USA > Iowa > Pottawattamie County > History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Containing a history from the earliest settlement to the present time biographical sketches; portraits of some of the early settlers, prominent men, etc. > Part 50
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 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86
ness, he is doing well, and his location, 512 Main street, gives him one of the best situa- tions in the city, and, as he continues in busi- ness, he will gain the patronage he so well de- serves, being so well and favorably known in the city.
CONRAD GEISE, brewery. Council Bluffs. came to Council Bluffs in 1858 ; began build- ing a malt house in 1867, and, in 1863, built a large brewery. He erected a new malt house in 1877, and uses the old one for an ice house. He employs from twenty to twenty-five men, and has from eight to ten work horses. His yearly sales amount to about 15,000 barrels. He was born in Germany in 1842, and came direct to this city in 1858. Mr. Geise was mar- ried, in Council Bluffs, in 1864, and has a family of four boys and one girl. His mother, who is now sixty-four years of age, resides with him. In 1882, he added another story to his brewery, in which he malts from 50,000 to 60,000 bushels of barley annually. He gets his hops from New York. He owns thirty acres of land adjacent to his buildings.
F. H. GUANELLA, marble, Conneil Bluff's, came to Council Bluffs in 1860, and engaged in the ice business in 1862. He carried on that business till 1875, when he engaged in farming, which occupation he pursued till 1879, when he engaged in the marble business. He was born in Galena, Ill., in 1854, and, in 1859, went to St. Joseph, where he remained two years, after which he came to Council Bluffs. His father still lives in Council Bluffs, at the ad- vanced age of seventy-six years; his mother died in Council Bluffs in 1868.
THEODORE GUITTAR, County Sheriff, was born in 1842, in St. Louis, Mo., and became a resi- dent of Council Bluff's in 1855. He received his education in the public schools of Council Bluffs, and, in 1877, was elected to the office of Constable. To this office he was re-elected, serving four years during the two terms; he spent two years as Deputy Sheriff under George
25
COUNCIL BLUFFS
Doughty, in 1872-73, and also two years in the same capacity under A. L. Kahle. In 1881, he was elected by the Republican party to the office of Sheriff of the county; his majority was forty-one votes; he is now engaged in the dis- charge of the duties of that office. In 1862, he entered the army as a private in the Second Fowa Battery. During his service, he was in many hard-fought battles, among which were the following : siege of Vicksburg, battle of Nashville, Tenn., Jacksonville. Miss., second siege of Mobile, battle of Selma. Ala., Mont- gomery, Ala., and of Tupelo, Tenn. Mr. Guittar is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and also of Bluff City Lodge, No. 49, I. O. O. F .; he was married, in 1869, to Miss Elizabeth Beecroft, a native of England, and who came to the United States in 1854, with her people, and to Council Bluffs in 1860. They have but one child, a daughter.
L. B. GORHAM, Union Pacific Stock Agent, Union Pacific Transfer Stock Yards, Council Bluffs, was born in New York City, and when ten yeas old went to Illinois, and, at the age of fifteen years, became engaged in stock business. In 1870, he went to California on a govern- ment survey; in 1876, passed his examination for United States Deputy Surveyor in San Fran- cisco. and, in 1878, passed the examination for United States Deputy Mineral Surveyor, which appointments he holds at present. He surveyed through Colorado and Wyoming in 1879 and 1880, and, in the latter year, came to Council Bluffs, where he entered the employ of the Union Pacific Railroad County as stock agent, and also officiated as bill clerk. He was mar- ried in October. 1882, and resides on Ninth street, Council Bluffs.
A. H. GRAEBER, Receiving Clerk in Local Department of the Union Pacific Transfer Freight Offices, Council Bluffs, is a native of Maryland; born in 1822. His parents, in 1826, moved to Salisbury, N. C., where they died; his father in 1842, and his mother a short time after.
In 1854, Mr. Graeber came to Council Bluffs, which was then a town of only 500 inhabitants, and without any railway communication what- ever; he engaged with the Western Stage Com- pany here, in whose employ he remained for fifteen years; he now holds the position of Re- ceiving Clerk in the local department of the Union Pacific Railroad Transfer Freight Offices. At Pella, Iowa, in 1870, he married Miss E. M. Post, of that place, and by this union they have had four children-Mary E. V., Ella L., Clara L. and William H. P. Mr. Graeber is a mem- ber of the Episcopal Church, and is Past Chan- cellor of the Knights of Pythias.
M. G. GRIFFIN, manager of the Daily Bee, Council Bluffs, came to Council Bluff's in the spring of 1877, being at that time traveling salesman for Greensfelder Bros., wholesale druggists in St. Louis, Mo., and, in 1878, open- ed up a grocery and wholesale butter and flour store on South Maine street, having severed his connection with Greensfelder Bros .; hecontinued in the grocery business until the fall of 1881, when he sold out to Strauvien & Sehurtz, and July 1, 1882, assumed the management of the Duily Bee, which position he holds at present. He was born November 8, 1845, in County Clare, Ireland, where he remained until 1863, when he came to America, landing in New York in August of that year; he went direct to Washington, D. C., where he entered the music store of John F. Ellis, and remained there until December, 1865, when he went to St. Louis, where he held the position of book-keeper and cashier for Charleston, McKenna & Co., whole- sale notions and dry goods, until 1867; he then took charge as manager of the " Broadway Dry Goods Store," or " Red Store," a branch house of A. M. Hlaggarty & Co., of St. Louis, until 1868; he then went to Omaha, Neb., and en- gaged in the general insurance business, and remained there until the great Chicago fire, when he accepted the position of cashier in the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluff's Rail-
26
BIOGRAPHICAL:
road Company's freight office, holding that position until the completion of the bridge across the Missouri River at this point, at which time the different roads consolidated their offi- ces, and Mr. Griffin was appointed cashier of all. In May, 1872, he married Ada Dohaney, daughter of John Dohaney, of Council Bluffs, and in June, 1873, went to San Francisco with his family, and remained there until 1877, when he came to Council Bluffs. He is general agent for Madame Demorest's patterns for the Coast Pacific.
GRONEWEG & SCHOENTGEN, wholesale grocers, Council Bluffs, have been engaged in the wholesale grocery trade in Council Bluffs since July 1 1878. In the building-up of this branch of the business industries of Council Bluffs, the above gentlemen have displayed as much energy, enterprise and good financiering ability as any firm in the city. They were bothi engaged in the retail grocery trade in the city for a number of years prior to establish- ing their present house. Mr. Schoentgen be- came a resident of the city in 1866, and began the retail grocery business in 1869, while Mr. Groneweg began in the retail trade in 1862, which was the first year of his residence in Council Bluffs. The building they now occupy is 34 feet frontage by 100 feet in length, three floors and basement. They began business with one man on the road and four in the house, and now have three traveling salesmen and nine men in the house. Their business has more than trebled since their first year. Hitherto, their trade has been mainly in lowa, but they are now preparing to do a business in Nebraska. Their energy and push have placed them among the first business men of the city. To such men is Council Bluffs indebted for her prosperity.
GEORGE A. HOLMES attorney, Council Bluffs, was born in 1848 in Huntsville, Ala., and is of English descent. In 1862, his father and family went overland to California, and,
returning overland in 1866, settled in Page County, Iowa. He commenced studying with Moore & McIntyre, of Clarinda, Iowa, in 1869, remaining in the office four months. He was admitted to the bar in March, 1869, under a elose and rigid examination. He then worked on a farm two years for the benefit of his health. He came to Council Bluffs in December, 1871, and opened a law office on Broadway, where he has ever since been located. After having been located here a year, he had gained a lucrative practice. In April, 1874, he was elected City Attorney by City Council ; was re-elected in 1876-77-78-79, and again in 1881. He is a Democrat in politics, and ran on that tieket in 1876 as Representative of Pottawattamie County, receiving a large vote, though the Republican majority in the county at that time was 600. He received at that election 220 votes more than the State tieket. During his administration as City Attorney, a great many valuable improvements were pro- jected and carried out, of which he had the management. Big Spring Lake and Car Lake were ceded to the city by the General Govern- ment through the assistance of Hon. W. F. Sapp, Member of Congress at that time ; Union avenue, Pacific avenue, Vaughn avenue, which required a great deal of labor and time and ability during these years, were finished and opened by the city, Union avenue causing a great deal of litigation, which was finally de- cided by the Supreme Court of the State in favor of the city two years after this improve- ment was commenced. In 1876, while Col. J. H. Keatley was Mayor, he and the City Attor- ney devised and proposed a plan by which the whole of Williams' Addition might be secured as a public park for the city, the addition con- sisting of eighty acres cut up into town lots. This plan, however, was not accepted by the City Council at that time. In 1879, during Hon. Addison Coughran's administration, the ,question of securing the ground was again
27
COUNCIL BLUFFS.
brought up by the Mayor and City Attorney. It was aided by the fact that preliminary sur- veys were made for the construction of water works, and it was decided that a portion of Snow & Green's Addition was the proper place for a reservoir. This addition adjoins on the north and east sides Williams' First Addition. This at onee showed the expediency of having this ground secured for park purposes, and a resolution was then passed by the City Council for the procuring of the ground as had been advised by the City Attorney. The lots were all incumbered by delinquent taxes, and in but few instances were the lots condemned for more than taxes due upon them. The city paid the State tax and school tax and remitted its own tax, and the County Board of Super- visors, after the condemnation, released the county and assigned the county tax to the city. The assigned amount of money actually ex- pended was between $1,800 and $2,000, and this includes also Snow & Green's Addition, making a body of land for park purposes of almost one hundred aeres, contiguous to the eity. In this improvement, there were over two hundred and fifty condemnation cases, which were prosecuted to successful termina- tions by subject of sketch. The preliminary sur- vey of water-works was made by Mr. Cook, As- sessor, of Cleveland, Ohio, and S. P. Judson, City Engineer. Many other improvements of minor importance were carried out. Graham avenue was established, which passes around the south side of the park grounds, now known as Fair- view Park. Alderman A. C. Graham used his best efforts for the establishment of this ave- nue. which now bears his name, and as a pub- lic drive it is the finest in the city. These improvements will always be a benefit to the present citizens and a blessing to those who will become future inhabitants, and remain a perpetual monument to the care of these ad- ministrations in providing free public resorts for coming generations. The last improvement
was the procuring the right of way for the extension of Washington avenue, a much- needed improvement, which was made under a resolution of the Council instructing the City Attorney to procure the right of way for their work, which was immediately commenced, and. after the award of damages to owners, the Council instructed the City Attorney and Alderman R. F. Rain to settle with property- owners as they thought best. They settled all of the cases except one, which cost about $7,000. This amount was paid out on the order of the City Attorney.
H. L. HENRY, grain dealer, Council Bluffs, came to Council Bluffs in 1856, and built a saw-mill in Harrison County, making Council Bluffs his headquarters, and continued in that business some few years. When the war broke out, he entered the army as Aeting Quarter- master for Battalion Fourth Iowa and Spoor's Battery. In 1863, he purchased a steamboat; followed steamboating between St. Louis and New Orleans, commanding the boat himself. From 1866 to 1870, he was interested in the oil business in Kentucky; he then went into the grain business, operating between Council Bluffs and St. Louis, and has continued in that business ever since, with the exception of the years 1872 and 1873, when he went to Texas, where he acted in the capacity of Special Agent of the California & Texas Railway Con- struction Company, furnishing the money in currency for the construction of that road. Since 1873, he has been operating in grain more or less. Mr. Henry was born in New York City, and is of Scotch deseent.
LEWIS HAMMER, Council Bluffs, was born in Lorain County, Ohio, in 1837. He came West to Harrison County, Iowa, in 1857, and. in 1864, moved to Council Bluffs, where he opened a lumber yard on the corner of Vine and Market streets, where he does an annual business of $60.000, and employs six assistants. In Council Bluffs, in 1870, he married Rhoda
28
BIOGRAPHICAL:
Wood, and from this union three children have been born. Mr. Hammer was a member of the City Council of Council Bluffs, in 1878 and 1979. He is a member of the I. O. O. F.
S. F. HASKINS, coffee, Council Bluffs, was born in Connecticut in 1844; his father was an old railroad man. In August, 1862, our sub- ject enlisted in the Nineteenth Connecticut, and, after serving fifteen months in that regiment, was transferred to the Second Connecticut Heavy Artillery, in which he was Sergeant. He left Connecticut in the spring of 1867, and, April 19, 1880, engaged with Thurman & Co., on Pearl street, Council Bluffs. August 1, 1881, he bought out Mr. Thurman, and carried on the grocery business until he came to his present stand; he started in the coffee business January 1, 1882, keeping all kinds of the finest goods in that line, and giving employment to two assistants.
.
B. W. HIGHT, attorney, Council Bluffs, was born July 1, 1842, in Albany, Vt .; was educated at Morrisville Academy and the University of Vermont, graduating from the latter in the class of 1861. The same year, he entered the United States Army as a private, and, in a short time, was promoted to Fourth Corporal; then to Fourth Sergeant; then to Sergeant Major, and in winter of 1862 was promoted to Second Lieu- tenant; then, after the battle of the Wilderness, he was again promoted to Captain of Company C, of Second Vermont Volunteer Regiment. About the year 1867, he came to Council Bluffs; previous to this, however, he had studied law in Vermont, and in the spring of 1866, had gradu- ated from Albany law school. He commenced practice with William A. Mynster, in Council Bluffs, in the spring of 1867; withdrew from partnership July 1, 1874, and practiced alone until 1878, when he formed partnership with C. R. Scott, and they are still practicing to- gether. In 1871, he was appointed to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of J. R. Reed, and the same fall was elected to fill the
nnexpired term, and was appointed by the board to the office of County Attorney, and held this position until 1880. At the spring term of the Supreme Court, he was appointed Supreme Court Reporter by that court, to fill the vacancy occasioned by resignation of J. S. Runuells, Reporter of that conrt. He was married, March 17, 1875, to Miss Lillie Snow. He is a charter member of the American Legion of Honor.
HENRY HOWE & SON, new and second- hand store, Council Bluffs. Henry Howe has been a resident of Pottawattamie County for about sixteen years. He was born in Ohio in 1822, and lived in that State till 1846, when he moved to Indiana, where he resided about ten years; he then moved to Harrison County, Mo., where he resided during the late war. While there, and prior to the breaking-out of the war, he had a debate with Rev. Isaac Plank on the Bible position of slavery. Mr. Howe taking the ground that the Bible did not uphold slavery while Mr. Plank maintained that it did. This debate caused so much excitement that Mr. Howe was arrested, and, after having a trial of two days before a Justice of the Peace. was bound over to wait the action of the Grand Jury, but no bill was found against him. Dur- ing the war, he was not in the regular service, but was Captain in the State Militia for some time; his early life was spent on the farm; dur- ing the war, he published a paper in Bethany, the county seat of llarrison County, Mo .. but about the close of the war he sold out his print- ing office and came to Council Bluffs, where he engaged in the trust business, which he followed for five years; he also followed farming for some time, liis farm and residence being just outside the city limits; he began his present business in October, 1881, keeping all kinds of new and second-hand furniture, his stock being worth from $15,000 to $20,000; heowns the store building and residence adjoining it; his son, A. B. Howe, is now in partnership with him. Mr. Howe has been married three times. In Ohio,
6
29
COUNCIL BLUFFS.
in 1842, he married Miss Amanda Roby, who «Tied in Indiana in 1850; his second wife, whom he married in Indiana, was Miss Elizabeth Ir- win. In Iowa, in 1868, he married Mrs. Lodema Irwin. his present wife. He has nine children living, five sons and four daughters; he has been a member of the United Brethren Church since he was sixteen years old, and when twenty- four years, became a local preacher, and has since continued to preach the Gospel ; he traveled on a circuit for two years; he has been a Republican since the organization of that party.
ROBERT HUNTINGTON, grocer, Council Bluff's, is an Englishman; was born in 1820, and, crossing the Atlantic in 1866, he came im- mediately to Council Bluff's. He has been twice married ; first. in 1840. His wife dying in 1864, he again married in 1866. just before coming to America. He immediately bought a farm of 320 aeres, and continued in the oc- cupation of " tiller of the soil " for fourteen years. He has given to his children all of his land except 120 acres. Hle recently bought twelve acres near Fairmount Park. He built the first house on Graham avenne, also the first one in the township of James. Mr. Hunting- ton is Democratie in politics.
MRS. E. J. HARDING, physician. Coun- cil Bluffs, is a daughter of Dr. M. S. Barnwell, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated at the Electropathic Institute of Philadelphia. Penn., and her fame extends over the whole United States, she having practiced very successfully in St. Louis, San Francisco, Salt Lake and other large cities. She came to Council Bluff's in 1878 and established the Thermo Electric bath rooms. These medical baths are very ef- fective and are very popular. She has invent- ed several appliances and supporters for invalid ladies. She has at present three patents from the United States Government. Her great study has been to invent appliances for the relief of her own sex. She was born in Cin-
cinnati, Ohio ; was married in St. Louis, Mo., in 1867. She is a medical Electrician and Gynechologist.
MRS. H. J. HILTON, physician, Coun- cil Bluffs. Came to Council Bluff's in Septem- ber, 1880. She was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised and educated there. She graduated at Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1872. Her mother lives in Chicago, Ill., at the advanced age of eighty years, but looks not over sixty years, and is very fine looking. Mrs. Hilton has gradnat- ed both in medicine and surgery ; she has three children-E. Harold, who is a graduate of the literary department at Ann Arbor, Mich., and is now in Washington, D. C., in the signal service department ; and two daughters, who reside here with her. Mrs. Hilton belongs to a very old Eastern family, being descended from the Childs of New York, on her mother's side, and from the Tifts of New York on her father's side. Her father, Hezekiah Tift, was one of the very first settlers of Cleveland, Ohio, there being only a log hotel at that place when he first settled there. Her mother, who is still living at Chicago, spends considerable of her time among ber children. One of her daughters is Mrs. F. J. Osborne, wife of the well-known merchant of this city.
E. H. HUGHES, confectioner, Council Bluffs, was born in Hamburg, Fremont Co., Iowa, April 8, 1861, son of J. A. and Jenny (Clune) Hughes ; he is a resident of Fremont County, Iowa ; died in Alabama during the war ; she resides in Glenwood, Iowa. His parents had two children. He received his education chietly at Glenwood, Iowa, where he began business as a clerk with Mr. Townsley, in whose employ he remained about three years. IIe came to Council Bluffs January 10, 1881, and engaged in business in company with Mr. Townsley, at No. 12 Main street, where he has since remained. Mr. Hughes is a young man of fine business qualities, and is sure to be successful, while his partner, Mr. C. H. Townsley, is one of the most
30
BIOGRAPHICAL:
substantial business men of Mills County, Iowa, where he carries on business. They car- ry on a general confectionery and fruit busi- ness, keeping on hand a full line of confection- ery and oysters, ice cream, etc., in their season. Mr. Hughes purchased, in the summer of 1882, one of the finest soda fountains in the city, which furnishes a constant supply of the cool- ing beverages. He is doing a large and'steadi- ily increasing trade.
H. W. HART, physician. Council Bluffs, is one of the pioneers of that class of physicians who stand at the head of the profession in the city. He is a native of Chenango County, N. Y .; received his literary education at Geneva, and graduated from the Geneva Medical Col- lege in 1846. He spent one year in practice in Bath, of his native State, and then went to Rock County, Wis., where he practiced three years. His next move was to West Union, Fayette Co., Iowa, where he remained until the breaking-out of the war of the rebellion, when he entered the army as a Surgeon. His service was with the Ninth and Thirty-eighth Regiments of Iowa Infantry, Thirteenth Army Corps. Returning from the war, he spent a short time in Dubuque, Iowa, from which place he came to Council Bluffs in May of 1868. He opened an office within a short time after his arrival, and has been steadily engaged in prac- tice since. He is a member of the Council Bluff's Medical Society, State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association. For the past ten years. he has been Commis- sioner of Insanity of the Council Bluffs dis- triet, and he is at present filling the office of County and City Physician. The Doctor is a member of the Congregational Church, and is a member of the best society of the city, as well as maintaining his position among the first of his profession.
-
ì
W. C. HOLLAND, livery, Council Bluffs, was born in Ohio in 1837, and lived in that I State till he was nineteen years of age. His
parents raised a family of ten children, every one of whom are living and married. His mother is also living in Conway, Taylor Coun- ty, this State. llis father died in the latter place, in May, 1882. Our subject came to Council Bluffs April 16, 1881. He keeps eight head of horses in his livery beside having four- teen boarders. He had formerly lived twenty- two years in Henry County, Iowa, and after- ward a short time in Woodbine, Harrison County, this State. He was married in Henry County, this State, in 1858, to Miss Mary J. Conklin. They have two children-Alta, aged eighteen ycars, and Clarence, who is nine years old. On Jannary 1, 1878, there was a grand re-union at the house of our subject's parents. The ten children were all there to take dinner with their father and mother, making it an oc- casion long to be remembered.
A. H. HARRIS, retired, Council Bluffs, was born in New York in 1820, He came to Indi- ana in 1842, and to this connty in 1854. He mentions the circumstance that three towns with whose early interests he had at different times in his life been identified are now tlour- ishing cities-Batavia, N. Y., Terre Haute, Ind., and Council Bluffs. Since coming to Council Bluffs, Mr. Harris has always dealt in real estate, and has erected no less than eight business buildings. He has been foremost in many leading enterprises ; he gave $500 toward the Ogden House; $300 to the Chicago & North-Western Railway, and has financially aided many other public schemes. He was married, in Batavia, N. Y., in 1857; he has two children, both born in Council Bluffs-Ida M. and Harry. Mr. Harris has always held aloof from politics, and has never united with any secret society or church organization.
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.