USA > Iowa > Washington County > History of Washington County, Iowa from the first white settlements to 1908. Also biographical sketches of some prominent citizens of the county, Vol. II > Part 55
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
E. Nicola, reared upon his father's farm, was early trained to the duties of the fields and in the common schools acquired a limited education. He remained with his father, giving him the benefit of his services, until he had attained majority, when he purchased four yoke of oxen and was engaged in breaking prairie land for the period of a year. He then rented a farm for six years, after which he purchased eighty acres of the old homestead farm in Cedar township, which he operated for two years. Selling this property he came to Riverside and for a number of years was closely identified with the business interests of this city. Here he erected a store building, in which he conducted a mercantile business untitl 1895. He also built, in 1874, the house in which he now resides. He was associated with the creamery business for some time and also engaged in the poultry business for several years, but has now lived retired since 1904, enjoying in well earned rest the fruits of his former toil. Throughout the intervening years he became indentified with real estate interests and is in possession of extensive realty holdings, being the owner of a brick store building and the opera house in Kalona, a fine residence and seven lots in Riverside, also three hundred and eighty-four and a half acres of land in Highland and Iowa townships and three hundred and twenty acres in South Dakota.
In 1861 Mr. Nicola was united in marriage to Miss Susan Smith, a native of West Virginia, who came to this county with her parents in 1857 and was one of ten children born to Christian and Charlotta Smith. The father died in Keokuk county, Iowa, in 1892, while the mother passed away
MR. AND MRS. E. NICOLA
THE NEW YORK FUBLIC LIBRARY
A TOR, LENOX UITGE FOUNDATION
587
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
in 1907, at the ripe old age of eighty-seven years. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Nicola have been born four children, namely: John H., who was born July 20, 1863, and died July 4. 1882: Jacob C., residing in Williamsburg, Iowa ; Clara A., the widow of James E. Matthew, of Cedar Rapids, this state ; and Walter E., making his home in Iowa township, this county. They are also the grandparents of four children.
For several terms Mr. Nicola served on the school board, the cause of education finding in him a stalwart champion, while in politics he is a demo- crat, on which ticket he was elected trustee. Public-spirited and loyal in his citizenship. the people recognizing his ability and true worth of character, honored him with election to the office of mayor of Riverside. While serv- ing in the capacity of the city's chief executive, he bent his energies to the performance of his official duties with thoroughness and fearlessness, win- ning for himself the approval and endorsement of his fellowmen. He has gained many staunch friends during his residence in this city and his record is a remarkable one inasmuch as the success which he has attained in business affairs and the prominent position which he has occupied in this community, are attributable entirely to his own efforts and labors.
DR. A. H. VAN SICKLE.
One of the merriest old fellows was Dr. Abijah Hubbell Van Sickle, father to Nial, Anthony, James Eli and Dr. Bije R. He had more laughs in him than there are seeds in a melon. He practiced botanic medicine twenty years in this county after 1856. He could laugh and chuckle and pun faster than his son Anthony, but the latter could talk the faster. No shorthand man could have kept up with that lingual race-horse. It was a picnic to talk with the Doctor, he was so original, witty and happy-go-lucky.
JOHN C. DONALDSON.
John C. Donaldson, who is now acting as collector of the port of Presi- dio, Texas, is weil known in Washington county where he formerly resided. His life record, if written in detail, would furnish a most interesting story because of the good that he has done to the world, and yet he takes no credit to himself for his charitable and benevolent acts. There are many, however, who have reason to remember him gratefully and there are few men who have more genuine friends than Mr. Donaldson.
A native of Scroggsfield, Carroll county, Ohio, he is a son of John Ander- son and Mary Ann (Kean) Donaldson. His father was a cabinetmaker and carpenter by trade but also followed the occupation of farming. His ancestry was of strictly Scotch Covenanter stock, religious to a fault. His grandfather, John A. Donaldson, was an Associate Reformed Presbyterian
588
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
minister of the very strictest kind. He lived to be ninety-six years of age, when he met an accidental death. His wife was a sister of the Bullions whose Latin and Greek grammars have caused so many headaches to the youth of the country. His son, John Anderson Donaldson, was also very strict in his religious ideas and conduct and was a constant Bible reader. He married Mary Ann Kean, whose people were Irish Presbyterians. Her father, John Kean, was a good Ohio farmer who died in the prime of life, while his wife lived to be almost one hundred years old. Their daughter, Mrs. Donaldson, was largely self-educated but a deep thinker and reasoner, with an excellent memory. She was able to argue on almost any topic with the best educated she could meet and disinterested art critics are immediately impressed with the intellect and reasoning powers displayed in her portrait.
Captain John Donaldson acquired his early education in the free schools of Washington county, Iowa, and also attended the academy taught by Pro- fessors S. E. McKee, Wilson and French. His school days took him through fields of ice, snow and prairie flowers, a distance of two miles with- out an intervening house. His military experience of four and a half months at the age of fourteen was mostly in the hospital-Gayoso House at Mem- phis, Tennessee. But the fact that he enlisted at that early age is indicative of a spirit of loyalty which has been one of his strong characteristics through- out his entire life. He began teaching when but sixteen years of age in old log cabins in Iowa and he was also a teacher in Kansas and in Texas when to be identified with free schools was considered a disgrace. As he was an only child and had no nearby playmates he early took up books as his companions and throughout his entire life has been a wide and intelligent reader. After teaching for a time in the schools of Iowa he attended the Kansas State University a couple of terms but was never graduated. He has always been a lover and a student of botany and geology, also of history, and law, nor is he superficially informed concerning leading political ques- tions which have agitated the country. Through force of circumstances, too, he has gained a somewhat comprehensive knowledge of the Spanish language and this has proven of far greater value to him than his Latin or Greek. For many years he was deeply interested in numismatics and yet possesses a fine collection of old coins.
The family residence was maintained in and around Washington, Iowa, from 1851 until 1869, when the parents decided i was necessary to remove further south on account of the mother's health. Therefore in the winter of 1869 and 1870 they arrived at Lawrence, Kansas, and it was while there that John Donaldson entered the State University. He stood at the head of his class in mathematics, Greek and physiology and was an active member of the literary society. In 1870 he went to Texas and there engaged in teaching that he might earn money to finish his education. But to a man of Mr. Donaldson's caliber education continues through life and he has always been a student and broad reader. He arrived in Denison, Texas, when it was only a city of tents and as he humorously expressed it, he reached Sher- man with five cents in his pocket and forty dollars in debt, since which time he has paid the latter and spent the former. After teaching for a year he
589
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
engaged in the book and news business and in 1875 he went to the City of Mexico where he taught in the Methodist Missionary Orphanage. In 1876 he became connected with the Veracruz State College at Cordova, where he remained until the Diaz revolution induced him to again change his head- quarters and he returned to Sherman, Texas, where he again established a book and news business, and also conducted a store in Denison and Gaines- ville.
Captain Donaldson was for a brief time a soldier of the Civil war, enlist- ing in Company B, Forty-fifth lowa Infantry, on the 4th of May, 1864. He has had a somewhat notable political record because of his active service in behalf of the party and his continuance in office through presidential appoint- ment. In the 'Sos he was chairman of the county executive committee, chair- man of the senatorial executive committee, chairman of four congressional executive committees and a member of the state executive committee. He has not missed attending a state republican convention when in the United States since the '70s. He was appointed postmaster of Sherman, Texas, on the 5th of May, 1881, and was reappointed by President Arthur and served under President Cleveland until February 28, 1886. He served under Presi- dent Harrison as special agent of census from 1889 until 1890 and was court crier of the United States federal court for the eastern district of Texas from 1892 until 1895. At Denison. Texas, in 1896 he was nominated for congress by the republican convention for the fifth congressional district. In 1898 he was sent to Havana, Cuba, to assist in establishing a military postal service and the following year was made postmaster of Guanajay, Cuba, a city of seventy-five inhabitants and sixteen hundred American soldiers. In November, 1900, while in the office of the treasury of the island of Cuba, auditing the Cuban business of the North American Trust Company, he be- came ill with yellow fever and took his degree as immune in Las Animas hospital. After his recovery he was made assistant store keeper of the United States signal corps, and in six months gained four promotions, serving as property officer of the United States signal corps until the Army of In- tervention took its departure from Cuba, being the first and only civilian who ever held the position. The Cuban government requested him to remain in office for two months longer and in July, 1902, he returned to the United States. The position as special agent of census was again offered him and he remained in that position until he was made deputy collector and inspector of United States customs on the Rio Grande in 1904. He was covered under civil service the same year and is now performing his duties at Presidio, Texas, where the Orient Railroad expects to cross into Mexico and where it intends to build a world renowned city of El Oro.
All of this is but a brief outline of what Mr. Donaldson has done. He expresses a strong characteristic of his nature in the words, "My love for flowers and children has ever been as a consuming fire." His love for children has indeed been one of the most beautiful phases of his active life. While in Cuba he assisted Miss Jennie Edwards in establishing an orphanage for little girls, purchasing property at Mariel where Miss Edwards still remains faith- ful to her trust, Captain Donaldson remaining the financial support of this
590
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
institution. The Marfa (Texas) New Era, in speaking of a visit of Captain Donaldson to that city, said: "The Captain is still looking for more children to feed. He has probably the most numerous family of any man in Presidio county. In Cuba he maintains a little orphanage where from twenty to thirty children are cared for and given instruction by the matron in charge. At Presidio he has two little girls, daughters of Frank Chapman, the mounted inspector who was assassinated at Lajitas a few years ago. Those little girls he is educating at the public school there and aside from these he has others who are dependent upon his charity." Captain Donaldson has a beautiful home in Sherman, Texas, consisting of thirty acres within the city limits, and is also opening up a fruit and alfafa farm on the Rio Grande. Judged by some of the usually accepted statements of the world, he may not be said to have won success in that he has not accumulated a vast fortune, for while he has made considerable money he has not saved with a frugal hand. The reason for this is found in his generous charity. Some one has said: "Not the good that comes to us but the good that comes to the world through us is the measure of our success," and judged by that standard Captain Donald- son has been a most successful man. There is probably no one who comes as near being a Mason that is not actually affiliated with the order. In the 'jos he stood high in Odd Fellowship and the encampment, enjoying state honors. He joined the Grand Army of the Republic in Washington, Iowa, about 1867 or 1868 and has been a member of McPherson Post, No. I, at Sherman, Texas, since August, 1872. He has repeatedly held each of the local offices in the post besides that of assistant adjutant general of the De- partment of Texas, senior vice commander of the Department of the Gulf in 1884 and has frequently served on the staff of the state commander and national commander-in-chief. He has never missed a meeting of his post when within reasonable distance of it and has attended many of the state en- campments and has been placed in nomination for department commander several times but has always withdrawn in favor of a long service man. His religious views are so latitudinous as to include all the good he finds in any creed and yet he is bound by none. He probably leans more to the Unitarian and Salvation Army than any other religious organizationri 3y ring much of his life far distant from any organized church, being often-s Hundred miles away, he has formulated his own religious views which are expressed in his attempt to do right to his fellowmen to the best of his ability and to extend a helping hand and the mantle of charity to all who may need or err.
DAVID HARRIS ARMSTRONG.
David Harris Armstrong, deceased, was a well known and highly re- spected citizen of Washington county, where his memory is yet enshrined in the hearts of many who knew him. He was born January 2, 1820, in Mt. Eaton, Wayne county, Ohio, and throughout his entire life his substantial qualities of character and his allegiance to the principles which he believed to
591
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
be right, gained for him the confidence and good will of those with whom he was associated. He was educated in the common schools of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and having arrived at years of maturity was there married on the 4th of May. 1843, to Miss Letitia Bolen Melville, who was born in Alle- gheny, Pennsylvania, July 11, 1824. In the year of their marriage they re- moved to Washington county, Pennsylvania, and while there residing two of their children, James Melville and Rowland Harris, were born. In 1846 they returned with their little family to Allegheny, and there two other sons, Charles Logan and Samuel McDowell, were added to the family. In 1851 they went to Louisville, Kentucky, and John Donnel and Clara Eva were added to the household there. The year 1856 witnessed their arrival in Washington county, Iowa, and here the family circle was increased with the birth of Jeanne Logan, Frank Clifford, Willie Dale and David Harris. The father was a plasterer by trade and for many years carried on business as a contractor in that line, thus providing a comfortable living for his family, to whom he was deeply attached, regarding no personal effort or sacrifice on his part too great if it would promote the happiness or enhance the welfare of his wife and children.
At the time of the Civil war, however, Mr. Armstrong put aside all busi- ness and personal considerations to espouse the cause of his country, enlist- ing as a member of Company K, Thirteenth Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry, on the 22d of August, 1862, to serve for three years. He was made postmaster of the Seventeenth Army Corps and was on detached service most of the time under General McPherson. He remained at the front until the close of hostilities, being honorably discharged on the 2d of June, 1865, at Washington, D. C. He afterward maintained pleasant relations with the boys in blue, belonging to the Grand Army Post at Washington. In politics he was a republican, always loyal to the party and its principles, and he served for two ternis as justice of the peace in Washington county in the early '70s. In his religious faith he was a Presbyterian and was prominent in church work. His entire life was guided by the teachings of the church and was in consisteut harmony with his professions.
It will 1. 't teresting in this connection to note something more of the family of Mr. Armstrong who, as previously stated, was married on the 4th of May, 1843, in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, to Letitia Bolen Melville by the Rev. John Steel. Mrs. Armstrong at that time had several relatives living in Washington, Iowa, including Thomas D. Melville, Mrs. Dr. George Black and Mrs. William Wilson, Jr. Samuel Melville died on his way to Washing- ton from Allegheny, Pennsylvania. He was the husband of Mrs. Agnes Melville, who still lives in this city. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Arm-trong were born the following named : James Melville Armstrong, born April 25. 1844, was married June 11, 1873, to Lida B. Murphy, by Dr. J. E. Rankin, in Washington, D. C. They have one child, May, and now reside in Spokane, Washington, where James M. Armstrong is well known as a capitalist. Row- land Harris, born March 11, 1846, is married and resides at San Marcial. New Mexico, where as a member of the firm of Armstrong Brothers he is engaged in general merchandising and stock raising. Charles Logan was
592
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
born November 2, 1847. Samuel McDowell, born October 1, 1849, is a photographer of Chicago, Illinois. He was married December 10, 1873, to Alice Yearick by the Rev. T. D. Wallace, in Washington, Iowa. John Donnel, born August 16, 1852, was married January 9, 1879, by the Rev. Earl Cranston in Denver, Colorado, to Cora M. Calvert, and they have two children, Charles D. and Kate M. The family reside at Denver, Colorado, where John D. Armstrong is a capitalist. Clara Eva, born January 1, 1855, became the wife of John Shields, of Washington, February 13, 1873. They were married in Brighton by the Rev. Vincent and Mrs. Shields died June 28, 1889. leaving five children, Milan, Letitia, Edith, Melville and Henry. Jeanne Logan born March 10, 1857, was married May 1. 1878, in Washing- ton, by the Rev. T. D. Wallace to A. H. McKee and with their two children, Carrie and Cincel, they reside at Spokane, Washington, where Mr. McKee is associated in business with James M. Armstrong. Frank Clifford, the next member of the family, born March 16, 1859, is a member of the firm of Armstrong Brothers, of San Marcial, New Mexico. Willie Dale, born May 18, 1861, is living in San Marcial. David Harris, born March 30, 1866, was married October 30, 1894, at San Marcial, New Mexico, by the Rev. J. W. Virgin, to Alma Nilsen. They are still living at San Marcial with their two children, Frank W. and Ahna. Two sons of this family served as soldiers of the Civil war, James M. being a member of Company K, Thir- teenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, while Rowland H. belonged to Company B of the Forty-fifth Iowa Infantry. The mother of this family of sons and daughters passed away May 4, 1872, and was laid to rest in the cemetery at Washington. The father, D. H. Armstrong, Sr., passed away at San Mar- cial, New Mexico, December 8, 1895, and his remains were brought back to Washington for interment, the burial services being condnyGeht. the auspices of the Grand Army of the Republic.
F. M. LATTA.
Francis Marion Latta was born near Chillicothe, Ross county, Ohio, February 24, 1831, and was the youngest son of James and Isabelle ( Nichols) Latta. In 1840 he accompanied his parents on their removal to Louisa county, Iowa, the family home being established in Concord township during the pioneer epoch of its history. His early life was spent on the home farm looking after the interests of his parents until he was thirty-five years of age. On the 14th of March, 1865, he married Miss Sarah M. Cowles, a daughter of Oliver and Hannah (Olmsted) Cowles, of Monroe, Jasper county, Iowa. Mrs. Latta was born August 6, 1839, in New York and was a teacher in the Iowa schools at a very early day, being thus connected with the Indianola Seminary which was established in 1860 under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal conference. Rev. Fleming was on the board of trustees and through his influence Mrs. Latta's sister, Huldah C. Cowles, was the first teacher of the primary department and Professor Grey was the
593
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
principal. But at the opening of the war he resigned and went to the front as an officer in the army, being succeeded in the school by Professor E. H. Winans, a graduate from Mount Pleasant. In the spring of 1862 Mrs. Latta took her sister's place as teacher in the first primary department and also as teacher of vocal music and penmanship. It was in war times and money was scarce, so that they could not have special instructors for each branch as they do at the present day. The seminary was obliged to close after that year for want of funds, and the teachers being overworked and poorly remunerated, Mrs. Latta did not receive her salary for her last term until five years after. In the meantime the school had been opened again as the Simpson Centenary College, named in honor of the man who gave it the endowment. Following her experience as a teacher in the Indianola Seminary, Sarah M. Cowles gave her hand in marriage to Francis M. Latta in March, 1865, their first home being in Louisa county, Iowa. During the earlier period of Mr. Latta's residence in that county he had engaged largely in stock raising, and the fertile prairie of the then sparsely settled Washing- ton county proved to be a profitable item as grazing land for cattle. In this manner he became acquainted with the country and following his father's death in 1864, when it became necessary in the settling up of the estate to make a new home for himself, he removed in the spring of 1866 to Dutch Creek township, Washington county, and purchased the well known A. T. Groendycke farm which remained his home until his death. During these years his energies were devoted to farming and stock raising. In politics he. was always an uncompromising republican, believing firmly in the principles of the party, but he took little part in active work along political lines. Al- though the township was strongly democratic he was chosen for two terms as towrelij trustee. He was converted and united with the Franklin Con- gregational cl ::: ch and was very prominent in its work, always being an active, influential member. His death occurred at his home in Dutch Creek township March 19, 1887, and his remains were interred in the New Haven cemetery in that township. His death and the settling up of his estate caused the breaking up of the home ties on the farm that had been the family home for twenty-one years, and Mrs. Latta now makes her home in Muscatine, Iowa. In their family were five children, Karle Cowles, William F., Edgar L., Kate M. and Rose I., four of whom are still living.
Karle C. Latta was born in Louisa county December 12, 1865, and spent his boyhood days in Washington county. He attended the common schools and spent one year at the Washington Academy, after which he remained on the farm until his father's death. After the breaking up of the home he spent two years in Washington county and then located in Greene county, where he purchased a drug store. He learned the business in the store and became a registered pharmacist in September, 1892, and has since been more or less connected with this line of activity. In 1905 he established and be- came the publisher of the Paton Portrait, a weekly eight-page paper, located at Paton, Greene county, Iowa. The paper has a good circulation and in- creasing patronage and is recognized as one of the influential papers of the county. Having always been interested in the political affairs of his country
594
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
and, like his father, a firm believer in the principles of the republican party, he has always taken an active part in political affairs of Greene county, serv- ing for the past twelve years as a member of the county central committee, while he has also been active in town affairs, serving as clerk, treasurer, a member of the council and as a member of the school board. Upon the recommendation of Congressman J. P. Conner, whose personal friendship he enjoys, he was appointed postmaster and assumed the duties of that office January I, 1909. Fraternally Mr. Latta is a member of the Masonic Order and a strong advocate of the principles of that order. On the 6th of October, 1891, at Columbus Junction, Iowa, Mr. Latta was married to Miss Rowena B. Overholt, a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. D. W. Overholt, both of whom died in 1906. To this union was born one child, Isabelle S., who graduated from the high school of her home town in the spring of 1909. In all life's rela- tions, whether in his varied business interests, his official duties or in social circles, he has been the same honorable and upright gentleman who tries to do unto others as he desires to be' done by. and enjoys the uniform respect of his community and county.
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.