USA > Iowa > Black Hawk County > History of Black Hawk County, Iowa, and its people, Volume II > Part 32
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CHARLES H. PLUMMER.
In the death of Charles H. Plummer, Black Hawk county lost a valued and representative citizen. He was filling the office of recorder of deeds and made an excellent record in that connection. His public and private duties were dis- charged with equal fidelity and promptness, and wherever known he was held in high regard because of his many excellent traits of character.
Mr. Plummer was a native of Michigan, his birth having occurred in Ontona- gon in 1860. His parents were Daniel and Pauline Plummer, who came to this county after the Civil war, in which the father had served in the defense of the Union, holding the rank of captain. After removing to this state the parents lived in Cedar Falls until 1894. The father had mining interests in Colorado which required his presence in that state a part of the time. He retired some years prior to his death and spent his remaining days in the enjoyment of the fruits of his former toil, passing away in Cedar Falls, where also occurred the death of his wife. In their family were ten children, five of whom are yet living.
Charles H. Plummer was practically a lifelong resident of Black Hawk county, being a little lad when brought to Iowa by his parents. His education was acquired in the schools of this county, for he supplemented the work of the grades by study in the high school and in the normal school at Cedar Falls. Before his marriage he was identified for a number of years with the Yellow- stone Park Transportation Company and later he was identified with his father in silver mining in Colorado. For ten years prior to his death he was inter- ested in coal lands at Monida, Idaho, and while developing and looking after his interests there he met with an accident which terminated his life ten years later.
The capability which he displayed in his business affairs and his recognized public spirit were the factors which led to his selection for public office. In 1906 he was made the republican nominee for the office of recorder of Black Hawk county and made such a creditable record that he was elected again and again until he had been chosen for the office for the fourth term and was acting
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in that capacity at the time of his demise. He also served as sergeant at arms in the lower house of the state legislature in Colorado. He ever regarded a public office as a public trust-and no trust reposed in Charles H. Plummer was ever betrayed in the slightest degree.
In 1892 Mr. Plummer was united in marriage to Miss Sarah E. Eiler, a native of Waukesha, Wisconsin, and a daughter of Phillip and Fredericka Eiler, who came to Black Hawk county in 1868. Her father purchased land, began its development and continued to follow farming until he retired from active business life and took up his abode in Cedar Falls, where his remaining days were passed. He developed and at one time owned two hundred and sixty acres of rich and arable land near Cedar Falls, which he brought to a high state of cultivation and to which he added many modern improvements in the way of good buildings and farm machinery. His death occurred in 1883, while his wife, surviving him for more than two decades, passed away in 1906. They were the parents of six children, of whom three are yet living: George, who is now a resident of Appleton City, Missouri; Daniel, living at Ackley, lowa; and Mrs. Plummer. Those who have passed away are Carrie, Louise and Phillip.
By his first marriage Charles H. Plummer had a son, Frank, who was born in 1880. By the second marriage there were born two sons: Roger W., whose birth occurred in 1899 and who is now attending the high school; and Daniel C., who was born in 1904 and is a pupil in the public schools.
The religious faith of the family is that of the Methodist Episcopal church and excellent traits of character have won for them high regard. Mr. Plummer was a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the American Yeomen. He died in the year 1913, while filling the office of county recorder, and his wife was appointed to fill out the unexpired term, in which position she continued until the Ist of January, 1915. Through the long years of his residence in this county Mr. Plummer became widely known and his many substantial qualities gained for him the high regard, confidence and goodwill of those with whom he was brought in contact. In all of his business career he was never known to take advantage of the necessities of another and in his dealings was strictly fair and reliable. In office, too, he displayed the same spirit of fidelity and he was numbered among those citizens who at departing this life have left behind them an extensive circle of warm friends. He never sought to figure in any spectacular connection, and his life was at all times guided by high and manly principles, his course being one which at no time sought nor required disguise.
J. CECIL BICKLEY, M. D.
Dr. J. Cecil Bickley is engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Waterloo, in which city his birth occurred in 1883, he being a son of the veteran physician, John G. Bickley. Spending his youthful days under the parental roof, he began his education at the usual age in the public schools and passed through consecutive grades, advancing year by year until graduated from the East Waterloo high school with the class of 1903. Whether inherited tendency, natural predilection or environment had most to do with shaping his choice of a
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career, it is impossible to determine, yet when we regard his success it seems evident that nature intended him for the calling to which he is now devoting his life.
Dr. Bickley's early professional training was received in Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago, in which he was a student for two years and later he entered the New York University Medical School, from which he was graduated with the M. D. degree in 1907. He spent a year and a half in the New York Surgical Institute, thus gaining broad knowledge, and, splendidly equipped for his pro- fession, he returned to Waterloo and became associated in practice with his father and brother. From the beginning his advancement in his professional career has been substantial and rapid. He went abroad and attended various European clinics, thus having opportunity to observe the advanced methods of some of the most eminent physicians and surgeons of the old world. On returning he resumed practice in Waterloo and he is now attending physician to both of the hospitals of this city, having considerable hospital work in addition to his gen- eral practice. He is identified with various medical organizations including the Waterloo, Black Hawk County, Austin Flint, Cedar Valley and Iowa State Medical Societies.
In June, 1908, Dr. Bickley was united in marriage to Miss Ollie French, of Waterloo, and they have two children, John Wallace and Kathryne Evelyn. Dr. Bickley is a member of the Christadelphian church of Waterloo. He is indeed a well known citizen here, having spent his entire life in Black Hawk county save for periods of study in the east and in Europe. There were qualities which he displayed in boyhood which even then won him the friendship of the old as well as the young, and throughout his entire life these qualities have dominated his career, making him popular with his fellow townsmen, while his professional success has come to him as the just reward of ability and merit.
JOHN LEMMER.
John Lemmer has been identified with milling interests in Cedar Falls since August, 1880, and is now serving as superintendent of the mechanical department of the Waterloo & Cedar Falls Union Mill Company, a position for which ability and experience have well qualified him. He was born in Lee county, Iowa, October 5, 1858, a son of John and Mary (Breiner ) Lemmer, the former a native of Bavaria, Germany, and the latter of Alsace, France. In early life the father was a machinist. He came to America in the early '50s, set- tling first in Chicago, whence a removal was made to Iowa, at which time he took up his abode upon a farm in Lee county. After devoting a period to farming he removed with his family to Keokuk and engaged in business in that city until his death, which occurred in 1864. His widow survived him for an extended period, passing away in 1888.
They were the parents of three children, of whom John Lemmer is the eldest. He attended the schools of Keokuk and afterward was a student in a parochial school at West Point, Iowa. On leaving the southern part of the state in 1879, when twenty-one years of age, he went to Pottawattamie county,
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Iowa. He had previously learned the miller's trade and for a brief period fol- lowed that vocation in Pottawattamie county. He was afterward engaged in the same business at Nora Springs, Iowa, where he continued until midwinter of that year and then removed to Nashua. He followed milling in that place and also at Fort Madison, Iowa, prior to coming to Cedar Falls in 1880. Here he entered the employ of G. N. Miner in the milling business and remained with him until he sold out to the Cedar Falls Mill Company, with which he was con- nected until 1890. The business was then merged with the Cedar Falls Mill Company and Mr. Lemmer remained in the employ of the latter organization until 1901, when the Waterloo & Cedar Falls Union Mill Company was organ- ized. He has continued with the last named to the present and is now occupying the responsible position of superintendent of the mechanical department. He thoroughly understands the latest and most improved methods of flour pro- duction and keeps in touch with the advancement that is continually being made in the process of manufacturing flour. He devotes his entire time to the inter- ests of the company. He has also become a landowner in the states of South Dakota and Oklahoma and his investments have been judiciously made.
On the 22d of April, 1884, Mr. Lemmer was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Foccke, a native of Lee county, Iowa, and a daughter of Gerhardt and Elizabeth (Sanders) Foecke, both of whom were natives of Hanover, Ger- many. The father came to the new world when a young man, landing at New Orleans and making his way up the Mississippi river to Galena, Illinois, from which point he walked to southern Iowa, at which time there was but one log house in what is now Cedar Rapids. He became a landowner and spent his remaining days in Lee county. He was married in this state and always fol- lowed farming as a life work. He died in the year 1894, while his wife sur- vived until 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Lemmer have become the parents of five chil- dren : Mary Frances; John G., who is employed by the International Harvester Company ; Lizzie, who is in the employ of the Cedar Falls National Bank; Carl, who is with the Bancroft Greenhouse Company; and Robert G., who is with the Chapman Lumber Company of Waterloo.
Mr. Lemmer holds membership in the Roman Catholic church and in that faith has reared his family. He is well known in Cedar Falls, where for more than a third of a century he has made his home, his activities winning him recog- nition as one of the leading representatives of industrial interests in his city.
H. B. LICHTY.
Waterloo owes much to the efforts of H. B. Lichty, who has various con- nections with important business concerns of the city, being president of the Waterloo Cement Machinery Corporation and president of the Black Hawk Manufacturing Company. His plans are ever well formulated and carefully executed and his energy and determination have carried him into important relations. Waterloo numbers him among her native sons. His father, Lewis Lichty, came to this city about 1864 or 1865 and was prominently identified with business interests here. He was also mayor of the city for a number of years
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and thus aided in shaping the public policy. Said one who knew him well, "His word was as good as his bond; he was the soul of honor and the better one knew him, the greater the respect and the warmer the friendship."
H. B. Lichty was reared and educated in Waterloo and also was for some time a student in the State University of Iowa. He made his initial step in the business world in connection with the real-estate and abstract business and is still a member of the Sedgwick-Lichty Abstract Company of Waterloo. He laid out the Highland addition to the city under the name of the Highland Improvement Company, which he organized, and through his real-estate activi- ties has contributed much to the development and improvement of the city. He is now concentrating his efforts largely upon the management and interests of the Waterloo Cement Machinery Corporation and the Black Hawk Manu- facturing Company. The former was organized and incorporated in January, 1909, with an authorized capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. Something of the steady and substantial growth of the business is indicated in the fact that the authorized capital stock at the present time is two hundred thousand dollars, of which one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars has been paid up, and the business for 1914 was fifteen times that of 1909. This company was organized by Mr. Lichty, who still remains as president, with L. H. Weide- man vice president, L. A. Kliebenstein as secretary and S. J. Hall as treasurer. The principal product of the plant is concrete mixers and they also manufacture builders' hoist and material elevators. Their factory is at the corner of Vinton and Glenwood streets and they have in their employ about one hundred men, while throughout the United States they are represented by many local agents. The business has grown along substantial lines and has now reached extensive and gratifying proportions, the annual sale of the output bringing to them a very desirable financial return.
In 1893 Mr. Lichty was united in marriage to Miss Annie M. Buren, of Missouri, and they have one son, Wilbur Lewis. Mr. Lichty holds membership with the Masonic fraternity, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Commercial Club and Board of Trade. He has many sterling qualities which have won for him high regard. His life record is an indication of the fact that the sources of our power lie within ourselves. His ability and business talent have developed with the passing years and he is today one of those who is ready to meet any emergency with the consciousness of personal strength that comes from a right conception of things and an habitual regard for what is best in the exercise of human activities.
FRANK T. HARTMAN, M. D.
Dr. Frank T. Hartman, one of the leading physicians of Waterloo, con- scientious in the performance of all his professional duties and splendidly equipped by preliminary study and wide reading for the onerous work which devolves upon him, was born in Jones county, Iowa, in 1870, and in the acquire- ment of his education supplemented a district school course by study in the Upper Iowa University and in a commercial college. Desiring to become a
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member of the medical profession, he entered the Rush Medical College of Chicago, wherein he completed his course with the class of 1897. Removing to southern Texas, he spent one year in that state and then came to Waterloo, where he has since practiced. Ambitious to attain the highest degree of efficiency in his chosen life work, he has attended the New York Post-Graduate College and has also by wide reading and investigation added largely to his knowledge. In the summer of 1914 he went abroad and had unusual experiences, being in Berlin when the war broke out. He witnessed the mobilization of the German army, having the opportunity of seeing all of the head officers of the army and navy and many representatives of the nobility. He reports, too, that he was treated with every courtesy by the German government and people and had few discomforts in making his way out of the country in preparation for the return voyage to America.
In 1904 Dr. Hartman was united in marriage to Miss Effie E. MacMillan, of Des Moines, Iowa. They hold membership in the Grace Methodist Episcopal church and Dr. Hartman is also a member of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation. They are well known socially and the hospitality of Waterloo's best homes is cordially extended them. Dr. Hartman is actively connected with two fraternities, the Masons and with Helmet Lodge, K. P., while along strictly professional lines his membership is in the Waterloo Medical Society, the Black Hawk County Medical Society, the Iowa State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the Clinical Congress of Surgeons of North America. Thus he keeps in touch with the most advanced thought of the profession and in his practice employs modern scientific methods.
HARRY B. TURNIPSEED.
Harry B. Turnipseed, an attorney at law practicing at Cedar Falls as a member of the firm of Martin & Turnipseed, is a worthy representative of that profession to which property. life and liberty must look for protection. He is well versed in the science of jurisprudence and, with ability to accurately apply its principles, he has made for himself a creditable name in professional circles, while his devotion to his clients' interests has become proverbial. He was born in Wellman, Washington county, Iowa, on the 4th of June, 1888, a son of Isaac N. and Mary Beile (McBride) Turnipseed, both of whom were natives of lowa, the former born in Washington county and the latter in Keokuk county. The father spent his active life in the mercantile business, opening one of the first stores in Wellman, after which he was closely identified with the commercial interests of that town for thirty years. He still resides there but is now living retired, enjoying a rest which he has truly earned and richly deserves.
Harry B. Turnipseed began his education in the public schools of his native town and passed through consecutive grades until he reached the high school. Later he attended the University of Iowa during the years from 1905 to 1910 and by gaining a liberal education became well qualified for life's practical and responsible duties. He was engaged in teaching for five years and it was during that time that he devoted the vacation periods to work in the liberal arts college
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in the Iowa State University, completing in that manner what was practically a three years' course. While engaged in teaching he served as principal of the schools of Orchard, Iowa, for a time and later was made superintendent of the schools at Keswick, Iowa, while still later he was school superintendent at Ute, lowa. In 1910 he returned to the state university and entered upon his law course, being graduated from the law department with the class of 1913, at which time the LL. B. degree was conferred upon him. While engaged in pur- suing his law studies in 1912 and 1913 he was president of the Resh chapter of the Acacia fraternity, an organization of college Masons.
After his admission to the bar Mr. Turnipseed came to Cedar Falls on the 23d of July, 1913, and entered the law office of Hemenway & Martin. On the Ist of October of the same year he succeeded to the interest of Mr. Hemenway upon his retirement from active practice and is now junior partner in the firni of Martin & Turnipseed, in which connection he is making rapid professional progress.
Mr. Turnipseed has membership in Black Hawk Lodge, No. 65, A. F. & A. M. He is also a member of the Cedar Falls and the Waterloo Commercial Clubs and cooperates in the plans of those organizations for the upbuilding and development of this section of the county. He is likewise a member of the Woodlawn Golf Club, which indicates something of the nature of his recrea- tion. He is alert, energetic and determined, recognizes and improves oppor- tunities and step by step is advancing, securing thereby with each forward movement a broader outlook and wider opportunities.
C. A. WATERBURY, M. D.
For a decade Dr. C. A. Waterbury has been numbered among Waterloo's able physicians and surgeons. He is a man of pronounced ability in his chosen profession because of his thorough preliminary study, his subsequent wide reading and his conscientious devotion to the duties of his calling. Cedar Rapids numbers him among her native sons, his birth having there occurred in 1875, but in 1878 he was brought to Waterloo, where he was reared and acquired his public-school education, passing through consecutive grades until graduated from the West Waterloo high school. He afterward spent three years as a student in the medical department of the University of Iowa, after which he matriculated in the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago, from which he was graduated in 1899, the degree of M. D. being at that time conferred upon him. He then located for practice at Hudson, where he remained for five years, when, seeking a broader field of labor, he came to Waterloo, opened an office and has since engaged in general practice. He belongs to the Waterloo Medical Society, the Black Hawk County Medical Society, the Austin Flint Medical Society, the Cedar Valley Medical Society, the Iowa State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the Missouri Valley Medical Society. He recently pursued a post-graduate course in New York city.
In 1905 Dr. Waterbury was united in marriage to Miss Jessie Grant Wilcox, of Albert Lea, Minnesota, who for some time was a teacher of Latin in the
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West Side high school of Waterloo. They now have one child, Mary Elizabeth. Dr. Waterbury gives his political allegiance to the republican party, but the only office that he has filled is that of coroner of Black Hawk county, in which posi- tion he served for four years. He squares his life by the teachings and tenets of the Masonic order, is a member of the Elks lodge and also a member of the Commercial Club and Board of Trade. He attends the Congregational church and is a man whosc genuine personal worth, as well as his professional ability, entitles him to the high regard, confidence and goodwill of his fellow citizens.
WV. P. SOASH.
W. P. Soash, proprietor of the Western Adjustment Company with offices in the Black Hawk building of Waterloo, was born in Butler county near Clarks- ville, Iowa, in 1877, his parents being George and Polly (Hiserodt) Soash, natives of Pennsylvania and of Illinois respectively. They came to Iowa in the '50s with their respective parents and settled in Butler and Hardin counties. They were married in the latter county and the father, who entered land from the government, broke the sod, tilled the fields and carried on general farming until about the 'Sos. His death occurred in 1892. He had for eight years sur- vived his wife, who passed away in 1884. In their family were three children, all of whom are yet living, W. P., Dave and Mildred. George Soash enlisted in Company E, Thirty-second Iowa Infantry at the outbreak of the Civil war and served with credit to himself and country throughout the struggle.
W. P. Soash acquired his education in the schools of Hardin and Butler counties and was reared upon the home farm with the usual experiences and pleasures that fall to the lot of the farm lad. He worked at the carpenter's trade for seven years and then started out in business on his own account as a hardware merchant at Rake, Iowa, where he continued in business for two years. He then sold out and removed to Rockwell, Iowa, where he conducted a hardware store for two years. He remained at that place, however, until 1903, when he came to Waterloo, where he opened a real-estate office, continu- ing in the business until October, 1909. During the period which he devoted to the purchase and sale of real estate he went to Big Springs, Texas, in 1909, liaving the greater part of his landed interests in that locality at the time. He sold land there to the value of several million dollars and organized four dif- ferent towns and at that time was one of the largest land operators in the country. Mr. Soash suffered very severe losses in the period from 1909 to 1913, owing to excessive droughts extending through the whole four years. In 1913 he returned to Waterloo and opened his present office, conducting business under the name of the Western Adjustment Company. At this writing he is recuperating from the losses sustained in former years.
In 1900 Mr. Soash was married to Miss Minnie Haase, who was born in Kossuth county, Iowa, a daughter of John Haase. They have two children, Lorna Arvilla, born in 1901, and George W., in 1903. Mr. Soash is a liberal in his political views nor has he any desire for the honors and emoluments of public office. The family is of Protestant faith, but Mr. Soash is liberal in his
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religious views. Practically his entire life has been spent in Iowa and he has been a witness of many changes as the work of development and progress has been carried forward. He has always manifested a public-spirited devotion to the general good and his cooperation can be counted upon to further various measures for the benefit of the city in which he makes his home.
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