USA > Iowa > Poweshiek County > History of Poweshiek County, Iowa: a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. II > Part 13
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WILLIAM H."ALLEY.
William H. Alley is a well known farmer and business man who for a number of years has engaged as sprinkling contractor at Grinnell. He is a native of Canada. born November 24, 1854. and is a son of Jeremiah and Kathryn (Gifford) Alley, both of whom were born in Canada. The father removed with his family to Dane county, Wisconsin, where he engaged in farm- ing for ten years, and then came to lowa, locating in Tama county, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1879. The mother is still living and makes her home with her children. In the family were the following children: A. M., who married Ella Robinson and is now a resident of Huron, S. D .: William H., of this review; J. H., who married Elizabeth A. Spire and lives in Grinnell: Enos G., who married Jessie Harmon and makes his home in Huron. S. D .: George W., also a resident of Huron, who married Kittie Coburn ; Charles E., who married Maud Crew and lives in Meridian. Mississippi : and Electa, the wife of W. W. Dale, of Grinnell township, this county.
William H. Alley received his early education in the common schools and ยท continued with his parents until after attaining his majority. He removed with them to Tama county, this state in 1866. Ever since his boyhood he has been actively identified with agricultural and stock-raising interests. He engaged in farming for seventeen years in Sheridan township, Poweshiek county, where Vol. 11-4
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he still owns a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and in 1895 removed to Grinnell, where he established his home. During the last two years upon his farm he devoted considerable attention to raising Poland China hogs, in which he was very successful. He rented his place and is now living in Grinnell. where he has rendered efficient service for thirteen years as contractor for street sprinkling.
On March 11, 1879, Mr. Alley was united in marriage in Highland town- ship, Tama county, to Miss Mary J. Steikle, a daughter of A. H. and Mary Steikle. The parents were both born in Canada and removed to Tama county, lowa, where Mr. Steikle devoted his attention to farming. Mrs. Alley died in 1894 and on January 2, 1896, Mr. Alley was married to Mrs. Amelia Smith, a native of Germany, and a daughter of C. H. Speth. Mr. Alley has three chil- dren living : Nellie, the wife of Peter J. Schmeltz, who is engaged in the manu- facture of automobile tops at Marshalltown, Iowa; Hazel, who is a student in the high school and is now living at home; and George Roger. Bertha Smith, a daughter of Mrs. Alley by her former marriage, graduated as a kindergarten teacher at Des Moines.
Ever since McKinley's election Mr. Alley has given his support to the re- publican party. In religious belief he is a Methodist and is now serving as trustee of the church at Grinnell. He is a valued member of the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Brotherhood of America and as a business man is identified with the Commercial Club. Active, industrious and enterprising, he is thoroughly efficient in anything he undertakes and as his life is governed by sound principles he always aims to deal justly with his fellowmen. He is of a genial and accommodating disposition and it is greatly to his credit that his best friends are to be found among those with whom he has had business relations.
JOHN BOSLEY GORSUCH.
John Bosley Gorsuch, who is numbered among the progressive and pros- perous agriculturists of Jackson township, is a representative of one of the old pioneer families of Iowa. He was born in that township on the 19th of November, 1871, and has spent almost his entire life within its borders. A son of Daniel L. and Mary J. (Murrow) Gorsuch, of whom mention is made on another page, he is one of seven surviving children in a family of twelve. He acquired his education in the schools of Jackson township and also received broad practical training under the direction of his father, for, reared amid the busy activities of rural life, he was early taught the value of industry. energy and perseverance. He remained on the home farm, giving his father the benefit of his assistance, until the time of his marriage, after which he removed to Mahaska county and there resided from 1894 until 1897.
Mr. Gorsuch then returned to Poweshiek county and spent the following three years on a rented farm in Union township, at the end of which time he purchased his present home of one hundred acres, located on section 17, Jack-
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son township. This place is a highly improved property, containing a com- fortable dwelling, substantial outbuildings and all the conveniences necessary, and he is giving his time to the cultivation of grain together with stock-raising. As a farmer he has been quite successful and, taking pride in the appearance of his farm, has added every improvement which may contribute to its neatness and fertility. He has also made such study of the soil as to enable him to so adapt his crops as to reap the maximum yied per acre. He has made of his farm a good paying proposition and prosperity has attended his efforts as the years have gone by, so that today he stands among the substantial and progres- sive agriculturists of Jackson township.
Mr. Gorsuch was united in marriage, on the IIth of February, 1894, to Miss Blanche Wilkinson, who was born in Mahaska county, July 1, 1873, a daughter of John P. and Cynthia A. (Watkins) Wilkinson, residents of Barnes City, Iowa. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Gorsuch have been born two children, Ida F. and Thomas Daniel.
A lifelong republican, Mr. Gorsuch is now serving his third term as town- ship trustee, in which position he is proving a most faithful and public-spirited official. Fraternally he holds membership in Aztec Lodge, No. 238, K. P., at Montezuma. Having spent almost his entire life in this locality he has drawn around him a wide circle of friends and acquaintances who entertain for him unqualified respect and esteem, a fact which indicates that the principles which have actuated his conduct have ever been those which govern honorable man- hood and desirable citizenship.
JOHN A. EVANS.
The farming interests of Scott township and Poweshiek county are well represented by John A. Evans, who cultivates a tract of four hundred acres. He has always been identified with the interests of this section, for his birth occurred on a farm about five miles south of Montezuma, June 29, 1857. He is a son of Daniel John and Jane (Fields) Evans, the former born in Greene county, Ohio, November 12, 1818, a son of George Evans, who was born in Wales and emigrated to the United States in an early day, making a permanent location in Ohio, where he passed away. His son, Daniel J., was reared in the Buckeye state and was there married. In the fall of 1852 he removed to the middle west, locating in Mahaska county, Iowa, but after a brief stay of two or three years there he continued his journey to Poweshiek county and here en- gaged in farming. With him and his family also came two brothers and a sister. Mr. Evans was married twice ere coming to Poweshiek county and by his first union he had two sons but the younger is deceased, the other being N. G., of Thornburg, Nebraska. After the death of his first wife, he wedded Miss Jane Fields, who was likewise born in Greene county, Ohio, in May, 1820. Her death occurred in Scott township, this county, in May, 1872, when she was fifty-two years of age. She was the mother of nine children: Alfred A., of O'Brien county, Iowa; Mary E., the wife of Robert R. Johnston, a resident
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of South Dakota ; C. G., who makes his home in Montezuma ; John A., of this review ; Aseneth, the wife of Samuel Meldrem, a resident of Brooklyn; Alan- son, deceased ; and three who died in infancy. The father was actively con- nected with farming interests in Poweshiek county until about four years ago, when he removed to Brooklyn, where he has since made his home.
John A. Evans was reared to farm life, assisting in the work of the fields during the spring and summer months, while in the winter season he attended the district schools near his father's home. When starting out upon an in- dependent business venture he chose as his work the occupation to which he had been reared. He began with eighty acres which he purchased but he after- ward sold this and bought his present place, which comprises four hundred acres, situated on sections 2, 3, 10 and 11, Scott township, all in one body. On the place are two sets of good buildings, while the fields are under a high state of cultivation and annually yield bounteous harvests. Mr. Evans is progres- sive in his methods of farm work and is ever ready to adopt any measures along agricultural lines that he believes will prove of benefit.
Mr. Evans was married October 4, 1888, to Miss Sarah E. Lineweaver, who was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, October 4, 1872, a daughter of C. B. Lineweaver, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. Their mar- riage has been blessed by two sons and a daughter: Earl L .: Elsie May, the wife of Henry Allen, a resident of Scott township; and Allen Ray.
Mr. Evans is a democrat in his political views and affiliations, while his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Methodist church. He is well known throughout Poweshiek county and has a reputation for fair and honorable dealing surpassed by no man in this community. Considerate and thoughtful, his life is that of a man who practices what he preaches to others and he is leaving a name that will be an honor to his family.
RAY A. CLARKE.
Over thirty years ago Ray A. Clarke established his home in Grinnell township and devoted himself to agriculture and stockraising with an enterprise and abil- ity which enables him now to live retired in the enjoyment of the fruits of his labor. He was born at Arcade, New York, February 28, 1850, a son of Elbert and Louise (Steele) Clarke. The father was a native of Brookfield, New York, and the mother of Arcade. Early in life Elbert Clarke gave evidence of unusual talent as a public speaker and at nineteen years of age began preaching, becom- ing a prominent minister of the Baptist church at Buffalo, New York. He de- livered a noted sermon on the death of William Henry Harrison to a body of distinguished men of the nation. He was of a highly intellectual and nervous temperament and died at the age of thirty-six at Arcade in the midst of a life of great usefulness.
In early boyhood Ray A. Clarke lost his father and in 1859 moved with his mother to Oberlin, Ohio. He attended the common schools and was later grad- uated from a business college and became a student at Oberlin college. In 1866
RAY A. CLARKE
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the family removed to New Haven, Connecticut, and continued there for two years, during which time he possessed advantages of training in a military school of that city. They tuen returned to Oberlin and in 1877 moved to Painesville, Ohio. Mr. Clarke can relate many interesting incidents that occurred during his boyhood in Ohio. On the 25th of May, 1863, when only thirteen years of age, he nearly lost his life in a vain endeavor to save Martin Fitch while swim- ming in Black river. The water was cold and his companion went down in the middle of the river. Mr. Clarke reached him and started to help him to the shore but the boy pulled him under and he was compelled to let go or he too would have been drowned.
In 1879, having decided that the west offered better inducements for an am- bitious young man than he had observed in northern Ohio, Mr. Clarke came to Iowa and located upon a farm in Grinnell township, Poweshiek county. He dili- gently improved his place and devoted his attention for many years principally to raising cattle for the market. As he made use of good judgment, his business grew in importance and yielded generous annual returns so that he attained a posi- tion of comparative financial independence.
In September, 1882, Mr. Clarke was united in marriage at Grinnell to Miss Cornelia Shepard, a daughter of Levi and Mary (St. John) Shepard, both of whom were natives of Painesville, Ohio, and are now deceased. Mr. Shepard was one of the large landowners of his locality. One daughter, Cornelia S., came to bless the union of Mr. and Mrs. Clarke. The beloved wife and mother passed away in 1884 and the daughter is now keeping house for her father. She is an excellent scholar, having graduated from the high school and also from Grinnell College and has proved an invaluable assistant and companion to her father.
Mr. Clarke is identified with the Congregational church and is a stanch sup- porter of its doctrines. Politically he gives his allegiance to the republican party, although he does not hold himself strictly to party lines in voting. He is of a modest, retiring disposition and has never sought the emoluments or honors of public office, preferring to concentrate his attention upon his business. He has many friends whom he has made by his genial, social qualities and by many years of honorable business dealings. He has witnessed great changes in his adopted county since taking up his abode here and as a reputable representative and valued citizen he has assisted materially in its transformation.
REV. JAMES L. HILL, D. D.
It is most fitting that Dr. James L. Hill be mentioned in the history of Powe- shiek county for every citizen of the county is proud of his record and he num- bers among the residents of this county many warm friends. Moreover, he completed his literary education in Grinnell College and has since been a stal- wart, zealous and helpful friend of the institution.
Numbered among Iowa's native sons, Dr. Hill was born at Garnavillo, March 14, 1848, a son of the Rev. James J. Hill, who was long associated with the work of the ministry in Iowa and gave the first dollar to found Grinnell
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College, the proof of which fact Dr. Hill has in a written or printed statement from five of the men who were his father's associates at the time. His mother, Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Hill, was present at the meeting in Dubuque when addi- tional plans for Grinnell College took definite form and this record is still ex- tant : "The wives also of the ministers, anxious to share in the enterprise of founding the college, resolved to raise one hundred dollars out of their own re- sources and seventy dollars were subscribed by fourteen who were present." It was at this time that Mrs. Hill, who died at the early age of twenty-eight years, exclaimed : "Somebody must be built into these foundations," and these words are inscribed upon her monument in the cemetery at Grinnell.
Reared amid the refining influences of a cultured home, where intellectual training and moral teaching were rated at their true worth as forces in char- acter building, Dr. Hill was provided with such opportunities and advantages as his parents could secure for him and completed his more specifically literary education by a course in Grinnell College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1871. He was a tutor there in 1871-2 and a continuous resident of Poweshiek county for twelve years. Following his connection with the col- lege he left Grinnell and went east for professional training at Andover The- ological Seminary. There he applied himself closely to the mastery of the branches that constituted the curriculum of the school and before his gradua- tion was called to the pastorate of the North Congregational church in Lynn, Massachusetts. During the ten years of his absence at school he never re- ceived a dollar from home to assist him in meeting his tuition and other nec- essary expenses and during the last year of his student life he earned eight hundred dollars notwithstanding the fact that he applied himself so closely to his studies that he won the valedictorian honors of his class.
As clergyman, lecturer and author Dr. Hill has since become known through- out the country, his labors calling him into various sections, but throughout the years he has never ceased to feel the deepest attachment for his alma mater nor neglected any opportunity to promote the interests and work of Grinnell College, of which he is still a trustee. Hc spent his first night in Poweshiek county in a small building, still standing, opposite the residence of the presi- dent of the college at Grinnell and this he and his brother Dr. Gershom H. Hill have purchased with the intention of presenting it as a gift to the school. He and his brother also founded the Hill prize for excellence in extemporaneous address in Grinnell College and they have been repeatedly assured that the competition for this prize constitutes the most popular event at commencement. Following his father's example in giving the first dollar to a college, he made the earliest gift to aid in the establishment of Yankton College, founded by the Dakota Band, who in that state planted the seeds of Christian citizenship and civilization. This dollar was found in the desk of the college president after after his death with a statement as to where it came from. For some years pastoral labors occupied his attention and throughout his life he has been a teacher, not always in the school room or in the pulpit for at other times his teaching has been done from the lecture platform. He was one of four clergy- men who in 1891 were selected to make addresses and to found societies of Christian Endeavor in England. He established the society at old Boston, Eng-
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land, and the same year was created Doctor of Divinity by his alma mater, be- ing the first of her graduates on whom she conferred this honor. From the beginning of the United Society of Christian Endeavor he has been one of its trustees and he was one of four who secured control of the Golden Rule, a religious paper, making it the recognized official organ of the Christian En- deavor Society. In the effort now being made to raise two hundred thousand dollars for a Christian Endeavor headquarters building in Boston Dr. Hill has agreed to give the last fifteen thousand dollars.
In acknowledgment of this generous gift the following was presented him : "The executive committee of the board of trustees of the United States Chris- tian Endeavor desires to express and put on record their hearty appreciation of the generous gift of fifteen thousand dollars-the largest gift yet made- for the new Headquarters building by one of their own number, Rev. James L. Hill, D. D. They unite in wishing for the donor the Scriptural benediction. 'The liberal soul shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.' "
In recent years Dr. Hill has become widely known through his appearance on the lecture platform and is regarded as one of the most attractive speakers sent out by the Central Lyceum Bureau. He has made addresses in all of the capitals of New England and in almost all of the states of the Union. In 1878 he was selected to deliver the Election Sermon before the governor and legis- lature of Massachusetts. Some of his lectures he has delivered more than a hundred times. His lectures, adapted to the times, treat of social life, travel and reform. Among his most popular addresses are those given under the subjects : How to be at Home at Home: Team Work; Cupid; Success a Duty ; How we Struck Each Other: Europe and I; The Spirit of '61; and The Worst Boys in Town. At all places wherever he has spoken he has found favor with his audiences and the opinions of the press in different cities are unanimous in their support of him as "a brilliant speaker, who clothes his ideas in simple descriptive language that even a child may grasp and comprehend." "There is a certain magnetism about him which attracts his listeners and carries them with him. Pleasantry and wit constituted features of his lec- tures and the people were not only pleased with his manner of delivery but also with his rounded periods and illustrations and best of all his noble senti- ments." His writings perhaps cover even wider range. He is the author of various volumes and pamphlets, including The Growth of Government, which was published by vote of the legislature of Massachusetts; Modern Methods of Christian Nurture; Boys in the Late War; Decade of History; Woman and Satan ; The Problem of Spiritual Awakenings ; The 'Superlative Vacation ; Seven Sorts of Successful Sunday Evening Services ; and Historic Pilgrimages. His leaflets and newspaper articles are very numerous and his fugitive pieces that have been gathered fill seven hundred and fifty pages, as large as an atlas.
In 1878 Dr. Hill was united in marriage to Miss Lucy B. Dunham, the only daughter of the chaplain of the Massachusetts senate. In his travels he has been collecting with much painstaking care and considerable expense a large number of curios and valuable relics which are to be the nucleus of a museum which he intends to give to Grinnell College. This already includes
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some articles that cannot be duplicated either in North or South America. He also possesses the most valuable collection in existence bearing on the earliest religious history of lowa, including the letters inviting "the immortal eleven" to this state to establish the work of their church within the boundaries of the commonwealth. More than one-half of the members of the lowa Band con- tributed to the treasures touching early Iowa history which are in Dr. Hill's keeping.
JESSE L. FELLOWS.
The success which follows close application and ready appreciation for and utilization of opportunities has come to Jesse L. Fellows, who is now manager of the Grinnell Washing Machine Company and a financial, if not an active. factor in several other business enterprises. He was born in Vinton, Benton county, Iowa, November 28, 1878, a son of E. G. and Lottie A. (Wilder) Fellows, both of whom were natives of Canandaigua, New York, where they were married in 1869. They came to Iowa in 1870, settling in Vinton, and the father, who was a photographer, conducted a gallery in that city for a number of years. He came to Grinnell in 1889, since which time he has served in the capacity of engineer for public schools.
Jesse L. Fellows was reared at home and pursued his education in Grinnell Academy and Grinnell College, being graduated from the latter with the B. S. degree in the class of 1901. His school days over, he went to North Dakota and became local agent at Bowbells and later at Sherwood for the Stoltze Lumber Company, with which he remained for about five years.
While residing in Sherwood Mr. Fellows was united in marriage on the 28th of June, 1905, to Miss Maude B. Young, of Clarion, Iowa, and in 1907 returned to Grinnell, where he purchased an interest in the lumber firm of Carney, Brande & Clark. On the reorganization of the business the firm name of Clark & Fellows was assumed and the partnership was maintained for two years, after which Mr. Fellows sold his interest and for a year following was engaged in no business. However, during that period he awaited a favorable opportunity for reentrance into commercial life and became a stockhokler of the Grinnell Washington Machine Company on its organization in 1908. He was at that time elected a director of the company but not until the fall of 1909 did he become active in the business. He was then called upon to assume the management of the enterprise and so continued until January. 1910, when he secured a new manager. This arrangement, however, proved unsatisfactory and he again took up the management of the business of which he now has charge. His sound judgment, his keen insight into conditions and possibilities and his unfaltering energy have proved strong forces in the successful conduct of the enterprise, which is recognized today as one of growing and substantial importance. He also has other investments in business affairs and is regarded as one of the prominent and leading men of the city, his labors constituting an important element in the promotion of trade interests in lowa.
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Mr. Fellows is a member of Grinnell Lodge, No. 175, K. P., and also of the Modern Woodmen camp. He is deeply interested in everything that per- tains to the welfare and progress of his town and his cooperation can always be counted upon to further measures for the public good. He has, moreover, an interesting military chapter in his life history, for at the end of his sophomore year in college he responded to the country's call and enlisted for service in the Spanish-American war, becoming a member of Company G, Forty-ninth lowa Volunteer Infantry. The regiment spent one year in Cuba and after the ces- sation of hostilities he received his discharge and returned home, resuming his college work where he had laid it down. In politics he has been a stanch republican since age conferred upon him the right of franchise but has never been an office seeker. He belongs to the Congregational church and his influence is always found on the side of progress and improvement. Al- though a young man, he has made for himself a very creditable position in business circles and Grinnell places his name high on the list of her energetic and progressive business men.
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