USA > Iowa > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume > Part 18
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
Starting westward, he spent a few months in ex- plorations in Wisconsin and Iowa, locating perma- nently in Sioux City, in February, 1856. The archi- tectural features of the village then consisted of eight cabins and two tents, with a land office just opened. To the legal profession Mr. Davis added the real- estate business, and to these two branches he has
devoted his attention for twenty years, most of the time making real estate a specialty, and being very successful. Meanwhile he has been deeply inter- ested in everything which would build up Sioux City and this part of the country, exhibiting great energy. During the last eight or nine years he has been engaged in bringing railroads into his adopted home, spending more time, probably, in this direc- tion, with a single exception, than any other man in the place. He, with other enterprising men, organ- ized the original Sioux City and St. Paul Railway Company; and he originated the scheme of the Pembina railroad, connecting the waters of the Red River of the North and Hudson's Bay with the Gulf of Mexico by a road running through Sioux City. He organized the Sioux City and Columbus road, the forerunner of the present Covington, Columbus and Black Hills railway, to form a connecting link with the line of roads from Lake Superior through Sioux City to the Union Pacific. He also aided in projecting and starting the Northern Nebraska railroad, which has since become a portion of the Covington, Columbus and Black Hills road, and which is completed as far as Ponca. Mr. Davis was instrumental in getting the shops of the Sioux City and St. Paul company located here, and has done much at different times to encourage local manufac- tories. He is at this time the proprietor of one or two such enterprises. In the autumn of 1875 he was appointed general manager of the Sioux City and Pembina road and secretary of the company, as such having charge of the building of the com- pleted portion of the road. A few months ago he opened a broker's office in connection with the law, with the intention of giving his entire time to these two branches of business.
The year he located in Sioux City Mr. Davis was
122
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
elected prosecuting attorney of the county, and served one term. He was register of the land office eighteen months under President Lincoln; was chosen state senator in 1868, to fill a vacancy; was chosen mayor of the city in 1871, and served one year, and at different times has been city attorney.
Mr. Davis was a democrat until the fall of Sum- ter; since then he has been a republican. He, with others, started the "Sioux City Journal," a strong republican paper, and he was its editor a short time. He has written largely for the press, mainly in fur- therance of railroads and other important enter- prises. He attends the Presbyterian church.
On the 9th of February, 1859, Mr. Davis married Miss Jane A. Putnam, of Sioux City. They have had six children, five still living. Their home is on one of the highest points in the city, and has a com- manding and beautiful view of the Missouri river and valley and of the city.
Mr. Davis has great vital force; gives all his strength to whatever work he undertakes, and pros- ecutes it with a zeal bordering on enthusiasm. He has made his impress on the city of his adoption and the surrounding country, and his name will ever be gratefully remembered in connection with the rise and progress of Sioux City.
HON. CHARLES J. ROGERS,
DUBUQUE.
O F all the different professions, none afford greater opportunity for the development of native ability than that of the law; for here one is led into investigation of subjects most vital to the interests of his fellows, and may, if he will, become versed in the grandest questions of his country and state. Such thoughts naturally arise as we study the lives of men such as him whose name heads this sketch.
Charles James Rogers was born at Sandy Hill, Washington county, New York, on the 6th of De- cember, 1830, and is the son of Hon. Charles and Susan A. Rogers, the latter the daughter of Dr. Rus- sell Clark, a prominent physician of Sandy Hill, New York. His father was a noted politician, and served for several terms as member of the general assembly of New York, and represented the Wash- ington and Essex district in congress for a number of years. He was a man of influence and learning and much loved by his constituents.
The great-grandfather of the subject of our sketch was a colonel in the revolutionary war, and they trace their family lineage from John Rogers, who suffered martyrdom at the stake at Smithfield in 1555, during the reign of Mary of England. At the burial-ground of the old homestead at Moreau, Saratoga county, New York, lie entombed his an- cestors for generations. He prepared for college at the T'roy Conference Academy, West Poultney, Ver- mont, remaining about three years, and at Glenn Falls, New York, one year, entering Union College in the sophomore year in 1848. He remained here
three years, and graduated third on the Phi-Beta- Kappa roll in 1851. He was honored by being one of the marshals of the day at commencement, and delivered the last oration on the programme be- fore the valedictory poem. Among his associates in college were General Daniel Butterfield, Fred- eric D. Seward, Governor John F. Hartranft, and many others who have become distinguished in the various walks of life. While at Union College he took an extra course of civil engineering and sur- veying under Professor Gillespie, author of "Roads and Railroads," and other standard works in that profession ; and upon graduating, in addition to his certificate, he gave him a letter of introduction and recommendation to W. J. McAlpine, engineer and surveyor of the State of New York, who immedi- ately offered him a situation in the state engineer's department, which was accepted. He spent nearly a year in that service at Albany and along the line of the Erie canal. Being ambitious, and inheriting from his father a love for politics, he resigned his situation and began the study of law in the office of U. G. Paris, Esq., in his native town, and shortly afterward entered the Ballston Law School, then under the charge of the learned Professor Fowler, where he remained several months, till its removal to Poughkeepsie, New York. He then returned home, and finished his studies in the office of Hughes and Northrup. He was examined in the general term of the supreme court at Salem, New York, by Judges Cady, Allen, l'aige and James, and admitted to practice at that term, May, 1853. Early in 1854
Charles Forgets
125
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
he decided to locate in the west; and having an uncle, the Hon. Thomas Rogers, residing at Du- buque, Iowa, decided to make that state his future home. He arrived at Davenport in 1854, just after the Chicago and Rock Island railway was completed. The district court being in session, by motion of Hon. Jno. P. Cook he was admitted to practice in all the courts of the state. He remained at Daven- port several months, until Mr. Barnard, who resided in Le Clair in the same county (Scott), was elected prosecuting attorney, when he removed to Le Clair and took his business. Here he remained five years, acting as attorney for the Le Clair Marine Railway Company, and engaged in a large and lucrative law business, the proceeds of which he invested in government lands and land warrants, and laid the foundation of his present competence. At the ur- gent solicitation of his particular friend, Colonel W. H. Merritt, he removed in 1859 to Cedar Rapids, remaining there for more than a year engaged in active practice of his profession. He was married in Philadelphia on the 22d of December, 1860, to Miss Julia Augusta Waples, the daughter of Peter Waples, Esq., a wholesale merchant of that city and one of the oldest settlers of Dubuque, having trans- acted business there for many years as a merchant, and built the Waples House, now called the Julien House, of that city.
Mrs. Rogers is a lady of rare accomplishments, a good French and German scholar, is a natural mu- sician, possessing a magnificent voice, and is con- sidered one of the best and sweetest amateur singers
in the west. They have one child, Charles Hodgon Rogers, about five years of age. He removed to Dubuque in February, 1861, engaged in the practice of his profession, and has made it his residence since. He was raised in the democratic school of politics and earnestly advocates its principles, and during the war made many stirring speeches in fa- vor of the government and upholding the old flag. He has been an uncompromising democrat, taking an active part in all the prominent conventions of the party since his residence in the state.
In. 1873 he was nominated and triumphantly elected by the democracy of Dubuque as member of the legislature, though nearly all of the entire democratic ticket was defeated. He was one of the prominent leaders of his party in the fifteenth gen- eral assembly, and during the two weeks' balloting for speaker (the vote standing fifty for Gear and fifty for Dixon), he was appointed by his party ehair- man of the committee of conference, where he rendered valuable aid which resulted in organizing the house after one hundred and forty-three bal- lots. Personally, he has rare qualities, and by his upright course of life, his manly deportment and in- dependence of character, has made for himself an honorable reputation. He is not only considered a fine advocate, but is one of the most eloquent political orators in the northwest. He is a genial gentleman, quiek of observation, and prompt in his business as he is generous in his social relations, thoroughly meriting the esteem in which he is held by his fellow-citizens.
LIBERTY E. FELLOWS,
LANSING.
L IBERTY E. FELLOWS, one of the leading lawyers of Allamakee county, Iowa, was born at Corinth, Orange county, Vermont, on the 22d of August, 1834. His parents, Hubbard and Mary Ann (Eaton) Fellows, were industrious farming people. His father was a prominent man in Corinth, repre- senting the town two or three times in the legisla- ture. Liberty lived at home until he was twenty-two years of age. In 1856 he turned his steps west- ward, going to Wisconsin, and teaching a school near Monroe, Green county. In the autumn of the next year he crossed the Mississippi and lo- cated at Waukon, then the seat of justice of Alla-
makee county, teaching school the following winter. From 1858 to 1861 he was an assistant clerk in two county offices, and removed to Lansing during the latter year. Here he read law, and was, on the 26th of May, 1862, admitted to the bar of Alla- makee county, Judge E. H. Williams presiding. He has practiced in Lansing fifteen years, and has been quite successful. He loves his profession, and started out with the determination to make it his life-long employment.
Twice he has yielded to the partiality and urgent request of political friends, and consented to be a candidate for office. In the autumn of 1865 he
126
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
was chosen to represent his county in the lower house of the general assembly, and two years later was sent to the upper house, serving, in all, six years. In the house he was quite active on the school committee, and during all the time he was in the legislative body took great interest in the state educational and benevolent institutions, heart- ily supporting all measures tending to increase their efficiency. In the senate Mr. Fellows was on sev- eral committees, some of them the most important, including the judiciary committee. His talents and services were fully appreciated by his constituents, and they would, no doubt, be glad to use them still more; but, though a democrat, and living in a county usually democratic, and never failing of an election when a candidate, he prefers the quiet of private life. He is a good speaker and a suc- cessful canvasser, and sometimes goes into the po- litical field, but it is not a kind of warfare most congenial to his tastes.
He is one of the trustees of the Hospital for the Insane, at Mount Pleasant.
Mr. Fellows is a member of the Masonic frater- nity.
He belongs to the Methodist church, and is an office bearer in the same.
On the 4th of July, 1861, Mr. Fellows was joined in wedlock with Miss Mary S. Reed, of Waukon. She has six children and has lost two.
In educational and other local interests the heart of Mr. Fellows is warmly enlisted, and he is en- titled to a large share of credit for the building up of the river city of Allamakee county.
Mr. Fellows applies himself closely to his books, prepares his cases with great care, and his candor and sincerity give his arguments their full weight. He excels. however, as a court lawyer.
A former member of the Allamakee county bar thus writes in regard to Mr. Fellows :
He must be classed among the best lawyers in this district. He is well read in his profession and is ready and skillful in the application of knowledge to the vary. ing questions that are constantly arising in practice. He thinks clearly and logically, and speaks forcibly and some- times eloquently. His unquestioned integrity adds to the weight of his words before court and jury.
HON. HENRY L. HUFF.
ELDOR.t.
H ENRY LEWIS HUFF is a native of Penn- sylvania, and was born in Cumberland coun- ty on the 29th of January, 1829. His parents were John and Priscilla Davis Huff. His father died when Henry was in his infancy. His mother moved to Wayne county, Ohio, and married John Mercer. In his youth Henry worked on a farm, and a short time in a tailor's shop, attending a district school part of the time each year. At an early age he had a desire to be a lawyer, and at sixteen, while spend- ing three terms at the Edinburgh Academy, near where he lived, he also devoted some time to the study of legal lore. Three or four years later, hav- ing read diligently all this time at home, he went to Muncie, Indiana, and studied with Judge March, and was admitted to the bar in that place in August, 1853-
Mr. Huff removed to Iowa in December, 1853, and the following spring opened an office at Ma- rengo, Iowa county, in partnership with Hon. J. 1). Templin, of Iowa City. At the end of one year, May 20, 1855, he went to Eldora, where he now resides. For the first few years, as a partner in the :
firm of Ankeny, Huff and Co., in the business of real estate and law, he represented the legal branch. In 1860 and 1861 he was in partnership with Hon. J. 1). Thompson, the firm being Huff and Thomp- son. From 1863 to 1869 Mr. Huff was alone, and since the latter date he has been of the firm of Huff and Reed. Except during the short period during which he was in the service of the state, he has de- voted his entire time to his profession. He has been and still is a close student: is one of the best read lawyers in Hardin county, and among the lead- ing jurists of the eleventh judicial district.
Some years ago, when lowa had a prosecuting attorney in every county, he served three years in that capacity (1857, 1858 and 1859), part of the time being ex-officio county judge.
Mr. Huff was a member of the lower house of the general assembly during the thirteenth session (1869-1870); was on five or six committees, and chairman of two or three. He drew all the bills presented by the committee on commerce : was a leading member, though not chairman, of the judi- ciary committee, and was known as one of the dili-
I27
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
gent men of that body. He is a fluent speaker, but his work more than his eloquence left its impress on that assembly.
Mr. Huff is a Master Mason, and belongs to El- dora Chapter. He was a democrat until the opening of the rebellion, and has since been a republican.
On the 11th of May, 1861, he married Miss Eliza- beth B. Devin, of Abingdon, Illinois, and she has had six children, five now living.
Mr. Huff was one of the prime movers in the en-
terprise which brought a railroad from Ackley to Eldora, and was the president of the Eldora and Steamboat Rock Coal Company, which originated the railroad enterprise. In its incipiency and during its progress he gave much time and his great ener- gies to the work. He is a stockholder and director in the Iowa Terra Cotta and Fire Clay Company, recently organized and operating at Eldora. Every public enterprise has had his support, and he is to- day one of the most influential citizens of Eldora.
to
CYRUS A. FARWELL,
WATERLOO.
B IOGRAPHICAL history teaches us that a great many men have lived to whom obstacles seemed to be a help rather than a hindrance. The greater the barriers, the stronger their resolution, and the more earnestly they struggled on to success. Just such men live now, and the lesson of their lives cannot be put too early or too prominently before the world. Unforeseen emergencies have developed their character, tested their pluck, in- ventive resources and endurance. We rejoice that many such men grace the annals of every state. The subject of this sketch is a conspicuous example of this class. Aided by God alone, he has built for himself,- built broadly and nobly.
Cyrus A. Farwell is the son of a Vermont farmer, George Farwell, and was born in Dorset, Benning- ton county, on the 7th of September, 1832. His mother's maiden name was Louise C. Baldwin. His parents immigrated to Wyoming county, New York, when he was about five years old, and there he remained until he was eighteen, aiding his father and attending school in the home district, and two terms at the Warsaw Academy.
-
In 1850 the whole family removed to Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York, where Cyrus spent two years in the employ of F. Waters and Co., earning his living and saving enough money to take him to California via the isthmus. He sailed from New York in November, 1852, and reached San Francisco on the 17th of the next month. On the way out, and in California, we have a test of his energy and pluck. Not being "flush," he crossed the isthmus on foot. He could not find work in San Francisco, and, determined not to be idle, he started for Sacramento, losing his baggage while on
the steamer. Next we find him in Sacramento city with eight dollars in money and no change of cloth- ing. Under these discouraging circumstances, he was glad to get work of any respectable kind. The first opening he found was that of waiter in a res- taurant, and he did not hesitate a moment to fill it. A few days later he is found working for a forward- ing house, driving a four-horse team from Sacra- mento city to the mountains, at one hundred and twenty-five dollars a month and board. Five months later he was driving a team of his own, and clearing over one hundred dollars per week. At the end of eight months he had funds enough to enable him to become a live-stock dealer. Success attended him in this business, but his health failed in a few months, and he resolved to return to his eastern home, leaving quite an investment in real estate on the American river, which he still holds. He reached Westfield in August, 1854.
In March, 1856, Mr. Farwell went to Iowa. After spending a few weeks in exploring different parts of the state, he returned to the valley of the Cedar river, making Waterloo his permanent home. In the spring of 1857 he purchased two yoke of oxen and a plow, and tried the experiment of breaking prairie land, at which he succeeded admirably.
The next spring he went to Mitchell county, near the Minnesota line, and made a preemption claim, going with three.yoke of oxen. It was in the month of March; the river was high, and there was not a bridge of any kind on the upper Cedar. Three times he had to swim his oxen across this swollen and angry stream. Each time he fastened the wagon-body to the running gear that it might not float away, and astride of the near ox of the rear
I28
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
yoke, that he might reach and guide the leaders with his long whip, he went safely, triumphantly over. Securing the title to his claim, he returned to Waterloo, and engaged in buying and selling cattle, following that occupation until 1861. He then, in partnership with Mr. E. Johnson, put up the first elevator erected in Waterloo. In Decem- ber of the same year he purchased Mr. Johnson's interest in the firm, and at one time owned and operated five elevators, besides carrying on an ex- tensive lumber trade.
In 1867 Mr. Farwell opened a private banking house, and three years later, in connection with Ed- mund Miller and others, organized the National Savings Bank, he being the first cashier, and still holding that position. In February, 1874, he was elected to the same office of the First National Bank of Waterloo, he being one of its original stock- holders. He owns a large amount of property of
1
various kinds in Waterloo, and is a public-spirited, generous man, foremost in all enterprises tending to benefit the people or build up the town.
On the 20th of October, 1860, he was married to Miss Mary P. Evans, daughter of James Evans, of New Orleans, Louisiana, a woman of highly-polished manners and great refinement.
Such, in brief, is the history of Cyrus A. Farwell, a man who has pushed on to independence with a steady, unfaltering tread in a strictly honorable course. Always ready for work, he never shrank from employment which, while not degrading to his manhood, would prove profitable. When he was driving a team in the mountains of California, or breaking prairie in Iowa, he was laying the founda- tion of his fortune just as much as Holcroft, the dramatic author, was laying the foundation of his fame while casting up sums on the paling of the stable-yard at Newmarket.
HON. NORMAN BOARDMAN,
LYONS.
N
mont farmer, Ozias Boardman, and of Lydia Whitney, and was born at Morristown, Lamoille county, on the 30th of April, 1813. His father was from Connecticut, his mother from Massachusetts, and he was of genuine Puritan stock. He worked at farming, attending school and teaching until twenty-five years of age, finishing his education at the Johnson Academy, Professor Perry Haskall, principal.
Mr. Boardman read law with Harlow P. Smith, of Hyde Park, Vermont, now a resident of Chicago; attended Judge Turner's lectures at St. Albans, and was admitted to the bar at that place in September, 1839. He commenced practice immediately at Troy, Vermont; remained there fourteen years, and dur- ing that time was deputy-collector of customs and state's attorney, being elected to the latter office in 1850, and holding it two years.
In 1853 Mr. Boardman moved to Potsdam, New York, and practiced one year with Judge William A. Wallace; and in 1855 settled in Lyons, lowa, having previously visited the state, purchased land and selected a home. Real estate for twenty-two years has been his leading business, though he oper- ated in the mercantile trade five years at Anamosa,
TORMAN BOARDMAN is the son of a Ver- ' Jones county ; and the historian of Iowa gives him credit for aiding to lay out the thriving town of Osage, Mitchell county. For years he had business in several counties in northern and western Iowa, where he has been an extensive dealer in lands. At times he has had an interest in different kinds of manufactories. He is public-spirited, and lends a willing hand to enterprises calculated to advance the general interests of his adopted home.
Mr. Boardman was a member of the state senate from 1862 to 1866; was chairman of the committee on schools and school lands, and was very active in
- securing improvement in the law for the collecting of taxes. At that period there were several hundred thousand dollars of state taxes uncollected, and it was proposed in the emergency to use the school fund for general purposes. This plan he strongly opposed, and carried his point. Soon after amend- ing the laws, as he suggested, the state was in a good financial condition.
In May, 1869, Mr. Boardman was appointed United States collector for the second district of lowa; held the office six years and then resigned, leaving an unblotted record. He has held a few minor offices in the municipality of Lyons, and has always dis- charged his duties with promptness and fidelity.
I29
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
He was a democrat until the Nebraska bill had passed in congress, when he became ashamed of his party and abandoned it. He has been one of the leaders of the republican party in Clinton county since the civil outbreak in 1861. In religious senti- ment he is a Universalist.
Mr. Boardman has been three times married. The first wife was Miss Lydia Ann George, of Orange county, Vermont; she died in 1844, about three years after their marriage, leaving no chil- dren. His second wife was Miss Lois B. Knight, of St. Lawrence county, New York, chosen in 1846; she died in February, 1857, leaving three boys, all now enterprising young men, and in business
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.