Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 23

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

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In his religious convictions Mr. Aldrich is liberal. He believes that there is a better ex- pression of religious faith in deeds of kindness and in generous sympathy for humanity than in dogmas, creeds or professions.

Politically he began his career as a Free- soil Democrat, -was secretary of the first anti- slavery convention ever held in Cattaraugus county, New York, -but since the organization of the Republican party he has acted with it, though in 1872, as a matter of personal choice, he voted for Horace Greeley, while supporting the remainder of the party ticket. During his

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newspaper life, and in fact up to the time he became a State officer in charge of the his- torical department of Iowa, he was actively a Republican politician and most of the time edi- tor of a party organ. Prior to the civil war his earnestness and party devotion made his newspaper one of the most wide-awake Repub- lican organs in the State, and he was recog- nized as a thorough and aggressive partisan. But after the great issues which appealed to moral judgment and humane sympathies were settled by the war of the Rebellion, and poli- tics descended to a lower level, dealing princi- pally with questions of revenue and finance and the division of the spoils of office, he in a measure lost his political enthusiasm. In fact, it is doubtful whether his tastes were not always more literary and scientific than polit- ical; and it is probable, if his environments when young had brought him into association with purely literary and scientific men, that he would have followed the bent of his natural genius and have become a traveler and descrip- tive and scientific writer. Notwithstanding his busy life he has found time to visit most of the States and great cities of the North Ameri- can continent and many European countries; and when on the wing as a traveler his pen is always busy. He has visited the Pacific coast, the States of New England and of the South, in our own land; and has visited the Territor- ies with an official exploring expedition, as we have heretofore related; has also traveled through England and Scotland in the British empire, and across the continent of Europe on different routes, visiting several European coun- tries and great cities. On these various jour- neys the letters which he has written for the press, and which have been read with interest by a vast constituency, would fill several vol- umes. In all these letters he never dealt in gossip or the stale descriptions taken from guide-books, but always found new and orig- inal topics upon which to write. His pen was principally employed in giving his observations of the social condition of the people, their edu- cational institutions, their political progress,

their history and their industries and econ- omics. He was always especially happy in gathering facts of local interest connected with familiar historic characters. His connection with the Hayden expedition has been noticed; and his letters to the Inter Ocean from the un- settled Territories explored by the expedition, as practical exponents of the character of the soil, the varieties of the timber, the wild ani- mals which inhabited them, the evidences of their former occupancy by an extinct race, and the resources which invite occupancy by white people, were in the opinion of this writer ab- solutely the most valuable contributions of the exploring party to the practical literature of the times.

His style as a writer is clear, liquid and un- pretentious, -just the style of a man who has something to write about and is anxious only to ınake himself understood by the use of an idiom which will not offend good taste.

As a business man, Mr. Aldrich, when he gave himself to business, had the thriftiness of his ancestry. When he is engaged in any en- terprise, whether that of a journalist, a farmer, traveler for purposes of observation, a clerk of a legislative body, a lobbyist to secure the en- actment of measures which he believes to be right,-as illustrated in his efforts in behalf of the river-land indemnity bill, and again in be- half of a bill to secure the vindication of the military record of Dr. Hammond, -or as a specialist in securing contributions necessary to building up an historical department of the State government,-whatever for the time being may engage his attention, he puts his soul into his business. Whilst thus engaged he never makes a journey, never visits a friend, never goes out for a day's recreation, without adding something to the enterprise he has in hand. In his private business he exacts honest measure and honest work, and will give to his employees and persons with whom he deals all that he asks for himself.

There is probably no man in Iowa who has done more for young people-especially poor young men and women struggling to get ahead

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in the world. He never had an apprentice in his printing-office whom he did not endeavor to inspire with the purpose of owning some day a library and a newspaper. He never employed a man on his farm whom he did not try to make a better man and teach him to work and save so as to secure a farm of his own. There · are many men and many women in this and other States who have secured a foothold of useful and independent citizenship as a result of the encouragement, direction and material aid of Mr. Aldrich. The books he has loaned to poor boys and girls, the information he has given them how to obtain books, and the ad- vice he has given them in respect to utilizing their time, is known only to those who have been beneficiaries of his ever active interest in young people.

His versatility is one of the strong charac- teristics of his mind. When made a commis- sioner to aid the passage of a river-land indem- nity bill, although not a lawyer, it was but a few weeks before he acquired technical knowl- edge of the history of the grant and the legal complications of the situation. Few men can turn from journalism to farming, from farming to traveling and observation, with the result of making these observations interesting and in- structive to a great newspaper constituency; and turn from all these activities to the super- intendence of a historical department of a great State, requiring wide research, con- stant and alert attention and unceasing indus- try, -and make a success of all these enter- prises. Mr. Aldrich has proved himself equal to all this.

He is not only a lover of domestic animals, but is also a friend of the animal kingdom. There are few men who, while performing the duties of a responsible and exacting office, and while deeply interested in the political man- agement of public affairs, can find time to turn aside from their duties and work for the passage of a statute to protect the innocent birds. He could do this. His horses and the domestic animals which fed in his pastures when on the farm, were his friends. He loved to feed them

and care for them when living; and when they died he could write of them with touching and pathetic tenderness.

He is a man of most agreeable manners, and an interesting conversationalist. It is a delight to hear him talk of his experiences in the pio- neer days; of the odd characters he has known, many of whose memories have been preserved by his ready pen; and he is also most enter- taining and pleasing in relating the incidents of his journeys in foreign lands, and the notable people he has met and with whom he has be- come acquainted.

One of the prominent traits in the character of Mr. Aldrich is his loyalty to friends. Grati- tude for friendly offices is not one of the pre- vailing virtues; but no man ever did Charles Aldrich a favor who was not entered on the list of the elect, in his memory, as a subject of his future self-sacrificing friendship. In the code of the politician there is an unwritten law which some people think authorizes a little de- ception and insincerity. Mr. Aldrich was never that kind of a politician, and in all the affairs of life is not that kind of a man. When edit- ing a newspaper he would use its columns with unsparing generosity in defence of a man whom he believed to be true and worthy. He was equally unsparing in his efforts to expose a fraud. Such is Charles Aldrich. At the capi- tol of the State he is now at the head of a de- partment which he created himself. His en- thusiasm for its success has led him to work in its behalf without pay; and then on such salary as might come to him by the voluntary appre- ciation of the Legislature; but always and everywhere the work has been first in his thought and the end of his ambition. May he live to see it all that his fondest dreams have pictured as its future !

UCIEN A. BUTTS, who has long been a resident of Lucas county, was born in Allegany county, New York, June 8, 1825, a son of Martin and Lydia (Church) Butts. Nathaniel Butts, grand-

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father of our subject, was a native of Connec- ticut, descended from one of three brothers from England, who settled in that colony be- fore the Revolution. Seven of one family of the descendants served together in the Revolu- tionary war. Nathaniel Butts emigrated to Vermont, where he resided until his death. Martin, the eldest of his nine children (six sons and three daughters) and the father of our sub- ject, was born in Vermont in 1798. When sixteen years of age he started out in life for himself, working his way in various employ- ments as far as western Pennsylvania, where he supplemented his scanty common-school education at Meadville Academy. He settled in Allegany county, New York, about 1822, and engaged in lumbering and mercantile pur- suits, and finally in farming. He was also a teacher and surveyor. In his political relations Martin Butts was an old-line Whig, and be- sides other official positions was elected State Senator from his district for the term of 1854-5. He was a stanch Republican after the organization of that party, and one of the New York Electors for General Grant's last term. He was a plain, unassuming Christian gentleman, prominent in the Baptist Church, and useful and respected in all the walks of life. He was married in Allegany county, New York, to Miss Lydia Church, one of a New England family settled there. They had two children: Lucien A., the subject of this sketch; and DeWitt C., who was a farmer, and died in Allegany county, in 1861. The mother of these children died when Lucien A. was four years old. The father afterward married Miss Mandana Church, by whom he had four sons and two daughters. William O., the eldest of these sons, has been a teacher, civil engineer and farmer, living in Ohio, West Virginia and now in New York; Joshua T., deceased January 30, 1869, was for some time on the staff of the New York Herald, and at the time of his death law editor of that paper; Martin N. and Albert are together on the old farm in Allegany county; Lydia, the first daughter, died in infancy; and Frances A. is wife of Rev. R. A. Waterbury,

Ph. D., vice-principal of the State Normal School at Geneseo, New York, and a Baptist ininister. Martin Butts died and was buried at Friendship, Allegany county, in 1876, and Mrs. Mandana Butts died and was buried at Geneseo, New York, in 1890.

Lucien A. Butts, the subject of this sketch, received his education in the common schools of his county, except ten weeks in Alfred Academy. When fourteen years of age he was employed as clerk in a store at Cuba, New York, serving two years. The winter after he was seventeen he taught school, and also the winter following. His former employer having died that winter, on close of his school, Mr. Butts was recalled by the father of the de- ceased, to take charge of the store, which, when nineteen years of age, he bought and continued until 1857. At the opening of the late war he enlisted in Company K, Eighty- fifth New York Infantry, and was engaged in recruiting, with rendezvous at Elmira, New York. In December, 1861, he received a com- mission as Second Lieutenant, joining his regi- ment at Washington, District of Columbia, in January, 1862. Here the winter was spent in camp of instruction. April i of that year the regiment landed at Fortress Monroe, as part of Mcclellan's army for the Chickahominy campaign. Following the rebel retreat from Yorktown, his regiment was in support at the battle of Williamsburg. At Seven Pines the Eighty-fifth New York was in Casey's division, which received the brunt of the rebel attack, being at the left of the Union line. In this fight Mr. Butts, then First Lieutenant, being its only officer present, commanded his com- pany. Immediately after this battle Lieuten- ant Butts was made Acting Regimental Quar- termaster, serving as such about six months. The Eighty-fifth New York was present during the Seven Days' Fight and the retreat to Har- rison's Landing, and when Mcclellan left the peninsula, as part of Peck's division, was left at Newport News, moving from there to Suf- folk, and thence to Newbern, North Carolina, and from there went in Wessell's brigade, on

yours Truly A .. Macomber

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General Foster's raid, to Goldsboro. After the retreat it went into winter quarters at New- bern. In March, 1863, the rebels attacked the camp of the Ninety-second New York on the north shore of the Neuse, opposite New- bern, and the Eighty-fifth New York crossed the river in lighters to reinforce them. After taking part in the relief of Washington, North Carolina, which the rebels besieged after their repulse at Newbern, Wessell's brigade was sent to garrison Plymouth, North Carolina, where, in April, 1864, the whole command was cap- tured. As prisoners of war they were marched to Goldsboro, and sent by cars to Anderson- ville, Georgia, where the enlisted men were put in the stockade and the officers confined in an old church near by, and taken back to Macon next day, May I. Here the officers were confined until late in July, being then re- moved to Savannah, and in August to Charles- ton, where they were under fire until early in October, when on account of yellow fever among the guards they were removed to Co- lumbia, South Carolina, and confined until February 14, when they were taken to Char- lotte, North Carolina, from which place Lieu- tenant Butts with three others escaped, Feb- ruary 16. His party, with another of four, who escaped the same night, were recaptured at Fayetteville, North Carolina, March 2, and after a week's confinement there were sent by way of Raleigh and Danville, Virginia, to Rich- mond, arriving March 16, and were paroled from Libby prison, March 26, 1865, after over eleven months' experience as prisoners of war! Lieutenant Butts was honorably discharged April 5, 1865, at Annapolis, Maryland, and was at Washington for settlement of his ac- counts when President Lincoln was killed, and again at the Grand Review.

On his return home, Lieut. Butts (then commissioned Captain) was made Postmaster of Cuba, New York, but resigned in the fall of 1866 and came West, remaining at Ripon, Wisconsin, while deciding on a location. In September, 1867, he removed to Russell, Lucas county, Iowa, where he had purchased a farm

of Romaine & Foster, which he held twenty- five years. He built the beautiful home he now occupies in 1893.

Mr. Butts cast his first presidential vote for Zachary Taylor, and has been a Republican since the formation of the party. He was a charter member of Frank Nolan Post, G. A. R., and chosen its Commander for 1895. With his family, he is a member of the Baptist Church.

Mr. Butts was married, October 2, 1848, to Miss Margaret Young, born in Herkimer county, New York, daughter of Henry and Gertrude (Snell) Young. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Harris, of the Baptist Church. To this union have been born four children, three being natives of New York, namely: Alice, now wife of A. J. Woodman, a hardware merchant of Russell; Edward, born February 7, 1854, who is president and man- ager of the Edward Butts Manufacturing Com- pany of the city of Mexico; Charlotte A., at home; and Henry M., born at Russell, Oc- tober 1, 1870, is now with his brother in the city of Mexico.

0 R. ADDISON PARKER MACOM- BER is a prominent homeopathic physician, residing in Atlantic, Iowa. He is a native of Franklin county, Massachusetts, born May 19, 1831. His grand- father, George Macomber, was a native of Massachusetts, of Scotch descent. Ebenezer Macomber, the son of George Macomber, was also a native of Massachusetts and by occupa- tion was a farmer, which calling he followed during his entire life. In the war of 1812, he served his country faithfully and well, and at the close of the service was honorably dis- charged, returned to his home and again took up the life of a farmer. He married Sarah A. Jewell, a native of Connecticut and of English descent. She was a relative of the family of that name well known in the history of Hart- ford.

The subject of this sketch was the youngest

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in a family of seven sons and one daughter born to Ebenezer and Sarah (Jewell) Macom- ber, only two of whom are now living, -the Hon. K. W. and our subject. Four of the sons became physicians. The subject of this sketch was reared on the old homestead in Massachusetts, and until sixteen years of age attended the district schools and assisted in the cultivation of the farm. At the age of fifteen years he taught his first term of school. He subsequently attended the New Salein Acad- emy, and later was a student of the Uxbridge Academy, of which his brother, a graduate of the old Brown University was principal for twenty years. At the age of eighteen years he commenced the study of medicine, with Dr. Joseph N. Bates, of Worcester, Massachusetts, remaining with him three years, and in the meantime attending lectures at Woodstock, Vermont, and Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Not feeling satisfied with the knowledge gained, he entered the inedical department of the old University of New York, at which he was graduated in the class of 1853. The cele- brated Dr. Valentine Mott was at that time the surgical professor.

On receiving his degree, Dr. Macomber lo- cated at Winchester, New Hampshire, where for eight years he was engaged in the practice of his profession with good success. He then went to Malden, then a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, where he remained four years, after which he went to Hackensack, New Jer- sey, where he continued eleven years. From that place he came to Atlantic, Iowa, in 1878, and has since been in constant practice here, meeting the success which he deserves as a physician.

Dr. Macomber was first married in 1853, when he wedded Miss Martha Williams, of Massachusetts, by whom he had one son. His second marriage was to Mrs. Fida G. Fuller, who was a practicing physician. She was acci- dentally killed in a runaway by being thrown from her buggy. She was a graduate of the Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago, one of the best medical colleges in the United States.

In 1888, at Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Macomber wedded Mrs. Corda J. Barnesa, of Hampton, Virginia, who was reared near Cleveland, Ohio.

Religiously Dr. Macomber is a Presbyterian and is an Elder in the Presbyterian Church at Atlantic, Iowa. A physician of forty-two years' practice, he is not content with knowl- edge long since acquired but is a careful stu- dent at the present time, and ever ready after careful investigation to adopt any new methods that in his judgment will be beneficial to the afflicted. While residing in New Jersey he was for a time president of the New Jersey Homeopathic Medical Society, and while re- siding in Boston was a member of the Massa- chusetts Medical Society. In 1892 he served as president of the Hahnemann Association of Iowa.

EN. AUGUSTUS C. DODGE, de- ceased, is numbered among the hon- ored pioneers of Iowa, and during his life was among the most noted men. He sprang froni good old Revolutionary stock, and the patriotism of his ancestors found an abiding place in his heart. Henry Dodge and Christina, daughter of James McDonald, were married in 1800, a few miles west of St. Louis. Of their children nine grew to maturity, Augus- tus C. being the fourth in order of birth.

He was born January 2, 1812, at St. Gen- evieve, Missouri, then in the Territory of Louisiana, the oldest settlement on the west side of the Mississippi river, about sixty miles below St. Louis. In that new and sparsely settled country his boyhood days were passed. His father was a man of note, even at that time, and during the struggle with Great Britain, from 1812 to 1815, was in command of a battalion of militia whose duty it was to keep the Indians at bay. For his services he was appointed Brigadier General of the militia of Missouri Territory. On the return of peace he engaged in mining and smelting, and in the manufacture of salt. The educational facilities

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of that region were very scant, and the only school Augustus attended for a few inonths was kept in a log school-house, in which the light came through greased paper; pencils were made from bullets beaten into shape and hammered to a point; pens were made with a Barlow knife, and ink from the boiling of butternut bark, or gunpowder. Meanwhile the boy gained strength and self-reliance for the struggle of life in which he was to engage.

In 1827 the family removed to the Fevre river lead mines. Upon arriving at Galena July 4, they found the town in a state of alarm from fear of an attack from the Winnebago In- dians. Henry Dodge was at once waited upon by citizens and asked to take command of forces for the defense of the mining district. Young Augustus wished to join them, and, when told that he was too young, appealed to his father, who, giving him a small sliotgun, ad- vised, "Shoot well, my boy."

Upon the restoration of peace, Henry Dodge located at a point about forty-five miles northeast of Galena, to which was given the name of Dodge's Grove. When the Black Hawk war broke out in 1832 he was Colonel of the militia of Wisconsin Territory, and on the 25th of April was directed by General At- kinson to raise as many mounted men in the

mining regions as could be obtained for service against the hostile Indians. In one company then raised Augustus was elected Lieutenant of volunteers for home protection, and in the battle of the Wisconsin he conducted himself bravely. On the march, or camping out, he was always cheerful and obliging to the men.

During these years the family divided their time between their residence near Dodgeville and St. Genevieve, and Augustus made fre- quent trips between the two places. In Feb- ruary, 1837, he visited the national capital, where, as a son of a friend of the president, and one who had made a national reputation in the Black Hawk war, and through the at- tentions of his uncle, Senator Linn, he enjoyed unusual facilities for seeing public men and ob- serving public affairs. Returning home, on

March 19, 1837, he was united in marriage with Miss Clara A. Hertich, daughter of Prof. Joseph Hertich. Their union was an exceed- ingly happy one, and to them were born eight children: William J., Marceline M., Augustus V., Christiana, Clara A., Henry J., Charles J. and William W.

In 1838 Mr. Dodge was appointed by President Van Buren Register of the United States Land Office at Burlington, and removed to that city, which was his home the rest of his life. He made an exceedingly popular officer, often going out of the way to help some unfortunate settler in securing the title to his land. The services then rendered were re- membered in after years.

January 14, 1839, Mr. Dodge was ap- pointed by Governor Lucas as Brigadier Gen- eral of the Second Brigade of the First Divis- ion of the militia of Iowa Territory. In the fall of that year Missouri laid claim to a por- tion of Iowa Territory, on its southern border, which was the occasion of great excitement. December 1I General Dodge's brigade was called out. On reaching Van Buren county General Dodge was sent with two others to the encampment of the Missouri militia, and, a friendly conference following, an amicable settlement was arranged and the troops dis- banded.

In the summer of 1840, without thought or effort on his part, General Dodge was nomi- nated delegate to Congress. He made a can- vass of the Territory in company with his Whig competitor, Alfred Rich, and was elected by a inajority of 585, receiving many Whig votes. On the second of September he took his seat in Congress, and on the seventh of December following he welcomed his father to a seat by his side, as a delegate from the Ter- ritory of Wisconsin, -- the first and only instance of a father and son sitting together in the House of Representatives since the foundation of the Government. He served as delegate until the admission of Iowa into the Union, December 28, 1846, a period of six years of laborious service. In the limits of this sketch

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Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 23

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