USA > Iowa > Dubuque County > History of Dubuque County, Iowa; being a general survey of Dubuque County history, including a history of the city of Dubuque and special account of districts throughout the county, from the earliest settlement to the present time > Part 84
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He was united in marriage to Miss Susanna Hatton, daughter of Robert Hatton, a pioneer of Indiana, May 9, 1850. Mrs. Weigel is a descendant of one of the oldest and most prominent families of Virginia. She came with her family to Dubuque in 1845 and now resides in the home that Mr. Weigel built for his family on the corner of Twelfth and Locust streets in 1855. The only buildings in the vicinity at that time were the homes of Hon. David Wilson, Thomas Hardie and Frank Goodrich, now James Beach's resi- dence. and the church on Main and Twelfth streets, then called the Main Street Methodist Episcopal Church, where St. Luke's Metho- dist Episcopal church now stands. Mrs. Weigel is one of the old- est members of St. Luke's, having united with the church at Moore- field, Indiana, January, 1837, and has been an active factor in every good work that that been done in connection with the church for many years. Her home, so near the church, has been open for single guest, church societies or festivities, where she and her children have ever presided with gracious hospitality. In ripening years she still maintains her interest in all the church affairs.
Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Weigel-Jessie, Ella, Fannie, Hulda (deceased), Lucy and Frederick (deceased ).
Jessie Weigel was united in marriage to J. S. Hanna, of New York : Ella Weigel was united in marriage to Rear Admiral God- frey Blocklinger of the United States Navy; Fannie Tonner was united in marriage to E. A. Tonner, of St. Louis, Missouri; Mr. Fred Weigel was united in marriage to Elsie McManigal, who sur- vives him.
Mr. Weigel was a kind, devoted father and loving husband. In the later years of his life he found much pleasure in relating the experiences of those early days, and especially his experiences with the Indians. He ever looked forward to the splendid progress and betterment of the city and was very beneficent, but being of a modest, retiring nature, many of his charitable acts were never known. Mr. Weigel lived to see the city of his choice experience a marvellous growth and become the trade center of a large section of our country. He lived to see around and about him the sub- stantial fruits of the all-conquering power of genius and enterprise, and he was one of the important factors in developing the natural advantages of the city during the sixty-three years he lived in Dubuque.
Mr. Weigel passed away at his home, at Twelfth and Locust streets, May 19, 1896.
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HON. D. N. COOLEY was born in Lisbon, New Hampshire, November 7, 1825, and died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. J. F. Douglas, in New York City, November 13, 1892. He was de- scended from one of the oldest and best New England families, dating his paternal ancestry back to the advent of the first Scotch Protestants in America. His grandfather, Aaron Cooley, was a major in the War of the American Revolution. When fifteen years of age Judge Cooley left home and after studying in the Newbury Seminary of Vermont, prepared for college. He received and de- clined an appointment to West Point. After studying law for three years he was admitted to the bar in 1854. About this time he came to Dubuque and entered upon the practice of his profes- sion. He was at different times a member of the firms of Samuels & Cooley : Cooley, Samuels & Allison ; Cooley, Blatchley & Adams ; and Cooley & Eighmey.
In 1864 he was appointed by President Lincoln Commissioner to South Carolina and acted then as Special Commissioner to settle titles to cotton and rights to possession of land. He served as Sec- retary of the National Republican Congressional Committee dur- ing the campaign which resulted in the triumphant reelection of President Lincoln.
In 1865 he was appointed by President Johnson Commissioner of Indian Affairs, which position he resigned in September, 1866; for several years he practiced law in Washington, as well as in Dubuque, with marked ability and success.
In 1873 he was elected Senator to the Iowa legislature, and in the same year was appointed Commissioner to the Vienna Exposi- tion.
For twenty-one years he was President of the First National Bank of Dubuque, and for many years was President of the Board of Trustees of Cornell College, in which institution he endowed the D. N. Cooley chair of Civil Engineering. He was a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and, as a delegate to its General Conferences on two occasions, took an active part in the deliberations and proceedings.
Such, in part, is the bare outline of a singularly happy and suc- cessful life. Judge Cooley had none of the narrowness of some self-made men. He was a man of broad and liberal culture, of un- common magnetism and mental vigor. Up to the latest period he kept up with the activities, literary and otherwise, of the times. He was a critical, observing man, shrewd and discriminating, loving society, his travels frequent and wide, embracing this and other countries. He was an entertaining companion, agreeable in con- versation, with broad views of men and things, sympathetic and helpful. His purse was open to the call of charity and many were the bountiful acts that brightened clouded pathways and comforted sorrowing hearts. Especially was he the friend of young men,
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eager to help them obtain an education and arouse their ambition.
His family life was one of ideal tenderness and love. No sac- rifice was too great for the comfort and happiness of wife and children.
In intellectual, professional, political, business, social and re- ligious life he was a well rounded man, a lover of his country, a man of noble bearing and firm faith, a Christian gentleman.
All the members of Judge Cooley's family are still living-a family recognized as one of the most highly cultured and respected in the history of Dubuque. It consists of his widow, Mrs. Clara Aldrich Cooley : three daughters-Mrs. Clara C. Becker, Mrs. Min- nie C. Douglas and Mrs. Mary C. Bassett ; and one son, Harlan Ward Cooley. Clara C. is a graduate of Cornell and Wellesley colleges and was married to F. W. Becker, of Chicago, who died April 28, 1910; Minnie C. is a graduate of Vassar College and is the wife of John F. Douglas, of Wall Street, New York City; Mary C. is also a Vassar graduate and the wife of Charles W. Bassett, of Baltimore, general passenger agent of the Baltimore & Ohio: Harlan W. Cooley, a graduate of Yale, is a successful attor- ney in Chicago.
Mrs. Clara Aldrich Cooley, the widow of Judge D. N. Cooley, during her residence of many years in Dubuque has been a force- ful leader in literary, church and philanthropic circles. She has a broad intelligence that enables her to take large views of life, to recognize differences of opinion and to appreciate the fact that if one has been favored there exists an obligation to use one's gifts for those less favored. "Ceasing to give, we cease to live." Mrs. Cooley has genius as an organizer and originator. She was one of the incorporators of the "Home for the Friendless" and one of its first Presidents.
Believing that "association of endeavor augments the common good," Mrs. Cooley invited to her home on January 13, 1876, a number of interested women and organized the Dubuque Ladies' Literary Association, which still exists under the name of the Dubuque Woman's Club. Its founder was its first President. This club, formed for mental improvement by means of systematic study, has proved itself a power among the clubs of Iowa. En- thusiasm and energy characterize everything Mrs. Cooley attempts. She has proved her ability in many ways, in none more than in the able manner in which she represented Iowa as Educational Com- missioner to the Paris Exposition of 1900, an appointment made by Governor Leslie M. Shaw and endorsed by Senator William B. Allison and Speaker D. B. Henderson. At this Exposition Mrs. Cooley read a paper on "Women in Science" before the Congress of Women.
Of colonial ancestry, Mrs. Cooley is a most enthusiastic member of the National organization. "Daughters of the American Revolu-
Clara Aldrich Cooley
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tion." She founded the Dubuque Chapter of the organization and has served as its Regent and as State Regent for two terms. Later she was honored by the life office of Honorary State Regent. Highly gifted in intellectual and spiritual power, though past the prime of life, she retains in a marked manner her vigor of mind and still presides over and leads a most successful club which she founded twenty years ago and which has always met in her home, the Dubuque Monday Afternoon Club.
Mrs. Cooley's interests are varied and widespread. She is a life member of the Mary Washington Memorial Association and was one of the first officers of "The Association for the Advancement of Women," of which the late Mrs. Julia Ward Howe was Presi- dent.
She is a member of the American Economic Association of Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Academy of Political Science, of New York, and the National Geographic Society, of Washington, D. C.
Mrs. Cooley has won honors from the club women of America by her early endeavors in behalf of the club movement. "Sorosis" of New York has made her an honorary member of that organiza- tion.
The General Federation of Women's Clubs at its Biennial Meet- ing at St. Paul gave her the title of Honorary Vice-President, an honor as great as could be bestowed, in recognition of her work as a pioneer club woman of the middle West.
Mrs. Cooley has been an influence and power in the Methodist Church since her arrival in the city. She achieved great success in her leadership of a Palestine Class, which gave her a national reputation as a Bible teacher. She has been for years the efficient President of the Social Union of St. Luke's Methodist Episcopal Church and is still a working member of the Quarterly Conference.
DAN J. JONAS, born at Bellevue, Jackson County, Iowa, on October 25, 1860, is the son of Jeremiali and Sarah (Stuckey) Jonas. The father was born in Pennsylvania, November 15, 1809, of Holland ancestry, and the mother was a native of Kentucky. Jeremiah Jonas moved to Jackson County, Iowa, at the early date of 1834, and was there married. Four sons and one daughter were born to this union, named Franklyn, Benjamin, Ella, Dan J. and Edmund, deceased. Dan J. Jonas left the parental home in 1888 and located at Cascade, Iowa, where he engaged in the tinning busi- ness with Edward McBryan. Previous to this, however, he had received a good, practical education at Bellevue. In 1895 he came to Dubuque, where he has since resided, and engaged in his present business of tinner and dealer in furnaces. May 1, 1882, he mar- ried Miss Josie Herdez, who died September 5, 1890, leaving four children : Leo, Dan J., Jr., Minnie ( Mrs. George Avenarius) and
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Lulu. On November 20, 1893, Mr. Jonas married Miss Nina Markle, by whom he is the father of two children-Ocee and Thelma, the former deceased. Mr. Jonas is one of the most capa- ble and skillful workmen of his line in this section of the country, and he has worked on a great many of the most important buildings in the city. He is a Republican in politics and a member of the Independent Order of Foresters, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Woodmen of the World and the Loyal Order of Moose.
JOHN N. SPODEN, residing on a farm of 124 acres in Section 9, Liberty Township, Dubuque County, is a native of the township in which he now resides, born May 21, 1860, and a son of Nicholas and Elizabeth Spoden. The father was born in Germany and for a time served in the Prussian army. In 1848 he embarked for America in a sailing vessel and after a tedious and dangerous voy- age of ninety-six days finally landed at New York City. He came West to Chicago by canal boat and the Great Lakes and from there went to Kenosha. He then worked as a farm hand for a time, learning the language and customs of the American people, and for a year was employed as boat hand on Lake Michigan. Succeeding this he entered the employ of the Illinois Central Rail- road Company and participated in the building of that road from Chicago to Freeport, then came to Dubuque and for a year worked on a flat boat operated by Peter Kiene. After this he located at Luxemburg, then scarcely more than a few log houses, where he secured forty acres of land from the Government. Returning to Illinois, he worked a short time for a farmer, who later gave him a team of oxen to break up his land in Liberty Township. About this time Mr. Spoden returned to his native country for a year's visit, but then returned to Dubuque County and resided on his land until he had a clear title to same. This he improved, tilling the soil and building suitable houses, and in 1868 he disposed of it and bought the present farm in possession of the family. He erected a fine residence, barn and various outhouses thereon, and with the improvements since added by his sons the property is recognized as one of the best farms in the community. On November II. 1896, he passed away, aged seventy-four years, and was buried at Luxemburg. His widow is yet living, aged seventy-nine years, and resides on the old homestead. To Mr. and Mrs. Spoden were born four sons-John R., John P. and Michael, twins, and Peter. John N. Spoden, the immediate subject of this sketch, attended the pub- lic schools until his fourteenth year, and for ten years thereafter assisted his father in the work of the home farm. He served an apprenticeship to the carpenter trade, which he followed until 1896, and then entered the hardwood saw-mill business, which carried him into various parts of the State and which line of business he
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has successfully followed ever since. Associated with him is his . brother. Peter Spoden, and for the last nine years they have owned and operated the Spoden Brothers' Mill. John R. Spoden is a Democrat in politics, a Catholic in religion and a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters.
Peter Spoden, associated in business with his brother, John R. Spoden, was also born on the old homestead in Liberty Township, and received his education in the district schools. He remained at home until reaching his majority and then learned the carpenter trade, which he followed for a year. Succeeding this he and his brother entered their present line of business, which they have been engaged in ever since. Mr. Spoden is a Democrat in politics, a Catholic in religious views, and a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters and the Roman Catholic Mutual Protective Associa- tion of the State of Iowa. On November 8, 1906, he was united in marriage with Miss Eva, daughter of the old settlers, Michael and Annie Stangel, and they have three daughters, named Helena, Mary and Sedella.
JOHN KLUESNER, who owns a valuable farin of some 300 acres in Liberty Township, has been prominently identified with the agri- cultural interests of Dubuque County for many years. He was born at New Vienna in 1855 and is a son of the old pioneers, Bernard and Gertrude Kluesner, who came to America from Ger- many about 1833 and settled in Dubuque County. Here the father farmed for many years and became prominent among his fellow- men. John Kluesner attended the Vorwald district school until fourteen years old and also assisted his father with the work on the home place. When twenty-three years old he bought 160 acres of his present property, in 1900 he bought another 80 acres and in 1910 still another tract of 60 acres, amounting in all to some 300 acres. By hard and conscientious work Mr. Kluesner has brought his land to a high state of cultivation and today same is regarded as one of the valuable farms in Liberty Township. He erected a fine modern home, spacious barns and outhouses, and his place is well stocked with domestic animals. He keeps about twelve horses, forty head of cattle and some 150 swine in season. In politics he is a Democrat, and in religious views a member of the Catholic Church at Luxemburg. On May 14, 1879, at New Vienna, he was united in marriage with Miss Thrisa Steffen, a daughter of William and Lizzie Steffen, who are appropriately represented else- where in this publication. To Mr. and Mrs. Kluesner these children have been born: Anton, died in 1906, aged seven years ; Fred and Aloyius, twins, both died in infancy; Frank, farming in Liberty Township; John, same: Willie, farming in New Wine Township: Bernard, farming at Bancroft, Kossuth County, Iowa ; Leo and Theodore, assisting their father on the home place; Peter,
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at home; and Agatha, who attended Jackson district and Luxem- burg parochial schools. The Kluesner family is one of the fore- most in Liberty Township and has taken an active part in local civic and social affairs.
C. B. MCNAMARA, the son of John F. and Catherine (Callahan) McNamara, was born in Mosalem Township, Dubuque County, February 22, 1863. The father, John F. McNamara, was born in New York, but was brought to this county in 1834 by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Roger McNamara. He therefore may justly be called one of Dubuque's oldest settlers; in fact, there are but very few who have been here longer than he. He has a vivid recollection of the peculiar and frequently very hard experiences of early frontier life, and has lived to see every step thus far taken for the promotion of the interests of city and county. He was a miner for a number of years, and is today perhaps the oldest of Dubuque's living pioneer miners. In course of time he quit mining and be- came one of the county's prosperous farmers, but is now living a retired life in the city of Dubuque : his wife also survives. Their home is at 57 West Third street. Mr. McNamara had a fondness for politics and served eight years as county supervisor. (See sketch elsewhere in this work. )
C. B. McNamara, the immediate subject of this review, worked on his father's farm when a boy and attended school at Key West. Later he went to St. Joseph's College for a few years, after which he went to South Dakota, where he lived on a farm for ten years. He then returned to Dubuque and engaged in the commission busi- ness for a short time, after which he traveled a few years for the J. I. Case threshing and Deering harvester companies. After serv- ing two years as assistant deputy sheriff and one term as poor commissioner he entered the contracting business, which he has conducted the past ten years with marked success. He is now one of the busiest contractors in the city. He is a member of the Mystic Workers of the World and of the Knights of Columbus. He is a Democrat in politics, and in religion a Roman Catholic and belongs to St. Patrick's church.
On January 30, 1884, he was joined in marriage with Miss Anna J. McEvoy, daughter of John McEvoy, one of Dubuque's well- known citizens. To this union nine children have been born, as fol- lows: Catherine J., John Clement (deceased), Cecelia Marcelina, Leonard Francis, Florence Regina, Miles Anthony (deceased), Clement Benedict, Donald Joseph and Mary Adele.
JOHN STANFORD MURPHY was born in Schuylkill County, Penn- sylvania, in 1846, and died in Dubuque, March 10, 1902. His father and mother were Irish immigrants. While he was yet a mere boy his parents moved to Iowa, settling upon a farm near the
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outskirts of Anamosa, and there he attended school until his four- teenth year, when he came to Dubuque, and entering the home of a friend of his parents, finished his school education in the old First ward, or Franklin, school. He then entered the Herald office as printer's apprentice and remained until he qualified as a journey- man. He went from Dubuque to St. Louis with John Hodnett, who was to become famous later as a newspaper publisher, and served at the "case" in Mr. Hodnett's Times. It was said of Mr. Murphy that he excelled as a type-setter. His brilliancy and alertness elicited an invitation to join the reportorial staff, and this was the beginning of Mr. Murphy's career as a journalist. He acquired local distinction as a graphic writer and was drafted by Joseph Mccullough, St. Louis's most successful publisher, for the staff of the Globe-Democrat. But Mr. Murphy disdained metro- politan journalism and returned to Dubuque, becoming city editor of the Herald, and serving at different times on the several local newspapers until 1876, when he associated himself with the Tele- graph, which was to survive several successive changes of title until 1901, when, having absorbed the Herald, it became the Telegraph-Herald and is so known today.
Mr. Murphy won distinction quickly in the editorial field. Hon. Jacob Rich, who was much of the time contemporaneous with him, said of him at his death: "A graduate of the public school and of the printing office, he was almost wholly self-taught, and therefore no one could fail to mark with ever-increasing admiration the growth of his mental power. His vocabulary was far in advance of many college professors, and gave him great facility and felicity in expression. His mind was notably analytic, and in the field of polemics he was a master, rarely if ever forgetting the proper dig- nity and courtesy of debate. He would advocate nothing but from conscience, and never failed to at least convince you of his own sincerity. In every cause he was found wonderfully fortified with fact and logic, showing the sources of his wonderful faith, and marking him always as the trained and skilled antagonist. With it all he was broad minded, kindly spirited, pure hearted. He was a veritable evangelist of labor, gauging every movement by what he believed, rightfully or mistakenly, to be for labor's weal or bet- terment. His industry was marvelous and his editorial life a most strenuous one. His own pride and the sense of his own power were the only stimulants to his intense life. The quality and the measure of his work was never excelled by any editor in Iowa, unless it may have been by Ret Clarkson. Dubuque had pride in his growth; in the recognition in the state of his mental power and his manly worth."
The distinction Mr. Murphy won as an editorial writer was sup- plemented in the last eight years of his life with the fame political
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leadership creates. Reviewing his political career in the Sioux City Tribune, Mr. Judson C. Welliver said :
"At the head of the great delegations from the Gibraltar of Iowa Democracy he was irresistible in his own district and then bestrode the state itself-he was the party. With this new power he was a national character and dictated national policies. He was no trim- mer; he loved the combat and despised the man who had not the courage to espouse his honest conviction at all hazards to him- self. This disposition it was which enabled him to win the last battle in the state convention, and which gave him control of the situation at the national convention in Kansas City. The compromisers were all brushed aside and mostly into Mr. Murphy's basket. In all this Mr. Murphy was honest. His char- acteristics were those which have made a race famous. He was generous to a fault, quick in action, impetuous in the charge and skillful in the forum."
The Waterloo Reporter described him as one of the "most posi- tive characters that has ever been identified with politics and news- papers in Iowa." The La Crosse (Wis.) Press said he "established a reputation for ability and journalistic integrity that extended far beyond the borders of his own state, where his work has com- manded a degree of respect and admiration surpassed by no other newspaper man within its borders." The Sioux City Journal said that "he summoned the chiefs of his party to counsel; his hand wrote the pledges and the challenges of his party. The sun is shining brightly as these words are written, and yet tears, as if from heaven, are falling on the face of this dead brother. To speak of him thus is a solace, and not to have language more fitting is one of the burdens of the moment. To have been cheered by him over a long and rugged way, to have had his trust and con- fidence, unbroken by the strain of strenuous life, is recompense for living garnered from the years."
The Des Moines Register said he "stood firmly for his convic- tions," and the Capital said that "to know him was to love him," and that "in his death Iowa journalism loses one of the strongest characters it has produced." The Fort Madison Democrat said that "the good done for the common people by his editorial utter- ances cannot be measured." "He died," said the Cascade Pioncer, "as a knight in defense of a noble cause would love to die- panoplied and armored-in the very center of the tournament that he enriched with his masterly genius." "A brave, consistent and upright man, his type is worthy of the emulation of every young man," said the Marshalltown Times-Republican. "One of the brightest editorial minds in the West," said the Waukon Democrat. The Carroll Sentinel concluded that "the world is made better and the newspaper profession ennobled by such editors as John Mur- phy." "He shaped the conventions of his party very largely to his
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