USA > Iowa > Lee County > Story of Lee County, Iowa, Volume II > Part 2
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
church building. In the first winter stone was hauled from the neigh- boring quarries. In 1859 brick was burned on the cemetery lands, the members contributing the wood and labor. The church was built in somewhat Romanesque style, forty-nine by one hundred and eight feet in dimensions, having sanctuary, sacristy and tower. It was fin- ished in the spring of 1862 and dedicated in honor of the Blessed Virgin. Now the church was attended for one year from St. Paul, by Father Michel, and from Fort Madison by Father Orth. In Sep- tember, 1867, Father Hattenberger was appointed, and remained until May, 1869, and it was during his time that the present brick parsonage was built. Then Rev. Clement Johannes came and re- mained till 1871. He was a good pastor. In February following Rev. James Orth took the pastorate, administering with commend- able zeal. He removed to Keokuk toward the end of the year 1876. In March, 1877, arrived the present incumbent, Rev. William Jacoby, having in these years wrought a complete metamorphosis of the parish. The growing, promising parish needed the finishing touch of the master's hand. The material progress was begun with paint- ing and decorating of the church in a tasteful manner, so that the plain building has assumed the appearance of one of the most hand- some church buildings in the diocese. The altar is hand-carved and is a work of art. All the other decorations and statuary of the church are in harmony with the work above referred to. The growing and flourishing parish soon found that the old building used as an as- sembling and meeting place for the various societies of the parish- as well as for school and church entertainments- had outgrown its usefulness and was entirely too small. Quietly and unostentatiously Rev. Jacoby went to work and made plans for a new hall, and before the summer had far advanced active work was commenced on the new building. It was pushed with great vigor and rapid progress was made, and early in the fall of 1895 the building was completed. The dedicatory exercises were held on Thanksgiving day, 1895. When the building was thrown open to the public for use the interior was not yet completed. The work of decorating followed a year or two later.' The new meeting place was christened St. Aloysius hall. It has a seating capacity of about four hundred and has also a large stage with splendid scenery, most of which was painted by Rev. Jacoby and the remainder was donated by him. The drop curtain is espe- cially handsome. The hall has proved an exceptional popular place for members of the parish." The active years of Father Jacoby have been filled with hard labor, crowned with rich attainment. He built the large school now under the charge of the Sisters of St.
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
Francis from La Crosse, Wisconsin, and the school has an attend- ance of approximately two hundred. In 1890 Father Jacoby made a trip to Europe and while there had an audience with Pope Leo XIII. In 1894 he erected the mortuary, located at the cemetery, at a cost of seventeen hundred dollars. This structure graces the cem- etery and upon one of its interior walls is found the inscription : "Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris." Father Jacoby is a devoted student of the church history and has ever taken a deep and active interest in all efforts looking to the improvement of society. He is much loved and respected by his own people and those of other faiths, who appreciate the excellent work that is con- tinually being accomplished by St. Mary's.
JOHN P. HORNISH, JR.
John P. Hornish, one of the prominent and able representatives of the bar of Lee county, has practiced his profession in Keokuk continuously and successfully for the past third of a century. He was born within the present city limits of Keokuk, Iowa, on the 27th of October, 1856, his parents being John P. and Martha C. (Plumer) Hornish, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. The father, a graduate of Washington and Jefferson College of Washington, Pennsylvania, studied law in Greensburg, that state, and was admitted to the bar. In 1854 he came to Keokuk, then a growing and pro- gressive western town known as "the gate city of the great west." Here he was actively engaged in the practice of law throughout the remainder of his life, building up an extensive and lucrative clientage. He practiced his profession as a contemporary of such intellectual legal giants as Samuel F. Miller, General W. W. Belknap, George W. McCreary, John W. Rankin and others-men whose ability caused the bar of Lee county to be recognized as one of the best in the west. John P. Hornish, Sr., gave his political allegiance to the democracy and was elected and served as district attorney and also as a member of the board of county supervisors. His demise occurred on the 17th of September, 1874, after a residence of twenty years in Keokuk. Unto him and his wife, who still survives, were born seven children, five of whom are yet living.
John P. Hornish, Jr., was reared in the place of his nativity and in the acquirement of an education attended the graded and high schools, completing his literary training as a student in the University
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
of Wooster at Wooster, Ohio. Subsequently he read law with the firm of Craig & Collier and in September, 1881, passed examination before a committee of the bar and was admitted to practice. He at once opened an office in Keokuk and has here followed his profes- sion with gratifying success to the present time. His practice is ex- tensive and of an important character. He is remarkable among lawyers for the wide research and provident care with which he pre- pares his cases. At no time has his reading ever been confined to the limitation of the questions at issue. It has gone beyond and com- passed every contingency and provided not alone for the expected but for the unexpected, which happens in the courts quite as fre- quently as out of them.
On the 18th of September, 1901, Mr. Hornish was united in mar- riage to Miss Maude M. Morton, of Ipava, Illinois, by whom he has two children, John Morton and Armintha P. Politically he is identified with the democratic party and from 1890 until 1892 served as a member of the lower house of the Iowa state legislature. During this session occurred the famous deadlock over the election of speaker which resulted in the choice of John T. Hamilton, who is now can- didate for governor of Iowa on the democratic ticket, and Mr. Hor- nish was enabled to take advantage of the existing conditions and compel the granting of another representative to Lee county. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the First West- minster Presbyterian church, and fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias. In Keokuk, where his entire life has been spent, he enjoys an enviable reputation as a leading attorney and highly respected citizen.
JOHN C. FOGGY.
John C. Foggy, a farmer and clerk of Pleasant Ridge township, was born February 13, 1873, in this county, his parents being Andrew and Eliza (Cooper) Foggy. His paternal grandfather, James Foggy, was a native of Scotland, who emigrated to Virginia, but his wife was born in Ireland. They made their way from Virginia to Lee county, Iowa, in 1836 and settled on government land, erecting a log cabin which remained the family home for many years. They had six sons and one daughter, of whom but one, Andrew Foggy, is still living. The last named is now eighty-five years of age and his wife. who also survives, is sixty-eight years old. Both are in full
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
possession of their faculties and keep posted as to the happenings in the world, being interested in all progressive movements. To them were born two children, a son and a daughter, the sister of our sub- ject being Esther Lee, who was born January 1, 1875, and is now the wife of William J. Singleton, a banker of Quincy, Illinois.
John C. Foggy acquired his elementary education in the Mount Pleasant schools and later attended the Gem City Business College at Quincy, Illinois. After finishing his formal schooling he took up farming and is now operating his father's farm of two hundred and fifty-six acres and one hundred and twenty-four acres of his own. He specializes in Percheron horses and Hereford cattle and his stock- raising brings him annually a handsome income. He gives his agri- cultural operations the same care and thought that a business man bestows upon his work and finds farming not only a profitable but an interesting occupation and one that offers many opportunities to the man who is mentally alert.
In 1898 Mr. Foggy was married to Miss Lenora K. Klopfenstein, a daughter of David and Elizabeth Klopfenstein. Mr. and Mrs. Foggy have one son, Glenn C., born February 2, 1900, and a daugh- ter, Fern E., born September 24, 1904. Both children are now attend- ing school.
Mr. Foggy has held a number of local offices, having been presi- dent and treasurer of the school board, while in 1906 he was elected township clerk and has served for four consecutive terms in that office. He is well informed as to conditions in the county and is one of the influential men in local politics. Those who know him well believe that he will give a good account of himself in the future in a larger field of activity as he manifests qualities of leadership.
CAPTAIN IRAM ALLEN SAWYER.
Captain Iram Allen Sawyer, who has departed this life, was for years identified with the Irwin-Phillips Company. He was thus prominently associated with commercial interests until several years prior to his death, when he retired. He was born February 16, 1839, at North Hero, Vermont, and was the third son of Allen and Clar- issa (Hazen) Sawyer, who were descendants of an old family founded in America prior to the Revolutionary war. Colonel Ephraim Saw- yer, the great-grandfather of Captain Iram Allen Sawyer, and his five sons served with the American army in the war for independ-
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Stawy
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
ence. In 1850 the father brought his wife and children to the mid- dle west, making the journey to Fayette county, lowa.
Captain I. A. Sawyer was then a lad of but eleven years. The remaining period of his youth was passed in this state and in June, 1861, following the outbreak of the Civil war, he responded to the country's call for troops and at the age of twenty-two years enlisted at West Union, Fayette county, Iowa, being mustered in at Keokuk on the 8th of June and served for three years with the rank of cor- poral of Company F, Third Iowa Volunteers. He was discharged therefrom on the 8th of December, 1863, by reason of his promotion to a non-commissioned office in the Sixtieth United States Colored Infantry at Helena, Arkansas, and on the 24th of May, 1864, he was discharged therefrom, owing to the fact that he had been promoted from the rank of sergeant major to that of lieutenant. On the 29th of April, 1864, he had been made second lieutenant of the Sixtieth United States Colored Infantry and was assigned to Company B of the same regiment. He had command of that company from Feb- ruary, 1864, until May 25, 1865, and was honorably discharged at Little Rock, Arkansas, on the 25th of May of the latter year. At the battle of Hatchie River, or Matamora, on the 5th of October, 1862, he was severely wounded in the right leg by a canister shot while near the rebel battery. He was sent to the hospital at Keokuk and was disabled for nearly a year. In 1863 he received a commis- sion as recruiting officer and recruited some men for the Eighth Iowa Cavalry. In whatever connection he was found he proved loyal to the duty reposed in him and was a most faithful follower of the stars and stripes.
After the war Captain Sawyer located in Keokuk and became connected with the firm of Kramer-Irwin & Company, which later became the Irwin-Phillips Company. With that business he re- mained in continuous connection until he retired some time before his death.
On the 6th of October, 1864, Captain Sawyer was united in mar- riage to Miss Mary Crawford Irwin, a daughter of Stephen Irwin. She died June 20, 1903, leaving four children: Hazen I., who is now a practicing attorney at the Keokuk bar; S. I., who is located at Fort Wayne, Indiana; Mrs. T. R. Board, also of Keokuk; and Mrs. John A. McElroy, of East Orange, New Jersey. Having lost his wife, Captain Sawyer was again married on the 5th of June, 1905. his second union being with Miss Annette Martin, a daughter of Robert H. and Mary (Meara) Martin, early settlers of Lee county. Mrs. Sawyer still survives her husband. Vol. II-2
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
Captain Sawyer held membership in Torrence Post, No. 2, G. A. R., and was also a member of Lexington Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution and the Military Order of Loyal Legion of the United States, Iowa Commandery. In politics he was a repub- lican, but he never held office. He was ever well posted on current events and was a representative citizen of the community in every respect. He stood at all times for progress, development and im- provement and when death claimed him on the 12th of May, 1909, Lee county lost one of its representative and honored citizens-a man whose circle of friends was almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintance.
CLYDE ROYAL JOY.
Among the prominent citizens of Keokuk none occupy a more enviable position in business affairs than Clyde Royal Joy, who is identified with a number of enterprises which have proved of great benefit to the city and surrounding country. A native of Iowa, he was born in Denmark, Lee county, on the 8th of June, 1867, and is a representative of an old and honored New England family, being a descendant of Thomas Joy, who landed in America in 1630 and built the first Massachusetts statehouse at Boston. One of his an- cestors was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary war and his father Cap- tain Royal Noah Joy, served for over three years in the Civil war in command of a company belonging to the Ninety-fourth New York Volunteer Infantry. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Rodelia Epps.
Clyde Royal Joy was reared and educated in Denmark. attend- ing the Denmark Academy for some time but not completing the course there. He was only seventeen years of age when. in 1884. he entered the office of S. F. Baker & Son as a clerk, their business being the manufacture and sale of family remedies to the farmers of the middle west. In 1889 he was admitted to the firm, the name being then changed to S. F. Baker & Company. With that enterprise he is still identified. He is, however, connected with many other busi- ness enterprises and is today vice president of the Kellogg-Birge Com- pany of Keokuk, wholesale grocers, president of the Intercity Bridge Company of Keokuk and a stockholder in other local companies. He is also a director of the Keokuk National Bank and is today presi-
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
dent of the Keokuk Industrial Association, his term of office extend- ing from 1911 to 1915.
On the 24th of October, 1890, in Chicago, Mr. Joy was united in marriage to Miss Belle Brackett, a daughter of Gustavus B. and Ann Brackett. Her father was captain of a company of engineers during the Civil war and has for many years been pomologist of the department of agriculture of the United States government. Mr. and Mrs. Joy have three children: Ralph B., who married Viola Ness; Mildred A .; and Carroll.
By his ballot Mr. Joy supports the men and measures of the repub- lican party, and he holds membership in the Keokuk Country Club; the Keokuk Club; the Keokuk Motor Boat Club; the Lakeview Motor Club of Hamilton, Illinois; the Chicago Athletic Association ; and the Lawyers Club of New York. He is one of the leading mem- bers of the First Congregational church of Keokuk and has always taken a very active and prominent part in religious affairs, being especially interested in the Young Men's Christian Association. For seventeen years he was a director in the local organization at Keokuk and was president of the same for fifteen years, from 1895 to 1911. He is a member of the international committee of the Young Men's Christian Association of North America and chairman of its religious work department. In 1911-12 he was a member of the executive committee and chairman of the business and finance committee of the Men and Religion Forward Movement. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Young Men's Christian Association College of Chicago and Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, is a trustee of Knox College of Galesburg, Illinois, and for a time was also a trustee of the Baptist College of Burlington, Iowa. There is probably no man in this part of the state who is better known in the religious world than Mr. Joy, and his influence has been widely felt, especially by the young men of this and adjoining states.
JOSEPH M. CASEY, M. D.
Dr. Joseph M. Casey, an alumnus of the Rush Medical College of Chicago, has since his graduation, in 1888, been continuously engaged in practice in Fort Madison, his native city, and his record stands in contradistinction to the old adage that a prophet is never without honor save in his own country, for in the city of his birth and
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
where his entire life has been spent, Dr. Casey has won high place as a physician of marked ability and power. He was born on the 3d of August, 1865, and is a son of Joseph M. and Sarah J. (Ward) Casey. The father, who was born in Adair county, Kentucky, in 1827, came of Scotch-Irish ancestry. He came to Iowa with his mother, his father having previously died in the early 'Jos, the family home being established at West Point, where the grandmother of Dr. Casey passed away in the early '50s.
Joseph M. Casey, continuing his residence in this state, studied law under Judge Kinney at West Point, Iowa, and was admitted to the bar in the 'sos. Having thus qualified for practice, he removed to Keokuk county, where he lived for a number of years, and in 1861 returned to Lee county, settling in Fort Madison. He at once entered upon practice here and it was not long before his ability to cope with intricate problems of the law became recognized and brought to him a liberal and growing clientage. He won many notable cases and his knowledge recommended him for judicial honors, so that he was elected to the office of district judge and served upon the bench through the last fifteen years of his life. His decisions were strictly fair and impartial, and he became one of the foremost repre- sentatives of the judiciary in eastern Iowa. He died in 1895 and for about fifteen years was survived by his wife, who passed away in 1910. Judge Casey was not only prominent in connection with pro- fessional interests, but also did much to shape the political policy of county and state. He was chosen to represent his district both in the house of representatives and in the senate and left the impress of his individuality upon the laws enacted while he was connected with the state legislature. He was also mayor of Fort Madison in the years 1870 and 1871 and labored for municipal progress and advance- ment with the same thoroughness that he manifested in his work as a general assemblyman.
Dr. Casey is one of a family of two sons and three daughters, of whom three are yet living. After completing his public-school edu- cation he decided upon the practice of medicine as a life work and with that end in view entered Rush Medical College of Chicago, from which he was graduated with the class of 1888. He then located for practice in his native city, where he has since remained. In 1901 he pursued post-graduate work in New York Polyclinic and he has always continued a close and discriminating student of his profes- sion, reading broadly in his leisure hours and thus continually ad- vancing his knowledge of the various branches of the medical pro- fession. He has been president of the Fort Madison Medical Society,
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
and vice president of the Lee County Medical Society, and he is now physician for the board of health.
On the 23d of December, 1895, Dr. Casey was married to Miss Sarah Zilla Johnson, a daughter of Nelson and Nancy ( Porter) John- son. In carly life her father came to Lee county and for several years was superintendent of the public schools of Fort Madison. Later he established a business college, which he conducted until 1913. Dr. and Mrs. Casey became parents of two children, of whom one has passed away, while the other, Robert S., is in school. Dr. Casey belongs to the Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained high rank, being a Knight Templar and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is also identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He gives his political support to the democratic party, and his religious faith is that of the Episcopal church, the teachings of which have guided him in his life's relations and gained him as high standing as a man and citizen as he has won in his profession through his able practice of medicine and surgery.
JOHN McCANN.
John McCann is now living retired at Montrose. For a long period he was closely associated with railroad and agricultural inter- ests and his intense and well directed activity in those connections brought him a success which enabled him to put aside further busi- ness cares. A native of the state of New York he was born in Fulton county, March 26, 1842, a son of William McCann, whose birth oc- curred in County Limerick, Ireland, and who came to the United States with his wife and one child. They settled in Watertown, New York, where the father did contracting work. He lived in the east for an extended period and died in Kingston, Canada. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Kenny, passed away in Cleveland, Ohio. In their family were six children, three of whom have passed away, while a brother and a sister of John McCann still survive.
John McCann remained a resident of his native county to the age of ten years, when the family removed to Kingston, Canada, where he remained until 1861. He attended school both in New York and in Canada, but when twelve years of age began earning his own living as water boy, carrying water to twenty-five men who were engaged in building the Grand Trunk Railroad. He was paid ten cents per day and the laborers received only eighty cents, while a man with a horse
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
and cart could get but one dollar per day. Mr. McCann was thus employed for two seasons and during the second season his wages were increased to fifteen cents per day and he had to carry water to thirty men. He afterward went to work as a farm hand and in that em- ployment received six and eight dollars per month. His father had died when John McCann was but a young lad, leaving the mother with six small children, and it was necessary that they early start out in life to provide for their own support. John McCann was the fourth child and third son and his wages went to help support the family. He remained at home with his mother until his marriage and at eighteen years of age began railroad work in the track department of the Grand Trunk line. In 1861 he left Canada and worked as a track hand on the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad. The follow- ing year he returned to Canada, where he spent one year, and in 1863 went to Buffalo, New York, at which time he secured a position as steersman on an Erie canal boat, receiving a wage of forty dollars per month. At the end of the canal season he went into the woods at Constantia, Ohio, and for some time was engaged in cutting sawlogs, peeling bark and other work incident to the lumber camps. In the following spring he again took up railroad work, to which he gave his attention during much of the time for several years. About the latter part of 1864 he went to Syracuse, New York, and was employed in a salt works until 1865. He next went to Portage county, Ohio, and was employed with a construction gang on the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad.
In September, 1868, Mr. McCann came to Fort Madison and worked under Roadmaster W. R. Haven, of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, remaining with that company for thirty-two years and six months in the capacity of foreman. His long connec- tion with that corporation indicates unmistakably his fidelity, ca- pability and reliability. About 1878 he purchased the Park Bowen farm in Montrose township and later sold that property and bought the Boyd farm of fifty acres, subsequently adding fifty-seven acres. He has since sold the fifty acre tract but still retains the ownership of the fifty-seven acres and from his property derives a gratifying annual income.
In December, 1873, at Fort Madison, Mr. McCann was united in marriage to Miss Amanda Millhouse, who was born in Montrose, April 30, 1851, and there attended school to the age of seventeen years. She is a daughter of David and Jemima (Johnson) Millhouse. Her father, who was born in Piqua, Ohio, became an early blacksmith at Montrose, where he engaged in shoeing the stage horses. He con-
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