USA > Iowa > Polk County > Portrait and biographical album of Polk County, Iowa, containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county > Part 45
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
ber. 1856. he united his destiny with that of Miss Minnie Stark, a daughter of Louis and Minnie Stark. She was born in Mecklenburg, Germany. in 1810. and emigrated with her parents to America in 1853, when thirteen years of age. Immediately after his marriage. Mr. Youngerman came to lowa with his bride. arriving in Des Moines on the 28th of September. The following day he established business as a stonecutter and in the spring of 1857. took his first contract. Although beginning in a very modest way with limited capital, his ex- cellent workmanship and earnest desire to please led to his securing a liberal patronage and he was soon forced to increase the number of his hands and found himself doing an extensive busines.
In 1860, Mr. Youngerman began the manufac- ture of brick in a small way, but soon increased his facilities for that Ime of industry and turned out from two to six million of brick annually. In the meantime he was carrying on his buikling op- erations on a large scale, the force of hands em- ployed ranging from one hundred and fifty totwo hundred and fifty. Prosperity, through his indus- try. perseverance and good management, has at- tended his efforts and he has become one of the substantial citizens of Des Moines. He has con- tinued both branches of the business up to the present time without interruption. covering a period of thirty years in the manufacture of brick, and of a third of a century in contracting and building. During this time, Mr. Youngerman has created hundreds of buildings. large business blocks, public edifices, and private residences, :onong which may be mentioned the exposition building. the third and fourth ward school-bouses, the east side high school. Masonic Temple, the Perry block, a number of factories and four bank build- ings -- the Capital City Bank, Valley . Bank, Des Moines Savings bank and Polk County Savings Bank. the latter being his own property. He is also the owner of several other business buildings. incholing the brick block, Nos. 206-208, on West Pourth Street. Youngerman block at the north-west corner of West Fifth and Mulberry streets, lock on West Loenst and Fifth streets and the elegant block. Nos. 513-515 and 507-509 West Locust Street. He hasalso built and sold sev-
.
4 -
716
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM.
real others in addition to those above named. The numerous dwelling houses erected by him have var- ied in cost from $100 to $70,004, many of which were very expensive, the home of J. S. Polk being the finest.
Mr. and Mrs. Youngerman are parents of seven children, six sons and one daughter. William 1., the eldest, married Miss Alice Longshore, and is extensively engaged in contracting and building in Des Moines; George 11., who married Miss Sophia Felton, is engaged extensively in contract- ing and building in Omaha, Neb. in company with Louis his next younger brother, under the firm name of Youngerman Bros .; Carl is employed asa salesman in a mercantile house of Des Moines; August is learning the jeweler's trade, and Frank, the youngest son. is a student in college. Minnie, who completes the family. is now pursuing her studies in the city schools.
In 1872, Mr. Youngerman returned to his native country and brought his aged mother to America that she might make her home with him. Although she is now eighty-five years of age. she is in full possession of her faculties and is unusually bright and active for one so far advanced in years. All . the members of the family belong to the Lutheran Church, and in the social world are held m high regard.
In politics Mr. Youngerman is a stanch Demo- erat, but Inis neither time nor inclination to seek prominence in public life. He has. however, served two years as member of the city council. where his good judgment and sound sense had much influ- ence in promoting wise and conservative legisla- tion. His social and benevolent instincts have led him to affiliate with several civic and charitable societies. He is a Knight Templar Mason, a mem- ber of Capital Lodge. No. 110. A. F. A. A. M .; of Corinthian Chapter. No. 11. R. A. M .; and of Temple Commandery. No. 4, K. T .; and has been a member of that order since 1869. He is also a member of Jonathan Lodge, No. 118, 1. 0. 0. F .;; of Capital City Lodge, No. 29, Knights of Pythias; and of the Ancient Order of Flks.
Mr. Youngerman has led an active useful life and the large portion of the city of Des Moines. that has been built under his direction, inthe shape
of massive brick blocks, public buildings and elegant. residences, will be an enduring moment to his skill and industry. That he has prospered and acquired a large amount of property since his ar- rival in Iowa, is not the result of accident or good luck but has been brought about by his well- directed energy, a thorough knowledge of his bus- iness, the observance of correct business principles and strictest integrity. He began the battle of life unaided by fortune or the influence of friends, re- lying entirely upon his own resources, which at first consisted only of skill in his business combined with energy and enterprise. His success has been the result of years of patient industry and saga- cious business investments. Mr. Youngerman is the founder of his family in America, being the first to emigrate from the fatherland and the only one left of the original family except his mother. His descendants may point with pride, in years to come, to the honorable record made by Conrad Youngerman. the original ancestor in the new world, as a man of honorable, upright character, enterprise and industry, generous and large-hearted, broad and liberal in his views and genial and courteous in his intercourse with all.
AMES TAGGART PRIESTLEY, M. D .. a leading physician and surgeon of Des Moines, is a native of Pemylvania. He was born on the 19th of July, 1852, in C Northumberland, and is a son of Marks B. and Mary (Taggart) Priestley. His father was also born in Northumberland, on the 17th of Novem- ber, 1823. The Doctor is descended from a line of ancestors of whom he has reason to be proud. He is the fourth in direct descent from Joseph Priest- ley, D. D., the eminent divine, philosopher and scientist. who discovered oxygen gas, and won fame throughout all the academies and among the scientific men of Europe. For bis valuable sery- ices to science. he received gold medals from the Royal Society of Enghunt and from Catherine, Empress of Russia. Dr. Joseph Priestley was born March 13, 17:3. and was the son of Jonas Priest-
747
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM.
ley. a cloth manufacturer, who pled his trade in a village near Leeds, England. He received a ther- ough education, and at an early age gave proof of remarkable mental powers. He became a I'nitarian clergyman, and took prominence in religious de- bates, lle was a materialist in philosophy, a vehe- ment opposer of a religious establishment of "Church and State," and an open, though not ag- gressive sympathizer with the Revolution in France. Ilis course provoked a mob to destroy his house and effects, which included valuable manuscripts on religious and scientifie subjects, that had cost the Doctor years of labor. He and his family barely escaped with their lives. This occurred in Bir- mingham, and the Doctor sought refuge in London. After several years of active life in church, literary and scientific work, he emigrated to America in 1791.
Ilis son, the great-grandfather of our subject. had preceded his father to the New World, taking up hi- residence in Northumberland, Pa., where Dr. Priestley made his home, after a short stay in Philadelphia, the better to pursue his scientific stud- ies in quiet retirement. In 1796 he again visited Philadelphia, and subsequently founded the first Unitarian Church of that city, in fact, the first church of that denomination established in Amer- ica. His death occurred on the 6th of February, 1801.
Marks B. Priestley, the father of our subject. was reared to mercantile pursuits, and served throughout the Mexican War, as a member of the Third Regiment, Tennessee Infantry, enlisting at Murfreesboro, where he was employed as a clerk at the time. He was made a clerk of the commissary department, and during the absence of the superior officer. served as commissary until the close of the war. During the succeeding twenty years, he was engaged in merchandising in Northumberland, Pa. Ile studied law and was admitted to the bar in Sun- bury, Northumberland County, in 1875. and pur- sued the practice of his profession for seven years, when in November, 1882, be came to Des Moines. where he has since middle his home. Mr. Priestley was married in Northumberland, Ja. December -20, 1849. to Miss Mary Taggart. of that place. They became the parents of four children, three
sons and a daughter-Lindsey, the oldest, died May 23. 1875, leaving a wife and one daughter; James T., our subject, is the second son; Joseph, died in childhood on the 1st, of August, 1856; and Eliza L. resides with her parents. Mr. Priestley is a Royal Arch Mason, and has been a member of the order since April 4, 1819. In politics he is a Republican.
Our subjeet, on the paternal side, is of English and Scotch descent. His grandmother was a grand- daughter of the Earl of Dundas, of Scotland, and a first cousin to Sir Ralph Abercrombie, both of whom were Major-Generals in the British army. Her paternal grandfather-James Biddle-was a Judge of the Admiralty Court, and upon the or- ganization of the State of Pennsylvania, after the Revolutionary War. he was appointed Presiding Judge of the First Judicial District of Pennsyl- vania, which included the city of Philadelphia, which office he retained until his death in 1797. Her father, Marks John Biddle, commenced the practice of law in the city of Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania, in the year 1788, and at once entered upon a large business, which he re tained until advanced in years. In 1817 he was elected a State Senator. His life was marked by a lofty seuse of professional and private honor, and he was up to its close in the enjoyment of the highest respect and affections of the citizens of Reading.
William Biddle, the progenitor of the Biddle family, was an officer in the Parliamentary army under Cromwell, but having joined the Society of Friends, he resigned his commission. Shortly af- for the restoration of King Charles the First. the Quakers were subjected to violent persecutions, and in 1681 he emigrated to America, and settled in the northeastern part of the State of New Jersey where he became a large landed proprietor, being, according to the records of the courts, the owner of forty-two thousand, nine hundred and sixteen and two-thirds acres of lund. His son, William, removed to the city of Philadelphia, Pa., and was the grandfather of Judge James Biddle, before mentioned.
Dr. James Taggart Preistley received his medical education in the University of Pennsylvania, one
718
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM.
of the oldest medical institutions in the United States, graduating in the class of 1871. He pursued the practice of his profession in his native town until 1876. when he came to Des Moines, where he has since been in constant practice.
Ile was married April 30, 1874, in Northumber- Pual, Pa., to Miss Clara Simpson, daughter of A. C. Simpson, a leading lawyer of that State. Mrs. Priestley was born in Selins Grove, Snyder County. Pa., and their union has been blessed with two children: Crayke S .. born in Northumberland. January 21, 1875; and Marks B., born in Des Moines, January 22, 1872.
The Doctor is af Republican in politics, and has taken thirty-two degrees in the Masonsie order. Ile is a member of Home Lodge, No. 370. A. F. & A. M., Antioch Chapter. No. 110. R. A. M .. and Temple Commandery, No. 1. K. T. He also be- longs to the Orders of Ells and Knights of Pythias. His relation with medical organizations consists in membership in the Polk County Medical Soci- ety, the Iowa State Medical Society and the Na- tional Medieal Society. Since his removal to Des Moines, the Doctor has been engaged in active practice in that city, and has built up a large and lucrative business. It is generally concoled that he has the most extensive practice of any one in his profession in the city, and that he takes rank among the most eminent physicians and surgeons of Jowa. Hle is a most indefatigable worker. and a thorough student in everything that pertains to the advance- ment of medical and surgical science. While comparatively a young man. he hasalready demon- started that he has the ability and will to win a place that will do no discredit to his illustrious an- cestors.
2 ENRY S. BUTLER, one of the enterprising business men of Des Moines, is now general agent for the MeCormick Harvesting Ma- chine Company, doing business at Nos. 216 and 218 West Court Avenue and No. 123 West Third Street. He was born in Rome. Oneida County, N. Y .. on the 17th of December, 1810, and is a son of Ezekiel and Emma (Shas ) Boller.
His parents were born in Vermont, and were of English deseent. The paternal grandmother of our subject was a Willson, and was a lineal de- scendent of Benjamin Willson, who was one of that historic band that came to this country in the May flower.
Henry S. Butler attended school at Rome, in his early boyhood, and when sixteen years of age, in 1855. came west with his parents, who settled in Whiteside County, Ill. His father was engaged in farming in that county. and Hemy passed several years in assisting him in the management and la- bor incident to the improvement and culture of the land, securing such educational advantages as the district schools afforded. In 1861 he obtained employment on a supply hoat belonging to the Fox River Improvement Company, in Wisconsin. Two years later he went to Chicago, where he took a regular course in the Eastman Commercial Col- lege of that city, and was graduated from that in- stitution in the spring of 1867. He was next employed as a book keeper in Chicago. and in the winter of 1867-68 engaged with the McCormick Harvesting Company, as agent at Freeport, Ill. In the following autumn he was made general agent at Des Moines for the company. the district over which he has charge comprising the territory along the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad and its branches, between lowa City and Council Bluffs. In this region the company has some fifty local agents, and the annual business of the Des Moines office exceeds $500,000. About 1881 the com- pany erected, in part, the elegant brick building they now occupy, which is il feet front on West Court Street by 182 feet deep, with an "1" of 80 feet in width fronting on Third Street. They oc- copy the entire building of three stories and base- ment. Since moving to their present . quarters they have carried a full line of agricultural imple- ments. buggies, carriages and harness,
Mr. Butler was married in Kalamazoo, Mich .. on the 20th of March, 1870, to Miss Aurilla Everette. a daughter of Maldon Everette, and a native of Michigan. They have had four children, two son- and two daughters, of whom orly two ere how living: Robert. The oldest, died when four years of age and Bessie, the second died at the age of two
Wesley Redhead
751
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM.
years. Maud and Bruce are students in the city schools.
In politics, Mr. Butler is independent, He is a member of Pioneer Lodge, No. 22. A. T. & A. M., of Des Moines. To hold a position of trust and large responsibility, with so important a cor- poration as that of the MeCormick Harvesting Company, for so long a period of time as that cov- ered by Mr. Butler's service, twenty-two years. is a mark of confidence and satisfaction, on the part of the company, that is highly complimentary to the agent. In all these years he has, by the ex- ercise of superior business ability, strict integrity and perfect fidelity to every trust, proved himself worthy of the unlimited confidence of his employ- ers, and has also won the respect and regard of those with whom he has maintained business rela- tions.
ESLEY REDHEAD, one of the best-known and most successful business men of Des Moines, was born near Penrith, Cumber- land County. England, on the 22nd of July, 1825. and is a son of Nicholas and Sarah (Clark) Red- head. In 1829, when but four years of age, he emigrated with his parents to Montreal, Canada. His father was a merchant in England and engaged in the same line of business in Montreal until his death, which occurred in the summer of 1831, of brain fever. The great cholera scourge of that time Juul just terminated the life of the mother of our subject and the father survived her loss but two weeks. The orphan family consisted of six sons and a daughter, Wesley being next to the young- est and only six years of age.
In company with a brother, our subject went to live with an uncle in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was educated and began his career as a wage-earner in a printing office, serving as the youngestappren- tice, or "printers' devil." He was one of the first newsboys of Cincinnati. His uncle believing the influences surrounding the nephew to be bad. sent him when fourteen years of age to Fairfield. Vt .. where his eldest brother was engaged in the cabi- uot business. Three weeks were consumed in
making the journey, traveling by steamboat, canal and stage. After spending four months with his brother, he became so dissatisfied with his sur- rounding that he decided to run away and make his own way in the world. So he set out with a cash capital of five cents and but poorly clothed. Ile walked to St. Albans, whence he made his way to Whitehall, N. Y., where he engaged as a driver on the Erie Canal. At the close of the boating season he hired out to a farmer in Washington County, N. Y., receiving for his services his board, clothing and three months schooling. This conec- tion continued two years, when having a desire to see more variety in life than the occupation of a farin hand afforded, he went to Saratoga Springs, where he secured a position of "dipper-boy" at Congress Springs, and was so employed_for two seasons. During that period he was brought in contact with many noted people of this country and some distinguished tourists from abroad. Hay- ing saved up a little money. he returned to Cin- cinnati, where he surprised his friends with a visit after an absence of live years, during which time they had heard nothing from him. His next expe- rience was in the capacity of a cabin-boy on an uyward bound Mississippi steamboat. Having reached Bloomington, now Muscatine, Iowa, in September, ISII, he decided to visit a brother who was a resident of Jowa City. On arriving at this destination he secured employment in the office of the loca Capital Reporter, which was conducted by desse Williams, who was then territorial printer. The amount of young Redhead's wages was fixed at $3 a week and his duties were intended to in- clude the devil's work of the office and the setting of one column of the paper per day. The first constitution of lowa was printed that fall by Mr. Williams, and his new employe had the honor of performing a share of the labor on ilmat historie instrument. The following year, 1815, he went to Amamosa, lowa. where be operated a carding ma- chine for a time until compelled by impaired health to abandon that work, when he returned to Iowa City. Being unfitted for hard labor he learned the tailor's trade as being one that he thought likely to require less physical effort than many others. He served a three year's apprentice-
752
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPINCAL ALBUM.
-
ship to that business and continued to work as a "jour," until the winter of 1851, when he came to Ft. Des Moines and engaged in business for him- self in the line of his trade, but the business proved distasteful and he closed out after one year's expe- rience and engaged as a merchant's clerk at a sabury of $25 per month.
In 1853, Mr. Redhead was appointed Postmaster at Ft. Des Moines, by President Fillmore, to sue- ceed lloyt Sherman, resigned. He filled the posi- tion nine years, during which time the business of the office assumed important proportions. Shortly after being made Postmaster, he put in a small stock of books, having the fourth bookstore in the state. Trade in that line was limited and his weekly sales at first did not exceed $5, but he has since built up an excellent business. He admitted to partnership R. T. Wellslager, who continued with him several years. The house at present is known as Redhead, Norton & Lathrop. proprietors of the largest bookstore in lowa ; wholesale station- ers and jobber- in books.stationery, fancy goods,etc.
In November. 1861, Mr. Redhead organized the first coal company at Des Moines and hegan the first systematic coal mining. His efforts in that di- rection attracted the attention of others and in August, 1865, the Des Moines Coal Company was organized, consisting of Wesley Redhead. James M. Starr, William Vincent, B. F. Allen, William Phillips, Hoyt Sherman, John Teesdale, James W. Davis, L. W. Demus, Frank Butler and E. Sanford. The coal mining interest of this region was then given its first impetus and bas since grown to mag- nificent proportions. A set of Fairbank scales were procured and the first weighing of coal in the city, was done by Mr. Redhead who is entitled to the credit of being the pioneer coal man of Des- Moines. The following bit of coal mining history clipped from a history of Polk County, published by the Union Historical Company in 1880, scems specially appropriate to the sketch of our subject.
"It is said that the presence of coal in and around the present site of the city of Des Momes was first noticed by the soldiers who built and occupied the fort; it is also said that the blacksmith shops in connection with the gar- rison were supplied with coat from certain coal
banks adjacent and it is stated as a matter of his- tory that A. N. Hayes and Capt. Allen opened a coal shaft and stone quarry on the banks of the Des Moines as early as the year ISIS. Notwithstanding the fact that coal was known to exist in large quantities and that it had been mined in small quantities as early as 1813, at the time Prof. White's book on the geology of lowa was pub- lished in 1870, nothing but a superficial and mis- cellaneous system of mining had been adopted and the amount mined scarcely equalled the limited de- mand of the home market. About this time Wes- ley Redhead, a gentleman who had been identified with the interests of Des Moines and Polk County from the very first, commenced prospecting for coal in a systematic manner with a view of engaging in the mining business on a grand scale. He made persistent efforts to achieve success and called to his aid all the resources at his command. In addi- tion to his time and labor be expended over $8,000 of his private funds and still his investigations bad not been crowned with success. He finally secured the services of John Gibson, of Derbyshire, Eng- land, whose extended experience in the coal mines of the Old World had eminently fitted him for the prosecution to a successful issue, of the investiga- tion which his employer had so long conducted in vain."
. The circumstances attending the final effort and its triumphant conclusion are related by Mr. Dixon in his Centennial History of Polk County and also in an editorial published in the Des Moines Leader of June 1, 1873. A synopsis of both accounts are here introduced. M. Dixon says:
"A few rods south of Coon railroad bridge, on land belonging to Mr. Redhead, west of South Park. a drill was introduced in 1878, under the direction of Mr. Gibson, foreman. In the descent seventy feet were attained, the drill passing through three inferior veins of coal and reaching, at the depth indicated. a flint rock. so stubborn and in- vincible as to bring di-couragement even to the old Derbyshire miner, who advised Mr. Redbeard at this point to abandon the work. Even the geolo- gist had stated that if success was not realized within that distance of the surface, it would be useless to proceed further.
753
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM.
"Mr. Redhead did not participate in this gloomy view of the subject. He quietly inquired of the foreman how many feet of rod was left and bring answered that there were twenty. he urged the em- ployment of every inch, declaring that if this did not bring the anticipated triumph of human en- terprise over stubborn nature, he would furnish a hundred feet more and work these up before he would abandon his long cherished plans. They went to work again, consuming all of four weeks. at the slow rate of three inches per day, in pense- (rating this massive rock. three feet in thickness. When the drill finally passed through the resisting mass, it quickly descended through a vein, five feet thick, of black diamond coal, signalizing in its passage the superiority of genius over inanimate matter. It was late in the evening when this great triumph was achieved; but late as it was, James Clark. an employe of Mr. Redhead, who had been a witness of the thrilling scene just enacted, hurried away to report to that gentleman the auspicious result. To Mr. Redhead this report must have been intensely gratifying. He immediately went to B. F. Allen, and on communicating his grand discovery secured from the banker an investment of $35,000. A shaft was sunk to the required depth, and in a short time all the appliances be- longing to a first-class mine were visible to the spectator, and scores of operatives down deep in the earth were busily engaged in bringing out from this vast store-house of nature its exhaustless treasures."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.