USA > Iowa > Butler County > History of Butler County, Iowa: a record of settlement., Volume 2 > Part 11
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JOHN WESLEY CUNNINGHAM.
Dr. J. W. Cunningham, a resident of Butler county, Iowa, since 1888, was born in Rutland, Wisconsin, September 17, 1873. His father, Reverend William Cunningham, a minister in the United Brethren church and a pioneer preacher both in this state and in Wisconsin, moved to Iowa in 1874 and has since held vari- ous positions in the state.
When only one year of age, Dr. Cunningham came with his father to Iowa and has made his home in Butler county since he was fifteen years of age. After completing his preliminary edu- cation, which he took in Leander Clark College at Toledo, Iowa, he studied medicine under Dr. A. J. Hobson of Hampton, Iowa, and later entered the medical department of the Iowa State Uni- versity, graduating with the degree of M. D. in 1897. He also took
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a post-graduate course in Chicago and has since kept in close touch with modern methods in the medical practice.
After he received his degree, Dr. Cunningham located in Ap- lington, where he began the practice of his profession in April of 1897. At the end of two years, he moved to Clarksville and after three years came to Dumont, where he formed a partnership with Dr. H. E. Day. Their association continued for three years. At the end of that time, Dr. Cunningham opened his present suite of offices, and his practice has grown steadily, extending beyond the limits of Dumont into the surrounding country districts.
He is regarded as one of the most able physicians in this sec- tion of Butler county for he supplements his thorough knowledge of the underlying principles of his profession by constant study and research along many lines, keeping in touch with the trend of modern medical advancement.
He is a member of the Butler County, the Iowa State and the Austin Flint Medical Societies and has presented many excellent articles before these organizations.
On the 23d day of June, 1898, Dr. Cunningham was united in marriage to Miss Mary Frances Stockdale, a daughter of C. J. Stockdale, a long-time and well known resident of Butler county. To this union were born four sons: Ralph Wesley Cunningham, who was born October 28, 1900; and triplet boys, born March 9, 1903, two of whom lived but a few days and the other, Elmer George, lived to be two years and died at the home of the Doctor's sister, Mrs. A. E. Fox, of Chicago, where he had been taken for medical treatment. On the 22d day of February, 1904, Mary Frances, wife of Dr. Cunningham, passed to the Great Beyond.
On June 29th, 1905, he was again married, his second union being with Miss Ethel Grace Stockdale, sister of his deceased wife. To this union one daughter, Thelma Irene, was born on October 5,1907.
At the meeting of the supreme lodge of the Mystic Workers of the World, held in Milwaukee in June, 1912, Dr. Cunningham was elected supreme medical examiner of the order. The Mystic Work- ers have a membership of seventy-five thousand and are one of the best and most progressive fraternal insurance organizations doing business in America today. Dr. Cunningham deserves great credit, not only because of his ability to hold such a position, but because he was elected to this responsible place on the first ballot, with a field of six candidates in the run, showing beyond a question or a .
doubt that he is eminently fitted and qualified for the position.
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Dr. Cunningham is a Master Mason, belonging to the blue lodge at Clarksville, and he is connected also with the Knights of Pyth- ias, being past chancellor commander of the Dumont lodge of that organization. He is well known in social circles of Dumont and in his profession has made rapid and continuous advancement, standing today among its most prominent representatives in this part of the state.
RICHARD GONZALES.
Richard Gonzales is a retired farmer now living in Allison. Success came to him during long connection with agricultural in- terests by reason of his unfaltering industry, his perseverance and his determination. He ranks, too, not only among the prosperous citizens of Butler county, but also among those whose lives have been actuated by a patriotic devotion to public duty. This was especially manifest in Mr. Gonzales at the time of the Civil war when he responded to the call for troops, going to the front with an Ohio regiment. He was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, November 21, 1840, a son of Richard and Jane (Gonzales) Gon- zales. The father was a native of Pennsylvania and the mother a native of Columbiana county. Both Mr. and Mrs. Richard Gon- zales were reared in Columbiana county and were there married. Mr. Gonzales died in Missouri prior to the birth of his son, Richard, and the mother afterward lived in Carroll county, Ohio, but spent her last days in the home of her son, Richard, in Butler county, Iowa, here passing away when in her seventieth year. She had five children : Nancy Ann, who died in young womanhood, while teach- ing school; Samuel, who enlisted in September, 1862, in the Ohio Cavalry, went with Sherman on the march to the sea and was honorably discharged at the close of the war; Silas, who died in Nebraska; Benjamin, living in Texas county, Missouri; and Richard.
The last named was reared in Carroll county, where he remained until he came to this county in 1867. He has now made his home here for forty-six years and has therefore witnessed much of the growth and development of this part of the state. He was a young man of but twenty-one years of age when he enlisted for service in the Civil war, joining Company I, Ninety-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry in August, 1862. He was mustered in in September and
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on the 8th of October, 1862, at Perryville, Kentucky, was wounded. For a time he was in the field hospital, but his injuries were so serious that he was honorably discharged on the 11th of March, 1863.
Throughout his entire life Mr. Gonzales has followed farming and is now the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of good land west of Allison. He has sold the old home place, however, and since the fall of 1899 has made his home in Allison, where he is pleasantly situated, the fruits of his former toil supplying him with all of the comforts and many of the luxuries of life.
On the 1st of January, 1867, Mr. Gonzales was married to Miss Susan Crumbecker, who was born in Carroll county, Ohio, Septem- ber 2, 1837, a daughter of Isaac and Hannah (Miller) Crumbecker, who were natives of Maryland, but removed to Carroll county, Ohio, in childhood, Mrs. Crumbecker being ten years of age when the Miller family went to the Buckeye state. She was born in 1802 and her husband in 1801. Both died in Ohio, Mr. Crum- becker at the age of seventy-nine years and his wife when sixty- two years of age. They were pioneer settlers of that state, taking up their abode there in the midst of the forest, but developing a good home in which they reared their family. Mrs. Gonzales re- mained under the parental roof to the time of her marriage and then started for Butler county, Iowa, with her husband. They settled first near Butler Center, which was then the county seat and he paid five dollars per acre for his first farm which is now worth one hundred and seventy-five dollars per acre. As the years passed on five children were added to the household: Ida S., the wife of Walter S. Bell of West Point township; John B., of St. Louis; Frank C., of Trayor, Iowa; Mary Jane, the wife of B. L. Burbank of Trayor; and Anna May, the wife of the Rev. W. W. Parks, a Congregational minister of Allison. All of the children were born upon the old homestead farm in this county. The sons are now Congregational ministers and the family are members of the Congregational church.
Mr. Gonzales has long taken an active part in church and tem- perance work. His political allegiance was always given to the republican party until the election of 1912. At that time he be- came identified with the progressive party, for he does not believe in the blind following of party leaders nor in legislation enacted for the benefit of the few rather than of the many. Fraternally he is connected with the Grand Army of the Republic, his military service entitling him to wear the little bronze button, an emblem
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of honor and distinction to every American man, who rightfully possesses it. Mr. Gonzales has led a busy and useful, but quiet and unostentatious life and his sterling worth has gained him the high regard of all who know him.
JUDGE C. B. WESTON.
Judge C. B. Weston, one of the few remaining veterans of the Civil war, and one of the early residents in Butler county, where he has made his home since 1874, is numbered among the prominent and representative citizens of Greene, where for almost twenty- five years he has done farsighted and capable work as justice of the peace.
Judge Weston was born in Laporte, Indiana, in 1840, and ac- quired his education in the public schools of his native city. On the 6th of August, 1862, he enlisted for service in the Civil war, joining Company B, Seventy-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He went south with his command and participated in many of the most important engagements of the war, receiving a slight gun- shot wound at Stone River where his regiment lost one hundred and twenty-five men. He took part also in the engagement at Blunt's farm, where his colonel was killed. He served until the close of the war, receiving his honorable discharge at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1865. During his service he was promoted from the rank of corporal to that of first sergeant, an office which he held when he was discharged. With this creditable military record, Judge Weston returned to Laporte, where for one year thereafter he engaged in general farming until 1866, when he sold his prop- erty and moved to Pleasant Grove township, Floyd county, Iowa, where he farmed and held various positions of public trust, in- cluding that of township trustee, school director and con- stable, until 1871, when he moved to Marble Rock, Iowa. After engaging in the furniture business there for three years he moved to Greene, being one of the first men to locate there. He worked on the construction of the flour mill and dam for about eighteen months and then estab- lished himself in the livery business, conducting a profitable enterprise of this character for several years. He was appointed notary public and afterward held many other important positions of public trust and responsibility, including that of Butler county
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soldier's relief commissioner, in which he served for fifteen years. Eventually he was appointed by the county board of supervisors to fill out an unexpired term as justice of the peace, and he has been constantly reelected since that time, being now in the twenty- fifth year of his able and public-spirited service. His office is in a fine two-story brick building, which he owns and he has other valu- able property holdings, including an attractive and modern house on the west side of the river.
At New Carlisle, St. Joseph county, Indiana, on the 4th of March, 1866, Judge Weston married Miss Sarah Isabelle Reyn- olds, a native of Indiana and a graduate of the New Carlisle Institute. Mrs. Weston died in Greene on the 15th of September, 1908, leaving four children: Frank L., a resident of British Columbia; Numa, a resident of Greene; Effie Pearl, who married James H. Cook of Indianapolis, Indiana; and Charles B., Jr., of Spokane, Washington.
Judge Weston is a Master Mason, holding membership in the blue lodge at Greene, and he is also identified with the Order of the Eastern Star. He is a member of Greene Post, No. 200, G. A. R., of which he was for ten years commander, and of which he is now adjutant. He holds a high place among the prominent and highest respected residents of Greene and is moreover entitled to representation in this volume as a veteran of the Civil war, to whom the country owes a debt of gratitude which can never be fully repaid.
EDWARD WEBSTER KESTER.
As the day with its morning of hope and promise, its noontide of activity, its evening of completed and successful effort ending in the grateful rest and quiet of the night, so was the life of this good man. Edward Webster Kester, who passed away on the 27th day of October, 1913, was greatly respected and revered in the community in which he so long made his home. He was for an extended period a resident of Butler county, becoming iden- tified with its development and upbuilding more than thirty-one years prior to his death. He was born in Boston, Erie county, New York, on the 23d of June, 1834, and was the fourth in order of birth in a family of seven children, whose parents were Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Wilson) Kester, both of whom were natives of New Jersey. In early childhood they removed from
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that state to Erie county, New York, in company with their parents, who drove across the country with ox teams to what was then the far west. The district in which they settled was largely wild and undeveloped. There were still many Indians to be seen and in many sections the work of tilling the soil seemed scarcely begun. Both the Kester and the Wilson families were identified with the Society of Friends, or Quakers. The grandparents and parents of Edward W. Kester remained residents of Erie county, New York, throughout their remaining days, the father passing away in 1884, when seventy-eight years of age, while the mother died when eighty-six years of age. They had a family of seven sons: Eber and Samuel, who died in childhood; Stephen, de- ceased; Edward W .; Josiah H., living in New York; Enos, who died in childhood; and Ellis, also a resident of the Empire state.
Edward W. Kester spent the days of his boyhood and youth in his native county and in fact continued his residence in the Em- pire state until 1882, when he removed to Butler county, Iowa, where he continued to make his home until called to his final rest. While in New York he spent three years as a traveling salesman upon the road and the remainder of his time was given to agri- cultural pursuits. After coming to Iowa he again engaged in farm- ing, but for twenty years prior to his demise made his home in Allison. At one time he was the owner of three hundred and seventy acres of rich and valuable land adjoining the town but eventually sold that property. In all of his active business life his agricultural interests were carefully managed and his business affairs wisely conducted, so that he derived therefrom a substantial and well merited competence.
On the 1st of March, 1860, Mr. Kester was united in marriage to Miss Adaline Jones, who was born in Erie county, New York, February 25, 1834, and died in this county March 31, 1898. There were three children of that marriage: Earl; Eva; and Lissa, who died in infancy. The son married and died seventeen days before the birth of his son, Newton, who was adopted by Mr. Kester, his paternal grandfather, and now resides in Greene, Iowa. He is married and has one child, Francis Edward. The daughter, Eva, is the wife of E. L. Hill, of Mason City, Iowa.
Mr. Kester was a republican in his political views and always kept well informed on the questions and issues of the day. He served as town assessor and as a member of the city council, in both of which offices he discharged his duties with promptness and
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fidelity. He was reared in the faith of the Society of Friends and was a member of the church the time of his demise. Fraternally he was connected with Opal Lodge, No. 417, F. & A. M., of Allison, and was its treasurer for twenty-six years. His life always ex- emplified the beneficent spirit of the craft and he followed closely its teachings concerning mutual helpfulness and brotherly kind- ness. Mr. Kester was in his eightieth year at the time of his de- mise. One of the local papers wrote of him: "In all his career he has been a good neighbor, a true friend and an honest man and he closed a business life covering half a century with a most honor- able record." All who knew him mourned his death, for he had been found straightforward and reliable in business, faithful in friendship and honorable in every relation.
HENRY CLAY McNAMES.
A history of the pioneer settlement and later development of Butler county would be incomplete without mention of Henry Clay McNames, who settled in the locality in 1868 and has since re- mained an honored and respected resident. He was born in New York state, on the Hudson river, January 8, 1844, a son of William and Polly (White) McNames, both natives of New York state. In 1844 the family moved westward to Michigan, locating in Lenawee county, which was then a vast wilderness covered with primeval forest. William McNames died in Butler county in 1902. Henry Clay McNames grew to manhood in Michigan and from that state enlisted for service in the Union army, joining in 1862 Com- pany B, Eighteenth Michigan Volunteer Infantry. He went south to Alabama with his regiment and there did provost duty and assisted in guarding the railroads. Mr. McNames was for sixteen months in Nashville and he served until the close of the war, receiv- ing his honorable discharge at Jackson, Michigan, in July, 1865.
After he was mustered out Mr. McNames returned home and began learning the wagon-making trade at Fairfield, Michigan. In 1868, accompanied by his father and the other members of the family, he moved west to Iowa, locating in Dayton township, Butler county. Here Henry C. McNames purchased one hundred acres of land, partially improved, there being an old house upon it and forty acres under the plow. He cleared the remainder of the property and afterward added to it an adjoining tract of ten acres,
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whereon he erected a house and barn and other necessary buildings. The McNames family still reside upon this property and in addi- tion to its cultivation Mr. McNames of this review is engaged in business in Packard, where he purchased a repair shop in partner- ship with Mr. Holt, a blacksmith. He has secured a large patron- age, for his work is first-class in every particular and his business methods at all times straightforward and honorable.
The McNames family is as follows: Henry Clay, of this re- view; Abraham, who served in the Civil war as a member of the Eleventh Michigan Volunteer Infantry; Mary, who lives with her brother, of this review; Mrs. Lucinda Chittenden, a widow; and Caspar, a resident of Colorado.
Mr. McNames gives his political allegiance to the republican party and although he has never sought public office, is interested in everything pertaining to the welfare of the community. He has been a resident of Dayton township for forty-five years and has witnessed a great deal of the development of this section of the state. His life has been active, industrious and straightforward and in its course he has worked his way steadily upward, at the same time gaining the good-will and confidence of the people of the community where he makes his home.
IRVING MINOT FISHER.
Iowa leads the country in the production of corn and is scarcely second to any other state in the Union in the growing of other cereals and in stock-raising. Among those who have added to the fame of the state in the production of fine stock is Irving Minot Fisher, owner of the well known, historical and renowned Iowa Central Stock Farm, situated a mile and a half southwest of Allison, in West Point township, Butler county. It is without doubt one of the finest farms in the state. Upon the place are two large dwellings, one being the country home of the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Fisher, while the other is occupied by a tenant. There are several large barns, cattle sheds, a hog house, machinery houses and other modern equipments and improvements upon the place. The big white barn is a notable feature in the landscape and is the finest in the county. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher came to this farm January 6, 1875, after he had entered into an agreement with its owner, Hon. H. L. Stout, of Dubuque, who was one of
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Iowa's best men and millionaires. Mr. Fisher accepted the posi- tion of superintendent of this farm, then comprising more than twenty-five hundred acres and recognized as the finest stock farm in the country, where the best horses and finest shorthorn cattle were kept that could be obtained in Europe and the United States. Through all the intervening years Mr. Fisher has been connected with the management and improvement of the farm and upon its division he purchased the tract of three hundred and twenty acres which he now owns.
A native son of New England, he was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, his parents being Minot and Mary (Austin) Fisher, who were likewise natives of the old Bay state. The Fisher family was one of the old Colonial families, its founders in Amer- ica being among the Puritans who settled in Dedham, Massa- chusetts, where they owned large estates. Representatives of the name also became founders of the Dedham Bank. One of the ancestors in England had a coat of arms bestowed upon him and this seal Joshua Fisher, the first member of the family to come to America, used on his will and also used in connection with the bank. The ancestral record of the family is one of which Irving M. Fisher has every reason to be proud, the line being traced back as far as 1585.
Having lost his mother when five years of age, Irving M. Fisher then lived with an uncle and aunt for two years, after which his father married again. He attended school in his native state until twelve years of age, when he went to Bennington, Ver- mont, in order to secure employment on a farm. He worked on the farm of Colonel Baker and at the same time was granted the privilege of spending some time in the public school. In the fall of 1857 he came to Iowa with Henry Baker, a son of Colonel Baker, who brought his family to the middle west, settling at Bradford, Iowa. Mr. Irving remained with them until July, 1861, when his patriotic spirit could no longer be content to remain at home while the country was engaged in civil war, so he enlisted as a member of Company B, Seventh Iowa Infantry. He continued to serve until honorably discharged because of dis- ability at Pittsburg Landing in Tennessee, March 22, 1862. With his regiment he participated in the battle of Belmont and the sieges of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. After recovering his health he assisted in recruiting work and reenlisted October 12, 1862, as a member of Company C, Fourteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, in which he was made a sergeant. He acted in the ord- Vol. II - 8
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nance department under General A. J. Smith, participating in the battle of Shiloh, the siege of Vicksburg, Tupelo, and then in the Red River expedition and was always on active duty, prov- ing his loyalty to his country in many a situation that demanded marked valor and bravery. He was mustered out November 16, 1864, at Davenport, Iowa.
Mr. Fisher was married on the 1st of January, 1867, to Miss Mary J. Biggar, a teacher in the public schools. The wedding was celebrated in her father's home in the presence of a few friends by the Rev. John K. Nutting, pastor of the Congregational church. The bride was the third daughter of William and Eliza- beth (Simpson) Biggar, of Franklin county, New York, and was born in Huntingdon, Huntingdon county, Quebec. She was a descendant of a family of educators of Scottish origin. They were also landowners and the town of Biggar in Lanarkshire was named in honor of the family. Mrs. Fisher was most care- fully educated in a Christian home, received instruction in an academy and taught for a number of years in some of the best schools in Chickasaw county, ranking high as a student and always holding a first class teacher's certificate. She acquired a business education and possesses rare executive ability, which was greatly appreciated by Mr. Stout, the former owner, during the term of years in which Mr. and Mrs. Fisher were managing the farm. Mrs. Fisher is a lover of books and literature and her writings are valued by the press as well as by her many friends. She is and always has been a worker for the best inter- ests of the public schools and her influence has been a potent force in promoting educational progress.
Mr. and Mrs. Fisher spent two years on a stock farm near Charles City, Iowa, previous to coming to the Iowa Central Stock Farm in Butler county, then owned by the late Hon. H. L. Stout. For seventeen years they superintended this farm, or until Mr. Stout decided to divide the large area of land, at which time they purchased the home place, consisting of three hundred and twenty acres. They have always maintained the same high stan- dards in the control of the farm and in stock-raising and the property is unsurpassed by any stock farm in the state. Mr. Fisher handles only the highest grades of pure-bred stock and there is every equipment and convenience for the care of the ani- mals and the improvement of the farm. Mr. Fisher is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and thus maintains pleasant relations with those with whom he was associated as a wearer of
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