USA > Iowa > Black Hawk County > Historical and biographical record of Black Hawk County, Iowa > Part 19
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Cyrus attended a common school three or four months in a year until 1846, then
taught. winters and worked on a farm sum- mers for three or four years, and with the money thus raised paid his expenses for several months at the academy which had been established in his native town. After leaving this institution, in 1852, he started westward; halted at Johnstown, Licking County, Ohio; taught there a year and a half, and with his funds thus replenished he came to Iowa, loitering some on the way, and reaching Des Moines in June, 1854. A few days later he started on foot up the Des Moines Valley, and found his way to Fort Dodge, eighty miles northwest of Des Moines, from which place the soldiers had moved the previous spring to Fort Ridgely, Minnesota.
He now had but a single half dollar in his pocket. He frankly told the landlord of his straightened circumstances, offering to do any kind of labor until something should "turn up." On the evening of his arrival he heard a Government contractor state that his chief surveyor had left him and that he was going out to find another. Young Carpenter at once offered his ser- vices. To the inquiry whether he was a surveyor, he answered that he understood the theory of surveying, but had had no experience in the field. His services were promptly accepted, with a promise of steady
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employment if he were found competent. The next morning he met the party and took command. When the first week's work was done he went to Fort Dodge to replenish his wardrobe. As he left, some of the men remarked that that was the last that would be seen of him. He was then of a slight build, jaded and torn by hard work, and, when he left the camp, so utterly tired out it is not surprising that the men who were inured to out-door life thought him completely used up. But they did not know their man. With the few dollars which he had earned, he supplied himself with comfortable clothing, went back to his work on Monday morning and con- tinued it till the contract was completed.
The next winter he taught the first school opened in Fort Dodge, and from that date his general success was assured. For the first two years he was employed much of the time by persons having contracts for surveying Government lands. He was thus naturally led into the land business, and from the autumn of 1855, when the Land Office was established at Fort Dodge, much of his time was devoted to surveying, select- ing lands for buyers, tax-paying for foreign owners, and in short a general land agency. During this period he devoted such time as he could spare to reading law, with the view of eventually entering the profession.
Soon after the civil war commenced he entered the army, and before going into the field was commissioned as Captain in the staff department, and served over three years, attaining the rank of Lieutenant- Colonel and being mustered out as brevet Colonel.
He has served his State in numerous civil capacities. He was elected Surveyor of Webster County in the spring of 1856, and the next year was elected a Represen- tative to the General Assembly, and served in the first session of that body held at Des Moines. He was elected Register of the
State Land Office in 1866, re-elected in 1868, and held the office four years, declin- ing to be a candidate for renomination.
He was elected Governor of Iowa in 1871, and was inaugurated January 11, 1872. He was re-elected two years later, and served until January 13, 1874. He made an able and popular executive. In his first inaugural address, delivered January II, 1872, he made a strong plea for the State University, and especially its normal de- partment, for the agricultural college, and for whatever would advance the material progress and prosperity of the people, urg- ing in particular the introduction of more manufactories.
At the expiration of his second term as Governor Mr. Carpenter was appointed, without his previous knowledge, Second Comptroller of the United States Treasury, and resigned after holding that office about fifteen months. He was influenced to take this step at that time because another bureau officer was to be dismissed, as the head of the department held that Iowa had more heads of bureaus than she was entitled to, and his resigning an office of a higher grade saved a man who deserved to remain in Government employ.
He was in the forty-seventh Congress from 1881 to 1883, and represented Web- ster County in the twentieth General As- sembly. He is now leading the life of a private citizen at Fort Dodge, his chief employment being the carrying on of a farm. He is not rich, which is a striking commentary on his long official service. He has led a pure and upright life.
He has been a Republican since the or- ganization of that party. In religious mat- ters he is orthodox.
He was married in March, 1864, to Miss Susan C. Burkholder, of Fort Dodge. They have no children, but have reared from childhood a niece of Mrs. Carpenter, Miss Fannie Burkholder.
2.9. hawbold
211
JOSHUA G. NEWBOLD.
+ 8 JOSHUA G. NEWBOLD. :
OSHUA G. NEWBOLD was the tenth Governor of the State, and the thirteenth of Iowa, num- bering from the first Territorial Governor. He is yet living at Mount Pleasant. He is a native of Pennsylvania, and his an- cestors in this country were among the very early set- tlers in New Jersey. They were Friends, and conse- quently none of them figured in the struggle for the independence of the colo- nies. Governor Newbold is the son of Barzilla and Catherine (Houseman) New- bold. He was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, May 12, 1830, and reared as a farmer. When he was eight years of age the family moved to Westmoreland County, same State, where he was educated in the common school, and also in a select school or academy, the latter taught by Dr. John Lewis, since of Grinnell, Iowa. At sixteen he returned with the family to Fayette County, where he remained eight years, assisting his father in running a flouring mill, when not teaching. When about nine- teen he began the study of medicine, read- ing a year or more while teaching, and then abandoning the notion of being a physician.
In the month of March, 1854, Mr. New- bold removed to Iowa, locating on a farm, now partly in the corporation of Mount Pleasant, Henry County. At the end of one year he removed to Cedar Township, Van Buren County, there merchandising and farming till about 1860, when he re- moved to Hillsboro, Henry County, and pursued the same callings.
In 1862, when the call was made for 600,- 000 men to finish the work of crushing the Rebellion, Mr. Newbold left his farm in the hands of his family and his store in charge of his partner, and went into the army as Captain of Company C, Twenty-fifth Regi- ment Iowa Infantry. He served nearly three years, resigning just before the war closed, on account of disability. During the last two or three months he served at the South he filled the position of Judge Advocate, with headquarters at Woodville, Alabama.
His regiment was one of those that made Iowa troops famous. It arrived at Helena, Arkansas, in November, 1862, and sailed in December following on the expedition against Vicksburg by way of Chickasaw Bayou. At the latter place was its first en- gagement. Its second was at Arkansas Post, and there it suffered severely, losing in killed and wounded more than sixty.
After Lookout Mountain it joined in the pursuit of Bragg's flying forces to Ring-
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gold, where it engaged the enemy in their strong works, November 27 losing twenty- nine wounded. The following year it joined Sherman in his Atlanta campaign, then on the famous march to the sea and through the Carolinas.
On returning to lowa he continued in the mercantile trade at Hillsboro for three or four years, and then sold out, giving thereafter his whole attention to agricult- ure, stock-raising and stock-dealing, mak- ing the stock department an important factor in his business for several years. Mr. Newbold was a member of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth General Assem- blies, representing Henry County, and was chairman of the school committee in the fourteenth, and of the committee on appro- priations in the fifteenth General Assembly. In the fifteenth (1874) he was temporary Speaker during the deadlock in organizing the House. In 1875 he was elected Lieu- tenant Governor on the Republican ticket with Samuel J. Kirkwood.
His Democratic competitor was E. B. Woodward, who received 93,060 votes. Mr. Newbold received 134,166, or a majority of 31,106. Governor Kirkwood being elected United States Senator during that session, Mr. Newbold became Governor, taking the chair February 1, 1877, and vacating it for Governor Gear in January, 1878.
Governor Newbold's message to the Leg- islature in 1878 shows painstaking care and a clear business-like view of the in- terests of the State. His recommendations were carefully considered and largely adopted. The State's finances were then in a less creditable condition than ever be- fore or since, as there was an increasing floating debt, then amounting to $340,- 826.56, more than $90,000 in excess of the Constitutional limitation. Said Governor Newbold in his message: "The common- wealth ought not to set an example of dila-
toriness in meeting its obligations. Of all forms of indebtedness, that of a floating character is the most objectionable. The uncertainty as to its amount will invariably enter into any computation made by persons contracting with the State for supplies, ma- terial or labor. To remove the present difficulty, and to avert its recurrence, I look upon as the most important work that will demand your attention."
One of the greatest problems before statesmen is that of equal and just taxation. The following recommendation shows that Governor Newbold was abreast with fore- most thinkers, for it proposes a step which yearly finds more favor with the people : " The inequalities of the personal-property valuations of the several counties suggest to my mind the propriety of so adjusting the State's levy as to require the counties to pay into the State treasury only the tax on realty, leaving the corresponding tax on personalty in the county treasury. This would rest with each county the adjust- ment of its personal property valuations, without fear that they might be so high as to work injustice to itself in comparison with other counties."
Governor Newbold has always affiliated with the Republican party, and holds to its great cardinal doctrines, having once em- braced them, with the same sincerity and honesty that he cherishes his religious senti- ments. He has been a Christian for some- thing like twenty-five years, his connection being with the Free-Will Baptist church. He found his wife, Rachel Farquhar, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, their union taking place on the 2d of May, 1850. They have had five children, and lost two. The names of the living are-Mary Allene, Emma Irene and George C.
The Governor is not yet an old man, and may serve his State or county in other capacities in the coming years.
215
JOHN H. GEAR.
JOHN H. GEAR.
O
HE eleventh to hold the highest official posi- tion in the State of Iowa was John H. Gear, of Burlington. He is yet living in that city. He was born in Ithaca, New York, April 7, 1825. His father was Rev. E.G. Gear, a cler- gyman of the Protestant Episcopal church, who was born in New London, Connecticut, in 1792. When he was quite young his family removed to Pittsfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts; in 1816, after being or- dained, he emigrated to New York and settled at Onondaga Hill, near which is now the thriving city of Syracuse. Soon after locating there he was married to Miranda E. Cook. He was engaged in the ministry in various places in Western New York until 1836, when he removed to Galena, Illinois. There he remained until 1838, when he was appointed Chaplain in the United States Army at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. He died in 1874, aged eighty-two years.
John H., his only son, in 1843, came to Burlington, where he has since continued to reside. On his arrival he commenced
his mercantile career by engaging as clerk with the firm of Bridgeman & Bros. After being with this firm for a little over a year he entered the employ of W. F. Coolbaugh (since president of the Union National Bank, of Chicago), who was even at that early date the leading merchant of Eastern Iowa. He was clerk for Mr. Coolbaugh for about five years, and was then taken into partnership. The firm of W. F. Cool- baugh & Co. continued in business for nearly five years, when Mr. Gear suc- ceeded to the business by purchase, and carried it on until he became known as the oldest wholesale grocer in the State. He is now president of a large rolling mill company at Burlington.
Mr. Gear has been honored by his fellow- citizens with many positions of trust. In 1852 he was elected alderman ; in 1863 was elected mayor over A. W. Carpenter, be- ing the first Republican up to that time who had been elected in Burlington on a party issue. In 1867 the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Minnesota Railroad Company was organized, and he was chosen as its president. His efforts highly contributed to the success of the enterprise, which did much for Burlington. He was also active in promoting the Burlington & Southwest- ern Railway, as well as the Burlington & North western narrow-gauge road.
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He has always acted with the Republican party, and in 1871 was nominated and elected a member of the House of Repre- sentatives of the Fourteenth General As- sembly. In 1873 he was elected to the Fifteenth General Assembly. The Repub- lican caucus of the House nominated him for Speaker by acclamation, and after a contest of two weeks he was chosen over his opponent, J. W. Dixon. He filled the position of Speaker very acceptably, and at the close of the session all the members of the House, independent of party affili- ations, joined in signing their names to a resolution of thanks, which was engraved and presented to him. In 1875 he was the third time nominated to the Assembly by the Republican party, and while his county gave a large Democratic vote he was again elected. He was also again nominated for Speaker, by the Republican caucus, and was elected by a handsome majority over his competitor, Hon. John Y. Stone. He is the only man in the State who ever had the honor of being chosen to this high posi- tion a second time. He enjoys the reputa- tion of being an able parliamentarian, his rulings never having been appealed from. At the close of the session he again received the unanimous thanks of the House for his courtesy and impartiality.
In 1877 he was nominated for Governor by the Republican convention which met at Des Moines, June 28, and at the election held the following October he received 121,546 votes, against 79,353 for John P. Irish, 10,639 for Elias Jessup, and 38,228 for D. P. Stubbs. His plurality over Irish was 42,193. He was inaugurated January 17, 1878, and served four years, being re-elected in 1879, by the following handsome vote : Gear, 157,571 ; Trimble, 85,056 ; Campbell, 45,439; Dungan, 3,258; Gear's majority over all competitors, 23,828. His second inauguration was in January, 1880.
Governor Gear's business habits enabled
him to discharge the duties of his office with marked ability. He found the finan- cial condition of the State in a low ebb, but raised lowa's credit to that of the best of our States. In his last biennial message he was able to report: "The warrants out- standing, but not bearing interest, Septem- ber 30, 1881, amounted to $22,093.74, and there are now in the treasury ample funds to meet the current expenses of the State. The war and defense debt has been paid, except the warrants for $125,000 negotiated by the executive, auditor and treasurer,
under the law of the Eighteenth General Assembly, and $2,500 of the original bonds not yet presented for payment. The only other debt owing by the State amounts to $245,435.19, due to the permanent school fund, a portion of which is made irredeem- able by the Constitution. These facts place Iowa practically among the States which have no debt, a consideration which must add much to her reputation. The expenses of the State for the last two years are less than those of any other period since 1869, and this notwithstanding the fact that the State is to-day sustaining several institu- tions not then in existence; namely, the hospital at Independence, the additional penitentiary, the normal school, and the asylum for the feeble-minded children, be- sides the girl's department of the reform school. The State also, at present, makes provision for fish culture, for a useful weather service, for sanitary supervision by a board of health, for encouraging im- migration to the State, for the inspection of coal mines by a State inspector, and liberally for the military arm of the Government."
Governor Gear is now in the sixty-first year of his age, and is in the full vigor of both his mental and physical faculties. He was married in 1852 to Harriet S. Foot, formerly of Middlebury, Vermont, by whom he has had four children, two of whom are living.
B. B. Sherman
219
BUREN R. SHERMAN.
BUREN R. SHERMAN.
HE twelfth Governor of the State was Buren R. Sherman, who held office two terms, from 1882 to 1886. He was born in Phelps, Ontario County, New York, May 28, 1836, and is the third son of Phineas L. and Eve- line (Robinson) Sherman, both of whom were natives of the Empire State.
The subject of this sketch received his early educa- tion in the public schools of his native place, and con- cluded his studies at Elmira, New York, acquiring a thorough knowledge of the English branches. At the close of his studies, acting on the advice of his father, who was a mechanic (an ax maker), he ap- prenticed himself to Mr. S. Ayres, of El- mira, to learn the watchmaker's trade. In 1855, with his family, he removed to Iowa and settled upon an unbroken prairie, in what is now Geneseo Township, Tama County, where his father had purchased lands from the Government. There young Sherman labored on his father's farm, em- ploying his leisure hours in the study of law, which he had begun at Elmira. He also engaged as bookkeeper in a neighbor- 19
ing town, and with his wages assisted his parents in improving their farm. In the summer of 1859 he was admitted to the bar, and the following spring removed to Vin- ton, and began the practice of law with Hon. William Smyth, formerly District Judge, and J. C. Traer, conducting the business under the firm name of Smyth, Traer & Sherman.
They built up a flourishing practice and were prospering when, upon the opening of the war, in 1861, Mr. Sherman enlisted in Company G, Thirteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and immediately went to the front. He entered the service as Second Sergeant, and in February, 1862, was made Second Lieutenant of Company E. On the 6th of April following he was very severely wounded at the battle of Pittsburg Landing, and while in the hospital was promoted to the rank of Captain. He returned to his company while yet obliged to use crutches, and remained on duty till the summer of 1863, when, by reason of his wound, he was compelled to resign and return home. Soon after returning from the army he was elected County Judge of Benton County, and re-elected without opposition in 1865. In the autumn of 1866 he resigned his judge- ship and accepted the office of clerk of the District Court, to which he was re-elected in 1868, 1870 and 1872, and in December, 1874, resigned in order to accept the office
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of Auditor of State, to which he had been elected by a majority of 28,425 over J. M. King, the "anti-monopoly" candidate. In 1876 he was re-nominated and received 50,- 272 more votes than W. Growneweg(Demo- crat) and Leonard Brown (Greenback) to- gether. In 1878 he was again chosen to represent the Republican party in that office, and this time received a majority of 7, 164 over the combined votes of Colonel Eiboeck (Democrat) and G. V. Swearenger (Green- back). In the six years that he held this office, he was untiring in his faithful appli- cation to routine work and devotion to his especial share of the State's business. He retired with such an enviable record that it was with no surprise the people learned, June 27, 1881, that he was the nominee of the Republican party for Governor
The campaign was an exciting one. The General Assembly had submitted to the people the prohibitory amendment to the Constitution. This, while not a partisan question, became uppermost in the mind of the public. Mr. Sherman received 133,- 330 votes, against 83,244 for Kinne and 28,- 112 for D. M. Clark, or a plurality of 50,086 and a majority of 21,974. In 1883 he was re-nominated by the Republicans, as was L. G. Kinne by the Democrats. The National party offered J. B. Weaver. During the campaign these candidates held a number of joint discussions at different points in the State. At the election the vote was: Sher- man, 164,182 ; Kinne, 139,093 ; Weaver, 23,- 089; Sherman's plurality, 25,089 ; majority, 2,000. In his second inaugural Governor Sherman said :
" In assuming, for the second time, the office of Chief Magistrate of the State, I fully realize my grateful obligations to the people of Iowa, through whose generous confidence I am here. I am aware of the duties and grave responsibilities of this ex- alted position, and as well what is expected of me therein. As in the past I have given
my undivided time and serious attention thereto, so in the future I promise the most earnest devotion and untiring effort in the faithful performance of my official require- ments. I have seen the State grow from infancy to mature manhood, and each year one of substantial betterment of its previous position.
" With more railroads than any other State, save two; with a school interest the grandest and strongest, which commands the support and confidence of all the pco- ple, and a population, which in its entirety is superior to any other in the sisterhood, it is not strange the pride which attaches to our people. When we remember that the results of our efforts in the direction of good government have been crowned with such magnificent success, and to-day we have a State in most perfect physical and financial condition, no wonder our hearts swell in honest pride as we contemplate the past and so confidently hope for the future. What we may become depends on our own efforts, and to that future I look with earnest and abiding confidence."
Governor Sherman's term of office con- tinued until January 14, 1886, when he was succeeded by William Larrabee, and he is now, temporarily, perhaps, enjoying a well- earned rest. He has been a Republican since the organization of that party, and his services as a campaign speaker have been for many years in great demand. As an officer he has been able to make an enviable record. Himself honorable and thorough, his management of public business has been of the same character, and such as has com- mended him to the hearty approval of the citizens of the State.
He was married August 20, 1862, to Miss Lena Kendall, of Vinton, Iowa, a young lady of rare accomplishments and strength of character. The union has been happy in every respect. They have two children -Lena Kendall and Oscar Eugene.
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WILLIAM LARRABEE.
ILLIAM LARRABEE is the thirteenth Governor of this State, and the six- teenth Governor of Iowa, counting from the Territo- rial organization. His ancestors bore the name of d'Larrabee, and were among the French Hugue- nots who came to America early in the seventeenth century, set- tling in Connecticut. Adam Larrabee was born March 14, 1787, and was one of the early graduates of West Point Military Academy. He served with distinction in the war of 1812, having been made a Second Lieuten- ant March 1, 1811, He was promoted to be Captain February 1, 1814, and was soon after, March 30, of the same year, severely wounded at the battle of Lacole Mills, dur- ing General Wilkinson's campaign on the St. Lawrence. He recovered from this wound, which was in the lung, and was afterward married to Hannah Gallup Lester, who was born June 8, 1798, and died March 15, 1837. Captain Larrabee died in 1869, aged eighty-two. The subject of this sketch was born at Ledyard, Connecticut, January 20, 1832, and was the seventh of nine children. He passed his early life on a rugged New Eng- land farm, and received only moderate school advantages. He attended the dis- trict schools winters until nineteen years of age, and then taught school for two winters. He was now of an age when it became necessary to form some plans for the future. In this, however, he was embarrassed by a misfortune which befel him at the age of fourteen. In being trained to the use of fire-arms under his father's direction, an ac- cidental discharge resulted in the loss of sight in the right eye. This unfitted him for many employments usually sought by ambitious youths. The family lived two miles from the sea, and in that locality it was the custom for at least one son in each family to become a sailor. William's two eldest brothers chose this occupation, and the third remained in charge of the home farm. Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.