USA > Iowa > Boone County > History of Boone County, Iowa, Volume II > Part 4
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It may be said that throughout his entire life he has been connected with educational work, and that he turned to good account much of the time that too many men fail to utilize. In his professional work he has been as persevering to enlarge his own usefulness and that of his learners as he has ever been dili- gent in his- business enterprises, and it may be said that he has been equally successful in both lines. In 1889. at the age of twenty-eight years, he was elected county superintendent of schools of Boone county in which capacity he remained for ten years. No one in the county ever filled the same position for as long a period, and it is doubtful if anyone else in the state has been more highly complimented through popular suffrage than he. It is suggestive of more than ordinary popularity and ability when we note that he was nominated on the Democratic ticket while Boone county is strongly Republican, and yet he was elected, receiving a vote about five hundred more than the strength of his party. In 1891, when reelected, he received a vote of one thousand more than his party, and in 1893, his vote was about eleven hundred more than that cast for his ticket. In 1895, when the opposition party had an average majority of thirteen hundred votes for its candidates he was given a safe indorsement for a fourth term and afterward was elected for the fifth time, each term being for two years. In 1899, while conducting an institute at Boone where about three hundred and thirty teachers were in attendance, he was notified that the Democratic state convention had nominated him for superintendent of public instruction by acclamation, and shortly after he was tendered a general public ovation by the teachers and citizens of Boone. Though defeated in the state election, he turned the compliment of the nomination to good account by deliv- ering addresses in many of the cities of the state and extending his acquaintance among public men.
Professor Holst is known as an institute instructor and lecturer, having been appointed on the corps of teachers for more than twenty-five Iowa institutes held in different counties. Among his most popular addresses are those entitled Educational Foundations, Fundamentals, Three Great Evils of the Age, and I am Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. His popularity as a conductor of institutes is evidenced by the following memorial presented to him in 1895 by the teachers of Boone county :
"Whereas: The sixth session of the Boone County Normal Institute under your direction is now drawing to a close, and in view of the fact that these.
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sessions have been the most earnest and enthusiastic ever held in the county, the courses of study being the most systematic and complete ever issued, the instruction in them able and conscientious and the manner of conducting them competent and energetic ;
"In grateful recognition whereof : We, the teachers of Boone county. tender you our sincere thanks for the watchful interest with which you have ever guarded our educational affairs, and the firm and yet courteous manner in which you have ever dealt with both teachers and patrons of our schools; and we do hereby recommend you to the school public, not only as an educator of profound ability, but as a gentleman of thoroughly Christian character.
"Furthermore: We, the undersigned members of the Boone County Normal Institute of 1895, as a testimonial of our high personal regard, and as an evi- dence of our appreciation of the able manner in which you have discharged the important duties of your office, present you with this gold watch and chain, and hope that you may long enjoy positions of usefulness among your fellowmen."
The subject of this sketch has been not only influential in the higher councils of educational meetings, but has held a number of official positions and served on important legislative committees. In 1892 at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he was chosen the first vice-president of the Iowa State Teachers' Association. He was quite a young man when thus honored, but he capably filled the position and in 1893 was elected president of the County Superintendents' and Normal Department while in session at Des Moines. His indefatigable efforts in promoting organiza- tion had the desired effect and gave lowa the largest meeting ever held up to that time by county superintendents. The lowa Normal Monthly, published at Dubuque, lowa, said of him :
"He is master in effecting organization and system. He brings harmony and a gladdening spirit into the work. Under his efficient management every line of school work has been awakened and broadened. He has organized a teachers' library and a hundred for the public schools with over two thousand five hundred volumes. His systematic plans for conducting teachers' meetings and county institutes make them at once profitable and popular. In his office are kept the most accurate and systematic records of supervision and gradation.
"He is an able writer and natural speaker. The past year he delivered about forty lectures before institutes and conventions. While he takes delight in this line of work, he is constantly guarding the schools in his charge. Their upbuild- ing and successful advancement have been his constant desire. One of Iowa's greatest educators, Dr. W. H. Beardshear, fittingly says of him: 'I can speak of him and his work in the most commendable terms.'"
In speaking of his public life and work it may be fitting to mention briefly the confidence in which he is held by those that know him best. This applies not only to his public service, but is true also of his business and social life. When but twenty-one years of age he was nominated for justice of the peace in Pilot Mound township by a class of citizens who wanted to bring a young man and efficiency to that office at a time when the town of Pilot Mound was in its infancy. It is needless to say that he was elected and that he served his con- stituents with ability. After retiring from the county superintendency in 1901 he was chosen a member of the city council of Boone by the citizens of the fifth
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ward who favor public improvements, and was elected for consecutive terms aggregating a total of thirteen years, the longest in the history of the city.
He is closely identified with many local enterprises and for many years was on the board of directors of the Boone Commercial Association, serving as the presi- dent of this organization for the year of 1911-1912. It was during this period that the Fairview Addition to Boone, the new two hundred thousand dollar high school, the Swedish Old Folks Home, the larger city waterworks and other enter- prises were promoted by the business interests of Boone, and of which he was an advocate.
He is indebted largely to himself for what he is and for what he has achieved, but above all he attributes his success to the watchful care and constant encour- agement of his parents. From his father, a man strongly devoted to the religious teachings and moral practices of the Lutheran church, he obtained a fine collec- tion of works in the German, and to him also is he indebted for support in attending for two years a school where he studied modern languages and the sciences. From this work as a' nucleus, he broadened his mind by constant study and practical application, taking, while engaged in school supervision, advantage of university extension courses of study and in 1899 was awarded on an exam- ination the degree of Master of Arts by the Western University, in Illinois.
While at the farm home during his youth he began to take interest in read- ing the works of great authors, such as Schiller, Bryant, Holmes, Whittier, Goethe, Bancroft, Shakespeare and Dickens, and from each he drew inspira- tion characteristic of the writer. Ile was particularly fond of sketches drawn from Eulenspiegel and the Nibelungenlied. Being interested in literary work, he began to find pleasure in writing as a local correspondent for county news- papers, and prepared numerous essays on literary topics to be read before schools and lyceums. In 1890 he began publishing the Boone County Teacher, a monthly educational journal, which he issued for ten years and made it a helpful means of furthering pedagogical work. In 1893 he read an able paper on Demands of the County Superintendency before the County Superintend- ents' and Normal Department at Des Moines, and subsequently delivered many addresses relating to educational topics before institutes and teachers' meet- ings. While county superintendent of Boone county he also published annu- ally the Graded Four Years' Institute Course of Study, which was issued regularly for ten years.
The finest literary work of Professor Holst, however, is "The Teachers' and Pupils' Cyclopaedia." He began work on it in 1898, when he was in the county superintendency, writing biographical sketches and articles on scientific subjects, stich as would not lose interest and value by the lapse of time. In the early part of 1900 he employed typewriters and shorthand reporters with the view of completing the work on the manuscript and making it ready for the com- positors, working from early morning until nine o'clock at night about two years in collating and revising it. The work was finally published in its com- plete form in February, 1902, when it was issued in three large volumes con- taining two thousand two hundred and six pages and about one thousand five hundred illustrations.
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Ten editions of "The Teachers' and Pupils' Cyclopaedia" were issued with various revisions from the first set of plates. However, the publication was thoroughly revised and enlarged to seven volumes in 1912, when it embraced about four thousand double-column pages and was called "The New Teachers' and Pupils' Cyclopaedia." About two hundred and fifty thousand sets of this reference work have been sold in the United States, Canada, Alaska and Hawaii, placing it in the highest rank of useful American literary products.
"The New Teachers' and Pupils' Cyclopaedia" is written in a beautiful, narrative style, and is a valuable treatise and dictionary of geography, his- tory, mythology, discoveries, inventions and educational progress. It treats the literature of all countries and peoples ; reviews the resources and political conditions of all lands ; presents the biographies of all noted persons both living and dead; and discusses the arts and sciences in their working and application. It has already found its way into hundreds of homes and school libraries, and is justly regarded one of the finest and most utilitarian American products now on the book market.
The writings of Bernhart Paul Holst, besides outlines, addresses, essays and books of reference, include a large number of verses and poetical compositions. These products, including a number of translations, were written at times of rest, or as change in occupation permitted, being influenced, of course, by the inspirations which then impress the writer, such as the native fancy or the scenes and experiences while traveling in America or abroad. In 1913 these writings were collected and published in a volume under the title "Poems of Friendship and Other Poems." By permission of the author we publish the following verses which are classed among the Poems of Power :
SUCCESS
It means a cross for faithful hands to carry, In contest fierce, and with tireless brain : It means that weary limbs must never tarry, When right demands that we should try again.
At morn may beauty roses bloom in glory, At noon may shrink and wither stem and leaf, At night may all the world seem cold and hoary, And should this the spirit vex and grieve?
You cringe because your hands are bleeding, And seek a new and untried field for luck, And soon release your grip, when you should be heeding The fact that true success depends on pluck.
If you despair when days are clear and cloudless, And dream that dreadful storms are raging overhead,
An awful ghost will rise before you shroudless,
And all your early hopes will soon be dead.
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Success will surely come with time and labor, If we our aims will carry far and high, For we can win the plaudits of our neighbor, And reach the goal by perseverance bye and bye.
Nature, life, love and friendship are favorite themes for verses by this author. He is at his best when writing on these and kindred topics. The writer is pleased to quote the following selection which is classed with his Poems of Friendship :
FRIENDS
Should some one speak unkindly of your friend, With earnest mien, you must his worth defend ; Though all the world should at your true friend chide, Hold to his hand and stand close by his side- For this we know: a true and trusty heart Of happy life is an essential part.
Heaven will in its gentle kindness give True friends to those who truly act and live, But those that fail trustworthy friends to prize At length are severed from these holy ties- And finally, o'erwhelmed by doubt and fear, Are borne by strangers on their rustic bier.
Should storms betide and all your fortune rend, You still are rich if you possess a friend, But if you win vast fortune and renown, Or even wear a sceptered, kingly crown, And have no friends, no trusty friends in need, You still are poor, ah! very poor, indeed !
Though born in the antipodes, we think few Americans have touched more closely the spirit of democracy or treated with greater fervor the liberty and independence which is ours. Of this we have an admirable example in the following lines classed with his Poems of Sentiment :
LIBERTY
Written after visiting New York Harbor
Hail to the woman with the torch of fire, Standing on Bedloe's Isle the world to guide! Beacon to pilgrims of worthy sire, Guide to the homeless! Far and wide Has thy mighty welcome blazed its way
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To all earth's tired as well as me, And now I see the break of better day, The dawn of freedom and of liberty !
Unlike the brazen Rhodes of Grecian lore, With mighty limbs from land to land ; She stands upon the eastern sea-washed shore, The emblem of the free in heart and hand! Her face is glad with Music of the Spheres, Her eyes as stars in glowing beauty shine, She lights the path to peace in future years, She progress gives to me and all of mine!
Long centuries had pressed upon the poor. Had made them dead to joy and faith and fear ; They could not hope to see an open door, So pressed with pain, could scarcely shed a tear : The Tragedy of Time caused head to bow, The Wheel of Labor made the back to bend ; Profaned and robbed, what could they do, and how? What shores to them would friendly welcome send?
The masters and the lords of royal blood With monstrous mandates crushed the living soul, And ground man down with burdens and the flood Of wars. And, as the years and ages roll, Refused to right the base perfidious wrongs That dwarf and stun the much-bewildered brain- But, hark! I hear the welcome, new-born song And see the torch of liberty again !
Glides now the ship to anchor in the bay- Soon will I tread the shore of my adopted land And breathe a purer spirit, blessed day, As I step on the far-enchanted strand! This heritage is nature's noblest gift To man, and to the multitudes that come, As well as all who long have been adrift, And rest at last to make this land their home.
Hail to the woman with the torch of fire. Standing on Bedloe's Isle the world to guide! Beacon to pilgrims of worthy sire,
Guide to the homeless! Far and wide Has thy mighty welcome blased the way To all carth's tired as well as me, And now I see the break of better day, The dawn of freedom and of liberty!
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
From 1867 until February, 1900, the subject of this sketch resided on the family homestead immediately south of the town of Pilot Mound, a tract of one hundred and seventy acres that is now a part of the town, and in the latter year removed to the city of Boone, where he is still a resident. He is the owner of several large tracts of land, has a fine home in the city, and holds material interests in The Holst Publishing Company, a concern devoted to the publication of his books. In 1910 he completed building the Hotel Holst, Boone's. popular hostelry, and equipped it with all the modern improvements. He is a stockholder and official in the Boone State Bank, in the Boone National Bank and in other large banking and commercial enterprises.
The subject of this sketch is a reader and has a fine library of more than five thousand volumes, including books printed in the English, German, Swed- ish and other languages. In his work he has exemplified the spirit of education approved by Sidney Smith, who said: "The real object of education is to give children resources that will endure as long as life endures; habits that will ameliorate, not destroy ; occupation that will render sickness tolerable, solitude pleasant, age venerable, life more dignified and useful, and death less terrible." He is a man of distinct and forceful individuality, his influence has ever been on the side of progress and public improvement and Boone county has reason to be proud that she can number him among her citizens.
ISAAC GAGE OSGOOD.
Isaac Gage Osgood, who is one of the proprietors of the O. & D. Motor Company, has in a short time become one of the prosperous business men of Boone. His firm are agents for the Yale, DeLuxe, M. & M. and Eagle motor- cycles and they also deal in bicycles and cycle accessories besides doing various kinds of repairing. The business is located at No. 809 Allen street and the firm enjoys a most profitable trade.
Mr. Osgood was born in Marseilles, La Salle county, Illinois, June 10, 1875, and is a son of Simon T. and Louise L. (Gage) Osgood. The paternal grand- parents are Luther P. and Catherine (Toll) Osgood, natives of Oneida county, New York. The grandfather, who is a farmer by occupation, removed to the middle west about sixty-two years ago, locating in La Salle county, and there he yet resides.
Isaac G. Osgood was educated in the public schools of La Salle county and the Des Moines College of Des Moines, Iowa. He attended school until about twenty years of age but as a boy worked in a lumberyard and grain elevator for his father. He subsequently started farming on his grandfather's property, which comprised four hundred and twenty acres, and there remained for five years, when the land was sold and our subject engaged with his father and brother, Beman F., in the manufacturing and lumber business, the firm being known as S. T. Osgood & Son. They were also at the head of the Marseilles Harrow Company. At the end of four years Isaac G. Osgood acquired title to a farm east of La Salle, Illinois, which he improved and cultivated until 1912, when he sold out and came to Boone, Iowa. Here he has since become the
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HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
head of the O. & D. Motor Company and in this short time has demonstrated his ability as a business man.
On December 15, 1897, Mr. Osgood married Miss Lottie E. Drackley, of La Salle county, Illinois, and they have five children : Lenore, Herbert M., Ade- laide L., Simon T. and Charlotte L. Mr. Osgood is a republican but has never sought public office, although he is well informed upon all public questions and stanchly supports his party. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and interested in its work. Although he has resided in Boone but two years, he already has established a reputation which ranks him with the suc- cessful men of that city, and it may be safely prophesied that his business affairs will grow in scope and importance as the years pass by.
JUDSON REYNOLDS CRARY.
Judson Reynolds Crary was a man whom to know was to respect and honor. Life was ever to him purposeful. Each day brought its opportunities that were well improved and, while his opportunities were not exceptional, he, through his own efforts, reached a position of broad intelligence as well as of business enterprise, resulting in a well rounded success. As the years went on he became more and more strongly endeared to the people of Boone and the surrounding country and since he has passed away his memory is cherished and revered by all who knew him and remains to them as a blessed benediction.
Mr. Crary was born on the 27th of August, 1837, at Pierrepont, St. Lawrence county, New York, and lived there until nineteen years of age. After teaching one term in a country school in Potsdam township, St. Lawrence county, he, with not over ten dollars in his pocket and a letter of recommendation from a judge, for whom he had written while working his way through the academy, arrived in Chicago and from 1856 to 1867 was employed as an accountant except for a number of months, when he served with the Chicago Board of Trade Battery at Cairo, Illinois. This battery was the first volunteer regiment to leave Chicago. He was honorably discharged from the same, for fever had rendered further service fatal. In 1865 he was joined by his brother M. S. Crary, who remained with him for two years. On the expiration of that period they came to Boone, arriving in 1867. In a partnership relation, which was, formed on the 29th of April, 1867, they embarked in the general hardware and implement business and their trade constantly grew and developed until it became one of the largest of the kind in the state. The brothers continued together under the firm style of Crary Brothers until December 16, 1909, when they disposed of their interests. There were still many features of their business to close up, however, and they were yet engaged in that work when J. R. Crary became ill- an illness from which he never recovered.
On the 27th of October, 1867, Mr. Crary was married, in Livonia, New York, to Miss Jessie West, and brought his bride to their new home in Boone They had one of the finest homes in the community, and it was ever the abode of a warm hearted and generous hospitality. Mr. and Mrs. Crary became the parents of
J. R. CRARY
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three children : Bessie ; Dr. A. W. ; and Mrs. Ruth Stevenson, who has a little son, Dean Stevenson.
Mr. Crary was a member of the Universalist church, and his life was ever upright and honorable in all its relations. He constantly endeavored to do what he believed to be right, and his integrity and honor were never called into question. After attending the district schools in his early youth and select schools for a brief period he was graduated from the St. Lawrence Academy at Potsdam, which completed his school training, yet. throughout his life he remained a student, not only of books but of the signs of the times. He became a well educated, scholarly man. He possessed a notably retentive memory, read broadly and thought deeply. His reading covered a wide range, and he became the possessor of a very extensive and well selected library. He was especially fond of poetry and improved many a moment by picking up a volume and re- reading one of his favorite poems. It was an easy matter for him to express himself in light verse and sometimes he gave himself to the task of writing poetry of a more serious or classical nature. He enjoyed the study of genealogy, and he also spent many a pleasant hour in the cultivation of roses and in the pursuit of photography. Whatever he undertook was done with thoroughness. He enjoyed art. drama and music and read so broadly and studied so thoroughly along these lines that he was well qualified for advanced criticism. He loved nature in every phase, especially trees and flowers, and took great interest in working among them. He enjoyed travel and brought to new scenes the interest and enthusiasm of youth. His interest centered in his family and those who came to know him saw that beneath the calm, slightly stern exterior there was an unceasing fund of geniality. He was in sympathy with the young in their pleas- ures, and he had an unusually wide range of information concerning games and athletic sports. He was equally well versed upon the current topics of the day, and he could converse as readily with young people as with old, holding at all times their interest and attention. In the family circle, reaching out to brothers. sisters, nephews and nieces, he was always a favorite. They came to him for advice and assistance, which at all times were freely given. He held friendship inviolable. There were in him those qualities which drew him strongly to those with whom he came in contact and his associates constantly found unexplored depths in his nature, resulting from a comprehensive fund of information and a broad, keen sympathy with life in all of its higher purposes, activities and atti- tudes, which rendered association with him a constant pleasure and intellectual and moral uplift.
ARCHIE WEST CRARY, M. D.
The tendency of the age is towards specialization and those who attain the highest degree of proficiency are the men who, after familiarizing themselves with the broad general principles of a calling or profession, concentrate their energies upon a particular line and thus gain notable skill in one field. This practice Dr. Archie West Crary has followed and is today well known by reason of his special work in ophthalmology, otology and laryngology at Boone. He Vol TI-3
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