USA > Iowa > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume > Part 102
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He was elected sheriff of Boone county in 1863, and served from June of that year to the ist of Jan- uary, 1874, being reelected four times. Though always a democrat and living in a republican county, he usually had a fair majority. He discharged the duties of this office very faithfully and to the satis- faction of all parties.
Soon after becoming sheriff he began to read law in the office of C. W. Lowrey, of Boonesboro; con- tinued to read more or less every year; was ad- mitted to the bar in December, 1873, and has since practiced at Boone, being of the firm of Kidder and Crooks. Their practice is very extensive. He was elected to the general assembly in 1877, and is now a member of that body.
Mr. Crooks is a sound lawyer, conscientious and true, aiming to do what is exactly right and proper. He has a good deal of force of character and indom- itable perseverance, and is still pursuing his literary as well as legal studies.
Mr. Crooks is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and of the Methodist church, and a man whose char- acter is above suspicion.
His wife was Miss Rebecca Nutt, of Des Moines, Iowa, chosen on the 19th of July, 1860. They have lost one child, and have two children living.
HON. JOHN H. KING,
HIAMPTON.
JOHN HEREFORD KING, the only member of the seventeenth general assembly of Iowa born in this state, is a native of Salem, Henry county, and dates his birth on the 3d of October, 1845. He is the youngest son of Samuel and Content Vernon King, who belonged to the Quaker church, and edu-
cated their children, eight in all, in the strict dis- cipline of that denomination.
Born in the Territory of Iowa one year before it became a state, and living on the frontier, young King had very limited opportunities for education, these being confined to a common school and not
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of the highest order, though as good perhaps as the average in those territorial days. He had a strong desire for knowledge, and made no inconsiderable progress outside the school-room. Hard work on his father's farm and teaming were his principal oc- cupations until he had arrived at his majority.
In 1866 he married Miss Permelia A. Andrews, of New Providence, Iowa, and commenced making a farm of two hundred acres of prairie land near New Providence, breaking it with his own hands, and doing most of the fencing. For three seasons he raised a large crop, and taught school during the winters.
From early youth Mr. King had a desire to study law, but was prevented by his parents. At the age of twenty-four, however, he resolved to commence, and he continued his legal studies with a mountain of financial difficulties to surmount and a family to support, being admitted to the bar at Eldora in No- vember, 1870, at which place he commenced prac- tice on the ist of January, 1871. He moved to Hampton in 1872, and soon rose to prominence at the bar. His progress in his profession has been re- markable and brilliant.
Mr. King is a thorough and uncompromising re- publican, and has never been anything else. In the
party, he early began to show signs of great useful- ness as well as activity, and his merits seem to be fully appreciated at home, for in 1876 he was the choice of his county for congress, his name being strongly urged for nomination by the Franklin county delegation. In October, 1877, he was elected by an unprecedented and overwhelming majority to represent his county and Cerro Gordo in the popular branch of the general assembly. He was made chairman of the committee on judicial districts, and was also placed on the committees on judiciary, fed- eral relations, senatorial and representative districts, state university, insurance and constitutional amend- ments; was also made chairman of the standing committee on courts and court expenses, and was a prominent member of the special committee on re- trenchment and reform.
Representative King was rarely out of his seat during the hours when the general assembly was in session, and took a prominent part in the debates, as well as in the committee meetings. He gives a question due consideration before attempting to dis- cuss it, and on the floor shows a clear head and splendid logical powers. Unless prematurely cut off in life, it is not unlikely that the best part of his history is yet to be written.
HARRISON GURLEY,
NEW HAMPTON.
T HE Gurleys of whom Harrison is a descendant were from Scotland, the original settler in this country coming over at an early day and locating at Northampton, Massachusetts. Roger Gurley, the father of Harrison, was a mechanic and farmer, and resided in Mansfield, Tolland county, Connecticut, where the son was born on the 14th of January, 1815. The maiden name of his mother was Pamelia Bick- nell. His father was a captain of militia in the war of 1812-15, the youngest child in a large family. At fifteen years of age Harrison commenced a commer- cial life by entering a store at Willimantic, Windham county, having previously been educated in common and select schools. With the exception of one win- ter, when he taught school, he was a salesman and bookkeeper until 1840, when he went into business for himself at Hartford, in company with Charles Boswell, and afterward with Homer Hastings. After a few years the latter firm dissolved, and Mr. Gurley
continued the mercantile business in the same place until he removed to Iowa in 1855. In the autumn of that year he landed at Grinnell with a stock of goods and opened the first clothing store in that place. In October, 1856, he moved his stock to Chickasaw county and bought the first building, a log hut, ever put up on the site of New Hampton. It stood directly in the middle of the street between where the Gardner or Dixon House and his second store now stand. There were not more than half-a- dozen buildings, huts and all, on the site of the town. This humble log building Mr. Gurley used one year for store and dwelling house. It was afterward used for a postoffice, school-house and church, and was torn down only a few years ago. Mr. Gurley bought about thirty acres of land, which is now the southern part of the city plat, Gideon Gardner having pur- chased forty acres of the land on the north side. The next year Mr. Gurley erected a two-story building,
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which was used by him seventeen or eighteen years as a store, and part of which, at an early day, was used for a dwelling house. A county court was held in it before it was completed, and for a short time the county offices were in the front room on the second floor.
Mrs. Gurley taught the first school in New Hamp- ton, and had nine or ten pupils, taking them into her own house, in the winter of 1857-58.
During the first winter in Chickasaw county Mr. Gurley had occasion to pass back and forth on foot between Bradford and New Hampton. The snow was very deep, and on one or two occasions he came very near perishing from exhaustion and cold.
During the eighteen years that Mr. Gurley was a merchant at New Hampton he owned and cultivated more or less land. He still has a farm of two hun- dred and ten acres, one mile northwest of town, under fine improvement, and has done his full share to develop the agricultural wealth of the county. As a merchant, he was a straightforward dealer, and at an early day commanded the trade- for eight or ten miles around.
In May, 1876, in connection with other parties, he opened the Bank of New Hampton, a savings insti- tution, of which he is the president, and which, under his direction, is quite prosperous.
Mr. Gurley has been a very active member of the school board for a long time ; was influential in get- ting a railroad to New Hampton, and is vigilant in looking after every interest of the city and county. He has been a member of the Congregational church about forty years and an officer of the same no in- considerable part of the time. He was one of the founders of the New Hampton Church. His influ- ence in every respect is healthful, and the high moral tone of this young city is owing in a large measure to such men as Mr. Gurley, Deacon Gideon Gardner and Captain Powers.
Mr. Gurley is very liberal ; was originally an anti- slavery whig, and then and now a republican.
His wife was Miss Isabella Hamilton, of Canaan, New York. They were married on the 10th of Sep- tember, 1846, and have had three children. Only one of them, Royal Harrison, aged sixteen, is living. He is receiving a good education.
HON. SAMUEL MCNUTT,
MUSCATINE.
S AMUEL MCNUTT was born near London- derry, Ireland, on the 21st of November, 1825, and is the son of Samuel McNutt and Hannah née Stuart. The family is of Scotch origin, and de- scended from a long line of distinguished ancestors not less conspicuous in connection with the history of border chivalry than of the more stern and soul- trying events of covenanter times.
Samuel McNutt, senior, was a man of great kind- ness of heart and of the most generous impulses. He emigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when our subject was but a child, and finally settled in New Castle, Delaware, where he died in 1836, leav- ing a widow and seven children, three boys and four girls, of whom Samuel was the eldest, unprovided for. She never married again, but for forty years devoted her life and energies to the education and interest of her children, and had the happiness to live to see them all comfortably and honorably set- tled in life. Her second son, Robert, was an emi- nent physician in Louisiana at the outbreak of the rebellion, and her third son, James, a physician in
Missouri. Both joined the Union army. She died in Iowa, on the 24th of December, 1874, at the ripe old age of eighty-five years.
Working on the little farm in Delaware, Samuel, our subject, passed his boyhood and grew to man's estate. He had been taught, with his brothers and sisters, to read the "Shorter Catechism " as soon as he could talk, and by the time he was thirteen years of age he had committed to memory the catechism, the psalms of David in meter, the proverbs of Solo- mon, most of the four gospels, the "Scottish Mar- tyrs," and Weem's "Life of Washington." At this time his books were few, but those here named laid the foundation of his character and influence all his after-life.
He first attracted attention by poetical composi- tions published in the "Temperance Star," Wilming- ton, at the age of sixteen, over the signature of "A Harmony Plowboy," Harmony being the name of his school district. Delaware College was located in the adjoining village of Newark, and one of the professors, Dr. J. S. Bell, offered the "Plowboy " lit-
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erary assistance and the use of his library. He soon after entered that institution, where he received a liberal education. In those years he contributed to " Peterson's Magazine," "Neal's Gazette," "Godey's Lady's Book," "Saturday Courier," etc. Some of his pieces had a wide circulation in their day. Leaving college in 1848, he engaged in the profes- sion of teaching, and was soon after elected presi- dent of the New Castle County Teachers' Association, which position he held for three consecutive years by election.
In the meantime he studied law under the direc- tion of the Hon. D. M. Bates, then secretary of the State of Delaware, and in 1851 was admitted to the bar and came west to enter upon the practice of his profession, but being offered a professorship in a collegiate institute located at Hernando, Mississippi, he removed to that state, where he remained some three years. In 1854 he returned to the west and located in Muscatine county, Iowa, where he after- ward purchased some land. During the summer and fall of 1856 he was principal of one of the pub- lic schools of Muscatine city, and at the close of the term became editor of the " Muscatine Inquirer."
In April, 1857 he became associate editor of the " Dubuque Herald," then under the management of J. B. Dorr, afterward colonel of the 8th Iowa Cav- alry, and remained in that capacity until 1860, when Dorr and Co. transferred the "Herald " to the Ma- hony company.
Up to this period Mr. McNutt had been a demo- crat in politics, and during his connection with the " Herald " had been a warm friend and supporter of the late Stephen A. Douglas; but when after the election of 1860 the southern states began to secede and war seemed imminent, he announced himself as strongly in favor of the administration and of every means that could be used for putting down the re- bellion. The course of the "Herald " (which had lately passed into the control of Mahony and Com- pany) dissatisfying many of its former political friends (the war democrats), Mr. McNutt was in- duced to start a war paper, the "Daily Evening Union," at Dubuque, in which he denounced all as traitors who opposed the administration. This course brought down upon him the enmity of an- other class of his former friends, and after a brief and precarious existence the " Union " was discon- tinued in 1862. He was now one of the strongest radicals in the state, and became one of the editors of the Dubuque "Times," but in the fall of that year
he removed back to his farm in Muscatine county, where he has since resided.
In the summer of 1863, while engaged in recruiting volunteers for the 8th Iowa Cavalry, he was nominated by the republicans of Muscatine county for represen- tative to the tenth general assembly of the state, and was elected by a handsome majority. He was also elected to the eleventh general assembly, and like- wise to the twelfth, thus being returned three times in succession by the same constituency, an honor never previously conferred upon any man in Mus- catine county. In 1869 he was nominated by the same party to the senatorship of the then sixteenth district for the full term, and elected without oppo- sition, receiving all the votes cast for senator, an unprecedented compliment, and served through the thirteenth and fourteenth general assemblies. In both branches of the legislature he was a staunch ad- vocate of all needed reforms, and left a record that stands unrivaled by that of any other member. In the house he was one of the pioneers in the advo- cacy of measures for controlling railway corpora- tions, and the author of several bills for that pur- pose. The principles which he so ably advocated finally prevailed, and have recently been sustained by decision of the supreme court of the United States. He was the author of the act of 1864 (Ses- sion Laws, chapter seven,) which really made Iowa a free state of this union ; also author of the joint res- olution by which Iowa ratified the amendment to the federal constitution abolishing slavery through- out the republic. In the senate he was the author of many bills on various subjects, and father of some of the most important sections of the code of 1873, among which may be instanced the proviso in sec- tion 866, and all of sections 1305 and 1306. He was the first senator of Iowa who proposed amend- ing the state constitution to allow women to vote (Senate Journal 1870, page 113). In the summer of 1872 he was a prominent candidate before the republican state convention for the office of state treasurer, and although unsuccessful, yet the strength developed in his behalf shows that the hearts of a large number of the loyal sons of Iowa are with him. He was a conspicuous actor in the recent movement on the part of the "Patrons of Husbandry"; was master of a grange, member of the state grange, and for three years president of the Muscatine county council of the order. He delivered numerous pub- lic addresses in connection with the organization throughout his congressional district, all breathing
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a tone of such true, broad and liberal principles that their sentiments found universal favor.
Senator McNutt served ten consecutive years as a member of either house, and is everywhere regarded as a wise, patriotic and safe legislator, thoroughly earnest and conscientious in all his sayings and doings; warm and ardent in his temperament; clear, logical and zealous as a speaker, always command- ing unflagging attention. Naturally proud of the character of a "tribune of the people," he is per- haps somewhat imperious in manner and at times a little egotistical, but aside from the arena of debate, genial, social, eminently warm-hearted and full of good humor. His private character is unblemished and unexceptionable. In church communion, he is
a Presbyterian, but entertaining broad views of re- ligion and humanity, he is at once one of the most popular and useful men of his day. In personal appearance, he is tall and of dignified presence, dark hair and eyes, with an expression of counte- nance betokening a lively interest in all that is transpiring around him.
On the 14th of April, 1857, he married Anna Lu- cas, of Portsmouth, Ohio, niece of ex-Governor Robert Lucas of that state, afterward governor of Iowa Territory, a lady of pleasing manners, affec- tionate disposition, good appearance, and who takes pride in her husband and her boys, desiring them to excel in all things. The result of this union is three sons : William, Robert and Samuel.
JOSHUA WORLEY, M. D.,
BELLE PLAINE.
T "HE first physician to locate in Belle Plaine was Joshua Worley, a native of Covington, Miami county, Ohio. He is the son of Rev. Caleb Worley, a minister of the Christian denomination, and Eliza- beth Adams, and was born on the 6th of March, 1834, the youngest in a family of six children. His maternal grandfather, George Adams, cousin of Daniel Boone, lived in this country in the "times which tried men's souls " and participated in the strife for independence a hundred years ago. Caleb Worley, a Quaker, came from England in 1699, set- tled in Philadelphia, and had two sons, Francis and Henry, who formed the head of the two branches of the Worley family. Francis obtained a tract of land of the Penns, near York, Pennsylvania, and in order to have a neighbor gave a man one hundred acres of land for a cow. The old homestead, it is said, still stands, one and a half miles from York, and is still in the hands of Francis Worley's heirs. Henry Worley immigrated to James river, Virginia, about 1730, and raised a family of children, some of whom returned to Pennsylvania. Caleb, one of the sons, settled in Kentucky in 1783, and his son, Nathan, located in Montgomery county, Ohio, in 1804, dying in Germantown, in that county, in 1848. He was a Christian or Disciple minister. His eldest son, Ca- leb, father of Joshua, died at Covington, Miami county, Ohio, in 1871.
The subject of this short biography was educated in the common and select schools of Covington,
doing some work on a farm in the busy season until fifteen years of age ; at seventeen went to Versailles, . in his native state, and on a cash capital of three hundred dollars became a hardware merchant, fol- lowing the business four or five years with a gradual increase of success and of capital. Having an in- clination toward the medical profession, at twenty- two he sold out his stock of merchandise; com- menced reading with Dr. J. C. Williamson, of Ver- sailles ; attended two courses of lectures at Starling Medical College, Columbus; practiced one year with his preceptor; attended a third course of lec- tures in Columbus, and graduated in March, a861 ; moved to Koszta, Iowa county, Iowa, the following summer; practiced there one year with Dr. E. P. Miller, and then settled at Belle Plaine, a town just then springing up, now a city of twenty-five hundred inhabitants.
In May, 1864, Dr. Worley went into the army as assistant surgeon of the 126th Ohio Infantry, and remained until the rebellion was crushed. That regiment was in the sixth army corps, part of the time during the last year of the war in the Shenan- doah valley, Virginia, but most of the time before Petersburg. Surgeons in that locality had usually plenty of cases on hand, and Dr. Worley had little time for idleness.
At the close of the war, in July, 1865, he returned to Belle Plaine, and has here been in active prac- tice since that time, with the exception of two or
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three seasons spent on his farm near town, on ac- count of ill health. During this period he continued his medical studies, and he makes constant advance- ment in the theory as well as practice of his profes- sion. The opportunities which he had for improve- ment during the year that he was in the army were unusually good, and he reaped the highest advan- tage from them. No man of his age in this section of the state has a better reputation, especially as a surgeon. His rides are quite extensive. He is a
member of the State Medical Society, and of the Iowa Union Medical Society. His standing is good in both.
In politics, Dr. Worley is a democrat, but rarely has anything to do with office. His profession ab- sorbs his time.
He is a Knight Templar among the Freemasons.
On the 23d of September, 1862, Miss Salome Sul- lenberger, of Koszta, Iowa, became his wife. They have no children.
GEORGE T. YOUNG,
LEON.
G EORGE THOMAS YOUNG, a native of J Ashland, Ohio, and the son of Abraham and Mary (Thomas) Young, was born on the 3d of Sep- tember, 1831. His ancestors in this country settled first in Pennsylvania. His great-grandfather fought for American independence. His grandfather was in the whisky rebellion in western Pennsylvania. Abraham Young was a farmer, and raised his son in that calling, the latter supplementing a common- school education with six months' attendance at the Ashland Academy. At nineteen he opened a winter school, teaching two terms in Ohio. At twenty he was appointed deputy clerk of Ashland county, hold- ing that position for one year.
In the spring of 1853 Abraham Young sold his farm and the family moved to Noble county, Indi- ana, and for two years the subject of this sketch assisted in clearing land in the summer and taught district school in the winter. In the spring of 1855, with one winter's earnings in his pocket, he started westward to seek his fortune, intending to go into southwestern Iowa. On reaching Leon, Decatur county, his funds were exhausted, and he was obliged to stop and seek work. At first he wrote for a few weeks in the county recorder's office, receiving his board in return ; he then took a summer school and taught for two months. At the end of this time the school-house was demolished by a tornado, and his school was thus brought hastily and unceremoniously to a close. He now engaged as a clerk in a store at Leon, and thus busied himself until the next year, when he was elected clerk of the district court, hold- ing that position three terms by repeated reëlections.
In September, 1862, Mr. Young formed a partner- ship with Seth Richards, then of Bentonsport, and
they opened a mercantile house in Mount Ayr, twen- ty-eight miles west of Leon. There they traded four- teen years, having good success, and closing ont in the autumn of 1876. After spending a year and a half in settling up his business, in the spring of 1878, Mr. Young located once more in Leon, where he has a broker's office in company with Joseph S. Warner, the firm of Young and Warner, doing well.
Mr. Young is a cautious, prudent man, and man- ages all his matters systematically and with the ut- most care. He came to Iowa with scanty means, but with willing hands, and the skill to apply them, with a resolute heart he has pushed on and has at length acquired a competency. His accumulations have all been made by honest and upright dealings.
In politics, Mr. Young has usually cooperated with the democrats, but is quite independent, and votes for no one on an unsatisfactory platform. He was on the school board while residing at Leon the first time and also for several years in Mount Ayr, and takes great interest in educational matters.
He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and an elder of the same. He is a warm friend of the Sunday-school cause, and superintended a school ten or eleven years. He is also an earnest worker in the temperance cause, and has given much time and money to advance it. His heart is in every good enterprise tending to further the interests, mental, moral, and material, of his fellow-men. No com- munity can have too many men of this class.
Mr. Young aided in organizing the Masonic lodges at Leon and Mount Ayr; has been master of both and is now a Knight Templar.
On the 23d of December, 1858, he became the husband of Miss Hattie A. Patterson, of Leon, and
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they have four children, Helen H., Lulu S., George Willard and Hattie E., all bright and promising. Mrs. Young was president of the Mount Ayr Chris- tian Temperance Union when she left the place ; has
been a teacher in Sunday schools since sixteen years of age and is an active christian philanthropist, often seeking out the needy and in a quiet way supplying their wants.
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