USA > Iowa > Jasper County > Past and present of Jasper County, Iowa, Vol. I > Part 44
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The first wife of Thomas Smith, Jr., died in 1872, and in 1874 he was united in marriage with Martha Hanson, of Newton, who was born Septem- ber 14, 1849. the daughter of Thomas Hanson and wife. of Birmingham, England. To this union four daughters were born. three of whom are now living, namely : Minnie married John Gardner, a large land owner and farmer of Jasper county ; Ida May married William Gardner, a brother of John Gardner : they live on a farm four and one-half miles from Newton and have two daughters. Mabel and Florence : Katie Belle married Guy Finch, of Newton.
Mrs. Martha ( Hanson ) Smith is the daughter of Thomas and Jane Hanson, of Newton, to which city they came in 1865 from Birmingham, Eng- land. Here he soon began working at his trade, that of brick maker and molder. Their family consisted of fourteen children, namely : Emma, Mrs. Liza Lister, of Newton; William: Mrs AAnna Beach. who now resides in Birmingham, England: Mrs. Fannie Newton, also of that city: Martha, now Mrs. Smith, of this review: Mrs. Jane Ferguson, who lives in Adel, lowa ; . Mrs John Woodrow. of Newton, lowa; Mrs. Clara Clasby, of Newton:
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George is deceased; Arthur lives in Oklahoma; Charles is deceased; Anna Norris is now deceased; Thomas lives in the state of Washington.
Mrs. Thomas Smith, Jr., is the owner of considerable valuable property in Newton, including a substantial and well furnished residence, surrounding which are three acres of ground.
Mr. Smith was a Republican in politics and always took an active interest in local affairs. He was not a member of any church, being liberal in his religious views, although he inclined to the doctrine of the Methodists and at- tended that church in Newton with his family, they being members of the same.
AUGUST WENDT.
But a few years ago the gentleman whose name heads this review was a familiar figure in the city of Newton, where he was recognized as one of the prominent and successful merchants of that municipality. Born in Germany, he came to this country a poor immigrant, and by thrift and industry, and by adhering in the dealings of his business life to the principles of that church to which he was so greatly devoted, he gained a competence, became prosperous, and a leader in the community in which he resided, and which lost one of its ablest citizens in his death.
August Wendt was born on May 26, 1845, in Shieder, Lippe-Dettmold, Germany. In infancy he was baptized in the Lutheran church, and in early life entered by confirmation into full communion with the church, throughout life making the service of his Master and his church his first object, literally obeying the injunction of his Master. "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven.' In 1865, seeking for greater opportunities, young August Wendt came to America and, locating at Freeport, Illinois, resided there for four years, then came to Newton, Jasper county, Iowa, where he thenceforward cast his lot. HIe engaged in the grocery and dry goods business, in which he greatly pros- pered, and was enabled to gain a competency sufficient to enable him to greatly assist in church work, to keep his family in comfort, and to accumulate a considerable amount of property in addition. He was prominent and respected among the business men of his city and active in every work which had for its object the betterment of the community, as well as in all kinds of philan- thropic movements.
On Easter Monday, 1873. August Wendt was united in marriage with Emeline Hanke, the daughter of Frederick and Matilda Hanke, natives of
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Germany, later residents of Freeport, Illinois. To this marriage were born five children, Louise, Matilda, August, Grace and Frederick. Fred- erick died in infancy: the others are living. Mrs. Emeline Wendt died at Newton, Iowa, on April 23. 1886, and on August 25. 1887, Mr. Wendt was married to Matilda Hanke, a sister of his first wife. To this marriage was born one son, William, now a student in Iowa State College at Ames, Iowa, in his fourth year's work. August Wendt was a stanch Republi- can, the principles of which party he adopted shortly after coming to this country. He died on July 26, 1896, and his remains were interred in the cemetery of Newton, lowa.
Extremely successful as was the business career of Mr. Wendt. perhaps he will be best remembered on account of the unceasing energy which he de- voted to the work of the Lutheran church, of which he was a mainstay, and the aid which he gave to charity and his kindness toward the needy and de- serving. He united with the Newton Evangelical church July 12, 1874. His place in the Lutheran congregation was one which cannot be filled, for, able church workers though there be, there are none with quite his tireless zeal. and strong and cheery personality. He was superintendent of its Sunday school for many years, and a deacon in the church. In public life he was a man of agressiveness and force, in his family he was a kind and tender com- panion, devoted to his wife and children, whose loss in his death was inestima- ble.
GEORGE W. HICKMAN. JR.
The present review records the events in the life of a man who was well known in Newton, lowa, and to the people of Jasper county as a man of unswerving honor and integrity, and one capable of fulfilling his duty in all the situations of life where he was placed. He was yet but in his prime at the time when he was taken away, and the loss of his cheering presence and of his strong and upright manhood was greatly felt by those who had occasion to be associated with him, for though there are many who have become more famous and wealthier than he. still no one can ever fill the individual place which he so well filled, and no one can ever take the place of George W. Hickman in the memories of his friends, his wife and his family. Their consolation is that they hope to meet him later in his heavenly home.
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George W. Hickman, Jr., was born in Campbell county, Kentucky, on June 2, 1847. and died at his home in Newton, Iowa, on March 31, 1905. He was brought up by his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. North, his mother having died when he was six years old.
In 1864, though but seventeen years of age, he enlisted in the service of his country, and was for one year a member of Company C. Fifty-third Ken- tucky Mounted Infantry. During this period he was taken prisoner, and was confined for three months in Libby prison, where he suffered great exposure, and almost starvation, the effects of which permanently injured his health. While in active service he was in a number of battles, and in all of them showed himself as a brave and efficient soldier, though but a lad, not yet fully grown.
On September 29, 1867, Mr. Hickman united with the Methodist church at Asbury chapel, near Newport. Kentucky, and there began his career of Christian service. A few years later he came to Jasper county, Iowa, where he engaged in farming, and then he transferred his membership to the First Methodist church of Newton, of which he was an active and leading member until his death.
Mr. Hickman was married on January 16. 1876, to Jane Hickman, the daughter of Samuel Hickman and wife, who were pioneers of Jasper county. To this union was born one son. Melville Clifford.
George W. Hickman was very successful in his farming operations, and was a capable and upright business man in whom the people had confidence. To all mankind he was a friend, and no one in need could appeal in vain to his generous heart. He was an active member of Garrett Post of the Grand Army, and was always glad to meet in its hospitable halls the comrades, of the great struggle to preserve American liberty. To his wife and son he was especially kind and loving, for he was a man who cared much for his family, and lavished on them the wealth of a strong affection.
LEWIS C. S. TURNER, M. D.
Among the leaders in the medical profession in central Iowa the name of Dr. Lewis C. S. Turner, of Colfax, Jasper county, must be included, for his practice here of nearly thirty years has won him a wide reputation among his contemporaries, who, with his wife, also a physician of well established repute, is proprietor of the Turner Rest Home and Sanitarium, which has a
DRS. LEWIS C. S. AND ALICE B. S. TURNER
PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTIM, LECY. TASEN FLURLATAMI
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prestige second to none of its kind in the state. But, indeed, no man possess- ing the heritage of character and ability which Doctor Turner has received from his ancestors could fail to live a life of usefulness, controlled by correct principles and high ideals, his progenitors including that sterling patriotic stock which helped successfully to establish the early American colonies, who sacrificed life in Washington's army in the struggle for independence, who bore the vicissitudes of the great Rebellion on the sanguinary battle fields of the South, who, as pioneer physician, faced the dangers and hard- ships on the western frontier in the service of administering to the ills to which humanity is heir-men and women who, in their station, nobly ful- filled their myriad duties. Such an inheritance is more to be desired than "much fine gold."
Doctor Turner was born in Poweshiek township, Jasper county, Iowa, on November 2, 1854, the son of Charles Carroll Turner and Ann E. ( Parks) Turner, the father born in Oxford county, Maine. in 1826, the son of Joseph Turner, whose birth occurred on June 12, 1799, the latter's home being at Dedham, Massachusetts, and whose wife was known in her maidenhood as Nancy Shaw. Joseph Turner was the son of Ebenezer and Polly (Sum- ner ) Turner, the former born in 1772, the son of Lieutenant Edward and Hannah ( Fisher) Turner. Edward Turner was an officer in the colonial army and he fought in the battle of Bunker Hill, and while in the service for freedom he contracted smallpox which caused his death at Half Moon, Massachusetts, in December. 1777. The first American ancestor of the Turn- ers came to Massachusetts in the early colonial days and settled twenty miles from Boston. The family of Joseph Turner came to Mindon. Adams county, Illinois, in 1834. the father of the subject of this sketch being then eight years of age, and there he grew to maturity, the Prairie state at that time being practically a wilderness. He remained in Illinois until 1850, when he came to Jasper county, Iowa, among the very early settlers, and located on a farm three miles north of the present site of Colfax, which land is still owned by his widow, Mrs. Mary C. ( Pease) Turner, and their son, Ed S. Turner. Charles C. Turner became one of the influential farmers of the county in his day. He was the owner of over two hundred acres of good land and he was an extensive breeder of fine grades of live stock. He was active in public affairs, first as a Whig. then as a Republican. He was elected clerk of the district court of Jasper county, holding office from 1854 to 1857; he was also county surveyor for two terms, from 1868 to 1872, and he was justice of the peace and assessor for four full terms. He was a charter mem-
(31)
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ber of Newton Lodge No. 59, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He proved his patriotism in 1862 when he enlisted in the Federal army and proved to be a gallant soldier in the Fortieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. For a time he was sent home on recruiting service. While in the field he was at Columbus and Paducah, Kentucky; Satarsia, Mississippi, Haines Bluff and Snyder Bluff, and after the fall of Vicksburg he was on reserve duty. He was in Arkansas at the taking of Little Rock, and he was the first with his brother-in-law, Hugh A. Pease, to cross the river on a pontoon bridge, October 10, 1863. He was mustered out at Davenport, Iowa, on April 1, 1864. His death occurred on August 7, 1907. at an advanced age, after a useful and honorable career. Andrew Pease, father of Mrs. Mary C. (Pease) Turner, was also one of the worthy "boys in blue." having served in Company I, Thirty-seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry,-the noted "Greybeard Volunteers," -he having enlisted when fifty-eight years of age, on December 15, 1862, and his death occurred while in the service, at Alton, Illinois, on January 10, 1863, he having been on guard duty there.
Ann E. Parks, maiden name of the mother of Dr. Lewis C. S. Turner, of this sketch, was born in Noble county, Indiana, October 2, 1836, the daugh- ter of Dr. Hiram S. Parks, who was one of the pioneer physicians of Powe- shiek township. Jasper county, lowa, and he practiced medicine here until 1863, when he went to Kansas. He made his calls on horseback, going long distances in all kinds of weather, enduring great hardships, following Indian trails. often swimming or fording dangerous streams, sometimes in the roughest winter weather. He was a good doctor and was highly esteemed by the entire locality. The death of Mrs. Ann E. Turner occurred on May 10, 1856.
On June 4, 1857, Charles C. Turner was married a second time, his last wife being Mary Catherine Pease, one of the early teachers of this county, who taught the first school in her district. She was a woman of high edu- cational attainments and a strong character. She directed the education of her only step-child, and at the age of nineteen, Lewis C. S. Turner, of this sketch, began teaching in the common schools of this county. He entered Simpson College. Indianola, Iowa, in 1873. and he also attended Central University at Pella, Iowa, in 1874. In June, 1877, he finished the course at the Baylies Mercantile College at Keokuk, this state, and in 1878 he was graduated from Pierce's Normal Institute of Penmanship of the last named city. He began the study of medicine under Doctors Tillman Seems, of Mitchellville, Iowa, and J. J. M. AAngear, of Fort Madison, Iowa. later of Chicago. Since March 1, 1882. Doctor Turner has been successfully en- gaged in the practice of his profession at Colfax and has built up a large,
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lucrative and ever-growing patronage. He has kept well abreast of the times in everything that pertains to his practice, having always been a profound student and a vigorous and independent researcher. He is a member of the Jasper County, the Des Moines District and the Iowa State Medical societies. Since 1888 he has been health officer of Colfax and a member of the school board from 1892 to 1895. A graduate pharmacist, he dispenses his own drugs. He makes a specialty of eye, nose and throat and obstetrics, and his skill in these lines has placed him in the front rank of his professional brethren.
On October 21, 1878, Doctor Turner was united in marriage with Alice B. Sams, one of the leading lady practitioners of medicine in central Iowa, an individual sketch of whom appears on another page of this work. This union has been graced by the birth of two children : Vera, who married J. W. Preston, of Port Lavaca, Texas. They have one daughter, Ruth Alice, born July 13. 1911. She is a graduate of Wellesley College, and for a time she taught in the Jasper county schools; she is a member of the Des Moines chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Carroll J. Turner was graduated from the Colfax high school and is now at college, preparing to follow in the footsteps of his parents and devote his life to the medical profession.
Doctor Turner is a man of agreeable social nature, pleasing personality. Religiously, he is a Unitarian. He has been active in many works in Colfax, always ready to do what he could in furthering the interests of the city in any way. He is best known as the proprietor, jointly with his wife, of the Turner Rest Home and Sanitarium, which they established in 1904. Prior to this they had been proprietors of the Victoria Sanitarium, and for three years previously they maintained public bath parlors, using in all these the mineral waters for which Colfax is famous. Doctor and Mrs. Turner went to Chicago, Illinois, in 1898 and there remained two years, returning to Colfax in 1900 and have since devoted most of their attention to their mod- ern, well equipped and popular sanitarium, which has proven to be a boon to thousands.
ALICE BELLVADORE (SAMS) TURNER, M. D.
Women are entering, in this advanced epoch of the world's history, many of the professions, and, as a rule, they have met with exceptional success, this being particularly true of medicine, and the town of Colfax, Jasper county, has a resident woman who has been longer in practice than most women
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doctors, and one who stands at the top of the profession, irrespective of sex. Dr. Alice Bellvadore (Sams) Turner is a descendant of a sterling old family of courageous, useful men and women, who have been leaders in various lines wherever they have dispersed, faithful citizens in whatever situation they were placed. whether fighting for their country's independence or living quietly in times of peace. whether blazing new trails on the frontier of civiliza- tion or laboring to better material, civic and moral conditions in some seat of modern culture. Mrs. Dr. Turner is a native of this county, having been born at Greencastle on March 13, 1859. the daughter of John and Evaline (Humphreys) Sams, the former the son of Edmund and Sarah Sams, and her mother was the daughter of Moses and Rebecca (Boyd) Humphreys. Both her grandfathers served in the war of 1812 with the Tennessee troops. John Sams was born in Sullivan county, east Tennessee, in 1813 and there he spent his boyhood, moving to Logan county, Illinois, in 1833, when that coun- try was practically a wilderness. From there he came to Jasper county, Iowa, in 1853 and again began life as a pioneer. He first married Mary Vande- vender, who was born in Virginia in 1834 and her death occurred in 1851, leaving three children, David E .. Margaret and Sarah, deceased. In 1852, while a resident of Logan county, Illinois, he was united in marriage with Evaline ( Humphreys) Hilton, who was born May 10, 1824, in the eastern part of Tennessee. To this marriage four children were born: Alfred is living in Jasper county ; Emily, widow of Dr. A. S. Warner; Alice Bellvadore, subject of this sketch, and Francis M.
John Sams, born January 8, 1813, was a successful farmer, in fact, for many years he was one of the leading agriculturists of the county, being the owner of about six hundred and forty acres here. He was influential in the affairs of his community, serving as township trustee and school director. He was an active Democrat, and a good and useful man. His death occurred on April 9, 1891. his widow surviving until August 19, 1902.
The subject's paternal grandparents, Moses and Rebecca (Boyd) Hum- phreys, were natives of Carter county, Tennessee, and in an early day they moved to Logan county, Illinois, where they lived until 1853. when they came to Jasper county. Iowa. thus starting life twice under pioneer conditions, and here they spent the rest of their lives.
Alice B. Sams grew to womanhood and received her common school training in her home community, later attending Lincoln University, at Lin- coln, Illinois, also Simpson College at Indianola, Iowa, and the Mitchell Seminary at Mitchellville, Iowa, and for a time she successfully taught school in Jasper and Shelby counties. She studied medicine under Dr. J. J. M.
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Angear of Keokuk, Iowa, making rapid progress, and thus well equipped for her life work, she began practicing medicine in Colfax in 1884 and with the exception of two years, from 1898 to 1900, inclusive, spent in Chicago, this vicinity has been the arena of her endeavors, during which time she has enjoyed a profitable and growing practice and has taken a position in the front rank of her compeers.
On October 21, 1878, the subject was united in marriage with Dr. Lewis C. S. Turner, a complete sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this history. and has since been associated with him in practice and in the management of the famous Turner Rest Home and Sanitarium, but the success of the same has been due as much to her efforts as to his. She is a member of the Iowa State Medical Society. She was one of the founders of the Colfax Public Library, of which she has been president for many years ; she also belongs to the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, the Woman's Christian Temper- ance Union and the Woman's Relief Corps. In 1886 and 1887 she filled the position of health officer of Colfax, being the first woman in lowa to fill such a position. She has read many able papers before the above named literary and medical societies. She is a scholarly, cultured and refined lady whom to know is to esteem for her many commendable attributes of head and heart and she numbers her friends only by the limits of her acquaintance. She is a worthy member of the Unitarian church. Although necessarily very busy in her professional and club work, she is none the less a faithful mother and home-loving woman. On July 24. 1874. she began keeping a diary, a daily record of transpiring events of interest which she has continued to the pres- ent time, and she has induced her son and daughter to begin keeping a daily journal. These children are. Vera, born October 2, 1881, who was gradu- ated from Wellesley College in 1895. married J. W. Preston, now a resident of Colfax, and they are the parents of one child. Ruth Alice, born July 13. IQII ; Carroll John Turner, who was born March 28, 1893, was graduated from the local high school and he is now attending Drake University at Des Moines, intending to follow the medical profession.
WILLIAM ADAMSON.
The importance that attaches to the lives, character and work of those who took the initiative in the work of transforming the country from its wild condition into its present high state of development, and the influence they have exerted upon the cause of humanity and civilization is one of the most
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absorbing themes that can possibly attract the attention of the local chroni- cler or historian. If great and beneficent results-results that endure and bless mankind-are the proper measure of the good men do, then who is there in the world's history that may take their places above such men as the late William Adamson, one of the best remembered of Jasper county citizens of a past generation whose good deeds will never be forgotten ?
Mr. Adamson was born March 27, 1841, at Huntsville, Indiana, the son of Enos and Mary Adamson. Enos Adamson died at Savannah, Missouri, and the widow came to Jasper county, lowa, when William Adamson was about four years old. She entered land from the government and developed a very comfortable home. William Adamson remained at home with his mother until he enlisted in the defense of the Stars and Stripes on April I, 1861, becoming a member of Company B, Fifth lowa Volunteer Infantry, from Jasper county, this regiment being known as the "Jasper Grays." He fought in the battles of Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain, Vicksburg, Iuka, Fort Donelson, Fort Henry and Shiloh. Mr. Adamson saw much hard ser- vice and was in many tight places, and was once wounded on the head and was sent to the hospital, rejoining the army after his recovery and he was honorably discharged and returned to his mother, who was still living on the home farm in Jasper county. He taught schools in the winter months and farmed in the summer for several years. On December 12, 1867, he was united in marriage with Angeline Poore, a native of Wichester. Randolph county. Indiana, where she was born May 27, 1841, and she was the daugh- ter of Edward and Nancy A. Poore, who came to Jasper county, Iowa, in an early day when their daughter, Angeline, was young, and here they became well established and were prominent in the days of the first settlers. To this union two sons were born : Paul M. Adamson, who married Leah J. Wheldon, of Marshalltown, Iowa, and they have one child, Maxwell W., who is attend- ing school at Marshalltown ; Earl C. Adamson, the second son of the subject, was married to Daisy M. Lindsey, and to this union two children were born, one of whom died in infancy; Marcella B. now resides in Newton with his grandmother, Mrs. William Adamson, his mother having passed away when he was a small boy. The second marriage of Earl C. Adamson was to Elois Allen. of Des Moines, Iowa, and to this union one child, Joseph F., was born.
William Adamson grew up in Jasper county, received his education in the old-time public schools here and he went to school for a time at the Hazel Dell Academy. He and his family were members of the Methodist church at Newton and he was a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic post at Newton and he always upheld the policies of the Republican party. For
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a number of years he was assessor of Sherman township, and he became one of the prominent men of his county. Mr. Adamson was more than an average man, and had a fine education.
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