USA > Iowa > Johnson County > Leading events in Johnson County, Iowa history, biographical > Part 13
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lington, Cedar Rapids & Northern, and the Chicago, Mil- waukee & St. Paul. His wife was Miss Ida F. Ingalls, daugh- ter of Rev. P. P. Ingalls, a prominent minister of the Meth- odist Episcopal church. The marriage took place in Des Moines in June, 1879. Four children were born: Esther, Alice, Helen, and Ingalls. Mr. Swisher was a man in whom his business associates and the public reposed implicit confi- dence. As an illustration, on the death of Charles T. Rankin, the first president of the Citizens Savings & Trust Company, Mr. Swisher was made administrator without bond of the large estate. He was honored by the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was a member from boyhood, in every lay office within its gift, from teacher in the Sunday school to delegate to the General Conference, the highest representative body of the church. His pastor said of him, in an address delivered at his funeral, September 1, 1909: "This confer- ence has always held him in the highest esteem, and he was nearly as well known as the best known preacher among us. In fact he has attended every annual conference for fifteen years save one."
HARL VOLNEY MCCLUSKEY
The marriage of Mr. Harl Volney MeCluskey, on June 29, 1910, to Miss Bertha Louise Zimmerman made him by legal relationship a member of the Zimmerman family. He was already a member of the industrial household, having entered the employ of the Monarch Grubber Company on March 2, 1906, and continuing on the change of the name of the enter- prise to Zimmerman Steel Company in 1908. The marriage of these two young people seemed a logical outcome of their association together day after day in the business office of the steel company, and the consummation of their nuptials was the occasion of widespread felicitations from hosts of friends. Mr. and Mrs. McCluskey were the recipients of hearty congratulations on July 2, 1911, when their first child. a stout, sturdy boy, was born. Thus the steel business at Lone Tree promises to be supplied with future directors and managers.
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Mr. MeCluskey is a native of Iowa, and his birthplace was Riverside, Washington county. The date of his birth was December 29, 1881. His father, John Pierre Mccluskey, was born near Farmingdale, New Jersey, April 25, 1852; and his fatlier's father came to America from Ireland at the age of twelve years. The latter married an American girl and lived and died in New Jersey. Three children were born to this couple, John Pierre, George M., residing at Pleasant Point, New Jersey, and Margaret (now Mrs. Conine), residing in New Jersey.
John Pierre Mccluskey was married on May 13, 1880, to
RESIDENCE OF HARL VOLNEY M'CLUSKEY
Miss Eldora Fesler, a native of Liberty township, Johnson county, Iowa (born March 3, 1855). To them were born the following children: Harl V., George Sanford, Bertha May, and Jesse Walter. The three last named reside with the parents at Waterloo, Iowa.
The Fesler family were early settlers of Liberty township. Jacob Fesler, the father, was born in Virginia and moved to Johnson county some time in the forties. His wife's name was Mary Slife. The names of their family are: John, Daniel, Albert, Charles, Eldora L., and E. Sandford; one child, Rufus, died in infancy.
Daniel A. Fesler and his son carried on a furniture busi-
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ness for some time together at Lone Tree. The business is still being conducted by the son.
Harl V. MeCluskey was formerly a school teacher in Wash- ington and Johnson counties, and was at one time principal of the Sharon Center high school. Upon entering the employ of the Monarch Grubber Company, in 1906, he, of course, abandoned pedagogy. Mr. MeCluskey has been clerk of the city of Lone Tree since 1909; is Chancellor Commander of Lone Tree lodge K. of P .; Patron of local Eastern Star; is a 32d degree Mason, and member of Zarephath Consistory, of Davenport; is a member of local lodge I. O. O. F., and Past President M. B. A. of Lone Tree. With the exception of four years of his boyhood spent in Florida, where he assisted his father on a tomato farm, his entire life has been lived in Iowa.
C. E. CLIFFORD
One of the most prosperous and highly esteemed farmers of Scott township is C. E. Clifford, whose life and activities are an open book. Few abler or more energetic men have taken part in the agricultural development of Johnson county. From the time of his first sojourn in the county, in 1858, when he worked out by the month on a farm, until his settlement, with his young wife, in 1862, in Union township, followed four years later by his permanent location in Scott township, Mr. Clifford has been an advocate of the best methods of agricul- ture and stock raising. That he is a man of ability is attested by the condition of the splendid farm of three hundred and sixty acres in Section 28, which has been his home for forty- five years, with the exception of the past ten years spent in retirement at Iowa City.
Mr. Clifford was born in Rensselaer county, New York, December 6, 1836, and at three years of age removed with his parents to Oneida county, where he was reared upon a farm and educated in the district school. At twenty-one years of age he concluded to look over the great west with a view of selecting a location for a permanent home. In pursuance of this purpose, he first visited Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois, and
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lastly Iowa, with the result that the Hawkeye state and John- son county were given the decision. Having settled the mat- ter of location, Mr. Clifford proceeded to return to the east and take unto himself a partner for the journey of life. The woman thus honored was Miss Arethusa Hartsook, born in Green county, Illinois, January 28, 1842. After their mar- riage, October 18, 1860, the young couple remained in Oneida county, New York, for a year and a half, after which they carried out their purpose to settle in Johnson county, Iowa, as indicated in the first paragraph of this sketch. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Clifford are: Charlotte E., died July 24,
RESIDENCE OF C. E. CLIFFORD
1884; Belle, wife of Arthur B. Hall, Emporia, Kansas; Alice M., wife of Charles M. Hollingsworth; Oneida A., wife of John E. Mosby, Oklahoma City; Edwin C., at home ; Myra A., wife of Samuel Maxwell, M. D., Emporia, Kansas.
The paternal ancestors of C. E. Clifford were Germans, his great grandfather, John Clifford, having been born in Hesse- Cassel, Germany, where, enlisting in the German army, he served seven years, and during that time was hired out to the Hessians and came to America. Having served his seven years, he was discharged in the West Indies, and then came to Charleston, South Carolina, and enlisted in the American cause, bravely assisting the Colonists in their struggles for
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independence, and engaging for five years more in military duty. At the close of the Revolutionary War he married an American woman, and settled in Rhode Island. Christopher A., their son, the grandfather of our subject, was born in Rhode Island, and died in Oneida county, New York, but at one time lived in Renssalaer county, New York, where the father of our subject, Peter C. Clifford, was born. The ma- ternal great grandfather of Mr. Clifford was Major Daniel Brown, a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He was a native of New England, and died in Renssalaer county, where the paternal grandfather, Daniel Brown, was born. His daughter, Charlotte L., was also a native of Renssalaer county, and afterwards became the mother of our subject.
The paternal grandfather of Mrs. C. E. Clifford was Henry Hartsook, a native of Pennsylvania, who died in Green county, Illinois. The father of Mrs. Clifford, Stephen Hartsook, was born in Pennsylvania, and later removed to Johnson county, Iowa, where he became widely known as an industrious, use- ful citizen. He died much regretted by all who knew him. The maternal great grandfather of Mrs. Clifford was Simon Van Arsdale, who was born in Holland, emigrated to America in an early day, and located in Pennsylvania, there founding his branch of the family in the United States. His son Simon was the father of Mrs. Clifford's mother, Ellen J. Van Ars- dale, who was born in Mercer county, Kentucky.
Politically Mr. Clifford is emphatically a democrat, having always taken an active interest in party organization. lle served as justice of the peace two years, trustee of Scott town- ship, school director, and road supervisor. He and his wife have been active in religious work in the Presbyterian church, of which they are honored members.
Mr. Clifford was one of the pall-bearer's at the funeral of his intimate friend and neighbor, Gilbert R. Irish, one of the associate editors of this history. Mr. Clifford died August 21, 1911, and is buried at Oakland cemetery, Iowa City, Iowa.
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SAMUEL TURNER MORRISON
Four generations of the Morrison family have been native- born Americans, though the ancestry on the paternal side of the house is Scotch-Irish and on the maternal French. The great grandfather of the subject of this sketch, John S. Mor- rison, emigrated from Ireland, his native country, and settled in Pennsylvania, in which state John H. Morrison, our sub- ject's grandfather, was born. The latter married Isabel W. Dickey, a native of Pennsylvania (Franklin county), and the couple removed to Tazewell county, Illinois, where they re- sided for a great many years and where William A. Morrison, our subject's father, was born, March 10, 1838, he being fifth in a family of seven. Grandfather Morrison was an old line whig and held office for twenty-four years in Tazewell county. He died in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, in 1870, and his wife at Albia, in 1879. Both are buried at Iowa City. William A. Morrison assisted his father on the old home farm in Tazewell county until he was sixteen years of age, at which time (1854) his parents removed to Marshalltown, Iowa, and he accompanied them. In 1856 the family went to Missouri, but remained for only a short time when they returned to the Hawkeye state and settled in Johnson county. William A., with his brothers, James and Crawford, opened a drug store in Iowa City, to which in later years jewelry and stationery lines were added. After a few years William A. bought out the interest of his brothers and continued the business alone, building up an es- tablished trade on the corner of Dubuque and Washington streets, now the site of the Morrison block and the Commer- cial Savings bank. Mr. Morrison was formerly vice president of the Iowa State bank; was four years an alderman from the fourth ward of Iowa City, and was mayor of the city in 1880- 81. He was the owner of the Morrison block, of which our sub- ject is now the manager. A democrat in polities, he was ac- counted a man of sterling honesty in public as well as in pri- vate life, and until his death he wielded a large influence in the affairs of Iowa City. He was a member of Iowa City lodge No. 4, A. F. & A. M., of the Royal Arch Masons and of Pales- tine Commandery No. 2, Knights Templar. He was married in 1863 to Elizabeth Fanny Jones, daughter of Wesley
HON. WM. A. MORRISON
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Jones, a merchant of Burlington, lowa. Mr. Wesley Jones, grandfather of our subject, erected the first frame building in Johnson county, and was the first real mer- chant to locate in Iowa City. Mr. Jones had seven stores at different places in Iowa and Illinois at that time. Four children were born to them : Wesley Jones Morrison, M. D., a graduate of S. U. I., also of State University of Pennsyl- vania in Medical Department; Cora B .; Samuel T., our sub- ject ; and Captain William F., graduate of West Point in 1902. Mr. Morrison and his wife were active members of the Pro-
RESIDENCE OF SAMUEL TURNER MORRISON
testant Episcopal church; in fact, the widow is still one of the prominent workers in that society.
Samuel Turner Morrison received his education in the public schools of his birthplace, Iowa City. He attended the State University of Iowa, and took a special technical course in New York City. He chose for his occupation the jewelry business, and in 1903 began his present enterprise in the old stand in the Morrison block, confining himself to the exclusive trade of jewelry and diamonds and its associated lines. It is Mr. Morrison's proud claim that he has the most elegantly and completely equipped establishment in his line in Iowa City, and this claim an inspection of the store would seem to justi- fy. The show cases and fixtures are of mahogany and cut
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glass in the latest designs, and every device and compartment for storage and display is of the most up-to-date pattern. The cut-glass display in a room adjoining the main store is provided with electric bulbs so that the lines of the ware are illuminated for the convenience of the customer in making selections. A desk equipped with writing materials and tele- phone for the use of patrons is provided. At the rear of the main office is a fine vault of steel and within this is a burglar- proof safe for the storage of jewelry. First-class watch- makers and an optician are important adjuncts to the estab- lishment. Mr. Hugo Rohwedder, a graduate optician, late of Davenport, who joined the force in March, 1905, has charge of the optical department. This store, in construction, equip- ment and stock, will compare favorably with any of the larger cities.
Our subject is married to Miss Hazel Frisbie, of Iowa City, who is of English and German ancestry. They have one daughter, Cora Adelaide. Mr. Morrison is a director of the Commercial Savings bank : member of the Sons of the Revolu- tion, the Society of Colonial Wars, the B. P. O. E., the Iowa City Automobile Club, and the Iowa City Country Club, and Iowa City Commercial Club, in all of which he takes an active interest.
OSCAR CLAY VAN METER
Ever since the dawn of civilization, and that dates from the time when men began to travel, the inn, or hotel, has been celebrated as "The Stranger's Home." At its fireside the weary wayfarer has found a welcome and companionship; at its table he has found refreshment and good cheer; in its chambers he has found security and sweet repose. Some ap- preciative disciple of Morpheus once said, "Blessings on the man who invented sleep." He might have added a companion by saying, "Blessings also on the man who established the first hotel." From the days when in his tents at Mamre, the Hebrew Abraham "entertained angels unawares," and the years of chivalry, when kings and knights made merry at the wayside inn, down to the time of the Cecil, the Waldorf-
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Astoria, the La Salle, and the Palace, the descendants of the Nomads have been hail fellows with the innumerable mine hosts of the caravanseries of the centuries. The idea was born of the inherent hospitality of the human heart. "Brother- hood" was the first motto placed upon the walls. Every com- fort at the command of the host and his servants, even to the discomfiture of themselves, was given to the stranger, who was esteemed the guest of honor, by the bonifaces of those elder days. A study of successful hotels and hotel keepers will reveal the fact that just in proportion as the business has been cast on its original lines of fellowship, brotherhood, hos- pitality, comfort, and the careful entertainment of the guest, just so far has prosperity blessed it and popularity acclaimed it. A splendid motto for a born hotel-keeper would be, "Care for the guest in the inn with the same consideration you would care for the friend in the home." The inn-keepers who have endeavored to observe this principle in spirit and practice have not failed to achieve distinction in their calling.
In Iowa City, Iowa, the emphasis on the hotel as the "Home of the Traveler" is distinctive. A peculiar local condition growing out of the presence of a great university with a large student body makes it practically impossible for the transient American to secure desirable private accommo- dations during the nine months of the "school year," unless he yields to the demands of the thrifty housewife and takes a lease for that length of time. It follows, therefore, that a measure of patronage and popularity in unusual degree is given to those hotels which aim to provide home comforts and the simple good cheer of life for those Americans who desire to remain in Iowa City for indefinite days, or weeks, or months. This is one of the factors entering into the success and popularity of the Hotel Van Meter, conducted by Oscar Clay Van Meter and his estimable wife, Sarah Beck Van Meter.
Mr. Van Meter got into the hotel business in Iowa City, paradoxical to say, through the necessity for a "students' boarding house," and his first enterprise was established in the old home of his parents, Jacob and Elizabeth Van Meter, on North Capitol street. His former experience with his father in hotel keeping at Rose Hill, Iowa, together with his
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knowledge of farm products and the handling and buying of stock, stood him well in hand in his new enterprise. The "stu- dents' boarding house" prospered and became popular. Six years Mr. Van Meter continued as the "man-on-the-joh." That brought him up to the good year-of-our-Lord and the inauguration of William MeKinley, 1897, when he sold out his under-graduate happy-home to Walter Pratt and bought from William Bnek the property on the southeast corner of Iowa avenue and Linn street, where the present Hotel Van Meter stands. The new venture was a snecess from the beginning. It became a "home" for transients who for various reasons
VAN METER HOTEL
desired to sojourn for a time in the Athens of Iowa. These embraced the people of ordinary means, whom Abraham Lin- coln said God must have loved. Friends, tarrying for a time to care for dear ones under hospital treatment ; farmers, re- maining in town on jury work and other business; theatrical people, playing. the local houses for split-weeks ; and the gen- eral line of commercial men, people "looking around," and historical writers even. Students also, to a limited number, were made welcome, and a vast multitude of people employed about town who were withont regular homes. "Table board" was provided practically without limit to all comers. And so, the Hotel Van Meter grew from a modest building in 1897 to a large main building, an annex, two cottages, and a store-
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room in 1911, with full capacity taxed and further improve- ments and enlargements made necessary. It has a capacity for seventy-five regular guests ; a dining room seating eighty- five ; a wide, cozy porch fronting the finest avene in the city : an inviting green lawn, with great elms and maples. Its popularity may be measured by the fact that for the past five years the daily average minber of meals provided has been in excess of three hundred. Mine Host Van Meter still continues to branch out, and just prior to this writing has bought from F. M. Taylor the property on East Washington street, near Linn, 80x150 feet, with two-story briek mansion and fine barn, which it is his intention at an early date to transform either into a high-class family hotel or a fraternity home.
On both sides of his family Mr. Van Meter descended from Dutch ancestry. His father, Jacob Wilson Van Meter, a son of Solomon Van Meter, was of direct Holland descent. His mother, Susan Elizabeth Moore, daughter of David E. Moore and Mary Marshall, was of " Pennsylvania Dutch" descent. Both of Mr. Van Meter's parents were born near Xenia, Ohio - the father on May 14, 1819, and the mother on Febru- ary 4, 1829. The Van Meter and the Moore families made practically the same removals in early days - first settling in Ohio and thereafter in Illinois, reaching the latter state in 1849. Jacob Wilson Van Meter and family located in Rock Island county on a farm of 320 acres, which they farmed for about twenty-eight years. Then they removed to Washington, Washington county, Iowa, where Mr. Van Meter, Sr., took up the livery and meat business, in connection with which he bought and handled stock and ran a hack line. After a resi- dence of nearly three years at Washington, the family re- moved to Rose Hill, Mahaska county, where the father en- gaged in hotel keeping. The next move was to Iowa City, where the elder Van Meter died one year after his arrival. Mother Van Meter survived her husband ten years. Both are buried at Iowa City. Seven children were born to this de- voted couple, as follows: Mary Jane, married to Bruce Pat- terson, resides in Washington township; Caroline Ann, mar- ried to John Wagner, resides in Washington township; Marshall W., married to Annie Burge, resides at Minneapolis, Minnesota; Thomas Babb, died at the age of ten years in
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Illinois; Oscar Clay, our subject ; Etta, died at the age of five years in Illinois; Susan Josephine, married to Prof. A. T. Hukill, of Waterloo, Iowa.
Oscar Clay Van Meter was born in Rock Island county, Illinois, February 15, 1857. The first eighteen years of his life were spent on the home farm, where he assisted his father. His education was received in the public schools of the neigh- borhood. He removed with the family to Washington, Iowa, where he still continued to assist his father in his livery, stock buying and shipping, and meat business. When the family removed to Rose Hill, Iowa, he became his father's assistant in the hotel business. It was only after the family settled in Iowa City that he decided to "see some of the world for him- self," and in pursuit of this purpose he went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he was associated for two years with his brother, Marshall W. Following this he returned to Iowa City, where he was engaged for about four years as foreman of a gang of workmen for the American Sugar Company. After that he entered the employ of J. Walter Lee as salesman in his grocery store, continuing for about four and a half years. Thereafter he opened the "students' boarding house" heretofore mentioned, which was the real beginning of his business career and his success as a hotel keeper.
On September 9, 1889, Mr. Van Meter was married to Miss Sarah Beck, daughter of John and Sarah (Atkinson) Beck, natives of Ontario, Canada, where the Beck and Atkinson fam- ilies were well known. John Beck and Sarah Atkinson were married in Ontario, and lived for some time on a farm there. The Beck family are celebrated for longevity, Grandfather Beck being in his 100th year at death, and Grandmother Beck in her 98th year. Mrs. Van Meter's parents removed from Canada and settled near North Liberty, Iowa, where she was born January 10, 1870. Her marriage to Mr. Van Meter took place in Iowa City. Father Beck died some years ago, but the mother still survives at the age of eighty-four, at Windom, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Van Meter are happily mated, and are earnest co-workers in the battle of life. "Van" is frequently told by his boarders that his wife is "the best man of the two," a witticism which he receives with a smile of appreciation and a nod of approval in the direction of Mrs. "Van." Two
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charming daughters have been born to them: Zoe Allie, born in Iowa City August 1, 1893, and Eula Marie, born in Iowa City July 13, 1897. Both are earnest students in the Iowa City high school.
While a lifelong republican, Mr. Van Meter has always held to liberal political views and has sought to secure the election of men pledged to public improvements and political honesty. He was himself honored by election to the city council of Iowa City for a term of two years in 1906-07 on a platform of public improvements. His redemption of his pledges at that time is proven by the creation of Iowa avenue - once one of the most impassable thoroughfares of the city, now the finest hard-surfaced, parked avenue in eastern Iowa -Mr. Van Meter being one of the prime factors in the pushing of this improvement. While his people were Methodists, Mr. Van Meter himself takes the liberal view, though he is extremely friendly to the churches. He is a member of the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of Iowa City. In the first named order he has occupied all the chairs and in the K. of P. he was elected Chancellor Com- mander, but was compelled to decline the office on account of pressure of business.
In addition to the property interests already mentioned, our subject owns ten acres in east Iowa City, several town lots in Marine View, California, Guthrie, Oklahoma, and points in Texas. He holds interests in Colorado mines, and is asso- ciated with his brother Marshall W. in the promotion of a valuable invention for smoke protection for the use of firemen, insurance companies, etc. Perhaps no man is better known in Iowa City and most parts of Iowa than Mr. Van Meter, and he numbers his personal friends by the hundreds.
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