USA > Iowa > Shelby County > Past and present of Shelby County, Iowa, Vol. 2 > Part 23
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Mr. White is one of the county's most useful and talented citizens and · enjoys the respect and esteem of a large number of friends and acquaintances. Those who know him have the kindest feelings and warmest friendship for him as a man and are ever ready to assist his undertakings. Besides being a writer of recognized ability and a talented member of the Shelby county bar, he is an orator of more than local reputation. He is frequently called upon to give addresses at local gatherings and often beyond the borders of his county. He is gifted with a plenteous endowment of good common sense and judgment, qualities which go far to commend him in the eyes of those whom he meets.
WILLIAM MOORE BOMBERGER.
The history of the Bomberger family has been traced back several generations and the family is fortunate in having their history well pre- served. It is not possible in the space here allowed to follow the various branches of the family, now numbering several hundred members, and in the life of William Moore Bomberger the genealogy will be but briefly re- viewed. The Tillie Zimmerman Record. of Shafferstown, Pennsylvania, gives a complete record of the Bomberger family for several generations.
The first member of the family to come to this country from Germany, the ancestral home of the family, arrived here several years before the Revo- lutionary War. It seems that the first Bomberger located in the state of New York and later settled in southern Pennsylvania. Joseph Bomberger, the grandfather of William M., with whom this narrative deals, was a common laborer in his boyhood days and, when a young man, found employment with John Andres, a wealthy farmer living near Lebanon, in the southern part of Pennsylvania. It so happened that Andres had a handsome daugh-
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ter and, as so often happens. the two young people were soon in love with each other. They plighted their troth and were happily planning on mar- riage when an unforeseen circumstance arose. When the youthful Joseph broached the question of marriage to his betrothed's father he found him utterly opposed to their union. He was not particularly opposed to young Bomberger because of any unworthiness on the latter's part but for the rea- son that he had Hessian blood flowing in his veins. At that time the Penn- sylvania Germans had very little love for the Hessians because they had served England against the Colonies in the Revolutionary War. However, Mr. Andres overcame his scruples on this score. and knowing that the young man was in every way worthy of his daughter, gave his consent to their union.
The nuptials of Joseph Bomberger and Sarah Andres were solemnized with splendor and. to add to the happiness of the young couple, her father built a large brick house and a stone barn on a hundred-acre tract for them. He gave them the farm thus equipped on condition that they should pay for the improvements, which amounted to about eight thousand dollars. Her father felt that they would appreciate their home if they had to work some for it, and in this he showed excellent judgment. They readily accepted the offer and on this farm the nineteen-year-old husband and seventeen-year- old wife began their married life. They soon paid the indebtedness on the farm, added to it and were in the course of time among the most substantial people of the community where they lived. Their place was one of the most beautiful in southern Pennsylvania and is still standing and occupied by their descendants. Joseph Bomberger and wife reared a family of several children, namely: Sarah Shirk (deceased), AAndres J. (deceased). William, Josepli, Mrs. Emma Wells and Augusta (deceased), a soldier in the Union army.
It is not possible to trace the children, since the limits of this article confine the historian to the line represented by William Moore Bomberger, the son of Andres John. The father of William Mf. was born in Pennsylvania, near the city of Lebanon, and reared in the home which had been in the family for nearly a century. Andres John Bomberger was married on November 19, 1850, to Henrietta Moore, the daughter of Phillip and Mar- garetta (Winters) Moore. To this union were born four children, John. William Moore. Phillip and Ida May. The daughter died in infancy and the three sons grew to manhood.
The Moore family are of German extraction, the first members of the family having come to this country from the Palatinate district in the year
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1735. At the time the family came to America there were several other families, among them being the Misers, Stumps, Zellers, Fakes, Beckers and many others. The Moores landed in New York City and at once went up the state and located in Schoharie county. Shortly afterwards, in the same year, the family accepted the liberal offer of William Penn and moved to southern Pennsylvania. Here the great-grandfather of William Moore Bomberger bought a large tract of land and lived the rest of his life. Nine children were the result of the marriage of this great-grandfather, three boys and six girls. One of the three boys was Phillip, who was born in Heidelberg, Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, on March 15. 1795. Phillip Moore married Margaretta Winters, who was born at Wintersville, Berks county, Pennsylvania. To Phillip Moore and wife were born eight children, four of whom died in infancy. The four who grew to maturity were Sarah, Adaline, John B. and Henrietta, the mother of William Moore Bomberger. Henrietta was born in 1833 and died in 1864, shortly after she and her husband located in Missouri. As a girl she was strong and healthy but some time before her marriage she met with an unfortunate accident which ultimately resulted in her death. One evening, as she was bringing the cows from the pasture, she injured her ankle and this finally made her a cripple from which she never recovered. Her father. Phillip Moore, was a man of great strength and one of the most influential men of his community. He built all of the buildings on his farm of stone and they are still standing and are in as good shape as they were when erected, a century ago. He was especially interested in horticulture, in trees, flowers, fruits and ornamental shrubs of all kinds. He had extensive orchards and sold thousands of bushels of apples to the distilleries for the purpose of making apple-jack, a drink which was used by everyone in his day and generation.
The Bonibergers and Moores have married and intermarried until the family histories are very much confused. The Tillie Zimmerman Record, which has been previously mentioned, contains much of the Moore history as well as that of the Bombergers. Much of the data has been gathered from tombstones in the family burying lots. The families have become so re- lated that there are no less than six John Bombergers in a limited neighbor- hood. In the settlement of one Moore estate there were sixty-seven heirs within the two families. Most of the members of both families have never left their native state, although there are members of the families now living in Illinois and Nevada, as well as Iowa.
William Moore Bomberger was born in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, May 28. 1856, and was the second of four children born to his parents. He
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was born in a blue limestone house built by his ancestors in 1735 and the house is still in an excellent state of preservation and occupied by members of the family. His father, Andres John, farmed and at the same time operated the hotel in the city of Lebanon. In 1861 the family went west and finally stopped at Quincy, Illinois, arriving there just at the time Fort Sum- ter was fired upon. After some discussion, Andres John decided to take his family farther west, and at once went into the state of Iowa, locating on a farm in Louisa county, near Wapello. The family remained here only a short time and then settled in Morning Sun, lowa, where they remained until 1865. Then they went to Missouri and there Andres John Bomberger managed the farm of an ex-slave holder in Brunswick, Chariton county. Here the wife and mother died and the children were taken back to Penn- sylvania and placed in the hands of relatives for a time. At this time Will- iam M., with whom this sketch deals, was a lad of eight. The father re- married in Iowa and William M. then returned west and lived with his father and step-mother. His step-mother died shortly afterward and the following spring his father died. From this time the youthful William was thrown on his own resources and he showed himself abundantly able to care for himself.
William Moore Bomberger had lived in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri before his mother died. After the death of his mother, in 1864, he returned to his native state and lived one year with one grand- father and two years with the other grandfather. During this time he got a taste of farming on stony soil and the experience was one which he has never forgotten. He returned to his father in Iowa, after his father's sec- ond marriage, and upon his death was apprenticed by his guardian to the Bennet and Franz Carriage Company, of Burlington, Iowa. In less than a year the firm was burned out and young William was out of employment. At this time he returned to Morning Sun, Iowa, and found work on the farms of the Scotch Covenanters near that place. He worked in the sum- iner, attended school in the winter time and was making a record as a stu- dent. While attending school the village postmaster took a liking to him and asked him to come into the office as his deputy, and although he was only seventeen years of age at the time, he was made a full-fledged public official, his first taste of public life.
This proved to be the turning point in the career of Mr. Bomberger, and the acquaintances and friendships which he formed the next three years in Morning Sun were destined to point him for his future career. Here he lived for three years, rooming and boarding with T. M. Findley, the super-
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intendent of the town schools, and all the time acting as deputy postmaster. He formed the acquaintance of Henry Wallace, who was just out of the seminary and preaching his first sermons in Morning Sun. It was this young minister who was later to become the editor of the Wallace Farmer and a man whose name and fame is known throughout the whole United States. The three years which Mr. Bomberger spent here under this environment determined largely his future and gave him a keen desire for an education. He spent every spare minute in study and when he left here, at the age of twenty-one, he had a good education.
In 1877 he went to Shelby county with two friends, R. M. Pomeroy and William Shirk, on a prospecting trip. He selected a tract in section 7. Shelby township, erected buildings upon it, rented the farm to a satisfactory tenant and in the fall went to Mount Vernon, Jowa, to attend Cornell Col- lege. However, he changed his mind and decided to enter the State Uni- versity at Iowa City, a decision largely influenced by the fact that he would have free tuition in the university. He spent two days at the university and in that time saw so many of the students file in and out of the saloons of the city that he decided it was not the place for him. He next went to Grinnell College. looked it over, but the place seemed too lonesome. He then returned to Cornell College and there he spent the next four years, years which gave him that broad education which has made him such a successful man in the affairs of the world. While he attended college, during the col- lege year, he worked on his farm in Shelby county every summer and thus was enabled to maintain himself in school the rest of the year.
The year 188I saw William M. Bomberger a graduate of Cornell Col- lege but with his health very much impaired as a result of hard manual as well as mental labor. He secured a teacher's certificate and in the fall of 188I began to teach the Gooding school in Center township, although a small-pox scare caused the school to be closed before the end of the school year. This proved to be the last service of Mr. Bomberger in the school room and the pedagogical profession lost an able instructor when he laid aside the ferule. During the summer of 1882, R. M. Pomeroy was elected treasurer of Shelby county and he appointed Mr. Bomberger as his deputy, a position which he held for the next four years. The next county treasurer, W. F. Cleveland, although a Democrat, retained him as his deputy, and he remained with Mr. Cleveland for two years.
In the year 1888 Mr. Bomberger decided he was wasting his time and energy by working for someone else, and one day informed Mr. Cleveland that he was going to quit as deputy treasurer. The treasurer wanted to
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know if anything was wrong but was told that the only reason why he wanted to get out was so he could work for himself. Instead of returning to his farm hie sold it and invested all of his money in land near Harlan. He had always been interested in horticulture and now had the opportunity to get into the business for which he felt that he had the most ability. This he has made his life work and has built up a reputation along this line which has extended far beyond the limits of his state. He has been identi- fied with the horticultural interests of Iowa for more than a quarter of a cen- tury in various ways. For twelve years he was the horticultural editor of the Iowa Homestead and for a similar length of time he was secretary of the Southwestern Iowa Horticultural Association. He was secretary of the Farmers' Institute Association of Shelby County for ten years and during this time was of great service to the farmers of his county. He was presi- dent of the Iowa State Horticultural Association for two years and treasurer of the same for a period of three years. At the Iowa State Fair he has won fifty-three first and second prizes on his fruits and a valuable trophy vase for the best display of boxed apples. Ile also received a prize for the second best display of boxed Jonathan apples. Enough has been said to in- dicate the standing of Mr. Bomberger in the line of his chosen life work. a field in which he has been remarkably successful.
It is pertinent to mention something of the college career of Mr. Bom- berger. While in college lie was a classmate of Cato Sells, Robert G. Cousins and Charles Cummins, the eminent artist. The latter was one of the in- structors in his class and received the highest scores and marks given by the faculty. Mr. Bomberger was also an artist and received high marks for the excellence of his work. In his college course he achieved his greatest suc- cess in art, English, literature, history, Latin and Greek. Leslie Shaw. later governor of the state of lowa and secretary of the treasury under President Roosevelt, completed his course in Cornell the year before Mr. Bomberger entered and was selling fruit trees for Professor J. L. Budd, of Shell-burg. Iowa. Mr. Shaw sold Mr. Bomberger the first fruit trees he planted in Shelby county on his farm in Shelby township. Shaw made his way through school by selling fruit trees during his summer vacations. A deep friend- ship sprung up between Professor Budd and Mr. Bomberger and this had not a little influence on the later career of Mr. Bomberger. Professor Budd had charge of the department of horticulture in Ames College for many years and was regarded as one of the best informed men in the west along this line.
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In politics. Mr. Bomberger was a stanch Republican until 1912, when he affiliated with the newly organized Progressive party. Religiously, he was reared a German Lutheran and Presbyterian, although he is now a loyal member of the Congregational church of Harlan.
Mr. Bomberger was married in 1882 to Arbella DeButts, of Leaf River, Illinois, whom he met while attending college. She is the daughter of Enos and Catherine (Thomas) DeButts. Her grandparents on her father's side were Addison and Barbara ( Coffman ) DeButts : on her mother's side her grandparents were Elias and Susan ( Rice) Thomas, natives of Maryland. The Thomas family came overland to Leaf River, Illinois, in 1835. Mr. and Mrs. Bomberger are the parents of two children, Arthur and Henrietta Ada. Both the children are graduates of Lake Forest Uni- versity and are now giving expert assistance to their father in his horticul- tural work. Henrietta is a student in the Art Institute in Chicago, where she is specializing in commercial art.
HON. LEVI FRANKLIN POTTER.
In the largest and best sense of the term Hon. Levi Franklin Potter is distinctively one of the influential and notable men of his day and generation. and as such his life record is entitled to a conspicuous place in the annals of his county and state. As a citizen he has been public spirited and enterpris- ing. As a friend and neighbor he has combined the qualities of head and heart that have won confidence and commanded respect. . As a banker he has achieved a notable success and won the highest recognition for his attain- ments in financial circles possible for an individual in the state of Iowa. As a legislator he became recognized throughout the state for his signal services in behalf of the people and won fame as a true representative of the people. His interests while in the halls of the state legislature as one of the law makers for the people were purely and unselfishly impersonal and he sought only to accomplish what he deemed right and just. Eminent as a financier, useful as a progressive and enterprising citizen, esteemed highly as a friend, he is one of the valued members of the community in which he has resided for fifteen years or more and has rendered valued service as the fitting climax to a long and successful career in public life.
Levi Franklin Potter is a son of Levi Brigham Potter, a descendant of an old New England family. In his veins flows the best blood of New Eng- land ancestors and he has had the inspiration given by the deeds of illustrious
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١ شهير الهم الادخلاءشهدت عبيداً تيسي رواية
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forbears who, far back in the days of the Colonial and Revolutionary periods of the nation's history, rendered valiant service in behalf of the struggling Republic. He was born in Wawatosa, Milwaukee county, Wisconsin, March 27. 1855. His mother was Hitty ( Wenzel) Potter. Levi B. Potter, his father, was the grandson of Ebenezer Potter, a valiant soldier of the Revolu- tion. Col. Levi Brigham, his great-grandfather was also a veteran in the American war for independence. Levi B. Potter was the son of Ebenezer Potter, Jr. The maternal grandmother of Mr. Potter was Susanna Brig- ham, a daughter of Lieutenant Levi and Tabitha ( Hardy) Brigham. She was a mother of Ebenezer Potter. Sr.
In the year 1839, Levi B. Potter emigrated from his ancestral home in New England to the wilds of Wisconsin and there carved a home from the forest in Milwaukee county. He was one of the race of empire builders who broke the way and endured the hardships which were necessary for the de- velopment of the middle West. He lived and died on the homestead which he created with his own hands. He bequeathed to his country a family of eight children, only three of whom are now living: Milton B., residing at Wawatosa, Wisconsin ; Mrs. Susan De Graff, a widow, formerly a resident of Colorado, but now making her home with Mr. Potter; Levi Franklin, with whom this narrative is directly concerned.
L. F. Potter received his primary education in the public schools of his native county and attended the Ripon and Beloit colleges of Wisconsin. For a period of three years he taught school. While still a young man in years he hearkened to the call of the west and made a trip into Iowa as far as Pottawattamie county, Iowa, in 1876. The possibilities of attaining success in the new country impressed him apparently, for, in 1879, he came again to the state and here he has remained. He located in the town of Oakland and engaged in the mercantile business. He continued in business until March of 1884. when he became the cashier of the Citizens State Bank. of Oakland, and for the past thirty years has been connected with this institu- tion. Here it was that his latent ability for financial attainments found an opportunity for full play and he has since achieved high prestige in banking cireles. He resided in Oakland until 1899, when he came to Harlan for the purpose of having a wider field for his operations.
During his residence in Oakland he was one of the leading citizens of the city and county. He was twice efected mayor of the city. Mr. Potter was there elected a member of the twenty-sixth General Assembly, represent- ing Pottawattamie county, which convened in 1896 and again in extra session in 1897 for the purpose of effecting a complete codification of the laws of the state.
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Mr. Potter made an enviable record for statesmanship while a member of the legislature. While serving in the twenty-sixth General Assembly, he was chairman of the committee on telegraph, telephone and express and was a member of the important committee on ways and means, and also a miem- ber of the code revision, banks and banking. municipal corporations, police regulation and labor committees. His fine work on the ways and means com- mittee attracted the attention of chairman J. H. Funk, so that when Mr. Funk was elevated to the speakership of the house of representatives of the twenty-seventh General Assembly to which Mr. Potter was elected in 1898, he appointed Mr. Potter chairman of this committee. During the session of the twenty-seventh General Assembly he was a member of the following additional committees : Railroads and commerce, banks and banking. tele- graph. telephone and express, municipal corporations, rules, labor, and was a member of the joint committee on retrenchmient and reforin. Mr. Potter introduced and was successful in having passed the following bills: House bill number 199, providing for shorter forms for assessment rolls and assess- ors' books, an important money-saving act and the operation of which has saved hundreds of dollars every fiscal year to cach county ; house bill, num- ber 165, providing for the appropriation of twenty-five thousand dollars (in addition to ten thousand dollars appropriated at the previous session), to defray the expenses of the Iowa exhibit at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition ; house file number 101. extending the term of school treasurer, the merit of which measure is fully appreciated by those who have noticed the efforts of banks to control the school funds; house file number 147, providing severe penalties for the adulteration of candy. During his first session, Mr. Pot- ter had charge of and secured the passage in the house of the senate bill taxing express companies one per cent. on the gross amount of business annually done by them within the state. Prior to the passage of this bill, the express companies had avoided the payment of any considerable amount of taxes in the state. While a member of the twenty-seventh General Assembly, he supplemented this statute by introducing and securing the passage of house file, number 234, which doubled the taxes heretofore paid by the express companies. He was also interested in legislation having for its object the encouragement of the beet sugar industry within the state.
When Mr. Potter took up his permanent residence in Harlan he organ- ized the First National Bank and served as the president of this concern until its merger with the Shelby County State Bank in January, 1906. Mr. Potter had previously secured the controlling interest in the Shelby County State Bank and the merger was the natural result of his financiering and the cul-
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mination of well-laid plans to establish in Harlan a strong and aggressive financial institution. He became president of this flourishing bank and it, activities were considerably broadened while he occupied this responsible position. In June of 1911, failing health compelled Mr. Potter to relinquish the presidency of the Shelby County State Bank and he retired to make way for a younger man who would relieve him of the burden of directing its affairs. Since that time he has been devoting his time to the attending of his personal affairs and indulging in well-earned recreation. His elegant home on Baldwin street in Harlan is equipped with what is probably the most ex- tensive library in the county and one of the best and largest libraries in west- ern Iowa which is evidence of his educational and literary attainments. . \t the time of his retirement, Mr. Potter had considerable land holdings but has recently disposed of his Shelby county farm land. He is president of the Citizens State Bank of Oakland and of the Bank of Defiance in Shelby county. All of the banks in which Mr. Potter is interested are members of the Iowa Bankers Association. Another great honor which came to Mr. Potter is the presidency of the Iowa Bankers Association, to which position he was elected in 1903, having previously served two years as treasurer and one year as vice-president.
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