USA > Iowa > Linn County > History of Linn County Iowa : from its earliest settlement to the present time, Volume II > Part 74
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principle of the republic; monuments which will speak more eloquently than mortal tongue of the patriotism, appreciation and gratitude of Iowa citizenship ? lowa was first to land on Mississippi soil in the Vicksburg campaign; she was first in the throes of battle, and hers were the only troops that succeeded in break- ing the Confederate line entering the works. Iowa has always held a proud position in national affairs and has oeeupied an unique position in point of education and morals. Ought she not to add new laurels to her past and present greatness by showing to the world, in this unique and substantial manner, her gratitude to those brave boys, who left behind them all that was near and dear on earth, to suffer for the country and the country's cause, the pangs and agonies of cruel war, and who, amidst the boom of eannon and the roar of musketry, laid their lives upon their country's altar ?"
Mr. Bealer is known as an entertaining and logical speaker upon questions of general publie interest or upon themes of political concern. When any question affecting the welfare of Cedar Rapids is under consideration he throws the weight of his influence on the side of progress and improvement. He has proven his patriotism and his loyalty in citizenship no less in the halls of legislation than on the field of battle ; he has won success honorably and has worthily used it. Quiet and unostentations in his charity, nevertheless the poor have frequently shared in his success. Ilis life reeord taken in its most important phases presents an example that is, indeed, well worthy of emulation and is a splendid exposition of upright, honorable American manhood and chivalry.
ALVIN L. PALMER
One of the younger agriculturists of Linn county who is making a success of farming is Alvin L. Palmer, who operates a good sixty-eight aere farm in Spring Grove township. IIe has been a resident of the county but two years, although he is a native of Iowa, his birth having occurred in Clinton county, September 23, 1876.
His parents, John and Sarah (Davis) Palmer, were formerly residents of Ohio, from which state they came to lowa in 1862, locating in Jackson county. The father was a native of Ohio, while the mother was a native of Indiana. When first they came to Iowa they bought eighty acres of farm land in Jackson county and cultivated it for several years. Then they removed into Clinton county, where John Palmer had purchased eighty acres shortly before. Ten years later the father again bought land, securing an adjoining eighty acres which was culti- vated in conjunction with the place first purchased. He continued to reside there until his death, which occurred January 14, 1909, his wife having passed away December 5, 1906.
Alvin L. Palmer remained with his parents, working upon their several farms until he had attained the age of twenty-one years. In 1897 he started out to make his own way in life, working by the month for farmers throughout the district. For nearly eight years he worked in this manner, gradually accumulating a sum of money. Then he decided to farm for himself, so rented the old home place for three years and operated it alone. Accumulating a sufficient sum, he left Clinton county in 1908 and came to Linn, purchasing the A. J. Iehl farm in Spring Grove township, of sixty-eight acres of splendid land. This farm, which was in a fair condition when he purchased it, is now in excellent shape and is one of the most prolific in the township. The fields and buildings are well im- proved and it has been greatly enhanced in value since its present owner took charge.
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On the 12th of December, 1906, Alvin L. Palmer and Miss Loretta C. Hanson were united in marriage. Mrs. Palmer is a daughter of Loran and Mary (Rann) Hanson, residents of this county but natives of Germany, from which country they came to Ameriea quite early in life.
Mr. Palmer was the recipient of a good education in the common school branches of learning as taught in the Clinton eounty schools and is an able bus- iness man in every respect. He is allied with the republican party in national affairs but takes no part in local polities other than to vote, devoting his time and energy to the care of his farm. Mrs. Palmer affiliates with the German Lutheran church, and both she and her husband are numbered among the best citizens of the community in which they reside.
JAMES M. CARL
James M. Carl, chief of police of Cedar Rapids and long widely known in railway circles, was born in Waterloo, lowa, February 8, 1870, and is a son of James W. and Mary E. (Summers) Carl. The father was a native of Ohio, and the mother of Cascade, Dubuque county, Iowa. She was a daughter of Peter Summers, one of the pioneer settlers of Dubuque county, to which district he removed his family in the '40s. Following the discovery of gold in California. he joined the great band of men who crossed the plains to the mines in 1849, and there met with success in his search for the precious metal. After three years spent on the Pacific coast he rejoined his family in Cascade, Iowa, where he was considered a wealthy man for his day.
James W. Carl, father of James M. Carl, came to Iowa in his early manhood with his parents who settled on Elk Run in Black Hawk county. His father was Mathew Carl, who was born in Kentucky and was there reared and married. after which he removed to Ohio, settling in Akron. Late in the '30s or early in the '40s he made his way to lowa and was one of the first to settle in this state. Towa was still a territory at that time, having not yet been admitted to the Union. Much of the land was still owned by the government and was covered with the native prairie grasses, but the early settlers were fast establishing homes and farms, and Mathew Carl aided in the work of general development and improve- ment. He spent his last years at the home of one of his daughters in Butler county, lowa, where he died at the age of eighty-six years. His son James W. Carl was a carpenter by trade but after his marriage was engaged for a time in farming, owning a traet of land in Black Hawk county. Later he disposed of his farm and purchased city property in Waterloo, to which place he removed. There he carried on contracting and building, with which he was prominently identified during his latter life. He was a builder of the Eagle Mills in Waterloo, and also other important buildings in that city. His life was an active and useful one, and he was numbered among the leading representatives of industrial interests in that place. His death occurred in 1882 at the age of fifty-eight years. Ilis widow afterward became the wife of William Powell and is now living in Macey, Indiana. Iler first husband had returned to Indiana in 1874 and had settled near Rochester, where he built a sawmill, which he operated in connection with contracting and building.
James M. Carl was only twelve years old at the time of his father's death. Ile remained at home for two years thereafter, and his attention was given to the farm work. In 1884 he started for the western country believing that he might have better business opportunities in that section of the country. He made his way to Helena, Montana, and from the age of fourteen years depended entirely upon his own resources. He was employed as the first news agent that ever ran
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between Helena and Spokane on the Northern Pacific Railroad and filled that position for three years. He then joined the army, and enlisted in the Seventh United States Cavalry, which was stationed at Fort Missoula. Soon afterward he was placed on detached duty as provost sergeant in charge of the department prison at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. He served in that capacity for five years, during which time he learned something relative to the handling of conviets and criminals, which has made him known as an able and efficient police officer out- side of Cedar Rapids.
In 1892 Mr. Carl became again connected with railroad service, and after running out of St. Paul for a short time went to Great Falls, Montana, and for seven years was identified with the Great Northern Railway Company, serving successively as brakeman, conductor and yardmaster. In August, 1899, he came to Cedar Rapids and entered the employ of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad Company, acting as brakeman until 1902, when the road was merged in the Rock Island system. Mr. Carl was then made chairman of the general board of adjustment by the trainmen of the Rock Island line, in which capacity he served until May, 1908. lle had to travel about seven thousand miles per month, and as his duties were telling on his health he resigned his position. On the first of that month he was appointed under the new eity admin- istration as chief of police and entered npon the duties of this position. Under his guidance the police system has been thoroughly reorganized and its efficiency greatly promoted. He stands firmly for law and order and such is his rule that the eriminals and law breakers now give Cedar Rapids a wide berth.
On the 7th of March, 1906, Mr. Carl was married to Miss Antoinette Ledge- wood, a daughter of William II. and Helen S. Ledgewood, of Cedar Rapids, and in this city they have many friends. Mr. Carl belongs to several fraternal organ- izations, holding membership in Cedar Rapids Lodge, No. 251, B. P. O. E .: Cedar Rapids Lodge, No. 278, A. O. U. W .; Muskwaki Tribe, No. 110, I. O. R. M .; Cedar Rapids Aerie, No. 149, F. O. E .; Twin City Lodge, No. 56, the Order of Railway Trainmen. He belongs to the Iowa Association of Police, the Inter- national Association of Police and the National Bureau of Criminal Identifica- tion. He ranks with the city's most competent, capable and trustworthy officials. Throughout his entire life he has been loyal to the duties entrusted to his care, and the interests of law and order in Cedar Rapids are now carefully conserved by him.
GEORGE D. CLARK
General farming and stock-raising interests claim the attention and energies of George D. Clark, who was born in Benton county, Iowa, January 9, 1862, but now makes his home on section 28, Putnam township, Linn county. IIe was the sixth son of Thomas W. and Margaret ( Andrews) Clark, the former a native of Scotland and the latter of Ireland. The father was born in 1816, and his life record covered the intervening years to June, 1904. His wife, who was born in 1820, died in January, 1904. On leaving Great Britain they crossed the At- lantic to Canada abont 1855 and in 1860 removed to the state of New York, where they resided until 1866, when they came to Linn county, lowa, settling on a tract of land of one hundred and sixty aeres on section 28, Putnam township. They were among the early residents of that distriet and the father took an active and helpful interest in developing the region in which he established his home. In their family are two sons and two daughters who are yet living while three sons have passed away.
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At the usual age George D. Clark became a pupil in the public schools and therein continued his studies to the age of eighteen years, after which he concen- trated his energies upon farm work, to which he had been trained from early youth, assisting in the development and cultivation of the farm throughout the periods of vacation. He worked with his father until twenty-one years of age, when he started out in life for himself, renting part of his father's farm. He continued to cultivate the land until the death of his parents, when he received ciglity acres as his share of the estate, this tract comprising the old homestead. He is now busily engaged in general farming and stock-raising, realizing that unfaltering diligence is the basis of all success. He breeds and raises high grade cattle and horses and has some good stock upon his plaec. The farm pre- sents a neat and attractive appearance because of the careful supervision which he gives to it and the practical and progressive methods which he follows.
On the 18th of February, 1889, Mr. Clark was united in marriage to Miss Mary Vittengel, a daughter of John and Josephine (Myers) Vittengel, who were farming people of Putnam township, coming to this country from Bohemia in 1869. The mother is still living in Ely at the age of fifty-six years, her birth having occurred in 1854, but the father died twenty years ago. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Clark have been born five children: Charles C., born August 18, 1890, now working on his father's farm; Cland A., born June 5, 1893; Minnie J., born September 17, 1899; Gladys E., born February 15, 1904, and Thomas J., born August 21, 1906.
Mr. Clark is a member of Ely Lodge, No. 581, I. O. O. F., and his wife is connected with the Rebekah degree. IIe also belongs to the Modern Woodmen camp and gives his political endorsement to the men and measures of the demo- eratic party. The family attend the Lutheran church at Ely and are well known in the community where they have a circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of their acquaintance. Mr. Clark has spent his entire life in Iowa and farm work has occupied his attention from his youthful days to the present, bringing him the suecess which is now his.
IION. STEPHEN L. DOWS
The life history of Hon. Stephen L. Dows is no less thrilling and interesting than the history of the marvelous development of the west to which few men con- tributed more largely and beneficially than he during the years of his active and strenuous business career. Pioneer, soldier, capitalist, legislator and philanthro- pist, he impressed his individuality deeply upon Iowa and her upbuilding during the many years in which he was prominently identified with the most important business interests of Cedar Rapids and the state. That the public recognized the worth of his labors is indicated by the fact that the town of Dows, in Wright. county, was named in his honor. Many miles of railroad were built by him and his labors therefore contributed in substantial measure to opening up the terri- tory of this state to the advancing interests of civilization.
Mr. Dows is a representative of one of the old families of New England. The name was originally spelled Dowse. His ancestry in America is traced back to Laurence Dows, who was born in Boughton county, Hants, England, in 1613, and in 1642 established his home in Boston, Massachusetts, whence in 1649 he removed to Charlestown, Massachusetts, where his death occurred March 14, 1692. ITis son, Jonathan Dows, was born in Charlestown in 1661 and became a man of im- portance and high repute. He served as one of His Majesty's council and enjoyed the title of "Honorable." On the 27th of June, 1718, he was appointed justice of the court of common pleas and by reappointment continued to fill that position
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until 1741. His son, Eleazer Dows, was born March 2, 1728, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and was one of the patriots who on the 24th of November, 1773, signed the petition against the importation of tea. In 1775 during the battle of Bunker Hill and the burning of Charlestown his property was totally destroyed and the family fled to Sherborn, Massachusetts. His son, James Dows, and the grandfather of Stephen L. Dows, was born in Charlestown, April 28, 1769, and in January, 1813, enlisted under Captain Crooker and Colonel Larned of the Ninth United States Infantry for service in the war of 1812. On the 14th of April, 1814, he reenlisted and at the battle of Chippewa, Canada, he was wounded, after which he was carried to the military hospital, where he died August 10, 1814.
In early colonial history Thomas Dows, the second son of Jonathan Dows, was well known as the literary leather dresser of Cambridge. A man of most remark- able character, he was born at Charlestown in the midst of the Revolutionary excitement and from that place the family were forced to flec for their lives when the town was burned June 17, 1775. They went to Hilliston and later to Sher- born, where his father resumed the business of leather dressing. Thomas Dows was an intimate friend and contemporary of Edward Everett. He was taught the leather dresser's trade by his father and throughout his life followed that business. His leisure hours, however, were devoted to reading and study and much of his earnings went to the purchase of books. He became an authority upon English literature and collected one of the finest private libraries in Massachusetts. Near the end of his life he donated his entire collection to the Massachusetts His- torical Society to be forever kept by them in a separate room in a fire-proof building and to be used there and never removed. Thomas Dows was, moreover, a man of marked philanthropic spirit, his life being characterized by many kindly and charitable deeds. The Dows high school and the city hall at Sher- born stand as monuments to his memory and to his public spirit. He was the first in America to erect a monument to the immortal Benjamin Franklin. Mr. Dows met the expense of this from his private fortune and placed the monument in Mount Auburn. The Dows Institute at Cambridge also benefited greatly by his bequests, the income which he left thereto being used for a course of lectures, concerts and readings.
Adam Dows, a son of James Dows and the father of Stephen L. Dows, was born in Sherborn, Massachusetts, November 9, 1792, and in early manhood went to New York city, where he engaged in business. There he wedded Maria Lundy, a daughter of Captain Lundy. who died in China during the period of the war of 1812. In 1836 Adam Dows removed to Troy, New York, where he departed this life December 10, 1868. His mother was a Leland and belonged to a family as distinguished as the Dows. The ancestor of the American branch of the family was John Leland, who was born in London, England, in 1512, and was an accom- plished scholar who flourished during the reign of Henry VII. Among his descendants were the Rev. Drs. John and Thomas Leland, famous authors and scholars of the eighteenth century. Henry Leland, progenitor of the American branch of the family, came to America and settled in Sherborn, Massachusetts, in 1652. His children, Experience, Hopestill, Ebenezer and Eleazer, became the ancestors of a numerous progeny and the family has contributed much to New England's history, furnishing hundreds of scholars and men eminent in the pro- fessions and in business life in all parts of the United States. John Leland was a distinguished Baptist minister and as early as 1798 at a general conference de- nounced slavery as a "violent depredation of the rights of nature."
Stephen Leland Dows, son of Adam and Maria (Lundy) Dows, was born in New York city, October 9, 1832, and when four years of age accompanied his parents to Troy, New York, where he acquired only a limited education in the public schools. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to the machinist's
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trade, which he mastered with characteristic diligence and energy and then, aspir- ing to a wider field, decided to go west. He reached Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1848, with seventy eents as his total capital and with no definite plans for the future but determined and willing to seek and accept any honest employment. The subsequent years were full of hardships. He spent his first year in the lumber camp at Badenoquett, Michigan, where he worked for twelve dollars per month. He next crossed the peninsula and Lake Superior, going through the untraveled wilderness and arriving at Marquette, Michigan, in 1849. He was one of the first white men to pass the winter there. He found employment in the machine shops. running the first engine, and assisted in building the first steamer launched on Lake Superior. Two years later he returned to Badenoquett, where he again engaged in the lumber business, remaining until 1853, when he went to Muskegon as superintendent of a lumber mill. On the 12th of April, 1855, he came to Cedar Rapids and was afterward engaged in the sawmill and lumber business in Linn and Jones counties. Subsequently he served as superintendent of the Variety Manufacturing Company. Thus far his career had been one of untiring labor with little personal profit. He had gained largely in experience, however, and had come to be recognized as a capable and energetie man. His initiative spirit was also being developed and it was not long before he branched out into new fields that brought large and substantial returns. In 1860 he was drawn to Colorado by the discovery of gold at Pikes Peak, but following a year of rough prospecting he returned to Cedar Rapids.
In August, 1862, his patriotic spirit gaining the ascendency of all else, Mr. Dows enlisted as a member of Company I, Twentieth Iowa Infantry, and was made first lieutenant. Later he was appointed acting brigade quartermaster of the First Brigade, Second Division, Army of the Frontier. He was forced to leave the service through illness brought on by exposure and overwork and after returning from the war he began railroad building under contract, and in this field reaped the reward of years of previous labor and experience. As a railroad builder he contributed in substantial measure to the improvement of the state. No other one agency constitutes as valuable a factor in opening up a distriet and in furthering its interests, for through railroad communication the settler is brought into elose touch with other distriets and is enabled to place his products upon the market and thereby gain returns for his effort. A rapidly growing for- tune eame to him, and he rose to the position of one of the most extensive and prosperous contractors of the west. Feeling absolutely sure of the future of the west, he invested extensively in tracts of land, many of which were converted into town sites in lowa, Minnesota and Dakota. Able in the management of, financial affairs, sagacious in his investments, he was also a man of unassailable honor and ever enjoyed the implicit confidence of those with whom he had business dealings. llis opinions regarding investment were eagerly sought and when closely followed usually brought substantial returns. Mr. Dows made extensive investment in Cedar Rapids real estate and in 1874 built the Dows bloek which, when completed, was one of the finest office and business structures in the west. Self-made in the strietest sense of the term, east on his own resources at the age of nineteen years, he educated himself, became a skillful machinist and later developed into one of the most far-sighted business men Cedar Rapids has known. Ile was also largely interested in Cedar Rapids banks and served for many years as a director of various loeal financial institutions.
In his political views Mr. Dows was always a staneh republican. He served in the sixteenth and seventeenth general assemblies, to which he was first elected in 1875. Ile proved a legislator with few peers and did excellent service as a member of the committees on railroads, manufacture, appropriations and peni- tentiaries. Ile was the advocate of many progressive measures, some of which eventually found their way to the statute books of the state.
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On the 31st of October, 1855, Mr. Dows was married to Miss Henrietta W. Safely, a daughter of Thomas Safely, of Waterford, New York. Mrs. Dows was born November 12, 1834, in Scotland, and was only two years of age when she came with her parents to America, the family home being established in Waterford, New York. She was a young lady of sixteen summers at the time of the removal of the family to Sugar Grove, Linn county, in 1851. Two years later she married Mr. Dows and after a year's residence in Mount Vernon they took up their abode in Cedar Rapids and established a home. Mrs. Dows passed away August 7, 1893, at the age of fifty-eight years. During her long residence here she was a prominent figure in the social, religious and charitable life of the city. She be- longed to the First Presbyterian church, was a leader in all of its activities and was a generous contributor to worthy charities. It was her helping hand and wise counsel that safely guided many enterprises of great moment for the relief of the suffering and the betterment of the conditions of the worthy poor. To her distinguished husband she was at once wife, helper and confidant, and to her he often looked for valuable counsel. To her children she gave the most tender care, living for them in an unselfish devotion that has made the word "mother" the sweetest name the language knows.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Dows were born six children: Minnie Marie, who died at the age of fifteen years; Elma, the wife of Benjamin Thane, of Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania; Elizabeth, the wife of Thompson MeClintock, also of Pittsburg; IIen- rietta, the wife of James E. Blake, of Chicago; Stephen Leland, who died July 5, 1899 ; and William G., of whom mention is made elsewhere in this volume. The relations of the Dows home were largely ideal and after the death of his wife Mr. Dows gave to St. Luke's Hospital as a memorial to her the magnificent operating room with its equipment, said to be one of the finest in the United States.
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