USA > Iowa > Jackson County > History of Jackson County, Iowa; Volume II > Part 14
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John D. Streets attended the common schools in the acquirement of an edu- cation, and when not busy with his text books he assisted his father in the work of . the home farm, thus early becoming familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. He continued to give his father the benefit of his services in the cultivation of the home place until the spring of 1904, when he began the operation of a rented farm in Brandon township, being thus engaged for two years. In January, 1906, he purchased his present farm of one hundred and thirty acres in South Fork township and has since given his attention to its further cultivation and improvement, the well tilled fields annually yielding boun- teous harvests which find a ready sale on the market. The place is lacking in none of the accessories and equipments of a model farm of the twentieth century and its owner has gained favorable recognition among the representative, pro- gressive and enterprising agriculturists of the community.
On the 3Ist of March, 1903, Mr. Streets was united in marriage to Miss Carrie Bowling, a daughter of Horace Bowling, who is a prominent agriculturist of Farmers Creek township. Their home has been blessed with two sons, Roy and Ray.
Since age conferred upon him the right of franchise Mr. Streets has cast his ballot in support of the men and measures of the democracy. His entire life has been passed in this locality, and his fellow townsmen know that his career has been characterized by fidelity to duty and by honor in all his relations with his fellowmen.
WILLARD BUCHANAN SWIGART.
Willard Buchanan Swigart, senior partner of the firm of W. B. Swigart & Son, owners and publishers of the Sentinel at Maquoketa, was born in Maquoketa, June 22, 1857. His father, W. C. Swigart, was a native of Newark, Ohio, born December 12, 1824. He and his brother Stephen, both being printers, loaded their press and type on board an Ohio river steamer and made their way from the mouth of that stream up the Mississippi to Davenport in the spring of 1854. They landed at that river town-for such it was then-and hurriedly carted their outfit to Maquoketa to establish the first newspaper in this promising inland town. W. C. Swigart was united in marriage to Miss Martha Philena Gage, who was born in Vermont in 1832 and in her infancy was taken by her parents to Cleveland, Ohio. In 1849, when seventeen years of age, she gave her hand in marriage to W. C. Swigart and now survives him. She has always been a woman of deep re- ligious convictions. She is descended from the Hanks family on the maternal side. The Hanks family were of New England Puritan stock and became famous as Connecticut bell manufacturers. Nancy Hanks, the mother of Abraham Lin- coln, was a descendant of this family and Lincoln carried the Hanks features.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Swigart were born ten children, seven of whom sur- vive, namely : Philemon D., president of the Swigart Paper Company of Chicago;
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W. B., the editor of the Sentinel at Maquoketa; Mrs. William Maurer, of Chi- cago; Mrs. L. W. Goen, living at Independence, Iowa, who is the wife of the editor of the Conservative and herself an active newspaper woman; B. F., an author and employe of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat of St. Louis; George W., who is a capitalist residing in Chicago and an extensive owner and dealer in Michigan land and other properties ; and R. B., who lives in Chicago and acts as business manager for his brother, George W.
W. B. Swigart, the subject of this sketch, pursued a regular course of study in the public schools of Maquoketa and afterward worked in his father's printing establishment, learning the business in every detail. He had a burning desire in his youth to rise above the hampering surroundings of poverty and eagerly availed himself of every opportunity for advancement. He was barely twenty years of age when he purchased an interest in the Jackson Sentinel, the leading paper of the county, and has been one of its publishers continuously since, editing the paper during the greater part of the thirty-three years of his successful connection there- with. Nature undoubtedly intended him for a journalistic career as his talents seemed to thoroughly qualify him for work in this connection. He has a practical knowledge of the business in every phase and has probably been longer contin- uously engaged in the work than any publisher ever residing in Jackson county. He has been associated as publisher of the Sentinel with his father, the founder of that paper, with his brother, Josiah M. Swigart, both of whom are now de- ceased, and since October, 1905, with his son, Willard Carlisle Swigart, who is thus of the third generation to come into the field of action. The business is now conducted under the firm style of W. B. Swigart & Son, who for about five years have been publishers of this paper. The father has also been a judicious investor and dealer in real estate and has thereby acquired a substantial competence.
On the 25th of November, 1880, Mr. Swigert was married to Miss Mary E. Bertelsen, the second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Bertelsen, of Miles, Iowa, a lady of culture and refinement, especially talented in vocal music. To them have been born eight children, four of whom survive: Anna Gerster, Willard Carlisle, Marie Elizabeth and Josiah Franklin. On Christmas day of 1906 the elder son was married to Miss Cora Stalcup, of Morrison, Illinois.
Mr. Swigart is a man of unwavering democratic principles but always fair and considerate of the views of others. He has many times declined to be a candi- date for public office. In order to better Maquoketa's sanitary condition, however, he has served for two terms on the city council and inaugurated, with the assist- ance of loyal friends, the building of the present fine sewer system, and otherwise champions progressive public movements. He prefers that his public service, how- ever, shall be done as a private citizen and he uses the opportunities given him as a journalist to uphold the welfare and best interests of the city and county. He is now serving a second six-year term on the board of trustees of the Carnegie Free Public Library. He has always been a strong advocate and contributor to worthy enterprises for the upbuilding of his home city, and his influence has been a potent element along that line. He is one of the charter members of Peerless lodge, No. 60, K. P., which was instituted in Maquoketa in 1881. His family are members of the Congregational church and he attends services there, believing in the religious force of the church when earnestly and sincerely applied. He has
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ever held firmly to the opinion that "honesty is the best policy." A man of ex- emplary habits, a lover of home and family and the plain simple life, a man of ability, kind of heart and of strong character, averse to ostentation and show, an untiring worker who is happiest when busy, these qualities make him a valuable citizen and strong support to the city, county and state in which he was born and in which he has continuously resided to this day.
GIDEON ELLIS, D. D. S.
Dr. Gideon Ellis, who for thirty-five years has practiced dentistry in Ma- quoketa and throughout the period has been numbered as a leading representative of the profession in, this part of the state, was born in Jefferson county, New York, July 17, 1842. His parents were Benjamin and Charlotte (Arnold) Ellis, natives of Massachusetts and New York respectively. The father was reared to farm life and followed agricultural pursuits throughout the entire period of his manhood. When a young man he left New England and removed to the Empire state, where he was living at the time of his enlistment for service as a soldier of the war of 1812. Much of the period of his connection with the army was spent as a hospital attendant. He continued a resident of the east until 1856, when, be- lieving that he might have better opportunities in the middle west, he came to Iowa and lived in Iowa county from that time until his death, which occurred July 17, 1878, when he was in his eighty-fourth year. He was noted for his unflinching patriotism and his stalwart championship of every measure or movement that he deemed for the country's good. In early years he gave his political allegiance to the democratic party but on the outbreak of the Civil war he espoused the re- publican party which was formed to prevent the further extension of slavery and which stood as the champion of Union interests. He thereafter continued a stal- wart supporter of republican principles until his demise.
Dr. Ellis was a young lad of about seven years when his parents removed from the Empire state to White Rock, Illinois, there residing for seven years. His edu- cation, which was begun in New York, was continued in the public schools of White Rock until he became a high-school pupil. Later he attended Mount Mor- ris (Ill.) college and also a select school at Pleasant Valley, Jones county, Iowa, so that liberal educational privileges qualified him for life's practical and respon- sible duties. He was reared to the occupation of farming and on reaching man- hood began tilling the soil on his own account, purchasing a tract of land in Jack- son township, Jones county. He followed farming until 1873, when he deter- mined to take up the study of dental surgery and to this end entered the office of a brother, Dr. I. N. Ellis, of Olin, Iowa. In 1875 he removed to Maquoketa and in the fall of that year opened an office and entered upon the practice of his chosen profession. He has since been known as one of the leading dentists of eastern Iowa, for he has kept abreast with the times in all the advancement made by the dental fraternity. His office is splendidly equipped with all the appliances of mod- ern dentistry and the work that he has done has given eminent satisfaction to his patrons, many of whom have given him their professional support for a long
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period, a fact indicative of their confidence in his skill and ability. More students have served their apprenticeship in the office of Dr. Gideon Ellis than in any other office in eastern Iowa.
On the 14th of October, 1860, Dr. Ellis was married to Miss Margaret Liv- ingston, a native of Scotland, who was reared, however, in Jones county, Iowa. Her father, John F. Livingston came to Jones county from his native country in 1856. He was a weaver by trade but in America turned his attention to farming. Unto Dr. and Mrs. Ellis have been born nine children, of whom seven are yet liv- ing: Ida M., who for about eighteen years was a teacher in the Maquoketa high school and is now the wife of J. B. Ross of this city; Nellie, who is the wife of George E. Dunlap, recorder of Jackson county, their home being in Maquoketa; Jacob B., who after graduating in dentistry from the Iowa State university with the class of 1890, was associated with his father in business for twenty years, but is now residing on a claim which he entered in South Dakota; Anna M., the wife of B. J. Pinton, of Calgary, Canada ; Clara, the wife of E. A. Phillips, who is en- gaged in the practice of dentistry in Maquoketa; Lucille E., the wife of George E. Mattison, an attorney, of Dolores, Colorado; and Gideon C., who is engaged in business with his father and is mentioned on another page of this work.
Politically Dr. Ellis is a republican, recognized as one of the local leaders of the party. He has served as alderman from the third ward and for a number of years was a member of the school board, doing effective work in behalf of public education. Both he and his wife are consistent and faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal church and are held in highest esteem by a circle of friends that is almost coextensive with their circle of acquaintances. Dr. Ellis has long ranked with the city's most prominent and progressive men and in profes- sional lines has worthily won the high position which he now occupies.
KIM ROBINSON.
Kim Robinson is well known in the business circles of Maquoketa as an ex- pert horseshoer and as a breeder of registered trotting horses. He was born in Carroll county, Illinois, near the Whiteside county line, February 4, 1858, and is a son of Isaac and Prudence P. (Todd) Robinson, both of whom were natives of the Keystone state. They removed to Illinois with their respective parents in their childhood days and there attained their majority. After their marriage they began their domestic life upon a farm in Carroll county, where they lived for a considerable period, coming thence to Iowa in 1870. The father purchased a farm near Jefferson and throughout his remaining days continued the cultivation and improvement of that tract of land, his life's labors being ended in death about 1900. His widow still survives and now makes her home with a daughter in Bloom- ington, Illinois.
Under the parental roof Kim Robinson spent his youthful days, and the public schools afforded him his educational privileges. In January, 1875, prior to at- taining his seventeenth year, he began his apprenticeship at the blacksmith's trade in Lanark, Illinois, where he served a three years' term of indenture. He then
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spent a short time in working at his trade in various places but in August, 1877, came to Maquoketa, where for eight years he was employed as a journeyman blacksmith. He desired, however, that his labors should more directly benefit him- self and about 1885 he opened a shop and began business on his own account. He has made a life-long study of the horse and for many years past has devoted his attention largely to the scientific shoeing of horses, gaining a wide reputation for his excellent workmanship of this character. Valuable high bred horses are brought to him for shoeing, as his work is regarded as superior to that of many others in the same line of business. For seventeen years he has been the owner and breeder of some of the best trotting stock in this section of the state. He bred and raised Roy the Kid, with a record of 2:0714, also the mare, Mrs. Cas- sie Chadwick, with a record of 2:1714. Mr. Robinson is also half owner of the stallion Monteleone, with a record of 2:171/2. He likewise owns a two year old stallion, Monte Dictator, which promises to become one of his most valuable horses. He also has a half interest in the stallion Montreal, which has a four year old race record of 2:2214 and has stepped off a quarter of a mile in 3014 seconds. He has bred and owned many others of like or even superior speed, and his judg- ment of a trotter is respected by all lovers of the horse.
Mr. Robinson was married November 26, 1880, to Miss Alice M. Gordon, a daughter of Erastus and Frances W. (Ellis) Gordon, the former a native of Ma- rion, Ohio, and the latter of Lexington, Kentucky. Mrs. Gordon came to Ma- quoketa with her parents, and Mr. Gordon arrived here as a young man. They were married here and took up their abode on a farm two and a half miles south of the city, where their remaining days were spent. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Robin- son has been born a son, Bertie James, who is now a barber of Maquoketa. In his political views Mr. Robinson is a democrat. He belongs to Peerless Lodge, No. 60, K. P .; Ben De Meer Temple, No. 12, D. O. K. K .; to the Modern Wood- men of America; and to Maquoketa Aerie, No. 88, F. O. E. He has a wide ac- quaintance not only in Maquoketa but in this part of the state and is an active, en- terprising and progressive business man, who has done much to improve the grade of fine horses raised in Iowa. He is likewise genial and approachable and wher- ever he is known wins friends.
J. A. BUCHNER.
Jackson county has reason to be proud of the history of many of her native sons, among which number is J. A. Buchner, of the firm of Lane & Buchner. The furniture and undertaking establishment of which he is now half owner is the measure of his success and ability, for he started out in the business world empty handed and his present advanced position in commercial circles in Maquoketa is the direct result of his enterprise, diligence and intelligently directed effort. He was born in Brandon township, Jackson county, October 12, 1856, a son of Allen N. and Emily E. (Furnish) Buchner, the former a native of Canada and the latter of Galena, Illinois. When a young man the father crossed the boun- dary line into the Empire state and there drove a team on the towpath on the Erie
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canal. Later he followed the lakes for a time as a sailor but about 1839 he came to the middle west, making his way to Iowa, and followed the course of all the early settlers who thought they must live in the timber, believing that the prairie land was of little value. This was some years before the admission of the state into the Union and the industry of those early settlers constituted a magic wand that transformed the district from a wild western wilderness into one of the rich agricultural sections of the state. Mr. Buchner and others, finding a good spring in Brandon township, made their location there and built their cabins in the vi- cinity of the spring. Sometime later the Furnish family came from Galena, Illinois, and also settled in Brandon township, where the daughter of the house- hold, Emily E. Furnish, found favor in the sight of Allen N. Buchner, who woed and won her. Following their marriage they took up their abode in Brandon township, where they resided until 1876, when Mr. Buchner traded his eighty- acre farm for a half section of land in Jewell county, Kansas, to which he re- moved with his family, making his home thereon until his late years, when he retired from business and returned to Jackson county, he and his wife taking up their abode in the home of their son, J. A. Buchner, with whom they lived un- til called to their final rest, the father passing away February 14, 1894, at the age of seventy-three years, and the mother, September 8, 1900, when also seventy- three years of age.
J. A. Buchner spent his youthful days with his parents and in the common schools of the county mastered the elementary branches of learning. When twenty years of age he accompanied his father on the removal to Kansas and remained with him in the Sunflower state for five years, or until he was well started there. During that time J. A. Buchner homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres adjoining his father's farm, proved up the place and received his deed, but in the fall of 1881 he returned to Maquoketa, where he joined his brother, J. M. Buchner, now deceased, in the conduct of a restaurant during the year 1882. On the Ist of January, 1883, he accepted a position with the Reupke Schmidt Cracker Company of Davenport as a commercial salesman and for five years represented that concern upon the road. He then resigned his position to accept a more lucrative one with the wholesale grocery firm of Poole, Gilliam & Company of Dubuque, whom he represented on the road for two years. When that firm failed he was offered and accepted a position with the tobacco firm of Myers, Cox & Company at Dubuque and, being assigned a different territory, removed to Maquoketa, which was a more advantageous location in relation to his territory. He represented this firm on the road for sixteen and a half years and then, after a total of twenty-four years spent as a traveling salesman, he resigned his position and in connection with W. M. Lane purchased the old established furniture business of J. Glaser & Company, of Maquoketa. He then became identified with the retail interest, the store being opened for business by the new firm on the Ist of January, 1907. From the outset they have enjoyed a good trade, which is constantly increasing, for they have a well appointed store, carrying a large and carefully selected line of goods, while their business policy is such as commends them to the confidence and trust of all.
Mr. Buchner was married August 16, 1885, to Miss L. Gertrude Tompkins, whose father, Thomas Tompkins, was one of the early settlers of Jackson
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county. He came from Ohio and in 1854 was married to Amanda Ballard, a pioneer school teacher and daughter of Lyman Ballard, one of the early settlers of Jackson county. Mr. Tompkins entered government land, after which he devoted his energies to breaking the sod and bringing the fields under cultiva- tion. For many years he was closely connected with agricultural interests, but is now living retired in Maquoketa.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Buchner have been born four children: Xenia E., a primary teacher in the schools at Sloan, Iowa; George T., his father's assistant in the store, who attended the Hohenschuh and Carpenter School of Embalming at Des Moines, from which he was graduated January 23, 1910; and H. Gale and Lyman B., who are attending high school.
Mr. Buchner is a well known and exemplary representative of the Masonic fraternity. He belongs to Helion Lodge, No. 36, A. F. & A. M .; Bath Kol Chapter, No. 94, R. A. M .; Tancred Commandry, No. 40, K. T .; and Maple Leaf Chapter, No. 175, O. E. S., of which he is worthy patron. His wife is also a member of the Eastern Star. Mr. Buchner likewise belongs to Peerless Lodge, No. 60, K. P .; Ben De Meer Temple, No. 12, D. O. K. K .; and Jackson Lodge, No. 33, I. O. O. F. He not only has a wide and favorable acquaintance in Maquoketa but in many other sections of the state to which his business interests have called him. He possesses a genial, social nature, which wins him friends wherever he goes, and he justly deserves mention among the representative cit- izens of his native county.
CAPTAIN A. M. PHILLIPS.
Captain A. M. Phillips has since 1906 been postmaster of Maquoketa and previous to that time for almost a quarter of a century was connected with the railway mail service, in which his allegiance to duty constituted a salient feature in his retention in the office. He has ever been loyal to a trust reposed in him and his course, therefore, has always been a commendable one. He was born in Chautauqua county, New York, July 2, 1841, a son of Daniel M. and Lucy C. (Baker) Phillips. The father was born in the Empire state and losing his father when a mere child began providing for his own support at a very early age. In recognition of the valorous service which he rendered as a soldier in the war of 1812 he was given a land warrant, which later passed into Captain Phillips' possession. He was identified with lumbering interests during the period of his residence in the town of La Vant, Chautauqua county, New York, and in 1858 he came to Jackson county, Iowa, settling in Bellevue. Sometime afterward he removed to a farm in Cottonwood and was contin- uously identified with general agricultural pursuits in this section of the state until the time of his death, which occurred in 1890, when he was seventy years of age. He was a radical republican but never an aspirant for office.
On the maternal side Captain Phillips was descended from old revolution- ary stock. His grandfather, Seth L. Baker, and his brother Briggs Baker were both veterans of the American army in the Revolutionary war. On her
A. M. PHILLIPS
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mother's side Mrs. Lucy Phillips was a representative of the Knowlton family, which included Stephen Knowlton, who served as a private in the Fifth Com- pany of Colonel Spencer's regiment of the Connecticut Militia.
Captain Phillips was reared at home and largely acquired his education in the common schools, but afterward had the benefit of a short course in the Jamestown (New York) Academy. He was seventeen years of age at the time of the removal of the family to Bellevue, where he secured a position in the mercantile establishment of his uncle Jasper Phillips, by whom he was employed until his father's removal to the farm two years later. Captain Phillips then remained upon the farm up to the time of his enlistment for service in the Civil war on the 9th of August, 1862. He became a member of Company I, Thirty-first Iowa Infantry, and thus served until the close of the officer with the rank of sergeant, and for about eighteen months carried a war. When sent to the front from Davenport he was a noncommissioned musket. On the 29th of August, 1862, he was made first lieutenant and at Woodville, Alabama, after the battle of Lookout Mountain, he was commis- sioned captain of his company, on the 2d of February, 1864. He had had com- mand. He was wounded at Iuka, Mississippi, at Lookout Mountain and at to lead the forces of Company I until the close of hostilities. He was a mem- ber of the famous Fifteenth Army Corps, which General Sherman said did more marching and fighting than any other corps during the war. Captain Phillips was one of a number of men who were detailed to guard the gunboat that was sunk by the shore batteries at Vicksburg. He participated in all the battles in which his regiment and brigade took part throughout the entire war, having never been away from duty in any important action of his com- mand of his company for six months previous to this time and he continued Atlanta, where he was shot completely through the body, the surgeons saying that he could not live fifteen minutes. This occurred on the 23d of August, 1864. At. Vicksburg the Thirty-first Regiment occupied the extreme right and on the monument erected by the state of Iowa to the soldiers of the Civil war on Lookout Mountain the names of the Thirty-first Regiment appear on the right face.
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