USA > Iowa > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume > Part 50
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
In 1847 young Winchester went to Fairfield, Jeffer- son county, and spent a few months in a store ; then, drifting eastward, he landed in the Burlington "Ga- zette " office, engaging as an apprentice. His lungs were weak; the work was hard for him; he went
to Memphis, Tennessee, and there spent the summer of 1848, returning to lowa the autumn following.
In the spring of 1849 we find him in Winterset, Madison county, building the first house there after the county seat was located. He sold goods there one year, went to California across the plains in 1850, and spent five years, part of the time mining, part superintending a quartz mill and a saw-mill, and for some time running a drug store. Return- ing again to Iowa, he selected a home in Eldora, Hardin county, in 1855, and has never abandoned it. Most of the time for twenty years he has been a merchant and real-estate dealer. He has been successful in both branches, but has never been a strong, robust man, and latterly has assumed no com- mercial responsibilities, and only light labors.
Mr. Winchester was in the constitutional conven- tion of 1857, being the youngest man of that body, and was chosen when barely eligible to that office. He represented eleven counties, the northern part of the state being sparsely settled, particularly west of the river counties and those adjacent. In that convention were the wise men of Iowa. Among them were judges J. C. Hall, E. Johnston and Fran- cis Springer, and J. F. Wilson, W. Penn Clark, R. L. B. Clark, George Ells and J. A. Paskin ; and owing to his comparative youth and modesty Mr. Winches- ter rarely participated in debate ; but he was a good listener, and diligent in the committee, and rendered important service to the state in that body.
In 1861 he was a candidate for the lower house of the general assembly, and defeated on a local issue.
I Winchester
347
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Ten years later he ran for state senator, to repre- sent Hardin and Marshall counties ; but there was a quarrel between the two counties ; both candidates were republican, and Marshall county having much the larger number of voters, Mr. Winchester again failed of an election.
In religious sentiment, he calls himself liberal. He has always voted the republican ticket, and
has stumped the county and other parts of the state more than once during an exciting canvass.
On the 4th of October, 1846, he married Miss Mahala E. Ellsworth, of Eldora, and they have had seven children ; only four are living.
Mr. Winchester has been identified with the public enterprises of the town and county, and is one of the truly valuable citizens of Eldora.
BENJAMIN K. WALKER, NORTHWOOD.
B' ENJAMIN KNIGHT WALKER is a native of Maine, and was born at Limington, York county, on the 16th of May, 1833. His father Ebenezer Walker, was a farmer, and Benjamin spent his first sixteen years at home. He fitted for col- lege at the Limington Academy, entered Waterville College in 1854, and left at the close of the sopho- more year. Failing health was the occasion of his abandoning his studies, and he came west in 1857 to improve it, settling at Bristol, Worth county, Iowa. The county was organized the following year, and Bristol was the seat of justice until 1863, when Northwood became the county seat.
Mr. Walker was in the surveying and land business at Bristol until 1862, when he returned to Maine, and taught select school in Sanford, Lebanon and Newfield. Two years later he returned to Bristol, resuming the business of surveying and land deal- ing, and teaching a district school during the winters.
In 1870 Mr. Walker moved to Northwood, still
continuing the real-estate business, since 1871 with his brother, Andrew C. Walker.
In the fall of 1857 Benjamin. Walker was elected county clerk, and served from 1858 until he returned to the east. In 1870 he took the office of county auditor, and held it six years.
Mr. Walker is a church-goer, but has no connec- tion with a religious organization.
He has always been a republican.
On the 10th of August, 1859, he married Miss Abbie Merrill, of Sanford, Maine. They have no children.
One of the organizers of Worth county, one of its officers for many years, and a leading man in the county, Mr. Walker has had much influence, and that influence has uniformly been in a right direc- tion. His private character and his public record are alike untarnished. He is one of the most worthy men in the country. The same is true of his brother and partner in business. Both are honorable dealers, and thrift follows their industry and prudence.
ALBERT W. MORGAN, M. D.,
DE WITT.
LBERT WOODS MORGAN, son of Isaac
A Morgan, farmer and merchant, and Cynthia Westfall, is a native of Indiana, and was born at Thorntown, Boone county, on the 16th of January, 1840. His great-grandfather was in one or two battles of the revolution, and his grandfather and father were in the second war with England. The Morgans were from Wales, the Westfalls from Ger- many.
Albert spent his earlier years on his father's farm,
and then in his father's store, finishing his literary ·education in the high school at Moline, Illinois. In 1860 he commenced reading medicine with Dr. A. S. Maxwell, of Davenport, Iowa; he attended two courses of medical lectures at Keokuk, and opened an office at De Witt, Clinton county, Iowa, in the summer of 1863. Here he practiced one year, fol- lowing it with a year's practice at Springfield, Keo- kuk county. In April, 1865, he went into the army as assistant surgeon of the 12th Illinois Cavalry,
348
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
soon afterward becoming surgeon of the 37th Illinois Infantry, with which he served until May, 1866, when the regiment was mustered out. Although the war was nearly over when Dr. Morgan went into the service, he had considerable field practice, and it was a good school to him. While a student at Keokuk, where there was a general hospital during the civil war, he had excellent opportunities for hospital duties, and did not neglect them. He has since reaped the benefits of such opportunities.
In the summer of 1866 we find Dr. Morgan once more at De Witt, where he continues to practice with increasing skill and a growing reputation. In 1870 he spent a short time at the medical college at Keokuk, brushing up his knowledge and receiving a diploma. He is United States examining surgeon,
and has an excellent standing both as a medical practitioner and surgeon.
Dr. Morgan is a Freemason, an Odd-Fellow, and a member of the Ancient Order of United Work- men, but gives to such organizations no time that would interfere with his profession. He is a mem- ber of the county and state medical societies, has read several papers before the former body, and avails himself of every opportunity to improve in medical knowledge. In politics, he is a republican.
On the 6th of June, 1866, Miss Eliza Reed, of Mingo, Champaign county, Ohio, became his wife, and they have had three children, only two of whom are now living. Mrs. Morgan was educated at the high school at Marion, Ohio, and is a woman of more than ordinary intelligence.
JESSE WASSON, M. D.,
LAPORTE CITY.
T 'HE founder of Laporte City, Black Hawk coun- ty, Iowa, Jesse Wasson, was the son of Jehiel and Lydia Wasson, and was born in Richmond, Indi- ana, on the 2 1st of October, 1821. Both parents were Friends, and early instilled into the mind of Jesse and the nine sisters whom he had the noblest prin- ciples of virtue and rectitude. Jehiel Wasson was a blacksmith, with very limited means, and as his son had to enter the shop at an early age to aid his father in supporting the family, he enjoyed but scanty educational privileges, so far as attending school furnished them, but he made the best use of all spare time, and at the age of eighteen prevailed on his father to take him into partnership, with the understanding that the son should work ten hours a day and have the rest of his time for study. With- out any one to teach him he did the best he could, giving every leisure moment to books, scientific and historical. At the age of twenty he took up law books, but at the end of one year, in compliance with the wishes of his mother, who always had great . influence over him, he exchanged them for medical works. He pursued his studies until his twenty- fifth year, and graduated at the Indiana Medical College, in February, 1847. He practiced in New Buffalo, Michigan, and La Porte, Indiana, until 1853. when he removed to Iowa and resumed practice in Vinton, Benton county. The next year Dr. Wasson purchased the land on which Laporte City now
stands, and which he laid out in June, 1855. He put up a store and filled it with a general variety of merchandise. He continued the mercantile busi- ness four or five years, in connection with medical practice, and then sold the store, continuing his pro- fession.
Dr. Wasson is the publisher of the Laporte City " Progress," which he started in November, 1870, and which is devoted to the interests of the town and county.
In 1862 Dr. Wasson was appointed assistant sur- geon of the 32d regiment of Iowa Infantry, serving in that capacity about nine months, when he became surgeon of the 9th regiment of Cavalry. After serv- ing for eighteen months, owing to sickness, he was sent to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, and in Febru- ary, 1865, owing to physical disability, he was hon- orably discharged from the service.
Dr. Wasson was the first postmaster at Laporte City, and served four years, from June, 1855. He was the first supervisor of the township under the old system, and has since held the same office at different times. He represented Black Hawk county in the lower house of the general assembly in 1870- 71. For the last two years he has been mayor of Laporte City.
Dr. Wasson is a member of the Masonic lodge in his place. He was a whig, then a republican, and since 1872 has voted the liberal and reform ticket.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
349
He belongs to no church, but has a strong predilec- tion for the religion of his parents.
On the 31st of May, 1855, he was married to Miss Junia Haun, of Benton county. They have had six children, five living.
Dr. Wasson is a "solid man." He weighs about three hundred and twenty pounds, yet his height
is only five feet and eleven inches. He has ren- dered good service to the country in the army, good service to the state in the legislature, good service to the county in various capacities, and good service to Laporte City in giving it a local habitation and a name, a newspaper, and a good reputation for intelligence.
COLONEL TRISTRAM T. DOW,
DAVENPORT.
T RISTRAM THOMAS DOW, president of the First National Bank, Davenport, was born on the 2d of November, 1825, in Canterbury, New Hampshire, and is the son of Tristram C. and Suis- annah (Lyford) Dow, natives of the same state. On the paternal side our subject is descended from English stock, who settled in Canterbury about the beginning of the last century, and on the maternal side from Scotch ancestors, who came to reside in Massachusetts about the same period. His father was a farmer in good circumstances, a gentleman who stood high in the estimation of the community, and in which he exercised considerable influence. He was a captain in the war of 1812, and served throughout that campaign under command of Gen- eral John A. Dix, of New York. His parents set a good example to their children, and are remembered by them with feelings of deepest reverence and admiration. They died in the fall of 1875, the father aged eighty-four and the mother seventy-eight years.
Tristram T. Dow was educated at the common schools of Boscawen and Franklin, New Hampshire, where he received a liberal education. His youth and early manhood were passed on his father's farm, where he obtained a practical knowledge of hus- bandry, as well as a taste for agricultural pursuits.
From the age of eighteen to twenty years he was clerk in a country store, where every variety of goods needed for the economy of house, person or farm was sold, so that ere he had attained his majority his mind had undergone a most thorough discipline, fitting him for almost any sphere of industry which in after life he might desire to adopt.
In the year 1854 he moved west with his parents, and settled in Bureau county, Illinois, where his father purchased a large farm, in the management of which he aided till 1854, when he opened a large
country store in Anawan, Henry county, Illinois, which was conducted with marked success for a period of thirteen years, and discontinued in 1867.
In August, 1862, he, feeling that he could no longer disregard the call of his country, then in the throes of a gigantic and causeless rebellion, enlisted as a private in the 112th Illinois Infantry, and on the organization of the regiment was elected to the command of company A, and commissioned as cap- tain by Governor Yates. In the month of February following he was promoted to the rank of major, and from that period till the Ist of April, 1865, he was generally in command of the regiment, the original commander, Thomas J. Henderson, having been promoted to brigadier-general, and the lieutenant- colonel being on detached duty. At the last named date he was transferred to the regular army by the president, and placed on duty as inspector-general of the twenty-third army corps, General J. D. Cox, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, in which ca- pacity he served till the 20th of June, 1865, when he resigned his commission and returned to Illinois. Soon after he received, unsolicited and without any previous intimation, from the war department, a commission as first-lieutenant in the 44th United States Regular Infantry, but declined it, on the ex- alted ground that he would never make a profession of arms, to which only principle could call him.
Colonel Dow's military record is not less brilliant and honorable than any of the distinguished soldiers furnished by the State of Illinois. He did his whole duty, and his services will be remembered by a grateful country, and cherished as a precious souve- nir by his children and children's children. He led his regiment through all the campaigns of General Burnside and General Sherman. Fought on the bloody fields of Knoxville, Campbell's Station, and Philadelphia, in East Tennessee, and at Resaca,
35
350
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Nashville, Kenasaw Mountain, Atlanta, Fort Fisher, and participated at the capture of Fort Anderson and Wilmington, having been all through the march from Atlanta, Georgia, to the sea; was present at the surrender of the rebel general, Joe Johnson, at Goldsboro, North Carolina, and paroled one of his army corps. He also participated in the famous Gilmore scout, and was captured by the rebel John Morgan at Winchester, Kentucky, where he remained a prisoner for three months, having as one of his companions in duress the celebrated Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll. At the battles of Franklin, Tennessee, and Atlanta, Georgia, his gallantry, courage and soldierly qualities were especially conspicuous, and received the highest commendation in the official reports of the commanding general.
On leaving the army he settled in Chicago, where for a year he was extensively engaged in the lumber trade. Thence he moved to Davenport, Iowa, in the spring of 1867, and built a large flouring mill and elevator, taking into partnership with him S. H. Hancock, Esq., president of the Davenport Board of Trade, and S. F. Gilman, Esq., his son-in-law, and since then has become one of the most extensive mill and elevator owners in the west, being also the proprietors of large grain elevators at Anawan, Illi- nois, and at Wilton, Annita and Atlantic, Iowa. In addition to his other interests, Colonel Dow is one of the largest farmers in the west, owning some fif- teen thousand acres of the finest prairie lands in the States of Illinois and Iowa, one of his farms in Henry county, Illinois, consisting of four thousand acres, all securely fenced and in a high state of cul- tivation. He has been a director of the First Na- tional Bank of Davenport since 1872, and its presi-
dent since the spring of 1876. This is one of the soundest monetary institutions in the country, and was the first in the nation to open its doors under the national banking law.
His politics have always been republican, and he is to-day as keenly alive to the importance of a sound, loyal administration of the affairs of the govern- ment as when traitors and treason held the country by the throat. He served his fellow-citizens for six years in the city council of Davenport with ability and fidelity, presiding over the street committee.
His religious proclivities lean toward the Baptist church, of which he is a regular attendant and gen- erous supporter, though not in communion.
He was married on the Ist of June, 1859, to Miss Mary Stevens, daughter of Thomas Jefferson Ste- vens, of Canterbury, New Hampshire. They have had four children, only one of whom survives : Susan Amanda, wife of S. F. Gilmore, of Davenport.
As a man of business, Colonel Dow combines the highest principles of morality with the most consum- mate wisdom and foresight. His transactions, which are large and numerous, are all characterized by a far-reaching intelligence, which seems to forecast the future with an instinct that is almost infallible. Quickness to adapt himself to unexpected events, prompt and decisive in action when he has made up his mind, are among the qualities that have contrib- uted to his great success, added to which is that push and energy which characterize so many prosperous western men. He possesses a genial and affable temperament, is one of the most devoted and un- changeable of friends, and is a man of whom it may be emphatically said, " His word is as good as his bond."
HON. HENRY L. STOUT, DUBUQUE.
T HE State of Iowa owes much of her prosperity to the spirit of enterprise and characteristic energy of her business men. While we recall with gratitude and admiration the achievements of our fathers of the past generation, in laying the foun- dations of civilization on our prairies and mines against the protest of the native inhabitants, who contested every foot of their hunting-ground, we should not undervalue the work of to-day. By keen perceptibility and shrewd financiering, our
workers and thinkers have carried forward the en- terprises put in progress by them beyond the limit of their expectation. Among this class of men Hon. Henry Lane Stout may properly be num- bered. He was born in Huntington county, New Jersey, on the 23d of October, 1814. His father, William Stout, and his mother, Ellen née Lane, were both natives of New Jersey. His grandfather was a participant in the early history of our government, and fought in the revolutionary war, and at its close
135
26.I Stort
353
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
was a member of the New Jersey legislature for several years.
Our subject's early boyhood was spent on a farm, where he was reared to habits of economy and in- dustry, which have been of great value to him in all his subsequent life. His educational advantages were confined to those afforded by the common schools of the country, and about one year at an academy. In his sixteenth year he determined to begin life for himself, and accordingly served an apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade until twenty years of age. He worked one year in Philadelphia at his trade, and in the spring of 1836 removed to the west, and settled at Dubuque. His object was to grow up with the country, and his whole capital was his trade, his good health, and a hopeful heart. Upon his arrival he took contracts for building, and also engaged in mining, in both of which occupa- tions he was moderately successful. In 1852 he bought an interest in the firm of Knapp, Tainter and Co., dealers in lumber, etc., at Dubuque, which afterward changed to Knapp, Stout and Co., a firm which to-day, without exception, the largest lumber firm in the west, if not in the country. They have everything at first hands, owning their pine lands, steam mills, steamboats, etc. Much of their pros- perity is due to Mr. Stout's enterprise, whose patient endeavors have been successfully rewarded.
It is a remarkable fact, that for more than twenty years there has not been any change in this firm by death or otherwise, and their business has been carried on with the greatest harmony during the entire time.
Mr. Stout was twice elected mayor of Dubuque, and has filled many local offices of honor and trust. He is vice-president of the Commercial Bank, and also vice-president of the Bridge Company, and has been director and stockholder in most of the rail- roads coming to Dubuque, and takes great interest in the development of the enterprises of the city and vicinity.
He is a member of no church, but attends the Congregational, to which his wife belongs.
In politics, he is a republican, but his business has engrossed his time, and left none for political matters.
He was married on the 23d of October, 1844, to Miss Evaline Deming, of Syracuse, New York. Mr. Stout is emphatically a self-made man : commencing life in straitened circumstances, he has, by his own unaided ability, gained for himself an honorable reputation.
There are lives that are more sensational in their career, but none confer greater benefit on society, or is more honored, than the successful self-made man.
JAMES B. REEVE, MAYSVILLE.
JAMES B. REEVE, the first settler in Franklin county, Iowa, was born in Lyme, New London county, Connecticut, in 1817. His parents, Rumsey Reeve and Mary Ann (Baldwin) Reeve, were most ex- emplary people, and instilled into the minds of their children the loftiest sentiments of human freedom and brotherly love. James was the eldest of a fam- ily of ten children. In 1821 he removed with his parents to New Lyme, Ohio, where he helped his father clear a large farm.
In 1852 James immigrated to Iowa, settling in Franklin county, near the present site of Maysville. He was the pioneer farmer; selected an excellent tract of land, and in a few years had a well fenced, well improved farm, for a long time second to none, probably, in the county. He was a very unselfish man, and would discommode himself and jeopard-
ize his financial interests for the sake of helping others.
During the long and unusually severe winter of 1856-57 there was a scarcity of provisions in the county; he went to Iowa City with teams and pur- chased a large quantity of flour. This he freely dealt out to the heads of families, whether they had the means to pay or not, trusting most of them. Some never paid, others were very dilatory in doing it. He lost heavily, and came very near ruining himself financially.
Mr. Reeve aided in organizing Franklin county; was elected its first judge, and served several years, discharging his duties with great satisfaction.
In 1862 he went into the army as captain of company H, 32d regiment Iowa Infantry, and it is doubtful if a braver soldier ever left the state.
354
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
He died in 1863, at Fort Pillow, of disease con- tracted at the south, and was buried near the Na- tional Hospital at Memphis.
When the rebellion broke out, two of his sons preceded him in enlisting, and when the news of his death reached his family, a third son, hardly seven- teen years of age, immediately enlisted, saying that he would fill his father's place as far as he could.
Mr. Reeve was a radical republican, and usually in advance of his party in progressive sentiment.
At the age of twenty-four he married Miss Ada-
line Riggs, daughter of Major Gideon Riggs, of Ashtabula county, Ohio, and they had a large family of children. One of the daughters is superintend- ent of public schools in Franklin county.
James B. Reeve was six feet and five inches tall, weighed two hundred pounds, and was one of the most athletic men in the state. He had great firm- ness and decision of character, warm sympathies for the oppressed and the poor, and was always do- ing some kindly deed for neighbors, and the unfor- tunate wherever found.
PROF. A. M. CARPENTER,
KEOKUK.
PROFESSOR A. M. Carpenter was born in ! Lincoln county, Kentucky, on the 12th of De- cember, 1835, and was the youngest son of John Carpenter, Esq., a noted agriculturist of the blue- grass region, who died when the subject of this sketch was only two years of age. He received his primary training in the preparatory department of Center College, under Prof. James Graham ; then entered the college proper, where he remained for three years pursuing the studies of mathematics and classics. His physical development not being com- mensurate with his rapid growth, necessitated the abandonment of his collegiate course. After spend- ing several months upon a farm, and regaining his health, he was induced to study medicine. Se- lecting Dr. William Pawling as his preceptor, with whom he read three years, and attended the Uni- versity of Louisville, Kentucky, from which school he received the degree of M.D. in 1854, he prac- ticed during the summer following, and realized sufficient therefrom to defray his expenses in Phil- adelphia, Pennsylvania, for three months, attending lectures at the Jefferson Medical College and the University of Pennsylvania, dividing his time among the hospitals of that city, where he acquired much knowledge of a practical character. Returning to Kentucky, he resolved to make his home in the west, and after traveling through several states de- cided to locate at Keokuk, then a small but promis- ing young city, and settled there in July, 1855. The competition met with there was strong, both as to numbers and prominence, but his ambition led him to the best medical men of the place, with whom he was in frequent association, and in whose
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.