USA > Iowa > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume > Part 100
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DR. C. B. PARK,-Drar Sir: Your visible connection with our regiment as its surgeon has ceased, but the remem- brance of your fidelity, energy and unceasing care will lin- ger long in the hearts of its individual members. In the first place you won our confidence by manifesting a skill in the art of healing which few possess; then, by untiring dili- gence and continued watchfulness, you almost robbed dis- ease of its terrors and death of its victims. But this is not all: your whole intercourse with us was characterized by gentlemanly deportment and kindly consideration. Neither the annoyances of dealing with unpleasant subjects nor the necessary inconveniences of camp life induced neglect or sourness.
In order to manifest our appreciation of your services the accompanying silverware has been selected, and I have the honor of presenting it to you in behalf of the "enlisted men" of the 16th Vermont regiment. Accept it, not for its intrin- sic worth, but for the memories which cluster around it. Receive it as an expression of grateful remembrances from hearts that have been quickened to nobler emotions by de- votion to the principles of freedom and humanity.
I am, yours respectfully, LYMAN E. KNAPP.
To this graceful letter Dr. Park made a feeling and appropriate reply, and went forward to further duties in his country's service, remaining in the field until the rebellion had ended, the latter part of the time as a brigade surgeon. The character of his services during the last two years in the army is well presented in a work entitled "The Vermont Brigade in the Shenandoah Valley," by Aldace F. Walker, lieutenant-colonel of the 11th. On pages 165 and 166 he says :
Among all the faithful soldiers of the brigade the one who will be longest remembered with affection by the great- est number, and with the greatest reason, is Castanus B. Park, of the 111h regiment, the brigade surgeon. As a worker, Dr. Park was indefatigable, and his skill was equal to the requirements of his position. Of all its medical staff the brigade were justly proud, the assistant surgeons as well as the surgeons being always found at their posts, and shrinking from no labor that might benefit their men on the march, in the camp or in battle. Their duties were often extremely arduous, for in case of an engagement the work of the surgeons was but just begun when ours was over. At and after the battle of Cedar creek Dr. Park was at his table for forty-eight hours consecutively, and during this campaign it was his duty to perform all the capital operations required in the brigade. The number of ampu- tations which he performed was exceedingly large, but he traced with care the after history of each patient, and in no
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instance did one fail of recovery. This fact speaks equally well for the physique of the men and for the science of the doctor.
After the war was ended he returned to Grafton ; . practiced until the spring of 1867, when he returned to Iowa; made investments at Grinnell; did some surgery and less general practice, intending to go out altogether, and in 1869 located where the village of Grand Junction now stands, at the crossing of the Chicago and Northwestern and the Keokuk and Des Moines Valley railroads. There was then no house within two miles of this point, but as the latter road was to cross the former at that place he knew a town must rise. He purchased the best lands for farming purposes, built a warehouse, the first here, and has since been engaged in farming, merchandising in hardware and agricultural implements, lumber and grain dealing and stock and fruit raising. He has twenty or thirty head of thoroughbred shorthorns and other cattle, the best breeds of hogs, an orchard of twenty acres, a vineyard and all kinds of small fruit which will grow in this latitude. He has laid
out his grounds with much taste, and has the most delightful homestead of four hundred and forty acres in this part of the state.
The doctor still practices a little when necessary, having all the difficult cases of surgery in this section.
He was appointed county commissioner several years ago, and is now serving his fourth term, having been reelected three times.
In politics, he is a republican, with whig antece- dents. He is a third-degree Mason.
In 1876 he was appointed by the State Medical Society a delegate to the American Medical Associ- ation, but could not attend.
He is a member of no church, but a generous con- tributor to the funds of church building, church sup- port and benevolent operations generally. There is nothing contracted in his composition.
The wife of Dr. Park was Miss Nancy D. Carlton, of Andover, Vermont; married on the 3d of July, 1856. They have had three children, two of them, Willie L. and Jennie May, yet living. They are being well educated.
CHARLES W. DAVIS, A. M., M. D.,
INDIANOLA.
T HE oldest medical practitioner in Indianola, and a man of brilliant parts and great success, is Charles W. Davis, twenty-two years a resident of Warren county. His father, Ephraim P. Davis, was a merchant, a descendant of an old Welsh family, and died in Indianola on the 31st of August, 1867. The maiden name of his mother was Nancy Cotting- ham. The family moved to LaFayette, Indiana, when the son was about twelve years old. He was educat- ed at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana ; was graduated in 1848, with the expectation at one time of studying for the ministry, but turned his attention to medicine, read with Dr. E. Deming, of La Porte, Indiana, and graduated at Rush Medical College, Chicago, in 1853.
After practicing three years at Lebanon and Car- lisle, Indiana, Dr. Davis came to Indianola, in the pring of 1856, and has here been in constant prac- tice, excepting when absent in his country's service. In 1862 he was commissioned surgeon of the 34th Iowa Infantry, and in 1864 was promoted to surgeon of United States Volunteers, serving in the latter ca- pacity until nearly the close of the war. Prior to
going into the service, he was examining surgeon for volunteers, and after its close was offered the position of United States examiner for pensions, but declined. While surgery is Dr. Davis' specialty, the business in Warren county is limited, and he does a general prac- tice, standing at the head of the profession in this lo- cality.
The doctor is a good writer on medical science, and years ago contributed to western periodicals, published in the interest of his profession, several valuable papers.
Dr. Davis was reared in the whig school of poli- tics, with anti-slavery proclivities, and naturally unit- ed with the great party whose rallying cry, as early as 1848, was, "Free soil, free speech, free men."
Religiously, he was reared in the Presbyterian faith, and worships with that body of people, but is not a member of the church.
His wife was Miss Sallie A. Pursel, of Greencastle, Indiana; married on the 19th of October, 1854. They have one child, William C. Davis, who is just completing his medical studies with his father. He is a young man of much promise.
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Years ago the doctor was a prominent medical ex- aminer for life insurance, and wrote some essays which were included in the literature published by one of the oldest and best New York companies. He is a strong thinker, and embodies his thoughts in clear and graceful language.
The doctor is six feet tall, broad shouldered, well- developed and muscular, and weighs two hundred and thirty-five pounds. He has an unusually large head, dark brown eyes, light complexion and nervo- sanguine temperament. His conversational powers and his social qualities are excellent.
RUTLEDGE LEA,
KEOSAUQUA.
R UTLEDGE LEA, son of Claiborne and Sarah H. (Roads) Lea, is a native of Greenfield, Highland county, Ohio, dating his birth on the 4th of November, 1843. He was the sixth child in a family of seven children, five of them yet living. His maternal grandfather, Jacob Roads, was in the war of 1812-15, having command of a company. At twelve years of age Rutledge moved with the family to Iowa, remaining one year at Fairfield, Jefferson county, and then settling in Keosauqua, Van Buren county. Here, after receiving a good English educa- tion, young Lea, at the age of seventeen, commenced · reading law with J. C. Knapp, now judge of the dis- trict court of the second judicial district of Iowa, and Hon. George F. Wright, now of Council Bluffs, Iowa; subsequently with Noble and Strong, of Keo- kuk, being admitted to the bar at Keosauqua in 1864. He commenced practice at Keosauqua, but at the end of a year, his health failing, he relin- quished his practice and began to travel and resort to manual labor for its improvement, running a saw- mill one season near Keosauqua.
He was deputy collector of internal revenue in the first congressional district in 1864 and 1865, and deputy treasurer of Van Buren county from 1866 to 1872. For the last ten years he has been in the constant practice of his profession, being now of the
firm of Lea and Beaman, his partner being D. C. Bea- man. They have an extensive and growing practice, and have a very honorable standing at the bar. Mr. Lea excels both as court and jury lawyer, having a thorough legal education and being a clear reasoner and an earnest, impressive speaker. He is very tena- cious for the rights of his client, and rarely fails in his case. Few minds at the bar of the second judi- cial district are more systematic and logical than his. He is a very high-minded man, an honor to the pro- fession.
In politics, Mr. Lea is republican, and was an elector in the first congressional district in 1876, doing excellent work as a canvasser.
He is a firm believer in the general doctrines of Christianity and a regular church-goer, but a member of no religious body.
He is a Knight Templar in the Masonic order; was worshipful master of the Keosauqua lodge five years; is past junior steward of the grand lodge of the state ; has been chairman of the standing com- mittee on finance for the last three years ; has been high priest of Moore Chapter, No. 23, and senior warden of Elchanan Commandery, No. 28.
Miss Victoria Henry, of Keosauqua, was married to Mr. Lea in April, 1868. They have three children and have lost two.
SMITH McPHERSON,
RED OAK.
S MITH McPHERSON was born near Indianap- olis, Indiana, on the 14th of February, 1848. His father was a farmer, and of Scotch descent. Smith worked on his father's farm in the summer time, at- tending school in the winter months - an institution under the control of the Society of Friends. At the
age of twenty-one he left home to attend the Iowa State University, from which he graduated in June, 1870, receiving the degree of LL.B. From the uni- versity he entered the law office of his uncle, M. L. McPherson, of Council Bluffs, and read law the re- mainder of that year; then removed to Red Oak,
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continued the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1870, since which time he has steadily prac- ticed law. In July, 1874, he was appointed by Gov- ernor Carpenter district attorney for the third ju- dicial district, comprising eight counties in south- ern Iowa; and at the general election the same year was elected to the same office for four years, and is now in the enjoyment of said position.
He has taken ten degrees in Masonry, and is a member of the encampment of the Independent Or- der of Odd-Fellows. Mr. McPherson is a medium- sized, light-complexioned man, with large, pensive eyes. He is a great lover of books, and possesses a choice collection of the standard literature of the day, together with a fine law library. It rarely hap- pens that one so fond of books is at the same time so active a man in the affairs of life. His social qualities are of the highest order. He compasses his friends with "hoops of steel." His forensic abilities are of the first order of excellence. He is keen to observe the weak points in a defense at trial, and is a strong and persistent advocate. His pleadings are ever marked with a full knowledge of the law, and all the sophistries of the bar are to him but so many cob- webs to be thrust aside in the clearer light of law and evidence. With all this he is a great favorite with both bench and bar.
He is a staunch republican, and is frequently be- fore the public in defense of the principles of his party. His political speeches are marked with a thor- ough knowledge of the topic under discussion, which he handles without ever descending to vulgarity, though his irony ofttimes cuts very deep.
It is only in these comparatively new countries of the west that such prodigies are to be found. Here is a young man of only twenty-nine years of age wor- thily wielding an influence never attained in the met- ropolitan circles of the east short of fifty years of life. The golden opportunities that present them- selves to a young and gifted brain find apt solution amid the ever utilitarian spirits which make up the communities of the newer states of the .Union. Mr. McPherson possessed the ability, young as he was, to wield the business of his high office; the govern- or of his state observed these innate qualities, and appointed him to fill an unexpired term of office, and when he came before the people for their ap- proval they indorsed the governor's judgment and elected him to continue in the same office.
Mr. McPherson is yet a bachelor, and whether he ever becomes wedded to anything other than litera- ture and law or not, he certainly has a long and bril- liant future before him, coëqual with the rising pros- pects of his young and giant state.
HON. JOHN MAHIN, MUSCATINE.
JOHN MAHIN, postmaster, was born in Nobles- ville, Indiana, on the 8th of December, 1833, and is the son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Hare) Mahin. The ancestors on the male side came from Ireland and settled in Rhode Island previous to the revolu- tion; from thence they removed to Kentucky, where a colony of the descendants still reside, and about the beginning of the present century the grandpar- ents of our subject removed to Ohio, where there is another settlement of the family. On the mother's side our subject is descended from German ances- tors of Pennsylvania stock.
The parents of John Mahin spent their early life in one of the "log cabins " so common in the pio- neer history of Ohio. His father was a Methodist local preacher.
John received less than a year's schooling alto- gether, being placed in a printing office at an early
age, in which, as he expresses it, he received his education, graduating at the "case " before reach- ing the age of eighteen. He inherited a strong de- sire for knowledge, had a passion for reading, and before the age of twelve had read the Bible through, and every other book he could lay his hands on, in- cluding novels, newspapers and missionary biogra- phies. For years he was accustomed to walk a dis- tance of two miles each week to borrow the weekly newspaper, which, after being read by the family, was passed to some other neighbor, or returned to the owner.
From his earliest childhood he was possessed by a strong desire to learn the art of printing; this was the acme of his ambition. Moving to Bloomington, now Muscatine, Iowa, in 1847, he found an opening in the " Herald " office, since changed to the "Jour- nal," where for five years he was a diligent and in-
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dustrious journeyman, pursuing his study of books and men as circumstances permitted.
In his nineteenth year (July, 1852,) he com- menced publishing and editing the Muscatine " Jour- nal " on his own account. This he continued for two years with very satisfactory pecuniary results, having succeeded where others failed, when he sold his interest, intending to pursue a classical course of study ; with which end in view he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, in that state, but was obliged to abandon this cherished scheme after a few months, on account of a serious attack of illness, which for a time threatened his life. In 1856 he re- purchased his interest in the Muscatine " Journal " and resumed editorial control of the paper, which he has since retained, having been sole editor about half that time.
In April, 1861, he was appointed postmaster of Muscatine by President Lincoln, on the recom- mendation of a large majority of republican electors of the city, and retained the position for eight years. In October, 1869, he was elected to the house of representatives of Iowa for a period of two years, and served with distinction ; taking a lead in the house on the question, then for the first time agitated, of taxing railroads, he favoring the taxation of rail- roads the same as other property. In June, 1873, he was reappointed postmaster, and still retains that office.
During the war he was one of the most vigorous defenders of the administration; threw his whole power into the Union cause ; was instrumental in raising a large number of volunteers, and in silenc- ing the opposition of "copperheads," so-called at home, his tongue, his pen and his purse being freely employed in the cause of loyalty. He was likewise secretary and actual manager of the Soldiers' Monu- ment Association, of Muscatine county, which erect- ed the beautiful shaft to the memory of the heroes who fell in the cause of union and freedom upon southern battlefields, and which now ornaments the court-house square of Muscatine ; he was also active and mainly instrumental in organizing the Musca- tine Building and Loan Association, of which he con- tinues to be a director, an organization which is ac- complishing untold good in providing homes for the mechanics and laboring men of the city. He is also president of the Iowa Press Association, an organ- ization which has existed for several years.
He has also been a member and promoter of the several temperance organizations of the city and
county, and is among the foremost in every good work, whether charitable, benevolent or reformatory, undertaken in his neighborhood.
He has been a Methodist since his eighteenth year, one of the most active and prominent members of the church, and superintendent of the Sunday school. He publishes a review of the lessons at the close of each quarter for the benefit of the readers of his journal.
Politically, he was raised in the communion of the old whig party, and since the organization of the republican party on its ruins, he has been one of its most devoted adherents.
Mr. Mahin has been twice married : first, on the 17th of May, 1859, at Muscatine, to Miss Anna Herr, who died on the 12th of March, 1862, childless ; sec- ond, on the 20th of September, 1864, to Miss Anna Lee, of Johnson county, Iowa, who still lives, and is the mother of four children, the eldest of whom, Ella Cassel, died in 1870, and three survive : J. Lee, Mabel and Florence.
Mrs. Mahin's parents were natives of Maryland, and on her father's side she is connected with the family of General Richard Henry Lee, of revolu- tionary fame. She was born on the 30th of March, 1845. She received a liberal education, chiefly in the Iowa State University, and is a lady of superior culture.
From the preceding brief outline of the leading events of his life, it will be seen that John Mahin, although possessing but few of the advantages of the young men of the present day, has, by dint of in- domitable perseverance, earned the success in life which has crowned his efforts.
While young, and comparatively inexperienced, he assumed the editorial care and control of the "Jour- nal," with which he is still connected. From the first he displayed a natural fitness for this responsi- ble position, which demonstrated that he had not mistaken his calling. It has been said truthfully that an editor, like a poet, is born, not made. He pos- sesses in a large measure the gifts and qualifications essential to success in the editorial profession. He has not unfrequently been pitted against veteran edi- tors of long and large experience in the heat and excitement of political debate, and we know of none who has reason to boast of his success in the en- counter. He is not a rhetorician ; he employs no flowery figures, highly wrought flourishes, or long- drawn sentences. A few well-chosen words express his meaning with clearness, His editorials are gen-
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erally short, crisp, and to the point. In a word, he never writes unless he has something to write; nor are his taste and judgment less manifest in selecting for his paper; in other words, he handles the pen and scissors with equal facility. He has achieved success in his calling, of which he has just reason to be proud.
Two younger brothers of Mr. Mahin are also resi- dents of Muscatine, both printers, who have taste and talent for literature. James Mahin (the eldest)
has been for a number of years local editor of the " Journal." He has had a liberal academic educa- tion ; has traveled extensively both in Europe and America, and as a writer is graphic, philosophic and humorous. He is now in his thirty-first year, and bids fair to become one of the most noted editors of the country. The younger brother, Frank Mahin, is attending the Harvard Law School, and possesses a mind well adapted to the intricate questions of law, and has already developed fine business qualities.
HON. JEREMIAH H. MURPHY, DAVENPORT.
JEREMIAH HENRY MURPHY, lawyer and politician, was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, on the 19th of February, 1835, and is the son of Timo- thy Murphy and Jerusha nee Shattuck. His father was a native of the county of Cork, Ireland, and at the age of fourteen years emigrated with his father and an only brother, Jeremiah, after whom our sub- ject was named, and settled in Massachusetts. Jere- miah afterward graduated at Northampton College, was ordained to the ministry of the Baptist church, and for many years preached the gospel in the states of New York, Wisconsin, Iowa and Kansas. He was a man of much strength and brilliance of intellect, earnest and zealous as a missionary, and died in 1859 at Topeka, Kansas.
The father of our subject, Timothy Murphy, was a man of great self-reliance and individuality of char - acter, energetic and determined. He died in 1866. The mother of our subject is of Puritan stock, de- scended from Pilgrim ancestors, and in her disposi- tion exhibits many of the traits of that noble and self-renouncing race. She is a highly cultured and refined pattern of every social and domestic virtue.
Thus mingles in the veins of our subject, in equal proportions, the blood of the Celt and the Saxon. Hence the genius and brilliancy which adorn his character, on the one hand, and the grave dignity, an equally important feature of it, on the other.
The parents of our subject had a family of ten children, four of whom died in infancy and six of whom survive. The survivors are Ellen, Jeremiah H., Bernard, Mary, Timothy and Agnes, all of whom are now residents of Iowa. The father removed to Wisconsin in 1847 and purchased a farm in Fond du Lac county, on which the family resided till 1852,
when they removed to Iowa county, Iowa, and pur- chased and operated a large farm.
During the summer of 1852 our subject and his younger brother, with the aid of two yoke of oxen, "broke " some eighty acres of wild land, and in the winter following cut and split some eight thousand rails and stakes and before the end of the following summer had a farm of one hundred and sixty acres fenced and under cultivation.
Jeremiah H. was raised in Massachusetts till the age of fourteen years, and at the public schools of his native place laid the foundation of an education. On removing to Wisconsin he attended the Apple- ton University for a period of eighteen months, and in 1854 he entered the State University of Iowa, at Iowa City, from which he graduated in 1857.
After quitting college he walked to Marion, in Linn county, Iowa, a distance of thirty-one miles, and entered the law office of the Hon. William Smith (who was during the rebellion a colonel in the Union army, and still later member of congress, and died in 1871) as a law student, and after nine months' study was admitted to the bar. He commenced his pro- fessional career in Marengo, county seat of Iowa county, where he remained some nine years, with very considerable success. In 1867 he removed to Davenport, which has since been his home, and formed a partnership for the practice of law with H. M. Martin, Esq., which is still in existence. The first ten years of his professional life was devoted mainly to criminal practice, at which he attained to considerable distinction ; latterly he has been de- voting his attention more especially to commercial law, with very satisfactory results.
He has given considerable attention to politics
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