Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 124

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

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In 1869, at the unsolicited request of an influential political friend, made through Rep- resentative (now Senator) Allison, he was ap- pointed Postmaster of Decorah by General U. S. Grant, and entered upon his official duties July 4th of that year. This office he held through four successive administrations, and retired on the 4th of July, 1885, by removal at the hand of Grover Cleveland, on the ground of "offensive partisanship." This was the first political change made in Iowa presidential post-offices by Mr. Cleveland for that cause. As he was informed that the accusation in no manner reflected upon his private or official character, Mr. Bailey declared that he pleaded guilty and retired cheerfully from the services of our " Uncle Samuel."

In 1889 he was elected State Senator for the Forty-second District, -composed of Win- neshiek and Howard counties, -and served in the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth General Assemblies. In the former he was chairman of the Committee on Federal Relations, and was a member of several others, chief of which was that of Appropriations. In the Twenty-

fourth General Assembly his best work was done in helping to formulate the present law, popularly known as the Australian ballot law. The Senate of that session was controlled by the Democrats, with Lieutenant Governor Bestow presiding. As it was his privilege to appoint all the committees, they were there- fore all dominated by Democrats and all had Democratic chairmen. Mr. Bailey and one Republican colleague represented the minority of the Committee on Elections to whom all ballot bills were sent. Both parties favored the passage of such a bill; no one opposed. There was a strife as to which party should secure the political credit of having given the desired boon to electors. The House was Re- publican, and before the Senate committee had fairly held a meeting to consider the Sen- ate bills, the House bill had been passed with almost party lines drawn, and had been sent to the Upper House. This gave the Repub- lican bill a prestige and "the right of way." But it came to the committee in about as bad form as ever a law was made up. In their haste the House had voted to "consider the bill engrossed," and had passed it as originally drafted by its author, Mr. Norris, of Delaware county. It was written with a pencil on thirty slips of printing paper, without white margins or blank spaces. The pages were tied together with a cotton string, and the amendments made by the House in passing it-quite a number-were attached with mucilage as tags to the margins. What was to be done with it the committee could not say. All the mem- bers had the right, and it was their duty, to examine it line by line and word for word; but that was futile, to say the least. There was every chance to reject it on account of its con- dition. Mr. Bailey saw the situation, offered to edit it, and by the aid of the parent of the bill made a correct copy, which could be printed in usual form. The proposition was accepted, and when put in shape was found to be satisfactory to a majority of the com- mittee. It was amended by them and re- ported back to the Senate as a substitute bill,

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with explanations as to what it was and why a substitute. This was passed by the Senate and sent to the House, where it was re- enacted and then became a law. The work done upon it was only such as comes easy to a trained preparer of "copy," but the dis- patch used and the tangible form in which order came out of the chaos was very surpris- ing to a majority of his committee associates.

Though active in politics, and widely known as an editor and a politician, the subject of this sketch has endeavored to square his life with a profession of religion made in 1858, and renewed by active church work during all the intervening years. In transferring his resi- dence from New York to Iowa he transferred his allegiance from a Presbyterian Church in the former State to the Congregational Church in Decorah, and identified himself with its work at once. In July, 1860, he was chosen Superintendent of its Sabbath-school, -a posi- tion he held continuously for fifteen years, and has since occupied it with occasional respites. In his thirty-five years' residence he has served the church more than twenty-five in this position. For many years he has been a trustee of the church, and in other offices has done it some important service.

In his home life Mr. Bailey counts himself especially fortunate. While he has secured from his business life only a modest compe- tence, he has been enriched continuously by all the helpful influences which a good wife and a happy home can secure. In 1859 he married Miss Sarah Higham, of Utica, New York, and together they have traveled harmo- niously along the road to a genial old age, for she has been to him a home-keeper and help- meet in the truest senses of those terms. Their oldest daughter is Mrs. Lizzie B. Colville, wife of Mr. David Fergusen Colville, a professor of vocal music of high standing in St. Paul. Charles T. Bailey, their eldest son, is a busi- ness man of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Ed- win C. Bailey is the junior of the firm of A. K. Bailey & Son, and now carries the heavier part of the labor of the business. Alice W.

Bailey, the youngest living child, is a school girl in her seventeenth year. Another son was born in 1874, but died in 1876, at the age of twenty-one months.

Mr. A. K. Bailey is a man of fine parts and of much ability. His early education was good, but somewhat limited in extent. This deficiency was overcome, however, by private study, for he has been a hard student all his life, and has thus attained a high standing in his professian. Speaking of the work of a journalist, a prominent magazine writer says: "There is no business that calls for the capac- ity for hard work, for the knowledge of human nature, for so accurate an appreciation of pub- lic taste for the force, the decision, the execu- tive qualities, the alertness, and the ability to put things attractively, graphically, concisely, truthfully, -there is no business, I repeat, that as a whole demands so much of the mental and physical energy of the man at its head as jour- nalism." All of these qualities has Mr. Bailey, and it is because of them that the Decorah Republican is one of the best papers in the State of Iowa; and its general make-up, its clear-cut, scholarly and forcible editorials, would do credit to a publication sent out from 'a town ten times the size of Decorah.

The religious and moral training of our sub- ject in his youth was of the best, and the re- sults of this can be traced throughout his life, -in his activity in the church, his temperate habits, and the genuine comfort and pride he takes in a bright and cherry home.

Politically, he has been active in the work of the Republican party, but has never been an office-seeker. He has preferred to aid the po- litical careers of other men rather than hold office himself, and the few times when he was called to a public trust it was a case of the office seeking the man.

No enterprise that would benefit Decorah has ever found an enemy in Mr. Bailey or his paper, but rather a warm friend and promoter, and for this reason our subject has a friend in every enterprising man in the community. Whether it be a railroad, a manufactory, an

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opera house, an electric-light and power plant, water works, street improvement, or what not, our subject has always thrown his influence in their favor. Hence, being a resident of the county for over thirty-five years, the touch of his hand is perceptible in the many improve- ments which go to make Decorah one of the most progressive and most modern cities in the State of Iowa.

Mr. Bailey has a large acquaintance through- out the State, and his friends are legion. That he may be spared many years to enjoy the fruits of a well spent life is their wish.

0 AVID L. WYLDE .- "Biography is by nature the most universally profit- able, universally pleasant, of all things," wrote Thomas Carlyle. Through all ages the lives of those who have accomplished a good work have been

held up as a source of inspiration, encour- agement and example to others. Heroism in war, devotion to duty, steady application in business pursuits and the determined effort which overcomes obstacles and presses for- ward to the goal of success, -- these are the qualities which continually excite the admira- tion and respect of men and awaken a desire to emulate them. One does not need to look to the past for such examples. Note those around you and you will see self-made men, who have improved every opportunity and have risen by their own endeavors to positions of prominence, honorable and honored alike. The West more than any other section of the country shows forth such men, and Iowa con- tains a large proportion of this class.

Mr. Wylde is a representative of this type. He is now one of the prominent citizens of Superior, Iowa, and his place in business and social circles is an enviable one. A native of Ohio, he was born in Vermillion, Erie county, on the 16th of March, 1847. His father, James Wylde, was a native of Shropshire, England, and crossing the Atlantic to Amer- ica took up his residence in the Buckeye

State when that portion of the country was still a frontier region, whose development was prospective rather than actual. He wedded Mary Hitchcock, a native of Connecticut, who is still living, at the advanced age of seventy- nine years, her home being in Benton City, Missouri. In 1852 James Wylde removed with his family to Lee county, Illinois, the journey having been made from Chicago to Peru, Illinois, in a canal-boat. The father entered a tract of Government land near where the town of Amboy now stands, where he built a house and made his home for four years. Tiring of the wild prairie country, he then sold out and removed again to Porter county, Indiana, where the climate and sur- roundings were more congenial.

It was therefore in Indiana that the subject of this review was reared to manhood, attend- ing the public schools and working on a farm near Valparaiso until 1868, when he accom- panied his father's family on their removal to Warren county, Missouri. They took up their residence near Wright City, but later removed to Adrian county, near Benton City, where David Wylde made his first purchase of land, in connection with his brother, purchasing 500 acres. This they improved, and on its sale realized considerable profit. Mr. Wylde of this review was one of the progressive agri- culturists and leading citizens of that locality, aiding materially in the growth of Benton City and the surrounding country. He gave an active and liberal support to all the enter- prises which he believed would benefit the community and in his removal from there the community lost one of its valued residents.

During his residence in Missouri Mr. Wylde was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Lewis, an old schoolmate of Valparaiso, Indiana, and a daughter of G. W. and Harriet Lewis, of Porter county, that State. The wedding was celebrated on the 27th of September, 1871, and has been blessed with four children, namely: Carrie, now Mrs. C. N. Bennett, born July 17, 1872; Lewis, who is now managing a lumber-yard at Terril, Iowa, born February 14,

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1875; Hattie May, born August 24, 1877, and Frank, born February 8, 1886.

In the spring of 1889 Mr. Wylde sold his property near Benton City, Missouri, and re- moved to Dickinson county, Iowa, purchasing and improving 200 acres of land near Supe- rior. For three years he devoted his energies to that work and then took up his residence in the town of Superior, where he has since made his home. He is here engaged in the grain and coal business and is at present the manager of the W. J. Bruce & Company lum- ber yard. He owns besides his farm a store and two good residences, and is now in very comfortable circumstances, owing entirely to his own efforts, which have been continuous in the line of honorable business methods and un- faltering energy.

J OHN B. COMLY, M. D., one of the prominent and skilled physicians of Iowa, now living in Woodward, was born on the 5th day of May, 1860, near the city of Rockford, in Winnebago county, Illinois. His parents were Charles and Mary (Ludwig) Comly, natives respectively of Milton and Bucks counties, Pennsylvania. The Doc- tor spent his early boyhood days upon his father's farm, receiving such educational priv- ileges as are usually afforded farmers' sons. He was ambitious, however, and desirous of obtaining a good education, so entered the high school of Pecatonica, Illinois, at which he was graduated on the completion of the regu- lar course.

When it came time to make a choice of a calling and fit himself for his life work, he de- termined upon the practice of medicine, and on attaining his majority became a student in the medical college at Louisville, Kentucky, and was graduated on the 28th of February, 1884. He then returned to his home and soon after opened an office and began practice in the little village of Ridott, Illinois, where he remained for four years. On the expiration of that period he went to Philadelphia and took a

general course in the hospitals of that city. In 1889 he located in Mapleton, Iowa, and the following year removed to Des Moines.

After a short time the Doctor was married, in the capital city, to Mrs. Adah (Mitchell) Reese, a native of Pennsylvania. Early in the year 1891 they came to Woodward, where Dr. Comly has since practiced, with great success. He is probably the most prominent physician of his age in the State. His knowledge and skill have won him recognition among the lead- ing practitioners of Iowa, and secured him the support of the general public. He is the med- ical examiner of the leading insurance compa- nies of the United States doing business in this section of the country, and the future seems bright with promise.

Dr. Comly is prominent in the ranks of the Masonic fraternity in this locality, and is now a member of the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica, the Knights of Pythias, and the Knights of the Maccabees. His political support on at- taining his majority was given to the Democ- racy, and he cast his first presidential vote for Grover Cleveland, but is now a third party man. The Doctor is a gentleman of fine per- sonal appearance, with an excellent physique, and in manner is social and kindly.

ON. ALFRED NELSON POYNEER is a well-known and justly eminent citizen of Iowa, and there are few men who have the popularity and con- fidence of the people in as great a measure as he. Frequently called before the public in an official capacity, no higher compliment could have been paid to his genuine worth than his election to the office of Lieutenant-Governor, when the Democratic candidate for Governor won the election by nearly 10,000 votes. His standing is equally high in political, business and social circles, and owing to the conspicu- ous place he has attained, his name has been for many years a familiar one in Iowa.

Alfred Nelson Poyneer was born in Salis- bury, Litchfield county, Connecticut, July 29,

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1831, and is a son of David R. and Polly (Moore) Poyneer. The family is of French extraction, and its founder in America located on Manhattan Island in Colonial days. His descendants are now numerous along the banks of the Hudson river between New York and Albany. David R. Poyneer was born in Do- ver, Dutchess county, New York, in 1788, and served under the command of General Dear- born during the war of 1812, participating in the battle of Plattsburg and other engagements on the northern frontier. When the war was over he was honorably discharged from service, and in after years was granted a pension by the Government. Removing to Connecticut, he located at Salisbury, and there formed the acquaintance of Miss Polly Moore, a native of that town, who became his wife. They there began their domestic life on a small farm, and in connection with its cultivation Mr. Poyneer engaged in boot, shoe and harness making. He was thus engaged until 1859, when he fol- lowed the star of empire on its westward course and took up his residence in Byron, Illinois. Three years later he removed to Tama county and passed his remaining days with his son, Alfred N. In politics he was a Democrat until the formation of the Republican party, when he cast his ballot for John C. Fremont, and ever afterward supported the principles of the new organization. In his religious views he was a Congregationalist. He possessed a strong constitution, was very athletic, and when ninety years of age frequently walked to town, a distance of four miles, returning home in the same way, and declining the use of any conveyance. His death occurred December 17, 1880. His wife died September 15, 1873. She was an earnest, Christian woman, and from early life was a member of the Congre- gational Church. Mr. and Mrs. Poyneer had a family of three children: Edward M., an old and respected citizen of Tama county, now engaged in merchandising in Montour; Hannah S., wife of Dr. Clinton Helm. of Rockford, Illinois; and Alfred N.

Mr. Poyneer, of this review, acquired a

good common-school education in his native town, and at the age of seventeen began teach- ing, a profession which he followed continu- ously for four years, when on account of ill health he was obliged to leave the school- room, resigning an excellent position in the schools of Salisbury, Connecticut. During the succeeding eight years he was in the employ of a manufacturing house as traveling salesman and collector, and his route extended over twenty States, covering nearly all of the ter- ritory of the Union. He was very successful in the new work, and as he practiced economy he acquired a sufficient capital to give him a good start in life. Believing that real estate in the new but rapidly developing West would prove a safe and profitable investment, he purchased land in Highland township, Tama county, Iowa.

In August, 1859, Mr. Poyneer was united in marriage with Miss Lucy J. Todd, a daugh- ter of Alfred and Mary A. Todd, of Nottawa, St. Joseph county, Michigan. The lady was a native of Onondaga county, New York, and they became acquainted when she was em- ployed as a teacher in Polo, Illinois. In 1861 they located on their prairie farm in Highland township, and there Mr. Poyneer carried on general farming and stock-raising until 1877, when he removed to the village of Montour, where he has since resided. His wife died in February of the following year, leaving two daughters: Gertrude A., now the wife of William Briggs, a resident of Lake Charles, Louisiana; and Lucy May, wife of Professor J. P. Hendricks, of Butte, Montana, who is superintendent of the city schools of that place and one of the prominent educators of that State. In June, 1880, Mr. Poyneer was again married, his second union being with Miss Lizzie Frantz, daughter of Joshua and Matilda Frantz, who was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, and came with her parents to Iowa, the family locating in Highland town- ship, Tama county. Two children were born of this marriage, but Ralph died in infancy. Lois Everest is still at home. One other son

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(by adoption), Edmund Amidon Poyneer, now twenty-one years old, who came to live with them in infancy upon the death of his mother, a sister of Mr. Poyneer's first wife, and the wife of Hon. E. S. Amidon, of Sturgis, Michi- gan, has a very dear place in the hearts of the whole Poyneer family.

Mr. Poyneer was reared in the faith of the Democracy, but about the time the Repub- lican party was formed the question of the preservation of the Union was the one upper- most before the people. A devoted American citizen, loyal to his country at all times, he cast his allegiance with that party who be- lieved in an inseparable Union, placing na- . tional above State rights, and has since been a stanch Republican and a firm believer in the tenets of his party. During his residence in Highland township he filled many important township offices. Was Justice of the Peace, member and president of the township School Board, and Treasurer of the same for many years. He represented his township on the County Board of Supervisors for many years, during which time he was associated with such men as Hon. James Wilson, Hon. Joseph Dy- sart, Hon. G. Jaqua, Hon. W. F. Johnston, Hon. Leander Clark, Hon. John Ramsdell and others. When the law was passed reducing the number of supervisors in the county to three, Mr. Poyneer was elected a member of the first board, serving three years in the new board. In 1873 he was his party's candidate for the office of representative, but the entire ticket was defeated.

In 1881 he was elected to the State Senate from the counties of Tama and Poweshiek, and on the expiration of his four-years term was re-elected, serving in the Nineteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-first and Twenty-second General As- semblies. He was chairman of the committee on agriculture, and being a farmer himself was at all times in close touch with the agricultur- ists of the State, and gave special attention to all legislation affecting their interests, and as Iowa was an agricultural State this meant close attention to nearly every question that came

up for discussion. He was also a member of many other important committees, including ways and means, railways, federal relations and suppression of intemperance. During the Twenty-second General Assembly he was presi- dent, pro tem., of the Senate, and being an excellent parliamentarian proved a most able presiding officer. - In 1889 he was nominated on the Republican ticket for the office of Lieutenant Governor of the State, and his triumphant election, although the State went largely Democratic, was a testimonial of his high standing and popularity indicative of the confidence reposed in him. That he proved a most able officer is shown by the fact that in 1891 the Republican press of central Iowa was freely making use of his name as a candidate for Governor. Owing to the precarious con- dition of his health he publicly declined the honor. While he did not seek or desire a re- nomination for the office of Lieutenant Gov- ernor, when the convention assembled he came within a very few votes of receiving the nomination. He was appointed by Governor Boies a member of the commission to revise the revenue laws of Iowa, but resigned soon after the commission was organized. He has been a very earnest worker in the ranks of his party, and has many times served as chairman of county conventions. He has delivered many able addresses on the political issues of the day, and that he is a favorite with his au- diences is shown by the fact that his services are in great demand throughout all parts of Iowa.

Mr. Poyneer is pre-eminently a public- spirited man, devoted to the welfare of the State, the nation and his resident community. In his business he has prospered, and his prop- erty indicates his enterprise. He has a pleas- ant home in Montour, and his intimate friends find him a very genial and companionable gen- tleman, while to the public he is easily ap- proachable. He is an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and even in the hurry of business and the press of political cares he has ever found time to devote to the

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holier duties of life. Socially he has for many years been a member of Polar Star Lodge, No. 113, A. F. & A. M., and for a long period served as Master. He is a man of unblem- ished character, and his life may be summed up in the brief words, that he is a good finan- cier, a true friend and upright citizen, a kind father and loving husband.

a HARLES TAYLOR BARNETT, a retired merchant and farmer of Dal- las county, resides during the pleas- anter seasons of the year in Adams township; but when the chilling winter winds sweep over the country he goes to De Soto, where he spends the cold months. For many years he was prominently connected with the business interests of this locality and is num- bered among the pioneer settlers of the State.

Mr. Barnett was born in Indiana, January 27, 1836. His father was born in North Carolina in 1787, and lived to the advanced age of ninety-one years. He was reared in Kentucky, in an early day moved to Indiana and made his home there until 1855, when he emigrated westward, taking up his residence upon a farm in Davis county, Iowa. In the family were nine children, but all had mar- ried and left home at the time of the re- moval to this State with the exception of our subject. He continued under the parental roof until 1856, when he was united in mar- riage with Miss Mary Jane Brooks, a native of Ohio. They began their domestic life on a farm near his father's place and lived in the neighborhood until 1864, when they removed to Madison county, Mr. Barnett purchasing forty acres of land, which he cultivated for about a year. He then sold and purchased a farm of eighty acres in Madison township, county of Madison, upon which he made his home until the spring of 1870,-the date of his removal to Van Meter, Iowa. Purchasing a stock of goods he there embarked in mer- chandising, but in the succeeding summer sold out and returned to his farm in the fall, carry-

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Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 124

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