USA > Iowa > Shelby County > Past and present of Shelby County, Iowa, Vol. 2 > Part 22
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"His encouraging remark made me feel worse. I know as I rode away I trembled from head to foot. But the little horse was willing if the rider was not. He cantered along impatiently till I reached the forks of the road and by close looking, I could see in the dawn and darkness the trail of the rebels running south. I whirled the horse into the road running east and gave him more freedom from the rein. He seemed to leap to his task of a nine-mile race as if he was anxious to carry his trembling rider to safety. The further along the road I got. the better I felt, for I knew if the rebels were behind me, they would have to stay there ( my horse had been tried before) and the chances rapidly decreased of their being in front of me. I reached the Union pickets just as the sun began to appear.
"A moment of explanation to them and on I went. I rode up to the head- quarters in the old court house, handed my note to an officer. He read it, then frowned and looked up at me with a smile and said, 'Bub, have you been to breakfast'? Being told I had not, he told me where to go for breakfast and feed for my horse and sent a soldier with me, I suppose to give direc- tions. I ate my breakfast while others cared for my horse. After eating, I felt like a careless boy again. The fear had vanished. In a little while nearly all that Union force of between four and five thousand men (as it looked to me), moved out southwest in the direction where General Porter was supposed to be."
At this time conditions in northern Missouri were most deplorable. Elisha Cullison and two of his associates, Dr. J. W. Lee and T. J. Lycan, had become the most hated Union men in that section and it was reported that the rebel authorities had offered five hundred dollars each for their capture. They had organized the Union League (a secret loyal organization that existed during the war), in that part of the country. George W. Cullison was admitted as a member although a mere boy. Every member of this league would report generally in the night time) to the league or its officers, every move of every rebel or rebel suspect that came to his knowledge. These officers in turn would report to the commanders of the Union troops, either at Edina or Kirksville, and by this means, the troopers were enabled to pick up rebels or rebel suspects in every part of that country. George W. was often appointed to convey these reports to the Union forces. It was not so danger- ous but it often required an all-night ride, especially if the circumstances were urgent.
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Assassination became frequent. And it was generally the Union men that were assassinated. A judge. an ex-county officer, a sick, furloughed soldier and a farmer, all Union men, were assassinated. Besides, numerous attempts at assassination failed. Elisha Cullison and his associates had more to dread from that source than any other. He decided he would go with the regular army and send his family back to Iowa till the war was over. Ac- cordingly, the boy George W., was directed to take his mother and younger children to Iowa.
They started, but after one day's travel in a wagon one of the small chil- dren took sick and the family returned to their home the next day and re- mained during the war. This dreadful condition continued from the begin- ning of the war till after the battle of Kirksville, August 6, 1863.
From that time on, the Union forces held sway in North Missouri and peace again returned. Elisha Cullison died February 1. 1865, and George W. started out to shift for himself. Nearly everything had been lost during the war except the land and that was valueless. He hired out and worked on a farm from March till September. He had received no schooling and could scarcely read and write. In the fall of 1865, he started in school at Monroe City, Missouri, and remained there until January, 1866. During the year 1866 and till August. 1867, he worked on a farm, generally receiving twenty dollars per month. In the fall of 1867, he enrolled as a student in the North Missouri Normal School, at Kirksville. It was a private school at that time and began September 4, 1867. Mr. Cullison was the second student enrolled. He studied, worked and taught school and in 1870 was awarded a diploma. The school afterward became a state school and Mr. Cullison was given a diploma from the State school in 1874. Mr. Cullison taught school for ten years and for six years of that time he conducted schools of his own; that is, private schools, and secured his income by charging tuition. He conducted a private school at Unionton, Missouri, from Septem- ber, 1870, till June, 1871. He then transferred his school to Troy, Davis county, Iowa, and conducted that school till June, 1875. He then went to Bloomfield and became one of the principals of the Southern Iowa Normal and Scientific Institute and remained there one year. He was then appointed superintendent of the school of Allerton, Iowa, and remained there till De- cember, 1880.
During his career as teacher, he came to be recognized as one of the leading educators of the state. He conducted Normal Institutes in Davis. Appanoose, Wayne, Montgomery, Pottawattamie and Shelby counties in Iowa and held teachers' meetings in Clarke, Scotland, Putnam, Mercer and
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Grundy counties, Missouri. In this work he was greatly admired and always received the highest salaries of the time. He is remembered now in love by the hundreds of the men and women in Iowa and Missouri, who were his pupils in those far-off days.
Mr. Cullison from his boyhood wanted to be a lawyer. Notwithstand- ing the vicissitudes and deprivations of his early life, his hope to be a lawyer never dimmed and his determination never wavered. During his spare time while teaching. he studied law and in 1876 was admitted to the bar by the district court of Davis county, Iowa, Judge J. C. Knapp presiding. In 1880. he formed a partnership with Hon. T. II. Smith, in Harlan, Iowa, under the firm name of Smith & Cullison. The new firm began January 1, 1881, and continued till January 1, 1895. In 1899 he formed a partnership with Hon. L. B. Robinson under the firm name of Cullison & Robinson. In 1904, he was associated with H. V. Yackey under the firm name of Cullison & Yackey. In 1908, he became associated with his son, Shelby Cullison, under the firm name of Cullison & Cullison and that firm still continues. In 1887, the firm of Smith & Cullison formed a partnership with F. A. Turner, at Avoca, under the firm name of Turner. Smith & Cullison. In 1895. Mr. Smith withdrew from that firm and it exists now as Turner & Cullison. The firm of Turner & Cullison is probably the oldest partnership in western lowa
Mr. Cullison has been a student ever since the war and is a great student now. An evening seldom comes that does not find him in his home library studying history, philosophy, literature, science, social problems or the Bible. He is recognized as one of the best educated men in the West. As a lawyer, he is regarded by all who know him, both bench and bar, as one among the best in the state. Few, if any, members stand higher in personal esteem of both the bench and the bar than Mr. Cullison. His arguments to the court are clear and concise and closely logical. The courts and lawyers listen attentively to what he says and it is generally thought something of impor- tance will be said when he speaks. His printed arguments and briefs for the appellate courts are models of clearness and usually are exhaustive of the subjects treated. His practice is very extensive in western lowa and in both State and Federal courts. As a public speaker, he is pleasing and entertain- ing and unfolds his theme with great care and precision. His language is keen and apt, and his mode of speech is such as attracts instant attention.
On July 11, 1872, Mr. Cullison married Jennie S. Gates, near Fairfield, Jefferson county, Iowa. At that time he was conducting his school at Troy, Iowa, and Miss Gates was one of the students. She was born in Essex county, New York, came to Iowa when a child and grew to womanhood in
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Jefferson county. Her father was a farmer and carpenter. She became a teacher in the country schools and wa's attending Mr. Cullison's school when he became acquainted with her. They were both poor in purse but rich in hope and ambition. She had saved a few dollars while teaching and he had one hundred and twenty-five dollars. They began housekeeping with what they had and were contented and happy. She was gentle, kind, industrious and economical and he was ambitious and ceaseless in his endeavor to stic- ceed. They both studied and worked, she in the home and he in his schools. Life went pleasantly with them, not because of riches, emoluments and fame, but because of the happiness and contentment of their humble home. In 1880, Mr. Cullison decided to quit school work and enter the practice of the law. At that time, they had a family of four children. When he told his wife his decision, she asked, "Do you think we have enough to support the family till you get started?" "Well," he replied, "We will use it all if need be, and exhaust my personal credit, and if I can't succeed by that time I will turn to something else." "I hope you can succeed and believe you will" was her only comment. Mr. Cullison did not use all his accumulation in begin- ning the practice of the law for he was fortunate enough to make a living from the start.
They have had six children, four girls and two boys. One of the boys died when he was five years old and one of the girls after she reached woman- hood. Mrs. Jennie S. Cullison died November 18, 1898, of tuberculosis. The attack was totally unexpected to both her and her husband. She was taken ill in June and lingered until November. She is buried in Harlan.
On December 25, 1899, at Boulder, Colorado, Mr. Cullison married Mary Iowa Gates, a sister of his first wife. His home life now is in all essen- tial respects the same as when he was first married. It is plain, frugal, un- ostentatious, economical and very pleasant. He has three children by the second wife, two girls and one boy. One of the marked features of their home life is the fact that it is still a real home for all his children whenever any of them choose to return. One would not know from their treatment of each other that they were not all full brothers and sisters.
In politics, Mr. Cullison was first a Republican, then a Democrat and is now a Republican. Prior to 1872, he was a Republican, but in that year voted for Horace Greeley. It was due more to the family love for Greeley than anything else. for the father had taken "Greeley's Tribune." as it was called by the people then, for many years. The paper was the only one re- ceived and it was read by all who could read. Greeley was looked upon as a real tribune of the common people and they loved him. When he became a
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candidate for President, all the voters in the Cullison family voted for him. Mr. Cullison remained a Democrat till 1900 when he voted for MeKinley. In 1896, he was not satisfied with the Democratic party's position on the silver question. He remained with the party, however, and believed the silver question would soon pass, but the Spanish war came on. The Philippine Islands came into the possession of the United States. In 1900, the Demo- cratic party declared itself opposed to their retention by the United States. and opposed the re-election of President Mckinley on that ground. It also renewed its declaration in favor of the free and unlimited coinage of silver. Mr. Cullison made up his mind to vote for Mckinley instead of Mr. Bryan. the Democratie nominee. When asked why he was opposing Bryan, he re- plied, "Mr. Bryan is in favor of inflation, opposed to expansion and that presages an explosion."
At that time Mr. Cullison went no farther than to vote for MeKinley. but in 1904 he voted the Republican ticket and became a Republican in fact. During all his life, Mr. Cullison has advocated and actively supported all movements in the locality where he lived for its upbuilding and the better- ment of the people. Before he was of age, he subscribed for stock in the Normal School at Kirksville, Missouri, from which he afterward graduated. In 1869, he cast his first vote in favor of bonding Adair county, Missouri. in the sum of eighty thousand dollars to secure a state normal school at Kirks- ville. The bonds carried. He afterward was appointed and served on a committee to meet the state authorities and secure from them the location of a state normal school at Kirksville. They met at St. Louis and were before the locating committee three days. Kirksville won out by a bare majority of one and the school was located at Kirksville. It has grown to be one of the greatest educational institutions of the West and Kirksville has grown from a town of about one thousand five hundred to a city of over ten thousand.
In 1874, Mr. Cullison subscribed to the fund to build the Southern Iowa Normal and Scientific Institute at Bloomfield, Iowa. It is a small college but has had such an elevating influence on that city that it has become one of the most beautiful and homelike little cities in the state.
In March, 1881, and in less than three months after he moved to Harlan, he was elected a member of the school board and served on that board con- tinnously for twelve years and was president of the board most of that time. Later he was elected to the board and served for six years, making full eighteen years altogether. It is not too much to say that he has done more to shape the policy of the Harlan public schools than any other man. His
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loyalty to them and his unswerving purpose to make them at least equal to the best has been a constant force for their good and a blessing to the children. He was never so busy he did not take time to attend to the wants and needs of the schools. He has often said that during his eighteen years on the school board, he has given at least one full year of time to the schools.
In 1905, Mr. Cullison was one of the few men who established the Har- lan Chautauqua Association and his associates say that but for him the Chautauqua would have failed. He was superintendent and manager of the Chautauqua Assembly at Harlan for five years and is still a member of the board. He helped establish the Western Iowa Vocational College at Harlan, is a member of its board of trustees and was its general manager from its beginning till August 1, 1914. He was one of the first advocates and chief supporters of the city's policy of erecting and maintaining a system of water works and electric lights, of cement walks, sewers and paving. He has often said, "Such things promote the health, happiness, comfort and well-being of the people and in all such things that the individual cannot do for himself. he, as a member of society, ought to help the public do."
JOHN W. ROBINSON.
The gentleman whose name heads this biography is widely known in Lincoln township, Shelby county, Iowa, and is one of the honored citizens of his community, where he is living in honorable retirement after a strenu- ous life of activity in connection with agricultural pursuits. His well- directed efforts in the practical affairs of life. his capable management of his business interests and his sound judgment have brought to him prosperity, and his life demonstrates what may be accomplished by any man of energy and ambition who is not afraid to work and has the perseverance to con- tinue his labors in the face of any disaster or discouragement that may arise. In all the relations of life Mr. Robinson has commanded the confidence and respect of those with whom he has been brought into contact and a biograph- ical history of this locality would not be complete without a record of his career.
John W. Robinson, one of the most substantial farmers of Lincoln township, was born in Jones county, lowa, in 1854. His father, Charles Robinson, was born in 1820, in Champaign county, Ohio, and his mother, Theresa Reynolds, was born in 1838, in Whiteside county, Illinois. Charles
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Robinson came to Iowa in 1835, and settled in Jones county, being one of the earliest settlers of the county. He came to Shelby county in 1875. He was a man of great ability and recognized as a man of wide influence in the affairs of the county. He improved two farms in Jones county and lived the last two years of his life at Defiance, in Shelby county, where his death oc- curred in 1890. His wife passed away ten years later.
John W. Robinson was one of nine children born to his parents, and received a good common school education and at the age of twenty-two began farming for himself in this county. He first rented one hundred and ten acres of land and in 1879 bought his first farm in Lincoln township. Since that time he has bought and sold several farms in different places in the county, at one time having owned the farm which is now in the pos- session of John H. Clausen in this township. He has the honor of setting out the large shade trees on that farin, which attract attention from all of the passersby. He now owns three hundred and twenty acres of land in Lincoln township, upon which he has made extensive improvements. He has been an extensive breeder of high grade live stock for the past twenty- two years, making a particular specialty of Polled Durham cattle. He has won many prizes on his cattle at fairs throughout the state. Mr. Robinson has always been a hard working man and is still active in the management of his farm. He can be seen during the plowing season behind a walking plow in the corn fields, while his son uses the riding plow.
Mr. Robinson was married in 1878 to Rachel Casey, who was born in Carroll county, Ohio, in 1859, and to this union have been born six children, of whom five are living and are the pride of their parents: Dr. V. J., a graduate of the Chicago Veterinary College, who had previously attended the Iowa State College for two years, and is now practicing his profession at Atlantic, Cass county, Iowa ; Maud, who married George A. Luxford, an attorney of Denver, Colorado; John, also a graduate of the Chicago Veter- inary College and practicing with his brother, V. J., at Atlantic; Otis, a prac- ticing physician of Atlantic, Iowa, and a graduate of Creighton University, of Omaha, Nebraska : Clair, the only one of the children still at home with his parents: Paul, deceased.
Politically, Mr. Robinson is a member of the Republican party and in the split which occurred in 1912, he remained true to the old line wing of the party. He and his family are all members of the Christian church and have taken an active part in the various departments of church work in that denomination. Mr. Robinson has always been a very generous contributor to the support of his favorite denomination. His notable straightforward-
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ness has gained for him the confidence and good will of all who know him best, and he is in every way deserving of the high esteem in which he is held by all classes. He has kept well abreast of the times and has always had the courage of his convictions, and while primarily engaged in the further- ance of his own interests, he has never lost sight of his larger duties to his county and state and ever supported such measures as make for the general good.
EDWARD SPEER WHITE.
Singular and pronounced attainments on the part of an individual are always worthy of attention and there is likewise a recognized necessity for recording the same. Every man seems endowed by nature and fitted peculiarly for a certain task and the truth of the time-tried saying, "There is a niche for every man and a man for every niche," was never better exemplified than in the history of Edward Speer White. The point worthy of emphasis in writing of the career of Mr. White, the historian of this volume, is that he is naturally gifted with literary talents with a decided leaning toward his- torical writings. Readers of this history will agree with the foregoing state- ment without doubt. As he is one of the leading attorneys of the county and a lifelong citizen of this community it becomes the duty of the biographer to record the salient facts regarding Mr. White's career for insertion in the pages of the biographical department of this volume.
Edward Speer White was born October 27, 1871, on a farm in Benton county, Iowa. He is a son of James W. and Eliza (Speer) White, residents of Jackson township, in Shelby county. James W. White was born in County Down, Ireland, and is a son of John and Mary (Copeland) White. both natives of County Down, Ireland. Eliza (Speer) White was born September 18, 1848, at Le Claire, Scott county, Iowa. Her parents were James and Margaret ( Crawford) Speer, both natives of Pennsylvania, who settled in Scott county, Iowa, in 1840. Mr. and Mrs. James W. White settled in Jackson township, Shelby county, in 1875, coming from Benton county, Iowa, and are yet residing on the land broken out by Mr. White. They are the parents of seven children: Edward S., Matie, Margaret (deceased), Lydie, wife of S. J. Philson, Nellie M., wife of E. F. Morris, John H. and Jessie F.
E. S. White lived in Jackson township until he attained his majority. He attended the district schools and assisted on the home farm, later graduat-
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Edward A White
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ing from the high school at Harlan in 1890, at that time under the supervision of that distinguished instructor, Professor A. B. Warner. Professor War- ner later became superintendent of the Tacoma. Washington, schools. At present he is a professor in the State Normal school at Kirksville, Missouri. Following his graduation from the Harlan high school. Mr. White entered the State University of lowa where he pursued the classical course and grad- uated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1894. While a student at the University he was active in student affairs and was chosen editor of his college paper. He was also president of the athletic association and presi- dent of one of the literary societies. He was made a member of the honor scholastic fraternity. Phi Beta Kappa, and is also a member of the Sigma Nu Greek letter fraternity. After his graduation he became a teacher and taught his first school in the Fritz district in Jackson township. Later he taught the Copenhagen school in his home township. After teaching a year in the district schools he became an instructor in the high school at Cherokee, Iowa, and, though re-elected, decided to accept a position in the Harlan high school which had been offered him. For the next five years he taught in the Harlan high school. being elected to the superintendency of the city schools in 1898. He held this position for three years and then resigned to enter the law school of the University of Michigan, from which he gradu- ated in 1902 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In the fall of the same year he passed the bar examination at Des Moines, Iowa, and immediately began the practice of his profession at Harlan, where he has since remained.
While in the University of Michigan, Mr. White contributed a number of special articles to the Chicago Record-Herald on various phases of college life. Later he wrote special articles and sketches for the Register and Leader of Des Moines, the Council Bluffs Vonpareil, the Omaha Bee, the Sioux City Journal, and the Minneapolis Journal. The Midland Monthly of Des Moines accepted and published three or four articles written by him, one of which entitled, "Denmark in America," was commented on and excerpts therefrom republished in the department, "Leading Articles of the Month," of the American Review of Reviewes edited by Dr. Albert Shaw. In a contest for prizes offered by Collier's Weekly for suggestions looking to the betterment of this magazine, he was fortunate enough to win three prizes in succession consisting of books and the sum of twenty-five dollars.
Mr. White was married in 1898 to Clyde Beryl Cobb, the daughter of Dr. E. A. and Martha ( Foster ) Cobb. Mrs. White is a graduate of the high school at Harlan, class of 1893, as well as a graduate of the University of (40)
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Iowa, class of 1898. She belongs to the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion, the P. E. O. Society, the Harlan Literary Club, and the college sorority of Pi Beta Phi. Mr. White and wife are the parents of two sons, Leland Cobb and Edward Speer, Jr.
Mr. White is a Republican in politics, active in the affairs of his party, and has served as county chairman. He has served three terms as county attorney and while in office was very active in the meetings of the state association of county attorneys, serving as secretary of the association. He appeared on the programs of the annual meetings and discussed various legal topics. Ile and his wife are members of the Congregational church.
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