USA > Iowa > Wapello County > History of Wapello County, Iowa, and representative citizens > Part 28
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At the age of twenty-one years Mr. Withall was united in marriage with Mary Davis, who was born in South Wales and reared in Bir- mingham, England. They are the parents of the following children : Elizabeth Mary ( Mrs. II. . \. Lewis), of Ottumwa, whose husband is in the employ of the Globe Tea Company, and who has four children,-Warren, who lives with Mr. Withall, Katie, Mary Elizabeth and Margaret: Eleanor ( Mrs. Harvey Davis), of Keokuk, whose husband represents the G. H. Hammond Packing Company : and Catherine, who died three months after the family located at Ottumwa, aged seventeen years and three months, and who is buried at Ottumwa. Po- I litically Mr. Withall has always been a member
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of the Republican party. During the Crimean War Mr. Withall was on the Mediterranean Sea (in 1855 and 1856), and participated in the struggle against Russia. Fraternally he is a Mason of high standing, being high priest of Chapter No. 9. R. A. M : prelate of Ottumwa Commandery, K. T., and a member of Daven- port Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. Mrs. Withall is past worthy matron of the Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. Religiously both are members of the Episcopal church, of which Mr. Withall is a vestryman. A portrait of the subject of this sketch appears on a foregoing page.
T. HARPER, JR., president of the wholesale drug house of J. W. Edgerly & Company, of Ottumwa, was born in this city in 1868, and is a son of W. T. and Jennie ( Shaul ) Harper.
W. T. Harper, Sr., came from Muskingum county, Ohio, to Ottumwa in 1854. In 1861 or 1802 he became a member of the firm of Taylor, Blake & Company, wholesale and re- tail dealers in drugs, on Main street. where the St. Louis Store now stands. In 1875. with William Daggett, he organized the firm of Daggett & Harper, and put in operation the linseed oil mill. That firm continued until January 1. 1880, when his partner retired, and, J. W. Edgerly purchasing an interest. the firm became W. T. Harper & Company. The firm was incorporated in 1887 as the Ottumwa Lin- seed Oil Company, and soon after was bought out by the National Linseed Oil Company, on
January 1, 1888. Mr. Harper continued as manager of this company until January 1, 1899, when he retired from active business. In 1888. associated with Mr. Edgerly and C. F. Harlan, who died in May, 1893. he bought the whole- sale drug business of Blake, Bruce & Company, and the firm of J. W. Edgerly & Company re- sulted. Three additions have since been made to the building occupied by the concern, and its present quarters are 100 feet deep, with three fronts. They now do an exclusively wholesale business. Mr. Harper was a silent partner, and Mr. Edgerly acted as manager until his death, in 1894. In January. 1895", the firm was incorporated. Mr. Harper being elected president, which office he maintained until his death, in 1894. In January, 1895, sixty-seven years. New officers were then elected, with the subject hereof as president, and Dr. Edgerly as secretary and treasurer. W. T. Harper, Sr., was first married to Jennie Shaul, who died at Ottumwa, leaving two chil- dren : Mrs. Edward A. Jones, now of Helena, Montana : and W. T., Jr. Mr. Harper formed a second marital union at Ottumwa, wedding Mary E. Knight, who resides in this city. They reared four children, as follows: Harry C., foreman for J. W. Eagerly & Company; Ralph S., who is in the employ of J. W. Edg- erly & Company: Charles K .; and Mary E. Mr. Harper had built a fine home at 1008 North Court street.
W. T. Harper. Jr., graduated from the schools of Ottumwa in 1884, and then attended the State Agricultural College at Ames one year and the State University of Iowa at Iowa
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City for one year. In January, 1886, he be- came bookkeeper for his father in the linseed oil mill and continued until February, 1890. lle then accepted a position in the office of J. W. Edgerly & Company as bill clerk, and one year later represented the firm on the road for a year. In June, 1892, he became assist- ant to Mr. Harlan, the buyer of the firm, and upon the decease of the latter became buyer, in May, 1803. On the death of J. W. Edgerly, in 1894, the management of the business de- volved upon A. S. Udell. Dr. E. T. Edgerly and W. T. Harper, Jr. Since the present firm has existed there has been a wonderful increase in business, and six traveling representatives are employed, covering all the territory west of the Missouri River, Northern Missouri, and also the lowa Central and Ruthven Branch of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway. About 20 people are employed in the building. in addition to two bookkeepers and a man in charge of the city department.
Mr. Harper was united in marriage, in Denver, to Alice Beamen, a daughter of D. C. and L. A. Beamen, formerly residents of Ot- tumwa and of Van Buren county, lowa. D. C. Beamen was a prominent attorney-at-law. Mrs. Harper was born in Van Buren county in 1866, and removed with her parents to Ot- tumwa in 1883, and to Denver in 1888, where her father still resides, being general attorney of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. They have two children. Ruth and Dorothy. In politics Mr. Harper is a Republican. Ile resides at No. 1041 North Court street, Ot- tumwa, where he erected a comfortable home.
R EV. JOHN M. MCELROY, the pioneer Presbyterian minister of Ottumwa. Iowa, is a native of Ohio, and was born near Greenfield, January 21, 1830. Ilis parents, Ebenezer and Sarah Mc- Elroy, natives of Pennsylvania and of Scotch- Irish descent, located in Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1813. Two or three years later they removed to their new home in the timber, four miles from Greenfield, which proved to be their per- manent residence. Six of their 10 children lived to be heads of families, of whom John M. was the youngest.
During boyhood days John M. McElroy at- tended a three-months' district school in the winter, and worked on the farm in the summer. At the age of fifteen years he entered the classical academy at South Salem, which he at- tended about four years, and in 1849 he entered the junior class at Jefferson College, Penn- sylvania, where he graduated in a class of 52 members in the year 1851. The next two years he was a teacher in Dr. Donaldson's Academy at Elders Ridge, Pennsylvania, giv- ing some attention also to theological studies. The two years following were spent in the study of theology at Princeton, New Jersey. He was licensed by the presbytery of Chilli- cothe June 6. 1855. and soon after came to lowa, accepting an invitation to take charge of the recently organized church in Ottumwa. He was married September 11. 1855, at Mur- rysville. Pennsylvania, to Agnes Greer, who is still by his side. He was ordained by the Des Moines presbytery in the Congregational church building in Ottumwa, which stood at
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the corner of Second and Court streets, De- no pastoral charge,-several attacks of "la- grippe," together with total loss of hearing, making his retirement necessary. He has, however, frequent calls for ministerial service, and is always ready, so far as able, to respond. cember 6. 1855. The infant church, of which he took charge, had no house of worship and no Sunday-school. The roll of members num- bered 23. half of them living eight miles away, and only four residing in town. Gradually a Mr. MeElroy has had extensive experience in educational work. He was active in organiz- ing the earliest teachers' institute known in central Pennsylvania, and also in the first in- stitute held in Wapello county. He was county superintendent of schools in 1804-05. and made the first official visitation of the schools of the county. He was for five years principal of the Ottumwa Male and Female Seminary. 1le has been a frequent contributor to the local press, and also to the religious press. He at- tended a reunion of his college class at Wash- ington, Pennsylvania, in 1881, and read a class history, which was afterward printed in Chica- go. On that occasion his alma mater conferred on him the honorary title of D. D. In 1899 he published a small volume entitled " Abby Byram and her Father, Indian Captives." a true story si Revolutionary times. On the first day of the twentieth century he placed in the hands of the printer the manuscript of a work entitled "Scotch-Irish Mellroys in America." which will be issued shortly by the Fort Orange Press, Albany, New York, and is a work of special in- trest to those bearing the Melhor name. Dr. MeElroy has usually voted with the Re- publieans, but has never been a politician. 1li- friends are many and his enemies fen . congregation was gathered and a small church building was erected and occupied at what is now No. 308 East Fourth street. Services were held at various places throughout the county, in every village, in many school houses and also in private houses, groves and barns. A good many hindrances were encountered, hard times, floods, crop failures, and at length. the Civil War. The pastor continued his work and in 1866 dedicated a good and commodious house of worship at Fourth and Green streets, now the Second Baptist church. Soon after he found himself broken in health and oppressed with failure of hearing, which led to his resig- nation in 1800. In 1870 he moved to Batavia, lowa, where he was pastor thirteen years, the churches of Kirksville and Libertyville sharing a part of his labors. The western migration fever, which prevailed all over the country, appeared in violent form at Batavia, and car- ried away three-fourths of his flock to various points in the West. This induced his resigna- tion and return to his old home and residence in Ottumwa. In 1885 he was invited to try the experiment of hokling services in the new chapel which T. D. Foster had erected near the packing house for the Sunday-school. There he met with much encouragement, organized a Mrs. McElroy is a descendant of John and Priscilla Alden, and has been a faithful and church of over 100 members and continued his work about six years, Since 1801 he has had - efficient helper to her husband, and an import-
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am factor in whatever of good he has accom- , pany, but in 1881 it was changed to Lawrence plished. They have four children, as follows : Addison 11., who is married and has two chil- dren, William T. and Maude Agnes, who lives in Ottumwa, but is at present employed in Chi- cago: Abby, secretary of the Young Women's Christian Association at Nashville, Tennessee : Mary. secretary of the Harlem Young Women's Christian Association in New York City : and Jennie, wife of Dr. E. R. Beard, of Liberty, Indiana.
1. GARNER is an extensive whole- sale dry-goods dealer of Ottumwa. lle was born in Franklin, Warren county, Ohio, in 1846, and is a son of J. Wesley and Anna 31. ( llansel) Garner.
J. Wesley Garner was born in Warren county, Ohio, and became a member of the dental profession. In 1858 he moved with his family to Ottumwa, lowa, and in 1859 located at Mount Pleasant, lowa, where he was living at the time of his death. He married Anna MI. Hausel, and they reared three sons and four daughters.
J. W. Garner has resided in Ouumwa since 1858: in that year he began his business ca- reer by entering the employ of Thomas Devin & Sons, wholesale dry-goods merchants, in the capacity of clerk. He remained with them for nine years. In 1850 their stock was partially destroyed by fire and the residue was purchased by Mr. Garner, and formed the nucleus of his prosent business. Ile first began operations under the firm name of J. W. Garner & Com-
& Chambers, and in 1882 to Lawrence & Gar- ner: the title then remained unchanged until 1801, when it became J. W. Garner again. He started in a small way, supplying only a few merchants in Ottumwa and vicinity ; at present he employs four traveling salesmen and mm- bers his customers by the hundreds. The whole- sale house is located at No. 108-116 Market street, and is filled with one of the finest and most complete lines of dry goods, notions, 11- derwear and gentlemen's furnishings to be found anywhere. He is a liberal contributor to any and all enterprises which have for their object the advancement of the interests of Ot- tumwa. He was one of the original stock- holders in the Ottumwa Savings Bank and has been a director for many years; he is treas- urer of the Grand Opera House Company. the Ottumwa Artesian Well Company and the Ottumwa Electric & Sicam Power Com- pany, and is a member of the Wapello Club.
Mr. Garner was united in marriage with Mary Y. Yarnell, of Westchester. Pennsyl- vania, and they have six children. as follows: Laura 11., Edna E. ( Kerns). H. W .. C. 1 ... Blanche V., and Mary E. Religiously he and his family are members of the Episcopal church.
AMES \ CAMPBELL, who has served in the capacity of state mine inspector since 1804, has been identified with the mining business ever since his child- hood, and has been located at Ottumwa. Iowa,
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since 1885. He was born in Warren county, Illinois, July 4. 1865. and is a son of Ira G. and Dovey E. ( Reynolds ) Campbell.
Ira G. Campbell was born in Pennsylvania May 1. 1826, and came west after his marriage, remained until 1868. He then moved to Albia, Monroe county, lowa, where he is residing at the present time. He married Dovey E. Rey- nolds, of Warren county, Illinois. She was born there May 13. 1826. They became par- ents of in children, of whom four are now liv- ing, namely: Mary ( Ewart), of Scammon. Kansas : Maggie J. ( Mneor ), of Foster, lowa : James A. : and William B., of Mbia, Iowa. Ira G. Campbell is an active worker in the Presby- tcrian church, of which he is a member. Ile is a Republican in politics. Hle enlisted for service during the Civil War, August 17, 1866. in Company B. 83d Reg .. Illinois Vol. Inf., and was in Company F. 148th Reg .. Illinois Vol. Inf .. when discharged on September 3. 1895.
mine inspector. He is one of Ottumwa's most energetic and progressive citizens, a man of integrity and a pleasant. companionable gentle- man. Ile is deservedly popular with all who know him, and by his energy and ability has settling in Warren county, Illinois, where he | risen to a position of high responsibility.
Mr. Campbell was united in marriage on September 29. 1887. with Blanche E. Cald- well. of Ottumwa, a daughter of Paris Cald- well, a record of whose life appear's elsewhere in this volume. This union resulted in three children : Paris G., LeRoy S. and Frank Jack- son. Mr. Campbell is a member of Lodge No. 12, Uniform Rank, K. of P. : Lodge No. 230, 1. O. O. F .: Tribe No. 19. 1. O. R. M .: Wa- pello Court. No. 14. Foresters; and Hickory Camp. No. 31. Woodmen of the World. Re- ligiously he attends the Presbyterian church, of which he is a member.
James A. Campbell was but nine years of 5 ENRY SCHMIDT. the efficient chief of the fire department in Ottumwa, Wapello county, lowa, is the fourth child of Bernard Schmidt, and was In September 15. 1874. in Ottumwa. His mother was Katrina Stuckleman Schmidt : after her death. Bernard Schmidt married Elizabeth Dunnebrink. Bernard Schmidt is a well known brickmaker of Ottumwa. age when he entered the Cedar Valley coal mines as trapper, and he has ever since been engaged in the mining business, with the excep- tion of one year. He came to Ottumwa in 1885 and in 1894 received the appointment to the office of state mine inspector from Governor Jackson,-an office which he is eminently qual- ified to fill. He was reappointed by Governor Drake in April, 1896, and in 1898 and 1900. Henry Schmidt attended St. John's paroch- ial school, after which he entered the fire de- partment, holding the position of pipeman. This was in 1899, and three months after en- by Governor Shaw. He is a faithful, painstak- ing. careful and competent official, prompt and industrious in the performance of his duties. and is recognized by all as a most excellent Urering the department he was promoted to
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the position of assistant chief, under Chief Richards. For his efficiency and many other commendable qualities, the young man was ap- pointed by the council as chief of the Ottumwa Fire Department, April 4, 1901. During his incumbency he has been active and diligent in his duties, and has made a record that stands out prominently as worthy of the highest com- mendation. The first year he served in the department, there were 104 fires, the second year, 106, and for the first three months since he has been at the head of the department, he has battled with 49 fires, many of them disas- trous ones. He is probably the youngest fire de- partment chief in the state, in a city as promi- nent as Ottumwa, and the authorities respon- sible for his appointment and the citizens gen- erally are proud of him and the record he has made.
Mr. Schmidt is a member of the Catholic church. Politically, he is a Democrat.
m NJ. JOHN STUART WOOD came to Ottumwa in 1848, in company with Major Donelson, Major Me- Menomy and Charles Handserker. the latter having been for some time collector of tolls on the Wabash & Erie Canal. These four traveled from Covington, Indiana, in a carriage of their own and stopped in the hotel in Ottumwa then kept by James Hawley, Sr. ; they remained there a month and returned to Covington, but came back to Ottumwa in the fall of 1851. In the spring of 1852. John S. 'the minimum.
Wood and others, organized a party to go to California; they equipped with convenient wagons, well laden with provisions and drawn by oxen. Mr. Wood remained in California until 1855, when he returned to Ottumwa, and has since made the city his home. The family of Major Wood, however, has for several years lived on the ranch owned by Mr. and Mrs. Wood, situated near Livingston, Montana, where the Major spends his recreation days.
John S. Wood assisted in organizing the 7th Reg., lowa Vol. Cav., of which S. W. Summers was colonel and T. J. Potter, ser- geant major. Subsequently. Mr. Potter be- came adjutant of the regiment and when John S. Wood was promoted to be major of the regi- ment, Mr. Potter succeeded to the place made vacant by Wood's promotion and became cap- tain of Company .\. The 7th Reg., lowa Vol. Cav., rendezvoused at Ottumwa in the fall of 1862, and remained in camp which was on the river bottom, near where the starch mill was lo- cated, until February, 1863, and was at that time ordered to Camp Hendershott. at Daven- port : he was in command of Camp Hendershott for a time and was there mustered in as major and assigned to the command of the Third Bat- talion. lle was in active service against the hostile Indians of the plains, in the meantime acting as commander of the post of Fort Kearney, in 1863-1864, and until he assumed command of the post at Fort Laramie. in June, 18:4, remaining there until mustered out in April, 1865. He was mustered out because the number of men in his regiment had fallen below
F. J. BULLOCK.
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Mr. Wood has been a busy man all his life ; he was deputy sheriff of Wapello county in 1856; city marshal of Ottumwa in 1867-68-69. and from 1871 to 1874 was in the employ of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, as adjusting agent. He was appointed agent of the Blackfeet and Piegan Indians, with headquarters at Teton, on the Teton River, 60 miles north of Fort Shaw, and served in that capacity from 1874 to 1876, when he re- signed, returning to Ottumwa, and again en- tered into the service of the Chicago, Burling- ton & Quincy Railroad, acting as adjusting agent and charged with many other important interests. The length of his service indicates that the great corporation appreciates him as a man and an officer.
Major John Stuart Wood comes of good stock, as the name Stuart indicates. He was an intrepid officer during the Civil War, brave and daring, and very efficient as a post com- mander. He appears now as in the best of health, and vigor, and very energetic in his duties.
J. BULLOCK, a prominent business man of Ottumwa, Wapello county, lowa, whose portrait is shown here- with, is superintendent of the pack- ing establishment of John Morrell & Company. Limited. He was born in Gloucestershire, England. in 1856, and is a son of John Bul- lock.
John Bullock came to America when F. J. was young and first Id ated in St. Louis, but
later removed to Canada. Throughout his en- tire life he was engaged in the butcher business. He was killed by a train at lowa avenue crossing, Ottumwa, in 1897, at the age of six- ty-four years. He was united in marriage with Frances James, who resides at London, On- tario, and they had six children, as follows : F. J., the subject of this biography ; and Susan, Frances, Bella. Emma and Mice, who reside in or near London, Ontario.
F. J. Bullock was reared in Canada and mar- ried there. He learned the trade of a butcher with his father, and in 1870 first became identi- fied with John Morrell & Company, Limited, at Chicago. In 1877 he moved with that firm to Ottumwa, lowa, where they located their plant, and worked in the cutting and killing depart- ment. His next task was as inspector of for- eign meats and he worked also in other de- partments, thus becoming an all-around man. He was subsequently placed in charge of the smoked meat department, and then made fore- man of the killing and cutting gang. He was next returned to his former position in charge of the smoked meat department, where he con- tinued until just before the fire in 1891. He then assumed the duties of foreman of the for- eign package department, having charge of all meat shipped and exported. Hle filled this re- sponsible position until November, 1800. when he succeeded Mr. Henneberry as superintend- ent of the entire plant. He has charge of all foremen, employes and departr.ients, with the exception of the main office, and the duties of his position are many and important. Ile is ably assisted by a good corps of foremen, who
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employ and manage their own men. The larg- est force is employed in the killing and cutting departments, of which William O'Malley is foreman. The other departments and the men in charge as as follows: A. R. Brown, for- eign package department : John Breaky, curing department : L. A. Darlington, chief engineer of machine and blacksmith shops: Ernest Manns, in charge of the lard refinery ; Robert MeDugle, of the smoke house; . A. B. Osler, of the j 'bing and shipping department ; James Trermin, outside er roustabout foreman : N. T. Sleight, of the cooper department: William Jennings, of the carpentering department : Peter Johnson, car inspector and foreman of the repair gang, which keeps in order the 185 Morrell Refrigerator Line cars; Mike Moffitt. of the box shop: Major Spillman, of the stock yards: Neville Glew, of the pickled meat de- partment : Charles Freeman, of the tierce gang ; Charles Langdale, of the painting department : John Alott, of the beef killing department : and Fred Heller, of the fertilizing department. is one of the largest concerns of the kind in the country and ships meats to all parts of this country and also to foreign markets. Besides its own cars it uses many belonging to the vari- ous railroad companies.
Mr. Bullock was united in marriage at Lon- don. Canada, to Mary Humphrey, who was bern there in 1857. They have six children : Charles. William, Frances, Fred, John and Mary. They were all christened in the Epis- copal church, in which their parents were mar- ried. Mr. Bullock's family were Episcopalians, while his wife's family were Presbyterians. In
politics he is an independent Republican. Fra- ternally he is a member of the Modern Wood- men of America. He has a very pleasantly located home in the first ward of Ottumwa.
D R. JAMES NOSLER, deceased, for many years a prominent physician and surgeon of Eddyville, Wapello county, lowa, was born in West Vir- ginia, and reared in East Tennessee, where his carly education was obtained. He later moved to Indiana, where he read medicine and, like many of the physicians of that early period, commenced the practice of his profession. After completing his medical reading, he be- came a very prominent man ir the profession and practiced in Putnam county, Indiana, until May, 1846. Ile then moved west, and located in Eddyville, with his family. He acquired a large and lucrative practice in Monroe, Ma- haska and Wapello counties, and many of the citizens of Eddyville remember his kindly min- istrations. He was universally liked for his excellent traits of character, and his death was sincerely mourned by his acquaintances and friends in the three counties in which he had spent so many years in practice. He was never known to refuse a patient, even when he knew full well he would receive no remuneration for his services. In the early history of Eddyville, he was very enthusiastic in a move to make the Des Moines River navigable, and was one of a committee formed to promote that scheme. The railroad at that t ne had its terminal at
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