Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 134

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

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The only child is H. B. Shaw, who was a youth of fourteen when with his parents he came to Iowa. With the wild scenes of fron- tier life he soon became familiar and shared in the usual hardships and trials of the frontier. To his father he gave the benefit of his services

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until the breaking out of the Civil war. When the boom of Fort Sumter's guns aroused the nation to the fact that an attempt was made to overthrow the Union, Mr. Shaw promptly and patriotically offered his services to the Govern- ment and joined the "boys in blue" of Com- pany I, Third Iowa Infantry. He served from the spring of 1861 until the 3d of May, 1865. Few have a more honorable war record. At the battle of Hatchie river, Mississippi, on the 5th of October, 1862, he was wounded by a grape shot in the left breast. This is the only instance on record of a man who was shot through with a grape shot and is yet living to tell the story. Always faithful to his duty he followed the old flag on many a Southern bat- tle-field, faithful to his country and shrinking from no task imposed upon him.

When the war was over, Mr. Shaw received an honorable discharge and returned to his old home in Waterloo, Iowa, where he re- mained until 1869, being employed as book- keeper and Deputy County Recorder. In that year he came to. Floyd county, where he again secured a situation as bookkeeper. He afterward spent four years as a traveling sales- man, and was manager of the Spencer House for about ten years. He did a good business and was the popular host of a first-class house. He has since been pension attorney and real- estate agent, and is a wide-awake and pro- gressive business man, who owes his success in life entirely to his own efforts.

In January, 1871, Mr. Shaw was united in marriage with Miss Emma G. Spencer, a na- tive of Grant county, Wisconsin, and a daugh- ter of William G. Spencer. They now have an interesting family of two children, --- Lelia E. S. and Bessie M. They also lost two sons: William D., who died at about the age of three years; and Robert P., who died in in- fancy.

Our subject is an honored and prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic, belonging to Gardner Post, No. 90, of Nora Springs, of which he is Past Commander. He has three times served as Department Inspec-

tor of the State, and has taken a very active interest in the work of the organization. He also belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights of Pythias, and the Independent Order of Good Templars, and in religion to the Congregational Church; is serving as its trustee, and does all in his power to promote temperance and morality aniong . the people. In politics he is a stalwart advocate of Repub- lican principles, has served at different tinies as a member of the School Board and Town Council, was also Recorder of the town, and is now secretary of the Republican Club of Rock Grove township. He has been an im- portant factor in promoting educational, moral and social interests, and has done much to ad- vance the material prosperity of the comniu- nity in which he finds a home.

3 OHN GRAHAM, a practical and pro- gressive farmer of Dallas county, re- siding on section 34, Walnut township, was born February 28, 1837, and was the tenth in order of birth in a family of twelve children whose parents were John and Margaret (Carroll) Graham. The father was born and reared in Ireland and was of Scotch- Irish extraction, his parents having emigrated to this country soon after their marriage. The maternal grandfather of our subject was born and reared in Belfast, Ireland, and his wife was a native of Glasgow, Scotland. They also came to the United States in early life and lo- cated in Maryland, where the parents of our subject was born, reared and married. They had a family of seven children by the time they removed to Ohio, where five more children were added to the family circle. Taking up their residence on a farın five miles from Har- rison they lived there for a number of years. At one time their home was destroyed by a cyclone which swept across that region of the country, carrying destruction in its path.

The gentleman whose name begins this re- view spent the days of his childhood and youth

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in his parents home, acquiring his education by attendance at the district schools in the winter season, while in the summer months he aided in the labors of the farm. He was thus em- ployed until seventeen years of age, when he started out in life for himself, going to Oxford, Indiana. He there learned the carpenter's trade under an older brother, with whom he worked for three years, and then continued his westward journey, making a location in Des Moines, Iowa, in the fall of 1856. Mr. Graham secured work at his trade in that city for a period of ten years, after which he deter- mined to try the life of a farmer and purchased his present property, comprising 160 acres of rich and arable land. He continued its cultivation for two years, but not meeting with marked success, he rented his farm and re- turned to Des Moines, where he purchased a sawmill, continuing its operation for four years. He resolved then that agricultural pursuits should yield to him a good living and again lo- cated upon his farm, which he has since successfully conducted. The place is now un- der a high state of cultivation and well im- proved, and the accessories and conveniences of a model farm of the nineteenth century may there be found.

The lady who now bears the name of Mrs. Graham was in her maidenhood Miss Mary Freel. She is numbered among Iowa's native daughters, having been born in Polk county during pioneer days. Her memory goes back to the time when Indians were far more nu- merous than white settlers, and when all the hardships and trials of frontier life were to be borne. Often in the spring the streams were so swollen that it was impossible to ford them. and thus being unable to go to mill they had to grate their corn on an ordinary grater in order to supply meal for their daily bread. Fifteen children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Graham, and all are yet living: May, born April 27, 1860, was married in 1883 to A. W. Mason, and is now living in Webster City, Iowa; Phoebe, born June 5, 1861, is the wife of F. A. Schaeffer, who resides near

Campbell Station, Iowa; Nora, born October 8, 1863, is the wife of C. A. Anderson, of Grimes, Iowa; John, born March 1, 1865, married Hettie Schaeffer and lives near Camp- bell Station; Charles, born October 15, 1866, wedded Mabel Schaeffer and resides at Camp- bell Station; Phama, born June 18, 1868, is the wife of T. E. Howe, a merchant of Wau- kee, Iowa; Samuel, born July 9, 1870; Carrie, born March 18, 1872; Harvey, born January 14, 1873; Mabel, born August 20, 1875; Edith, born May 13, 1877; Rose, born March 1, 1878; Cassie, born January 3, 1880; Tina, born May 21, 1882; and Lucy, born May II, 1887.

During the late war, Mr. Graham mani- fested his loyalty to the Government by offer- ing his services to the Union, enlisting in Au- gust, 1862, as a member of Company I, Thirty-ninth Iowa Infantry. He served for three years and participated in a number of important engagements, including the battles at Westport and Corinth. He was reared in the faith of the Democratic party and has al- ways been a stanch advocate of its principles. For four years he served as Road Supervisor, was School Director for nine years, and is deeply interested in the cause of education, and all that pertains to the general welfare. His business career has been one of success, and his competence is the reward of earnest effort.

HEODORE SUTTON PARVIN. There is no man in all Iowa who is more widely or honorably known or has been the promoter of her inter- ests in various ways to a greater degree than this gentleman. As an educator, lawyer and historian, he has been prominently identified with the State, and as a Mason he is known throughout the length and breadth of this land and even in foreign countries. He is a writer of considerable merit, a fluent speaker and the work of public advancement and improvement in all lines have found in him a champion.

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Now in his seventy-eighth year he is honored by all with whom he has come in contact, and when he shall have departed this life more than one important work that he has performed will perpetuate his memory.

Mr. Parvin was born on the 15th of Jan- uary, 1817, in Cedarville, Cumberland county, New Jersey, which was the home of his parents, Josiah and Lydia (Harris) Parvin. When only five years of age he suffered an attack of rheu- matism which brought on a lameness that nec- essarily deprived him of the pleasure of taking part in many of the boyish sports of the day; but what proved a deprivation in one way was an advantage in another, for he was thrown much in his mother's society, and the influence of her noble Christian life has never ceased to be felt by him. In 1829 the father removed with his family to Cincinnati, and after a two- years course in the public schools of that city, he completed his literary education by a full classical course in the Woodward and Cincin- nati Colleges. He resolved to take up the study of law, and was graduated in the law school in Cincinnati in 1837. He also con- tinued his studies in the offices of Judges John C. Wright, of the Supreme Bench, and Timo- thy Walker, of the city courts, it being the latter gentleman who induced him to enter the legal profession. He has always been of a studious and analytical turn of mind, and to a greater or less degree throughout his life he has been connected with educational work in one way or another. In 1837 he traveled exten- sively through the East, investigating the methods of the public schools in that section of the country, and upon his return assisted in · editing the Common School Journal, published by the State Superintendent of Public Schools of Ohio.

The following year, Mr. Parvin became identified with Iowa's interests. Robert Lucas was appointed the first Governor of the Terri- tory, and selected our subject as his private secretary. Together they went to Burlington, where they arrived on the 15th of August, 1838. The following year Mr. Parvin went

to Bloomington, now Muscatine, Iowa, where he embarked in the prosecution of his profes- sion, which he successfully followed until the fall of 1860. Accepting the professorship of natural sciences in the State University, he removed to Iowa City. His career as a legal practitioner was one of capable effort, crowned with success. Early in his residence in Mus- catine, he was appointed Prosecuting Attorney of the Second District of the Territory, and in 1841 he was elected Probate Judge of Musca- tine county, which position he continuously held with the exception of one year until the admission of the State to the Union. In that year, 1846, he was appointed Clerk of the United States Court by Judge Dyer, and con- tinued in that position until 1857, when he re- signed to enter upon the duties of Register of the Land Office of the State, to which position he had been elected. In 1860 he was nomi- nated on the Democratic ticket for the posi-

tion of State Auditor, and although he could not overcome the large Republican majority he ran 1,200 votes ahead of his ticket. He has since been offered nominations for Secre- tary of State and Superintendent of Public In- struction, but has declined these honors.

Mr. Parvin has ever been in active sympa- thy with the progress and upbuilding of the State along various lines, and has given to the world in published form much valuable infor- mation on this subject. He is the author of a history called the Newspaper Press of Iowa, in which he gives an accurate account of all the publications in the State between the years 1836 and 1846, and this history has been the basis for all that has since been written upon that interesting subject. He has written a History of the Early Schools of Iowa, em- bracing the period from 1830 until 1859. In the early days of the development of a com- munity there is usually little or no account kept of the work of progress, and such a vol- ume from an authentic pen is therefore all the more valuable. Mr. Parvin is also the author of a work entitled "A Historical Sketch of Iowa," and of "Templar Masonry in the

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United States, 1769-1886." For many years he was a director of the State Historical So- ciety, and for a few years was the correspond- ing secretary and the editor of its official maga- zine, The Annals of Iowa. Whatever tends to promote knowledge and advance the cause of education receives his earnest, ready and hearty support. In 1839 he was appointed by Governor Lucas as Territorial Librarian, and this collection of books was the nucleus of the present large and valuable State Library. He was president of the State Teachers' Associa- tion, was one of its organizers, and was presi- dent of the school boards in both Muscatine and Iowa City; also served as Superintendent of Schools in Johnson county. In Muscatine he secured the erection of the first brick school- house in the State. His labors in the line of education would alone entitle him to be ranked among the benefactors of the State. Various libraries of Iowa are indebted to him for rare and interesting works. Throughout his life he has been a collector of such volumes, and to the library of the Davenport Academy of Sciences, of the State University, the State Library, the State Historical Society, and the Aldrich Collection he has been an open-handed and liberal contributor. The library of the State Historical Society of Iowa City also owes to him a large portion of its most precious contents. His gifts have by no means been confined to books, but have included geolog- ical and natural-history specimens and auto- graphs of famous individuals. He was at one time the possessor of the largest private library in the State, but some years since he divided this among his children and some of the lead- ing educational, historical and scientific socie- ties. The broad field of knowledge has been widely traversed by him, and he has continued his investigations far beyond the researches of many so-called scholars.

In the early years of this country, before the Government had done much in that direc- tion, Mr. Parvin kept a minute and accurate meteorological record which covers the period from 1838 until 1871. It has proved valuable

in many ways. When Harper's Ferry was destroyed by the rebels it was determined that the United States arsenal and manufactory of arms should be located in the Union-loving and patriotic West. Rock Island was men- tioned as a suitable site, but it was objected to on the ground that the Mississippi was closed nine months in the year. Mr. Parvin's scientific records in the Smithsonian Institute, however, not only showed that this statement was un- true but that Rock Island was the fittest place possible for this great work, and so-thanks to that gentleman !- those who sat in authority over us located these great Government works at Rock Island, where they will abide as long as the nation shall exist.

Mr. Parvin has been often seen upon the lecture platform and is a fluent, forcible, enter- taining and instructive speaker. He is equally at home on many subjects, and his themes have been Masonry, early history, education, early politics, natural history and social science. He has been called upon to deliver addresses at the laying of many corner-stones and at the dedication of halls and other buildings. He delivered the address at the opening of the Supreme Court rooms in the new capitol building of the State, and whenever the pio- neer law-makers meet in biennial reunion he is certain to be called on for an address.

Inseparably linked with the history of Free- masonry in Iowa is the name of Mr. Parvin. He is the only survivor of those whose signa- tures are appended to the request for a charter for the first Masonic lodge in Iowa, made in 1840, and the original document occupies a prominent position on the wall in Mr. Parvin's office in the Masonic Library Building at Cedar Rapids. His life is typical of the prin- ciples of generosity and benevolence which underlie this grand old order. He was initiated into the mysteries of Masonry in Nova Caesarea Harmony Lodge, No. 2, of Cincinnati, March 14, 1838, his petition having been presented the day he became of legal age. He became a Royal Arch Mason in Iowa City Chapter, No. 2, in 1845. In 1840, while temporarily

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residing at Burlington as Secretary of the Territorial Council, he was one of eight who obtained a dispensation, dated November 20 of that year, of what was afterward Des Moines Lodge, No. 1. In 1841 he withdrew from the membership of that lodge and formed Iowa Lodge, No. 2, at Muscatine, of which he is to- day the only surviving charter member.

In 1843 he was elected Master, and repre- sented the lodge in the Grand Lodge of Mis- souri in 1842 and 1843. He was also its representative in the convention that organized the Grand Lodge of Iowa in January, 1844, at which time he was elected Grand Secretary, a position he has held ever since, save in 1852, when he was Grand Master, at which time he also practically performed the duties of Grand Secretary, as the incumbent of the office was ill at the time. He received the Royal and Select Master degree in Dubuque Chapter, No. 3, of Dubuque, September 27, 1847, and was made a Sir Knight in Apollo Commandery, No. I, of Chicago, January 10, 1855. He received the Scottish Rite degrees up to and including the thirty-third degree at the hands of Albert Pike, Sovereign Grand Commander, September 13, 1859. He has edited a full set of the annals of the Grand Lodge from its organization up to the present time, published in thirteen large volumes.

He was Grand Orator in 1863 upon the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Grand Lodge, and again in 1884, upon the laying of the corner-stone of the library build- ing, also in 1894 at the fiftieth anniversary of the Grand Lodge. He was also the writer of reports on foreign correspondence for many years. He presided over the convention that organized the Grand Chapter in June, 1854, and was elected its Grand High Priest, but declined a re-election in 1857. He was elected Grand Recorder of the Grand Council upon its organization in 1857, and was made Grand Master of the Grand Council in August, 1860. He was a member of the convention that or- ganized the Grand Commandery, was elected its Grand Commander in 1864, and re-elected

the following year. He represented the Grand Chapter and Grand Commandery in the Gen- eral Grand Chapter and the Grand Encamp- ment of the United States in 1856 and for many years, and presided over the convention that organized the Grand Consistory in June, 1868. He served as Grand Representative of the Grand Lodges of New Jersey, Ohio and Missouri as well as several others, and was Grand Representative of the Grand Lodges of England, Egypt and other foreign countries. He was for fifteen years Grand Recorder of the Grand Encampment, K. T., of the United States, and the founder and builder of its library on Templarism and Templar Masonry. He is Grand Representative of the Grand Priory of Canada to the Grand Encampment, K. T., of the United States, and Grand Representative of the Supreme Council of England to the Supreme Council of the United States. He has been a valuable contributor to the Masonic literature of the country, and edited the Western Freemason at Muscatine in 1859-60, and the Evergreen at Davenport in 1871-2.

As Special Deputy, Mr. Parvin instituted the Grand Lodge, Chapter and Commandery of Dakota and later North Dakota, and in recognition of this service he was several years later made the recipient of a magnificent gold watch and chain, specially manufactured for the purpose and properly inscribed. He has been given at various times valuable jewels by the Grand Chapter of Iowa, the Grand Lodges of England and Egypt, the Grand Priory of Canada, and the Supreme Council of England, including a magnificent jewel presented him by the Prince of Wales. He has ever numbered among his intimate friends and correspondents many of the most distinguished and enlightened Masons and citi- zens of the United States and Europe; but probably he will be better and longer known and remembered by the monument he himself has erected to the glory of Masonry and of the State in the founding and building of the great Masonic Library and its large museum

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attached, with its famous Iowa Department, surpassing all others in its collection of works by Iowa authors and publications relating to Iowa.

ASTON HUNTER JONES, for more than forty years a prominent business and professional man of Bloomfield, Iowa, now retired from business, but still active in whatever public en- terprise inay benefit his town and county, was born in Putnam county, Indiana, near Green- castle, January 7, 1828.

His father, Rev. Benjamin Jones, was a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was prominent as a pioneer of Putnam county, being one of the six first set- tlers there in 1819, and was called far and near to solemnize marriages among the early set- tlers, and took an active part in all public en- terprises tending to improve and build up civ- ilization in that then new country. This Benjamin Jones was born in Queen Anne's county, Maryland, and was the son of another Benjamin Jones, who traced his ancestry back through a line of Benjamin Joneses in Mary- land to the time when Lord Baltimore landed there. Like all the Jones family, the original Benjamin Jones of Maryland was from Wales, the first home of the Johanes, Johns, or Jones family.

The mother of Maston H. Jones was Es- ther Alexander prior to her marriage, and was a daughter of Peter Alexander, of Rockbridge county, Virginia, who was a soldier in the Rev- olutionary war, and at his death resided in Woodford county, Kentucky. He was of Scotch descent. The wife of Peter Alexander (mother of Esther Jones) was originally Jannet Steele, and her mother's maiden name was Campbell, the Steeles being of Irish descent and the Camp- bells Scotch.

The gentleman whose name stands at the head of this brief record passed his boyhood in his native county as a farmer's boy, attend- ing school in the log school-house during the

winter terms and making himself useful on the farm at other seasons. At the age of seven- teen he was left an orphan and had to rely on his own resources. Working on a farm, at- tending school in the winter and working out the "sums" in Pike's arithmetic and studying Kirkham's grammar during the vacations of school, he deemed himself qualified to teach the winter terms of the public school; and by teaching and working at odd jobs was enabled to attend several terms at the Indiana Asbury (now the DePauw) University, at Greencastle.

In 1848 he began studying law under Delana R. Eckels, of Greencastle, under whose direction he remained about a year and a half, then went into the office of Kinney & Gookins at Terre Haute. In March, 1851, he was ad- mitted as a member of the bar at a term of the court at which his former preceptor, Delana R. Eckels, was the presiding Judge, and soon after settled at Bloomfield, Davis county, Iowa, going into business with Harvey Dunlavey, the firm being Dunlavey & Jones for five years, then forming a partnership with W. J. Hamilton, under the firm name of Jones & Hamilton for five years, then practiced alone for five years, when the firm of Jones & Traverse was formed, which continued several years, then practiced alone several years till the firm of Jones & Moore was established, and finally becoming a member of the firm of Jones & Son.

As a lawyer, Mr. Jones was one of the old school, never hunted up a case but hung out his sign and let clients come to him, well knowing that there must be two sides to every case. If he had a hard case that could not be peaceably settled out of court he fought it out to the bitter end, and generally made it bitter for his opponent. If he found a case capable of being settled out of court he always advised a peaceable settlement as better than a costly controversy. For more than forty years he was busy with law matters and always tried to treat his clients fairly. In hard cases he re- quired security in advance for his services, but seldom pressed a man for pay where the debt

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was safe. He was for four years Prosecutor of the Second Judicial District of Iowa, was for two years a member of the Board of County Supervisors, has served as School Director sev- eral terms, was one of the originators of the Union Guard, the first Republican paper of Davis county, and one of the editors for four years. It was rated as one of the best country exchanges of its time and was afterward changed to the Davis County Republican, in which name it is still published. In 1877, in connection with others, he started The Legal Tender Greenback at Bloomfield, which is continued now by C. F. Davis as The Bloom- field Farmer. As a writer Mr. Jones has a style peculiarly his own and is a " hard hitter."

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Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 134

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