Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 15

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

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHIICAL

hearted hospitality and kindly feeling existing in neighborhoods that is scarcely equaled at the present. The first election held in Otter town- ship was at Mr. Hollingsworth's home. He aided in the erection of the first school-house in the township, and was one of the directors of the second school. He can relate many in- teresting incidents of those early days ere the busy hum of industry was continuously heard and before railroads had been introduced into this section of the country. He is still living upon his first farm of 200 acres, and now in his declining years is surrounded with the com- forts and luxuries which a well spent life merits.

ON. WESLEY REDHEAD .-- In the death of this gentleman, which oc- curred January 9, 1891, Des Moines lost one of its best known and most successful business men. For forty years he was connected with the history of the city and was not only a prominent factor in commer- cial circles but was actively and efficiently in- terested in all that pertained to the welfare of the community and the uplifting of the city.

A native of England, Mr. Redhead was born near Penrith, Cumberland county, on the 22d of July, 1825, and was a son of Nicholas and Sarah (Clark) Redhead. His parents re- moved to Montreal, Canada, in 1829, and the father engaged in merchandising, which pur- suit he had also followed in England, carry- ing on business along that line until his death, which occurred from brain fever in the sum- mer of 1831. The great cholera scourge at that time had just terminated the life of the mother of our subject, and the father survived her loss but two weeks. The orphaned fam- ily consisted of six sons and a daughter, Wes- ley being the sixth in order of birth and only six years of age. In company with a brother he went to live with an uncle in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was educated and began his career as a wage-earner in a printing-office, serving as the youngest apprentice or "print-

er's devil." He was one of the first newsboys of Cincinnati. His uncle, believing the influ- ences surrounding the nephew to be bad, sent him, when fourteen years of age, to Fairfield, Vermont, where his eldest brother was en- gaged in the cabinet business. Three weeks were consumed in making the journey, trav- eling by steamboat, canal and stage. After spending four months with his brother, he be- came so dissatisfied with his surroundings that he decided to run away and depend upon his own exertions for a livelihood. So he set out with a cash capital of but five cents and poorly clothed. Walking to St. Albans, he thence made his way to Whitehall, New York, where he engaged as a driver on the Erie canal. At the close of the boating season he hired out to a farmer in Washington county, New York, receiving for his services his board, clothing and three months' schooling. This connec- tion continued two years, when, having a desire to see a greater variety in life than the occupation of a farm hand afforded, he went to Saratoga Springs, where he secured a position as dipper boy at Congress Springs, and was so employed for two seasons. Dur- ing that period he was brought in contact with many noted people of this country and some distinguished tourists from abroad. Having saved a little money, Mr. Redhead returned to Cincinnati, where he surprised his friends with a visit after an absence of five years, during which they had heard nothing from him.

His next experience was in the capacity of cabin boy on an upward bound Mississippi steamboat. Having reached Bloomington, now Muscatine, Iowa, in September, 1844, he decided to visit a brother who was a resident of Iowa City. On arriving at his destination he secured employment in the office of the Iowa Capital Reporter, which was conducted by Jesse Williams, who was then Territorial Printer. The amount of young Redhead's wages was fixed at $3 a week, and his duties were intended to include the "devil's" work of the office and the setting of one column of

RECORD OF IOWA.

the paper per day. The first constitution of Iowa was printed that fall by Mr. Williams, and his new employee had the honor of per- forming a share of the labor on that historic instrument. The following year, 1845, he went to Anamosa, Iowa, where he operated a carding-machine for a time until compelled by impaired health to abandon that work, when he returned to Iowa City. Being unfitted for hard labor he learned the tailor's trade as being one that he thought likely to require less physical effort than many others. He served a three-years apprenticeship to that business and continued to work as a journeyman until the winter of 1851, when he came to Fort Des Moines, and engaged in business for himself in the line of his trade, but, the business proving distasteful, he abandoned it after one year's experience and engaged as a merchant's clerk, at a salary of $25 per month. .

In 1853 Mr. Redhead was appointed Post- master at Fort Des Moines to succeed Hoyt Sherman, resigned. He filled the position nine years, during which time the business of the office assumed important proportions. Shortly after being made Postmaster he put in a small stock of books, having the fourth book store in the State. Trade in that · line was limited and his weekly sales at first did not ex- ceed $5, but he afterward built up an excellent business. He admitted to partnership R. T. Wellslager, who continued with him several years, and later the firm of Redhead, Norton & Lathrop became proprietors of the largest book store in Iowa, and wholesale stationers and jobbers in books, stationery, fancy goods, etc.

In November, 1864, Mr. Redhead organ- ized the first coal company at Des Moines, and began the first systematic coal-mining. His efforts in that direction attracted the attention of others, and in August, 1865, the Des Moines Coal Company was organized, consisting of Wesley Redhead, James M. Starr, William Vincent, B. F. Allen, William Phillips, Hoyt Sherman, John Teesdale, James W. Davis, L. W. Demus, Frank Butler and E. Sanford. The coal-mining interest of this region was

then given its first impetus and has since grown to magnificent proportions. A set of Fair- banks scales were procured and the first weigh- ing of coal in the city was done by Mr. Red- head, who is entitled to the credit of being the pioneer coal man of Des Moines.

The following bit of coal-mining history clipped from a history of Polk county, pub- lished by the Union Historical Company in 1880, seems specially appropriate to the sketch of our subject. It is said that the presence of coal in and around the present site of the city of Des Moines was first noticed by the soldiers who built and occupied the fort. It is also said that the blacksmith shops in con- nection with the garrison were supplied with coal from certain coal-banks adjacent, and it is stated as a matter of history that A. N. Hayes and Captain Allen opened a coal shaft and stone quarry on the banks of the Des Moines as early as the year 1843. Notwithstanding the fact that coal was known to exist in large quanti- ties and that it had been mined in small quan- tities as early as 1843, at the time Pro- fessor Hoyt's book on the geology of Iowa was published, in 1870, nothing but a superficial and miscellaneous system of mining had been adopted, and the amount mined scarcely equaled the limited demand of the home market. About this time Wesley Redhead, a gentleman who had been identified with the interests of Des Moines and Polk county from the very first, commenced prospecting for coal in a sys- tematic manner, with the view of engaging in the mining business on a grand scale. He inade persistent efforts to achieve success, and called to his aid all the resources at his com- mand. In addition to his time and labor he expended over $8,000 of his private funds, and still his investigations had not been crowned with success. He finally secured the services of John Gibson, of Derbyshire, England, whose extended experience in the coal mines of the Old World had eminently fitted him for the prosecution to a successful issue of the inves- tigation which his employer had so long con- ducted in vain.

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL

The circumstances attending the final effort and its triumphant conclusion are related by Mr. Dixon in his Centennial History of Polk County, and also in an editorial published in the Des Moines Leader of June 4, 1873. A synopsis of both accounts are here introduced. Mr. Dixon says:

"A few rods south of Coon Railroad bridge, on land belonging to Mr. Redhead, west of South Park, a drill was introduced in 1873, under the direction of Mr. Gibson, foreman. In the descent seventy feet were attained, the drill passing through three inferior veins of coal and reaching at the depth indicated a flint rock, so stubborn and invincible as to bring discouragement even to the old Derbyshire miner, who advised Mr. Redhead at this point to abandon the work. Even the geologist had stated that if success was not realized within that distance of the surface, it would be use- less to proceed further. Mr. Redhead did not participate in this gloomy view of the subject. He quietly inquired of the foreman how many feet of rod were left, and, being answered that there were twenty, he urged the employment of every inch, declaring that if this did not bring the anticipated triumph of human enter- prise over stubborn nature he would furnish a hundred feet more and work these up before he would abandon his long cherished plans. They went to work again, consumed all of four weeks at the slow rate of three inches per day, in penetrating this massive rock, three feet in thick- ness. When the drill finally passed through the resisting mass, it quickly descended through a vein five feet thick of black diamond coal, signalizing in its passage the superiority of genius over inanimate matter. It was late in the evening when this great triumph was achieved; but, late as it was, James Clark, an employee of Mr. Redhead, who had been a witness of the thrilling scene just enacted, hur- ried away to report to that gentleman the au- spicious result. To Mr. Redhead this report must have been intensely gratifying. He im- mediately went to B. F. Allen and on com- municating his grand discovery secured from

the banker an investment of $35,000. A shaft was sunk to the required depth and in a short time all the appliances belonging to a first- class mine were visible to the spectator, and scores of operators down deep in the earth were busily engaged in bringing out from this great store house of nature its exhaustless treasures."

The following is from the Leader of June 4, 1873:

"WESLEY REDHEAD'S CAT OUT OF THE BAG."

"The Leader of the 3d stated that Wesley Redhead had at last been successful in his prospecting for coal, but owing to pressure of other matters a detailed account of his work and discovery did not appear in that day's issue.

" It has always been a cherished theory of Mr. Redhead that the supply of coal about Des Moines is inexhaustible, and that a better qual- ity than any now in the market would yet be found. In pursuance of this object he has worked early and late, incurring an expense of about $8,000, until at last his labor has been crowned with glorious success. Last January he commenced sinking a shaft in South Park near Seventh street bridge. Two gangs, each consisting of eight men, were employed alter- nately night and day. A thin vein of coal was found near the surface and further down two larger veins were passed through. When the shaft had reached the depth of II I feet below the surface, the foremen and other experienced miners were of the opinion that further search would be fruitless, but Mr. Redhead was con- fident, and, to use his own expression, was 'bound to dig to China or find coal.' The work was continued and fourteen feet further down-125 feet below the surface, and ninety feet below the bed of Coon river-the shaft struck a vein of coal four and a half feet in thickness. This discovery was made on the 2d, and on the 3d a load of coal was mined and conveyed to Mr. Redhead's office in this city. The best judges pronounced it of a su- perior quality and equal to any mine in Iowa.

RECORD OF IOWA.

Directly above the coal vein the drills passed through twelve feet of slate, which was strongly impregnated with sulphur. It will be known as the Black Diamond coal and will be mined by the Des Moines Coal Company, of which Mr. Redhead is president. Work will be pressed forward as rapidly as possible and the practical benefits arising from the discovery be demon- strated. A track will be laid to the shaft from the Indianola branch of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, and the necessary machinery for hoisting put in by the company. Mr. Redhead is deserving of the thanks of Des Moines and the vicinity for the perseverance he has shown and the discovery which he has made. He was the first man to introduce any- thing like system in the business of coal-mining in Des Moines, and now his last great achieve- ment places him in the rank of a benefactor, and he will undoubtedly receive the just en- comiums of the people which he so richly de- serves."

Mr. Redhead gradually purchased the in- terest of the others of the company, and in 1874 became sole proprietor. In May, 1880, James P. Clark was admitted as a partner and the name of the company was changed to Pio- neer Coal Company, Mr. Redhead being pres- ident. He afterward again became sole pro- prietor, remaining as such until his death. At one time he was secretary and treasurer of the Black Diamond Coal Company of Marion county, also treasurer of the Des Moines Scale Company, a director of the State National Bank, and vice-president of the State Printing Company. He organized the Pioneer Hay Company, of which he was president, the com- pany having been incorporated in 1885, with a paid-up capital of $60,000. They did a wholesale business in Iowa upland-prairie hay, and in breeding and dealing in fine horses and high-grade cattle. Mr. Redhead became sole owner of the stock and the business proved a very profitable one. He also had a large farm and an elegant suburban residence, situated about one mile and a half from his office. He owned extensive tracts of land in Polk county,

and in addition to his other business interests was treasurer of the State Insurance Company of Iowa, one of the most important insurance companies of Des Moines. He also located the present State Fair site, which he sold to the State.

Mr. Redhead was twice married. In Oc- tober, 1851, he wedded . Miss Isabel Clark, of Iowa City, a sister of Hon. Ezekiel Clark, and of the wives of ex-Governor Kirkwood, Ed- ward Lucas, I. E. Jewett and William Rutton, of Iowa City, as noble a family of women as was ever reared in the Buckeye State. She died in 1858, and in 1860 he was united in marriage, at Des Moines, with Miss Annie Seymour, daughter of Austin and Martha (Mil- ler) Seymour, and the ward of Judge M. D. McHenry. The lady was reared in Kentucky and removed to Des Moines in 1855. Eight children were born of their union, three sons and five daughters, three of whom are living, viz .: George S .; Lizzie K., deceased; Mil- dred; Charles W .; Herbert S .; Annie Belle; Sarah M., deceased; and one who died un- named.

Mr. Redhead held a membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which his widow also belongs. He belonged to the Masonic fraternity and attained to the Scottish rite degree. In politics he was a Democrat until 1861, when he became a Republican. He served in the Legislature of Iowa one term; also was Supervisor of the county and a mem- ber of the City Council and School Board, serving in those positions for many years. He was identified with nearly all the large enter- prises that have been established in Des Moines. As his record shows, his life was a very busy one. Possessed of a restless energy, cool determination and great self-reliance, he fought the battle of life unaided except by his natural intelligence, energy and integrity. That he succeeded beyond the ordinary expec- tations is conceded, and in doing so he mate- rially aided in the development of the natural resources of Polk county, built up extensive business enterprises and gave employment to a

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL

large number of men. The history of such a man serves to encourage the young whom ad- versity has left at the foot of the ladder to greater effort and fuller hope.

ON. BENJAMIN GREENE is num- bered among Iowa's pioneer settlers and has been a prominent factor in political, business and social circles. He is a man of marked personality, a recog- nized leader, and no consideration of self-inter- est has swerved him from what he believed to be the path of duty. He is pre-eminently a self-made man, and by his native abilities has risen step by step to a position which com- mands the respect and excites the admiration of all.

Mr. Greene is a native of Otsego county, New York, born March 4, 1819, and his an- cestry can be traced back to the nobility of England. He is of both' English and Welsh descent. One of his ancestors, who belonged to a noble family of England, served in the army of Cromwell. He bore the name of Clark, which he afterward changed to Greene in order to avoid being killed at the time he fled to South Carolina to save his life. He was the possessor of a sword that had been used in eleven pitched battles, and which Na- poleon was to have had as a souvenir. Mem- bers of the Greene family also lived in Rhode Island in early Colonial days, and Nathaniel Greene of Revolutionary fame, who served un- der the immediate command of George Wash- ington, was an own cousin of Silas Greene, the father of our subject.

Silas Greene was sixteen years of age at the time when the war for independence was brought to a close. A short time before the cessation of hostilities, although only a boy, he went as a soldier to Block island, where he was wounded and suffered many hardships. He married Deborah Brown, who also de- scended from one of the old New England families that was established in America early in the seventeenth century. In 1800 they re-

moved to Otsego county, New York, where they spent their remaining days, the father dying at the very advanced age of ninety-two years, while his mother died at the age of eighty years. In the family were twelve chil- dren, of whom three sons are still living, one brother having reached the advanced age of eighty-seven years.

At the age of sixteen Benjamin Greene en- tered upon his business career as teacher of a public school. He had acquired his own edu- cation largely through his own efforts, never attending school but three months after the age of fourteen years, yet he was studious, am- bitious to learn and made the most of his op- portunities. At the age of eighteen he went to the home of a brother in Belvidere, Illinois, where he remained for four years, and then re- turned to New York, where he studied law and taught school until 1846. Seeking a broader field of labor and opportunity he went South and traveled through Mississippi, and not find- ing any suitable situation he returned North by boat up the Mississippi river to Keokuk, Iowa, where he followed the profession of teaching until early in 1849,-the date of his arrival in Adel, which has since been his home. He was among the first settlers in this section of the State, and since that time has been promi- nently identified with the work of develop- ment and progress in Iowa, his name being in- separably connected with the history of this community.

In the fall of 1848, before locating in Adel, Mr. Greene was married, in Van Buren county, Iowa, to Miss Permelia C. Sturgis, who was born in Smyrna, New York. Mrs. Greene is a daughter of A. B. and Emily (Hogland) Stur- gis, both of whom were members of old New York families. £ Five children were born of this marriage and the family circle yet remains unbroken. Ada became the wife of Hon. Wm. S. Russell, of Perry, by whom she has four children; Sturgis H., who is engaged in the practice of law at Portland, Oregon, is mar- ried and has three children; Mary is the wife of John B. White, a prominent attorney of

Col. OMl. J. V.Bowman. Dowman.

RECORD OF IOWA.

Adel; Emma, who married Dr. W. J. Will- iams, of Adel; and Arletta is the wife of George W. Clark, an attorney of Adel.

In January, 1849, Mr. Greene opened a little shop of general merchandise in Adel, the first store in the town, which he conducted for about five years, then sold out. He had pre- viously made a claim to 320 acres of land and purchased a squatter's claim to 320 acres. When he came to Iowa he had no intention of buying land, but here met a recent settler who was so anxious to return East that he told Mr. Greene he might have the land and pay for it when he could. He was finally persuaded to make the purchase, and in later years this property was developed into a beautiful farm and home, where Mr. Greene still resides. As an evidence of the fertility of this land, it is worthy of mention that after forty years of cul- tivation it produced 100 bushels of corn per acre, in 1895! His business interests have ever been managed with excellent ability and his straightforward, honorable dealing has secured him the confidence of all.

In this connection it may be mentioned that Mr. Greene, with others, took a promi- nent and active part in the organization and projection of the railroad running from Wau- kee to Adel, now known as the Des Moines & Northwestern. To this enterprise he gave his best efforts, contributing liberally from his means and was instrumental by his influence in materially adding to the subscription lists, by energetic work among his personal friends and others. These successful efforts so thor- oughly displayed his business capacity and acumen that his associates honored him with the first presidency of the road.

Mr. Greene has also been prominent in public affairs. His political support was given to the Whig party in early life, and he cast his first presidential vote for General Harrison in 1840. On the organization of the Republican party he joined its ranks, voting for John C. Fremont, in 1856. He has since been a stalwart advocate of the party, doing all in his power to promote its growth and in-

sure its success. He has no sympathy with the intrigues of modern politicians, and those who win popularity and support by underhand methods are careful to keep their policies un- known to him. He demands the same honor in political life that he does in a business ca- reer. In 1852 and in 1856 he was elected to the Lower House of the Legislature, and as a statesman fully discharged the trust reposed in him, laboring for the best interests of the gen- eral public. He was also School Fund Com- missioner of Dallas county in an early day, and for several years was president of the school board of the independent district of Adel. The cause of education has ever found in him a stalwart friend. For many years he was president of the board of Supervisors of Dallas county. Other local offices he has filled, with credit to himself and satisfaction to his con- stituents. He is a ripe scholar, who over the field of literature has widely roamed, gather- ing the best that can be culled from the works of authors, both of the past and the present. He is a profound thinker and his decisions are logical and the result of careful deliberation. In all the relations of life he has been an hon- orable, upright gentleman. He never acts ex- cept from honest motives and in all his varied relations in business affairs and in social life he has maintained a character and standing that. has impressed all with his sincere and manly purpose to do by others as he would have others do by him. He is broad and liberal in his opinions of religion, inclining to agnos- ticism, and in his splendid library may be found the works of Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall, Spencer and other advanced thinkers of the past and present.

a OLONEL MARTIN THOMAS V. BOWMAN, one of the well known citi- zens of Des Moines, and manager of the Washington Life Insurance Company, for Iowa, was born in Waterville, Maine, July 6, 1838, and is a son of Thomas and Nancy

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL

(Cottle) Bowman. On his father's side he is of English origin, the first American ancestor having emigrated from England and settled at Martha's Vineyard in the early days of the American colonies. The maternal ancestors of the Colonel came from Scotland long prior to the Revolution and also settled at Martha's Vineyard. For several generations the Bow- man family were seafaring people, but finally abandoned that mode of life, settled in Ken- nebec county, Maine, and devoted their atten- tion to other pursuits.

Thomas Bowman, father of our subject, was a wheelwright by trade, but owned a large farm, which was operated by hired help while he pursued his trade. He removed with his family during the infancy of our subject to Sidney, Maine, but he died a few years later, leaving the mother with eight children, five sons and three daughters. Soon after the death of her husband Mrs. Bowman returned with her family to Waterville, Maine. She kept her children together until they were able to provide for themselves and afforded them excellent educational advantages. Several have become eminent in professional life and do honor to their parents. The eldest son, Dr. Jeremiah Bowman, was a physician of much ability. He practiced for a number of years in Ohio and Virginia and finally settled in Flora, Illinois, where he died a number of years ago. Rev. Agustus Bowman was a Baptist clergyman and spent his entire life in Maine, dying in Hartland some years ago. Rev. C. C., the next younger, is a Freewill Baptist clergyman, residing in Manchester, Maine. Joseph J., a farmer by occupation, resides in Hallowell, Maine, and the Colonel is the youngest of the brothers. The oldest daughter, Julia Ann, is now the widow of Nel- son Bowman and resides at Waterville, Maine. Ada Ann, twin sister of Julia, died at the age of eighteen years. Mrs. Christiana Marshall, now a widow, is residing at Marlborough, Massachusetts. Colonel Bowman received his education in the Waterville and Hallowell Academies, and in his seventeenth year left

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Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 15

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