USA > Iowa > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, Iowa : its people, industries and institutions, with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families > Part 43
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
481
HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA.
keg. Sugar found a substitute in sorghum; coffee in burnt peas, rye and many other substitutes, while tea was seldom used.
There were no castes in society, every man was considered as good as his neighbor, and each had a confidence in the other's promises, and a chat- tel mortgage was seklom heard of; there was feeling of social, kind-hearted hospitality in every home. No stranger was turned away hungry, and there was room for lodging, as long as there was a vacant puncheon.
Toward the close of this period, the furnishing of supplies for the troops in the Northwest made a better market for the products of the farm -- prices ruled higher and money was more plenty. The principal mode of transportation was by ox-teams, the shorter the haul, the less expense, of course. About this time, before the Northwestern railroad reached Coun- cil Bluffs (which was in 1866) the Northwestern Stage Coach established a line from the eastern terminus of the railroad line to Council Bluffs. This was considered a great accommodation to the public generally, and especially to those living near the line of the route. The fare from Wood- bine to Council Bluffs, a distance of forty miles, was four dollars, and the people did not grumble any more at the expense of traveling than they do now with the railroad fare at three cents a mile.
When the surrender of Lee was an accomplished fact, and the citizen- soldier whose constancy and courage had maintained the integrity of the Republic, and the camp-fire, the weary march and the conflict and carnage were to be realized no more but in memory, with mingled feelings of sorrow for the precious blood that had been given as a ransom for our country, with gratitude to God for the final triumph, with hearts full of love for family and friends, those who had worn the loyal blue returned to the homes they had left, to the peaceful occupation of former days, a wonder to the world, as well as an honor to mankind.
AN INCIDENT OF THE WINTER"-'56-'57.
From the lips of the late David Selleck the writer learned that among the experiences of that never-to-be-forgotten hard winter in Iowa, that of 1856-57, the following was his lot to endure :
Snow was no longer looked upon as the "beautiful" as the poets put it. It mantled the earth to the depth of four feet on the level and every ravine was drifted to its level, no odds how deep that ravine might be. Mag- nolia was the nearest trading point for the settlers in the vicinity of present
(31)
482
HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA1.
Woodbine, where Mr. Selleck had settled in the autumn of 1855. Hand- sleds had to be used on which to draw provisions from Magnolia. Mr. Sel- leck's stable was situated on the hillside by a small draw or ravine, and was covered with poles and hay. h commenced snowing December 1 .. 1856. and continued to fall heavily for three days and nights, in fact it snowed nearly all of that memorable winter. On the morning of the second day. pioneer Selleck, then in the prime of his splendid manhood, started for his stables, but it was completely covered up and the ravine drifted full to the top. He tak poles and ran them down through the snow but failed to lo- cate his stable until in the latter part of that afternoon. He then dug down through the top of the stable, as one might do in digging a well. He cut holes through the roof of the shed to the horses there imprisoned, and im- mediately there arose a steam resembling smoke from a chimney. In this snow-covered stable, the faithful horses that had drawn the family to the county, were imprisoned for three weeks, their hay, grain and water being let down to them through the holes made in the snow drifts. Finally. he dug an alley-way and covered it with material to keep part of the snow from entirely filling it up.
It was that same winter that so many deer were killed and died from starvation and the breaking of their legs by falling through the crusted snow drifts. On one occasion, Mr. Selleck related to the writer, he saw a drove of elk coming from the western hills, back of his farm, making for the river at Butler's mills. He started in pursuit with dogs. The men at the mill soon discovered them coming and headed by them, on the ice of the river with dogs and guns. Several were shot, and Mr. Butler cutting the ham-strings of one. secured it. Deer were caught by dogs as the poor fatigued and frightened animals would break through the deep crust cutting their legs, causing many of the nimble-footed herd to perish.
EARLY-DAY HARDSHIPS.
By Mis. Sally Young.
We are indebted to Joseph H. Smith's History of Harrison County for the subjoined reminisence, given by aunt Sally Young, widow of pioneer David Young :
"We located in this county in 1850, and found, as we thought, the garden of Eden, a vast prarie of beautiful flowers and a great abundance of wild fruits. At this time the country was very thinly settled, our nearest
183
HARRISON COUNTY, IOW.A.
neighbors being six miles away: the nearest trading point. Council Bluffs ; nearest mill, seventeen miles, and flour sixteen dollars a barrel and groceries quite as expensive. By 1851 our provisions were nearly exhausted, and the water in the Pigeon being so low they could not crack corn. we were compelled to grate all our meal on graters made out of oll tin. but we had a large supply of meat, including venison, prairie hens, wild turkey, etc.
"We were told when moving here, that we could not keep horses because the flies were so bad, and we traded our horses for oxen, and when we ar- lived on the Boyer we found the statement to be true, for the flies were sc: numerous and plentiful that we could not work the oxen in the heat of the day when the flies were bad. for they would have been eaten up, and only escaped by being in their hiding places in the thickets, and when night came we would have the teams hitched up and do our work after dark. The mosquitoes were very bad, and during all of the summer time we wcie compelled to keep a smoke going in the house from sunset until the following morning, so as to keep these insects away. Wolves were quite plentiful and very troublesome, for at the middle of a certain day two at- tacked a yearling calf near our door, and one of the boys ran out with the gun and shot one while standing in the yard, the animal trying to kill one of our calves.
"I, on the way to the country, had bought a pair of chickens, and in the first fall after locating here, a lynx came nearly to the house and tried to carry away the old hen, but the dog rescued her twice, but Mr. Lynx, at the third trial, was determined and finally made a Methodist supper on old "Speckle."
"The deer were doubly as numerous as the wolves, for I could look out of our door at most any time of day and see a herd of them peacefully grazing on the prairie -. No bridges, then, on the Boyer; each man made his own bridge by felling a tree across the stream for his own convenience. Our first home was a little log shanty, covered with puncheons split out of the log with the axe, and the chimney was made of sods. Notwithstand- ing all that I have said, I do think that these first few years we settled here were the happiest of our lives, because we were anxious to get homes and care for our families, which at times were quite numerous, and these cares took up all our time, so that we did not have time to think of hard- ships and dangers.
"With all the deprivations of these carly days, viewed from this standpoint of quite forty years, there was much to brighten and cheer the
484
HARRISON COUNTY, IOW.A.
settler, from the fact that there were oceans of game, tons of fall acids, in the shape of plunis and grapes. There were early wild strawberries and a hundred things of which time and space prohibit present mention.
"The thousands of deer which roamed up and down the valley, or cross- ed from one side to the other, by narrow runways, were to be had at the little cost of shooting and dressing, and gave to the larder all, yea, perhaps, better than is now experienced by many, who at the present live in this, what is termed, the land of plenty. Great droves of wild turkeys lined the skirts of the interior timber track, and honey was far more plentiful then than now."
المعدة .
F. H. Porter.
BIOGRAPHICAL
FRANKLIN J. PORTER.
It is not often the biographer finds before him the sketch of a career so replete with incident and interest as that of the honorable gentleman to a brief sketch of whose career the attention of the reader is now directed. Mr. Porter has long been a resident of this county, coming here at a time when pioneer conditions prevailed, and much of the welfare of this com- munity and its progress along many lines is due to his activity and his in- terest in all matters pertaining to the advancement of this section. It is by no means an easy task to review within the limits of this brief biographical sketch the career of a man who has led an active and eminently useful life and by his own exertions reached a position of honor and trust. But biog- raphy finds justification, nevertheless, in the tracing and recording of such a life history, as the public claims a certain proprietary interest in the career of every individual and the time invariably arrives when it becomes proper to give the right publicity.
Franklin J. Porter was born in New York City, March 22, 1838, of Irish parentage, both his parents having come from the Emerald Isle, the father from County Cavan. His father's name was Joseph F. Porter and the mother before her marriage was Margaret Atchison. For some years after their marriage they remained in their native land, later coming to America and first locating in Canada, where they remained a few years. Later the family lived in New York City, where the mother remained twenty-two years after the death of the father, and where she died. Franklin J. Porter is the youngest of a family of ten children, Hugh. Ann, Mary, Alexander, Eliza, George, William, two who died in early infancy, and Franklin J. Six of this family are still living and at one time the two eldest sons, Ilugh and Alexander, were members of the Dublin police.
Franklin J. Porter received his earliest instruction in the schools of New York City and at the tender age of twelve years he enlisted as a fifer in the regular army of the United States and was assigned to a company
486
HARRISON COUNTY, IOW.A.
which was ordered out to the frontier. His company was part of a brigade commanded by General Harney and they were stationed at various times in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico and in Old Mexico. That was back in the years when the states mentioned were the real fron- tier, when depredations of the retreating Indians were many and the out- rages of a certain class of lawless whites gave "Uncle Sam's" soldiers con- siderable to do. There were many skirmishes with the Indians and on several occasions Mr. Porter was one of a number of men who were led by Kit Carson, the famous scout. In June of 1855 he was taken out of the regular army by his mother and was on his way to rejoin her in the east when, upon reaching Harrison county, Jowa, he decided to end his journey and in this county he made his home until the outbreak of the Civil War. His previous army training especially fitted him for an active part at that time and at the very beginning of hostilities he aided in organizing Company C. Twenty-ninth Regiment, lowa Vohmteer Infantry; Company E, Sixth Iowa Cavalry, he himself enlisting with the latter company, and under General Sully he served in Missouri and the Yellowstone river regions. He was in the service for three years and one month, being mustered out at Sioux City, Jowa, in 1865, and received his discharge at Davenport.
When Mr. Porter first came to Harrison county in 1855. he settled at Jeddo in Jefferson township, which was but a straggling hamlet contain- ing four frame houses, a crude littk school house, George Thorp's general store, Charley Baker's blacksmith shop and a saw-mill, owned by Omar Thorp, who also was the postmaster. Mr. Porter operated the saw-mill until 1858 when he purchased some land in section 3 of Jefferson township and devoted his energies toward its improvement. He finally sold this farm at a price of fifty-six dollars and twenty-five cents per acre, which was an extremely good price for that time. He then purchased another tract which he soon sold at an advance and then bought a hundred-acre tract in Boyer township, section 19. At that place he had school facilities. timber and a free range and there he continued to reside until 1891, when he retired from active agricultural labors and took up his residence in Woodbine. The hundred acres above referred to served as a nucleus for his final holdings of seven hundred and seventy-two acres, all in one tract. and as good land as the county can boast. Mr. Porter gave his especial attention to the raising of live stock and in that line was highly successful. Within the last few years he has disposed of all his farm lands in this county and has become interested in the First National and People's Savings Banks of Woodbine. He also owns an excellent home and other property
-
487
HARRISON COUNTY, IOW.1.
within the borders of the town. For the past twenty years he has served the First National Bank as one of its directors and was active in the organ- ization of the People's Savings Bank, having been president of that institu- tion since its incorporation.
Mr. Porter's fraternal affiliations are with the Ancient Order of Free and Accepted Masons, in which he has taken the Royal Arch degree, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which latter order he has taken all the degrees, including that of Patriarchs Militant, of which latter he was commander for three years, and the Grand Army of the Republic.
Mr. Porter was married on February 6, 1859. to Miss Lucy Francis. born in Athens county, Ohio, February 9. 1840, daughter of Nicholas and Mercy ( Rathbun, Francis, the former a native of the Isle of Guernsey, which lies off the coast of France, but which is British territory. The mother was a native of the state of Virginia. After the marriage of Mrs. Porter's parents they came westward into Ohio, where they lived for sex- cial years and in 1850 came to this state, locating in Donglas township, Harrison county. Here they spent the rest of their lives.
To Mir. and Mrs. Porter has been born an interesting family of eleven children, of whom the eldest, Emma M., born December 25. 1859, is the wife of Charles II. Sloan residing at Geneva, Nebraska. Mr. Sloan is active in politics and is at present seated in our national body of lawmakers as representative from the fourth Congressional district of Nebraska. Frances E., born October 6, 1861, is the wife of Alexander Evans and resides in Woodbine. Joseph F., the eldest son, was born on June 27, 1863, and resides in Davenport, Jowa. He is one of the most prominent men in trac- tion circles in his scetion, being president and general manager of four different street railway systems in lowa and Illinois. He is also interested in other lines of business and is at present serving as president of seventeen different companies, a rather unusual record. William E., born on Septent- ber 23. 1866. lives at Fidelity, Illinois. Edgar H. was born on January 22, 1868, and died October 17. 1889. Georgia R. was born on July 5, 1869, and is the wife of Harold J. Holmes of Seattle, Washington. Lucy Ethel was born on February 25, 1871, and died while still a little child. on August 19. 1874. Katie May, born February 9. 1873, is the wife of William II. Gess, of near Boise, Idaho, an extensive rancher and sheep man. Ada L., born November 4, 18;4. is at home. Harry R., born September 30, 1877. lives at Vancouver, Washington, and Inez 11., the youngest child of the family, born July 25, 1880, is the wife of G. E. Hewitt, of Douglas township. Harrison county, Iowa. Mr. Porter was anxions that his children should
.
48S
HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA.
receive the benefits of a good education and all finished the common schools, and Liter were graduated at Ames College or Drake University, with the ex- ception of one daughter, a partial invalid, who was graduated at the Wood- bine Normal and taught kindergarten.
In every avenue of life's activities, Mr. Porter has performed his part to the best of his ability and in a manner to mark him as a natural leader of men. He has ever believed that anything worth doing at all is worth doing well and the result is that he has won and retains to a notable degree the sincere respect and confidence of all who know him. He has a vast field of acquaintances, among whom are many loyal, stauch and devoted friends and wherever he goes he receives a hearty welcome. Because of his high personal character and his genuine worth as a man and citizen, he is specifically entitled to mention in a work of this character.
JAMES CUTLER MILLOMIAN.
The subject of this sketch was born in Saratoga county, New York, on January 28, 1847, his parents being Francis Milliman and Sally Emily ( Hunt ) Milliman, both natives of New York state, the mother being a daughter of Walter Hunt, one of the pioneers of the town of Edinburg, Saratoga county, New York. The father was born in the year iSog and the mother in 1812. The ancestors of Francis Milliman were Scotch-Irish, having removed from the north of Ireland to the state of Connecticut in about 1740. Walter Hunt was the son of Captain Ziba Hunt of the Revolutionary War, the latter died at Northampton, New York, in 1820, at the age of seventy-five years and his wife, Johanna Blount. passed away at Edinburg, New York, in 1825, at the age of seventy-seven years.
Francis Milliman and Sally Emily Hunt were married in 1831 and to them were born five sons. Henry S .. Ezra Wilson, Ambrose, William W. and James Cutler, besides two daughters who died in infancy. James Cutler Milliman resided in Ballston Spa, the county seat of Saratoga county. until 1865, when he and his father's family removed to Harrison county, Jowa, where he has since resided.
The carly life of the present mayor of Logan, lowa, was one of hard- ship, his mother having died when he was two years old, leaving a family of five boys. At the age of nine years, his father having agan married, James Cutler Milliman left his father's home, going thirty miles inland by
489
HARRISON COUNTY, IOW.I.
stage to live with an aunt. where he worked for his board and clothes for four years, doing farm work, going to school three months in the winter and often being the first one to make a path for nearly half the way after a foot or more of fresh snow. His clothes consisted of one suit of homespun and homemade woolen from the backs of sheep he tended. and one of his sports was to wash the live sheep in May by taking them into a brook on the farm, where a big ram or wether often contested for the mastery and, except for the long wool to which he could cling, must have gotten the better of the lad. He also had for summer wear, pants and shirt made of spun and woven hemp, grown on the farm.
Planters, cultivators, mowers and reapers were unknown there, so this hoy cut grain with a sickle on the rougher ground and with a cradle where sinooth, planted corn with a hoe and hoed it three times during the season, mowed with a scythe and raked with a hand rake. in short, did the farm work in a manner now unknown to western farmers.
At thirteen this boy was taken to his father's home in Ballston Spa for better school facilities where for nearly two years, he attended a school divided into two grades, doing all kinds of work out of school hours and thus clothing himself. Home life, being unpleasant, he again struck out for him- self and worked at a place for two years for his board, two suits of clothes, a pair of boots, a pair of shoes and three months of school per year. When in his seventeenth year, he enlisted in the Civil War, but was rejected on account of his height. being half an inch too short. Later in the year he again offered himself as a volunteer, and after entreating the examiner, was passed and finally accepted. There being no new regiments formed at that time. he was assigned to Company E, Forty-sixth Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, where, with a veteran on either side, he soon became a soldier and within three weeks from date of muster-in, was on the firing line in front of Petersburg, Virginia. On September 30, 1864. in the battle of Poplar Spring Church, he was wounded, a minie ball passing through his left elbow. necessitating amputation about four inches above. the operation being performed on the field. He at once applied for his discharge, wishing to get away from the blackness of hospital life and the gloom of his condition, and was discharged on December 28, 1864, at Washington, D. C.
In the summer of 1865 he attended school at Reeder's Mills in Harrison county. Towa, and in the fall of that year entered the preparatory department of the university at Iowa City, from which, by hard study, he was soon admitted to the normal department and having practically covered three years' work in two years' attendance, might have been graduated in one more
490
HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA.
sear, but his m mey being spent, he returned to Harrison county. Having taught four terins of school, the Republican party nominated him for county recorder in the summer of 1868 and, being dected, he took the office January 4. 1869, which office he held for eight years. In 1876 he, with A. L. Harvey, established the Harrison County Bank at Logan, disposing of his interest therein to A. W. Ford in 1870. In 1881 he, with Almor Stern, established a farm loan and abstract business in Logan, which partnership continued for twenty-four years.
The life of J. C. Milliman has been strenuons. In addition to doing two men's work mich of the time, he has filled public office as follows: Two years as justice of the peace, eight years county recorder, two years on the city council. six years mayor of Logan, two years representative in the twen- ty-fifth General Assembly of Jowa and four years lieutenant-governor of Towa. An Odd Fellow since February, 1870. he has passed all the chairs, being the first noble grand of Logan Lodge, No. 355, and later serving as representative to the grand lodge of lowa. and in 1901-2 as grand patri- arch. followed by one term as grand representative to the sovereign grand lodge. A member of Fuller Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Logan, lowa, he has filled all positions and was adjutant several years, and also has filled the position of department commander of Iowa and is a member of the national encampment. He also retains his membership in Council Bluffs Lodge No. 531. Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. At this date he is serving his fourth term as mayor of Logan, Iowa.
In his boyhood he attended the Methodist Sunday school, also the Pres- byterian Sunday school, and committed to memory the catechisms used in cach, reciting each at one sitting without missing a word, and also read the entire Bible carefully. His religions training was thorough and in middle life lie united with the Presbyterian church, supposing he was a believer in the Trinity and its kindred dugmas. At the age of fifty he began a second read- ing of the Bible and was himself shocked to find that he could not believe the statements of the Old Testament as to the Creation and the brutalities alleged to have been done by the Hebrews at the command of God. This led him to a candid investigation of the origin of the Bible, the source of the doctrine of inspiration, the history of the several councils that promulgated the doc- trine that the Bible is the will and word of God, and he concluded that the books comprising the Scriptures are a mass of tradition, mythology, super- stition and dogmas unworthy of the Eternal Mind, which he believes non to be everything, everywhere and always. He at once withdrew from the church and has since enjoyed a freedom of thought and conscience that has been a
491
HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA.
constant delight. He rejects the story of the fall of man, but believes in the plan for the rise of man in this life. Fle wishes to be helpful in measures for the uplift of men and society, the betterment of government and a univer- sal peace, which broad purposes comprise his religion ; and, finally, he has no anxious thought of fear for a future existence. At the age of sixty-three years he retired from business and now enjoys his books and an acquaintance with the writings of Darwin, Spencer, Huxley, Haeckel, Tolstoi and other scientists and free thinkers.
JAMES G. CAVE.
What a wonderful training school the farm is. Even a cursory review of the biographies of the men who have exerted the widest and most bene- Dem influence upon the destinies of this nation convinces the student of such forms of research that a great majority of these men have secured their basic training in youthful days spent close to the soil, taking from beneficent nature, right at her fountain sources, the lessons most useful in the creation of a character fitted for the best constructive work in the business of the Work.
This fact has been demonstrated so uniformly as to be accepted without cavil and it almost has come to be regarded as a truism that the "boys from the farm" are the men who later are called on to exercise the controlling and decisive voice in the conduct of affairs in the cities and towns of the nation. There are several notable examples of this sort to be found in Harrison county, not the least conspicuous of which is found in the career of the gentleman whose name forms the caption of this interesting biographical sketch.
James G. Cave, who occupies the important and responsible position of cashier of the Persia Savings Bank of Persia, Harrison county, Jowa, was born on a farm in Union township, this county, January 6. 1874, the son of James C. and Jane (Clark ) Cave, being the second in order of birth of the five children born to this union. Mr. Cave's father was a native of England. where he was born in the year 1847. Believing better opportunities offered themselves to the energy and initiative of mankind in America, the senior Cave left England in 1870 and came to this country, locating in Harrison county, lowa. Ile engaged in farming in both Union and Washington town- ships and remained on the farm the remainder of his life, his death occurring
49.2
HARRISON COUNTY, IOW.1:
in April, 1914. His widow, who also was born in England, is now living in Persia, lowa.
To James C. and Jane ( Clark ) Cave five children were born, in order of birth as follows: Infant (deceased) ; James G., of whom this biographical sketch treats in further detail below; Beatrice, wife of W. A. Smith, who resides in Yoder, Colorado; Augustus F., a prosperous and progressive farmer . of Washington township, Harrison county, Iowa; Victoria, wife of Peter Larson, who resides at Council Bluffs, Iowa.
James G. Cave was reared on the paternal acres in Washington town- ship, Harrison county, and received in his early youth such education as the district schools of the township afforded. The course of instruction here followed, he later supplemented with a course in the Woodbine Normal School, following which he took a course at Highland Park School, preparatory to entering the ranks of the public school teaching force. Thus equipped, Mr. Cave, in 1894, began teaching, his first work in this line being performed in the district schools of Boyer township. For nine years he continued as a teacher, his important duties in that direction being ever performed with thoroughness and attention to the basic educational needs of the youth who thus came under his charge. In this relation Mr. Cave established many friendships with his pupils in this county, who, in earnest recognition of the service rendered by him in the school room, maintain toward him a feeling of enduring regard and sincere esteem.
Upon leaving the schoolmaster's desk, Mr. Cave entered the bank of Persia and in 190.1 was made assistant cashier of that institution. In 1910 the Persia Savings Bank was organized and Mr. Cave was made cashier, he being a director and one of the chief stockholders. In addition to his activi- ties in the bank, Mr. Cave gives much attention to his large farming interests. He owns a highly-cultivated farm of five hundred acres in Washington and Union townships, besides an attractive modern home in Persia.
In 1912 Mr. Cave was united in marriage with Grace Patterson, who was born in 1889, daughter of A. C. Patterson, a well-known and prosperons retired farmer of Harrison county, who now resides in Magnolia. One child, a daughter. Grace Verdene, has come to bless this union and Mr. and Mrs. Cave are supremely happy in the delightful home they have established in Persia. In the social activities of the town they take their proper part and no couple in this part of the state is any more popular, and deservedly so, than they. In the business affairs of Persia. Mr. Cave ever is found taking his proper part in promoting the best interests of the community and he is very properly recognized as one of the most forceful and aggressive units in the
493
HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA.
upbuilding of this section of lowa. He is a member of the Masonic order, his affiliation being with the lodge of Persia, in whose affairs he takes an active interest. Though deeply interested in civic affairs. Mr. Cave, politi- cally, is not a partisan of the extreme type, believing that the voter of an independent mind often is able to wield a larger and more beneficent in- fluence upon the public weal, in which belief he is yearly being supported more and more by many of the most thoughtful elements of the life of the nation.
E. J. COLE, M. D.
The attention of the reader is now directed to a short sketch of the career of Dr. E. J. Cole, a native of Woodbine, Harrison county, lowa, and for many years one of the leading physicians of this section. He is a man of fine professional and intellectual attainments, of broad sympathies and I:in lly feelings, who has labored earnestly and sincerely to alleviate the suffer- ings of mankind. He has lent dignity and honor to his chosen profession and is filling a useful and important part in the world's plan.
Doctor Cole is a son of Dr. John S. and Diana ( Worley) Cole and was born in Woodbine, lowa, on January 24. 1865. Dr. John S. Cole (a sketch of whose career will be found elsewhere in this volume), had the distinction of being the first physician to locate at Woodbine and throughout the years of his residence there he became much honored and his death, which oc- curred in 1881, was deplored by a large circle of warm-hearted friends. The subject of this biography attended the common schools of Woodbine when a youth, later completing the high school work in his home town. He then entered Iowa State College at Ames, where he devoted three years to the study of literature and then matriculated at Rush Medical College, Chicago, Illinois, there to receive instruction in his chosen profession, having elected to follow in the footsteps of liis honored father. In 1889 he was graduated from that institution and the same year commenced to practice in Woodbine, where he has since remained.
Doctor Cole was united in marriage on June 18, 1891, with Maude E. Allen, daughter of Frank and Anna (Torgeson) Allen, who came to this section of lowa from Wisconsin. Mrs. Cole's father died in Wisconsin and after his death, the mother came with her family to Harrison county and for some time made her home with Doctor Cole and family and there her death occurred in April, 1913.
2910
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.