Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 90

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

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RECORD OF IOWA.

ent, and relative precedence can not be ob- tained except through indomitable energy, per- severance, patience and intelligence. In strong exemplification of the truth of these state- ments may we point to the career of him whose name initiates this paragraph. Of Scotch- Irish lineage, his character has shown that alert mentality and that prudent and deliber- ative judgment which the dual strain has pro- duced in so many instances and which has formed the foundation of the best citizenship and defined the safest material policy. On either side there have been distinguished men in the lines along which he traces his descent, and through successive generations America has honored and been honored by noble men and women in these lines, and we of this end- of-the-century period cannot afford to hold in light esteem their memory, nor to pay tribute to him who pays homage by bearing up the standard which has been raised.

W. R. Wherry, who is one of the able and honored members of the bar of Iowa, is the senior member of the prominent law firm of Wherry & Walker, at Keosauqua, Van Buren county, his associate being Hon. William M. Walker, to whom specific reference is accorded elsewhere in this volume. Our subject is a native of the old Keystone State, having been born near Shippensburg, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of June, 1854. His father, Samuel Wherry, was born in the same county and there he maintained his resi- dence during his long and useful life. He was a man of exceptional business ability and became prominently concerned in the political affairs of Pennsylvania, having been a stalwart Democrat of the Jeffersonian type. For a full decade he represented Cumberland county in the State Senate, and he was recognized as a man of spotless integrity and inflexible honor, being punctilious in small affairs as well as those of greater import. He died in his na- tive county, in the year 1860. His father, John Wherry, was of sturdy Scotch-Irish ex- traction. The mother of our subject, whose maiden name was Margaret McCune, was also

born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, being the daughter of Samuel McCune, a rep- resentative of one of the old and prominent pioneer families of the Keystone State. Her demise occurred in 1876. Our subject was the youngest in the family of seven children, and concerning them we offer the following epito- mized record: Rev. John Wherry, D. D., is a missionary to Pekin, China; Samuel Wherry was a member of the Pennsylvania constitu- tional convention, and represented his native county a number of years in the State Legis- lature; Alexander Wherry is a resident of Woodland, California; Robert S. is superin- tendent of the freight department of the Pitts- burg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Rail- road, at Carnegie, Pennsylvania; Eleanor S. is the wife of Rev. George P. Hays, D. D., of Kansas City, Missouri; and Margaret Wherry resides in Kansas City.

W. R. Wherry passed his boyhood days in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, where he attended the public schools, and later matricu- lated as a student in Princeton University, at Princeton, New Jersey, where he completed the prescribed course and graduated as a mem- ber of the class of 1874. Two years later he came to Keosauqua and here entered upon the technical study which should fit him for that profession which he had determined to adopt as his vocation in life. He began reading law in the office of Lea & Beaman, prominent at- torneys at that time, and pursued his study with so much interest and assiduity that he gained admission to the bar of the State in 1879, his examination being conducted before the Circuit Court at one of its regular sessions. Thus enforced for the active duties of his pro- fession, he entered into partnership with his former preceptor, Rutledge Lea, and this as- sociation terminated only with the death of Mr. Lea, in 1885. Prior to the demise of this honored coadjutor, Mr. Walker had been ad- mitted to the firm, and the two surviving members have ever since continued in part- nership, their practice extending into all the courts. As a lawyer Mr. Wherry is ever hon-

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est, and when once a case is undertaken he is faithful to his client's cause, which he defends with all the strength and tenacity of an essen- tially loyal nature. Never in all his practice has he intentionally taken a position that was not tenable, and this fact has made him a strong advocate before court and jury. He has a versatile mind, keen perception, remark- able tact for the dispatch of business and is an able pleader and strong trial lawyer.

Stanchly arrayed in the support of the Democratic party, Mr. Wherry has been an active worker, and has been honored with high official preferment in the gift of the people. In 1883 he was elected to represent Van Bu- ren county in the State Legislature, and thus became a member of the lower house in the Twentieth General Assembly, in which con- nection he served with distinction, having been appointed a member of important committees, among which were the judiciary and the com- mittee on ways and means. He also took part in the revision of the revenue laws of the State, in which connection his services were of much value. In 1888 Mr. Wherry was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Van Buren county for a term of two years; and in 1890 this office was again conferred upon him, his tenure ex- tending over an equal length of time.

In matters of a fraternal nature we find that our subject is a prominent member of the Masonic order, being identified with Keosau- qua Lodge, No. 10, F. & A. M., of which he served six years as Master; with Moore Chap- ter, No. 23, R. A. M., of which he was High Priest for ten years; with El Chahanin Com- mandery, No. 47, Knights Templar, of which he was for years the Prelate; and with the Kaaba Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

In 1889 Mr. Wherry was united in mar- riage to Miss Ida Eno, a daughter of Dr. N. G. Eno, a prominent resident of Keosauqua, and they are the parents of one daughter, Janet. Our subject and his wife are zealous members of the Congregational Church, in which Mr. Wherry is a member of the Board of Trustees.

a APT. W. A. DUCKWORTH .- The variable law of destiny accords to tireless energy and industry a success- ful career. The truth of this state- ment is abundantly verified in the life of the subject of this sketch. He has not blindly followed along in beaten paths, but has had the ambition and the courage to overcome obstacles and to carve his way to success; and this success is not defined by mere tem- poral and material possession, but by a mental growth and a regard for the higher ethics of life which can only come to one who has been in close touch with humanity and who has been animated by abiding charity and tolerance. Captain W. A. Duckworth holds his title from valiant and loyal service to his country at the time of that crucial epoch when she was called upon to suppress armed rebellion; he has been closely identified with business pursuits which have important bearing upon the progress and stable prosperity of the nation in the " piping time of peace," and he has won for himself a place in the world as an honored citizen and an enterprising and progressive busi- ness man. In reviewing the life history of the representative men of Keosauqua there would be a flagrant neglect were we to fail to take cogni- zance of his career and his accomplishments.

Captain W. A. Duckworth is a native of Greencastle, Indiana, where he was born on 3 Ist of May, 1837, being the son of Thomas C. Duckworth, who was born in North Caro- lina, June 12, 1811, and who in early life emigrated to Washington county, Indiana, and later to Greencastle, of that State, in company with his father, John Duckworth, who was a son of John Duckworth, senior, a native of England, and who served in the Revolutionary army, receiving severe wounds at the battle of King's mountain, in North Carolina. Thomas C. Duckworth, the father of the subject of this sketch, married Miss Rachel T. Stone, born in Mercer county, Kentucky, on the 14th day of October, 1814, was the daughter of Enoch Stone, the son of James Stone, who em- igrated from England before the Revolution.

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RECORD OF IOWA.

(James Stone's wife's name was Jane Ellis. ) Enoch Stone, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, married a Miss Mary T. Denny, and settled in Putnam county, Indiana, in 1821. John Duckworth, senior, married a Miss Mary Robinson, and John Duckworth, junior, mar- ried Miss Sarah Sellers.

Thomas C. and Rachel T. (nee Stone) Duckworth, the father and mother of our sub- ject, were the parents of five sons and four daughters, concerning whom we incorporate a brief history, as follows: Mary A. became the wife- of G. C. O'Neal, and her death oc- curred, at Moulton, Iowa, in the fall of 1888; John A., who enlisted in Company G, Second Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and who was pro- moted to a Captaincy, by reason of gallant service, died of erysipelas of the right arm, at Savannah, Georgia, in December, 1864, leaving a widow, whose maiden name was Rebecca E. Evans; W. A., the immediate subject of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; Sarah A. became the wife of F. W. Hammitt, and her death occurred, in Colorado, in 1887; Dr. D. A. was a practicing physician in Keosauqua and was accidentally killed by a premature dis- charge of a shot-gun, at the residence of Henry Duffield, near Keosauqua, in the fall of 1891; he was also a soldier in Company G, Second Iowa Infantry, as was also E. A., who resides in Lancaster, Missouri; Elizabeth J. and Lewis T. both reside in Bloomfield, Iowa; and Celesta A. is the wife of Harrison Bruce, and resides in Plattville, Colorado.

Thomas C. Duckworth, the honored father of our subject, was a man of marked individu- ality, strong conviction and high intellectual attainments, having followed the profession of teaching for many years. Politically he was an adherent of the Democratic party until 1862, when he cast his lot with the Repub- licans, and was honored with offices of trust and responsibility by both parties. In 1854 he emigrated to Davis county, Iowa, where he died in 1888. His life had been one of un- swerving devotion to principle, and he was honored and esteemed by all who appreciated

his sterling worth of character. In early life both he and his wife became members of the Presbyterian Church, but after they located in Iowa they found no church organization of that denomination accessible to their home, and they accordingly identified themselves with the Methodist Episcopal Church. The mother of our subject is still living in Bloomfield, Iowa.

In his youth our subject received but lim- ited educational advantages, but these he utilized to goodly ends, gaining the foundation of that superstructure of broad intellectual attainments which are his from personal read- ing and study and by contact with men and affairs in the practical walks of life. His habits are naturally studious and contemplative, and he is endowed with a remarkably receptive and retentive memory-by which fortunate qualities he has accumulated a fund of informa- tion so essential to financial and social success. His study has not only been the better class of literature, but of humanity, and his disci- pline ever affords the broadest mental ken. He keeps in touch with the public questions and affairs of the day, and takes a well informed interest in political matters.

At the age of eighteen years he was appren- ticed to a millwright, and having become a proficient workman he followed this line of oc- cupation for several years, within which time he constructed a number of the best mills in northern Missouri and in southern Iowa.

On the 26th day of January, 1859, Cap- tain W. A. Duckworth was married to Miss Rebecca C. Evans, a daughter of William Evans, of Davis county, Iowa, who was born and reared in east Tennessee, and whose grand- father, Andrew Evans, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and the war of 1812, and who was known in connection with Governor Sevier and others of his time, as among the " Over-mountain people " in the first settling of east Tennessee. William Evans, the father- in-law of the subject of our sketch, married Miss Elizabeth Goldsmith, who was born and raised in Kentucky.

Captain W. A. Duckworth enlisted in Com-

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL

pany G, Second Iowa Infantry, four days after the firing on Fort Sumter, to wit, April 20, 1861; was mustered into the United States service at Keokuk, Iowa, and after a short ren- dezvous his regiment was sent to guard the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad. They were sent from there to St. Louis, thence to Iron Mountain, Cape Girardeau and Bird's Point, Missouri, opposite Cairo, Illinois; returning to St. Louis to guard prisoners. From that place they proceeded to Fort Donelson, where the regiment immortalized itself in storming the works on the rebel right, losing 216 men out of a total of 600 for duty, thereby causing the surrender of the place with 15,000 prisoners. The next battle was Shiloh, where the regi- ment fought in the division commanded by W. H. L. Wallace, our subject having been in close proximity to that brave officer when he was shot from his horse.

This was followed by the siege of Corinth, the battles of Iuka and Corinth, where the army under General Rosecrans struggled for two days with ultimate success, though with a heavy loss of life. The regiment remained at Corinth until after the siege of Vicksburg was concluded, when they participated in the cam- paign against Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge.

The regiment wintered at Pulaski, Tennes- see, where they re-enlisted as veterans, our subject taking advantage of his veteran fur- lough to visit his family, when he was pro- moted to a Lieutenancy in the One Hundred and Tenth Colored Infantry, in which regi- ment he did duty at Athens, Alabama, during the Atlanta campaign, where he and his com- mand, on the 24th day of September, 1864, were captured by General Forrest, of the Con- federate army, and sent to Enterprise, Missis- sippi, where they were paroled and shortly afterward sent through the lines to Memphis, Tennessee, and from there to St. Louis, where they were declared exchanged, and were or- dered to Savannah, Georgia. Captain Duck- worth served throughout the campaign from Savannah through the Carolinas to Goldsboro,

in command of the engineer corps of the Fourth Division, Fifteenth Army Corps; was at the burning of Columbia, South Carolina, and at the battle of Bentonville, which he terms the most disagreeable he was in during the war.

The subject of this sketch resigned his com. mission at Goldsboro, North Carolina, on the 6th day of April, 1865. Returning homeward he passed through Washington city, and was there when President Lincoln was assassinated.

Thus after four years experience in the war of the Rebellion, during which time he rendered valiant service and endured many hardships and vicissitudes, Captain Duckworth returned to his home and once more resumed the occu- pations of a peaceful life. From 1865 until 1874 he was engaged in milling business at Floris, Davis county, Iowa; but in the latter year he disposed of his interests and removed to Ottumwa, Iowa, where he owned and oper- ated a foundry and machine-shop for a short time, a disastrous fire destroying his property, and practically leaving him without financial resources. In company with Dr. L. C. Cook, he then built a flouring mill at that place, but sold his interest to his partner in 1876, since which time he has been engaged in contract- ing and furnishing ties, piling and other mate- rial to the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company, with headquarters at Floris and Eldon; and since 1881 his permanent location has been at Keosauqua, Iowa. Since taking up his residence in Keosauqua he has been prominently identified with the business interests of its people, and has maintained a lively concern in all that conserves the moral and intellectual progress and substantial pros- perity of the place, being public-spirited and enterprising, and lending his aid and influence to the furthering of all projects and measures tending to promote the welfare and and pros- perity of the public. In addition to his exten- sive operations in the lines noted, the Captain is engaged in the lumber business, and, be- sides, in connection with his sons, he is en- gaged in trade in the lines of heavy and shelf

Mrs. Temily Read. JaronaB. Read. f. B. Read.

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RECORD OF IOWA.

hardware, tinware, stoves and agricultural im- plements; and concerned with extensive farm- ing and stock-raising.

In politics Captain Duckworth has always been a loyal Democrat and an active politician. He has been a candidate for the office of County Supervisor, twice a candidate for State Senator, and was also, in the fall of 1894, a candidate for Congress in the First District of Iowa, but was defeated by the Hon. Sam M. Clark. The fact that he ran 900 votes ahead of his party ticket, both when he ran for Con- gress and for Senator the last time, is no doubt quite a satisfaction to him and his friends, and abundant proof of his wide popu- larity. He is now holding, for the third term, the offices of Town Councilman and a member of the Board of Education. In his fraternal relations the Captain is a member of the Masonic order, including the blue lodge, chap- ter and commandery, and is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.

The greatest loss and bereavement of our subject's life was that which came to him on the 25th of July, 1889, when his devoted wife was summoned into eternal rest. To him remains the consolation of having known and appreciated her true and beautiful life, whose tender grace will lend a radiance to all his future days, even as it did during the many years when the cherished object of his love was with him in visible presence. In such an instance can we most thoroughly realize that death has lost its poignant sting, for the life of finite love merges into the realm of infinite love. Mrs. Duckworth was a devoted and consistent member of the Congregational Church, and her death was mourned by a large circle of friends. She left four children : Herbert E., Albert S., Rachel E. and Lewis S.

J B. READ is one of Warren county's honored pioneers, who has aided in paving the way to civilization in this region. For more than a third of a century he has made his home in this locality, 36

has seen its wild lands transformed into beau- tiful homes and farms, while towns and vil- lages have sprung up, and the work of prog- ress has been carried forward until the county to-day ranks among the best in this great com- monwealth.

Mr. Read was born in Harrison county, Virginia, November 14, 1830, and is the twelfth in order of birth in a family of thirteen children, whose parents were Francis and Arah (Hall) Read. In their family five were sons and eight daughters. Those still living are: Nathan, a resident of Fremont county, Iowa; Catherine Hall, of Kansas; J. B., of this sketch; and Cynthia, wife of Addison Morris, of Liberty township, Clarke county, Iowa. The Read family is of Scotch-Irish origin, and was founded in America by the grandfather of our subject, John Read, a native of the Emerald Isle, who crossed the Atlantic, locating in Vir- ginia. Not long afterward the Revolutionary war began and he entered the Colonial service, participating in several important engagements which contributed to the success of the Amer- ican arms. His son Francis was numbered among the country's defenders in the war of 1812. Both the grandfather and father of our subject died in Virginia. The latter was born in Frederick county, Virginia, and in accordance with the customs of the country owned a num- ber of slaves, but, becoming convinced of the inhumanity of this practice, he gave to them their freedom some years before the Emanci- pation Proclamation was written. When his son J. B. came to Iowa he brought three ne- groes, who, although they were free, wanted to be with our subject. A devout Christian gentleman of high principles, to which he was ever true, Francis Read departed this life in the Old Dominion, respected by all who knew him. He had been twice married, his first union being with Miss Ann Davisson, by whom he had one child, Edith. She became the wife of Elias Proudfoot, and for some years they were residents of Indiana, but subsequently removed to northwestern Missouri, where their last days were passed.

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Our subject was born and reared on the old family homestead, and was educated in sub- scription schools. He inherited from the Read family a splendid physique that well fitted him to cope with the arduous duties of frontier life. He early became a farmer, and has taken'a most active part in the development of War- ren county and the transformation of its wild lands.

On the 28th of May, 1857, Mr. Read wed- ded Miss Emily Cather, a native of Harrison county, West Virginia, and a daughter of Colonel Thomas and Barbara (McDonald) Ca- ther, representatives of distinguished Virginian families. Her great-grandfather on the pater- nal side fought in the Revolutionary war, while her father served in the Union army during the Civil war, acting as Brigadier-General of the Home Guards. His grandparents were natives of Pennsylvania, but had crossed the Allegha- nies into Virginia at the time when under the instigation of the British leaders the Indians were committing fearful depredations in the Keystone State. The family originally came from Scotland, and its representatives have been prominent in the military and civil affairs in this country. Mrs. Read's father was a leader in politics, being one of the distinguished members of the Whig party in his locality and serving for some years as a member of the State Senate. His father had also been a member of the Virginia Legislature five terms, and also acted as Magistrate of the town some years.

To Mr. and Mrs. Read were born five chil- dren, named as follows: Guy R. C., who was born June 9, 1858, is now a successful lawyer of Omaha, Nebraska; Jarona B., born June 20, 1862, became the wife of J. G. Payne, and died November 19, 1891; B. F., born Decem- ber 25, 1865, is operating a fine farm in War- ren county; Thane, born March 8, 1869, died on the 14th of August, following; Cassius Ev- erett, born November 28, 1871, is living with his parents.

Mr. Read arrived with his family in War- ren county on the 29th of April, 1859, and took up his residence in a hewed-log house in New

Virginia township, where he purchased land. He immediately began placing it under the plow and a crop was planted the first year. He has lead a busy life, and as the result of his energy placed his farm under a high state of cultivation and made it a profitable tract. Now, in his declining years, he is living retired, his earnest toil in former years making this possible. In politics he is an ardent Republic- an, but has never sought or desired the honors or emoluments of public office. Mr. Read has been a member of the Methodist Church since he was fourteen years of age, and his wife has for many years been a faithful member of the Baptist Church, in which she was reared by her parents. Both are honored and esteemed res- idents of this community, and well deserve mention among the pioneers.

ILLIAM MCKENDREE FINDLEY, M. D .- To indulge in prolix encom- ium of a life which was eminently one of subjective modesty would be palpably incongruous, even though the record of good accomplished, of kindly deeds per- formed and of high relative precedence attained might seem to justify the utterance of glowing eulogy. He to whom this memoir is dedicated was a man who stood "four square to every wind ' that blows," who was possessed of marked professional ability and was vitally in- stinct with the deeper human sympathies, and yet who, during his long and useful life, sig- nally avoided anything that smacked of display and notoriety; and in this spirit would the biographist wish to have his utterances con- strued.

William M. Findley, who for but one dec- ade less than half a century was engaged in the practice of medicine in Iowa, was a native of the Old Buckeye State, having been born at Dayton, Ohio, on the 30th of July, 1816, and the ancestral history is one that tells of long and prominent identification with that of the American republic, tracing back to the

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ante-Colonial days. The father of our subject was Rev. John P. Findley, who was a man of distinguished ability and who served for many years as president of Augusta College, in Ken- tucky. He was the son of Robert W. Find- ley, who was a prominent clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, serving in the cause of the Master for the long period of sixty years and living to attain a patriarchal age, his death occurring, in his ninety-sixth year, at Eaton, Ohio. An uncle of our subject was also an earnest Christian emissary, having labored zealously as a missionary among the Wyandot Indians in northern Ohio. The Findleys are of Scotch-Irish extraction, and the family was prominently represented in the pioneer history of North Carolina, as it has been, in later days, in other sections of the Union. A large number of the family have been clergymen. The maiden name of our subject's mother was Sarah Strain. Both the paternal and maternal grandfathers were active participants in the war of the Revolution, the latter having been with Washington at the ever memorable crossing of the Delaware.

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Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 90

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