Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 10

Author:
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1360

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REEMAN RICHARD CONAWAY, State Printer and the president of the Republican League of Iowa, is one of the best known citizens of this State, and a worthy representative of an hon- ored family.

His grandfather, Charles Conaway, was of Scotch-Irish descent, and made farming his life work, living in Harrison county, Ohio. He reared a large family and died at an ad- vanced age. His father, John Conaway, was born in the Buckeye State, and, studying med- icine, attained considerable prominence as a physician. In 1856 he came to Iowa, locat- ing in Brooklyn, where he successfully en- gaged in practice until his death. He was ever a thorough student of his profession and his skill and ability won him a liberal patron- age. He passed away in 1883, at the age of sixty-three years, and his wife, who still sur-

RECORD OF IOWA.

vives him, is yet living in Brooklyn. Dr. Conaway was a highly educated man and his superior abilities made him a leader in the community in which he lived. He was hon- ored with an election to the State Senate in 1875, and his course in the Assembly won him high commendation. He was one of the pro- fessors in the medical department of the Drake University of Des Moines, and was a member of the Eclectic State Medical Association. He had graduated at the Cincinnati Medical Col- lege and the Cooper Institute of New York, and was a post-graduate of the Chicago Med- ical College. He was an ardent advocate of the principles of the Republican party, but was never an offensive partisan. He and his wife were consistent and faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Doc- tor served as a member of the official board of the Brooklyn Church from its organization un- til his death.

Mrs. Conaway bore the maiden name of Mary E. Cunning, and was a daughter of Richard Cunning, a native of Maryland and of Scotch-Irish lineage. He was a carpenter by trade and in 1859 cast his lot with the early settlers of Iowa, making his home in Brook- lyn. He was a man of medium build and of strong, robust constitution, and his life labors were not ended until he had passed the age commonly allotted to man. Mrs. Conaway is still living at her home in Brooklyn. She has three children: Frances, wife of Captain O. F. Dorrance, of Waldo, Florida; Florence N., wife of W. M. McFarland, Secretary of State, of Iowa; and Freeman R.

Mr. Conaway of this review was reared upon his father's farm adjoining the town of Brooklyn, and the outdoor life seems to have left its impress upon him in his stability of character. His early education, acquired in the common schools of Brooklyn, was supple- mented by a course in the State Normal School at Cedar Falls, the academy at Iowa City, and the Weslyan University at Mt. Pleas- ant. He learned the printer's trade in the office of The Chronicle, at Brooklyn, and,

after his school days were over and he had mastered that business, he purchased the paper and continued its publication from 1881 until 1894 with the exception of two years spent at Fort Smith, Arkansas, running a Re- publican daily there. In 1894 he was elected by the Iowa Legislature as State Printer, and now has in his office between thirty and fifty employees. His thorough understanding of the business and his excellent workmanship, with his many years of party service as editor and organizer, secured him his appointment, and in the position he is giving excellent satis- faction.

On the 15th of August, 1889, Mr. Cona- way was united in marriage at Mount Pleas- ant, Iowa, with Miss Minnie E. Cole, daughter of Robert Cole, the senior member of the firm of Cole . Brothers, pump and lightning. rod manufacturers. Her mother's maiden name was Mary Hutten. Two children were born to them, -Laura Maude and Richard. Mr. and Mrs. Conaway are members of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, and for some years the former was a member of the official board of the Brooklyn congregation. Socially he is a inember of the Masonic and Knights of Pythias fraternities. In politics he is a stal- wart Republican, having supported that party since casting his first presidential vote for Gar- field. He is prominent in the counsels of his party and is an indefatigable worker in its interests. He served as secretary of the Iowa Press Association six years, or until his resig- nation, when he went to Arkansas, and is a popular and honored member of that body. He was elected secretary of the Republican League of Iowa in 1890, and served two years, and was subsequently elected president of the State League and re-elected both times by ac- clamation, and has been a delegate to four Re- publican National League Conventions.

In manner he is courteous, genial and affa- ble, and his genuine worth, strict integrity and devotion to the best interests of his native State have won him the highest regard of a large circle of friends.

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL

ON. ALFRED LORENZO WOOD, the present member of the Legisla- ture from Madison county, and the editor of the Winterset Reporter, Winterset, Iowa, is a young man of marked ability and one who has through his own efforts worked his way to the front and has already distinguished himself. We take pleasure in here referring biographically to him.

Alfred L. Wood is a native of the Green Mountain State. He was born in Montpelier, Vermont, February 14, 1863, son of Samuel L. and Lucinda (Ballou) Wood, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Ver- mont. Samuel L. Wood was the superintend- ent of a whaling vessel, and spent about fif- teen years of his life on the water, in that time visiting many of the different ports and islands of the world. After retiring. from the sea he spent several years in lecturing on his travels and experiences. In 1872 he removed with his family to Iowa, their first location here being in Keokuk. In 1875 they took up their abode in St. Charles, Madison county, where they settled permanently and where he still resides, his wife having passed away in 1884.

Alfred L. was the fourth born in their family of six children, -three sons and three daughters. He attended the common schools and also took a course in Simpson College, at Indianola, Iowa. His early boyhood days were spent in hard work on the farm, and as farming was not congenial to his taste he sought other occupation, first working at the trade of shoemaker, then teaching school for a while and finally began work in a printing office. This suited him exactly, and he has ever since been in some way connected with a printing establish- ment. In 1883 he established the St. Charles Watchman, which he edited and published for some time. During the latter part of 1884 and the first part of 1885 he lived in Dakota, where he published a paper, and with this ex- ception has been in Madison county since he came here with his parents, as above stated. Returning from Dakota to St. Charles, he es-

tablished the St. Charles Reporter, the paper which he has since conducted successfully. Although yet a young man, Mr. Wood has had twelve years' experience as an editor. During this time he also served four years as Post- master of St. Charles, this being the only office he ever sought. In 1895 he moved his press to Winterset and now calls his paper the Winter- set Reporter. It is a six-coluinn quarto paper, neat and well printed and is fresh and newsy.

Mr. Wood has always taken an active part in political matters, local, State and national, and has done much to further the interests of his party in Madison county. He is a Repub- lican. In 1893, in recognition of the services he had rendered, he was honored by election as Representative from Madison county to the Iowa State Legislature, and while a member of that body his services were such that they reflected credit on himself and also on his con- stituency. He served on important commit- tees and in other ways proved himself a most valued member of the House. In 1895 he was re-elected to the same position with an in- creased majority. Taking into consideration the success Mr. Wood has already attained, it is but natural to expect that he will receive still higher honors, as he is now only fairly launched out in his career.

ON. HENRY J. B. CUMMINGS, of Winterset, Iowa, and an ex-member of Congress from the Seventh Iowa district, was born in Newton, Sussex county, New Jersey, May 21, 1831. His father, Colonel Heman L. Cummings, was a native of Litchfield county, Connecticut, and a man of moderate means. His mother's maiden name was Ann Garton Johnson. Henry was the oldest child. He had a brother, Louis Jerome, three years younger, who died in Winterset, August 1, 1856, of disease contracted by ex- posure while with General James Lee in ef- forts to make Kansas a free State. He was a young man of patriotic and noble impulses, of considerable culture and ability.

RECORD OF IOWA.

The subject of this sketch is a great-great- grandson of General Daniel Brodhead, who was one of the generals in the Revolutionary war, the friend and confidant of General Wash- ington, by whom he was assigned to the com- mand of Fort Pitt, now Pittsburg. General Brodhead was enabled to maintain peace with the Indians in western Pennsylvania and Ohio, in great part by the confidence they had in him. They made him one of their chiefs, and gave him the name of Great Moon. The sub- ject of this sketch has a Masonic apron worn by General Brodhead in the lodge of which Washington was at the time Master, and a let- ter written by him to Washington.

In 1840 Heman L. Cummings moved with his family from New Jersey to Muncy, Lycom- ing county, Pennsylvania, and Henry received his education in the common schools of that State, supplementing it with a year's study in a private school. He then spent a year or two in the pineries of Lycoming county, most of the time making a hand in a sawmill. Like many young men who have subsequently gone to Congress, he felt called upon to teach a public school; but two months' experience con- vinced him that he did not excel as a peda- gogue, and that ended his services as a teacher.

In 1848 he commenced the study of law, reading a year and a half, when, having a natural taste for printing, he went, in 1849, to Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, where he made an agreement to learn the trade in the office of the Schuylkill Haven Map, he to com- mence as " devil " and to serve three years; but his name was to appear as associate edi- tor. After about a year, his uncle, Henry Johnson, a lawyer of great reputation and a large practice, a prominent State Senator in Pennsylvania during the Civil war, now de- ceased, purchased the office, and the paper was edited and manned exclusively by his nephew, assisted by his -brother, who here joined him. This arrangement continued until the autumn of 1852, when Henry returned to Muncy and finished his law studies in the office

of his uncle just mentioned, being admitted to the bar early in 1854.

Late in the next year Mr. Cummings started for Iowa, crossing the Mississippi river on the ice on the Ist of January, 1856. He went directly to Winterset, Madison county, and immediately opened an office. The anti- Nebraska party had carried Iowa in the autumn before, and early in the spring of 1856 the Re- publican party was being organized in the State. Mr. Cummings joined with others in calling a public meeting to organize the county. The meeting was largely attended, but only eight persons would assist in the organization. Mr. Cummings also assisted in organizing Adair and Cass counties, and with others thor- oughly canvassed these counties before the election. He was nominated by the Repub- licans of Madison county that year for Prose- cuting Attorney, and was elected, holding the office two years and three months, at the end of which time it was abolished by the new con- stitution of the State. He held the office of Mayor of Winterset for two terms and was twice City Solicitor.

March 4, 1857, at Muncy, Pennsylvania, Mr. Cummings was married to Miss Annie Webster Robb, youngest daughter of William F. and Mary Robb, of the last named place; and they have one daughter, Laura Justina, who was maried in November, 1876, to James W. Miller, who resides at Winterset.

Mr. Cummings continued the practice of law until the breaking out of the Rebellion, when, after the firing on Fort Sumter, a com- pany of home guards was organized at Winter- set, and he was elected Captain. Governor Kirkwood having notified him that it was de- sired that Madison county should furnish a company of men for the United States military service, Captain Cummings immediately re- organized his company, and in July, 1861, acting under orders from the Governor, he took his company to Council Bluffs, where it be- came Company F, of the Fourth Iowa In- fantry, Colonel G. M. Dodge commander of the regiment. While in camp there, at a

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL

meeting of the officers of the regiment, Captain Cummings was recommended to be commis- sioned Major; but as the two field officers al- ready appointed were Republicans, the Gov- ernor concluded it would be better to take a Democrat for the third office, and on that ground declined to appoint Captain Cummings. He continued with his company until, as part of General Samuel R. Curtis' arıny, it reached Helena, Arkansas, in 1862. After the battle of Pea Ridge, Missouri, in March of that year, his superiors in rank having been wounded or being absent, he fell in command as ranking captain of the regiment, and commanded it on its march through southern Missouri and north- ern Arkansas to Batesville. Captain Cum- mings readily acquainted himself thoroughly with the military rules and regulations, and this fact was recognized in his appointment several times as Judge Advocate of important courts martial. He was a strict disciplinarian, considerate of his men, and one of the best drill officers in the service. A good trait of his character in the field was that he was al- ways strictly temperate and never profane. On reaching Helena, Captain Cummings re- turned to Iowa on sick leave, but bearing a let- ter from General Curtis to Governor Kirkwood, asking the latter to advance the Captain in one of the new regiments then forming. The Governor commissioned him Colonel of the Thirty-ninth Infantry. The regiment ren- dezvoused first at Des Moines and then at Davenport. In November, 1862, Colonel Cummings was ordered to report-at Corinth, Mississippi, where he was assigned to the com- mand of that post. There he had charge of three regiments, the white refugees coming into the Federal lines, and the contrabands, the last being employed in running a cotton plantation. When he took the post it was considerably in debt, but he soon paid off that indebtedness and when he was relieved there were several thousand dollars in its treasury. The Colonel was regarded as peculiarly fitted for post duty, and had several important com- mands of that nature, among them at Cul-

leoka, Tennessee; Athens, Alabama; Rome, Georgia; and, as above stated, at Corinth, Mississippi. At Chattanooga his regiment joined the ariny advancing on Atlanta, and was the first that went through the Snake Creek Gap in the movement flanking Dalton. When the army reached Kingston the brigade to which his regiment belonged was stationed at Rome, Georgia, and remained there on the flank during the entire siege of Atlanta. It also was part of Sherinan's army that marched to the sea.

Having served three and a half years, Colonel Cummings was mustered out on the 4th of January, 1865, and returned to Winter- set. In 1869 he purchased the Winterset Madisonian, and was connected with it until 1885. As a journalist he was a success. He seemed to know by intuition what the needs of his readers were and always had the ability to meet their wants to their satisfaction. As a writer his style is not ornate, but simple, clear and forcible.

In November, 1876, he was elected to Con- gress in one of the strongest Republican dis- tricts, carrying every one of the ten counties in his district, and making a majority of nearly 8,000 votes over his Democratic competitor, Samuel J. Gilpin, Esq., with whom he held nearly forty joint discussions. As a public speaker he is more logical than fluent. He makes no claim to being an orator, yet has good command of language. Whatever is necessary he can say on any occasion, and say it well and forcibly. His manner is dignified and impressive, his words are always well chosen, and his ideas are expressed on the rostrum as clearly and forcibly as in his edito- rials. He has the air of frankness and truth, and so impresses his hearers. In the joint canvass spoken of, his friends were more than satisfied. While in Congress he served as a member of the committee on claims, one of the most important and responsible committees of the House. The following extract from an editorial letter to the Des Moines Daily Reg- ister is given to show his standing as a Con-

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RECORD OF IOWA.

gressman : " Our own member, Colonel Cum- mings, is making a good name for himself quietly and not slowly. He is a close student of the House and its rules, and is always in his seat. No one keeps a better run of the busi- ness in the House, or has a clearer head in regard to any thing that is going on. He looks after details industriously, and in all depart- ments has already formed a popular acquaint- ance with the powers that be, -which is one of the wisest things that a Congressman anxious to serve his district can do. I predict that in caring for the interests of the district and in serving promptly and well all his constituents who have affairs here to attend to, Colonel Cummings will be found the equal of any man that the former fighting. but now Quaker, dis- trict of Iowa has ever had. In the House, too, he will be equally faithful and vigilant, and guard with jealous eye and intelligent zeal the public good. The Colonel and his amiable and entertaining wife have cosy quarters at the Ebbitt House, where Iowa people will always find a cordial welcome, and Seventh district folks meet the unaffected cheer and hospitality of home."

April 1, 1878, the Colonel made his first speech in the House; it was in opposition to the payment of Southern war claims. The speech was widely copied and highly com- mended by the press of the State. As a citi- zen, Colonel Cummings stands well. He is always ready to take a part in every enterprise for the public. He has been active and promi- nent in all measures for the public good; his especial forte, in fact, is his executive ability.

He is a prominent member of the Masonic order, and has been for years active in the Grand Lodge of the State, being at one time chairman of the committee on foreign corre- spondence. He was selected by that body to prepare a. Masonic digest for the State; has served many years as Master of his lodge, and has attained to the rank of Knight Templar.

Prior to the organization of the Republican party he was a Whig. For a long time he has been one of the leaders of the Republican

party in Madison county. His religious creed is that of the Presbyterian Church, to which both he and his wife belong. The Colonel has a high reputation for integrity, his word being a sure guarantee of performance. By careful and prudent management he has placed himself in comfortable circumstances. Personally he is five feet, nine inches and a half tall, and weighs 225 pounds; his hair, which was light when he was a young man, is almost white; his com- plexion is fair; and his disposition is cheerful and social.

ON. WILLIAM WALLACE DODGE, of Burlington, Iowa .- Throughout the great State of Iowa can be found no name so thoroughly interwoven with the history of the State as is that of the Dodge family. In making that his- tory they have been most important factors, and have marked with deeds the vanishing traces of swift-rolling time.

The name of Augustus C. Dodge, the father of the subject of this sketch, will ever be re- vered throughout the Hawkeye State, and the son who has risen to prominence solely by his own merit is in every way qualified to main- tain the honor, ability and integrity for which the preceding members of the family have been renowned. Like his father and his grand- father, his career has been characterized by ability, thoroughness and persistence, and, al- though he has not yet attained his forty-second year, his reputation has extended far beyond the boundaries of his native State, and he is undoubtedly better known to the outside world than any of its younger men.

William Wallace Dodge was born in Bur- lington, Iowa, April 25, 1854. He was elected State Senator from the Ninth Senatorial Dis- trict of Iowa for eight years,-from 1885 to 1893.

His father was the late Augustus C. Dodge, who wa's the Territorial delegate as also the first United States Senator from Iowa, of whom

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHIICAL

a sketch is given elsewhere in this volume. His grandfather, Governor Henry A. Dodge, was the first Governor of Wisconsin, and also served as United States Senator from that State.

William Wallace Dodge received his liter- ary education at Notre Dame University, In- diana, taking a scientific course and graduating in the class of 1874. He then entered the law department of the State University of Iowa, graduating in June, 1876. He had the honor of being chosen president of class-day exer- cises on that occasion, June 19, and was awarded the literary prize offered to the grad- uating class for the best written argument on a given thesis of law. Immediately after taking his degree, Mr. Dodge entered upon the prac- tice of his profession in his native city, in com- pany with his brother Charles J., under the firm name of Dodge & Dodge. By his brilliant talent, high moral character and close applica- tion to business, he has won a prominent posi- tion at the bar.

Mr. Dodge is an earnest Democrat, and seems to have been born with a natural instinct for politics: in fact it might be said to be he- reditary with him. Hisfather and grandfather before him were eminent statesmen and Demo- crats of the Old Hickory type. Both were members of the United States Senate at the same time (the only instance in the history of the country where father and son sat side by side as members of that body), one from Iowa and the other from Wisconsin. Mr. Dodge began reading and talking politics in his youth, and made his maiden campaign speech while in company with his father at the little town of Franklin, Lee county, Iowa, during the presi- dential campaign of 1876, since which time he has taken an active part in every local and na- tional campaign, speaking from the stump, serving on committees, presiding at conven- tions and working at the polls. He was chosen captain of the Cleveland and Hendricks Club during the campaign of 1884, served as chair- man of a number of Democratic county con- ventions, and as delegate to local and State con-

ventions and as an alternate delegate for the State at large to the national convention at St. Louis, at which Grover Cleveland was nomi- nated the second time. At the Democratic convention held at Des Moines September 1, 1887, he had, for a young man, the distin- guished honor of being chosen temporary chair- man of that organization, and performed the duties of his position with dignity and dispatch. During many years of indefatigable effort in be- half of his party Mr. Dodge never sought, nor would he accept public office till the fall of 1885, when his friends induced him to accept the nomination for State Senator, when, as if to prove the exception to the rule that "a prophet is never without honor save in his own country," he was elected by a majority of 934 over a popular Republican candidate who had the advantage of age, political experience and the prestige of a good soldier record. It was charged that while Mr. Dodge possessed su- perior ability and unquestioned integrity, he was guilty of the heinous crime of being a young man, and was lacking in legislative ex- perience. The first fault his friends claimed time would remedy, and the latter he would more quickly overcome by placing him where the necessary opportunity existed. His course in the Senate fully justified the most sanguine expectations of his friends and constituents, and, as a result, he was re-elected to the State Senate in 1889 by a majority of 1,876, more than double his former majority. His intro- duction of important bills, and able manage- ment in securing their adoption, soon proved his lack of experience no serious hindrance to his usefulness. His manly course in rejecting the so-called "$216 salary grab," growing out of the impeachment trial of Secretary of State John L. Brown, and his sensible speech op- posing it, was consistent with his high sense of honor, and was generally approved by his con- stituents. He was first to introduce a bill in the Iowa Legislature on the subject of child labor, designed to prohibit the employment of children under fifteen years of age in factories, mines and workshops. Mı. Dodge had made

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Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 10

Author: Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1360

Author:
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1360