USA > Iowa > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume > Part 54
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establish his business, and to some extent repair his broken fortune.
In 1865 he enlarged his business in the same lo- cality. He built a mill of several times the capacity of the former, and continued to enlarge and extend his mill enterprises till 1868, when he bought the entire property known as the "Lamb and Byng mill," in the vicinity of Clinton, Iowa, one and one- quarter miles distant from his other works, and one of the largest and finest in this section or state.
The capacity of the above mill is over two hun- dred and fifty thousand feet of lumber, one hundred thousand feet of shingles, and fifty thousand feet of lath. The planing mill is likewise of immense ca- pacity. The entire business has increased to up- ward of fifty million feet of lumber annually mann- factured.
In summer he employs in his mills about one thousand men, exclusive of a large number engaged at labor in his lumber regions in other localities.
Mr. Lamb's wonderful intuitive knowledge of me- chanics has enabled him to successfully introduce many valuable improvements in saw-mill machinery. He was the first to introduce and put into practical operation in the State of Iowa the gang-mills, he hav- ing made the application of a gang of saws in his own establishment in 1859, being the only one be- low Stillwater, Minnesota, on the river.
In his steamboat enterprises he has been equally successful, having built and launched several for river traffic.
In all his undertakings he has manifested public spirit, and has contributed materially to the improve- ments of the city and county in which he resides.
His talent for invention seems to have exhibited itself in every step of his business career. When- ever he observed a defect in any mechanical con- struction, his mind involuntarily would suggest some
1 improvement, and he could not rest until the hand had put in tangible form the idea mentally con- ceived and entertained. Many of these valuable in- ventions, after having been patented and applied to use in his own establishment, he has generously be- stowed on some deserving individual for his exclu- sive benefit. His benevolence and generosity are proverbial. Having himself experienced the vicissi- tudes of life, his sympathies are not withheld from the unfortunate, nor his charities from the children of poverty. His success in life is attributed to his being as true to all as it is possible to be,-never making a promise that he cannot perform, and al- ways keeping his word if once given.
As a developer of the resources of the west, great credit must be awarded to him. It is through the agency of men of his nature and energy that the ma- terial interests of our county are forwarded and ex- panded.
At this time he is largely interested in the First National Bank, of Clinton, Iowa, being one of its heaviest stockholders and principal directors.
In politics, he is a decided republican, though not a partisan. In religious sentiment, he may be re- garded as orthodox. He is neither a skeptic nor sectarian. He believes all religion relates to life, and that the life of religion is to do good.
He was married in 1839 to Jane Bevier. They have four children now living, and one died at the age of thirteen years. In the family burying-ground, in York, Carroll county, Illinois, are interred thirty- one of his immediate relatives.
Mr. Lamb is now in the maturity of life, full of vim and activity. The unswerving integrity which marks all his transactions, and the kindliness of his manners to the numerous employés in his various enterprises, render him at once respected and loved throughout a wide circle of acquaintances.
HON. JOHN J. SMITH,
VAN METER.
T HE biography of Hon. John Julian Smith, presents one of the many examples found in the United States of rapid personal progress from a humble beginning to a substantial and honored position. Mr. Smith was born at Akron, Ohio, on the 15th of August, 1846. His mother's maiden name was Sarah Glendower. She was born in Ire-
land, but moved to England at an early day. His father, Bernard N. Smith, was a native of England. Married Miss Glendower in 1841, and embarked for America the same year, where he settled in Ohio. He served in the Mexican war, and died soon after his return home.
John's advantages of education were very lim-
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ited. He attended the common schools of Wauke- sha county, Wisconsin, but fourteen months. Being left an orphan at the age of seven, he was taken to the orphan asylum at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he remained two years, and was then adopted by Thomas Burnard, a farmer, who was killed by the falling of a load of wood the following year. Thus thrown on his own resources, from that time till the age of fifteen he worked among farmers for his board and clothes. He moved to Iowa on the 9th of Au- gust, 1861, and settled in Muscatine. Went to Clay- ton county in 1866, and from there to Madison county in 1867, where he now lives.
In religion, Mr. Smith was raised a Catholic; when he was fifteen he became a Universalist, and at the age of twenty a Methodist, and is a member of that denomination at the present time. Mr. Smith has always been a staunch republican ; cast his first vote at eighteen for Lincoln and Johnson ; was in active service during all of the late civil war; enlisted in 1861 in company H, 11th Iowa Infantry ; reënlisted on the 7th of December, 1863, and served till the close of the war. Among some of the engage-
ments he participated in were the following well known battles : Shiloh, April, 1862; Medan Station, August, 1862; Corinth, Mississippi, on the 4th of October, 1862; Jackson, Mississippi, and at the siege of Vicksburg; was one hundred and one days without being out of danger; wounded at Atlanta, Georgia, on the 7th of August, 1864; was with Sher- man on his march to the sea; and participated in their last engagement, at Bentonville, North Carolina. He was discharged on the 2d of July, 1865, and returned immediately to his home in Muscatine, Iowa. Mr. Smith has acquired an ample compe- tence and is a public-spirited citizen, active in all progress, enterprising and much esteemed ; an advo- cate of woman's suffrage, he believes that a woman should receive the same compensation as a man, where the labor to be performed is equal. Mr. Smith now holds the honored position as represen- tative of Madison county, Iowa. Was married to Mary A. Mclaughlin, on the 21st of November, 1866, and has two children. Cora Minnie was born on the 29th of August, 1867, and Estela Maud on the 11th of June, 1875.
HON. DAVID SECOR,
DES MOINES.
D AVID SECOR, a native of Putnam county, New York, was born on the 6th of January, 1836, the son of Alson Secor and Sarah Caroline née Knapp. His paternal grandparents were Gidney and Catherine (Strang) Secor. His father's family is descended from the French Huguenots, and was first represented in this country by Ambrose Secor, who more than two hundred years ago emigrated from France, prompted by a love of religious liberty, and settled at New Rochelle, New York. Various members of the family served as officers during the revolutionary war. His maternal grandparents, David and Abigail (Lee) Knapp, were of English origin, and settled in this country prior to the revolution. David Knapp, an uncle of our subject, served in the war of 1812.
Prior to his twelfth year David attended the dis- trict school, but afterward was employed on his father's farm, there being eleven children in his family, and his father being a man of limited means.
In May, 1856, being then twenty years of age, he left home and, removing to Iowa, settled at Western
College, in Lynn county. Learning the masons' trade there, he worked at it during the summers, and for three years he spent his winters in the college at that place.
Going to Mason City, Iowa, in the spring of 1859, he had one dollar in his pocket upon his arrival, and remained one year teaching and working at his trade. In the spring of 1860 he settled at For- est City, in Winnebago county, and during that and the following year worked at his trade.
In 1861 he was elected county treasurer, and while holding that position purchased a farm ad- joining the town, which he began to cultivate.
In October, 1864, he enlisted as a private in com- pany C, 2d regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry, for the purpose of recruiting the regiment whose term of enlistment had 'expired. This company partici- pated in Sherman's march to the sea, during which march he was taken ill and transferred to New York and thence to Keokuk, Iowa, where he was mustered out of the service in May, 1865.
Returning to his home, he engaged in farming,
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and soon afterward was again elected county treas- urer, and also held the position of postmaster, hav- ing been appointed by President Lincoln. In 1871 he was elected to represent Cerro Gordo, Hancock, Worth and Winnebago counties in the state legisla- ture. He was returned to the general assembly in 1873, and in the fall of the following year was elected register of the State Land Office.
Mr. Secor has become well known as a prompt and thorough business man, and in all that he has attempted has met with eminent success.
On the 10th of December, 1862, he was married to Miss Samantha Ellen Vancuren, a daughter of Jacob Vancuren, of Cerro Gordo county, by whom he had four children : Eugene Elsworth, born on the Ist of January, 1864; Fanny I .. , who died in
infancy ; Stanley Sherman, born in May, 1868, and Mary Myrtle, born in April, 1870.
Mrs. Secor died on the 13th of July, 1871, and on the roth of September, 1872, he was married to Miss Jennie Gregg, daughter of Captain James Gregg, of Des Moines, who died on the 15th of De- cember, 1875, having born to him one child, Alvin A., who died in infancy.
In 1875, though still retaining his farm, he re- moved his family to Des Moines.
Mr. Secor's success is mainly due to his untiring enterprise and energy of will. Governed by purity of motive and honesty of purpose, he has faithfully discharged the trusts imposed upon him, and by his upright and manly dealing has won the highest re- spect and lasting confidence of all who knew him.
HON. WILLIAM G. DONNAN,
INDEPENDENCE.
TILLIAM G. DONNAN was born at West Charlton, Saratoga county, New York, on the 30th of June, 1834. His father was Alexander Donnan, his mother Elizabeth McKindley Donnan. His four grandparents emigrated from Scotland. William worked on his father's farm until he was seventeen years of age, attending the district school during a small portion of each year. He prepared for college at the Cambridge Academy; entered the sophomore class of Union College in 1853, and graduated fourth in his class in July, 1856.
The next month he moved to Iowa, selecting In- dependence, the seat of justice of Buchanan county, for his home. Here he studied law in the office of Hon. J. S. Woodward, and was admitted to the bar in April, 1857. Three months afterward he was elected treasurer and recorder of Buchanan county, and held that office by reelection until 1862.
Mr. Donnan entered the army in August, 1862, as a private in the 27th regiment Iowa Infantry ; was promoted to second then to first lieutenant ; breveted captain and major for efficient service in the field, and served until the close of the war.
He was a member of the state senate four years, the twelfth and thirteenth sessions of the general assembly. and originated the bill locating the Hos- pital for the Insane at Independence, and was largely instrumental in securing the passage of the act.
Mr. Donnan represented the third district in the
forty-second and forty-third congresses, and, as his record will show, was always at the post of duty, being absent from roll-call only on four occasions in four years. While in congress he delivered but two or three studied speeches; those he prepared with great care, and there has since been frequent calls for them. This is especially true in regard to the speeches on "Cheap Transportation " and the "Reëligibility of the Executive." The latter effort exhibits careful investigation, exhaustive research and fine legal powers. It is the masterpiece of his congressional life. We make room for a short ex- tract, in which Mr. Donnan is replying to the argu- ment that the patronage of the President has been or may be used for his reëlection :
During the first forty years immediately succeeding the adoption of the constitution very little use was made of the appointing power in a partisan sense; yet during thirty- two of those forty years the executive office was filled by Presidents who were reelected. One-fifth of that period only was it filled by the two Adamses, neither of whom was rechosen. Then came the democratic regime, which inaugurated the system of appointing political friends of the administration to the federal offices. This practice has been followed more or less closely by the democratic, whig and republican parties, when in power, up to the present time. If the bad use of patronage elects Presidents, we have certainly had splendid opportunities to test it during the intervening forty-four years. I will not deny that Jackson may have been thus aided to a second term, but from Jackson to the present time but one only of the eleven Presidents has been rechosen; and who will say that any spot of corruption was ever tound on Lincoln's official garments? No, sir, it is fidelity that wins. Gratitude to a great and generous people, and a high sense of duty, are
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strong cords which bind a President to fidelity in the dis- charge of his trust ; yet who that stops a moment to consider the springs of human action will not agree that should he desire to obtain a continuance of this highest honor among men, and is not debarred the hope, by legal prohibition, then will interest and ambition itself combine to prompt him, not to corrupt, but to faithful, honest, earnest adminis- tration for the public benefit, with a sympathy which will seek " to enforce no policy against the will of the people."
Mr. Donnan has been a member of the Presby- terian church more than twenty years, and has never
allowed his business transactions to conflict with his religious profession.
He cast his first vote for John C. Fremont for President in 1856, and has since been an unflinch- ing republican.
He was married on the Ist of October, 1857, to Miss Mary E. Williamson, a native of Kentucky, who was a very estimable lady. They have two children.
GEORGE W. MILLER,
WATERLOO.
HE trials of a pioneer settler often test the ' for teams, he started on foot, walking all the way, a 1 man. Sometimes they seem to unmake or un - man him, but more frequently they develop his courage and pluck (if possessed of them), and start him on the high road to success. The subject of this notice was among the early immigrants to Black Hawk county, Iowa, and experienced many of the hardships and discouragements of a frontier life, but bravely bore up, and pushed on to fortune and to independence.
George W. Miller was born near Williamsport, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, on the roth of October, 1825. He is the son of John and Susan Beaver Miller (the father now living and ninety years of age). His grandfather, George Miller, was a revolutionary soldier, and died at eighty-four years of age. John Miller was a blacksmith by trade, but exchanged his shop for a farm, when George was about four years old. The latter lived at home until he was nineteen years of age, alter- nating between farm work and study at the common school. He then taught four or five winters and one entire year within three miles of home, and part of the time in his father's district. In the spring of 1852 he entered Dickinson's Seminary, at Williamsport, and remained there eighteen months, attending to such branches as would be most ser- viceable to a practical business man.
In the autumn of 1853 we find Mr. Miller in La Porte county, Indiana. The winter following he taught a district school three miles from La Porte City, and in April, 1854, settled in Waterloo, Iowa. Waterloo then contained about one hundred and twenty-five inhabitants, all living in small log cabins. On his way to Waterloo Mr. Miller left his trunk at Dubuque, and the roads being almost impassable
distance of ninety-five miles. He selected a quarter- section of land three miles southwest of Waterloo, and went back to Dubuque on foot to enler upon it, the land office being located in that city. Making arrangements to have his trunk taken to Waterloo by stage, he started a second time for the Cedar valley on foot. Reaching Independence, twenty- five miles east of Waterloo, his limbs and money began to give out. There he undertook to nego- tiate with the landlord and other parties for work, but met with no success. While there, the stage came along bearing westward, but his trunk was not on board. This caused him some trouble, for in that trunk was a small compass, and with that instrument he would have had an opportunity to earn a little money. At length, with a small lunch in his pocket, furnished by the landlord, he started for his future home, reaching Waterloo with just two dollars and seventy-five cents in his pocket.
Mr. Miller was now ready for business, and busi- ness was ready for him; but his trunk containing the compass was behind, and his two dollars and seventy-five cents was growing painfully less. At length he had his compass in hand, and sallying out, soon had a small job, for which he received one dollar. More than once Mr. Miller has been heard to declare that that first dollar earned in Waterloo made him happier than the reception of any fifty dollars received at any one time since.
During his first autumn and winter in Iowa Mr. Miller taught school in a little log house, built for that purpose, still standing, and now used as a store- room for agricultural implements. The few chil- dren of school age in Waterloo at that time had come from different states where different text-
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books were used, and there were almost as many kinds of spelling books, readers, etc., as he had pupils. Under the circumstances, he did the best he could, and has never abandoned the belief that the children in that log school-house made some progress up " the hill of science."
Mr. Miller acted as deputy surveyor of Black Hawk county in the summer of 1855, and in the following autumn was elected surveyor for the term of two years, he meantime operating more or less in real estate. This, for twenty years, has been his principal business, until he has become quite as much of a real-estate owner as real-estate dealer. He is among the wealthiest men in Waterloo, and as an honorable business man, has been eminently successful. He has not been wholly absorbed in his own matters, but has looked after the interests of the city of his adoption, lending his full share
of energy in building it up. He aided largely in securing the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Minne- sota railroad.
Mr. Miller belongs to no church, but is a Meth- odist in sentiment.
He has always been a republican.
On the 14th of June. 1858, he married Miss Chloe Severance, of Waterloo. They have had seven children, and six are living.
Where the few log cabins stood twenty-three years ago, on the west side of the river, three thousand people are living to-day, largely in elegant frame and brick houses, Mr. Miller's residence being on one of the finest sites and among the best; while on the east side of the river are as many more peo- ple, engaged in the multiplied industries of life, and like Mr. Miller, pleased to have a home in so pleas- ant a city.
HON. JACOB W. STEWART,
DAVENPORT.
JACOB W. STEWART was born in Danbury, Connecticut, on the 21st of June, 1828. His parents were Simeon M. and Susan Stewart. His father was a man of moderate means, and gave him the advantage of a good education, intending that he should study medicine, but a longing for the study of law had grown upon the son, and from early youth he had resolved to make it his profession. After closing his studies in the common schools he pursued a collegiate course at Dennison University, Granville, Ohio. a school of much celebrity at that time. After receiving his diploma he began to read law in the office of Hon. Edward Wells, a promi- nent lawyer of l'eekskill, New York, and was ad- mitted to the bar. After some time spent in look- ing around he decided to remove to the west, and accordingly, in the fall of 1852, with a few dollars in his pocket, he settled in Iowa. He stopped the first winter in Burlington, and engaged in teaching school at that place, and in the following spring moved to Davenport and opened an office. The practice of a young lawyer for the first few years is not very lucrative, and he found it necessary to engage in various kinds of work. He taught school one winter, and acted as clerk on a steamboat part of one season, but kept his office open and did what business came to him. Thus he gained a foot-
hold, and in 1856 was elected prosecuting attor- ney, an office which he held for four years. In 1866 he was appointed, by President Johnson, inter- nal revenue collector of the second congressional district, holding the office but one year. In 1874 he was elected mayor of the city for a term of one year.
Mr. Stewart is in no way a politician, and has never held an office when he could avoid it, and takes just pride and an active interest in the wel- fare of his adopted city and state. He is liberal in his political views, although a republican till 1865.
In Masonry, he has taken every degree to be had in this country, and is an earnest worker in the order.
He was reared a Baptist, but is now a member of no church ; he believes in the fundamental doctrines of the christian religion, and adheres to the golden rule as his guide.
He was married on the 15th of January, 1856, to Miss Fannie A. Ferguson, of Danbury, Connecticut. They have two children, a son and a daughter.
Much of his success may be attributed to his industry and honorable dealing with his clients. Mr. Stewart is somewhat above medium height, of good physical appearance, suggestive of good health and habits. He has an elegant residence about
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three miles from the city, surrounded by handsome life in a new country, without friends and in straitened grounds, and where, free from the dust and din of circumstances, he has by his own unaided industry the city, he rests from the toils of the day. Mr. and perseverance gained a competence, and the Stewart is emphatically a self-made man. Beginning | esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens.
WESLEY JONES,
BURLINGTON.
W TESLEY JONES, prominent merchant, Bur- lington, Iowa, was born in Springfield, Ohio, on the 11th of February, 1841, and is the son of Wesley Jones, senior, and Mary Margaret Jones, who were early settlers of the state, his father locating at Burlington in 1838. Soon after the birth of Wesley the family removed to Burlington, where he attended the common schools for a short time, but the death of his father leaving him dependent upon his own exertions for a living, he accepted the first position that offered, which was that of carrier for the "Hawkeye " newspaper, in which office he learned the printer's trade, and remained two years. He then secured a situation as clerk in the dry- goods house of W. H. Postlewait, in whose employ he spent seven years, and remained with his suc- cessors, Garrett, Rhodes and Co., until they quit business. Shortly after this he went west and en- gaged in a series of speculations, which, though at times perilous and in which he labored under great disadvantages, were very successful, and he again returned to Burlington.
In 1866 the book-store of J. L. Corse, deceased, being offered for sale, he purchased it. It was then doing a business of eighteen or twenty thousand dollars per annum. He took hold of it a green
hand knowing nothing at all of the business, but investing the same energy and will which had proved so successful in the mountains of Montana, and with an eye to the growing demands of the country, and a determination to succeed, has built up the establishment to what it is now, the leading house in its line in the northwest, and doing a business of three hundred thousand dollars per annum. He is undoubtedly the proprietor of the largest book and paper store owned and controlled by any one man in the United States, and is vice- president of the American Book Trade Association of the United States, erected July, 1875, at a con- vention held at Niagara Falls. His success has been attained by his indomitable energy and close at- tention to business. He is in the fullest sense of the term a self-made man : commencing in early life without a penny, he has raised himself by his own unaided ability, industry and perseverance.
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