USA > Iowa > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume > Part 116
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 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120
He served under Generals Siegel, Hunter, Crooks and Sheridan, in all the campaigns of those generals in the Shenandoah valley, and in December, 1864, he joined the army of the Potomac in front of Rich- mond, serving most of the time as a staff officer, first on the staff of the gallant Colonel George D. Wells, of the 34th Massachusetts Infantry, who fell at the head of his division at the second battle of
765
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPIIICAL DICTIONARY.
Cedar Creek, Virginia ; then on that of General T. N. Harris, and then on that of Major-General Tur- ner, with whom he took part in all the closing can- paigns of Virginia, including the battle at Appomat- tox Court House, and the surrender of General Lee and his army.
On the 29th of March, 1865, he was commissioned major of his regiment by the governor of Ohio, and at the close of the Richmond campaign, on the recommendation of General Turner, he was breveted major by the war department for gallant services.
After the last battle was fought, and the rebel armies had surrendered, and orders came for the gradual muster out of the troops, Major-General Tur- ner, upon whose staff Major Karr had been serving, tendered him an assurance of a major's commission in the regular army for staff duty with him as long ,as he should remain in the service; but Major Karr had enlisted solely in the war for the suppression of the rebellion and the perpetuity of the Union, and he gratefully declined his commander's offer, pre- ferring to be mustered out with his regiment, and to return to his home and engage in some civil pursuit. In time of war he preferred to be a soldier; in time of peace, a civilian.
During his military career Major Karr participated in numerous battles, among the most noted of which were those of Moorefield, Winchester, Halltown, Opequan, Fisher's Hill, the two battles of Cedar Creek, Hatcher's Run, Fort Gregs and Appomattox Court House.
Major Karr was a prompt, brave and efficient of- ficer, whose gentlemanly appearance and soldierly bearing ever gained for him the respect and favor of his superiors in rank and the esteem of his inferiors.
In June, 1865, he was mustered out of the military service, and returned to his home and immediately entered upon the study of law. During the winter of 1865-6 he attended the law department of the Michigan University.
In April, 1866, at Pomeroy, Ohio, he was admitted to practice in the courts of Ohio, and, in the same month, in the classical language associated with the beginner of the profession, he "hung out his shin- gle " in Meigs county, Ohio, and there, and in the adjoining county of Jackson, West Virginia, contin- ued the practice for one or two years with the starv- ing success that usually attends the initiates of his profession. Taking the advice of Horace Greeley he "went west," and in June, 1868, he located at Osceola, Clark county, Iowa, where he resumed the practice of his profession, in which he still continues, having established a paying business.
He has had but a few years of active professional life, but is universally respected wherever known; and although his contact with the world from the time he left the university to the close of the war was circumscribed by the din and bustle of the battle- field, he is a complete cosmopolite, and is as agree- able and sociable a person as he who has spent all his days amid the quiet surroundings of a life of peace, ease and luxury.
In June, 1871, Major Karr married Miss Anna F. Wonner, eldest daughter of Frederick Wonner, of Osceola. They have had born to them two sons, Frederick William and Hamilton L., junior.
Major Karr is a Universalist in his religious belief and education, and a radical republican in politics. He is not an active partisan politician, except in the time of a national campaign.
GEORGE H. McGAVREN, M.D.,
MISSOURI VALLEY.
AMONG the older practitioners on the lowa side
AM of the Missouri slope is Dr. George Henry McGavren, nearly thirty years a resident of Potta- wattamie and Harrison counties. He was a son of George McGavren, a farmer, who came from Scot- land in 1800, and settled in York county, Pennsyl- vania. He fought against England in our second contest with her. George Henry was born in In- diana, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, on the 18th of March, 1818. His mother, Nancy J. Ewart, was of
Irish descent. The son grew to manhood on a farm in his native town; at eighteen moved to Columbi- ana county, Ohio, near Salem, farming and attend- ing common and select schools until of age. Sub- sequently he taught five winters, and spent the remainder of the time each year in miscellaneous studies at Oberlin College.
He read medicine at Petersburg, Columbiana county, with Dr. John Wise; attended lectures in the medical department of Western Reserve College.
766
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Cleveland, and graduated in the spring of 1847. After practicing between two and three years in Allen county, Ohio, Dr. McGavren moved to west- ern Iowa, locating in Pottawattamie county, three miles south of his present residence, removing to this place eleven or twelve years ago. His early practice here, when this part of the slope was very thinly settled, extended over three or four counties. A single ride of a hundred miles, including the re- turn trip, was no uncommon thing, and occasionally he was called sixty and seventy miles from home, at a time, too, when roads of any kind were scarce and there were no bridges.
Latterly Dr. McGavren's rides have been limited to certain portions of Harrison and Pottawattamie counties, except in cases of consultation. His repu- tation for skill is excellent, and his kindly nature and sympathetic disposition make him a welcome visitor in the sick room.
He was a member of the lower house of the gen- eral assembly in 1870, being elected on the repub- lican ticket the autumn before, and was on the com- mittees on schools, county organizations and two or three other committees. The doctor was a demo- crat until the civil war broke out. He was coroner
of Harrison county three or four years, but has us- ually kept out of office, his professional business being sufficient for any one man.
Dr. McGavren is a member of the Iowa State Medical Society, and of the National Eclectic Med- ical Association.
He is a Master Mason and an Odd-Fellow, but has very little time to give to such organizations.
His religious sympathies are with the Methodists, with whom he has been connected in church rela- tionship since about 1865.
Dr. McGavren has a second wife: his first was Miss Lucinda Fausnaught, of Ohio; married in 1850, and dying in 1862, leaving five children, all yet living. His present wife was Miss Rosella Ter- williger, of Clarion county, Pennsylvania; married in 1863. She has two children, a boy and girl. He has four daughters by his first wife, all married. Maria is the wife of A. T. Boies, of Magnolia, Iowa ; Lenora is the wife of James Roland, of Palmer, Har- rison county ; Viola is the wife of Reuben Palmer, real-estate dealer, of Missouri Valley, and Jennie is the wife of Francis Manchester, jeweler, also of Mis- souri Valley. The only son by the first wife, Charles W., is a student in Rush Medical College, Chicago.
DANIEL W. LORING,
OSKALOOSA.
O NE of the oldest and most successful merchants in Oskaloosa is Daniel Warren Loring, who has been a trader here twenty-seven years, and, financially speaking, has never wavered an iota. He settled here when Oskaloosa had less than seven hundred inhabitants; has seen it grow to a city of seven thousand; has been identified with its im- provements, and has aided his full share in making the city what it is, an important railroad center and great trading point. He was a son of Hon. Oliver R. Loring, a farmer, who resided at Belpre, Ohio, at the time of the son's birth, on the Ist of December, 1821. The progenitor of the Loring family was from Wales, and settled in Sudbury, Massachusetts, about two hundred and thirty years ago. The grandfather of Daniel W. was a participant in the successful struggle for freedom from the British yoke. The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Fanny Warren, a descendant of another old Massachusetts family, numbering many persons of eminence.
Daniel W. followed his father's calling in his younger years, receiving, meanwhile, a strictly busi- ness education, taking a scientific course at a Mari- etta institution. Soon after arriving at age he com- menced, in his native town, a mercantile life, which he has never abandoned. In 1851 he settled in Oskaloosa, beginning on a small scale, in a small frame building, having as a partner his brother, Jesse- D. Loring, until his death in 1871. He seems to have started in business with the conviction that " honesty is the best policy "; that to make friends and retain them they must be fairly dealt with. He has always pursued an upright, straightforward course, dealing patiently and leniently with customers where the ex- ercise of such virtues was called for; acting also with proper caution and prudence in granting credit, and has thus protected himself, secured the confidence of the people, and built up as good a business, probably, as any man in Mahaska county. On nearly the same spot on the public square he has traded for more than
767
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
a quarter of a century ; has gone on expanding his business, and is now found on the northwest corner of the square, in a brick store eighty feet deep, and holding something like thirty thousand dollars' worth of stock. So carefully has he managed, so closely supervised his business, that he has never had a re- verse in fortune ; which is almost marvelous, consid- ering the panics to which merchants have been sub- jected in the last twenty-one years.
Mr. Loring has been in the city council and on the school board, and has given all the time which he could spare to advance local interests, but has never sought office. He seems to be thoroughly contented to be a first-class business man, a kind and benevolent citizen. The poor have always found a warm friend in Mr. Loring.
In politics, he was an old-line whig; is now a re- publican. He is a blue lodge Mason, and is liberal in christian sentiment.
His wife was Miss Mary K. Soule, of Marietta, Ohio, their union taking place in March, 1853. They have had four children, two of whom are now living. Mary L., the older of the two living children, is a student in the State University, and Frank W. is a student in Penn College, located in Oskaloosa.
Mr. Loring has a beautiful homestead in the city of Oskaloosa, and is surrounded with every comfort which a life of marked industry and judicious hus- bandry could secure. He is a director of the Ma- haska County Savings Bank, and the indices of his success in business are eminently conspicuous in the city of his adoption.
WILLIAM S. ROBERTSON, M. D., MUSCATINE.
W ILLIAM STEPHENSON ROBERTSON, professor of theory and practice of medicine and clinical medicine in Iowa State University, was born at Georgetown, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, on the 5th of June, 1831, and is the son of James M. Robertson and Maria née Armstrong, the former of Scotch and the latter of English ancestry. His juve- nile education was obtained in the common schools of the country, and his more advanced studies were pursued in the preparatory department and freshman class of Knox College, Illinois. Being an ardent student, he applied himself to his studies with such diligence as seriously to affect his health, so that in the third term of his freshman year he was obliged to discontinue his studies and spend a year at home in recuperation, after which he returned to college ; but six months' incessant mental application brought him down again, and he was compelled to return to his home a second time. This terminated his col- legiate course.
In 1852, having recovered his health, he entered the office of his father as a medical student. In the autumn of 1854 he attended his first course of lec- tures in Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. The ensuing summer was spent in his father's office in assisting him in his practice. In September, 1855, he returned to Jefferson College, and graduated from that institution on the 8th of March, 1856. In the same year he located at Columbus City, Iowa, his
old home, where he entered upon his career as a physician. His studies had led him to cultivate a fondness for surgery, and while attending to the duties of a general business with fidelity, he was especially careful to treat all the surgical cases that came legitimately within the scope of his practice. His senior professional friends, seeing his inclination in this direction, sent him many interesting and im- portant cases. He remained at Columbus city for a period of twelve years, enjoying a large general and surgical practice. He spent the winter of 1868-9 in the hospitals of New York city, under the special direction of Professor Frank H. Hamilton, M.D. In the spring of 1869 he sold his property at Columbus city and moved to Muscatine, Iowa. At the opening of the medical department of the Iowa State Uni- versity he was offered the chair of theory and prac- tice of medicine, and clinical medicine, which he accepted, and was commissioned accordingly on the 22d of December, 1869.
At the outbreak of the rebellion in 1861 he raised the first company of volunteers that was recruited in the state, and tendered them to the governor, but for some reason which has never been made public they were not accepted. On the 13th of June, 1861, he was mustered into the army as major of the 5th Iowa Volunteers, being present at and participating in every march, siege, skirmish and battle of that gal- lant regiment, till the 23d of July, 1862. In a night
768
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
attack in front of New Madrid, on the 4th of March, 1862, and in an afternoon skirmish on the 6th of March, he was made the special target of the ene- my's sharpshooters, and had five minie-balls through his coat, his horse shot down, and the hair shaved off both sides of his head at once by bullets. Near Rienzi, Mississippi, on the 10th of March, in the same year, in company with his servant and six cay- alrymen, he was cut off from camp while out on a tour of inspection as a picket officer, and hewed his way with his sabre through two lines of rebel infantry, reaching his camp in safety, with the loss of two men. He had also the honor of commanding the left skir- mish line of the army of the Mississippi in front of Corinth, at the time that stronghold was evacuated by Beauregard.
On the 22d of May, 1862, the gallant commander of the regiment, Colonel W. H. Worthington, was killed, and at a meeting of the officers of the regi- ment, called to nominate his successor, an informal ballot gave Major Robertson every vote for the va- cancy, and he was accordingly nominated by acclama- tion. Duly appreciating this expression of confidence from his fellow-officers, he resolved to accept the po- sition to which he had been so flatteringly nominated, and desiring to arrange his affairs at home, he applied for a thirty days' leave of absence, which, however, he was refused in consequence of orders issued from department headquarters, detaining all officers able for duty in the field. Having some important busi- ness imperatively demanding his presence at home, by the advice of General Halleck, and with the dis- tinct understanding that he would rejoin his com- mand on receipt of his commission as colonel, his resignation as major was tendered and accepted on the 23d of July, 1862. Notwithstanding the fact that the officers of the regiment, when asked by the governor why they did not recommend promotion in their regiment according to seniority of rank, reiter- ated their demand for his appointment by a unani- mous vote, giving good and sufficient reasons there- for, and without making any charge against the gallant lieutenant-colonel of the regiment except his lack of familiarity with our language and the system of tactics and regulation of our service, for some reason still unexplained, his commission as colonel was withheld, and he did not again enter the military service, though he was repeatedly importuned to do so.
In relation to one of the incidents above alluded to, the following is the indorsement of General G. Granger on Major Robertson's report :
CAMP IN FRONT OF NEW MADRID, March 6. 1862.
As commander of the column mentioned within, which moved upon New Madrid yesterday, it affords me much satisfaction to more than corroborate every statement of the modest but gallant Major Robertson. His officers and men, under a terrific fire of round shot and shell for some two hours, behaved like veterans, and quite surprised me by their coolness and indifference to the danger by which they were surrounded. Major Robertson was especially con- spicuous, never dismounting from his horse, although the enemy's sharpshooters tried their best to pick him off.
G. GRANGER,
Colonel zd Michigan Cavalry, Commanding. Head Quarters 2d Div. Army of Mississippi.
Nor is the following testimonial from the officers and men of Company A of his regiment less com- plimentary or less deserving of record :
IN CAMP, CLEAR CREEK, MISS .. July 24. 1862.
MAJOR W. S. ROBERTSON .- Sir : The officers and mem- bers of Company A, 5th Iowa Infantry, having heard with deep regret of your resignation of the position of major of this regiment, deem it but their duty to express their sorrow at the loss of one who, for over twelve months of arduous service in the field, has ever been the cheering light of the regiment. When the bullets of the foe were whistling around us, your presence inspired us; when on the weary march, your encouragement enlivened us; when wearied of the monotony of the camp, your smiles have cheered us. In all the vicissitudes and changes of our soldiers' life we have found you exercising the same watchful care over us which has lightened our sorrows and troubles and endeared vou to us as the father of the regiment. With sorrow we bid you " good-bye," with our earnest wishes for your health, happiness and prosperity.
Signed, WILLIAM DEAN, Captain. JOHN W. CASAD, First Lieutenant. LAFAYETTE SHAW, Second Lieutenant. And sixty members of the rank and file.
In politics, the doctor has always been recognized as of the radical republican type.
He was one of the original stockholders and a member of the first board of directors of the Mus- catine Water Works Company.
In 1873, while acting as city and county physician of Muscatine county, his attention was specially at- tracted by the sad condition of the feeble-minded children then in the county poor-house, and for the first time realized the fact that the state had made no provision for the care, education or maintenance of this unfortunate class. In visiting other parts of the state he found the same condition of affairs ex- isting. When contrasting this state of things with the munificent arrangements which the state had made for the education of other classes of unfor- nates less helpless and forlorn than these, it occurred to him that it was time the subject was forced upon the attention of the people and their legislators, and that it was the bounden duty of the state to make some provision for them. Deeply impressed with this idea, he brought the subject to the notice of the State Medical Society, in his annual address as its
769
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL. DICTIONARY.
president, in January, 1874, and asked the coopera- tion of that body to that end. The society "re- solved," but took no further action at that time. The subject was again brought forward at the next 1 meeting, and Dr. Robertson appointed a special com- mittee of one to present the subject to the legislature. He accordingly drafted a bill as a guide in the forma- tion of a law, and prepared a " Plea for the Feeble- Minded Children of the State of Iowa," which he had printed at his own expense, and a copy placed upon the desk of each member of the legislature. The subject was subsequently presented to the respective houses by Hon. C. C. Horton, of Muscatine, and Hon. J. Y. Stone, of Glenwood. To the action of our subject, seconded by the gentlemen named, is due the fact that Iowa has now a magnificent insti- tution in successful operation, located at Glenwood, Mills county, for the education and maintenance of this lowest class of unfortunates, Dr. Robertson be-
ing very properly the president of the board of trus- tees of the institution. He is also a member of the Muscatine County Medical Society, late president Iowa State Medical Society, late president of the Eastern lowa District Medical Society, member of the American Medical Association, also a member of the judicial council of that body. He has also been for many years a distinguished member of the Masonic fraternity.
He is a member of the Presbyterian church.
On the 10th of June, 1856, he married Miss Annie E. Charlton, a native of Cattaraugus county, New York, but of English parentage, a lady of high cul- ture and refinement.
Dr. Robertson has had five children born to him, three sons and two daughters, only two of whom survive, named Charles and Nellie.
As a physician, Dr. Robertson is prompt to respond to the calls of duty, and is a skillful surgeon.
COLONEL JOEL N. CORNISH, HAMBURG.
TOEL NORTHRUP CORNISH, banker, is a native of Oneida county, New York, and was born in Lee township on the 28th of May, 1828, his parents being Allen and Clarissa Cornish. His an- cestors were from England, and settled in Massa- chusetts at an early day. His father was a soldier in the second war with the mother country. Joel received his literary education at the Whitestown Academy and at the State Normal School, Albany, New York ; commenced teaching winter schools at seventeen. After three or four years he abandoned that vocation, and entered the law office of Mattison and Doolittle, in Utica, New York, and finally clos- ing his legal education in the office of Foster and Bennett, of Rome, where he commenced practice.
In 1854 Mr. Cornishi came to Iowa city, Iowa, where he was proprietor of the Tremont hotel about two years, and where he made additions to his law library and prepared for practice.
In the autumn of 1859 he removed to Sidney, Fremont county, continuing the practice of his pro- fession until 1874.
Soon after the commencement of the civil war he was appointed deputy commissioner for Fremont county, which position he held but a few months when the law creating the office was abrogated, and
he accepted the appointment of commissioner of the board of enrollment and draft for the fifth congres- sional district, with headquarters at Des Moines. He resigned at the end of one year to become gov- ernor's aid-de-camp and provost-marshal, in which capacity he served two years. Previous to leaving this position he had been appointed by the President brigade quartermaster, with the rank of colonel ; but he declined to accept this office on the ground that his services were needed in his own state, and es- pecially in Fremont county, where raiders from Mis- souri were constantly committing depredations upon the property and persons of citizens of Iowa.
In 1874 Colonel Cornish removed from Sidney to Hamburg, in the same county, and organized, with J. M. Metcalf, Moses Samuels, T. E. Metcalf, M. R. Taylor and others, the First National Bank of Ham- burg, of which he has since been president. He has been a very enterprising and successful man, the progress of Hamburg during the last three or four years owing largely to his efforts. He is full of pub- lic spirit, and takes especial delight in pushing for- ward local enterprises. In all such matters his hands and money are free.
The colonel is a republican, with whig antecedents ; a firm adherent to his party, but not an office seeker.
770
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
The civil positions which he has held have been con- fined to local matters. While at Sidney he was presi- dent of the school board for many years, and did a noble work for the cause of education.
In religious sentiment, Colonel Cornish is liberal.
He was married in August, 1850, to Miss Virginia Raymond, of Cuba, New York. They have had four children: Ada, the wife of J. H. Hertsche, cashier
of the First National Bank of Hamburg; Anna, the wife of Joseph M. Metcalf, of Hamburg; Albert J., a student at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; and Edward J., a student in Tabor College, Iowa.
The colonel is a cautious, skillful and prudent man, and one of the best financiers in Fremont county. He keeps thoroughly posted in regard to values and the responsibility of citizens in his locality.
HON. MADISON M. WALDEN,
CENTERVILLE.
M ADISON M. WALDEN. lieutenant-governor of lowa in 1870-1871, and member of the forty second congress, is a native of Adams county, Ohio, and was born on the 6th of October, 1836. The Waldens were an early Ohio family, both of his parents, Joseph Minor and Malinda Prather Walden, being born there, his mother in the same house in which he was born. She is yet living, being in her seventy-eighth year. The family moved to Lee county, Iowa, in 1852, and there the father died the same year.
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.