USA > Iowa > Johnson County > Leading events in Johnson County, Iowa history, biographical > Part 9
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After a year spent at Cromwell, Connecticut, father and son came to Iowa City, where the latter still lives, the father hay- ing died about twenty-six years ago.
Mr. Zimmerli worked at his trade for about ten years and then started in the cigar business for himself in Iowa City. He has continued therein until the present time, and operates an extensive establishment at 2131%, South Clinton street.
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Mr. Zimmerli chose as his wife Miss May Ahlers, a native of Germany, who came to America with her parents when quite young. Her mother died in the old country, and her father in 1909. Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Zimmerli: Louise, Herman, Elizabeth, Matilda, Dorothy, Fred, Marie, and Christian. All are living at this writing, of whom fonr are married. Louise is Mrs. A. Horrabin; Eliza- beth is now Mrs. Alex Garsite, living in Missouri; Matilda is now Mrs. Roscoe Breece, living at Iowa City; Fred married Miss Kane, living at Iowa City.
Mr. Zimmerli is a democrat in politics and attends the German Lutheran church. The family residence is at 324 Church street.
JOHN W. MILLER
The Iowa City Marine band is a musical organization fa- mons throughout the state for its excellence. For one year it furnished the martial melodies for the Jowa National Guard. On two contest occasions, once at Marengo and again at Musca- tine, it took first prize in competition with the best in the state. The ability of the organization is of state-wide knowl- edge from the fact that it has played engagements at tourna- ments and other public functions all over the commonwealth. It is one of the institutions of which Iowa City is particularly proud. John W. Miller, the incumbent chief of police of Iowa City, is the founder of this organization in connection with its first leader, Milt Hess; he has also been its manager for five years. In this connection it is interesting to note that the first band was composed of eighteen pieces, and that among the early members were Jim, John, and Joe Parizek, accomplished musicians. It goes without saying that John W. Miller points to this famous band as one of the monuments of his citizen- ship in Iowa City.
Our subject was born in Des Moines, Iowa, April 26, 1862. He is the second son of John B. Miller, born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1839, who was a settler in Towa City in 1854 and conducted a stove and tin shop. Later he built the Schrader drug store corner and conducted a grocery business, continu- ing until 1878. He died at Iowa City in 1886. His wife was
JOHN W. MILLER
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Josephine Rabas, a native Bohemian. She died at Iowa City in 1889. The Miller family, on its paternal side, was descended from Bavaria, Germany. Three children were born to John B. and Josephine ( Rabas) Miller: William HI., John W., our subject, and Charlotte, wife of W. F. Burger, all residing in Iowa City.
Our subject was, educated in Iowa City, being a graduate from the high school and the business college. He learned the trade of painting and decorating, and later became a contrac- tor in that line. He was also for ten years the proprietor of
RESIDENCE OF JOHN W. MILLER
the Iowa City Bottling Works, a manufactory of specialty carbonated drinks of all kinds. Mr. Miller was alderman from the fourth ward of lowa City for two years, and has given twelve years' service in the volunteer fire department. April 6, 1909, he was elected chief of police of Iowa. City, being re- elected in 1911. Ile has been chairman of the democratic city central committee for five years.
Chief Miller chose for his wife Miss Mary Jane Unash, daughter of Joseph and Anna Unash. The wife's family were talented musicians and prominent in musical circles in Iowa City. Children and grandchildren have blessed the home of John W. Miller and wife. The list is as follows: Lottie, wife of J. D. Rummelhart, has two children, Matilda and Lo- retta ; Florence, wife of Leo V. Beaulieu, has two sons, Francis and Charles, resides at Havre, Montana; Estella, resides at home.
One of the delightful informal. social events of the early
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spring of 1911 was planned and executed as a surprise by the fellow card club members of Mr. and Mrs. Miller on the even- ing of April 26. The function marked the forty-ninth birthday anniversary of the chief of police and the forty-seventh anni- versary of Mrs. Miller, the couple having been born on the same day of the month. A local lowa City newspaper, in speaking of the occasion, said: "Card playing and feasting were on the program, with handsome reminders of the night for the surprised host and hostess."
WILLIAM ROBERT WHITEIS, M. D.
Among the alumni of the State University of Iowa who have passed under the wire of success, the name of William Robert Whiteis, M. D., is entitled to a prominent place on the score sheet. Born in Benton county, Iowa, in 1869, he received his primary educational training in the public schools of Ur- bana, graduating from the high school. Thereafter he gradu- ated from the Tilford academy. In 1892 he graduated from the College of Liberal Arts, State University of Iowa, with the degree of B. S. In 1895 he graduated from the Medical Department, S. U. I., with the degrees of M. D. and M. S. He followed his university training with a post-graduate course abroad at Vienna and Leipsie, and attended all important clinies at London, 1895-96-97. Ulis aetnal practice as a physi- cian began on his return from Europe to Iowa City in 1897. In 1903-04 he filled the chair of obstetrics and gynecology in the College of Medicine, S. U. I. University Hospital. In 1895 he was professor of histology and embryology of the same in- stitution. Dr. Whiteis has been on the State University hos- pital staff from 1998; in 1896 he was made a director thereof, and in 1911 was elected its president. He is a member of the American Medical Association, of the Iowa State Medical Association, and of the Johnson County Medical Association.
Dr. Whiteis was married August 10, 1892, to Alice Fern- strom, who resided on her father's farm in Johnson county. She was a graduate of the Towa City high school in the class of 1896: spent three years in S. U. I. and two years in Europe, during one of which she was a student at the Girls' high school of Leipsic, taking special courses in German. Dr. and Mrs. Whiteis have one son, William Robert Whiteis, Jr., born in September, 1901. A daughter, Helen, born Angust 16, 1898, died October 20, 1907.
Dr. Whiteis's parents were Dr. William Boyd Whiteis and
SCENES AT SUMMER RESIDENCE OF DR. WHITEIS, DETROIT, MINN.
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Miss Emeline Sprott, daughter of John and Tanizen ( Flem- ing) Sprott. The latter was one of twelve children. Dr. Whiteis's father was a physician, born in Ohio in 1830, and died in January, 1903, at Urbana, Iowa, where his widow still survives. He was educated in the connon schools of Ohio, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Keokuk, Iowa, and Chi- cago ; graduated in the first class of Northwestern University,
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RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM ROBERT WHITEIS, M. D.
Chicago, in 1860, and took post-graduate course in Chicago. He practiced at Rockford, Ohio, and for many years at Urbana, Iowa. Hle was one of the nine children of Thomas and Hannah Whiteis, among the first pioneers of Ohio.
ANTHONY J. HANLEY
Anthony J. Hanley, for seven years city councilman of Iowa City and deputy sheriff of Johnson county for two terms, was born in Iowa county, Iowa, in 1861. His parents were Bartlett and Julia ( Karney) Hanley. Bartlett Hanley was a native of Ireland, and came to America with his parents. The family resided in Ohio for a number of years. In 1844 they removed to Iowa county, where Bartlett Hanley's father took up land from the government. In that county the marriage of . Bartlett Hanley and Julia Karney, also a native of Ireland, took place, and there for a number of years Mr. Hanley en- gaged in farming. In 1870 he removed to Johnson county, where he was engaged in the hotel business until his death, about seventeen years ago. Julia Karney's parents were natives of Ireland, and her family also lived in Ohio. The
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family came to Iowa county in the early '50's, where her father located on a farm on which he resided until his death in 1885.
Our subject came to Iowa City with his parents in 1870. He had previously attended the country schools in Iowa coun- ty and continued his education in the Iowa City schools. He started in business for himself at the early age of sixteen, learning the trade of marble and stone cutting. This work he continued for about five years, when he took up the livery busi- ness. He has been engaged in this line in different enterprises ever since, and at this writing is proprietor of the Iowa City Bus and Hack line, doing a general transfer business.
RESIDENCE OF ANTHONY J. HANLEY
Mr. Hanley married Miss Sarah Thomas, a native of Wales, who came with her parents direct from Wales to Johnson county. Her father was a grocer in Wales, and engaged in the grocery business for a time after his arrival here. Both of Mrs. Hanley's parents are dead. Mr. Hanley's mother is alive at this writing (1911). Mr. and Mrs. Hanley have three children : George R., born June 19, 1884, married, and living on his father's farm in Johnson county; Maybelle, born March 5, 1887, now Mrs. Bernard Davis, graduate of the S. U. I, 1911; Mr. Davis is a graduate of S. U. I. in Pharmacy De- partment, class of 1908; they reside at Onawa, Iowa, where Mr. Davis is engaged in the drug business ; Ruth S., born Jan. 1, 1890, student in the S. U. I .. will graduate in 1913.
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Mr. Hanley owns a farm of 540 acres in Johnson county, and several business blocks, residences, and other property in Iowa City. He is a member of the republican party, and active in its councils.
HENRY HALL RATE
Steering a flatboat, 14x28, down the rushing waters of the Allegheny river, shooting dangerous rapids, dodging conceal- ed rocks and battling with snags and sandbars, is the experi- ence which William S. Rate, the grandfather of Henry Hall Rate, endured in the first stage of his journey from Pennsyl- vania to Iowa. The flatboat above mentioned was built es- pecially for the voyage, and contained the movable effects of the navigator, then a young man about twenty years of age. A partial wreck on the rapids of the Clarion river, a tributary of the Allegheny, delayed the intrepid sailor, but he was soon righted and, once fully into the current of the lower Allegheny, attached his boat to a raft and got safely through to the Ohio at Pittsburg. From that point to a landing in Indiana the journey was continued on an Ohio river steamboat. The Whitewater canal being in course of construction at that time, young Rate secured employment thereon and worked with the construction crew for about a year and a half. William Page Rate, father of William S., had settled a short time previously in Knox county, Illinois, and there our traveler journeyed. He met and married in that county Miss Margaret Ditto, a native of Germany. Observing an advertisement in a St. Louis newspaper for workmen to aid in the construction of the new state capitol at Iowa City, Iowa, he went to the latter city and was engaged. This brought him first into Iowa. His father joined him there, and the two worked together on the Iowa state capitol building for one and one-half years. There- after both returned to the Whitewater canal project in In- diana, where they worked together for two years. In 1848 William Page Rate removed from Knox county, Illinois, to Johnson county, Iowa, where he settled on a farm in Cedar township. This claim was the same which he had selected on a former trip and sojourn in Towa in 1840. Thereon he erect-
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ed a log house, 16x20, built of round logs. He resided on that farm until his death, about 1857. His son, William S., accom- panied him to Iowa and labored with him on this farm.
Our subject's father was Edward Francis Rate, son of Wil- liam Page, and was born in London, England, November 5, 1829. He was four years of age when he emigrated with his mother and her family to the United States, whither the father had gone two years previously. The elder Rate, William Page, first settled in New York state, but later, about 1835, removed to a point near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he became a large land owner. About 1840 he went westward getting his first view of Iowa about that time. There were five children in William Page Rate's family: William S., mentioned above; our subject's father, Edward Francis; John; Elizabeth, married to Isaac Sailor; Mary, married to Frank Kestor. Of these, William S. and John are deceased. The two daughters reside in Linn county, Iowa. Edward Francis, still active, lives at Iowa City. The mother died about 1880 at the home of her son, Edward Francis, in Cass township, Cedar county.
Edward Francis Rate secured only a limited education, much of his schooling being under a private tutor. In his twentieth year he began breaking prairie land in Cedar county, and continued at farming for about seven years. In 1880 he began the manufacture of gloves in his factory at Davenport, Iowa. Two years later he sold out and removed to Chicago. In 1890 he disposed of his interests there and came to Iowa City, where he bought out the old glass factory and established therein a glove factory, equipped with proper machinery, em- ploying about thirty girls and a few men. The establishment was burned down in 1898. Business was immediately resum- ed, however, in a building just north of the destroyed struc- ture. The enterprise prospered, and a tannery was estab- lished in 1903. Shortly thereafter fire again destroyed the factory, with a total loss of $25,000, there being no insurance. The business was reestablished, and the firm took the name of E. F. Rate & Sons, becoming well known as manufacturers of fine grades of gloves, owning and operating their own tan- nery, with a trade including both local and distant customers. For several years the business has been virtually conducted by
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our subject, Henry Hall Rate, and his two brothers, Albert F. and Robert G. (Note-Since this data was obtained this establishment was for the third time completely burned to the ground. Details as to rebuilding have not been made known at this writing .- ED.)
Edward Francis Rate was married in February, 1856, at Potosi, Wisconsin, to Lydia F. Hall, born March 31, 1835, in Connecticut, and removing with her parents when quite young to Linn county, Iowa. She is a well educated woman and a most interesting conversationalist. There were five children
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RESIDENCE OF HENRY HALL RATE
in the family, as follows: Amelia E., wife of Ezra Helm, of Michigan ; our subject: Abbie, wife of John Bickett, of Iowa City; Albert F., of Iowa City; and Robert Gower, of Iowa City. All are married and have families except Robert G.
Our subject was educated in the public schools of Iowa City. From the inception of the Iowa City glove factory he has been inseparably connected therewith, and, as he puts it, "knows nothing else but glove making." In his leisure moments, however, he has found time to read good literature, especially historical works, and is particularly well posted on the history of the Civil War from the standpoint of both north and south.
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He was married at Iowa City to Miss Calista Tranter, born, educated, and raised in the first ward, Maiden Lane, Iowa City. She is a graduate of the high school, class of 1884; taught the Oxford township school and third ward grammar school of Iowa City; in all teaching about ten years. Two children have blessed this union: Henrietta, aged fourteen, born in the old Tranter home where her mother was born, is now in the second year at high school; Edward Francis, Jr., will complete the grammar department in 1911. The first named is a girl of artistic genins, as her original paintings, hung in the library of her home, will testify.
Mrs. Henry Hall Rate is a fancier of heirlooms and bric-a- brac. She has kept all of her own samples of school draw- ings, including her first painting at school and many little mementoes of her childhood. Her heirlooms include many specimens brought from England by her parents, such as pewter plates, hand-painted china ware, an apple "scoop," made of ivory, an ivory spoon for eating boiled eggs, blue an- tique decorated plates, an old "grease" lamp with eup and wick, used before the days of "lucifer" matches, when neigh- bors had to borrow "fire." She also owned an old-fashioned 4-posted mahogany bedstead, from which she took the posts, making therefrom legs for a fine table.
The parents of Calista Tranter were John Tranter and Har- riet Shinn. The former was born at Linton, Herfordshire, England, May 1, 1820, and died at Iowa City March 3, 1902. The latter is the daughter of Joseph Shinn of Iowa City, whose wife was a glove maker at the time when the hand needle was used entirely in the manufacture of gloves and expert needle- women were in demand. John Tranter's parents were Ed- ward Tranter and Mary Caruthers. The former came of a family of brickmakers, and the couple emigrated to America in a sailing vessel in 1856, landing after a six-weeks voyage. John Tranter was a natural mechanic, a genius in wood and metal working. Some of the relics in Mrs. Rate's possession were of his making. He died in Iowa City in 1862. His wife died the same year in Utah. The couple crossed the plains with an ox team and settled in Salt Lake City. They remained there about a year, when they returned to Iowa City, where
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he followed engineering for many years in the employ of the Close oil mill.
The entire Rate family, from the first pioneer, were and are strong temperance advocates.
GEORGE L. FALK
The reader of the biographies embraced in this volume of Johnson County history will be impressed with the fact of the remarkable number of native born sons who have side-stepped the temptation to remove to newer states and have remained at the old home, there to make good in the business and pro- fessional life of their birthplace. That this is a general and not a special, or unusual fact, is proven by the recorded suc- cesses of native-born farmers, native-born merchants, native- born lawyers, schoolmen, physicians, craftsmen, manufactur- ers, and financiers. Under this exhibit of its home-product of universal workers Johnson county may well claim, with pride, that it does not need to go beyond its own borders to keep its commercial and industrial ranks full of competent laborers who are worthy of their hire. This condition is com- plimentary both to the field of action and to the actors. It is usually reckoned that the newer states and territories to the westward in the very nature of things offer the more attrac- tive inducements and opportunities for the culture and vigor of youth; hence the competent young man who eleets to exer- cise his abilities in the home field by that very act pays his native heath the high compliment of his affection and pride. On the other hand, the home field which provides ambitious youth with the opportunities for the exercise of its talents and energies may be rightly considered a worthy mother of men.
George L. Falk is one of the native sons of Iowa City who elected to identify his abilities with the town of his birth and training. His present position of cashier of the Johnson County Savings bank, one of the important financial institu- tions of eastern Iowa, is the reward which his native city be- stows upon him for his loyalty ; and, reciprocally, the ability, probity, and integrity with which he discharges the duties of
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this responsible office represent his return in good measure of value received.
Mr. Falk is of direct German descent on both his paternal and maternal side. His parents, John and Minnie ( Werner) Falk, were natives of Hessen, Germany. John Falk, an emi- grant, was among the forty-niners who crossed the Isthmus of Panama during the California gold excitement and mingled with the Argonauts "in the days of old, in the days of gold" in the fields of the new El Dorado. He was successful during his three years' sojourn in the Sierras, and when he arrived in Iowa City after a long journey, via the Isthmus and New York, he was among the first substantial depositors of the
RESIDENCE OF GEORGE L. FALK
bank of which his son is now the cashier. He brought his fortune in gold in a strong belt girded to his waist, and it was the production of this belt, with its yellow contents for de- posit, which gave him the sobriequet of the "gold belt man of California," a nickname which clung to him for many years. By trade the elder Falk was a shoemaker and in connection with his craft he established a retail shoe store. His death, which occurred in 1870, was widely regretted. His widow, our subject's mother, still survives and lives at 319 Iowa avenue.
Young Falk received his primary education in the Iowa City public schools. This he supplemented by a course at the Iowa City Academy, completing his commercial training by grad- uating from the Business College of Iowa City in the class of
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, IOWA
1885. The first position he secured was with the American Glicose Company, where he held the position of shipping clerk for three years. Subsequently he accepted a position in the Iowa City postoffice as general delivery clerk under President Cleveland's administration. During his two and one-half years' incumbency in this office he became widely popular. From Uncle Sam's window he stepped to the desk of assistant cashier of the Johnson County Savings bank in 1889. The best commentary on his ability as a banker is the fact that at the annual meeting in January, 1907, he was elect- ed cashier, a position which he now occupies, being also a mem- ber of the board of directors of the bank.
Combined with his proven abilities as a business man and a banker, Mr. Falk possesses the winning grace of geniality, a gift which has won him hosts of friends. His business habits are methodical and thorough, and his executive grasp is strong. He is an active member of the B. P. O. E. and the Iowa City Commercial club. His religious association is with the German Lutheran Zion church of Iowa City.
DAVID A. REESE
A moral lesson, inculcated in an adroit way by his father, left a lasting impression on the mind of David A. Reese and was a girdle of strength throughont all his business career. When young Reese determined to leave the parental roof at the age of twenty-one and cast his fortunes with the great west, his father, unknown to the son, placed a thick brown paper containing writing, with the writing face down, in the bottom of a trunk the mother was packing for her son's jour- ney. This was not discovered for several years after the son had become a resident of Iowa and had been engaged quite a while at his trade, that of carpentering. One day he was over- hauling the contents of the trunk and making a clean-up of the rubbish, when he chanced to notice the writing on the back of the brown paper and recognized the penmanship as his fath- er's. Careful perusal of the inscription, of course, followed and it was found to be an earnestly-written series of rules for moral conduct. These made a wonderful impression on the
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mind of the son and proved to be of great value to him in after years. Two precepts were particularly impressive: "Keep up your credit," and, "Be honest." The business career of David A. Reese proves that this advice was well followed.
Thomas D. and Jane Reese, of Pennsylvania, were the par- ents of our subject, who is one of six living children. Both parents are deceased. David A. was born in Cambria county, Pennsylvania, in 1854, and was raised and educated in his native state. He attended the public schools of his county and the Commercial college at Pittsburgh. His training at the latter institution was thorough, and fitted him ably for the
RESIDENCE OF DAVID A. REESE
business career in which he has achieved distinction. Follow- ing his school life he worked for a number of years in a lum- ber yard at Ebensville, Pennsylvania, securing a practical knowledge of lumber which served him well in later years. He also learned the carpenter trade. This, as before indicat- ed, he took up on his arrival at Iowa City in 1875, working for a time in the country. He continued the business of carpent- ering and contracting until the year 1889, when he was offered a position in its lumber yard by the Musser Lumber Company of Iowa City. This place was entirely unsought by Mr. Reese and the offer came as a surprise. Mr. Musser had become impressed with Mr. Reese's aptitude in checking up his own personal bills of lumber obtained from the company for his
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