Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 12

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

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On the 6th of July, 1882, Mr. Harper was united in marriage with Miss Minnie Lee, daughter of John and Mary (Gordley) Lee. They now have a family of three children, - Beryl Lee, Edna Nellie and one who died in infancy. The parents are members of the Congregational Church, and have a beautiful and commodious frame residence, located at No. 252 South Central avenue. In addition to this property Mr. Harper owns some realty in Illinois and Missouri, and is acting as gen- eral counsel for the Iowa Merchants' Mutual Fire Insurance Company. In his social rela- tions he is an Odd Fellow, and an interested and zealous worker in that order, of which he has been a member for twenty-one years, and has filled all the offices in the local lodge. In politics he is a supporter of the principles of Democracy and has served as a member of the City Council, representing the Fourth ward. In 1893 he was elected State Senator for four years, and is now acceptably serving in the upper house of Iowa's General Assembly. He was the choice of his party for the office of Judge of the Supreme Court of Iowa in 1895, but Iowa being strongly Republican he was de- feated at the polls. 5

ON. JOHN L. BROWN, one of the most prominent and best known citi- zens in the State of Iowa, living in Chariton, was born in Essex county, New Jersey, October 31, 1838, of humble par- entage. His father was a farmer and removed to Brookville, Indiana, in November, 1848, thence to Greensburg, that State, in April, 1849, and in September, 1854, he took up his residence in Marion county, Indiana. In 1856, at the age of seventeen, Mr. Brown, of this re- view, bade adieu to his parents and came to Iowa, spending three years of the hardest times Iowa has ever seen, in the north part of Madi- son county, working by the month at anything he could get to do, -breaking prairie, hauling logs, sawing lumber, engaging in farm work generally, through the summer, and attending school in winter while working for his board. The times were hard, money scarce, and a "good " dollar in the morning was often worth- less at night. Prospects were gloomy, there was no demand for labor, and, owing some serv- ice to his parents who were anxious for him to return home, he again went to Marion county, Indiana, in the spring of 1859, where he worked with his father on the farm and attended school in the winter, also teaching a select school.

While thus engaged he formed for one of his pupils, Miss Esther A. Templin, a deep friendship which grew into love, and they were married in October, 1861, and began their do- mestic life upon a rented farm. Meantime the war of the rebellion had been inaugurated, but at first the war was thought to be some- what of a holiday affair, neither the North nor the South thinking but that a few months would terminate it. Being somewhat imbued with Quaker ideas and seeing nothing pleasant or enticing in the desolations of war-as many seemed to do-and having no ambition for its laurels, he was willing that those should enlist who were anxious to go, hoping that the Re- bellion might be suppressed and the Union pre- served without the need of his services. But when President Lincoln issued his call for 300, - 000 men, which was soon followed by another

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL

call for 300,000 more, his patriotic spirit was aroused, and hurriedly arranging with his father for the care of his wife and the crop which he had planted, in July, 1862, he enlisted in Lieuten- ant Ben Harrison's Company, afterward Com- pany A, of the Seventieth Indiana Regiment, of which the future president was made Colonel. After a few weeks spent in camp at Indianapo- lis, eight miles from his home, he received word that his wife was seriously ill with typhoid fever, and the disease had reached its worst stage, when the regiment received orders to be ready to break camp and start for Louisville the next morning, at daybreak.

Procuring leave of absence until the time of departure, Mr. Brown accompanied his family physician to the bedside of his sick wife, to watch for the turning point in the disease that was to determine the question of the life or death of the one to him dearest of all on earth. The faithful physician gave his medicine and watched the feeble pulse of his patient with bated breath while the hours crept slowly by until about two o'clock in the morning, when a gleam of hope lit up his countenance as he an- nounced the crisis past, and that by careful nursing the patient would recover. The symp- toms continued to improve during the next two hours and at four o'clock Mr. Brown bade adieu to his beloved wife and responded to the call of duty, reaching camp just as the line was being formed to march to the train that was to carry them to "Dixie." Mr. Brown received a gunshot wound in the right elbow in a bayo- net charge at the battle of Resaca, Georgia, May 15, 1864, causing the amputation of his arın forty-eight hours later. He received his discharge from the service March 5, 1865, at Indianapolis, Indiana. Upon his return home both he and his wife attended school at the Methodist Episcopal Academy of Danville, Indiana, for a year, teaching a part of the time. In October, 1866, he was elected Recorder of Hendricks county, Indiana, on the Republican ticket, serving four years with honor to himself and credit to his party.

During his three years' sojourn in Iowa in

the '50s Mr. Brown had imbibed such a love for this prairie State that the idea of inaking it his permanent home was ever uppermost in his mind; and at the close of his official service as Recorder, he moved his family to Lucas county, Iowa, in the fall of' 1870, whither his father and family had preceded him three years. He farmed one year very successfully, managing the work so as to make a full hand. In the fall of 187 1 he moved to Chariton. For want of better employment at that time he accepted the position of Constable, to which he was elected without solicitation and against his wishes. He was afterward appointed Deputy Sheriff and also special collector for the County Treasurer. In 1873 he was appointed Justice of the Peace to fill a vacancy, and in 1875 he was elected County Auditor on the Republican ticket, assuming charge of that office in Jan- uary, 1876. He proceeded at once to a thorough renovation of the office and a refor- mation of the manner of doing business, estab- lishing a systematic method of keeping a record of every transaction, which had formerly been very indifferently done. He was three times re-elected with ever increasing majorities, and while on his fourth term he was elected to the office of Auditor of State, assuming control of that office in January, 1883, having resigned the County Auditorship in the middle of his fourth term, after serving the county in that capacity for seven years.

As Auditor of State, Mr. Brown's services were of inestimable value to the people, the benefits of which, though only just beginning to be appreciated, will be co-extensive with the existence of the State Government. Being charged with the responsibility of administer- ing the insurance laws of the State, he at once set about the task of familiarizing himself there- with, with a view of enforcing its provisions for the protection of the people. He found a class of co-operative organizations assuming to be life-insurance companies, which the law did not place under the auditor's jurisdiction, using the auditor's certificate (which had been fur- nished them through misconception of the law)

RECORD OF IOWA.

as a passport to the confidence of the people, who were being grievously imposed upon and deceived into paying large sums of money for something of comparatively little value, and he proceeded at once to withdraw said certificates and place such associations upon their proper legal basis and in their right light before the people. This action stirred up a flood of vin- dictive abuse from the managers of these con- cerns and from all the newspapers they could influence, -which were not a few,-and finally led to the enactment, upon his recommenda- tion, of a law regulating this class of associa- tions, which he put into successful operation and from which the people are now reaping much benefit, though the law is not nearly so strong a safeguard as it would have been had the Twenty-first General Assembly followed more closely his suggestions with regard to its provisions.

In filing a vigorous protest against the ap- pointment of a man as railroad commissioner, who was disqualified by law for the position, and whose appointment was made in the interest of the railroad companies, he demonstrated the fact that there was one member of the State executive council who could not be swerved from his duties to the public at the dictation of the corporations, neither through the liberal distribution of " courtesies " nor the threats of condign punishment, which they had the power to inflict; and the Republican party, as well as the State of Iowa, was in sore need, at that time, of some such demon- stration. His course in this matter called down upon his head the dire vengeance of all the corporation papers of the State and at the same time called public attention to the cor- rupt manner in which the corporations were manipulating the affairs of the State in their own interests and to the detriment of the peo- ple; and a demand went up from the people for the selection of railroad commissioners by popular vote, which demand continued and increased until such a law was enacted.

In the thorough overhauling which Mr. Brown gave the fire-insurance companies of

the State in 1884, eliminating from their re- ported condition all fictitious assets, compelling them to make good their impaired capital and re- quiring their managers to comply with the laws of the State, he rendered to the stockholders of these companies as well as to the policy holders, both of the present and the future, a service the benefit of which, by reason of its far- reaching effects, is simply incalculable .. Many people were led to think at the time that the expense to the companies of these examinations was excessive; but the sequel has abundantly proven that the reports of a less competent and trustworthy, and hence less expensive, examiner, would have been discredited to the extent of being pronounced worthless; whereas, not a single statement in any of the examiners' reports under Auditor Brown's administration was shaken in the least, notwithstanding the severe tests to which they were subjected.

These and other reformatory measures in- augurated by Auditor Brown disturbed the previous uninterrupted control, by the corpora- tion influences, of matters of State affecting their relations with the public, and, his un- flinching integrity and devotion to duty prov- ing alike impervious to cajolery or threats, it was determined that he must be gotten rid of at all hazards. Plans were at once laid for the purpose of terminating his tenure of office as Auditor of State and a manifesto was issued by the Governor, Buren R. Sherman, ordering him to vacate said office and surrender posses- sion of the same to one J. W. Cattell, whom the people had not chosen to serve them in that capacity. Having been elected Auditor of State, being duly qualified according to law, having faithfully discharged his obligations to the people and knowing the basis of this arbi- trary order to be absolutely and unqualifiedly false, in order to be true to his oath of office, his bondsmen, the interests of the people and his own manhood, Mr. Brown was compelled to decline to surrender his office to another upon an illegal demand. Whereupon the Governor, who was president of one of the in- surance companies yet to be examined, using

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL

his authority as Commander in Chief of the State militia, took forcible possession of the Auditor's office with loaded muskets, fixed bayonets and sledge hammers, ejected Mr. Brown and his efficient corps of assistants, and placed Mr. Cattell in charge of the same and labeled him "Auditor of State!" Meanwhile the corporation papers of the State, under the pretense of " suspension," which the Governor was by law authorized to order under certain circumstances, sought in every conceivable way to blind the people to the facts and to ex- cuse, condone and justify the Governor's un- paralleled act of usurpation and outrage.

Having been held out of office about ten months under bayonet rule, upon the advent of Governor Larrabee, the accounts of Auditor Brown were found to be all right, the rule of the bayonet was abolished and the Auditor was again permitted to resume his official duties. By this turn of affairs the corporations found themselves thwarted in their plans to get rid of an officer who was not pliant to their wishes and interests regardless of the public welfare, and in their exasperation through their wily political manipulators they prevailed upon the Twenty-first General Assembly to institute a "Star Chamber " investigation of the auditor's office, the purpose of which was to paint Mr. Brown so black that the respectable people would not recognize him and thus destroy his influence and render him powerless to hinder their schemes by the exposure of their villan- ics. The committee did the work assigned them by their masters ably and well. Under a pretense of trying to arrive at the truth the Auditor was given no show or quarter, and in their report he was made to appear among the veriest scoundrels outside of the penitentiary. But there was one honest man on the commit- tec, a Democrat, who could not be controlled by the corporation influences and who made a candid minority report embodying his honest convictions, though he was misled in some re- spects. Immediately after the report of this committee was. promulgated, the corporation " heelers" could be seen flitting to and fro,

halting every one they met to comment upon the great surprise the report had created, and the climax of their comment consisted of great grief they were called upon to endure in be- ing "compelled to abandon to his just- ly merited disgrace and infamy, the man, Brown, in whom they had always placed the most implicit confidence as a man and public officer!" This refrain was taken up, as it was designed it should be, and carried from mouth to mouth and from daily to weekly press throughout the State and nation in the culminating act of the great conspiracy to down the people's Auditor. But his unshaken faith in the final triumph of justice and truth and the consciousness of his own integrity, faithful service and unflagging industry in be- half of the people inspired him with renewed confidence amid the storm of denunciation and hypocritical expressions of grief by ene- mies and the desertion of friends through ignorance of the truth.

Conscious of his own rectitude and his abil- ity, on a full and impartial hearing, to demon- strate not only the utter inability of his perse- cutors to prove their allegations but also his ability to prove the utter falsity of their ac- cusations as well as their knowledge of such falsity, he made himself the hero of an event of which the history of the civilized world fur- nishes no parallel, in demanding of the Legis- lature a trial by impeachment, on the ground of justice to themselves and their constituents as well as himself. This was a bold venture, which none but a brave man, conscious of his integrity, dare assume to make, and it struck his weak-kneed friends with "wonderment" and surprise, and scattered consternation throughout the camp of his persecutors. But the issue was one which could not be dodged by the Legislature with safety to the future political prospects of its members, and he was accordingly arraigned before the bar of the Senate on thirty articles of impeachment, culled from the infamous report of the "Star Chamber" investigating committee. After full investigation and fair trial under the vigorous

RECORD OF IOWA

prosecution of seven picked lawyers from the House, lasting about three months, in which the villainous purpose and intent of said " Star Chamber" committee was clearly revealed, he was triumphantly acquitted of every charge, every one of the fifty Senators agreeing that the basis of the order of Governor Sherman and his illegal use of the militia to deprive the Auditor of his office was absolutely false and fraudulent. After the verdict of the impeach- ment court, Mr. Brown again resumed posses- sion of his office and finished out his term with honor to himself and credit to the Republican party, to the progressive principles of which he has been a devoted adherent since its organiz- ation.

Notwithstanding the heavy expenses in- curred by him in his conflict as Auditor of State with the corporations, which swallowed up his salary and left him an indebtedness of about $5,000, nothing daunted, in the fall of 1886, he purchased the Chariton Herald, an inde- pendent paper, one year old, with about 400 subscribers, going in debt thereon about $3,000 more. He issued his first paper November 4, 1886, in which he announced an entire change of its character and policy from that of a so- called independent with Democratic leanings, to that of a genuine, true- blue Republican paper of the anti-monopoly reform type. By industry, tact, foresight and ability, with a steady adherence to principle, the Herald has steadily grown in strength and in influence un- til it now has the largest circulation, is the leading paper in Lucas county and is recog- nized as one of the most fearless, ably edited and best county papers in the State.

ON. FREDERICK MOTT .- Promi- nent in legal and political circles, a valuable citizen, and honored Chris- tian gentleman, no one perhaps is more worthy of representation in the history of Iowa than Judge Mott. A native of Susque- hanna county, Pennsylvania, he was born at Montrose, on January 14, 1828, a descendant

of a family of three French brothers who were settlers on Long Island, spelling their name De la Motte.

The grandfather of the subject of this sketch emigrated from Massachusetts to Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, was a pioneer farmer in that section of the State, and for more than fifty years was a Deacon of the Baptist Church near his home, of which church he was largely the founder. Merritt Mott, the father .of Frederick Mott, was a woolen manufacturer, and, like his father, was a Deacon in the Mont- rose Baptist Church for more than half of a century, the church having over 500 members.

From eight years of age to seventeen young Mott spent nine months of the year in the woolen factory and three months at school. Uniting with the Baptist Church at Montrose at the age of seventeen, he soon after entered Hamilton University (now known as Colegate University), at Hamilton, New York. Here he studied for two years and then entered the sophomore class of Brown University, Provi- dence, Rhode Island, and graduated there in 1851. In the fall of the same year he became principal of a Baptist school located at Derby, Orleans county, Vermont, and known as the Derby Academy. Here he remained for three years, studying law a part of his time and finally being admitted to the bar at Irasburg in that State, under Judge Poland.

Coming West in the fall of 1855, he took charge of the public schools of Upper San- dusky, Ohio, which position he occupied for two years. In the meantime some of his for- mer Vermont friends had come West and set- tled at Pella, Iowa, and were interested in the young Baptist college recently organized there. In 1857 through their efforts he was invited to take charge of this college, but on reaching the place the financial condition of the State and college was such that he declined the position.

At Winterset, Iowa, in the same year he formed the acquaintance of Hon. John Leon- ard, and in the fall of that year formed a part- nership with him in the law business, which as- sociation continued until the year 1868. He

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL

allied himself at once with the First Baptist Church of Winterset, at that time a small body without a place of worship. From that day to the present, he has been a firm and constant supporter of that body, and has taken great pleasure in serving the same in almost all ca- pacities. He recalls with pleasure that he helped break ground for the erection of the old stone church edifice that still stands, an old landmark, at the northeast corner of the pub- lic square, and that, when was laid the corner stone of the new brick edifice that now stands as a credit to the Baptist society and the town, he made the principal address, at the request of the church. He wrought with his own hands quarrying rock for the old church, and hauled sand for the same, driving an ox team. For four years in succession he was elected and served as president of the Iowa Baptist State convention, a body organized for missionary purposes. It is needless to say that the Judge takes both pride and comfort in being a Bap- tist.

In the spring of 1860 Leonard & Mott suc- ceeded Cummings & Hutchings in carrying on a small private banking institution which they had established on the southwest corner of the public square. This was Mr. Mott's intro- duction to the banking business, and to it ref- erence will again be made herein.

In September, 1862, the companies that were to compose the Thirty-ninth Iowa Vol- unteer Infantry were about to go into camp at Des Moines, Iowa. Two of these companies were raised in Madison county, and Mr. Mott had aided in. securing their enlistment. He also aided in getting H. J. B. Cummings, Captain of Company F, Fourth Iowa Volunteer In- fantry, appointed Colonel of the regiment, and hence felt a deep interest in its fortunes, and when the regiment was finally organized, ac- cepted the position of Quartermaster thereof, and received his commission from Governor Kirkwood September 14, 1862, going into camp at Des Moines, Iowa, on the 20th of Septem- ber of the same year. The regiment was as- signed to the command of Major General G.

M. Dodge, at Corinth, Mississippi. In the spring of 1863 he was appointed Adjutant of the regiment and served as such until the reg- iment reached Savannah, Georgia, in Decem- ber, 1864. There he received his commission from President Lincoln and Secretary Stanton as Assistant Adjutant General, with the rank of Captain, and on January 1, 1865, was as- signed for duty to the Third Brigade, Fourth Division, Fifteenth Army Corps.

On the campaign from Savannah to Golds- boro, as executive officer of the brigade, Mr. Mott claims that he did some hard work. The brigade was frequently complimented by Gell- eral Corse, commander of the division, for obeying promptly all orders given. Though Mr. Mott was never wounded, this campaign brought upon him physical disabilities that have ever since attended him.

The Fifteenth Corps was disbanded at Louisville, Kentucky, at the close of the war. Thereupon Mr. Mott telegraphed his resigna- tion to Washington, District of Columbia, which was accepted and he was discharged from the service July 10, 1865. He returned home and resumed the practice of law in company with Judge Leonard.

On the Atlanta campaign, hearing that they were about to organize a national bank at Winterset, he wrote home saying: "Take all the stock possible; it is as necessary to sus- tain the credit of the Government as it is to send soldiers to the front." The First Na- tional Bank of Winterset, Iowa, was organized in 1865 and Mr. Mott has been connected with it from that time to the present, a period of thirty years. For four years he was cash- ier of the bank and nearly all of that time a director. This bank has been of great serv- ice to the mercantile and farming community.

In the fall of 1868 he was elected judge of the Second Circuit, Fifth Judicial District of Iowa, comprising the counties of Madison, Adair, Cass, Guthrie, Audubon, Greene and Carroll. For four years he held four terms of court per annum in cach of these counties. This was at a time when the

RECORD OF IOWA.

railroads were being constructed through the State, bringing in a large new population and making litigation more prevalent, and consequently the dockets were heavy, and he was called on to try many cases. It was ap- parent to many observers that it was the am- bition of Judge Mott to see to it that, as far as possible, substantial justice was meted out to all parties resorting to his courts. The result was that from a majority of the counties of his circuit there were no appeals whatever, and from the others but a very few.

In June, 1873, the regents of the Iowa State University elected him to the professor- ship of pleading and practice in the law de- partment of that institution, which position he filled for two years, to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. He resigned this position at the close of the college year, in June, 1875, at the urgent request of his Baptist friends of the State, that denomination having resolved to utilize the Centennial year, 1876, in efforts to more fully endow all schools, colleges and uni- versities under its control. He accepted the presidency of the Des Moines College, which position he held until the Ist of January, 1877, when ill health compelled him to resign. Dur- ing his connection with the college the main building was finished, rooms for the societies and library were provided, and a large addition was made to the endowment. Again locating at his old home in Winterset, Judge Mott re- sumed the practice of law.

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Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 12

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