USA > Iowa > Fayette County > Past and present of Fayette County, Iowa, Volume II > Part 67
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grandfather was also a minister, and the paternal grandfather is still actively engaged in the ministry, having reached the advanced age of ninety-four years; he has been a power for good during his long service in the spreading of the Gospel. The Stuart family has been prominent in West Virginia for many generations, since the first member of the family settled there after his arrival from the hills of heather and bluebells. Rev. Thomas McKendree Stuart is pastor of a church at Dunlap, Iowa, and he, too, has done a very commendable work wherever he has resided. He received part of his educa- tion at Kenton College and the Kansas Theological University conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He is an eloquent and earnest advocate of the doctrine of the Nazarene and profoundly versed in the Scrip- tures.
The Huff family came to Iowa from Danville, Indiana, in an early day and settled in Fremont county where Mr. Huff developed a good farm on which he spent his last days and became well known in his community.
To Rev. Thomas. M. Stuart and wife four sons were born and all grew to maturity, namely : David E., an attorney living at Council Bluffs ; Thomas E., living at Omaha, Nebraska, is chief electrician of the Union Pacific Rail- road Company; Frederick C., living in Houston, Texas, is chief civil engineer of a prominent railroad; Dr. Albert B., of this review.
Doctor Stuart was educated at the West Union high school and he received his medical education at the University of Nebraska, where he made a splendid record and from which institution he was graduated in 1904. He first located at Des Moines and he practiced there until 1906, when he came to West Union, Fayette county, where he has since been practicing, hav- ing built up quite an extensive patronage with the town and surrounding country, his success as a general practitioner being recognized from the first and he is kept constantly busy attending to his numerous duties. While at Des Moines he was first assistant for the Nebraska institution for the Feeble Minded at Beatrice. Later he was professor of chemical surgery at Drake University and performed his duties there with a fidelity and deftness that won the praise of all concerned.
Doctor Stuart is a member of the Commercial Club of West Union, also the Polk County Medical Association, the Fayette County Medical As- sociation and the Iowa State Medical Association. Fraternally, he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Phi Rho Sigma, in all of which he takes much interest.
The Doctor was married on October 24, 1904, to Anna McDonald, of Des Moines, a lady of talent and refinement, and the representative of an
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influential and well established family of Des Moines. This union has been blessed by the birth of one son, Donald McDonald.
The Doctor and his wife are popular with a wide circle of friends and acquaintances in West Union or wherever they are known.
GUY LYMAN RAWSON.
Fealty to facts in the analyzation of the character of a citizen of the type of Guy Lyman Rawson, the popular and able cashier of the German-American National Bank at Arlington, Fayette county, Iowa, is all that is required to make a biographical sketch interesting to those who have at heart the good will of the community, because it is the honorable reputation of the men of standing and affairs, more than any other consideration that gives character and stability to the body politic and makes the true glory of a town or com- munity revered at home and respected abroad. In the broad light which things of good report ever invite, the name and character of Mr. Rawson stand revealed and secure, and though of rather modest demeanor, with no ambition to distinguish himself in public position as a leader of men, his career so far has been signally honorable and successful, and the fact that he is still a young man and because he has made such an excellent record in the past, the future augurs, for him, much of good and promise.
Mr. Rawson is a native of this county and the scion of an excellent old family, his birth having occurred on January 17, 1873. He is the son of Walter and Hattie (Gibbs) Rawson. Guy L. Rawson is extensively and successfully engaged in the lumber business at Arlington, Fayette county, and at Volga, Clayton county, besides his responsible and important position in the German-American National Bank here. He is a man of much in- fluence in this community, in public, commercial and social affairs, and he ' has lived an upright life so that he has the confidence and good will of every- one. He is regarded as a man of more than ordinary business ability, as was his honored father before him.
Guy L. Rawson received a good education in the common schools of his native county, later attended the Upper Iowa University at Fayette, where he made an excellent record and from which institution he was graduated in 1897. He started in life as a teacher, which profession he followed with signal success for a period of ten years in Arlington, being principal of the schools here during that time with the exception of two years, and as such
GUY L. RAWSON.
27
MRS. LILLY RAWSON.
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he did a noble and most commendable work in strengthening and building up the splendid educational system here. He was popular with both pupil and patron and held high rank among the educators of this section of the state. But tiring of the school-room and believing that the business world held greater advantages for him, he turned his attention to banking, becoming cashier of the German-American National Bank of Arlington upon its or- ganization. It opened its doors for business on July 1, 1910, and is making rapid progress. Its officers are: T. J. Ainsworth, president; J. C. Wilken, vice-president; Guy L. Rawson, cashier. These gentlemen are all popular and well established business men of this community.
On June 26, 1904, Mr. Rawson was united in marriage with Lilly G. Walrath, who was born and reared in Arlington, Iowa. After passing through the local schools, she attended Drake University at DesMoines, Iowa, and she is a lady of education, culture and refinement. She is the daughter of Marvin and Margaret (Thompson) Walrath. Her father was engaged in the hardware business in Arlington for many years, but sold out a few years ago, and moved to Des Moines, where he is now living retired.
The union of Mr. and Mrs. Rawson has been graced by the birth of one child, a son, Kenneth A., born December 10, 1905.
Fraternally, Mr. Rawson is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen, and he and his wife are members and liberal sup- porters of the Methodist Episcopal church. Politically, he is a Republican. He and his wife are popular in the social life of the community and number their friends only by the limits of their acquaintance.
JAMES M. LISHER.
This well known and popular business man is an honored resident of West Union and for a number of years has been one of the leading citizens of Fayette county. He springs from an old and highly esteemed family of Shelby county, Indiana, where his birth occurred on the 4th day of February, 1844, and where his parents, James N. and Elizabeth (Porter) Lisher, set- tled while the foot of the red man still pressed the soil. The father, a native of Providence, Rhode Island, was a typical pioneer of the early times, took an active part in the development of the section of country in which he lo- cated and was long an influential man among his neighbors and fellow citi- zens. Leaving the Hoosier state a number of years ago, he emigrated to (86)
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Illinois, thence to Allamakee county, Iowa, of which he was also a pioneer resident, and there finished his earthly sojourn, dying at the town of Waukon in 1871, aged seventy-five years. Mrs. Lisher, who was born July 8, 1817, in Tennessee, departed this life, June, 1907, at Carthage, South Dakota.
These parents moved from McHenry county, Illinois, in 1853 and located in Allamakee county, where Mr. Lisher purchased a tract of government land at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, the same being in what is now Hanover township, which at that time was not organized. He cleared up a farm of one hundred twenty acres, but the loss of four hundred dollars on account of defective mail service embarrassed him considerably and caused much delay in the payment on his land. Mr. Lisher resided on the farm in Allamakee county, which he cleared and improved, until 1868, when he sold out and took up his residence in Waukon, where he spent the remain- der of his life. He served about one year in the late Civil war with "The Iowa Gray Beards." He was three times married, Elizabeth Porter being his last wife, and by her he had eight children; by his previous marriages there were ten offspring, making his family of eighteen children the largest in the community where he lived. Of the seven full brothers and sisters of the sub- ject, only two survive, two having died in infancy and the other three in childhood. Those now living are Mrs. Elizabeth M. Madson, of Carthage, South Dakota, and Madford G. Lisher, of Vancouver, Washington, a civil engineer by profession, but at the present time engaged in the real estate business in the city of his residence.
James M. Lisher was quite young when his parents left Indiana and at the age of nine was taken by them to Allamakee county, Iowa, where in a rude log school house he received a limited educational training. Reared amid the stirring scenes and actives duties of the pioneer period, he early became a valuable assistant in clearing and developing the farm, but at the age of seventeen he severed home ties and tendered his services to his coun- try, enlisting in 1862 in Company B, Second Battalion Sixteenth United States Infantry, which was assigned to duty in the Army of the Cumberland. Later his command was transferred to the Army of the Tennessee, with which he saw much active service, including a number of battles and skir- mishes, the first important engagement in which he took part being at Stone River. At the bloody battle of Chickamauga, September 19, 1863, he, with a number of his comrades, fell into the hands of the enemy and was held a prisoner eighteen months and nineteen days, during which time he was in several prisons, including Libby, Danville and Andersonville, having been in- carcerated in the one last named for a period of eleven months.
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Mr. Lisher entered the army with a vigorous constitution, robust health and buoyant, happy nature, which enabled him to meet the duties of military life with comparative ease and it was to these that he was largely indebted for coming safely through his long and trying experiences in the foul prison pens where he saw many of his comrades die like sheep from want, privation and the inhuman cruelty of heartless and unfeeling guards. Endowed by nature with a strong will, he determined not to succumb and from day to day he endeavored to impart to his fellow prisoners some of his own cheerful spirit, with the result that he not only encouraged them but strengthened him- self for the further trying ordeals through which he was obliged to pass. Owing to his strong constitution and determination to make the most of cir- cumstances, he was finally detailed to act as nurse and cook, in which capac- ities he continued until liberated, at which time his former splendid physique had been reduced to barely ninety pounds.
Mr. Lisher obtained his freedom at Black River Bridge, Mississippi, and as soon as possible returned to the parental home, where in due time he regained his health and strength, and where he remained until 1868, working about one and a half years the meanwhile for Judge Burdick, of Decorah, and devoting the remainder of the interval to the livery business at Waukon. On April 5, 1867, he was married to Mary A. Adams, a native of Ireland, and later took charge of a hotel in Lansing, Iowa, which he ran with en- couraging success until the destruction of the building by fire in 1876. He then rented the Key City House at Postville, changing the name to the Burlington House, and operated the same for a period of two years, when he gave up the property to become the proprietor of the Commercial House in that town. Subsequently he purchased . the latter hotel, which he con- ducted for five years and then took charge of the Descent House at West Union, which he ran in conjunction with the former for a period of one year. Disposing of the Postville property at the end of that time, he de- voted his attention to the Descent House until 1890, but two years prior to that date he bought the Commercial Hotel in West Union, better known as "Jim's House," which he conducted until 1907. On February 23d of the lat- ter year he sold the Commercial House, but in June, 1909, repurchased the house and has since conducted it to the satisfaction of the traveling public, making it one of the most popular hostleries in the city and gaining a wide reputation for himself as a very capable, painstaking and obliging host.
Mr. Lisher has led quite a strenuous life and exercised a strong influence for good in the various places where he has resided. Eminently social and a hale fellow well met, he possesses the happy faculty of winning and retaining
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warm personal friendships and his popularity has always extended to the limits of his acquaintance. He is held in high esteem by his fellow citizens of West Union and in addition to contributing to the city's welfare through the medium of his business interests, he is always ready to lend his aid and influence to other enterprises for its general prosperity and growth. In poli- tics he is a Prohibitionist, but does not take a very active part in public affairs, although well informed on the questions of the times and always ready to give solid reasons for the opinions to which he holds.
Mr. and Mrs. Lisher are the parents of four children, the first two being twins that died in infancy; Floyd Clifton, the next in order of birth, mar- ried Ida Hoyer, and lives in West Union, where he has been engaged in mer- chandising and various other lines of business; Myrtle M., the youngest of the family, is the wife of E. P. Rowen, of Chicago, her husband being man- ager of the Goodrich Rubber Company of that city.
J. S. YAROUS.
A man who has earned well-merited success and at the same time has established himself in the good graces of his fellow citizens is J. S. Yarous. one of Union township's best known citizens and whose family has long been influential in Fayette county, Iowa, and Knox county, Ohio, he him- self being a native of the latter, having been born there August 7, 1853. He is the son of Charles and Katherine ( Peters) Yarous, the former having been born in Germany and the latter in Pennsylvania. The paternal grand- father of the subject was Fred Yarous, who spent his life in the fatherland. The maternal grandparents, Christian and Susan Peters, were also natives of Germany, and they came to America in an early day, first settling in Pennsylvania, and in 1859 came on to Iowa and settled in Clayton county, where they took up forty acres of land, but later moved to the southern part of the state where Mr. Peters died; his widow removed to Fayette county and died here at the advanced age of ninety-five years.
When a young man Charles Yarous, father of J. S. of this review, came to America and settled in Ohio and there followed farming until he moved to Clinton county, Iowa, where he took up three hundred and thirty acres of land which he improved and on which he lived until his death, and on which his widow still lives with a host of friends. To Mr. and Mrs. Charles Yarous ten children were born, all sons but one. The father of these children
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lived a quiet life, never seeking public display. He was a member of the Evangelical church and was a good man in his every day life.
J. S. Yarous was educated in Clayton county, this state, attending the common schools and receiving a fairly good education. He worked on his father's farm when a boy, in fact he has always followed farming, and he has been unusually successful in its various phases and also in stock raising. He became the owner of six hundred and forty acres in Clayton county, on which he carried on general farming, and he still owns one hundred and twen- ty acres there. In 1903 he moved to Fayette county, Iowa, and bought the Fuller farm in the edge of West Union, this farm of three hundred and thirty acres being one of the model places in the county. He has brought it up to the standard in the way of improvements and everything on it indi- cates that a gentleman of excellent taste, good judgment and industry has its management in hand. Mr. Yarous has a splendid and beautifully located dwelling, large and commodious outbuildings, good orchard and all that goes to make a desirable farmstead. He handles a good grade of livestock and no small part of his annual income is derived from this source, he being an excellent judge of stock and knowing how to best prepare them for market.
Mr. Yarous was married in June, 1879, to Rebecca Doty, the daughter of an influential old family, and to this union the following children have been born : Artha, Blanche, Clifton, Mary, Rebecca, Jerome, Jacob, Cornelius (de- ceased), Cornelia, James and Susan.
Fraternally, Mr. Yarous belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, and, politically, he is a Republican, and he has long taken more or less interest in political affairs, but has been too busy with his individual business to seek office ; however, he served very acceptably as school director while living in Clayton county, Iowa, and also as road overseer. He and his family are pleasant and popular in this vicinity.
JAMES H. LAKIN.
The respect which should always be accorded the brave sons of the North who left homes and the peaceful pursuits of civil life to give their services, and their lives if need be, to preserve the integrity of the American Union is certainly due James H. Lakin, now a resident of Colorado Springs, Colorado, but for many years a well known and honored resident of Fayette county, Iowa. He was one of the first volunteers from this county and he certainly
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proved his loyalty to the government in many situations and for this and many other reasons is eminently deserving of the high esteem in which he has always been held.
James H. Lakin was born at Point Pleasant, Clermont county, Ohio, March II, 1838, and is the son of William P. and Sarah ( Bretney) Lakin, the father born in Flemingsburg, Kentucky, October 23, 1791, and the mother was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, November 7, 1799, the former of Eng- lish descent and the latter of German ancestry. They were married at Leb- anon, Ohio, and located near Point Pleasant, that state, where they spent the remainder of their lives. The father was engaged in the pottery business and in farming. An uncle of William Lakin, Benjamin Lakin, was a prominent pioneer Methodist minister for a period of sixty years, from 1790 until his death in 1848.
James H. Lakin, of this review, was reared in Ohio and he received a good education in the common schools of his native community, in the Cler- mont Academy in his native county and also at the Upper Iowa University at Fayette, Iowa. He emigrated to Fayette, Iowa, in May, 1858, and during the next few years he was a student in the college and a clerk in the store here. At the first war meeting held in Fayette county, April 24, 1861, he was one of the eighteen who enlisted, the first company from this county being mustered in at Keokuk, June 8th, following, and was soon afterwards as- signed to duty in Missouri. Mr. Lakin volunteered as a private in Company F, Third Iowa Volunteer Infantry, but he was mustered into service on June 8, 1861, as fourth sergeant, and appointed regiment color bearer in August following. For meritorious service he was commissioned second lieutenant, April 9, 1862, and promoted to first lieutenant, the following September. He performed the duties of color bearer at the battle of Blue Mills, Missouri, July 24, 1861. and received honorable mention for his brave conduct there ; he also carried the colors on the first day of the battle of Shiloh and again re- ceived honorable mention. He also took part in the siege of Vicksburg. bat- tle of Hatchie Bridge and a number of minor skirmishes in Missouri and elsewhere. He was assigned to duty as aid-de-camp on the staff of Colonel Pugh, July 3, 1863, and later on the staff of Gen. T. K. Smith, commander of a detachment of the Seventeenth Army Corps on the Red River expedi- tion. Thus, after faithful and meritorious services in behalf of his country, Mr. Lakin was mustered out of the service at Davenport, Iowa, June 18, 1864.
Colonel Lakin has devoted his life to the mercantile business and farm- ing. In 1872 and 1873, as a member of the firm of Birch-Lakin & Company. he took a contract for grading a section of the Davenport & St. Paul railroad.
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now known as the Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad, the division of which he had charge being in Fayette and Howard counties. He was identified with the organization of the Bank of West Union in 1884, of which he was made vice-president, which office he held to the satisfaction of all concerned until he left the state in 1890, since which time he has been more or less engaged in the mercantile business and mining.
Politically, the subject is a Republican and he was auditor of Fayette county for two terms from 1876 to 1880 and he was appointed to fill an unex- pired term in 1883. In 1874 he was appointed aid-de-camp on Gov. C. C. Carpenter's staff with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was formerly a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, but is now a Congregationalist. He has long taken an active interest in the affairs of the Grand Army of the Republic, being a charter member and past commander of Abernathy Post. No. 48, of West Union, Iowa, and also belongs to the Society of the Army of the Tennessee. He is a member of Brighton Lodge, No. 78, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Brighton, Colorado; also Ansel Humphreys Chap- ter No. 80, Royal Arch Masons, at Fayette, Iowa, and Langridge Command- ery, No. 47, Knights Templar, at West Union.
Colonel Lakin was married on April 19, 1870, to Sarah Thompson, daughter of Wilson L. and Nancy (Sherwin) Thompson, of Point Pleasant, Ohio, and after a mutually happy wedded life of eighteen years, Mrs. Lakin was called to her rest on March 14, 1888. This union resulted in the birth of three children, namely : Marie T., born May 31, 1874; Lee H., born June 4, 1879; Irene R., born October 4, 1882. On February II, 1890, James H. Lakin married Helen M. Sabin, the representative of an excellent old family.
LEWIS WILBUR.
By a life consistent in motive and action and because of his many fine personal qualities, Lewis Wilbur, one of Fayette county's substantial citizens, has earned the sincere regard of all who know him, and in his home, which is the center of a large social circle, there is always in evidence a spirit of generous hospitality, old and young alike being at all times accorded proper consideration, therefore the Wilbur family has always been well liked and popular.
Lewis Wilbur was born in Fayette county, Iowa, October 7, 1858, and he is the son of R. T. and Lydia (Peer) Wilbur, a well known and a well established family in this place.
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Lewis Wilbur received his early education in the common schools of Fayette county and he remained at home until twenty years of age, when he was married to Elizabeth Messerly. She was born in Switzerland and when ten years of age came to America with her parents and some of the early for- eign settlers here in this part of Fayette county. She was born February 19, 1857, and is the mother of six children, namely : Della married Frank Spears and lives in Miles City, Montana, and they have one child; Fred married Pearl Blough, lives in Fayette county, Iowa, and has one child; Mable mar- ried Harry Grimes, lives in Miles City, Montana, and has one child; Leonard lives at home, as do also Ena and Ruth.
Lewis Wilbur first located on rented land, which he farmed for two years, then purchased land of his own in Fayette county and he has lived on his present place about twenty years ; it lies in sections 35 and 36 and he makes his residence in the latter. He has a neat and well improved farm, and, hav- ing always carried on general farming, he well understands the modern phases of agriculture and therefore succeeds.
Mr. Wilbur has held some of the minor offices of the township, but he is not much of a politician, not caring to waste any time dabbling in the same ; however, he has been a Democrat all his life, but merely goes to the polls and votes. He is a great reader and is exceptionally well advised on the current events of the day and is an interesting conversationalist. He has a beautiful and pleasant home and is fairly well fixed from a financial standpoint, though he has lost lots of money by going on notes for friends. All he has he has made by his own persistent efforts. He has a fine family of orderly, healthy and bright children.
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