The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume, Part 52

Author: American biographical publishing company, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Chicago, New York, American biographical publishing company
Number of Pages: 954

USA > Iowa > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume > Part 52

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While young, he had the desire to devote him- self to the profession of medicine, and to this end all his energies were bent. While at home he pur- sued his studies under the direction of Dr. John

Hemphill, and filled the hours between teaching with studious application to his work of medicine. Removing to the west in 1855, he located in Linn county. Iowa, and engaged in farming and stock raising. This he continued successfully till the crisis of 1857-8, which wrecked him along with thou- sands of others in the west. Leaving the farm, he assisted in the organization of Western College, in Linn county, afterward becoming one of its first instructors. His new occupation afforded him the opportunity of resuming his studies with renewed vigor, under the direction at first of Dr. Crouse, and afterward under that of Dr. Parmenter, then a pro- fessor in the college. He resigned his place in the school, attended medical lectures, and was fairly at work in a rapidly increasing business when he was commissioned, by Governor Kirkwood, cap- tain in the 22d Iowa Infantry (Colonel Stone's regi- ment). While serving with his regiment as cap- tain he was detailed for duty on General Fitz- Henry Warren's staff, and served for a time in 1864 as provost-marshal general of Texas. Returning to his regiment, he was soon afterward appointed its surgeon, with rank of major, by Governor Stone, and on the removal of his regiment to the eastern department, was chosen one of the operating sur- geons of the second division, nineteenth army corps. After the battle of Winchester he had charge of one of the largest hospitals in Winchester, Virginia. After rejoining his regiment he remained with it till it was mustered out. He was presented in the name of his regiment with a complete set of surgical instru- ments, on the several cases of which was engraved :

Al Schrader

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Presented to Surgeon John C. Shrader, by the officers and men of the 22d regiment, Iowa Infantry ; in apprecia- tion of his skill as a physician and surgeon, and as a tribute of love and esteem from his comrades in arms.

On leaving the service he entered upon the prac- tice of his profession at Iowa City, where he has by successful practice made himself one of the leading physicians of the city, and has built up a large and remunerative business. Upon the estab- lishment of the medical department of the Univer- sity of Iowa he was appointed, by the board of re- gents, professor of obstetrics and diseases of women and children. He still holds his position in the department, which is becoming so justly popular in Iowa and the northwest. He is a physician to the board of health of Iowa City, member of the Iowa City Medical Society, the Iowa and Illinois Cen- tral District Medical Society, the Eastern Iowa Dis- trict Medical Society, the Poweshiek County Med- ical Society and the Iowa State Medical Society.

He was made a Mason in December, 1864, at Hiram Lodge No. 21, at Winchester, Virginia, one of the oldest lodges in the United States. He was

recommended by General Washburn and General Granger, then commanding the second division, nineteenth army corps. Since, he has held offices in Royal Arch Chapter and as Knight Templar, and is now eminent commander of Palestine Com- mandery No. 2, at Iowa City. He also belongs to the order of Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Order of United Workingmen.

The doctor is a member of no church, and is liberal in his religious opinions.

He has been a republican since the organization of that party, but his profession engrosses his time and leaves none for political matters.

He has been twice married : on the Ist of Jan- uary, 1852, to Miss Lydia P. Evans, of Washington county, Ohio, who died in 1871. His second wife was Miss Maggie A. Carter, of Iowa City.

Such is the brief outline of the life of one who, struggling through trials, has worked his way from obscurity to a place of high esteem; who has per- formed a work the influence of which shall live in the hearts of those who have known him.

ANTOINE LE CLAIRE,

DAVENPORT.

A NTOINE LE CLAIRE, one of the founders, and during his life-time the leading citizen, of Davenport, was born on the 15th of December, 1797, at Saint Joseph, Michigan. His father, Antoine Le Claire, was a French Canadian, whose ancestors settled in Canada during the time of its colonial re- lationship to the French crown. His mother was a full-blooded Indian, and the granddaughter of a Pottawatomie chief. At this time the territory of the northwest, out of which half-a-dozen mighty states have been formed, was peopled almost exclu- sively by the red-man, with here and there a "pale- face," who was fearless enough to brave the perils of a frontier life among the dusky denizens of the wilderness.

The father of Antoine Le Claire was one of these hardy pioneers of civilization. In 1808 he estab- lished a trading post at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, ex- changing manufactured articles for various kinds of furs. In the following year he enlarged his opera- tions, taking into partnership with him John Kinzie, of Chicago (then Fort Dearborn), Illinois, and for several years did a profitable business in that line.

In 1812, though surrounded with the Indian tribes with whom he was trading, and who, through the influence of British emissaries, were generally hos- tile to the United States. Mr. Le Claire espoused the American cause, and engaged actively in the ser- vice. He was in the contest at Peoria, where, with others, he was taken prisoner and confined at Alton, Illinois, but was released during the same year.

At this period, at the solicitation of Governor Clarke, of Missouri, Antoine Le Claire, our subject, entered the government service, and was placed at school, that he might acquire a proper knowledge of the English language, the French being his vernacu- lar. In 1818 he acted as interpreter under Captain George Davenport, at Fort Armstrong (Rock Island), with whom he was afterward intimately associated in the founding and developing of the city of Dav- enport. In the same year he removed to Portage Des Sioux, Saint Charles county, Missouri, where he married the granddaughter of the Sac chief, Acoqua (the Kettle), and was soon after sent to Arkansas to watch the movements of the Indians in that locality, where he remained several years; was returned to

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Fort Armstrong in 1827, and was official interpreter in 1832, when the treaty was made by which the United States purchased of the Sac and Fox tribes of Indians the territory west of the Mississippi river.

In consequence of the breaking out of cholera among the soldiers at Fort Armstrong, the conven- tion, which concluded the treaty, which would otherwise have been held in the fort, was transferred to the Iowa shore. There the great chief of the Sacs, Keokuk, made a reserve of a section of land which he donated to Mr. Le Claire's wife, request- ing, as an only condition, that he (Mr. Le Claire) should build his house on the section, and on the spot then occupied by the marquee of General Scott, during the convention that framed the treaty. The condition was afterward filled to the letter, and the Le Claire mansion, which was occupied by his widow until her death, on the 18th of October, 1876, in her seventy-sixth year, was one of the most ele- gant and ornate of the city, and crowned the brow of one of the most picturesque sites on the " Father of Waters." The Sacs and Foxes also gave him another section at the head of the rapids, where the town of Le Claire (named after him) now stands. The Pottawatomies, in the treaty of Prairie du Chien, re- served two sections on the Illinois side, which they also presented to Mr. Le Claire. The flourishing town of Moline is situated on this reserve. These treaties were ratified by congress during the follow- ing winter, and in the spring of 1833, Mr. Le Claire erected a small building or "shanty " in the then Fox village, "Morgan," which had occupied this ground for years previously. Of the tribe of which this was the metropolis, Maquopom was the head warrior, and Poweshiek was head chief. In the autumn of 1834 the Sacs and Foxes removed from this point to Cedar river.

The Indians being thus all removed, and the in- tercourse of the government with them at Rock Island being thus ended, Mr. Le Claire was no longer required as an interpreter at this point, but, as will be seen farther down, his services in this capacity were subsequently required on several oc- casions.

In 1836 he was appointed postmaster of Daven- port, to which point mails come once a week from the east via Chicago, and once in two weeks from Dubuque via Davenport, to Fort Des Moines (now Montrose). Postage on half-ounce letters at that time was twenty-five cents. The postmaster used to carry the mail across the river in his pocket, and

his emolument for the first three months was seventy- five cents. Mr. Le Claire was also appointed justice of the peace, to settle all matters of difference be- tween the whites and Indians. His jurisdiction ex- tended over all the territory purchased of the Sacs and Foxes west of the Mississippi river, from Du- buque on the north to Burlington on the south. The population of Burlington was at this time about two hundred, of Dubuque two hundred and fifty, and of Davenport less than one hundred. Mr. Le Claire was an accomplished linguist, speaking some twelve or fourteen different dialects, as well as French and English, and was present as interpreter at the treaty with the Great and Little Osages, at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1825; with the Chippewas, at Prairie du Chien, in 1829; with the Winnebagoes, at the same place, in August of the same year; at the same place, in 1826, with the Sacs and Foxes; same place with the Winnebagoes, in 1832; at Fort Arm- strong, held on the Iowa side in the latter year; at Davenport, with Sacs and Foxes, in 1836; at Wash- ing, District of Columbia, with various tribes, in 1837; and with the same tribes at Sac and Fox agency, in Iowa territory, in 1842.

Mr. Le Claire was one of the original proprietors of Davenport, and was throughout the remainder of his life one of its most active and enterprising busi- ness men. He possessed great wealth for a man of his day, and improved the city in every way in his power by a liberal expenditure of his large income. He erected churches, hotels, and other public build- ings, at his own expense. Saint Margaret's, whose spire reaches from the lofty bluff till it almost seems to touch the quiet stars or to mingle with the cloudy glories of a summer's day, was built and furnished by the munificence of Mr. Le Claire. Everywhere over the fair city of Davenport are scattered improve- ments, each of which elegantly and appropriately memorialize his generosity.

His progress from the small white house on the depot grounds to the palatial mansion on the bluffs, his physical increase from a small frame to one of the most majestic and portly embodiments of the. genus homo, present a fine type both of his increase in wealth and the growth of the city which he was mainly instrumental in founding. It is to be re- gretted that a history of his life, embracing its lesser details, could not have been obtained, as his whole career was replete with stirring incidents and ro- mantic adventures. His name, however, will not be very soon forgotten, for it is recorded in the na-

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tional archives, inscribed in lofty spire and sacred altar, and in wall and street in the city of which he is the parent. But more enduring than all these memorials of parchment, wood-work and masonry, it is written upon the hearts of all who knew him, that he was a philanthropist and a christian.

In 1859 the firm of Cook and Sargeant, bankers, of Davenport, and for whom he had become se- curity, failed, involving the estate of our subject in liabilities amounting to over one hundred thousand dollars, which, mainly owing to the panic which then prevailed, rendering a sale of his property im- practicable, seriously embarrassed him financially, and probably hastened his death, which occurred

on the 25th of September, 1861. The affairs of the estate are now nearly settled up, the claims all met, and a residuary estate valued at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars remains to be divided among his heirs, embracing some thirty nephews and nieces of both sides of the house. He left no children of his own.

His nephew, Louis Le Claire, Esq., has had chief charge of the winding up of the affairs of the estate, and the result reflects the highest credit upon his executive ability. A brother of our subject, David A. Le Claire, is still living, and has been for many years one of the most expert pilots on the Missis- sippi river.

HON. IRVING W. CARD, MASON CITY.

I RVING WATSON CARD is a native of Ohio, being born in Deerfield, Portage county, on the 19th of May, 1834. His parents were Silas Card and Mary Gibbs Card. His father was a physician, a very excellent man, who died at Mason City, Iowa, in March, 1874, his widow is the postmistress at Mason City.

Until about nineteen years of age Irving spent most of his time at school, concluding his literary studies in an academy at Lima, Ohio.

The family moved to Vinton, Iowa, in the autumn of 1854, and the next spring the son engaged in sur- veying, removing, however, soon after to Mason City, Cerro Gordo county, where he continued this busi- ness. Two years later he went to Charles City, Floyd county, and studied law with G. G. and R. G. Rein- iger, being admitted to the bar in 1859. He formed a partnership with the Reinigers and practiced in Charles City until 1861. In February of the next year Mr. Card returned to Mason City, and there remained part of the time: in connection with the practice of law he carried on the real-estate business. The firm of Card and Stanberry, and later that of Card and Miller, were extensive both in the practice of law and in land operations. They were known far and wide alike for the extent of their business and their honorable method of transacting it. Ow- ing to ill health, Mr. Card retired from business in 1873, and has not resumed it.

During the years 1863 and 1864 Mr. Card was deputy provost-marshal for the sixth congressional

district, taking charge of the enlisted troops and looking after deserters. In the latter business he was very expert, making a record well known and remembered in northern Iowa.

Mr. Card was elected district attorney for the twelfth judicial district in 1868, and served until just before the close of the four years. On sending in his resignation to Governor Carpenter, he received the following reply, dated at Des Moines, on the 31st of August, 1872 :

HON. J. W. CARD,- Dear Sir : Your resignation of the office of district attorney for the twelfth judicial district came to hand yesterday. In compliance with your request, I accept your resignation, and in doing so you will permit me to express my regret that you are impelled to take this step. Your faithful service to the state has been a credit to the judiciary and an honor to yourself. In view of your valuable experience, which, in addition to acknowledged legal ability, fits you better than any other man for the difficult and important duties of public prosecutor, I can- not but regret the responsibility it will devolve on me of naming a successor. With the best wishes for your future success and happiness, I am

Your friend, C. C. CARPENTER.

This letter properly characterizes his official career. In 1870 Mr. Card was a candidate for district judge, and led the convention for three hundred and sixty- six ballots, and was defeated on the next ballot by one and three-fifths of a vote, Hon. G. W. Ruddick, of Waverly, being the successful candidate. Such a number of ballotings for one candidate is almost unprecedented in the history of American politics.

Mr. Card has always been an active republican. In 1872 he was one of the delegates at large from Iowa to the republican national convention.

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He is a Mason, and has occupied the chair both in the lodge and chapter.

On the 12th of August. 1860, he was married to with Miss Jennie C. Jackson, of Charles City. They have had one child, which died in infancy.

Mr. Card was one of the leaders in bringing the

Iowa branch of the Milwaukee and St. Paul rail- road to Mason City ; is a very influential and public- spirited man, and has done as much, probably, to build up the home of his adoption as any resident of the place. His moral character is excellent, and he has the highest respect of his fellow-citizens.

HENRY GABBERT,

BLUE GRASS.

A" MONG the earlier pioneer settlers of Scott county and the state, and one who has seen the rapid rise of this section for more than a quarter of a century, and one who in days gone by was to the front and bore the heat and burden of the day, and saw his adopted state takes its place from a terri- tory in the bright galaxy of states of our Union, is enrolled the name of Henry Gabbert.

He was born in Overton county, Tennessee, on the 19th of March, 1821. His parents were David and Catherine Gabbert née Giles. His father, a native of Virginia and his mother of North Carolina. His father was a soldier in the war of 1812, serving on the frontiers of Ohio in General Harrison's bri- gade and in Colonel Barber's regiment, in which his brother was an officer. His ancestors were in the revolutionary war, and took part in forming our free institutions. He had few opportunities for educa- tion, as the schools of that day were few; his studies were confined to the common-school and ordinary branches. Mr. Gabbert has lived successively on

the frontiers of Indiana and Illinois, and at five years of age removed with his father's family to the west, and settled in Iowa in the spring of 1835. Here his father had located a claim, onto which he went, and for the first two years had charge of the ferry-boat at Buffalo, owned and run by Captain Clark of the same place. He has followed farming for years, adopting this calling from the first.

In politics, he is a democrat, one of the original old stock, to whose principles and precepts he is an adherent. He has never been a candidate for office, and is not active in political matters. His son, William H. Gabbett, is a promising young member of the bar at Davenport, and is at present clerk of the district and circuit courts of Scott county.

Mr. Gabbert was married on the 28th of Decem- ber, 1848, to Miss Eliza J. McGarvey, of Holmes county, Ohio.

He is a genial gentleman, observant as he is gen- erous in his social relations, thoroughly meriting the esteem in which he is held by his fellow-citizens.

HON. THOMAS S. WILSON, . DUBUQUE.

T HOMAS STOKELY WILSON was identified with the interests of Iowa before it became a state. While it was a territory he was appointed one of its judges ; and there are now living in Dubuque persons who recollect him, with his boyish look, sitting on the bench nearly forty years ago. His history presents points of no inconsiderable interest. He was born in Steubenville, Ohio, on the 13th of October, 1813, and was the son of Peter Wilson and Frances Stokely Wilson. He was educated at Jefferson College, Canonsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was graduated in 1832. After studying law two

years he was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in his native town. In a short time he came west, stopping at first at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, where he had a brother, Captain George Wilson, of the ist United States Infantry, under command of Colonel, afterward General, Taylor. In the autumn of 1836 he selected Dubuque for his home. Here he has resided for forty years, and has often been the recipient of political honors. It was in 1838, when but twenty-five years of age, that he received from President Van Buren, the appointment of one of the judges of the supreme

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court of the territory. In June of the same year he was nominated as a candidate for congress by the northern counties, and was preparing to com- mence the canvass when the news came of his judi- cial appointment.

Judge Wilson sat on the supreme bench till 1847, one year after Iowa assumed her sovereignty, when he left that high position to form a law partnership with Platt Smith and his brother, David S. Wilson. Both of these gentlemen are still living in Dubuque, and his brother is judge of the ninth judicial dis- trict. In April, 1852, he was elected to the same office which his brother holds at the present time,

and by repeated elections he held that office ten years. Judge Wilson was in the Iowa legislature two terms, in 1866 and 1868, and at the former session was offered the complimentary vote of the dem- ocratic members for United States senator, but de- clined the honor. He is now holding the office of city attorney.

Judge Wilson married Miss Anna Hoge, of Steu- benville, Ohio, before he left his native state. She died in 1854, and ten years later he married Miss Mary Stokely, a native of Derbyshire, England. He has three children living by his first wife and two by the second.

HON. SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD,

IOWA CITY.

SAMUEL JORDAN KIRKWOOD, governor of the State of Iowa, and United States senator- elect, was born in Hartford county, Maryland, on the 20th of December, 1813. His parents were of Scotch-Irish descent and settled in this country pre- vious to the war of the revolution. When ten years old he went to Washington, District of Columbia, to attend a school conducted by his uncle, John Mc- Leod, where he remained four years. He then en- tered a drug store as a clerk, continuing until after his majority, excepting eighteen months spent in teaching school in York county, Pennsylvania. In 1835 he left Washington, and moving west settled in Richland county, Ohio, and assisted his father and brother in clearing up a farm. In 1841 he be- gan the study of law in the office of Judge Thomas W. Bartley, in Mansfield, Ohio, and in 1843 was ad- mitted to the bar by the supreme court of Ohio, at the spring session held at Cincinnati. Soon after his admission to practice he engaged in his chosen profession, in partnership with his former preceptor, Judge Bartley, which copartnership continued for eight years. From 1845 to 1849 he served as pros- ecuting attorney for his county, discharging the du- ties acceptably. He served as a member of the constitutional convention which met at Columbus, Ohio, in 1850, which, after a three months' session, adjourned until winter and sat a balance of a six months' term at Cincinnati. This convention framed the present constitution of that state.

In 1851 his associate in the practice of law was elected as one of the judges of the supreme court,

and Mr. Kirkwood entered into partnership with Colonel Barnabas Burns, with whom he remained in practice until the spring of 1855, when he removed to Iowa and settled upon a farm near Iowa City. Here he engaged in milling and farming until the breaking out of the war in 1861. In 1856 he was elected to the state senate and served through the last session in Iowa City and in the first in the new capital at Des Moines. At this last session they adopted the system of state banks, the safety of which has been practically proven. In 1859 he was elected governor over the democratic candidate, Hon. A. C. Dodge. This was the last severely con- tested election of the state, the republican major- ity being over three thousand. In 1861 he was re- elected governor with a majority of about eighteen thousand. As governor during the darkest days of the rebellion, he performed an important duty, re- flecting much credit upon himself and the state. His administration during those trying times was bold, economical and successful. Each quota of troops was so promptly filled that no draft became necessary.

During his gubernatorial term he was nominated by President Lincoln as minister to Denmark. He was unanimously confirmed by the senate, but on being notified declined to accept until the expira- tion of his term. His privilege to accept the mis- sion was held open until the expiration of his offi- cial term ; but he finally declined the appointment, his private business requiring his immediate atten- tion.

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Relieved from his public position, he returned to 1 his business in Iowa City. Here again he was sought after, and in January, 1866, was appointed to the unexpired term of Mr. Harlan in the United States senate and remained through two sessions.

In 1875 he was again elected governor, and soon after United States senator.

Politically, he was an old democrat, but during the Kansas-Nebraska struggle abandoned the party. He is now in full sympathy with the principles of the republican party, and an active participant in state and national politics.

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The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume, Part 52

Author: American biographical publishing company, pub Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Chicago, New York, American biographical publishing company Number of Pages: 954

Author: American biographical publishing company, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Chicago, New York, American biographical publishing company
Number of Pages: 954