Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 156

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

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EV. L. B. WICKERSHAM, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Atlantic, Iowa, is a gentleman who holds a warm place in the hearts of the people to whom he ministers, and one who has attained popularity in the lecture field. In this connection a sketch of his life will be interesting, and we are pleased to present the following:

L. B. Wickersham was born September 29, 1856, in Belmont county, Ohio, the son of poor but respected parents, J. and Susana (Bonham) Wickersham, both natives of Ohio; his father a stone-cutter by trade. The Wick- ershams are of English origin. James Wicker- sham, the grandfather of our subject, was born in Ohio and was by occupation a farmer. Great-grandfather Wickersham was a native of Pennsylvania. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Wickersham, Mahlon Bonham, was a na- tive of Ohio, and it is supposed that he was of Scotch-Irish and English descent.

The subject of our sketch was the second son and third-born child in his father's family, and when he was eight years old they moved

from Belmont county to Morgan county, Ohio, where he spent the next ten years of his life, going thence to Morrow county, same State. At the early age of ten years he was hired out to work, and from that time on he earned his own support. After he was twenty-one he worked by the year for A. B. Newson, a prom- inent farmer of Morrow county. . He acquired sufficient knowledge to enable him to teach, and then for four years he taught district school in Morrow county. In 1882 Mr. Wickersham came out to Iowa and loca- ted on a farm in Mills county, and after one year spent in agricultural pursuits here he entered the ministry of the Method- ist Episcopal Church. His first appoint- ment was at Coin, Page county, where he labored most acceptably until 1886, that year being sent to Shenandoah in the same county, and serving as pastor at the latter place five years. His next pastorate was at Grace Church, Des Moines, and in 1893 he came from there to his present charge at At- lantic. The congregation here numbers be- tween six and seven hundred, they have a fine house of worship, and the organization is the strongest in the county. Mr. Wickersham be- gan the study of theology when he was only ten years old and has devoted more or less of his time to it ever since. Since he entered the ministry his work has been characterized by great earnestness and attended with much success. Few ministers, indeed, have in the same length of time accomplished as much as the Rev. Mr. Wickersham; and in addition to his regular pastoral work he has delivered numerous lectures in various places. Among his most popular lectures we note those of "Blighted Childhood," "Young People in Society," "The Marvels of a Good Book," " Day Dreams," and " What Are You Going To Do About It?" As a speaker he is original, impressive and at times eloquent, and he possesses to a marked degree that peculiar power called personal magnetism.

Mr. Wickersham was married in 1878 to Miss Rosella Kelly, a native of Morrow county,

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Ohio, born January 4, 1856, the fourth in the family of six children of John and Cristia Kelly. Mr. and Mrs. Wickersham have five children, - Wade, Grace, Jessie, Joyce and Chase.

EORGE STONE TRACY, County Attorney of Des Moines county, Iowa, was born and reared in Burlington and is a son of one of Burlington's pioneers, a man who for many years occupied a leading place among its best citizens.

Mr. Tracy's parents, Joshua and Antoinette (Stone) Tracy, were natives of Ohio and New York, respectively, and in their family were seven children, six of whom are living, viz .: Samuel K., general solicitor of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad; Ellen T., wife of Henry C. Garrett, cashier of Mert's National Bank; Lucy D., wife of W. P. Brady, general agent for the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad, at Cedar Rapids; George S., whose name heads this article; Sada A., wife of Dudley A. Tyng, a grain merchant of Chicago; and Frank J., billing clerk for the above mentioned railroad at Bur- lington. The honored father, Joshua Tracy, was, as already stated, a native of Ohio, his birth having occurred in Belmont county, July 12, 1825, on his father's frontier farın, his parents being among the early settlers of the Western Reserve, where were spent the first nineteen years of his life. He was educated at Beverly College, Ohio, and in the institute of Prof. Samuel L. Howe, at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and in 1846 came west to Iowa, and from 1850 until the time of his death, May 18, 1884, he made his home in Burlington. Here he was for years engaged in the practice of law, and was repeatedly honored by high offi- cial position. He was City Solicitor in 1853; was a member of the State Legislature in 1854; was District Attorney from 1858 until 1869; was appointed District Judge to fill a vacancy in 1869, was elected to the same office the following year, and filled it until the spring

of 1874, when he resigned; was president of the Burlington & Southwestern Railroad for some years, later was general solicitor of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Rail- road, and from 1880 until the time of his death was president of the last named company. From a Burlington paper, published shortly after he died, we clip the following paragraph:

"Judge Tracy was universally admired for the many excellencies of his character, his in- tegrity, generosity and geniality. A man whose word was as good as his bond, of the strictest integrity, conscientious and fearless in the dis- charge of that which he believed to be his duty, with a keen sense of justice and honor, Judge Tracy merited that high regard in which the people of Burlington have held him during his residence of thirty years in this city. Chari- tableness was one of the cardinal traits of his character and he was generous to a fault. Though strong in his prejudices, he entertained respect for the opinion of others. He was an affectionate husband and at his home his friends were ever welcome. Every wish of the family was gratified and those who were his guests were the recipients of a lavish hospitality. He was a citizen that Burlington can ill afford to lose. "

Mrs. Tracy is still living and resides with her sons at the old homestead. Her father, Col. Hiram A. Stone, was a native of Albany, New York, and belonged to the Knickerbocker stock. He came out to Iowa at an early day, locating near Washington, in Washington coun- ty, and was for years engaged in farming. Also at one time he served as County Sheriff. He died in middle life. Mrs. Tracy is a member of the Presbyterian Church, of which her honored hus- band also was for years a prominent and active member. From this brief glimpse of his parentage, we turn now to a personal sketch of the son, George S., who has chosen his father's profession and who has entered upon a career which promises to be one of great usefulness.

Mr. George S. Tracy was born in Burling- ton, October 27, 1861. His education was

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received in the schools of this city, at Burling- ton University, and at Notre Dame University in Indiana, he being a graduate of the last named institution with the class of 1881. Then he entered the law department of the State University of Iowa, and in June, 1883, was admitted to the bar. ' He began practicing in Burlington at once, has practiced here ever since, and has attained a professional standing of which many an older lawyer might be justly proud. He was appointed Deputy County Attorney January 5, 1891, under Judge James D. Smythe, now District Judge, and in April, 1891, to the office of County Attorney, Judge Smythe having resigned when appointed to the District Bench. In the fall of 1891 he was elected to the office, and has since filled it most efficiently, having been twice re-elected, in 1892 and in 1894. He takes an active in- terest in political affairs, affiliating with the Democratic party. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church.

H. GIBSON, whose abiding place is on a farm in section 22, of Baker township, Guthrie county, Iowa, and whose post-office address is Guthrie Center, is ranked with the prominent early settlers of this county, the date of his arrival here being 1856.

Mr. Gibson is a native of La Salle county, Illinois, born September 10, 1855. David Gibson, his father, was born on the Emerald Isle, a son of Scotch-Irish parents, and when quite young came to America and settled in La Salle county, Illinois. There he was united in marriage to Mrs. Elizabeth (Hickley) Her- rington, a native of Greene county, New York, and the widow of John Herrington. By her first husband she had four children, -Eunice, Darwin, Wilber and Henrietta. David Gib- son died in 1849, while in California. He left three children, of whom we make record as follows: William Stanley, born in 1845, is now living on a farm of 120 acres near Guthrie Cen- ter; Ellen, wife of James Londales, lives in 62

Morrison, Minnesota; and G. H., whose name heads this sketch. Of William Stanley we would further record that during the Civil war he served as a Union soldier in the Fourth Iowa Infantry, and at Dallas, Georgia, lost his right arm. After the father's death the wid- owed mother and her little children continued their residence in Illinois until 1856, when they came to Iowa and settled in Bear Grove township, Guthrie county. Here she died, February 27, 1876, at the age of sixty-eight years. She was a kind and loving mother, an excellent Christian woman, and her religious creed was that of the Baptist Church.

At the time the Gibson family removed to Iowa Mr. G. H. Gibson was a small boy, and here he was reared with no better advantages than his widowed mother could afford her lit- tle family in a frontier State. Early in life he learned the trade of blacksmith, working with William Warrington, an old settler of Guthrie Center, and a Mr. McCool, now a resident of Nebraska. He was employed in work at this trade for twelve years before he was married, and has worked at it at intervals ever since. His farm, which comprises 120 acres, was first settled by J. C. Hupp, and is under a fair state of cultivation and improvement. Mason creek traverses it, and thus furnishes an abund- ance of water for stock purposes.

Mr. Gibson was married April 19, 1877, at Guthrie Center to Miss Persis Jarvis, a native of St. Lawrence county, New York, born near Potsdam, a daughter of Sumner and Hannah (Miles) Jarvis. Her parents were respected farmers, were members of the Baptist Church, and passed their lives and died in St. Lawrence county, her father dying October 7, 1866, at the age of fifty-eight years; her mother, in Au- gust, 1889, at the age of seventy-three years. Mr. and Mrs. Jarvis had ten children: Har- riet, Henry, Edwin, Lydia, Laura, Mary, Emily, Albert, Persis and Charlie. Charlie died at the age of twenty-one. Mr. and Mrs. Gibson have five children, their names being Marshall, Henry, Irene, Francis and Grover.

Mr. Gibson is politically a Democrat. He

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is a man of broad and liberal views in religious and educational matters, is frank and cordial in manner, and has many friends.

0 K. HASTINGS, one of the well- known and honored farmers of Lu- cas county, Iowa, is numbered among the early settlers of this community, and his life is one that silences the voice of criticism. He has prospered in his business, and his honorable dealing has commanded the confidence of all with whom he has come in contact; in private life his course has been frank and open, and no one more richly de- serves the esteein of their fellow citizens of Lucas county than the subject of this review.

A native of Ohio, he was born on the 16th of July, 1843, in Canal Winchester, Franklin county, and descends from one of the old families of New England. His grandfather, William H. Hastings, removed from Vermont to Ohio in pioneer days and acquired title to a tract of Government land in the midst of the forest where he developed a farm. He was a local preacher in the United Brethren Church, and his life was an upright, noble one. He died on his Ohio farm when about seventy years of age. In the family were eleven chil- dren, but Rev. Royal Hastings, the father of our subject, was the only son. He was a native of the Green Mountain State and was a child of only four years when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Ohio. He was reared among the wild scenes of the frontier and his educational privileges were those afforded in the primitive log school-houses of the time with their crude furnishings and almost as crude instruction. He was always a great reader, however, and became anexcellently well informed man. When he had arrived at man's estate he was made pastor of the church which his father attended, and even before he had completed his 'teens he was a circuit rider in the wilds of Ohio. For many years he preached in rude cabins wherever he could get

an audience and exerted a wonderful influence for good. His experience was not unlike that described in Edward Eggleston's story of the "Circuit Rider." In 1853 he removed to Wis- consin, settling in the woods where the Indians and wild animals were the chief inhabitants, and where he bought 320 acres of land. His property, however, proved to be a sandy tract of little value, and in 1859 he left Wisconsin and came to Iowa. After a short residence in Johnson county, he removed to Linn county and in 1873 took up his residence in Lucas county. The following year he was killed in a runaway in Carroll, Iowa, while holding re- vival services there. He was at the time sixty-four years of age. He was a man of strong physique, a powerful speaker, and for forty years was actively engaged in the work of the ministry. During the Abolition move- ment his home was a station on the famous " underground railroad " and through his as- sistance many a negro was enabled to make his way from slavery to freedom in Canada. He joined the Republican party at its organ- ization and continued a stanch adherent of its principles throughout the remainder of his life. The poor, the needy and distressed always found in him a friend, and his death was widely and deeply mourned.

Mr. Hastings was united in marriage, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Miss Caroline Gabrielson, whose father was a native of Sweden. She still survives her husband and is now a resi- dent of West Branch, Iowa, having reached the age of seventy-four years. The following is a brief record of their children: Electa Eunice, deceased, was the wife of J. E. How- ley; William H., who served his country in the Civil war, serving three years as a member of the Twenty-second Iowa Infantry, partici- pating in nine engagements and wounded at Vicksburg; he is now a banker at West Branch, Iowa; Daniel K. is the next younger; Roy Eugene, deceased, was a resident of Carroll, Iowa, was an able writer, for fifteen years the editor of the Carroll Herald and Postmaster at that place fifteen years. His son Edward is

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now the Presbyterian minister of Chatsworth, Illinois.

The boyhood days of our subject were mostly passed in frontier settlements in Ohio and Wisconsin. He was fortunate in his home training, having the careful guidance of most worthy Christian parents. Having attended the common schools he pursued a college course in Linn county, Iowa. Since May, 1873, he has been a resident of Lucas county, and at that time purchased 120 acres of his present farm; but to this he has added from time to time, as his financial resources have in- creased, until he now owns 409 acres of rich and cultivable land. This has been divided into fields of convenient size, which yield to him a golden tribute in return for the care and labor he bestows upon them. He has one of the most attractive farms in this locality. In 1890 he erected a handsome residence, at a cost of $2,000. It is tastefully arranged, with a view to both comfort and beauty, and its furnishings at once indicate the refined and cultured taste of the inmates. Under the house is a large rock-walled cellar. The house stands on a gentle elevation in the midst of a pretty lawn, and is a most delightful home. Mr. Hasting's barn, 40 x 50 feet in dimensions, with twenty-foot posts, was built at a cost of $1,250, and is one of the best barns in the county. He has also a tenement house and a smaller barn on his farm. A fine orchard and grove add to the value and attractive appear- ance of the place, and the whole is one of the delightful country homes of Lucas county.

On the 30th of March, 1873, in Johnson county, Iowa, was consummated the marriage of Mr. Hastings and Miss Louisa Arnold, a lady of culture and refinement and a member of one of the representative families of Johnson county. Her father, Cornelius Arnold, was born and reared in Germany, and at the age of twenty-one emigrated to America, settling in Ohio, where at the age of twenty-seven years he married Margaret Schigh. They came to Iowa at an early day and settled on Govern- ment land in Johnson county, where the

mother died in 1883, at the age of fifty-eight years. Mr. Arnold has now reached the age of seventy-eight years. He has been a successful business man and in politics is a supporter of Republican principles. Their children were Magdalena, Margaret, Mary, Louisa (Mrs. Hastings), Henry, a promi- nent attorney of Manchester, Iowa; Sada, Min- nie and Cornelius, a resident of Holstein, Iowa.

The cause of education finds in Mr. Hast- ings a warm friend and for seventeen years he has served as Treasurer of the School Board. He is also an advocate of Republicanism and socially is connected with the Masonic frater- nity. In all the relations of life he is honora- ble and upright, and is justly entitled to the respect and esteem which he receives from his fellow citizens.

J ACOB MITCHELL, an honored vete- ran of the late war and a represent- ative farmer of Dallas county, is a na- tive of the Buckeye State, his birth having occurred in Adams county, on the 28th of January, 1831. His parents, John and Mary (Lyon) Mitchell, were natives of Penn- sylvania, and having resided in Ohio for some years they determined to follow the tide of human emigration, which was steadily flowing westward, and in the fall of 1851 arrived in Iowa with a family of seven children. The journey was made across the country by team, and they located near the city of Des Moines, where they remained for about a year. Our subject had come to the State in 1850. The parents removed to Dallas county, in 1852, and securing wild land opened up a new farm on which they spent their remaining days, the father devoting his time and attention to the cultivation and improvement of his land. There his death occurred when about eighty years of age, and the mother was called to the eternal home when eighty-five years of age.

The subject of this review, Jacob Mitchell, has been a resident of Iowa for forty-five

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years, and therefore deserves mention among its honored pioneers. He not only deserves credit for what he has done for his county and State, for during the Civil war he went to the defense of the Union. When Southern re- bellion threatened the destruction of the Union that had its origin July 4, 1776, he offered his services to the Government, and on the 9th of August, 1862, joined Conpany C, Thirty- ninth Iowa Infantry, with which he served for almost three years. When the war happily ended in the country's safety, he received an honorable discharge at Clinton, Iowa.

In his political views Mr. Mitchell is a Re- publican, and socially he is connected with Clingman Post, G. A. R., of Minburn, Iowa. As a citizen, he is as true to his duties in times of peace as when he joined the army to defend the starry banner and the cause it represented.

0 R. CHARLES H. HUNT, a popular, successful and able dentist, of Oel- wein, Iowa, was born in Utica, New York, October 9, 1837, descending from a family of English origin. His paternal grandparents were Andrew and Anna (McDou- gal) Hunt, and their son, Dr. Jeremiah Hunt, was the father of our subject. He was born near Albany, New York, October 19, 1813, and in early life studied medicine, becoming a regular practitioner. He was graduated at the medical college at Herkimer, New York, and began practice in Utica, that State, but his progressive views and desire for advancement led him to investigate the new theories and practices of homeopathy. Ultimately he at- tended the Cleveland Homeopathic School, completed the course at that institution, and was ever afterward a pronounced advocate of the new system. His next place of residence was in Syracuse, New York, where he prose- cuted his chosen profession for several years, then removed with his family to McGregor, Iowa, in 1870, making his home there until his death, which occurred September 19, 1881. He married Julia A. Kimball, who was born

in New York February 13, 1815, and survived him ten years, passing away in McGregor June 9, 1891. In December following their remains were removed from the cemetery at McGregor and transferred to the old family burying-ground in Syracuse, New York.

Dr. and Mrs. Hunt had a family of three children, of whom Charles H., of this review, is the eldest. William, the second, enlisted for service in the Union army, and was shot at Petersburg, a poisoned ball entering the right knee, following along the bone and enter- ing the body. He died in August, 1865, in the Chesapeake hospital, and was buried in the family cemetery at Syracuse, New York. Alfred O., the youngest, was one of the found- ers of the Iowa Dental College, of Iowa City, and has served as dean of the institution since its establishment, in 1885. He was married to Miss Maria Church, a native of New York, and they reside in Iowa City.

Dr. Hunt, of this review, acquired his pre- liminary education in the public schools near his home, and then entered the Cooperstown College, of Cooperstown, New York, at which he was graduated with the class of 1853. Dur- ing that time he was a schoolmate of Roscoe Conkling. He then entered the dental office of Dr. H. R. White and studied dentistry, practicing at the same time. He further fitted himself for his chosen calling by his attendance at the dental college of Onondaga, New York, at which institution he was graduated in 1854, with the degree of D. D. S. He then opened an office of his own in Utica, New York, where he remained for four years, when he removed to McGregor, Iowa, continuing at that point until 1890. He next engaged in practice in Waukon, Iowa, and since 1894 has been estab- lished in business in Oelwein. He is one of the most efficient and capable members of the profession in this part of the State, and keeps fully abreast with the rapid strides in the di- rection of perfecting their art made by the profession. His genial, social manner has made him friends in the various places where he has pursued his profession, and he is now a popu-

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lar and highly esteemed citizen of Oelwein. In his political faith he is a Democrat, and he and his wife attend the services of the Episco- pal Church.

On the 3d of November, 1890, Dr. Hunt was united in marriage with Miss Cora Cleve- land, a native of Monona, Clayton county, Iowa, born October 8, 1873, the only daughter of Oscar and Mary (Snell) Cleveland. She is a graduate of the public schools of Monona, and a cultured, intelligent lady. By her mar- riage she has become the mother of one child, -Freddie C.,-born in Postville, Iowa, May 10, 1892.

3 AMES R. MORTIMER .- Among the prosperous farmers and self-made men of Boone township, Dallas county, Iowa, is found the gentleman with whose name we are pleased to introduce this sketch.

Mr. Mortimer is a native of the Old Do- minion and is a descendant of English ances- tors. He was born August 25, 1844, on his father's farm in Virginia, the ninth in the family of the ten children of Walter and Mary (Bladen) Mortimer. Walter Mortimer was a native of Virginia, the son of English parents, and was reared to farm life. He gave the most of his children a liberal education; but schooling in those days had to be paid for in Virginia, and by the time James R., who was next to the youngest of the large family, was old enough to send to school, Mr. Mortimer felt too poor to defray his expenses; and thus it happened that when the subject of our sketch should have been in school he was at home engaged in farm work. At the age of nineteen he left the old home and went to Pennsylvania. Near Pittsburg he obtained employment as a farın hand, remained there thus occupied two years, and then came out to Iowa, locating first in Madison county, where he rented land and farmed the same one year. Then he came to Dallas county, where he purchased forty acres of choice land on section 3, of Boone township, to which he has

added by subsequent purchase until his farm now comprises 133 acres, all well improved and under a high state of cultivation. His comfortable and attractive residence is located on the original forty. Waukee is the nearest town and his post-office address. He is lo- cated convenient to school and church, and on the whole his place is indeed a desirable one.

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Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 156

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