USA > Iowa > Des Moines County > History of Des Moines County, Iowa, Volume II > Part 4
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He was born in Middlebury, Vermont, April 21, 1814, a son of Justus and Harriet S. (Graham) Foote. The founder of the family in America was Nathaniel Foote, who was born in England in 1593 and in that country married Elizabeth Denning about the year 1615. His name first appears in America in the records of the Massachu- setts Bay colony in 1633, when he took the freeman's oath. He had land assigned to him at Watertown, Massachusetts, and later became a pioneer of Wethersfield, Connecticut. He died in 1664 and his wife passed away in 1683. His eldest son, Nathaniel, was born in England in 1620 and at Wethersfield, Connecticut, in 1648, married Miss Elizabeth Smith. He died in 1655, having spent the greater part of his life in Wethersfield. His second son, Samuel, was born in that town in 1649 and in 1671 married Miss Mary Merrick, of Springfield, Massachusetts. He was a resident of Hatfield, Massa- chusetts, and died September 7, 1689, his wife soon following him,
HON. JOHN G. FOOTE
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October 3, 1690. His fifth son, Daniel, was born at Hatfield, in 1689, and in 1718 married Mary Collyer, of Hartford, Connecticut. They resided at Simsbury, Connecticut. He died July 15, 1740, and his wife June 17, 1769. His eldest son, Samuel, was born in Hart- ford, Connecticut, in 1719 and married Lois Loomis, November 24, 1743. They made their home at Simsbury, Connecticut. Samuel Foote passed away September 18, 1775. His third son, Elijah, was born at Simsbury, Connecticut, March 14, 1755. He was twice mar- ried. On December 12, 1771, he married Mary Latimer, who passed away, leaving five sons and one daughter. His second wife was Zeniah Barton, of Norwich, Vermont, and by this union he had two sons and one daughter. He resided at Simsbury, New Haven and Middlebury, Connecticut, at Fairfield, Vermont, and at some place in New York state. He died in 1827. Justus, the fourth son of Elijah and Mary ( Latimer) Foote, was born in Simsbury, Connecticut, June 24, 1782. On April 15, 1810, he wedded Harriet S. Graham, a daughter of Rev. John Graham, of Suffield, Connecticut, and they resided in Middlebury, Vermont, where he died June 10, 1829. His wife survived him for many years, her death occurring on the 20th of April, 1865. Their second child was John Graham Foote, of this review.
On the maternal side Mr. Foote was descended from James Gra- ham, Marquis of Montrose, who was born in Scotland in 1612 and died in 1651. An intermediate descendant was Andrew Graham, whose son, Rev. John Graham, was born in Scotland in 1694 and came to America when young. In this country he entered upon a career as a minister of the gospel. He settled in Stafford, Connec- ticut, in 1723 and died at Southbury, that state, December 11, 1774. His son, also Rev. John Graham, was born in 1722 and died at Suf- field. Connecticut, in 1796. He was an early graduate of Yale Uni- versity, taking his degrees in 1740. Harriet Swan Graham, the daughter of Rev. John Graham, was the mother of our subject. She was born at West Suffield, Connecticut, March 9, 1789, and her last days were spent in the home of her son at Burlington. On the 15th of April, 1810, she married Captain Justus Foote at Middlebury, Vermont.
John G. Foote was graduated from the Middlebury (Vt.) Col- lege in 1835 and the same year went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he became a clerk in the hardware store of Bridge, Beech & Com- pany. He came to Burlington in 1838 and in 1841 made permanent location in Burlington, Iowa. Here he established a branch store for the St. Louis firm and continued as manager of this establishment Vol. II-3
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for a number of years. At the end of that period he engaged in the same line independently and later his brother-in-law, Mosley Ewing, became his partner. He soon rose to a place of prominence in the business life of Burlington and his concern grew as the years passed, becoming one of the foremost business houses in his part of the state. He was successfully engaged a a hardware dealer for a period of thirty-three years, when he retired with a comfortable fortune. Dur- ing this time Mr. Foote had a number of other interests which con- nected him with the growth and development of the region. He par- ticipated financially in the building of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad and for a time served as treasurer of this company. Later he was a member of the board of directors of the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad Company and also was a director of the Carthage & Burlington Railroad Company. He was always progressive and aggressive and was a promoter and a director of the first company to run a telegraph wire into Burlington. He became recognized within the state as a man of powerful financial influence, taking a leading part in the organization of the First National Bank of Burlington, of which he became a director and vice president. To his ready co-operation must be ascribed much of the prestige which the bank enjoys today. Mr. Foote was a foremost factor in all matters that affected the public welfare and could ever be found in the ranks of those men who considered it their duty to work in the interests of advancement, growth and development.
In politics Mr. Foote was equally active. He was originally a whig, but later turned to the republican party. In 1861 he was elected state senator and served from 1862 until 1865. During the troublous times of the Civil war he carefully watched over the destinies of his state in the upper chamber. He was active and force- ful in committee work and often appealed from the floor of the house to fellow members in the interests of valuable legislation. He later was chairman of a board of three commissioners who were selected for the construction of the state capitol and discharged this great trust in a highly satisfactory manner. He personally disbursed two million eight hundred and seventy-six thousand three hundred dol- lars throughout a period of fourteen years and no voice was ever raised about the misapplication of even a penny of this vast sum. No breath of suspicion ever attached to his name, for he discharged his duties with a conscientiousness which is rarely found among pol- iticians of the present era.
During the later years of his life Mr. Foote retired from business and public life. He largely devoted his efforts to religious work.
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In 1853 he had become a member of the Congregational church and always worked in the interests of that organization. He was for a long period a teacher of the Sunday school and for many years held the office of deacon. He was a member of the National Council of Congregational churches that met in Boston, Massachusetts, and, standing beside Plymouth Rock, where his ancestors had landed cen- turies before, he joined in the declaration of faith. In 1867 he was elected a corporate member of the American Board of Commis- sioners of Foreign Missions and continued to be a member of that board up to his eightieth year. He was one of the founders and original incorporators of the Chicago Theological Seminary and a member of its first board of directors. Throughout this life he re- mained a supporter of that institution. He was a thorough Christian gentleman whose noble spirit permeated all his actions. His home life was of the most ideal kind and wherever he went he carried with him the sunshine of life.
Mr. Foote was twice married. At Burlington, August 20, 1845, he wedded Eliza Jane Ewing, a native of Greenville, Kentucky. Only one of their four children reached adult age, Harriet, the widow of Frank R. Dunham, who was chief clerk of the Burlington post- office and died June 30, 1891. Mrs. Dunham and her daughter Har- riet reside with her stepmother, Mrs. Foote. Her two sons are John Graham, of Boise, Idaho; and George Foote, of Portland, Oregon. Mrs. Eliza Jane Foote passed away August 5, 1853, and in 1855 Mr. Foote married Miss Mary E. Merrill. She is descended from Na- thaniel Merrill, of England, who landed in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1634. The family was originally located in France and emigrated from the Auvergne shortly before the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Being Huguenots, they fled to save their lives and after reaching England located in Worcester. They later made their domicile in Sussex, whence they emigrated to America. They were descended from the old Du Merle family, of the Auvergne, the ancestral seat being at Place de Dombes. In America the family name was changed to Merrill. They supplied many Congregational and Methodist ministers of ability as well as prominent men in other spheres of life. Peter Merrill, of this family and a member of the British army, was knighted in 1634 and became Sir Peter, while Samuel, a descendant of Nathaniel Merrill, was a member of the legislature of Massachu- setts and captain of a military company in the Revolutionary war. He took part in the battles of Ticonderoga and was present at the surrender of Burgoyne. His son Jesse was a boy of sixteen when he served as a private in his father's company. After the war Samuel
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Merrill removed to Vermont, where he became prominent in public affairs as a member of the state legislature. His son James, upon leaving college, located in Philadelphia, where he became associated with the famous Thaddeus Stevens and attained fame as a member of the Pennsylvania bar. The marriage of Nathaniel Merrill, the original American ancestor, probably took place in England. His wife's name was Susanna, but her family name has never been estab- lished with certainty, although it is supposed to have been Willer- ton. They were the parents of seven children. During the later years of their lives they resided at Newburyport, Massachusetts, where Nathaniel Merrill died March 16, 1665. The subsequent gen- erations were: Abel, born in 1654, who married Priscilla Chase; Abel, born in 1671, who married Abigail Stevens; Abel, born in 1698, who married Ruth Kelley; Stevens, born in 1731, who married Sarah Chase and whose second union was with Mary Noyes; Joseph, born in 1764, who married Sarah Copp; and Stevens, born in 1790. He married Mehitabel Worthy Wells and they became the parents of Mrs. Foote. Her mother was a member of the celebrated Wells family, long known in the affairs of New England, and her great- grandfather, Samuel Wells, of Plymouth, New Hampshire, was commander of the state militia there. Her father, Stevens Merrill, was sheriff of Grafton county, and Plymouth, New Hampshire. He later removed to Boston, where he engaged in the dry goods and brokerage business. In 1849 he joined the California pioneers and there engaged in mining for several years, but in 1854 returned to the east and settled in Burlington, Iowa, where he died in 1863. His wife, who was born at Plymouth, New Hampshire, in 1797, died in Burlington, January 12, 1886.
Mrs. Foote was born at Plymouth, New Hampshire; March 19, 1832. She was educated in the public schools of Boston and came to Burlington with her parents in 1854. In the following year she married Mr. Foote. She is a member of the First Congregational church and is actively interested in carrying on the good work of her husband. She also holds membership in the Daughters of the Amer- ican Revolution and the Young Women's Christian Association. She is a member of the Missionary Society of the Congregational church and the Ladies' Aid Society of the Burlington Hospital. Mrs. Foote is a lady of literary tastes, highly cultured and refined, and takes a deep and helpful interest in the uplift of humanity.
Mr. and Mrs. Foote became the parents of three sons, but Henry G. died at the age of eight months and Charles Russell at the age of two and a half years. Graham Merrill, the eldest, now of Long
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Beach, California, was born in 1856 and in 1880 married Miss Anna Joy. They have one son, Graham Merrill Foote, Jr., who was born March 7, 1889, and is engaged in business in Long Beach, California.
John Graham Foote was one of those hardy pioneers who car- ried civilization to the primitive wilds of the middle west when the white man had scarcely penetrated the vast prairies of the Mississippi valley. He lived in Burlington for fifty-five years and witnessed the entire development of the city and section during this time. More than that, he participated actively in making its history. As a busi- ness man he laid the foundation of commercial progress; as a pro- moter of railroads he made possible the marketing of produce and joined rich agricultural districts so that the products of the soil could be advantageously disposed of. In his church work he implanted the Christian faith among his fellowmen and he always did every- thing in his power for the moral and intellectual progress of the people. The history of the state of Iowa would be incomplete with- out prominent reference to him who so worthily carried on the hon- orable traditions of a long line of distinguished ancestors. His mem- ory is revered by all who knew him and who honored in him a patri- arch who in his younger years had actively participated in the build- ing of this great commonwealth and who continued his interest in those things which make for the betterment of humanity until he was called to the great beyond from a life which had been rich in useful labors.
THE BURLINGTON GAZETTE.
One year older than the territory of. Iowa, and consequently almost a decade the senior of the state of Iowa, the Burlington Daily Gazette of Burlington, Iowa, is undoubtedly the pioneer newspaper of this state. Born and bred in the trials and hardships of the fron- tier days, when Black Hawk, the Sac chief, and his braves com- bated with the white settlers from the east the ownership of Iowa's share of the widespread territory of Wisconsin, the Gazette's history, has been that of its native lowa. Both from a crude beginning have waxed strong and powerful. Each has had its trials and tribulations, its ups and downs, its triumphs and its failures and each is better for them. It is pleasant and gratifying for the senior to contemplate its junior's progress and the high rank it today holds in the union of the states and to know that its own influence and intelligent endeavor
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played no small part in bringing about the great Iowa of the twen- tieth century. And, in turn, the state of Iowa is glad to boast among its considerable number of intelligent, wide-awake and well edited newspapers, one of such conspicuous merit as the Gazette.
The Gazette was founded in 1837 by James Clarke, a practical printer and the last territorial governor of Iowa, and Cyrus Jacobs. Editor Jacobs, following a political dispute with Judge David Rorer, a prominent attorney, was shot and killed by Rorer, who escaped punishment through a plea of self-defense. Mr. Jacobs' interest in the paper was sold to John H. McKenny, who with Mr. Clarke remained in control until 1842, when James M. Morgan and Bernhart Henn succeeded them. Both were men of parts and took an active interest in the politics of the day, Mr. Morgan being speaker of the Iowa house for several terms, while Mr. Henn served two terms in the lower house of Congress. In 1845 the Gazette passed into the hands of MIr. Clarke, its founder, and William Tiz- zard, afterwards, for a period of eight years, postmaster of Bur- lington. Upon MIr. Clarke's appointment as governor of the ter- ritory his place on the paper was filled for a time by a Mr. Thurs- ton, afterwards a prominent citizen of Oregon. Mr. Thurston was succeeded by a Dr. Gates, who sold out to Governor Clarke in 1848. In that year democracy swept the state, its victory in great measure being due to the influence wielded by the Gazette. In 1850 cholera broke out in Burlington and Governor Clarke was among the first victims. A young attorney named Childs took his place. Dr. Har- vey, an eminent physician and father of Colonel Philip Harvey of the United States army's medical corps, assumed the editorship and for five years directed its destinies. Under the Harvey regime the Gazette was the state organ of the democratic party and championed Iowa's United States senators, George W. Jones and Augustus Caesar Dodge in the Kansas-Nebraska act.
When the territory was made a state in 1846, the Territorial Gazette became the Iowa State Gazette. Until 1853 it was a weekly but in that year was changed into a tri-weekly. Two years later, under the ownership of Colonel William Thompson and David Sheward, it became a daily paper. Colonel Thompson was for four years a member of the legislature and served with distinction in the Union army. In 1860 Mr. Taylor bought the paper and in 1862 Messrs. Todd and Bently became its owners and publishers. They changed the name of the paper and it was known as the Gazette and Argus. Two years after the close of the war Richard Barret and Charles I. Barker purchased the plant and the same year Mr. Bar-
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ker became the sole owner. He dropped the name Argus from the paper, and it has ever since been known as the Gazette. Charles Playter appeared in May, 1874, as part owner, but in the following September the Gazette was purchased by W. W. Blake of Burling- ton and W. R. Fitch of the Cedar Rapids Republican. The Gazette Printing Company was then established. Colonel John Bird soon after purchased an interest and assisted Mr. Blake in the editorship until 1876, when Wesley L. Barnes, Louis Melius and W. W. Blake bought it. The two first named gentlemen soon retired and Mr. Blake became sole owner. Following Mr. Blake's incumbency of the editorial chair A. C. Hutchinson held sway, with John H. Dra- belle, now a prominent attorney of St. Louis, as political editor, Bert Smith, the present mayor of Sioux City, as city editor, and Ed Wesner, at present a leading fire insurance man of Burlington, Iowa, as business manager.
In May, 1887, Thomas Stivers of Atchison, Kansas, and Henry Stivers of Osceola, lowa, became the owners of the Gazette and published it for one year, when Thomas Stivers became absolute owner and was its editor and publisher until the day of his death, September 9, 1913, when he was succeeded by his only son, George A. Stivers. Mr. Stivers was a native of Ohio, but the greater part of his manhood had been spent in Kansas, where he had been suc- cessful as a newspaper man and contractor. He was a keen-sighted business man, a born newspaper man, a forcible writer, a man who thought straight, a courteous gentleman who made and kept friends and a worker of electric dynamo energy. It is to his wonderful industry, his steadfastness and his splendid intelligence that the Gazette owes so much of its eminent standing among the newspapers of the Mississippi valley today. How well he succeeded may be best demonstrated when it is understood that when he took the Gazette it was struggling along with a circulation of but five hundred, that its plant was a poorly equipped one and that its influence was on the wane, that he left it with its circulation at the eight thousand five hundred mark and still growing, its plant up-to-date in every way and it the most influential, widely read and quoted paper in its sec- tion of the country. His son who succeeds has been connected with the Gazette in various capacities from carrier up since he was a boy in his teens and is in every way fitted to maintain the Gazette at the standard of excellency set by his distinguished father.
The Gazette is democratic in politics and is the leading journal of that faith in Iowa. But it is not as a political organ that it enjoys its chief distinction or its ever-growing popularity. Its ability to
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gather the news, both local and foreign, and to present it to its readers in an attractive manner has made it the popular home paper of the community to which it caters. In Burlington it is a common saying that "everybody takes the Gazette," and it happens to be a true one, too, for over forty-five thousand copies are daily distributed in Burlington by its forty carrier boys. Its outside circulation is con- stantly growing, for the people of the adjacent towns and country are appreciating more and more each day the value of the paper that prints and delivers the news the day it happens. As an adver- tising medium it stands alone in its part of the country. The adver- tiser has learned that its columns bring results and the reader has every confidence in the merit of any advertisement that the Gazette will permit in its columns.
The Gazette is a member of the Associated Press, and through its leased wire running to its editorial rooms receives from ten thou- sand to fifteen thousand words each day of the news of the world. In addition it employs a staff of fifty correspondents throughout southeastern Iowa and western Illinois who keep Gazette readers well informed daily of all things of interest in their bailiwicks. How well the local field is covered is shown by the fact that in Burling- ton the Gazette circulates double the number of all other local publi- cations combined.
It is the present purpose of the management to erect a building of its own in the near future and to further equip the paper so that it may continue to grow rapidly in the value of its usefulness.
N. S. YOUNG.
Among the promoters of Burlington's growth and greatness was numbered N. S. Young, who for many years conducted a general con- tracting business in the city, where he was equally well known as a sportsman because of his love of the rod and gun and as a Christian gentleman because of his fidelity to the teachings of the Congrega- tional church, in which he long held membership. Business, rec- reation and Christian service were in him well balanced and the duties of life were by him never neglected nor slighted.
Mr. Young was a native of Pettelange, France, born September 21, 1835, and his parents, John and Magdalena Young, were also natives of that country. Their family numbered five sons and three daughters, and soon after the birth of their son, N. S. Young, they
THE NEW YORK EU. LIC LITTARY
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HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY
removed to Belgium, where they resided until 1845, when they came to the United States, arriving in New York after a voyage of forty- two days. The family home was established in western New York, where they remained for four years, during which period the mother passed away and the father afterward married Mrs. Heffner. In 1849 the family went to Watertown, Wisconsin, where the father engaged in farming.
N. S. Young acquired most of his education in New York .. He received practical training in the work of the fields and remained on the farm with his father until he reached the age of nineteen years. In 1853 he went on foot to Milwaukee, where he boarded a steam- boat for Chicago and thence proceeded by rail to Michigan City, Indiana, where he was employed on the construction of the Toledo, Wabash & Peoria Railroad until the following April, when, owing to an exhausted exchequer, the railroad company suspended further work. Mr. Young then went to Warsaw, Illinois, proceeding by way of the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad, and also as a passenger on the steamer Lady Franklin. He worked on the Warsaw, Rock Island & Rockford Railroad for three months, when the contractor failed in business and all the compensation that Mr. Young received for his services was an old watch-the first one he ever owned. This he car- ried for several years. Thrown out of employment, he did odd jobs. shunning no work that would yield him an honest living. The fol- lowing summer the building of the Warsaw, Rock Island & Rock- ford Railroad was resumed and he secured work with a brother who had a contract for railroad grading near Dallas, Illinois, remaining there until the scarcity of funds again caused work to stop. The building was resumed the following year-1856-and Mr. Young again worked for his brother near Lomax, Illinois. In the fall of that year he went to Wisconsin to visit his father's family, remaining nearly all winter, after which he became a member of a surveying party under Mr. Van Manein, engaged in locating the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad between Milton and Minneapolis Junction. His next employment took him to Joliet, Illinois, where he became overseer for Kent & Parshall, who had taken a contract in connec- tion with the building of the St. Louis Railroad.
The summer was spent in that employment, after which Mr. Young made his first independent business venture by taking a small contract from the railroad company on which he realized two hun- dred dollars in eight days. He felt that this was very much better than working for sixty dollars per month, and therefore decided to become a railroad contractor whenever a favorable opportunity pre-
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