USA > Iowa > Webster County > Fort Dodge > History of Fort Dodge and Webster County, Iowa, Volume II > Part 25
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Curtis G. Messerole was reared in his parents' home and received his education in the public schools of Iowa. After completing his school course he was engaged in working on a farm until he was eighteen years of age. In 1882 he went to Correctionville, Wood- bury county, Iowa, and there took up work as bookkeeper and sales- man for a lumber company, with whom he remained for nearly four years, afterward engaging as bookkeeper and buyer for a grain firm, and later with a hardware and implement house, remaining with this firm until he moved to Kingsley, Iowa, in 1888. In 1890 he moved to Sterling, Illinois, being employed as manager of a transfer and clearing house for a large grain concern, where he re- mained until coming to Harcourt, Webster county, Iowa, in 1894, engaging in the grain and live-stock business on his own account. In the year 1897 he returned to Sterling, Illinois, where he again took up his work for the same firm, remaining there for five years or until 1902, when he came to Gowrie, Iowa, and became the man- ager of the Farmers Elevator Company, having been in the service of this company continuously for ten years.
In 1904 he was one of the organizers of the Farmers Grain Deal- ers Association of Iowa, and served as its secretary and organizer for seven years. A year later he organized the company which pub- lished the American Cooperative Journal, an organ devoted to the in- terests of cooperation, serving as the president and editor of this paper for six years, after which he relinquished the editorial work but still serves as president of the company.
Mr. Messerole was united in marriage, November 4. 1885. at Cor- rectionville, to Miss Mary C. Kissinger, a daughter of Isaac and Ade- lia (Nicholson) Kissinger, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of New York. The mother is of English descent and the
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father of German extraction. The paternal grandfather as a young man prepared for the legal profession but never engaged in the prac- tice of law. He later became interested in music and has devoted fully fifty years of his life to teaching.
To Mr. and Mrs. Messerole three children have been born. Ger- trude A. is the wife of Arthur Lindquist, both being graduates of the Gowrie high school. She subsequently took a course at Tobin Col- lege at Fort Dodge. and he a course at Augustana College at Rock Island, Illinois. Mr. Lindquist is employed with his father and brother in conducting the First National Bank at Gowrie. To Mr. and Mrs. Lindquist one son has been born, Arthur Lindquist, Jr. Floy A. Messerole, the second daughter, is a graduate of the Gowrie high school and is employed as her father's bookkeeper. Kenneth Messerole is the only son and is a student in the Gowrie high school.
Mr. Messerole is a member of the Masonic lodge at Gowrie, the Chapter and Commandery at Ford Dodge, and the Consistory at Des Moines. He is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America at Gowrie, the Knights of Pythias at Gowrie, and the Royal Neigh- bors at Sterling, Illinois. He is now serving his second term as mayor of Gowrie, has been a member of the town board for two terms, and is serving his third term as member of the board of education, of which he is president. He is one of the enterprising, successful busi- . ness men of Gowrie and is held in high esteem by all his friends and associates.
WALTER J. POST.
Walter J. Post, who is manager of the store of Post & Company, dealers in general merchandise, and also in hay and corn, at Lehigh, is a prominent resident of that city and has served for eight years consecutively as trustee of Sumner township. He is a son of O. B. and Annie E. Post and was born in Green county, Wisconsin. He lived with his parents on a farm until seventeen years of age, and in 1886 came with his parents to Webster county. Iowa, settling on a farm of two hundred acres, which they later sold. The store of Post & Company was then established, which is now managed by W. J. Post. The father passed away at the age of sixty-five years, and was buried in the Lehigh cemetery. He was a faithful member of the Christian church. His wife now resides in this city and is the
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owner of the Post & Company store. She has reached the age of seventy-six years and is very active and energetic.
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Walter J. Post still resides with his mother. He is one of five chil- dren, the others being: Arthur, who resides in Oklahoma; Mrs. Mary Hall, a widow, of Hampton, Iowa; Charles, of Lehigh, Iowa, who also resides with his mother and is connected with the store; and Harry, the youngest, who is located at Des Moines, Iowa, and is city pass- enger agent for the Great Western Railway.
Walter J. Post received his early education in the public schools of Wisconsin and later attended school in Webster township. Ever since the opening of the store of Post & Company he has been asso- ciated with the same and has been the general manager. In his polit- ical views he is a democrat; but in local party issues he votes for the man whom he considers to be best qualified to fill the office. He lias ever been very active in all local party measures and is now a member of the city council on the independent ticket, having been a member of the council for six years. He also has been trustee of Sun- ner township for eight consecutive years on the democratic ticket. Mr. Post is greatly interested in reform and progress and has been a very helpful factor in the general improvement. Active and energetic, he is an enterprising business man of Lehigh, displaying those traits of character which in every land and clime awaken respect and ad- miration.
A. F. DAU GHENBAUGH.
1. F. Daughenbaugh is successfully engaged in the banking and real-estate business in Gowrie. He was born in Dayton, Webster county, February 13, 1872, and is a son of A. R. and Henrietta ( Richey) Daughenbaugh. The paternal grandfather, James Daughen- baugh, was by occupation a miller. He removed from Pennsylvania to Illinois and settled in Freeport, Stephenson county, where he con- tinned to live during the remaining years of his life. The maternal grandparents were Jasper and Martha Richey. The grandfather fol. lowed the occupation of milling for a time and later, in 1854. settled in Dayton connty and engaged in farming. The father, .\. R. Daugh- enbaugh, came to Webster county in 1867. In the fall of the follow- ing year he came to Gowrie and engaged in banking and real estate. When the Rock Island Railroad was built through this part of the
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sante he purchased some of the right-of-way for the company and at that time became interested in different places along the line of that road and later acquired interests in a number of different mercantile stores and also in several elevators. He was affiliated with the re- publican party and for twenty-five years filled the office of postmaster of Gowrie. He was mayor of the city, for many years treasurer of Gowrie and a member of the school board. He held membership in Rose Lodge, No. 509. F. & A. M., and died May 29, 1900. His widow survives him.
A. F. Daughenbaugh was reared at home and received his early education in the public schools and later graduated from the Des Moines high school. He afterward pursued a course of instruction in the Bryant & Stratton Business College in Chicago and was later graduated from the Drake College of Law. He then engaged in the banking and real-estate business in Gowrie, to which he has since con- tinued to devote his attention.
In October, 1903, Mr. Daughenbaugh was united in marriage to Miss Lottie Spangler, a daughter of John and Emma (Wingert) Spangler. The father came from Franklin, Illinois, to Gowrie, in 1890, and is one of the prominent contractors and builders of that place. Mr. Daughenbaugh is at present a member of the town council. He is one of the active, enterprising citizens of Webster county and a man who is well and favorably known throughout this portion of the state.
NORMAN H. HART.
Nobility of character, high principle and unfaltering devotion to duty in relation to home and family, to society and to the country at large, made Norman H. Hart a citizen whom to know was to respect and honor. There are few who have had as great influence upon the moral progress of Otho township and Webster county, his labors being particularly effective in Sunday-school work. His life therefore may well serve as an example to all who desire to travel the upward path, holding at all times to the highest standards of Christian manhood.
Mr. Hart was born in Glastonbury, Connecticut, July 10, 1826, and was a youth of eight years when in 1834 he accompanied his parents on their westward removal to Illinois, where he remained through the ensuing two decades. During that period he pursued a Vol. 11-17
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four years' course in a mission institute near the city of Quincy, Illinois. He came of the best New England stock, with very pro- nounced ideas of what constituted Christian manhood, and at that early period laid the foundation for what proved a singularly de- voted and useful life. In 1844 he first came to Iowa and for five years thereafter spent his time at Danville. In the fall of 1853 he once more came to this state in search of a location for the family and after looking carefully over the ground finally decided upon Webster county as the future home of the Harts. He then planted a crop of spring wheat and on horseback returned to Illinois to assist the others of the household in removing to the new home. The journey was made in June, 1854, with nine yoke of oxen. They settled in Otho town- ship and from that time until his death Norman H. Hart was con- tinuously a valuable factor in the political, social, business and moral development of the county. In the early days of his residence here he had to face all the difficulties, obstacles and hardships incident to pioneer life, but he possessed an optimistic nature in which there was no room for pessimism. He always looked upon the bright side and when he encountered obstacles and difficulties met them with coura- geous and determined spirit, so that they were easily overcome. His work was carefully and systematically conducted and he won a com- fortable competence, but the attainment of wealth was never the ultimate aim of his life. He desired to provide his family with a good living and succeeded in this but otherwise gave his time and attention to the higher, holier duties which affect man in his relations to his fellowmen and his Maker. He possessed a social nature and enjoyed the companionship of friends, always contributing his share toward making others happy. He was genial and sympathetic, hospitable and kindly, and his doors were ever open for the reception of friend and stranger alike.
. Mr. Hart was often mentioned as an ideal husband and father. He cultivated the graces and virtues of natural helpfulness, good- will, harmony, peace and courtesy. He was married on the 21st of September, 1860, to Jane Marrilla Fuller, who was born in Cayuga county, New York. September 11. 1830, and was a daughter of Clark and Deborah Fuller, who were also natives of the Empire state and in 1834 removed with their family to Granville, Ohio. There the daughter was reared to womanhood and took up the work of school teaching. In 1853 she became a resident of Marion, Iowa, and en- gaged in teaching school in that place and in Eldora until 1856, when she came to Webster county. She was a teacher in what is now
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Evanston and also in Otho townships and throughout her life was deeply interested in the intellectual progress of the community. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hart were born four children but three died in infancy, the surviving daughter being Mrs. Theta Wonders, the wife of Thomas WV. Wonders, mentioned elsewhere in this volume. The Hart house- hold was a Christian home. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hart early in life identified themselves with the work of Christianity, and good-will and love radiated from their home, which was never "just four square walls." Its hospitality was proverbial and a Christlike spirit was ever there found. Mr. and Mrs. Hart were ever deeply and actively inter- ested in the church work and each attended church services on the Sun- day prior to their demise. Mr. Hart passed away November 22. 1908. It was written of him: "Uncle Norman Hart, by which endearing term he was known by young and old, was no ordinary character either in intellectual power or religious principles and attainments. To a naturally vigorous and well cultivated mind he united sterling in- tegrity of principle, sincere and elevated piety, deep humility, ardent zeal for the divine glory, sincere love for his brethren and strong at- tachment to the church. His real Christian work began as teacher in Sunday school, in which field he continued a faithful and inspiring worker for sixty-two years. In addition to his work as teacher he was a successful organizer, and Webster county owes to the memory of this man of God a deep debt of gratitude for the moral tone and spiritual life bequeathed by him through the medium of his Sunday- school work. For fourteen years he was one of a quartette of Sun- day school workers who traveled the length and breadth of Webster county, organizing and reorganizing Sunday schools and holding Sunday-school conventions each year in every township. The other three members of the band were F. B. Drake, C. H. Payne and H. R. Bradshaw. This work proved a constant impetus to the Sunday schools of the county and out of it grew several churches. He was a firm believer in the power of Christian song and in all his church and Sunday-school work he laid much stress upon this as an important factor. He believed that men were called to sing the gospel as well as to preach it. He was an instructor in vocal music and organized many singing classes out of which went many to sing the gospel. Politically he was a lifelong republican, intensely patriotic and loyal. He firmly believed that the republic is a child of Providence and ever recognized the hand of God in the guidance of its affairs and the building of its institutions. He deplored existing evils that stand in the way of the nation's greatest progress and glory, but he died with
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a firm faith in the God of nations and in the future of his country. From what has already been said it scarcely needs emphasizing that his faith in the great doctrines of Christianity was complete and unbounded. To him the Bible was an inspired book, written by 'holy men of old as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.' He had no patience with theological trimmers. The word was the plummet, the ultimate standard by which he squared his life, and in the end of his days, when the body had grown weary, he was able to say: 'I have a pillow on which to rest my head,' and upon that pillow-even Jesus- he breathed his life out sweetly there. His Christian motto was- Onward and Upward; but he had a working motto in addition to this, which was his guide in the everyday affairs of life as he went in and out before his fellowmen, 'Do good and lend, hoping for nothing again.' The universal testimony of those who knew him best tells how closely he lived to this standard."
Mrs. Hart survived her husband for little more than a year and passed away on the 31st of December, 1909. The Rev. Francis Fawkes wrote of her: "A Godly woman in the prime of life, charged with vital energy, full of faith and virtue, reverent toward God, trustful in the Savior of men, and with a lofty ambition for ministering to human welfare-such a woman is the mightiest agent for righteousness the Almighty hath made on the earth. There are many such in the world and such was Mrs. Jane Hart when she first set foot on the soil of Webster county. The value of such a life to the moral and religious progress of society is far above that of gold and measured by any material standards of value, for when gold and gems have been molten and lost in the ashes of a burned world the fruit of such a life will abide and go on to grow and ripen forever and forever. Outside of the domestic circle where Mrs. Hart reigned as queen, her greatest work for humanity was the instruction of the primary class of the Sunday school in the teachings of the Bibie. Her class usually numbered from fifteen to forty pupils, so in the course of a half century quite an army of these little people passed under her supervision and teaching. They were thus in the most impressionable period of life brought under the influence and in close contact with a Christian and motherly woman, who took great interest in them long after the days of childhood. Of the number who passed through this primary class, many remembered the precepts of their teacher when they reached years of maturity and reduced these precepts to service in a Christian life, and after marriage sent another generation of children to the same teacher. Mrs. Hart was one of the founders and organizers of the Otho Church Aid
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Society, a body of Christian women that for more than a generation have been famous for their charitable good works. In almost every department of church work in which a lady could act, her long life has been one of incessant willing activity until sickness and weakness arrested her efforts. The world's great need is that such lives should be multiplied."
The memory of two such noble lives cannot but inspire and encourage all who came within the radius of their influence. Viewing such a life record as theirs, one cannot but be impressed with the fact that it is not from the few conspicuous deeds of life that the blessings chiefly come which make the world better, sweeter, happier, but from the countless lowly ministries of the everydays, the little faithfulnesses that fill long years.
JAMES W. RYAN.
James W. Ryan, whose service as steward of the poor farm has won him recognition not only as a capable agriculturist but as a business man of keen judgment and more than average executive ability, is a son of one of Webster county's pioneers. Although born in the state of New York, his natal day being the 30th of Janu- ary, 1863, he is of Irish extraction, his parents, Thomas and Cather- ine ( Dugan) Ryan, being natives of the Emerald isle. The father came to America in his early manhood, locating in the state of New York, where he obtained employment on a railroad. After about fifteen years residence there he removed with his family to Iowa, locating in Webster county in 1868. He invested his small capital in a tract of land in Badger township, which he diligently cultivated the remainder of his life, his death occurring on his farm in October, 1872. He was long survived by the mother, who passed away in .April, 1905.
James W. Ryan was a child of only five years when he accom- panied his parents on their removal to Iowa, and a lad of nine when his father died. In common with the other children of the commu- nity he began his education in the district school, but completed his course of study in the Shenandoah College at Shenandoah, this state. After leaving college he taught school for one term in Badger town- ship, and then purchased eighty acres of land and turned his atten- tion to agricultural pursuits. Having been reared on a farm he was
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thoroughly familiar with the practical methods of agriculture and met with a fair measure of success in the cultivation of his place. He was unusually diligent and enterprising, and ambitious to rapidly forge ahead. In connection with his farming he also was manager of the Humboldt Creamery Company for seven years. Although the average man would consider either occupation sufficient to en- gage his entire attention. Mr. Ryan successfully managed both and was never absent from the factory for a day during the period of his connection with it. He subsequently sold his farm, investing the proceeds in a hundred and sixty acres of land located in the same township. There he continued his agricultural pursuits for two years, at the expiration of which time he sold his place and became identified with the commercial activities of Fort Dodge. During the succeeding seventeen years he was engaged in the implement and hardware business in the latter city under the firm name of the Ryan Implement & Hardware Company. Feeling that he would like to withdraw from the confinement and exactions of commercial life he disposed of his store several years ago and subsequently accepted the appointment to the office of steward of the poor farm. Mr. Ryan is exceptionally well adapted for the responsibilities of this position, as he has practically evidenced during the period of his service. He is a man of systematic business methods, keen discernment and sound judgment in addition to which he possesses executive ability of more than average standard. All of these have been exercised with most gratifying results since he entered upon the duties of his present office, and substantially manifest his fitness for the work. When he took possession of the farm the receipts were only three hundred and sixty-nine dollars per year, while under his supervision there has been a marked annual increase until in 1911 his books recorded re- ceipts to the amount of two thousand, one hundred and sixty-five dollars, and 1912 bids fair to reach three thousand. The expenses in connection with operations have shown a corresponding decrease, thus further enlarging the amount he has annually saved the county.
In October, 1893, Mr. Ryan was united in marriage to Miss Nellie J. O'Brien, a daughter of William and Catherine (O'Connor ) O'Brien, the father a native of Wisconsin and the mother of Ireland. Mr. O'Brien, who was a railroad contractor, came to Webster county during the pioneer period, locating in Fort Dodge, where he pur- sued his business until his death, which was caused by a dynamite explosion in November, 1887. The mother is still living and con- tinues to reside in Fort Dodge. Mr. and Mrs. Ryan have become
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the parents of six children, as follows: Joseph, who has just grad- uated from St. Joseph's College at Dubuque; James, who is attend- ing high school at Fort Dodge; Marie, who is a student in Sacred Heart Academy at Fort Dodge; Leo, who goes to the district school; Catherine ; and Robert.
The parents and elder members of the family are communicants of the Roman Catholic church, and fraternally Mr. Ryan is identi- fied with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, Knights of Colum- bus and the Catholic Order of Foresters, being a charter member of the latter organization. He gives his political support to the demo- cratic party and, while residing in Badger township, served as clerk of the township. Sound principles, upright standards of citizenship and general reliability in business transactions have united in win- ning Mr. Ryan the respect and esteem of his neighbors and fellow townsmen, who hold him in high regard and accord him their stanch friendship.
EDMOND DAVID RUSSELL, M. D.
Dr. Edmond D. Russell, now a practicing physician in Fort Dodge, Iowa, is a keen student of the great scientific principles which under- lie the practice of medicine and his ability has gained him a prominent place in the medical fraternity. He was born in County Limerick, Ireland, in 1869, and obtained his early education in the Christian Brothers schools of that country. His family later removed to Dub- lin, the capital of Ireland, where he was graduated in classics and mathematics in the high school of that city. He spent two years at the Jesuits College at Clongowswood, County Kildare, and was a schoolmate of Frank Mahoney, the famous literateur and author, whose fame has been immortalized by his "Bells of Shandon." Not satisfied with this splendid education Dr. Russell determined to pur- sue his studies further and with this intention entered the University of Dublin, from which he was graduated after completing the pre- scribed course of study. He came to America, and having determined to make the practice of medicine his life work entered the medical department of the Iowa State University. The quality of the work which he did in this capacity soon gave him the recognition of the faculty and made him popular with his classmates. When he had completed his course he was appointed instructor in the university
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under Dr. Chase, his duties to consist of tutoring deficient students in the matriculation requirements. He held this position for some time. When he left the university he settled in Clare, Webster county, and immediately engaged in the practice of his profession. Rapid and enviable success attended his efforts and he was soon known as one of the able and efficient physicians of his adopted city. He has always been a firm believer in the value of a thorough vocational equipment. When he came to America he had already attained a degree of education far beyond the common order, but after some years of medical practice in Clare, Iowa, he removed to Chicago in order to further perfect himself in medicine and surgery. He took post-graduate courses, two at the Chicago Clinical School and two at the Chicago Post Graduate School, and when he at length definitely completed his studies he was equipped with a splendid education along specialized lines. This has been of great value to him in his life and has been the means of his gaining his present high place among his his medical brethren.
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