Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 160

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

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Superintendent Dick was married at Le Grande, Iowa, August 30, 1888, to Miss Dora L. Dobson, a native of Tama county, Iowa, and a daughter of Sumner and Mary Etta

(Allen) Dobson, her parents having been early settlers of Tamna county, where her father en- tered land from the Government forty years ago. Mrs. Dick was educated in the public schools of Le Grande and is a cultured and highly esteemed lady. They have three chil- dren: Robert Irving, born June 24, 1890; Mary Vazelle, August 9, 1893; and Margaret, August 9, 1895.

Mr. Dick was reared in the faith of the Presbyterian Church, his wife of the Society of Friends, but both are now members of the Methodist Church. He is an active worker in church and Sunday-school, and does all in his power to promote the best interests of the community. In politics he is a stalwart Re- publican but not a bitter partisan.

J 'OHN CORNELIS BROEKSMIT .- The best justification of our republican government lies in the fact that young men of other lands seeking homes in America have opportunity to demonstrate the power they possess, and, equally with the na- tive-born sons of the country, work their way upward by diligence, earnest effort and perse- verance, unhampered by the caste system which prevail in the old countries and which is certainly detrimental to the development of talent. Coming to this country Mr. Broek- smit won recognition by his merit and has worked his way upward until he holds to-day the responsible position of auditor of the Bur- lington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad. His life has been an eventful and interesting one, and integrity, activity and energy have been the crowning points of his success. Such a career is well worthy of perpetuation on the pages of Iowa's history, and with pleasure we present this sketch to our readers.

Mr. Broeksmit was born in the city of Zier- ikzee, Holland, on the 25th of January, 1825, and is a son of Adrian F. and Gertrude (De Zwitzer) Broeksmit, also natives of Holland. His ancestors have for many generations re- sided in that country. His father was a mer-

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chant, dealing in grain and mnadder, the latter a commodity which has now fallen into disuse owing to the introduction of chemical dye- stuffs, but which fifty years ago was in great demand all over the world.

Under the parental roof Mr. Broeksmit spent his boyhood days, and the public schools of the neighborhood afforded him his early edu- cational privileges. Subsequently he entered the French Institute, where he studied engi- neering, algebra, the higher mathematics and the French language. His business train- ing was received in his father's counting room, where he remained between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one years. During this time he became attracted by the reports which he heard of the United States and the advan- tages here afforded, and resolved to try his fortune in the New World. In 1847 he sailed for New York, arriving in the eastern metrop- olis after a voyage of several weeks, for it was not yet the era of steam navigation. In his native land he had demonstrated his ability as a young man of excellent capacity for business, possessing energy and sound judgment, and was given several letters of recommendation; but he was unfamiliar with the English language and it was therefore difficult to ob- tain a situation where his services would prove of any material value.

Failing to obtain employment in New York he went to Boston and secured a situation in the office of Thomas H. Dixon & Son, import- ers and ship-owners, located at No. 41 India Wharf. The senior member of this firm was Consul General of the Netherlands for the State of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Maine. He took a personal inter- est in our subject, having received a letter from the mayor of Zierikzee, urging him to assist the young man and assuring him that Mr. Broeksmit was worthy of any trust. During the two years that he remained with that firm our subject gained the mastery of mercantile methods in America, and also learned to speak, read and write the English language. His next position made him assistant bookkeeper

for the firm of George W. Warren & Company, extensive dealers in dry goods, doing both a wholesale and retail business. From 1854 until 1857 he was bookkeeper in the Nahant Hotel near Boston, and then traveled south- ward, his object being a desire to see the country.

Making his way to New Orleans, Mr. Broeksmit became chief clerk for Samuel Van Loon, master mechanic of the New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern Railroad, in Louis- iana. He occupied that position until the breaking out of the Civil war in 1861. It happened that at that time a vessel of his own country lay in port at the Crescent City, the only ship flying the colors of that nation that had entered the harbor of New Orleans for twenty-three years. It was ready to start on the return trip to Holland, and Mr. Broeksmit, feeling a strong desire to visit his native land, became one of its passengers and thirty-two days later reached his old home.

In that country Mr. Broeksmit continued railroad work, being employed in various ca- pacities and stationed at various places, includ- ing Breda and Zutphen. After a time he secured a clerkship for the railroad commis- sion, having in charge the construction and operation of the railroads in the Dutch East Indies, for which he sailed and saw service on the Islands of Java, Batavia and Sumarang. There he witnessed the ceremonials attending the building of the first railroad, and saw the first spade stuck into the ground for the rail- roads of that island by Baron Sloet Van de Beele, Governor General of the Netherlands Indies. Subsequently our subject returned to his native land, where he spent a part of the year 1867.

America, however, had won his love and he determined to again identify his interests with this country. Accordingly, in 1868, he ouce more crossed the Atlantic and made his way to Chicago, where, through the instru- mentality of George P. Lee, treasurer of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company, he obtained the appointment of station agent

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at Cleveland, Illinois, where large coal mines of the company were located. Subsequently he was transferred to Coal Valley, Illinois, and later became agent of the Davenport & St. Paul Railroad under Hon. Hiram Price at Maquoketa, Iowa. In 1871 he was promoted to the position of assistant auditor of the Bur- lington, Cedar Rapids & Minnesota Railroad and removed to Cedar Rapids, where he has since made his home. Two years later he was appointed auditor of the same road, and on its reorganization in 1876, when it became known as the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad, his services were retained in the same capacity. He yet holds that position, but his duties are far inore extensive and important, owing to the growth of the road. His position is indeed a responsible one, but he is fully capable of handling and managing its interests. That he has won and merited in the fullest ex- tent the confidence of the railroad officials is demonstrated by his long continuance in this office, and his uniform courtesy and fairness to the employees under him has also gained their genuine respect.

Turning from the public to the private life of Mr. Broeksmit, we chronicle the event of his marriage, which was celebrated in 1873, the lady of his choice being Miss Laura Shaw, daughter of John Shaw, of Maquoketa, Iowa. She is a member by descent of an old New England family, members of which participated with distinction in the Revolutionary war. Four children have been born in their family, -Gertrude, Eugene, Helen and John.

Mr. Broeksmit is pre-eminently a public- spirited citizen, devoted to the welfare of his adopted country and to the upbuilding of his community. He has been an important factor in advancing several business enterprises of im- portance in Cedar Rapids, and is now a di- rector of the Merchants' National Bank, and secretary of the Cedar Rapids Water Com- pany. The cause of education finds in him a stalwart champion, and he is treasurer of Coe College, which institution owes not a little of its advancement and success to his well di-

rected efforts in its behalf. He is a consistent member and active worker in the Presbyterian Church, and is president of the board of trus- tees of the Young Men's Christian Association. He votes with the Republican party, and though he has never sought or desired office he takes an interest in political affairs, as every true American citizen should do. His career has been one of honorable methods and while it has won him prominence and success he has gained the respect and esteem of a large circle of warm friends, while he is a man of very genial and social nature.

EORGE FAUCETTE McDOWELL, M. D., who is engaged in the practice of medicine in Clear Lake, as a rep- resentative of the regular school, is one of the worthy sons of the Empire State, his birth having occurred on a farm in Steuben county, New York, June 9, 1846. His parents were Andrew J. and Mary (Behan) McDowell, the former born in Reading township, Schuyler county, New York, January 30, 1819, the lat- ter in Seneca county, New York, May 3, 1820. The family is of Scotch and Irish origin. The grandfather of our subject, Andrew J. Mc- Dowell, was born in the north of Ireland, but in childhood came to America and here mar- ried a lady of Pennsylvania birth. The battle of Bemis Heights, or Saratoga, was fought on the farm of Mr. Bemis, one of the great-great- grandfathers of our subject on his father's side. The family, long established in America, was prominently connected with public affairs in New York, and its representatives have ever been loyal and devoted citizens.

In early life the Doctor's father acquired a good education, and followed agricultural pur- suits. He was married in New York, but in 1846, during the early infancy of our subject, who is the third in a family of eight children, removed with his family to Genesee county, Michigan, where he purchased a farm of 200 acres, and successfully continued its cultivation. After the breaking out of the Civil war, he of-

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fered his services to his country in defense of the Union, and enlisted at Flushing, Michigan, in 1861, as a member of Company C, Six- teenth Michigan Infantry. This was known as Stockton's regiment, and under the com- mand of Colonel Stockton went to the front. In 1863 Mr. McDowell 'was discharged on ac- count of ill health, and returning to his home resumed farming. His death occurred in New York, in 1893, but his widow is still living on the old homestead. All of the children yet survive and are named as follows: Jane, Harry, George F., Sarah, Frank, Fannie, Aurelia and Alice.

The Doctor supplemented his preliminary education acquired in the common schools by a course in the high school of Flint, Michigan, where he remained for two and a half years. He afterward engaged in teaching school for five terms and then entered the Michigan Uni- versity, at which institution he was graduated on the completion of the medical course with the class of 1869. He at once began practice in Parshallville, Michigan, but in September following removed to Black Hawk county, Iowa, and in January, 1870, came to Clear Lake, where he still resides. He is now es- tablished in an excellent practice, which is remunerative and attests his skill and ability. He has been a close and thorough student of his profession, of progressive methods and ad- vanced ideas and ranks high with both the public and his medical brethren. The Doctor is at the present writing second vice-president of the Iowa Public Health Association, a posi- tion which he has lield for two years. He is also a member and one of the five trustees of the Iowa State Medical Society, and is identi- fied with the American Medical Association and the local organization known as the Austin Flint Medical Society.

On the 4th of December, 1871, was cele- brated the marriage of Dr. McDowell and Miss Alice Rosecrans, a daughter of Judge M. P. and Lucy (Green) Rosecrans. She is also a cousin of General Rosecrans. One child graces this union, Pearl, who was born in Clear

Lake, June 11, 1876. Having graduated at the high school of this place she afterward spent one year in the Rockford Female Col- lege, of Rockford, Illinois, and has now en- tered upon her second year as a student in the Musical College of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The home of the family is a beautiful resi- dence, which was erected at a cost of $6,000. In addition to this the Doctor owns considera- ble other property in Clear Lake, and has 400 acres of valuable farming land. In politics he has been a Democrat, but his views are not now altogether in harmony with the policy of the party. He has served as Township Clerk and in other local offices and for four terms ac- ceptably and creditably filled the office of Mayor. For more than a decade past he has been a member and president of the Board of Education of his school district, maintaining a lively interest in the cause of education and doing all in his power to promote the same.

3 ONATHAN HODSON KERSEY, M.D. -The subject of this sketch, Dr. Ker- sey, of Stuart, Iowa, is the oldest prac- ticing physician of Guthrie county. He is of Hoosier birth and of pure Scotch descent, and in him are found well developed many of the sterling traits of character which distin- guished his worthy ancestors and their coun- trymen. Both as a leading physician and rep- resentative citizen he is entitled to specific mention in this work, and the following facts in regard to his life and ancestry have been gleaned for publication :

Jonathan H. Kersey was born in Hendricks county, Indiana, September 11, 1840, son of Dr. James and Elizabeth (Hodson) Kersey, natives of North Carolina, the former born January 2, 1801, and the latter February 12, 1806. Grandfather Ainos Kersey was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, and when a young man came over to America, settling first in South Carolina and later in North Carolina. He married Elizabeth Wilson, like himself, a na- tive of Scotland, and as the years passed by

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there were born to them seven sons and four daughters, all of whom grew to maturity. Both he and his wife lived to a good old age, he be- ing ninety at the time of death and she eighty- seven. He was a planter in the Carolinas, and also a trader, and traveled over much of the South and also in the East. On his father's farm Dr. James Kersey passed his early life, receiving a good education and for some time being engaged in teaching school, and in the meantime he took up the study of medicine. In 1821 he moved to Hendricks county, Indi- ana, which was at that time alınost a wilder- ness, Indians and wild animals being its chief inhabitants. Indianapolis was his nearest town. He was a physician of the regular school, was a graduate of a Cincinnati medical college, and for many years practiced over a wide extent of territory, responding as readily to the calls of the poor as to those of the rich; and he not only gave medicine to the poor, but he also gave many a sack of flour where he knew it was needed; and while he gave much away, he also accumulated a good property and provided well for his family. He reached the advanced age of eighty-five years. During the years immediately preceding the Civil war he was strong in his support of the anti-slavery movement, and was connected with the "Un- derground Railroad." He was a stanch Whig and later a Republican, and always took an active interest in political matters, but never had any official aspirations, as his time was wholly taken up with his professional duties. Religiously, he was a member of the Society of Friends.

The mother of our subject, nee Elizabeth Hodson, was a daughter of Jesse and Mary (Ellis) Hodson, natives of Ayrshire, Scotland, who, like the Kerseys, moved to this country in early life and settled in the Carolinas. It was in Carolina that Dr. James Kersey and Elizabeth Hodson were married. She died in Indiana in 1872. In their family were ten children, eight of whom grew up, namely: Jesse, who died unmarried; Abigail, deceased wife of Peter Elliott; James, a farmer of Hen-

dricks county, Indiana; Mary, deceased wife of Abraham Williamson; Isaac, a capitalist of Bedford, Iowa, is a veteran of the Civil war, having served as a member of the Seventy- second Indiana Regiment; Jonathan H., whose name introduces this article; Amos, an Indiana farmer, who served in the Twenty-seventh In- diana Regiment during the late war; and Ezra, a member of the Fifty-fourth Indiana Regi- ment, was killed at Vicksburg.

Dr. Kersey was reared on a farm, and had the benefit of good educational advantages. He attended high school and also Asbury Uni- versity at Greencastle, and on leaving school in 1861 entered the Union ranks, enlisting as a member of Company K, Twenty-first Indi- ana Regiment, with the fortunes of which he was connected until the close of the war, having veteranized in 1864. During the last two years of his service he was in the medical depart- ment, acting as Assistant Surgeon. He was a participant in many of the prominent engage- ments of the South, a detailed account of which would cover much of the history of that san- guinary struggle. Suffice it to say that he ever acted the part of a brave, true soldier, and that he came out of the army with a record of which he should be justly proud.

At the close of the war he returned to his home in Indiana, and soon after went to New York city and took a course in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, graduating there in 1866. A year later he moved out to Iowa and settled at Redfield, and in 1872, about the time the railroad was built to Stuart, he moved to this place, and here he has ever since re- sided. Soon he established a good practice, which he has retained and increased through- out the years, and, as already stated, he is now the oldest physician in the county. Dur- ing his early career here he made many long drives, his practice extending over a wide extent of territory. Dr. Kersey has one of the finest medical libraries in the State of Iowa. He has taken some post-graduate courses in medicine, keeps himself well posted in everything per- taining to his profession, and is in every re-

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spect fully up with the times. During his prac- tice here he has performed many difficult sur- gical operations, and his whole career has been one marked by signal success. For twenty years he has been surgeon for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad. He is a mem- ber of the American Association of Railway Surgeons, and the County, State and National Medical Associations.

Dr. Kersey was married in 1866 to Miss Anna J. Benbow, daughter of William and Hannah Benbow. She died in 1870, leaving one son, William E., now a lawyer at Stuart, Iowa. For his second wife Dr. Kersey mar- ried, in 1873, Miss Addie E. Cressey, daugh- ter of William Cressey, and a native of Bel- fast, Maine. They have two children, Ida Grace and James E.

Politically the Doctor acts with the Repub- lican party; socially he is connected with the following organizations: A. F. & A. M., I. O. O. F., G. A. R., I. O. R. M., and I. of L. H .; and religiously he is a Congregationalist. As a writer he has attained considerable note. His works, both poetry and prose, find their way into many of the leading periodicals of the day, and are widely read.

Such, in brief, is a review of the life of one of Guthrie county's most respected citizens.

EORGE METZGER, who holds the responsible position of custodian of the public buildings and grounds of the capitol of Des Moines, was born in Rhine, Bavaria, Germany, near Meinz, April 19, 1845, and is a son of Anthony and Elizabeth (Stiechter) Metzger, both of whom were natives of Germany, and came to America in 1850. Their only child is our subject. They located in Troy, New York, and the father, who had been a manufacturer of pianos and organs in Germany, dealt in general musical merchandise in Troy. He there made his home until his death, which occurred on the 20th of April, 1869, at the age of fifty-six years. His wife still survives him and has now

reached the age of sixty-nine. The paternal grandfather, Joseph Anthony Metzger, spent his entire life in Germany, and reared a family of four sons. He was a military man and was killed by being thrown from a horse. The ma- ternal grandfather, Ignatz Stiechter, came to America in 1850, and resided in Troy, New York, until 1859, when he became a resident of Scott county, Iowa, where he carried on farming until his death on the 19th of April, 1880, at the age of about eighty-one years. He was a large man, rather fleshy and had the genial and gentle disposition which so fre- quently accompanies that physical build. His family numbered four daughters and one son.

George Metzger, whose name introduces this review, was reared in Troy, New York, acquiring there his literary education, and during his boyhood he learned the manu- facture of musical instruments, since which time he has been connected with some of the largest factories of the kind in America. He was engaged in that line of business until April, 1894, when he was appointed to the position of custodian of public buildings and grounds from Scott county, Iowa, where he has lived for twenty-six years. He still retains his resi- dence in Davenport, where he is indirectly en- gaged in business as a music dealer.

On the 8th of August, 1862, Mr. Metzger responded to the call of his adopted country for aid in crushing out the rebellion, enlisting in the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth New York Infantry, in which he served until the close of the war. At the battle of Gettysburg he was wounded in the forehead over the left eye and also on top of the head. He was in General Hancock's corps and participated in twenty- four battles, including the engagements of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, and every engagement in which the Army of the Potomac took part from Antie- tam to Appomattox. He was always found at his post of duty, faithfully defending the old flag and the cause it represented. When the war was over and his services were no longer needed, Mr. Metzger returned to the north

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and was engaged in business with his father until the latter's death, when in 1869 he came to Iowa and has since lived at Davenport.

On the Ist of August, 1864, Mr. Metzger was united in marriage with Miss Sarah E. Coon, daughter of Jeremiah and Maria (Reicht- myer) Coon. Nine children have been born of this union, six sons and three daughters: George Lincoln, Sarah E., Robert I., John H., Carl Eugene, Eugene Carl, Josephine, Mabel and Elmer. Of this number Carl Eugene, Eugene, Josephine and Elmer are all deceased.

Mr. Metzger is a member of the order of Knights of Pythias, the Grand Army of the Republic and the Modern Woodmen of the the World. In politics he is a Republican, and displays the same loyalty to his adopted country in the days of peace as he did in the hours of war, when he faithfully followed the old flag until it was victoriously planted in the capital of the Southern Confederacy. In man- ner he is pleasant and genial and has a host of warm friends.

DAM HAFNER .- A fact of which due recognition is not usually accord- ed in connection with the industrial history of the West is that to no for- eign element is its present due in so large a measure as to those who have had their na- tivity in or trace their lineage to the great em- pire of Germany. Among those who left the Fatherland to identify themselves with Amer- ican life and institutions, who have pushed their way to the front and are a credit alike to the land of their birth and that of their adop- tion, is Adam Hafner, the well-known Alder- man of Des Moines, who has so long promi- nently and honorably been connected with the public life of this city.

Adam Hafner was born in Kurhessen, Ger- many, on the 4th of November, 1837, a son of Christopher and Elizabeth (Mai) Hafner. In 1852 the family emigrated to the United States. It was before the day of steam navi- gation, when the tedious voyage across the At-

lantic was made in a sailing vessel, and the Hafner family, with their fellow passengers spent fifty-two days upon the water, on the ship Gunsbery, at length reaching the harbor of New York. After spending eighteen months in the old Knickerbocker city, they removed to Flatbush, New York, locating on a farm, where they remained until 1855, when they came West, the parents locating permanently in Mckean county, Pennsylvania. The mother died there in 1863, and the father, surviving her for thirty-one years, still lives there, now ninety-four years old. By trade he was a shoemaker, but during the greater part of his life followed the occupation of farming. In the family were six sons and two daughters, of whom six are yet living.

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Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 160

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