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 122

Author: Brigham, Johnson, 1846-1936; Clarke (S.J.) Publishing Company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1464

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 122

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Daniel P. Grigsby spent his early years quite similarly to the majority of boys in Iowa during pioneer days. He attended the district school during its brief sessions and when not thus engaged assisted in the work of the farm or indulged in the recreations of the season. As his strength developed with the passing years, his duties and responsibilities about the homestead increased, and after laying aside his school books he spent his time in the field with his father un- til he attained his majority. For three years thereafter he worked as a farm hand and then returned home but after remaining there for another year he bought forty acres of land in Audubon county, Iowa, which he cultivated for one year and then sold it. For thirteen years following he farmed as a renter but in 1894 he bought forty acres, which he operated until 1909, when he sold his place and in September of the same year purchased and moved on his present farm, which contains one hundred acres of land on section 17, Union township. Here he engages in general farming and stock-raising and is meeting with suc- cess in his ventures.

In January, 1881, Mr. Grigsby married Miss Frances Lee, a daughter of J. K. and Sarah C. (Bullington) Lee, natives of Indiana, who came to Iowa during the pioneer days. She was born on the 26th of October, 1863, and was the fifth in a family of twelve children. Mr. and Mrs. Grigsby have become the parents of five children, as follows: Robert A., who is a Methodist minister, married Miss Malva Drake and lives at Spring Hill, Iowa. Cora P .. who was united in marriage on the 12th of October, 1910, to William R. Jacobs, is now living in Boone county, Iowa. Frederick M. is unmarried and lives with his parents. Elwin D. is the fourth and youngest member of the family now living. The fifth died in infancy.

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The family attend the United Brethren church of Hopkins Grove, of which the parents are members. Fraternally Mr. Grigsby is identified with the Knights of Pythias and he is also a member of the Corn Growers Association. Ever since being granted the right of suffrage he has cast his ballot for the candidates of the republican party at all national and state elections, but on local issues he votes independently. He is at present serving as a school director, which office he has held for eight years.

OLIVER P. HERRICK.

The field of business is so wide and the opportunities so limitless that it is a matter of astonishment that the great majority of people are content to re- main in the less important walks of business nor strive to emulate the oppor- tunities of those who are in positions of leadership. A laudable ambition and firm determination, however, prompted Oliver P. Herrick at all times to push for- ward and in the legitimate field of business activity he has reached a most credit- able and enviable position of prominence, being today the foremost general con- tractor of Des Moines. He is also the owner of the Observatory building, one of the fine modern structures of the city, and has real-estate investments in the south.

Mr. Herrick is a native of Princeton, Illinois, born April 19,1868. The Her- rick family comes of Norwegian ancestry, the first representatives of the name in America settling on this side of the Atlantic in the early part of the seven- teenth century. In Norway the name was originally written Herrickson. They were outlawed from Norway, however, several hundred years ago, and sought refuge in America.

The father of our subject, Israel P. Herrick, came to Polk county, Iowa, in 1870, and settled near Grimes. For many years he followed farming in this county but eventually retired and took up his abode in Des Moines where his death occurred June 22, 1907. It was in Princeton, Illinois, that he met and married Miss Katie A. Hazzard, who was a native of Maine and in her girl- hood days accompanied her parents to Princeton. Mr. and Mrs. Herrick had a family of seven children: Cameron, who was born in Princeton and is now de- ceased; Flora, who was born in Princeton and is the wife of William Webb, a resident of Sulphur Springs, Colorado; Grant, who was born in Princeton and has departed this life; Rose, who was born in Princeton and is a resident of Lincoln, Nebraska; Estella, who was born in Polk county, and is the wife of Dr. McConnaughy, a resident of Prairie City, Iowa; and Maggie, who was born in Green county, Iowa, and is the wife of Edward Raffensperger, who is engaged in the automobile business in Des Moines.

The other member of the family is Oliver P. Herrick, who was but two years of age when brought by his parents to Iowa, so that his education was acquired in the public schools of Polk county which he attended to the age of eighteen years. Through the periods of vacation and when the hours of study were over during the school year he worked with his father on the farm and after putting aside his text-books continued to assist in the improvement and cultivation of the home place until he had attained his majority, when he left the farm and for several years thereafter gave his attention to teaming. He has done more work in the city of Des Moines than any other firm or individual, his contracts in the past fifteen years amounting to over two million dollars. He still continues in the contracting business as the foremost in this line in the city and at the present time has also other sources of income. He was the builder and is the owner of the Observatory building, one of the principal office struc- tures of the city. He dug the cellar for the original owner, never dreaming that

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in the course of years the property would one day become his and constitute the site of one of Des Moines' finest buildings. He has also made extensive investments in lands in Texas and also has other interests.

On the 4th of November, 1888, Mr. Herrick was united in marriage to Miss Stella Kimball, a daughter of B. F. Kimball, who is now deceased. Her parents were among the pioneer settlers of Des Moines and here Mrs. Herrick was born. By her marriage she has become the mother of one son, Glenn G., who was born in Des Moines, November 12, 1896. Mr. Herrick is a well known advocate of republican principles but not an aspirant for office. He belongs to the Odd Fel- lows Lodge and also has membership relations with the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Brotherhood of America. Aside from the fraternities he is connected with Hyperion Club and the Automobile Club. He stands as a splendid example of a salf-made man and has been not only the architect but also the builder of his own fortunes. Wisely has he directed his labors and his intelligent effort has brought him up from humble surroundings and led him forward and upward to a plane of success and affluence. He certainly deserves much credit for what he has accomplished as his prosperity represents the fit utilization of his time and talents.

CHARLES EDGAR HARVEY.

Charles Edgar Harvey, one of the enterprising and progressive agriculturists. of this county, is residing on the farm in Delaware township where he was born on the 7th of November, 1869. a son of William and Rebecca (Knadler) Harvey, the father a native of Ohio and the mother of Indiana. The parents came to Iowa in pioneer days and located in Delaware township, this county, continuing to re- side there during the remainder of their lives. Our subject's paternal grandparents came at the same time and made their home in Four Mile township until called to their final rest. William Harvey engaged in farming all of his life, but he was never a very robust man, always suffering with dyspepsia, and he passed away in May, 1876, at the age of thirty-seven years. His wife lived until February, 1895, being fifty years of age at the time of her demise. They were both laid to rest in Woodland cemetery. Four children were born to them, three sons and one daughter : Samuel M., the eldest, who married Olive Strain and now lives in Des Moines, has three sons. Anna M. became the wife of L. L. Talbott of the capital city and had one child, who died in infancy and she, too, passed away in 1888 at the age of twenty-two years. William, the youngest child, died in infancy.

Charles Edgar Harvey spent his early years in a manner very similar to the majority of boys who are reared in the more sparsely settled districts. He acquired his education in the common schools of Polk county and when he felt that he was qualified to assume the heavier responsibilities of life laid aside his text-books and operated the old homestead for his mother. He worked for his mother until he had reached the age of twenty-five years, at which period he began farming for himself on the property where he now lives, having in- herited it from his father. He has one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 33, Delaware township, and here he engages in general farming, in which pursuit he has met with profitable returns. He has improved the place very much during the period of his residence there, having tiled the land, built good substantial fences, and in 1898 he erected a thoroughly modern and convenient residence containing nine rooms. His land is very valuable, as besides being most fertile it is underlaid by a rich vein of coal, which is being mined by the Economy Coal Company on the percentage basis.

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It was on the IIth of December, 1897, that Mr. Harvey married Miss Hattie Belle Cole, a daughter of Ridley and Sarah (Clendenen) Cole, natives of Eng- land and Pennsylvania respectively. Mr. Cole emigrated to the United States. when a youth of nineteen years and made his way to the west, locating in Dela- ware county, Iowa. It was in Warren county that he later met Miss Clendenen, whom he married in 1863. A few years subsequently they settled in Warren county, and there on the 17th of November, 1888, Mrs. Cole passed away at the age of forty-three years. Mr. Cole followed agricultural pursuits all of his active life but is now living retired in St. Charles, Madison county, enjoying the comforts and ease denied him in his hard-working youth. They were the parents of twelve children, of whom Mrs. Harvey, born on the 12th of Novem- ber, 1878, was the ninth. The others are as follows: Maria married Herbert Burger, of Warren county, and they have five children and live in Holdrege, Nebraska. James was united in marriage to Miss Lillie Snow, of Knoxville, Iowa, and they have two children and live in Warren county. John, who mar- ried Miss Ida Rundle, of Madison county, has five children. Emma became the wife of Riley G. Nickle, of Madison county, and is now living in Des Moines. Charles, who is living in Holdrege, Nebraska, married Miss Hattie Crandall and has four children. George, the sixth child, is married and makes his home in South Dakota. Robert married Miss Sylvia Porter and they have two children and live in Greene county. Alba, who is a resident of this county, married Miss Minnie Anderson and has one child. Ridley, residing in Union county, married Miss Katie Schaff and they became the parents of three children, one of whom is deceased. Fred, who lives in Des Moines, married Dena Baughstry, of Story county, and they have one child. Ethel married Walter Merryman, of Warren county, and they have one child and live in Madison county. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey also have one child, Hazel Arlene, who was born on the 8th of Novem- ber, 1900.

Ever since age conferred upon him the rights of suffrage Mr. Harvey has cast his ballot independently. He always gives his support to those measures which he feels are best adapted to meet the needs and requirements of the time, 'and the men whom he feels will best sustain and advance such issues.

HAROLD RIVERS HOWELL.

Beginning as an insurance solicitor Harold Rivers Howell of Des Moines steadily advanced in a vocation to which he appears to have been especially adapted from the very outset of his business career, and today he is president of one of the largest fire insurance companies of the middle west. He has paid the price of success in activity and hard work and his record cannot fail to be an inspiration to any young man who is ambitious to attain an honorable name. He was born in Millbrook, Ontario, Canada, February 23, 1868, son of Adam and Mary E. Howell. The parents came to Polk county, Iowa, in the fall of 1868, and the following year the father accepted a position with the Hawkeye Insurance Company. He was secretary of the company for many years and afterward its president, serving until his death, which occurred in 1899. He was a man of many admirable qualities and one who gained the confidence and respect of all with whom he came into contact.

Mr. Howell, of this review, was brought to Des Moines by his parents .while in his infancy and received his preliminary education in the public schools of this city. Subsequently he matriculated in the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, from which he was graduated with a degree of B. S. in 1889. He immediately became identified with the insurance business as a solicitor at Des Moines and in 1891 became a partner in the insurance agency of Ryman,

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Lantz & Howell. In 1898 he was appointed assistant secretary of the Hawkeye Insurance Company, and performed his duties with such ability that in 1905 he was made president of the company.

In 1910 a consolidation was effected between the Hawkeye and the Des Moines Fire Insurance Companies, and Mr. Howell has since been president of the consolidated companies. He is also president of the Commercial Fire Insurance Company and the United Realties Company, and vice president of the Wilcox-Howell-Hopkins Company. In addition to his duties in connection with the fire insurance business he is a member of the board of directors of the Des Moines National Bank, the Central Trust Company and the Young Men's Christian Association of Des Moines, and is recognized as one of the prominent and progressive factors in the business circles of the city.

In January, 1891, at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Mr. Howell was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth M. Brown, daughter of H. P. and Maria K. Brown. Mrs. Howell is a highly accomplished lady, a graduate of the Northwestern University and a member of the Kappa Kappa Gama Society of her alma mater. She comes of ancestors who landed very early on the shores of the new world and is a member of the society of the Sons and Daughters of the Mayflower, and also of the Daughters of the Revolution. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Howell has been blessed by the birth of two children, namely: Dorothy Brown and Henry Adam.

Politically, Mr. Howell affiliates with the republican party, but he has never aspired to the honors of public office, as his time and energies have been devoted to business affairs. He is identified with the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, with which he became connected when at the university. In religious belief he adheres to the Methodist church, and socially holds membership in the Grant, Golf and Country and Des Moines Clubs.

It is to men like Mr. Howell that the country owes much of its progress. Thoroughly competent in the discharge of business affairs, faithful to every trust, and always found in the advanced line in anything he undertakes, he may rightfully be regarded as a leader whom it is a pleasure to know and to follow. He possesses the great requisites of leadership, initiative, will power, character and intelligence, and is widely recognized as one of the substantial men of the- community. capable of filling any position to which he may aspire.

JAMES CUNNINGHAM JORDAN.

It would be impossible to write a complete history of Des Moines without mention of James Cunningham Jordan, for his name is interwoven with many events which have left their impress upon the city in its progress toward larger and broader interests. He also aided in shaping the legislation of the state and was a warm friend and adviser of Governor Kirkwood during the period of the Civil war. His birth occurred in Greenbrier county, West Virginia, on the 4th of March, 1813, his parents being John and Agnes (Cunningham) Jordan, who were also natives of that state as were his grandparents, the families being old ones in that section of the south.

Although his educational opportunities were only such as were afforded by the common schools, broad experience brought him wide knowledge and he be- came an active and practical man of affairs whose sound judgment was recog- nized by all. He early engaged in farming and live-stock dealing and subsequently turned his attention to the purchase and sale of real estate and the promotion of the earlier railways of his district. In fact he became identified with almost every business proposition which appealed to him as sound and creditable to handle. His success was steady and firm, furnishing him and his family with a

JAMES C. JORDAN

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most comfortable competence. As a director of the branch of the State Bank at Des Moines, his interests were often subjected to rigid inspection and it was with a pardonable pride that he would say: "The financial coast is clear-no tem- pest to catch me and destroy." He became one of the stockholders on the or- ganization of the bank and was elected a member of its board of directors. While living a few miles out in the country, he was practically a resident of Des Moines and was identified with many of its enterprises along various lines. His support of any project seemed to many of his fellowmen an indication of its worth and brought to it further support.

Mr. Jordan was twice married. In 1837, at Niles, Michigan, he wedded Melinda De Witt Pitman, a daughter of Benjamin and Jemima (De Witt) Pit- man. She was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, in 1819, and came of English and Dutch (Knickerbocker) ancestry. She inherited the industry and thrift of her parents and while many privations incident to Iowa pioneer life were her daily portion, yet her modest and well kept home, her well cared for family and her husband's well preserved pocketbook were constant witnesses to the indomitable energy, the continued watchfulness and devotion to the better life of this most admirable woman. She was a lovely Christian wife and mother, whose light faded far too soon for the world's good .. She died at the age of thirty-five years. In 1856 Mr. Jordan was again married, in Madison county, Iowa, his sec- ond union being with Cynthia D. Adams, a daughter of Cyrus Adams, a descend- ant of the Adams and Hancock families of New England. The children of the first marriage were Benjamin Pitman, Emily Agnes, Henry Clay, John Quincy, James Finley and George Benton. The children, of the second marriage are Ella, Calvin Smith and Edward.

A southerner by birth and an admirer alike of Clay, Harrison and Webster, Mr. Jordan passed easily to the support of Fremont, Fillmore, Harlan and Kirk- wood. Years before, when a very young man, in Virginia, he became convinced of the wrong being done to humanity by legalized negro slavery. At that time he was one of a party engaged in hunting up and returning to their owners a num- ber of fugitive slaves who had escaped from the neighboring plantation. They were trying to elude pursuit by hiding in bushes and caves by day and stealing out at night, enduring untold hardships to make a few miles toward the great free west, of which they had but a vague idea, from hearsay only. These people, men, women and children, with hungry, pinched faces, sad, longing eyes, bleeding feet, and scanty, ragged clothing were quietly caught while most of them were trying to pray for deliverance, and, despite their pitiful pleadings and remonstrances, were marched back to their masters' home and to their lowly life of servitude to await the coming of the storm of anti-slavery heralded by Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, Henry Ward Beecher, John Brown and Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Jordan was a particularly warm friend of Governor Kirkwood, who offered him many military places of honor, which were declined on account of his conviction that he would represent the Union cause better by producing the money for the needs of the government by remaining in civil life rather than in military. In 1854 he was nominated and elected state senator, being the first whig to represent the district which then embraced more than twenty coun- ties. His course received indorsement in his reelection in 1856. In 1879 he was elected representative from Polk county to the lower house of the eighteenth general assembly and several different times he was elected a member of the county board of supervisors. In 1854 he introduced a bill to remove the capitol to Des Moines and by most strenuous effort on the part of himself and his friends the bill was passed. He was among the first few who met Calvin Leigh- ton in discussion of the question of raising funds for the building of the Des Moines Valley Railroad and he suggested the way to secure the extension of the road to the capital city, saying, "I'll be one of two hundred who will give a thousand dollars each," and the money was raised.

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Mr. Jordan belonged to the Early Settlers Society, the Tippecanoe, Pioneers, Octogenarian, and Pioneer Law Makers Societies, and his genuine worth and force of character commanded for him the stalwart friendship and unfaltering regard of many. He was also an earnest Methodist, devoted his time and money when either the church or its schools needed his help and his humble cabin and afterward (when success was his) his spacious and comfortable home were well known as the haven and resting place for weary ministers and their families, a most cordial hospitality always being there dispensed. And not only to these, but to all in need of hospitality was his house a shelter. John Brown and his follow- ers were his secret guests for several days when on their trip to Harper's Ferry. His home was very frequently the resting place of Hon. John A. Kasson, one of Iowa's most eminent statesmen and diplomats, and the warm friendship that ex- isted between these two had an important bearing upon the political history of this state. From the foregoing it will be readily seen that James Cunningham Jordan has left his impress upon the progress and upbuilding of Des Moines and central Iowa and his history deserves a prominent place in this volume.

HENRY BROWN HAWLEY.

Few lines of business have shown such a marvelous development in the last quarter of a century as insurance. New ideas and new plans have been infused into the business and Henry Brown Hawley is numbered among those who have manifested an initiative spirit in this field of endeavor. He has been the organizer of two successful insurance companies and of one of these, the Great Western Accident Association, is still the president. He has today other important busi- ness interests and is well known as a representative of corporate activities in Des Moines. He was born in Gainesville, New York, in 1856, a son of David Waldo and Julia S. (Brown) Hawley. The father, a farmer by occupation, is descended from the famous Waldo and Adams families of Massachusetts, while the mother was a daughter of a soldier of the war of 1812 and a teacher at the age of sixteen years. Numerous ancestors of the colonial and revolutionary days were leaders in that period, relating Mr. Hawley to John Adams, John Quincy Adams, William Fowler, John Drake and Ralph Waldo Emerson of later days. He is of the seventh generation of the descendants of Thomas Graves, who in 1642 had the first vessel built at Boston for foreign trade. For good service in the English channel he was rewarded by parliament with the title of rear admiral.

Henry B. Hawley pursued his early education in the country schools and in the Warsaw (N. Y.) Academy. Subsequently he became a teacher in the academy but while devoting his attention to that profession his interest in mercantile affairs was awakened and he became a member of the firm of Rowe & Hawley, grocers and produce merchants of Warsaw. At length, however, the west, with its broader opportunities, attracted him and upon coming to Iowa in 1882 he pur- chased a creamery at Ames, where a year later he also opened a grocery and boot and shoe store. At the age of thirty years he turned his attention to insurance as a life work, as it seemed to combine both the intellectual and active side of business. He constantly enlarged the scope of his activities in this connection and became the founder of the Bankers Accident Company, of which he served as the president for seven years. At length he disposed of his interest in that connection to organize the Great Western Accident Association on different lines. He was the first man in Iowa to establish a successful health and accident com- pany, which has given him the appellation of "Dean of Iowa accident insurance men." He has displayed an initiative spirit in the establishment and conduct of important insurance interests, striking out along new lines, his sound judgment, however. recognizing the value of the course which he pursues. He is presi-

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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 122

Author: Brigham, Johnson, 1846-1936; Clarke (S.J.) Publishing Company, Chicago, pub Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 1464

Author: Brigham, Johnson, 1846-1936; Clarke (S.J.) Publishing Company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1464