resumed building operations, erecting buildings on some of his east side property. In 1868 he purchased of George Sneer a livery stable on the west half of the present Clapp block, adjoining the alley on Walnut street, and at once introduced a new era in that line of business in the city. He secured hacks and buses for transporting passengers to and from the trains and in all ways kept pace with the rapid advance and growth of the city. He was a lover of good horses and usually drove some fine steppers. His business pros- perity continued and the increased patronage necessitated the securing of larger and more commodious quarters, so that he erected a four-story brick stable on Fourth street and not long afterward a large four-story brick building at Ninth and Mulberry streets. The livery business, which was practically established by him, is the oldest in the city and since his death has been carried on by his son Jesse.
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