USA > Iowa > Black Hawk County > History of Black Hawk County, Iowa, and its people, Volume II > Part 9
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GEORGE WILLIAM CLARK.
No history of Cedar Falls or of Black Hawk county would be complete were there failure to make extended reference to George William Clark, now one of the venerable citizens and honored pioneer settlers of this part of the state. In many ways he has been closely identified with its history and has cooperated in many lines of work for the benefit and upbuilding of the community. He was born in Riga, Monroe county, New York, August 30, 1833, a son of Ebenezer and Lois (Knowles) Clark. The father was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, February 27, 1787, and the mother was born September 2, 1792. The father, who followed farming as a life work, died in Riga, New York, after which the mother came to Iowa and passed away at the home of her son, George William, in Cedar Falls. At different times Ebenezer Clark held local offices and in various ways contributed to the improvement and upbuilding of the district in which he lived.
George W. Clark was an only child. He attended the district schools of Riga Corners, New York, was for two terms a student at Churchville, New York, and spent one winter in an academy at Riga Corners. All through his life he has been learning valuable lessons in the school of experience until his knowledge is now broad, especially in connection with those practical phases of life which lead to success in business undertakings. He was but sixteen years of age at the time of his father's death, after which he operated the homestead for a year, at the end of which time the property was sold. He attended school the following winter and the succeeding spring he worked for an uncle on a farm, being thus em- ployed until the following July. In 1851 he made his way to the middle west, settling first in Janesville, Wisconsin, where he clerked in a store until the spring of 1854. In March of that year, in company with Thomas Scarcliff, he went to Independence, Iowa, making his way after a few weeks to Waterloo, and from that point walked to Cedar Falls. Here he obtained employment in a store as a clerk, but after three months he went with Mr. Scarcliff to Dubuque, Iowa, and thence by boat to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he attended a Fourth of July cele- bration. At that time St. Paul contained but a few slab shanties, being a typical
MRS. GEORGE W. CLARK
GEORGE W. CLARK
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town of the western frontier. He remained there for a week and then returned to New York on a visit. On the Ist of October, 1854, he again came to Cedar Falls and soon afterward purchased ten acres of timber land north of the city. In December, 1854, he once more went to Janesville, Wisconsin, where he visited for a time and where he was married in January, 1855.
Mr. Clark returned to Cedar Falls in the latter part of that month and in February he hired a man to cut logs and bank them on the stream. Later he rafted these down the river to a sawmill at Cedar Falls, had the logs sawed and built a barn. It was his intention to engage in the livery business, which he did in this barn on Second street. He conducted a small livery business for a time, but in 1856 sold out and purchased a farm of eighty acres between Waterloo and Cedar Falls which he afterward traded for a farm across the river. He likewise purchased a five acre tract of timber land and engaged in cutting the logs and milling them. He then fenced his twenty-three acres of land, which he continued to cultivate for three years, although during that period he resided in Cedar Falls, having in the meantime built a residence on the corner of Main and Sixth streets. A part of that house is still standing. In 1861, when the war broke out, he had two lots on Iowa street and thereon he built a house which he occupied after the fall of 1861. On the Ist of January, 1862, he engaged in the draying business, having at first but one horse. He conducted the business for one year in a small way and then more extensively, keeping three rigs and hiring two men. About that time he purchased the bus and team belonging to the hotel and established a bus and transfer line. He continued in the omnibus business for fifteen years, at the end of which time he sold out, but continued the draying business from January, 1862, until 1882. In the meantime he purchased a farm on the Waterloo road in the spring of 1874 and hired a man to operate it for a short time. In August of that year, however, he took possession of the place and carried on farming in connection with his draying and transfer business, remaining upon that place for about eighteen years, during which time he made many substantial improvements.
Mr. Clark returned to Cedar Falls in April, 1892, and has resided here con- tinuously since. From the spring of 1892 until 1896 he lived practically retired, but in the latter year purchased another dray line and conducted the business for fifteen years, when he sold out on the 15th of July, 1911. Since that time he has livéd retired. He is still, however, a stockholder in a broom factory and he is the owner of the lot on which his residence is situated and a tract four rods square on the adjoining lot, on which he has built a warehouse. His business affairs have been judiciously conducted and capably managed and as the years have gone by diligence, determination and industry have brought him substantial success.
On the 14th of January, 1855, Mr. Clark was united in marriage to Miss Fanny Frazer Streeter, who was born at Clifton Springs, Ontario county, New York, a daughter of Simeon Dexter and Abonene S. (Donaldson) Streeter, the former a native of Massachusetts, while the latter was born near Otsego, New York. Her father engaged in the clothing business in early life and also in manufacturing cloth in New York. He died and was buried at Lyons, New York, after which his widow went to Janesville, Wisconsin, with her family and later removed to Chicago to live with her son, there passing away in 1860. Mr. Streeter held the office of constable in Vienna, New York, and he conducted the Farmers' Resort Hotel at Vol. 11-5
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Clifton Springs. It was there that Mrs. Clark was born, the sixth in order of birth in a family of ten children. Four brothers served throughout the Civil war and one of them died in Libby prison. Mr. and Mrs. Clark became the parents of nine children: William R., who has been an engineer on the Illinois Central Railroad for a quarter of a century and now resides at Fort Dodge, Iowa : Clara R., the wife of J. E. Bates, who is engaged in the insurance business in Waterloo: Tibbie S., who died at the age of two years ; Nettie Eva, the wife of C. M. Wyne- koop, engaged in the cigar and tobacco business at Cedar Falls: Arthur, who died in infancy; George Byron, who resides at the corner of Fourth and Tremont streets in Cedar Falls and is engaged in merchandising; Luther, who died in infancy ; Mary Alice, who married A. B. Mason, a traveling salesman living in Cedar Falls ; and the youngest, who died in infancy.
Mr. Clark is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and gives his political allegiance to the democratic party on many occasions but is some- what independent in his political connections. He is one of the pioneer settlers of the county and brought to this district the first piano in Cedar Falls or Black Hawk county. He was also the owner of the first kerosene lamp in Cedar Falls and paid a dollar and a half per gallon for oil. This was as much a matter of marvel in those days as was the introduction of electric lights in the present generation. Mr. Clark has lived to witness notable changes in this section of the state. He has passed the eighty-first milestone on life's journey-years covering a momentous period in the history of the country. He has seen the building of railroads, has witnessed the introduction of the telegraph and the telephone and has seen progress along every line of business life. His influence has always been on the side of advancement and improvement during the period of his connection with Black Hawk county and he has ever been highly esteemed as a valued citizen. He is today one of the venerable residents of Cedar Falls, respected and honored by all who know him.
WILLIAM GALLOWAY.
William Galloway occupies a central place on the stage of business activity in Waterloo and Black Hawk county, being identified with various business interests which are important factors in advancing the material progress and business activ- ity of this section of the state. He is the president of the William Galloway Com- pany, the president of the Galloway Investment Company and president of the Galloway Brothers Company and is thus widely known in connection with the industrial, commercial and financial interests of his section. He was born in Berlin, Iowa, in 1877, and supplemented a public-school course by study in Mon- mouth College at Monmouth, Illinois. He started upon his business career by selling specialities, driving through the country with a horse and buggy and visit- ing the farmhouses en route. He afterward entered the employ of an implement dealer at Reinbeck, Iowa, and in time was admitted to a partnership in the busi- ness. After considerable experience in that line he became a traveling salesman in the implement and farm-machinery business and thus gradually advanced step by step, gaining continually a broader outlook and wider opportunities.
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In 1901 Mr. Galloway came to Waterloo and the following year laid the foun- dation for his present large interests by beginning business as a jobber in agri- cultural implements. Later he began manufacturing on a small scale, his first plant being located on Falls avenue. From the beginning, however, the business steadily increased in volume and eventually the plant of the Cascaden Manu- facturing Company was purchased and the business incorporated in 1906 with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars. The business grew with marvelous rapidity and led to an increase in the capital stock to two hundred thousand dol- lars and later to four hundred thousand dollars, while the present capitalization of the company is three million five hundred thousand dollars. Their factories, their fine office building and the building of the Agriculture Club, which they organized, cover about fourteen acres and in addition the William Galloway Company also owns a tract of four hundred acres of fine land between the plant and Cedar Falls. The output includes gasoline engines, spreaders, cream separators, portable ele- vators, wagons, harrows and many other implements and their employes number from four hundred to nine hundred, according to the season. The business runs up annually to the two million dollar mark in volume. This is one of the most extensive and important manufacturing concerns of central Iowa. The work has been carefully systematized in every particular and in the conduct of the business quality is never sacrificed to quantity. The enterprise is the outcome of the busi- ness ability, capable management and laudable ambition of William Galloway, who has ever eagerly embraced his legitimate opportunities and along the path of indefatigable industry and activity has advanced to the goal of success, his interests at all times conforming to the highest commercial standards.
The upbuilding of such an institution would alone entitle Mr. Galloway to rep- resentation among the foremost citizens of Black Hawk county, yet this does not cover the scope of his activities and business interests, for he also organized the Galloway Investment Company, of which he is the president and which was incorporated with a capital stock of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, of which two hundred thousand dollars has been paid up. The company buys, plats and sells real estate and has platted some of the principal additions to Waterloo, including the Galloway addition, Prospect Hill, Cedar Heights and Meadow Dale. Mr. Galloway also organized the Galloway Brothers Company, capitalized for five hundred thousand dollars, and of this he is likewise the president. The last named company handles all kinds of farm, field and flower seeds and the business amounts to upwards of two hundred thousand dollars annually and covers large sections of the United States and Canada, while shipments are sent to thirty-two foreign countries.
In 1901 Mr. Galloway was united in marriage to Miss Naomi Murray, of Reinbeck, Iowa, and to them have been born five children, William Ross, Dwight Murray, David John, Mary Naomi and Frances Elizabeth. The family are men- bers of the United Presbyterian church and Mr. Galloway also belongs to the Con- mercial Club and Board of Trade, the Chamber of Commerce, the Waterloo Club and the Town Criers Club, all of which organizations have for their object the development, upbuilding and improvement of the city and the extension of its trade relations.
Mr. Galloway has not only been a cooperant factor in many measures for the benefit of Waterloo, but has also instituted and promoted a number of such. In
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an analyzation of his record and his career it must be recognized that balance, harmony and sound judgment are his native traits. Anyone meeting Mr. Galloway face to face would know at once that he is. an individual embodying all the ele- ments of what in this country we term a "square" man-one in whom to have confidence, a dependable man in any relation and any emergency. His quietude of deportment, his easy dignity, his frankness and cordiality of address, with a total absence of anything sinister or anything to conceal, foretoken a man who is ready to meet any obligation of life with the confidence and courage that come of conscious personal ability, a right conception of things and a habitual regard for what is best in the exercise of human activities.
T. E. RUST.
T. E. Rust is the chief engineer of the Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern Rail- road and for five years has been a resident of Waterloo. He was born in Saginaw, Michigan, and during his childhood days accompanied his parents on their removal to Denver, Colorado, where the period of his youth was largely passed. He attended the schools of that city and then returned to his native state for his collegiate course, entering the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He has devoted the last fifteen or sixteen years of his life to engineering and was with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in connection with the work of construction, loca- tion and maintenance. He was also active in the construction of the White Pass & Yukon Railroad of Alaska and he afterward became chief assistant engineer of the Chicago Great Western Railroad, at which time L. S. Cass, also of Waterloo, was its vice president. It was his acquaintance with Mr. Cass which won for him his present responsible position. In May, 1909, he came to Waterloo as chief engineer of the Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern Railroad and in that capacity has had charge of the construction of the road, building the Waverly extension from Denver Junction to Waverly and also the Cedar Rapids extension.
C. M. CHENEY.
C. M. Cheney is general freight and passenger agent of the Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern Railroad. Practically his entire life has been spent in railroad service and his advancement has come to him as the logical result of close application, diligence and ability. For twelve years he has made his home in Waterloo and throughout the entire period has been connected with the railroad company with which he is now holding a most responsible position. He was born in Bradford, Illinois, in 1875, but when quite young he was brought by his par- ents to Iowa, the family home being established in Marshalltown, where his youthful days were spent and he acquired a public-school education. He then took up the study of telegraphy and entered the employ of the Western Union Tele- graph Company, acting as operator at Marshalltown and afterward at Mason City, continuing with that corporation for a year and a half. He next entered
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the service of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company, which he represented at various points on the Iowa and Dakota division. Still later he was with the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad Company and next with the Chicago Great Western Railroad Company, continuing with that road for a number of years at various places. On entering the employ of the Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern Railroad Company he was made assistant general freight agent and so continued for a period but in 1905 was appointed general freight and passenger agent and has remained in that position of trust and responsi- bility for nine years. He is well known in railway circles throughout the northern Mississippi valley and as he has demonstrated the value and worth of his service he has won promotion from time to time.
On the 21st of February, 1895, Mr. Cheney was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth M. Briggs, of Andrew county, Missouri, and they are now the parents of a daughter and son, Margery and Eugene M. Mr. Cheney has membership relations with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. Since coming to Water- loo he has entered into affiliation with the Commercial Club and Board of Trade, the Town Criers Club, the Chamber of Commerce and the Waterloo Club. He stands at all times for advancement and improvement along lines contributing to the progress and upbuilding of city and county and his cooperation can ever be counted upon for the benefit of his community, for he is a most public-spirited citizen. At the same time he never neglects a business duty nor obligation and his worth is attested by the officials of the railway which he represents.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAW.
William Robert Law is an active member of the bar of Black Hawk county, practicing in Waterloo, where he is also well known as a progressive and public- spirited citizen who in public office has proven his loyalty to the welfare of the community. One of the native sons of the county, he was born in Black Hawk township in 1880, a son of William M. Law, also of Waterloo. The father was born in Canada and arrived in this county in 1868. He took up his abode upon a farm and continued to engage in its cultivation until he was appointed to the position of postmaster at Hudson and took up his abode in that town, serving for four years in that position. He then entered the insurance business, in which he continued until he was elected sheriff of Black Hawk county in 1896. He then removed to Waterloo and entered upon the duties of that position, which he discharged with such promptness, capability and impartiality that he was re- elected and continued as the incumbent for eight years or until 1904. He then retired from the office as he had entered it-with the confidence and good-will of all law-abiding citizens-and since that time he has been engaged in the real- estate business in Waterloo, where he is classed with the representative and valued citizens. His wife, Mrs. Eliza Jessie Law, is deceased.
William Robert Law was educated in the schools of Hudson and in the East Waterloo high school, from which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1899. Deciding upon the practice of law as a life work he began studying in the University of Iowa and was graduated with the LL. B. degree in the class
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of 1904. He then practiced law independently in the office of Boies & Boies until January 1, 1906, when he was admitted to partnership under the firm style of Boies & Law. That association was continued until January 1, 1909, when Mr. Law was appointed postmaster of Waterloo and entered upon the duties of that position, which he occupied for four years, or until October, 1913. He then resumed the practice of his profession and is accorded a good clientage. He has a wide knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence and recognizes the fact that the careful preparation of cases is one of the strongest elements of success and in the presentation of his cause is strong, forceful and logical. He is also a stockholder and director of the Dairy Cattle Congress. He was president of the Presidential Postmasters Association of Iowa in 1911, a fact which indicates his high standing and his personal popularity.
In 1910 Mr. Law married Miss Makepeace Morris, of Atlantic, Iowa, and they have become the parents of two sons, Robert Morris and Franklin Nichols. Mr. Law is well known in fraternal relations, holding membership in the Knights of Pythias lodge, of which he is a past chancellor commander, and the Elks lodge, in which he is a past exalted ruler. He likewise belongs to the Commercial Club and the Board of Trade of Waterloo and to the Town Criers Club. He also has membership in the local bar association. His social qualities render him popular and he is widely known as a genial, courteous gentleman, consid- erate and kindly as well as firm and determined. He has made an excellent record, not only as an active and progressive citizen, but also in the line of his profession, and the future will undoubtedly hold in store for him broader opportunities.
CARLETON SIAS.
Carleton Sias, a lawyer and banker of Waterloo, came to Iowa from Rochester, New York, in 1903. He is a native of Monroe county, New York, being a son of Daniel B. and Lucy B. Sias ; received his early training in the country schools and graduated from the Rochester high school. In graduation he obtained a scholarship from the state of New York, on competitive examination, to Cornell University, where he took a course in law, graduating with the class of 1898 with the degree of LL. B. After spending a year in the law office of James Breck Perkins, the well known French historian, he was admitted to the bar of the state of New York at the age of twenty-one and practiced in Rochester until 1903, when he came to Waterloo, as attorney for the Leavitt & Johnson Trust Company, later becoming secretary of the company and in 1911 a director and vice president of the Leavitt & Johnson Trust Company, and also of the Waterloo Savings Bank, with which institutions he has been identified during all the time he has lived in Iowa. In 1914 he formed a partnership in the practice of law with George E. Pike, under the name of Pike & Sias, at the same time maintaining his active connection with the trust company and savings bank.
Mr. Sias has been identified with the public activities of Waterloo, having been for years a member and secretary of the library board, a member and for several years president of the school board, secretary of the river front
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improvement commission, treasurer of the Black Hawk County Bar Asso- ciation and a member of the Waterloo Club. He has also been actively identified with fraternal and social organizations, being a niember of Waterloo Lodge, No. 105, A. F. & A. M .; having held all of the chairs in Camp No. 2059, M. W. of A .. and served as delegate for Black Hawk county to the national meeting of that organization in Chicago, and also in Buffalo, New York; being a member of the Yeomen ; and being also chancellor commander of Helmet Lodge, No. 89, Knights of Pythias. He has moreover been president of the Fortnightly Club.
In 1911 when Company L, Fifty-third Regiment, I. N. G., was organized, he was elected first lieutenant and in 1913 was elected captain of Company L to succeed Captain J. H. Hildebrand, deceased.
When in college he was active in debating matters, being speaker of the Cornell Congress and a member of the Cornell team in the Cornell-Pennsylvania intercollegiate debate.
In July, 1903, Mr. Sias was married to Miss Jeanette Payne, of Rochester, New York, and they have two sons, Carleton Payne and Erwin Daniel.
MICHAEL H. KELLY.
Michael H. Kelly is the efficient postmaster of Waterloo, to which position he was appointed in October, 1913. He had previously engaged in the practice of law and had won for himself a creditable position at the bar of Black Hawk county. Wisconsin numbers him among her native sons, his birth having occurred at New Diggings on the 29th of May, 1871. His father, John D. Kelly, was a native of County Cork, Ireland, and was a son of Daniel Kelly, who spent his entire life on the Emerald isle. John D. Kelly, however, came to the United States about 1848 with his widowed mother, two brothers and three sisters. Of that family one yet survives, Patrick D., who came to Black Hawk county in 1871 and now engages in farming the land which he purchased in 1867. He is the father of twelve children, one of whom, Daniel M. Kelly, is now (1914) at - torney general of Montana. For a considerable period John D. Kelly followed mining, working at that occupation in Wisconsin, while in later life he turned his attention to farming. In November, 1881, he removed to Tama county, Iowa, and in 1892 took up his abode in Winnebago county, this state. He died in January, 1907, having for about three years survived his wife, who passed away in May. 1904. She bore the maiden name of Johanna Lynch and was a native of Boston, Massachusetts.
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