USA > Iowa > Sac County > History of Sac County, Iowa > Part 7
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In passing, it may be stated that the county first got in debt to provide the ten-thousand-dollar court house, for which bonds were issued in the
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SAC COUNTY, IOW.A.
sixties, and over which there arose a long-drawn-out litigation from the local courts to the United States supreme court. The latter court decided that the county must stand by and pay the bonds issued to Mr. Meservey, of Fort Dodge, for the erection of the court house, which was ordered done under Judge Eugene Criss's administration as county judge.
The county treasurer's semi-annual report for the period extending from June 1, 1912, to January 1, 1913, shows the revenues collected and disbursed for that six-month period, round numbers only being carried in this statement :
On hand
Funds.
Collected. $13,378.00
Disbursed. Jan. 1, '13.
State
$13,409.00
$ 114.00
State University
600.00
602.00
7.00
State College
600.00
602.00
7.00
State Normal
300.00
301.00
3.22
County
22,472.00
21,722.00
38.59
County School
3.000.00
4.812.00
1,085.64
County Road
2,360.00
5.233.00
340.03
County Bond
1,500.00
3,441.00
528.69
County Bridge
15.303.00
29,047.00
1.580.27
County Poor
3,300.00
3,983.00
1,847.78
Insane
3,200.00
3,331.00
4,871.68
Temporary School
1,600.00
860.00
1.141.87
Permanent School
1,500.00
1,250.00
250.00
Institute
254.00
397.00
262.20
Domestic Animals
614.00
1,352.00
387.68
Farmers' Institute
75.00
Motor Vehicles
1,603.00
2,626.00
1,461.90
Soldiers' Relief
907.00
1,024.00
1,659.00
Totals
$61,491.00
$94.067.00
$15,906.16
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The county treasury had on hand enough funds, on July 1, 1912, to make the difference in the above figures, hence the county finances now stand as above stated.
Figuring from the county books and reports it is also shown that, counting in all the township finances, debit and credit, up to January I, 1913, the county had on hand $34,856.06 in its treasury, a showing most
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SAC COUNTY, IOWA.
excellent indeed. It was not a score of years ago that this county had an indebtedness equal to the amount on hand today.
TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH LINES.
There are at present more than thirty telephone lines operating in Sac county, having a mileage of 854 miles, and of telegraph lines, 107 miles, assessed at $80 per mile. The total assessment for telegraph lines in county, $8,602.40. With these various methods of communication the county's peo- ple are in touch with one another, as well as with the outside world.
DISBURSEMENTS FOR DRAINAGE PURPOSES.
The following shows the drainage districts in 1913 that had the amounts indicated disbursed in the year 1912-13 :
Drainage District No. I, eighty-one cents; drainage district No. 2. $2,166.76; drainage district No. 3. $63.78; drainage district No. 5, $43.94; drainage district No. 7. $31.26; drainage district No. 11, $7.66; drainage district No. 16, $24,551.16; drainage district No. 20, $201.45; drainage distriet No. 28, $20.00; drainage district No. 29, $10,700; drainage district No. 31, $437.39; drainage district No. 34, $2,008.76; drainage district No. 36, $95.17; drainage district No. 38, $2,124.71; drainage district No. 39. $950.30; drainage district No. 40, $2,649.98.
This makes a grand total of $73,203.00 paid out for drainage purposes in Sac county for a single year, and it was money well expended, as it has reclaimed thousands of acres of fertile land, besides materially increasing the agricultural and commercial value of much more, indirectly.
CHAPTER VI.
TIIE BAR OF SAC COUNTY.
By Charles D. Goldsmith.
With but one or two exceptions, the attorneys who have practiced in Sac county came from other states or other parts of our own state. The bar, as a whole, has been. comparatively speaking, a strong one. Of course, here, as elsewhere, there has been much abuse of the law and the lawyers; but, candidly, would not the abolition of both spell chaos? A community without lawyers would be a community without order, without government, without progress, peace, stability or happiness.
To be sure, lawyers are not all high-minded men, but neither are all those who follow other walks of life. \ lawyer is much like his fellows, whatever their occupation. He is subject to the same environment ; the same temptations, the same inexorable sway of demand and supply, and if he sometimes stoops to the mire, the dishonest client will be found upon his shoulders, bearing him down in the filth. The lawyer is no better and no worse than men in other lines of work, but he is a necessity. Blot out the law and the lawyers, and civilization dies with them. The standing of the bar is high today, but, as in all human affairs, there is room for improve- ment. However, it is gratifying to know that its character is certainly being elevated to a higher plane.
THE FIRST LAWYER IN SAC CITY.
John T. Alexander was Sac county's first lawyer. He located at Sac City in 1868, having before been in the practice at Vinton, Benton county, this state, where he had served the judicial district in which Benton county was embraced, as district attorney. He was not what is called a "case lawyer," but was well grounded in the fundamental principles of the law. It was his intention to discontinue the practice upon his removal to Sac county. He found it difficult to do this, and for a while took part in the small amount of court work which came up at the time in the county. "Uncle John" was a gentleman in every sense of the word, kind and considerate of
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every one. After a few years, he retired and lived loved and respected by all until his death, in 1882.
Eli R. Chase settled at Sac City in 1869, removing from Wausau, Wis- consin, where he had been a prominent lawyer and citizen for many years. He served upon the board of supervisors of the county. He was a lawyer of much ability and strength of character. The law business of the county at this time was of such meager proportions that it was not inviting, and in 1875 he removed to California.
Hon. Ed. R. Duffie came to Sac City in 1870 and shortly afterwards formed a partnership with Eli R. Chase, the firm being Chase & Duffie. He served as a member of the board of supervisors and was county treasurer, was afterwards elected to the Legislature, and later became judge of the fourteenth judicial district. Representing the county in the Legislature, he was without doubt the best equipped and ablest member the county has ever had. After serving upon the bench eight years, he retired to the prac- tice at Sac City. He outgrew the practice here and removed to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1883. For several years he served as a commissioner of the supreme court. Retiring from that position. he removed from Omaha to Scott's Bluffs, Nebraska, and became a member of the firm of Wright & Duffie and continued to practice until the year 1913. His health then failed him and he went to California, hoping to find a climate beneficial, but died shortly after reaching there.
Hon. S. M. Elwood, formerly of Tama county, Iowa, and S. E. Stan- field formed a partnership to practice law and located during the year 1876, and as a firm practiced until 1879, when it dissolved and Mr. Stanfield re- moved to Odebolt. Mr. Elwood then formed a partnership with Levi Davis, the firm being known as Davis & Elwood. This firm afterward dissolved and Mr. Davis removed to Montana. Mr. Elwood continued in the practice and in the fall of 1895 was elected to the district judgeship of the sixteenth judicial district and occupied the bench for eight years. After retiring from that position he resumed practice. He is a good lawyer and the most plausi- ble of gentlemen.
Mr. Stanfield, as before stated, removed to Odebolt, where he continued to reside and practice law for a few years, and then removed to Ida Grove, in Ida county, where he practiced until his death, a few years later.
D. E. Voris and I. Wheaton, two young men of good native ability, located at Sac City in 1876 and remained a few years. Mr. Voris afterward removed to Marion, where he has since continued in a very successful prac-
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SAC COUNTY, IOWA.
tice. Mr. Wheaton removed to Lincoln, Nebraska, and died after remaining in practice a few years.
D. J. McDaid commenced the practice of law at Sac City in 1881, and very soon afterwards received an appointment to a judicial position in Indian Territory, after the expiration of which he removed to West Virginia.
W. H. Hart commenced the practice of law in Sac City in 1880. In 1885 the partnership of Goldsmith & Hart was formed, of which Mr. Hart was a member until 1889, when Mr. Goldsmith was appointed by Governor Boies to fill the vacancy on the district bench caused by the resignation of Judge J. H. Macomber. Mr. Hart has filled the office of county attorney for two terms. In this office he was safe and reliable and no one performed the duties of that office better to the satisfaction of the people. He now ranks among the leading lawyers of the county.
J. H. Tait first located at Wall Lake, in this county, in 1879, as the junior member of the firm of Edson & Tait. The firm continued in the practice a few years and dissolved. Mr. Tait removed to Schaller and con- tinued in the practice until he was elected county attorney, when he removed to Sac City. During his incumbency of that office he formed a partnership with W. Jackson, which partnership existed until his death, in 1913. He was one of the lawyers who forged his way to the front and was quite prominent in the politics of the county.
William Jackson has long been numbered among the trustworthy mem- bers of the Sac county bar. His specialty has been that of an abstracter and real estate lawyer. He attended to that branch of the practice of the firm of Tait & Jackson, while Mr. Tait gave his attention to such litigation as came into the hands of the firm.
R. L. McCord located here in 1908 and since has been appointed and elected two terms as county attorney. Upon the expiration of his last term he engaged in general practice. He is possessed of good ability, much in- dustry and holds the esteem of all in this county.
Malcolm Currie, having held the office of sheriff of Sac county, took his examination and was admitted to the bar in 1910, since which time he has been elected county attorney, an office he now holds. Still young in the prac- tice, his energy and industry is fast leading him to the front.
J. B. Tourgee located in Sac City in 1913 and formed a partnership with S. M. Elwood. He is being known as a careful and industrious young inan, possessed of studious habits that are sure to give him high rank in his profession.
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SAC COUNTY, IOWA.
THOSE PRACTICING IN 1914.
A list of those practicing in Sac City in 1914 includes the following, as they rank with age: Charles D. Goldsmith, S. M. Elwood, William Jackson, W. H. Hart. R. L. McCord, Malcom Currie, J. B. Tourgee. There are many more, who have come and gone, but their sojourn has been so short and in- eventful that it can hardly be said that they should be considered as members of this bar.
IN OTHER TOWNS OF THE COUNTY.
Ed. Hatch commenced the practice of law at Grant City in 1875. One would be anthorized in saying that no young man has appeared at the Sac county bar with more natural ability and better presence than he. He was genial, eloquent and quick to see a point in litigation. He grew boastful and dissolute and at a time when he should have been meeting with a success rightfully due him and within his reach, he was murdered by brawling asso- ciates.
The firm of Zane & Helsell located at Odebolt in 1878 and was composed of John M. Zane, who made a specialty of making abstracts and law con- nected therewith, and W. A. Helsell, who did the court work and attended to the general litigation. Mr. Zane afterwards removed to Sac City and con- tinned in abstracting work for a time, and then removed to Des Moines, where he engaged in the insurance business. Mr. Helsell continned in prac- tice at Odebolt and has since remained there, and, while a few others have come and gone from Odebolt with little success, Mr. Helsell has built up a remunerative practice which he still enjoys. He is the only lawyer now in Odebolt. Among others who have at times been members of the bar at Odebolt, C. E. George and Del Coy should be mentioned. Mr. George was a young man, well educated and had he possessed stability of character could. it would seem, have reached a high rank in his profession. Being ambitious to enter a larger field he removed to Chicago. His career in Odebolt was not a brilliant one. Mr. Coy, while somewhat successful at Odebolt, after a few years removed to Pierre, South Dakota, where he was elected to the office of clerk of the courts. He filled this office and practiced his profession for a few years and died. He was a man of excellent character and respected by all.
R. M. Hunter was a member of the bar residing at Wall Lake for a number of years. He was a good lawyer, neighbor and citizen, and while there he was elected county attorney and made an excellent official. Soon
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SAC COUNTY, IOWA.
afterward he removed to Sibley, Iowa, where he met with success in his prac- tice and there died. During his practice he accumulated considerable prop- erty. Another attorney at Wall Lake was S. E. Stanfield, now of Rockwell City, who was for a time a partner of Judge Elwood, in Sac City. A. B. Barclay, a young lawyer of much ability, a clean, loveable man, located at Wall Lake in 1900. He had held the office of county attorney one term and part of another, when, in 1908, he moved to Jerome, Idaho, where he took up the practice. Wall Lake now has but one lawyer, E. S. Whitney, who recently entered the profession. He is a young man with good ambitions and appearances. His geniality and manner appeals to all and there is little doubt that he will meet with success.
Besides the members of the bar in Sac county named by Mr. Gold- smith there should also be mentioned the following :
Charles D. Goldsmith is the oldest resident attorney at Sae City with the exception of S. M. Elwood. He has been practicing in Sac and adjoining counties since the latter part of the seventies, except during the time he was upon the bench of the district court of this district. He was selected by Gov- ernor Horace Boies to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Macomber, of Ida Grove, and was also elected to succeed himself at the election, though a Democrat in politics and in a Republican district. He has been and is one of the most successful practitioners in this part of the state. having a large clientage. He has always been a very aggressive lawyer and stands high in his chosen profession. He was admitted to the bar in the state of New York, came west to Webster City, Iowa, then to Newell. in Buena Vista county, and finally to Sac City, where he has since remained. He stands high in this community as a citizen as well as lawyer and counselor.
About 1880 A. B. Mason began the practice of law in Sac City and a few years later was joined by E. G. Thomas, the firm being then known as Mason & Thomas. The partnership continued for some years, when it was dissolved, E. G. Thomas going to Omaha and later to Chicago and then to his former home in Indiana, where he died. A. B. Mason continued in Sac City until his death, some years later.
J. Koder came to Sac City about 1882 and engaged in the practice of law for a short time only. He was editor of the paper known as The Demo- crat for a while and moved to Omaha, where he engaged in legal work again.
Miles W. Newby began the practice of law here, in the office of S. M. Elwood, in the nineties. He was elected county attorney of Sac county for two terms, and soon after his last term expired he moved to Onawa, where he now lives and is actively in the practice. He was a conscientious young law- yer and a hard worker.
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CHAPTER VII
MEDICAL, HISTORY OF SAC COUNTY.
By Z. Fuller, M. D.
The first physician, Doctor Bence, arrived in the frontier hamlet of Sac City in 1856, but remained only a short time.
The next physician, Doctor Rising, came the next year. 1857, and re- mained about five years, and then removed from Sac City to Grant City, Sac county, where he died and was buried.
The next physician was Dr. Frank Stiles, who located in Sac City in 1858 or 1859, remaining perhaps ten years, part of this time being at Twin Lakes, Calhoun county. In the late sixties he ran a general merchandise business in Sac City.
Dr. R. G. Platt, a brother of Asa Platt, came in 1868, locating in Sac City Doctor Platt remained five or six years, but, being in poor health, was unable to endure the hardships incident to the practice of medicine in a pio- neer community, and therefore moved to Hillsdale, Michigan.
Dr. A. T. Brenton was the next physician to locate in Sac county, coming to Sac City in 1869, where he remained in active practice almost continuously for more than thirty years, the first medical man to identify himself perma- nently with the community. A more extended biographical mention of Doctor Brenton will be found at another place in this chapter.
Since the time of Dr. Brenton's arrival and up to the present (1914) many physicians have, from time to time, located in Sac City and at other points in the county, a good many remaining for only a brief period, hardly long enough to warrant more than noting the date of their arrival, where the latter can be ascertained. Those remaining a longer time, long enough to warrant being considered permanent citizens, will have more extended bio- graphical sketches in the following pages.
Perhaps no class of people in any pioneer country sees more of hardship and the strenuous life than does the physician. The homes of the pioneers were widely scattered over the desolate prairies, necessitating long and tire- some-and sometimes dangerous-drives, usually on horseback in all kinds of weather in their professional ministrations. And for such services the doc-
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tor's pay was often in the form of the possessions which are at least reason- ably satisfactory, earning as well the genuine gratitude and respect of the com- munities in which they have labored.
The writer had a share in some of these experiences during the later pioneer days, many of which he looks back on with pleasure and no small degree of satisfaction, not the least of which comes from seeing a good many of those pioneers of the strenuous years now in comfortable homes and in possession of every other reasonable need for their declining years. All of which seems a fair compensation for the struggle of those early days. Re- turning now to the personal history of some of Sac county's physicians, it may be said that :
Andrew Thomas Brenton was born in Johnson county, Indiana. Septem- ber 15, 1848, and came by covered wagon, with his parents, to Dallas county, Iowa, in the fall of 1853, when but five years of age. Of the ancestry it may be said that the father, James Baird Brenton, was born in Kentucky. He was the son of Rev. Henry Brenton and Esther Baird and the grandson of Major James Brenton and Mary Woodfield. Major James Brenton served during the Revolutionary War from Virginia. His commission as major, signed by Governor Patrick Henry, of Virginia, is in the family and very highly prized.
His mother was Elizabeth Glenn, daughter of Archibald Glenn and Lydia Rhodes, granddaughter of Archibald Glenn, Sr., and Sarah Furgason and Jacob Rhodes and Elizabeth Furlow, and great-granddaughter of Robert Furlow, and Kittie McGuire. Archibald, Sr., came to America from Scot- land in 1770. He served from Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War, as did Jacob Rhodes and Robert Furlow from Virginia. With such Revolu- tionary ancestry, one would not wonder that Doctor Brenton was one of the most patriotie citizens.
The Doctor received his early education in the district schools, and later in the Adel schools. He read medicine with his father and attended the Medical College of Keokuk, Iowa, and later took a post-graduate course in St. Louis. He married Harriett Ella Wright, and they had four children, Glencora, Maude, Fay and Max. He practiced medicine at Dallas Center, Iowa, one year and then located at Sac City, Iowa, in the fall of 1871. Not- withstanding the wild prairie country, the unbridged streams, bad roads and dark stormy nights, the Doctor never let these things prevent him from answering the calls of suffering humanity. He frequently took his gun and dog along and, in season, killed many prairie chickens on his trips.
Doctor Brenton was the first physician to become permanently identified
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with the county in its pioneer days, locating as he did in 1871. For more than thirty years he was continuously engaged in practice. For a large part of his time his practice extended over a wide range of territory, frequently into the adjacent counties. During the more active period of his life he doubtless had the most extensive clientele of any physician who has ever practiced in this county. This, being in the days of riding horses, meant almost continuous riding, night and day, sometimes for weeks together. But during all those strenuous years of widely scattered practice, in storm and snow and mud, he faithfully ministered to the people. a highly useful and much appreciated citizen.
Doctor Brenton did his work with energy and enthusiasm : he was in love with his work, giving always of the best that was in him and without regard to rank and station. He was a man of more than ordinary native ability, oi excellent judgment in his professional work : quick to see the essentials and the main points in a case, and resourceful in treatment. The writer was twice associated with him in practice, and was many times with him in consultations, and this experience fully warrants the above statements.
Doctor Brenton was of quick wit and possessed a keen sense of humor. He enjoyed a good story, either as a listener or raconteur ; and not a little wide popularity came from these qualities-qualities which are also at times invaluable at the bed side of the sick. In his later years he greatly enjoyed recalling from the rich fund of his pioneer experiences those incidents par- ticularly which had an element of humor and drollery with which he would entertain his listeners. Of such, he had acquired a large collection, which. with his natural wit and humor, made him an entertaining talker. Not a few good stories about the Doctor are still current among the "old-timers," and a sketch without any of these would hardly seem fitting, which perhaps is sufficient warrant for the following :
During the latter part of the Doctor's practice, when not a few of the early settlers had become well-to-do, one of the latter, becoming seriously sick, summoned the Doctor, who, when he visited the patient insisted that he should remain with him continuously until he "was out of danger." This the Doc- tor was reluctant to do, as it was a busy season and to give his entire time to a single patient meant considerable loss to himself, not to mention the incon- venience or worse to others of his patrons. When this was intimated to the wealthy patient, he remarked that the Doctor "wouldn't lose anything" and that there were other doctors whom the people could employ. The Doctor finally consented, and henceforth for about ten days remained in the patient's house, giving him his exclusive professional attention. When the sick man
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SAC COUNTY, IOWA.
was at last convalescent and the Doctor announced that his services were no longer needed, the grateful patient asked for the amount of his bill that he might show his gratitude by prompt payment. The Doctor answered that his bill was four hundred and ninety-nine dollars, which amount seemed so large that the gentleman remonstrated, to which the Doctor exclaimed that during so busy a season he might have lost even a larger amount than this from other practice, remarking that the "exclusive services of a busy doctor" come high. But the wealthy patient still remonstrated, expressing his unwill- ingness and finally his positive refusal to pay such an exorbitant bill, to which the Doctor replied that "God has made you able and I will make you willing to pay that bill." and. getting into his buggy, started to drive off, but he was recalled and his bill was paid. When someone later asked the Doctor why he had not made the fee an even five hundred dollars, he dryly answered that "Five hundred dollars would have been too much."
Doctor Brenton was a steadfast Republican, all his life taking an active interest in political matters, both local and general, but never showing any desire for office himself, his whole practical interest being centered in his profession. He was a member of the Masonic order, having membership in the blue lodge, chapter and commandery at Sac City.
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