USA > Iowa > Fayette County > Past and present of Fayette County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 61
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Lieutenant Neff was survived by a widow and five children, four sons and one daughter, namely: John Devitt, born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, January 4, 1853, received a common school education and wedded Mary C. Hare, of Summerfield, Ohio; he died July 10, 1884, leaving a wife and two children, Homer M. and Minnie M .; his wife survives and is a teacher in the institute for the deaf at Olathe, Kansas. At sixteen years of age he became a clerk in a drug store and two years later was appointed deputy clerk of the court of Fayette county, filling the office until 1877, when he embarked in
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the drug business at West Union. In the fall of 1880 he was elected clerk of the court and re-elected in 1882, serving his second term at the time of his death. Mary Elizabeth Neff was born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, August 21, 1854, and became the wife of Rev. S. P. Marsh, now of Birmingham, Alabama. Homer M. Neff, born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, March 6, 1856, studied for the profession of architect and engineer, at Chicago. Re- turning to West Union in 1881, he served from 1884 to 1889 as clerk of the court. Since then he has carried on the work of his chosen calling. Full sketches of Charles G. and Joseph H. Neff appear elsewhere in this work.
Mrs. Anna Neff, mother of these children, resides in Birmingham, Ala- bama. Mr. Neff was a Republican, studious, honest, talented and a born leader of men,-in short, a most estimable citizen. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
REV. JOHN H. C. WALTERS.
Ministers are, from the nature of their calling, self-sacrificing men, the bigness of whose lives and the character of whose abilities cannot necessarily be measured by the size of the town in which they locate nor always by the pecuniary endowments attached to their office. So it is that there are found in small towns ministers of intellect and character high above the average, men to whom one cannot talk without receiving much of value; men who in the service of their Master have consented to give Him that which could not fail to bring them to notable success in a worldly profession ; men who find in His service reward sufficient, conscious that He needs workers in small places as well as large; men such as the one whose name appears at the head of this sketch.
The Rev. John Walters was born December II, 1848, in Harrison county, Ohio, the son of Martin and Susan (Hess) Walters, both of whom had grown up in that county. His father was educated in the common schools and farmed throughout life. In 1853 he came to Iowa alone and took up land four miles southeast of Arlington, in 1854 moved to eighty acres of wild land near Mill Grove, in 1855 or '56 bought eighty acres one mile southwest of Wadena, having also three forties north of Wadena, living there until the death of his wife, spending his later years among his children until his death in 1909. In September, 1862, he enlisted in Company A, Thirty-eighth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served faithfully in many battles. He was a Republican, but
JOHN H C. WALTERS
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never aspired to office. The United Brethren church counted him among its most active members and he was a man very well known and very highly respected by all who knew him.
To Martin and Susan Walters twelve children were born: Lydia, the widow of John Hidinger, of Adams county, Iowa; John; George, a retired farmer of Arlington, Iowa; Annie, wife of J. E. Jennings, of Wadena (see his sketch) ; Mary, wife of Zeb Davis, of Wadena; Harvey, farmer in Fair- field township, this county ; Eugene, of Haskell, Oklahoma, a teacher for many years ; Clara (deceased), who was the wife of Fremont Ostrander ; Ella and Allie, twins; Ella married George Jennings, a farmer of Illyria township; Allie married Henry Jennings, of Clayton county ; Addie married James Pro- bert, of Highland (deceased) ; Maggie (deceased) was the wife of John Minger.
John Walters attended the common schools and spent three years in West- ern College, Linn county, Iowa. He taught seven terms of school in Fayette, Linn and Bremer counties, Iowa. At the age of seventeen he began exhorting at Wadena, was licensed in Lima quarterly conference by Presiding Elder M. S. Dury, January 2, 1875, and in April, 1876, was ordained elder at Toledo, Iowa, by Bishop J. Weaver, and received into the conference at Castalia, Iowa, by Bishop Glossbrener. From 1885 until 1891 he traveled in northeastern Iowa, southern Minnesota and South Dakota, when he was compelled, on ac- count of ill health, to return home and to retire from the ministry. Since that time he has looked after his father's business. He has served for several years as superintendent of Union Sunday school, and has always been a great worker in the cause of temperance. While in Minnesota and South Dakota he gave a great deal of time to lecturing and chalk-talking, beginning with blackboard work and later developing this into chalk-talking. He has never married. For the past thirty years he has written much in both prose and poetry. One of the most touching of his poems is that entitled, "Night Brings Out the Stars," published in Word and Works magazine. His pub- lished articles possess a great deal of merit. Mr. Walters has always been a student and thinker and a close observer of the ways of life, and is esteemed for his real worth by all those who know him.
FRANK Y. WHITMORE.
The distinction achieved by the subject of this sketch in business circles, as well as his high standing as a man of affairs, entitles him to honorable notice among the representative citizens of the county with which he has
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long been identified, hence it is with much satisfaction that the following brief review of his life and tribute to his worth is accorded a place in these pages. Frank Y. Whitmore, banker of West Union, Iowa, is a native of Madison county, New York, born in the town of Lebanon on the 12th day of January, 1846. Joel S. Whitmore, his father, whose birth occurred at the above place December 23, 1806, was a son of Francis Whitmore, a native of Connecticut and one of the early pioneers and prominent citizens of Madison county. Jacob Whitmore, the latter's father, was a captain in the Connecticut militia during the war of the Revolution and was twice called into actual service.
Joel Stebbins, father of Mrs. Francis Whitmore, was a Massachusetts minute man during the struggle for independence and was also twice called upon for service in the field, the first time at the battle of Lexington and again when General Burgoyne made his invasion from the north. Marlitta New- ton, wife of J. S. Whitmore and mother of the subject, was born at Marshall, New York, in the month of October, 1819, and, like her husband, spent all of her life in her native state.
Frank Y. Whitmore received his early education in the district schools where his parents resided, with two years in the academic department of Madison University and a brief time at Eastman's Commercial College, Poughkeepsie, New York. In 1866 he left home to clerk in a grocery store at Wauseon, Ohio, and after spending three years at that place severed his connection with his employer and came to West Union, Iowa, working a part of 1869 in the office of the county auditor, later being appointed deputy treas- urer by James Stewart, which position he held until January, 1876, when he succeeded to the office of county treasurer. His continuous rise in public favor after coming to Iowa was a compliment to his ability, the county afford- ing few if any such examples of rapid advancement in positions of honor and trust.
Mr. Whitmore served as treasurer of Fayette county from January I, 1876, until January, 1882, discharging the duties of the office in an eminently able and satisfactory manner and proving under all circumstances a capable and obliging public servant, in whose hands the people's interests were always carefully safeguarded. In October following the expiration of his official term, he went with his family to DeLand, Florida, and opened a private bank under the name of the Volusia County Bank, but in the spring of 1883 he dis- posed of his interest in the concern and returned to Iowa to accept the position of cashier of the State Bank of West Union, to which position he had been chosen upon the organization of the institution and in which he has served
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with marked success from that time to the present. Mr. Whitmore possesses financial ability of a high order and the continued growth in public favor of the bank with which he is identified is largely due to his keen interest and correct business methods. He is careful and methodical, somewhat conserva- tive in his views and not inclined to be carried away by visionary or alluring schemes. His judgment on all matters relating to monetary affairs coming within his province is sound and well balanced and since entering upon the position which he now so worthily fills his progress has been uniformly suc- cessful, and he now occupies a prominent place among the leading financiers and business men of his part of the state.
Mr. Whitmore is a Republican in politics and as such has rendered effective service to his party in Fayette county, having been chairman of the county central committee for several years and in 1891 was the nominee for the state Senate, but, with the rest of the ticket of that year, failed of election. For a number of years he served on the local school board, in which capacity he did much for the cause of education by advocating more thorough prepara- tion on the part of the teaching force and better accommodations for the children in the way of buildings and the latest and most approved appliances, etc. He was also for several years a member of the county council.
In addition to his business interests, which he makes paramount to every other consideration, Mr. Whitmore has always used his influence to promote the material prosperity of his city and county and, appreciating his indebted- ness to the public, endeavors to discharge the same in a manner befitting a broad-minded citizen with the good of his fellow men at heart. Religiously, the Baptist church holds his creed and for a number of years he has been deacon of the local church, with which he holds membersip, besides serving as church treasurer and superintendent of the Sunday school.
Mr. Whitmore, on September 4, 1872, was united in the bonds of wed- lock with Alice V. Beach, of Wauseon, Ohio, daughter of Henry H. and Arminda (Livermore) Beach, well known and highly esteemed residents of that city, the marriage resulting in the following children: Frank B., present secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association at Nanking, China; Flora L., a teacher in the city schools of Des Moines; Alvah P., treasurer of the Sheridan Coal Company at Omaha, Nebraska. The mother of these children departed this life November 17, 1891. On December 13, 1893, Mr. Whitmore contracted a marriage with Ella Kingsbury, the accomplished daughter of J. B. and Hannah (Brown) Kingsbury, the father one of the early pioneers of Fayette county and a useful and influential citizen here until his removal a few years ago to another part of the state. In her youth and
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young womanhood Mrs. Whitmore was carefully educated and is a lady of broad culture and refinement, popular in social circles and deeply interested in whatever tends to the moral welfare of the community in which she lives. For several years prior to her marriage she was a successful teacher and earned a wide reputation throughout Fayette and Buchanan counties and Omaha, Nebraska, for the efficiency of her work in the school room. Their daughter, Lillian K., has not yet completed her school work.
From the foregoing outline it will be gathered that Mr. Whitmore has been a prominent factor in the affairs of his adopted county and at this time occupies a conspicuous place not only in business circles but in church, society and local politics as well. Successful in all the term implies, he is well situ- ated to enjoy the life he leads, being blessed with great happiness in his do- mestic relations and combining in his personality those qualities which win and retain the confidence and esteem of the public. Possessing firmness of pur- pose, unblemished integrity and a character above reproach, he exerts a bene- ficial influence upon those with whom he mingles and stands in the front rank among the enterprising business men and representative citizens of the com- munity long honored by his presence.
HENRY LAUER.
Among the eminently successful men in agricultural life of Fayette county, the subject of this brief review holds a high place. Mr. Henry Lauer was born in Winneshiek county, Iowa, on January 23, 1863, being the son of Philip Lauer. He has had unusual educational advantages. After having completed the common school course at the district school near his father's home in Winneshiek county, he attended the German parochial school at Eldorado, Iowa. Entering into active life, he became clerk in the hardware store of Olie S. Thompson, at Ossian, Iowa. After holding this position for more than a year, he devoted his energies to other lines, but returned from time to time to his duties in the store. Later, he attended the Decorah Busi- ness College for some months. After his course of study at this college, he returned to his home and assisted his father in farming.
In March, 1886, Mr. Lauer was united in marriage to Margaret Poetting, who was born in New York City, and had come with her parents to live in Iowa.
Mr. Lauer now determined to devote his energies exclusively to farming,
MR. AND MRS. HENRY LAUER.
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with very remarkable results. He took up this work on a fine one hundred and seventy-acre place, where he still lives. His progressive, energetic and intelligent efforts in this line have resulted in his home place being equipped with new and excellent buildings, among them a tasteful and substantial house, with pleasant and agreeable surroundings, and with the entire farm equipped with every modern improvement and equipment that will help to bring the best results. About eighteen years ago he named his home "Sunny Slope Farm" and it is one of the well known places in that section.
Mr. Lauer early recognized the advantages to be gained from specializa- tion and has, since 1890, devoted himself particularly to the breeding of fine hogs, in addition to general farming. He is now widely known as a breeder of full blood, Poland China hogs. His attention to this line of work has won him many prizes at county and other fairs, in 1908 he having the satisfac- tion of displaying the largest hog, which tipped the scales at eight hundred and twenty-five pounds. He also devotes much time and attention to the breed- ing and raising of cattle.
Mr. and Mrs. Lauer are the parents of eight children, all of whom are living: Ida, Augusta, Dora, Grant, Willie, Philip, Clarence and Henry D. The family are members of the Lutheran church. Politically, Mr. Lauer is a Republican ; for eight years he was township clerk and for fifteen years he was secretary of the township school board. Aside from his agricultural productivities, which would tax most men's capacity to the utmost, he has found time to interest himself in commercial life, and has been secretary of the German Mutual Fire Insurance Company for the past eight years.
GEORGE HOWARD PHILLIPS.
Distinguished as a lawyer and public spirited citizen, the name of George Howard Phillips has long been closely interwoven with the history and de- velopment of Fayette county and it is with much satisfaction that the follow- ing brief outline of his career and modest tribute to his worth are accorded a place in this volume. Mr. Phillips was born April 28, 1845, at Whitewater, Wisconsin, where his parents, George W. and Olive Lamyra (Jons) Phillips, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and Illinois, settled in an early day. The father, whose birth occurred in 1810 and who departed this life at Cedar Rap- ids, Iowa, October 2, 1888, was a blacksmith by trade and a most excellent and praiseworthy citizen; the mother, whose early life was spent in Lake county,
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Illinois, died at Lemo Center, Rock county, Wisconsin, in the year 1861. Through force of adverse circumstances, George H. Phillips was early thrown upon his own resources and from the tender age of nine years has made his own way in the world. For some time the procuring of life's barest necessi- ties was a matter for serious concern to him and as a result his educational ad- vantages were exceedingly limited. By making the most of his opportunities, however, he obtained a fair knowledge of the elementary branches, but, possess- ing a strong mind and an ardent desire for knowledge, he subsequently made up for the lack of school privileges and in due time became a widely and un- usually well informed young man.
At the breaking out of the late Civil war, Mr. Phillips was a lad of sixteen, but, animated by patriotic devotion to his country, he was among the first in his county to tender his services to the Union. In April, 1861, he enlisted in a company intended for the first call for three-months service, but the quota of the state being already full it was not accepted, much to the regret and disappointment of the members. The following year Mr. Phillips again enlisted and was assigned to the Thirteenth Wisconsin Infantry, but, his father refusing his consent, the boy being under age, he was discharged. In the fall of 1862 he engaged with a party to drive a flock of sheep from White Water, Wiscon- sin, to southwestern Minnesota and on reaching the latter state narrowly escaped death at the hands of the hostile Crow and Sioux Indians, who were then on the warpath in that region. With his companions, he succeeded in reaching New Ulm, shortly after the massacre at that place, the terrible effects of which could still be seen in the mutilated victims of the bloodthirsty sav- ages. At one time the little party found themselves within a few miles of an encampment of several hundred hostiles, but fortune appears to have favored them as they escaped without their whereabouts being discovered. The danger of proceeding farther became apparent, and the sheep were finally left to the care of local parties and the drovers, thankful to escape with their lives, re- turned to their homes in Wisconsin.
In 1864 Mr. Phillips made a third and successful attempt to enter the military service, joining, on June 2d of that year, Company C, Fortieth Wis- consin Infantry, with which he shared the fortunes and vicissitudes of war until the expiration of his period of enlistment. He was at Memphis when the Con- federate General Forrest raided that city, and passed through many trying ex- periences while at the front and retired from the army with a record for brave and gallant conduct of which he feels deservedly proud. On receiving his discharge Mr. Phillips located at Decorah, Iowa, where he learned the barber's trade, going thence in the fall of 1864 to West Union, where for several years
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he was similarly engaged. From the latter place he went to Belle Plain and in 1872 to Denver, Colorado, where he remained for some time, when he re- turned to Iowa, locating again at West Union, but removing thence after a short time to Strawberry Point. Disposing of his interests in that town, he afterwards lived for a while at Manchester and in May, 1874, took up his permanent residence at Oelwein, with the subsequent history of which he has since been actively and prominently identified.
For some years after locating at Oelwein Mr. Phillips operated a barber shop and in the meantime made a number of judicious investments in real estate, which returned him handsome profits. Possessing fine business ability, he continued his operations in real estate and it was not long until he accumu- lated considerable property and became one of the leading men of the city. In early life he manifested an ardent desire to study law, but circumstances prevented him at that time from carrying out his intention. After coming to Oelwein he read such law books as he could procure and in due time took up the study in earnest under the direction of A. C. Parker, a young attorney of exceptional ability, whose instruction was of great value and whose deep interest in his progress proved an additional stimulus. After being well grounded in the principles of jurisprudence and more or less familiar with the usual methods practiced, Mr. Phillips began to devote considerable attention to the profession and in the course of a few months had all the business he could attend to in the justice courts. He continued this kind of practice with marked success from 1875 to 1880, when he was formally admitted to the bar in the district court at West Union and for some years was actively identified with the legal profession, having a large clientele, including many of the wealthy and substantial men of the county, and occupied a conspicuous place among the leading men of his calling in the city of his residence, but now devotes his time in looking after his extensive business interests.
Not long after beginning the practice of his profession Mr. Phillips was elected city attorney of Oelwein and as such served for a period of nine years, during which time he was untiring in behalf of the interests of the municipal- ity and made every other consideration subordinate to his official duties. Since retiring from the above position he has given his entire time and attention to his legal business and other interests, all of which are extensive and far- reaching, making him not only a very busy man but a very successful one also. A well balanced mind, sound, practical intelligence and mature judgment are among Mr. Phillips' more prominent characteristics, to which may also be added the ability to forsee with remarkable clearness the future outcome of present plans and the tact to create opportunities where they do not already
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exist. His career, which presents a series of continuous advancements, has been successful far above the ordinary and he is now without doubt one of the wealthiest men in Fayette county, as he has been for a number of years the heaviest taxpayer. He has contributed much if not more than any other to the material growth and prosperity of Oelwein and not a little of his capital has been invested with these ends in view. In addition to a number of other buildings, he erected some years ago a very creditable opera house which, after considerable service, was converted into a residence; he then purchased a valuable church property near the Rock Island depot, where he built a much larger and better planned opera house, which is modern and fully up-to-date and more in keeping with the city's dignity and growth. Mr. Phillips' wealth is nearly all within the city of Oelwein, consisting of business blocks, public buildings, private dwellings and town lots, from which he receives no incon- siderable part of the income which he is constantly adding to his already large and ample fortune.
From what has already been said concerning Mr. Phillips' professional career it is easily seen that he stands high among the leading members of the Fayette county bar, a remarkable fact, considering his having commenced life poor and friendless and advanced to his present proud position from the humble though honorable vocation of a barber. He has practiced his profes- sion from time to time with a number of leading lawyers, with whom he was associated as partner, including A. C. Parker, now of Des Moines, with whom he was associated for two years, Capt. H. W. Holman and others. Among those who studied under his direction and owe their success to him the most prominent perhaps is Hon. Lewis Baker, now an eminent member of the Colorado bar, but formerly of Edgewood, Delaware county.
In politics Mr. Phillips is a Republican, but on account of the prohibition inovement and the proposed amendments to the constitution, he voted for Hon. Horace Boies when that distinguished gentleman ran for governor. He is an active and influential member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Lodge No. 374, at Oelwein, and is also identified with Griffin Post No. 134, Grand Army of the Republic, of this city. He took a leading part in the organizing of the first lodge of the order of Modern Woodmen in Fayette county and was a charter member of the same and one of the first officers; his name also appears on the records of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Oelwein, in which, as in the other fraternal societies with which con- nected, he wields a potent influence and from time to time has been honored with important official positions.
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