USA > Iowa > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume > Part 55
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He was brought up in the Episcopal church, and is still and attendant of that form of worship.
In politics, he is a liberal democrat, but is in no sense of the word a politician.
Though still young, he has by his superb business qualifications attained the respect and confidence of the trade, and is a most exemplary citizen.
HON. GEORGE R. MILLER,
MASON CITY.
T HE subject of this sketch was born in Craw- ford county, Pennsylvania, on the 21st of Janu- ary, 1831, his parents being Abram Miller and Nancy Ross Miller. His paternal grandfather was a Bap- tist minister for thirty-five years, and his father, a hale old man, is living in Mason City. His ma- ternal grandfather was a son of Sir William Ross, of Ireland.
and when twelve years of age used to attend a select school, five miles from home, walking ten miles daily.
When he was fourteen his parents moved to Vir- ginia, and after working one year with his father on a farm the son was apprenticed to the tailor's trade, serving his full time of three years. While working on the bench he was accustomed to study, more or
Young George had a strong thirst for knowledge, i less, giving all his leisure to text-books, fitting him-
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self for a teacher while learning his trade. He ! Mr. Miller represented Allamakee county in the went directly to teaching, devoting eight years | twelfth general assembly, 1868, being in the lower house. He was one of the hard-working members.
steadily to this, in Erie county, Pennsylvania, and in the southern part of that state.
Mr. Miller moved to Rossville, Allamakee county, Iowa, in 1856, being one of the early settlers in that place. Rossville was named after an uncle of his. At twenty-six years of age he commenced studying law at Rossville, and was admitted to the bar at Lansing, Allamakee county, in 1859. He practiced in that county until 1868, when he moved to Mason City, Cerro Gordo county, connecting real estate with his legal business. For six years he was in partner- ship with Hon. 1. W. Card. The firm is now Miller and Cliggitt, and has a high standing in the county.
In 1861 Mr. Miller received a recruiting commis- sion from Adjutant-General Baker, with the title of lieutenant, and that year recruited a portion of the Ist Iowa Cavalry and the 5th and 12th Iowa Infantry. The next year he recruited a company for the 27th regiment of Infantry, and went into the army as captain of the same. He served until June, 1863, when his health failed and he was discharged.
He is a Master Mason, and has been a member of the fraternity twenty years.
He has been connected with the Baptist church since he was eighteen years old.
He was a Douglas democrat, and now calls him- self a liberal democrat. He was a delegate to the national democratic convention in 1876.
In June, 1853, he married Miss Mary E. Burchi- nal, of Fayette county, Pennsylvania. They have five children, all born in Iowa.
Mr. Miller had quite a struggle to get his educa- tion, having no assistance except his own diligence, perseverance and good health. He has been iden- tified with many important enterprises in northern Iowa. He is one of the foremost men in Cerro Gordo county in agricultural matters, and has been president of the county agricultural society for the last four years. He is one of the leaders in what- ever is calculated to promote the best interests of society.
COLONEL JED LAKE,
INDEPENDENCE.
T THE subject of this sketch, a son of Jedediah Lake, a farmer, and of Patience Church Lake, was born in Lapeer, then a part of Virgil, New York, on the 18th of November, 1830. His grand- father, Henry Lake, served four years in the revolu- tionary war. Jedediah Lake died when his son was only three years old, and the latter remained with his mother on the farm until he was seventeen. He enjoyed the usual educational advantages of farm- ers' sons to be had in a district school. After that age, for four or five years, he attended Cortland Academy in the summers and taught school in the winters. He paid some attention to classics, but the English branches, and particularly mathemathics, engaged most of his attention.
The years 1853 and 1854 were spent in travel- ing in the middle and southern states, partly to acquaint himself with the manners and customs of the people and the resources of the country, and partly to find a location in which to settle.
He came to the west in September, 1855, and be- ing delighted with the valley of the Wapsipinecon,
resolved to settle at Independence. Buchanan county, which he did the next month. He ran a saw-mill and cultivated a farm until the financial crisis of 1857, when he found himself, like many of his neighbors, ruined by its effects.
Prior to this date he had read a few law books, and now resolved to devote himself to the legal profession. He entered the office of C. H. Lathrop, Esq., in the autumn of 1857, and studied about one year, when he was admitted to the Buchanan county bar. Here he has practiced ever since, except when in the army, having a very remunerative busi- ness and standing high in the profession.
In August, 1862, he enlisted as a private in com- pany C, 27th Iowa Infantry. When the company was organized he was elected first-lieutenant, and was appointed lieutenant-colonel by the governor before the regiment was mustered into the service. In 1864, when Colonel Gilbert, commander of this regiment, was promoted to brigadier-general, Lieut .- Colonel Lake was commissioned colonel. He served three years, at the end of which time the war had
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closed. The 27th was at the capture of Little Rock, Arkansas, under General Steele; in the Red river expedition, under General Banks; at the battle of Nashville, Tennessee; at the capture of Mobile, Alabama, and several other engagements, but Colo- nel Lake never received a wound.
In 1861 he was elected a member of the lower house of the general assembly, and enlisted in the army while serving in the extra session. Just before enlisting he was appointed a collector of internal revenue for the third congressional district, but he declined to act, preferring to serve his country in the field.
When the new law of Iowa, reducing the number of supervisors to three, went into effect, he was elected one of the members of the board and served two years. He is one of the directors of the First National Bank of Independence, and of the Mill Company. a heavy local organization, owning the largest flouring mill in the state.
Colonel Lake is a member of no church, and has no religious preferences.
He has always been a republican.
On the 2d of January, 1861, he was married to Miss Sarah E. Meyer, of Buchanan county, and by her has had three children, two of whom are living.
GEORGE S. SHAW,
DAVENPORT.
G EORGE S. SHAW, one of the most wealthy, T enterprising and useful citizens of Davenport, and the proprietor of a large portion of East Daven - port, was born in Chelsea, Vermont, on the 14th of April, 1824. His parents were Elijah and Elizabeth (Ainsworth) Shaw, of Scotch descent (the original ancestor having migrated to New England some three generations previously), perpetuating and ex- emplifying in an eminent degree the characteristics of that race ; hardy, patient, persistent, industrious and frugal. The father owned a farm in the " Green Mountain State " consisting of one hundred and twenty acres of a steep hill-side, so closely covered with small rocks and underlaid with larger ones, that it resembled more a macadamized highway than a farm of arable land. The earliest recollec- tions of our subject are fraught with the drudgery and hardship of removing those flinty impediments to the plowshare, and the productiveness of the soil. The only opportunities for education which he en- joyed were three months in each winter, when the ground was so frozen and coated with snow that field-work was impossible. At the early age of ten years he launched out in support of himself, and for two years worked for his board and clothing, going to school three months each year. The following three years he worked as a day laborer or farm- hand. At fifteen he was indentured as an appren- tice to learn the house carpenter and millwright business, to which he served four years, and was considered an expert and ingenious mechanic, while his health and general constitution had become
robust and established by the physical exercise in- cident to his pupilage. On completing his appren- ticeship he left his native town of Chelsea, Vermont, and moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and lacking means he was compelled to make the entire journey of one hundred and fifty-five miles on foot. There for two years he worked steadily at the bench as a journeyman, and saved a small sum of money. At the age of twenty-one years, having attained a rep- utation for mechanical skill and integrity, he com- menced to take contracts for the erecting of houses and other structures, with general success, and was daily adding to his little hoard. At the end of four years he moved to Chelsea, Massachusetts, a sub- urb of Boston, bringing with him what at that date was regarded as a considerable "pile," and settled in a suburb of the town which was then called Winthrop. Here he invested his savings in adjacent lands, which he subdivided into lots, streets, etc., and commenced the building of houses, which he sold or rented as fast as completed, and in a short time he had built nearly half the town, and was considered the most distinguished benefactor of the neighborhood. He was accordingly honored suc- cessively with all the offices of the corporation from school trustee upward. In 1857 he moved to Chel- sea, Massachusetts, where for nine years he con- tinued the business of contractor and builder. He was especially distinguished as a church builder, as his conscientious and honorable dealings especially commended him to that class of employers ; and during this last-named period not less than thirteen
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beautiful ecclesiastical edifices were erected by him. Here, also, as in his former home, he was honored with all the civil distinctions his fellow-citizens could confer. But his unremitting toil, coupled with the treacherous character of the climate, had been for several years making serious inroads upon his hither- to robust constitution, and his physicians gravely advised him to seek a more genial climate some- where in the west. He accordingly, in 1865, moved to Davenport, Iowa, where in two years his health was fully restored. His old habits followed him to the west, and he was soon the owner of some of the most picturesque and desirable declivities bordering on the river, and overlooking the "Island,"-the center of gravitation for that region - upon which he commenced building houses and laying out ad- ditions, which were originally known as "Shaw's first, second and third additions to the city of Daven- port," but now denominated "East Davenport," the most beautiful and desirable portion of the city.
In 1875, in partnership with William Renwick and E. S. Crossett, Esqs., he engaged in the steam saw- mill business, and has since been extensively engaged in the manufacture of lumber with a success not inferior to that which attended all his former enter- prises. This establishment employs over one hun- dred men and a large number of teams the year round, while its oversight and management consti- tute the chief occupation of our subject.
In 1868 he was elected a member of the city council of Davenport, in which capacity he served his fellow-citizens with zeal and marked ability
for six years, some of the wisest and most important measures of city government and improvement ow- ing their existence to his consummate judgment and energy. One of the strongest traits of his character is his decision, which, accompanied, as it always has been, with perseverance, naturally resulted in his eminent success. He is a man of remarkable pre- science, a rare judge of human nature, but withal strictly conscientious and scrupulously upright. He is an unflinching friend and an uncompromising opponent ; with him there is no neutral or equivocal ground. He is a public-spirited and generous citi- zen ; liberal with his wealth in responding to the calls of benevolence and charity, whether public or private, and a friend to the poor. Such an ex- ample as that of George S. Shaw, without education or influence, by his own unaided energy and indus- try, rising from poverty and obscurity to affluence and distinction, cannot fail to be an encouraging inspiration to many a youth struggling with difficul- ties, and often tempted to give up in despair.
On the 26th of April, 1846, he married Miss Mary Ross, daughter of Willis Ross, of Bakersfield, Ver- mont, a most estimable lady, who in the early days of their pilgrimage bore with cheerfulness her due proportion of the burden of life, and in later years shares his affluence with unaffected modesty and meekness. They have five children : George T., Edward A., Willis R., Lizzie C. and Hattie M.
In politics, Mr. Shaw has always been an ardent re- publican, while in religion he follows in the line of the Pilgrim Fathers.
HON. WILLIAM B. LEACH,
CEDAR RAPIDS.
A MONG the many New England men who have strayed from home and crossed the Missis- sippi to carve their way to "fortune and to fame," is William Benton Leach, son of James and Try- phenia Benton Leach. He was born at Lisbon, New Hampshire, on the 4th of July, 1832. His grandfather fought in the great and successful strug- gle for American independence. William's father and mother died in his infancy. He lived with an aunt until he was nine years old, and was then sent to Barre, Vermont, to live with Hon. Josiah Wood, under whose guardianship he remained until of age.
Young Leach attended school at different Ver- mont academies, and entered the University of Ver- mont in 1853, but left in the sophomore year. He spent two years on the preliminary surveys of a road between Hoboken, New Jersey. and Pittston, Penn- sylvania.
In 1857 Mr. L.each went to Faribault, Minnesota, and studied law in the office of Bachelder and Buckham; was admitted to the bar the next year, and practiced there and at Hastings until the break- ing out of the rebellion.
In 1865 he removed to Cedar Rapids, and carried on the milling business until 1870. The next year
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he resumed the practice of law, adding to it the business of insurance.
On the 29th of April, 1861, Mr. Leach was com- missioned adjutant of the ist regiment Minnesota Infantry. Shortly after he was commissioned adju- tant-general of volunteers by President Lincoln, and served three years. Among the battles in which he participated were the first Bull Run, Ball's Bluff, siege of Yorktown, Fair Oaks, Peach Orchard, Sav- age Station, Nelson's Farm, Malvern Hill, second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg and Gettys- burg. Strange to say, though usually in the hottest of the conflict, he was never wounded. Many fell at different times by his side, and he had numerous narrow escapes in the "imminent deadly breach." Mr. Leach came out of the army at the end of his three years' service with the rank of captain; an honor well merited for his coolness and bravery. He was one of the first men in Minnesota to enlist.
In the autumn of 1867 Captain Leach was elected to the lower house of the general assembly of Iowa,
and served one term. He was an active member on several committees. At the close of the session Governor Merrill placed him upon his staff, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.
Colonel Leach was a democrat until 1861; since then he has voted with the republican party.
He is a Knight Templar in the Masonic order.
In religion, his connection is with the Episcopal church.
On the 19th of June, 1861, he was united in mar- riage to Miss Mary C. Hammond, of Hastings, Minnesota; she has had four children, three now living.
Colonel Leach was mayor of Cedar Rapids in 1869, and made an efficient head of the munici- pality. He is a man of cultivation, is much inter- ested in educational matters, and for the last four years has been president of the local school board.
It is to such active and efficient men as Colonel Leach, and a few others in Cedar Rapids, that the city owes its excellent system of public instruction.
JOHN S. SCHRAMM,
BURLINGTON.
JOHN SIEGMUND SCHRAMM was born in Plech, Bavaria, Germany, on the 31st of March, 1818. His parents were John Christopher and Anna Margaretta (Kessling) Schramm.
John S. received his early education in the pub- lic schools at Plech, and at thirteen went to Culm- bach and served five years in a mercantile house, at the same time taking lessons in Latin and French.
In boyhood he was very fond of music, flowers, and innocent fun, which he still enjoys. In later years astronomy has become his favorite study.
His father served his military term (seven years) under Frederick the Great, and was engaged in the great battles of Sena and Austerlitz, and others of less importance ; after which he returned home and engaged in the mercantile business.
Having received more than a common education, he was elected to various offices of trust and impor- tance. He was a well read man and had the finest library within many miles of Plech.
After the seven years' war a part of the country formerly belonging to Prussia was allotted to Bava- ria, and his father, not feeling friendly toward the licentious king, Ludwig I, resolved to leave Bavaria
and emigrate to America. Being well read in the history of this country and sighing for the freedom of its institutions, he resolved in 1837 to come. This had to be done with prudence, for, being a man of much influence, the government sought every means to frustrate his design, more particularly be- cause he was the first one within hundreds of miles applying for the privilege. His children were scat- tered over the country engaged in various pursuits, but letters gathered them once more at home, and nothing was left undone to make him change his in- tentions, but of no use; and in September, 1837, after a tedious and stormy voyage of eleven weeks, they arrived in New York, and after remaining a few days started for Missouri, but on account of sick- ness they were obliged to stop at Circleville. John's knowledge of the English language being meager, he found it difficult to procure a situation, but at last found employment in a printing office at four dollars a month. This he accepted for two reasons : to earn something, and more especially to gain a more rapid knowledge of the English language. He remained here five years, receiving journeyman's wages the third year.
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In the summer of 1842 he was influenced by a friend to come to Burlington, thinking he could do well here. He arrived in the month of August, 1842, with forty dollars in his pocket. He engaged at once in the "Gazette " office, and commenced work the next day. Here he remained but a short time, as the paper changed hands and his services were not needed; and gathering his savings he started for St. Louis, where he purchased a small stock of groceries.
In his business affairs he has always been careful, making calculations under the inost adverse circum- stances to meet his obligations.
While in the grocery business he also manufac- tured vinegar, always finding a market for his over- stock. He also taught music about three evenings in the week, and established the first brass band in Burlington.
He was married on the 15th of March, 1843, to Miss Harriet, daughter of Jonathan Morgan, one of the first settlers. The year 1850, when the cholera swept over the land, it took his wife and one child, and also his mother. His father died in 1849.
He remarried on the 24th of March, 1852, to Miss Amelia P., daughter of Silas Williams, Esq. In 1854 he formed a partnership with his brother in the dry-goods trade, which was dissolved in about five years on account of the poor health of his brother, whose interest he purchased, and has continued the business till the present time.
His success may be attributed to his early home influence, it having been the constant aim of his parents to inculcate into their children the princi- ples of doing right. They were members of the Lutheran church and brought up their children in the same faith.
He has been a member of the different order» of Masonry for many years, and has been a master- mason for thirty-two years. He has never sought political offices, voting always in his opinion for the best man, regardless of party.
He is much interested in the public schools, and spends much of his time in their benefit; and it is his firm conviction that the future prosperity and se- curity of this nation rests upon a proper, universal system of free schools.
JUNIUS W. SHANNON,
ELKADER.
T' HE boys who have the hardest row to hoe, often, if not usually, make the best men. Their early struggles have a tendency to develop their self-reliance and other manly traits. Junius W. Shannon is not an exception to this rule.
He lost his father in infancy, and his mother, a delicate, yet resolute woman, became a widow before she had been married two years, and was left with no means of support for herself and child, except her own weak, yet willing and diligent hands. She had a difficult task, but lived through it, reared her son, and is now the recipient of that son's grate- fully rendered hospitalities.
Junius W. Shannon was the son of Robert Em- mett and Nancy Daniels Shannon, and was born in Will county, Illinois, on the 19th of February, 1835. His father was of Irish and the mother of French- Irish descent.
Robert E. Shannon was a brilliant young lawyer whom a malarious fever carried off about three years after settling in Illinois.
Until seventeen years of age Junius spent his time
largely on a farm, with a few months'schooling each year. When a little older he attended a select school six months at Sterling, Illinois. At nineteen he went into the office of the "Sterling Times," be- ginning at the bottom as printer's devil, and in nine months had editorial charge of the paper. He never completed a regular apprenticeship at the printer's trade, but picked up the whole art in a few years, and can make a good roller, put up a neat job, or set up an editorial without putting it on pa- per. He edited papers at Sterling and Morrison, Whiteside county, until November, 1858, when he removed to Fayette county, Iowa, spending a year or more on a farm.
In 1860 he established the "North Iowa Ob- server," at Fayette, meeting with good success.
Seven years later, in connection with C. H. Tal- madge, he started the "West Union Gazette," an- other success. The paper is now conducted by Mr. Talmadge, and is the leading journal in Fayette county.
In 1871 Mr. Shannon took charge of the " lowa
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State Reporter," at Waterloo, and the next spring when the "Cedar Rapids Daily Republican " was started, he became its chief editorial writer, and re- mained in that position until he purchased the "Clayton County Journal," Elkader, in August, 1872. This, the oldest paper in the county, he still conducts with marked ability. In February, 1873, he was appointed postmaster, and the oversight of this office in addition to his editorial and other cares, make him a busy man.
He has held several minor offices in different counties, but craves none more than a printing of- fice. There he is at home.
When about seventeen, to please his mother, he began to read law with Hon. Miles S. Henry, of
Sterling; read two years, afterward, with Judge Mc- Glatherly, of West Union, finished the course and was admitted to the bar of Fayette county, but hav- ing no taste for the profession he never practiced.
Mr. Shannon is a member of the Episcopal church, holding his connection at West Union.
. In boyhood he was an abolitionist, and since he was old enough to vote he has acted with the re- publican party.
On the 12th of February, 1859, Mr. Shannon mar- ried Miss Laura Spencer, daughter of Ralph H. Spencer, of Fayette county. Mrs. Shannon has had four children, three of them still living. The two eldest children, boys, are growing up in the printing office with their father's industrious habits.
JOSEPH C. STONE, M. D.,
BURLINGTON.
JOSEPH C. STONE, a prominent physician of Burlington, Iowa, was born in Westport, Essex county, New York, on the 30th of July, 1829. His parents were Henry and Abigail Stone, who were natives of New England. His father was a farmer, and served in the war of 1812, participating in the battle of Plattsburg. His mother, who was highly educated, having enjoyed academic privileges, in the absence of any other opportunity was enabled to give her family a knowledge of the rudiments of learning. Thus Joseph grew up to manhood with only such advantages as were to be found at a family fireside forty years ago. In 1844 the family moved to the west, and settled in Le Claire, Scott county, Iowa, and for six years he worked upon the farm ; but owing to failing health and a desire to know more of mankind, he left his home and went out into the world. Determining he would make medi- cine his profession, he went to Illinois College, where he remained. a year, preparatory to entering upon his professional studies. He studied medicine under the direction of the eminent Professor Charles A. Pope, of St. Louis, and graduated with high honor at the medical department of the St. Louis University (Pope's College) in 1853-4. After grad- uation he returned to Iowa and entered at once upon a good practice, and gained an enviable repu- tation as an accomplished surgeon. When the Russia-Allied war came, Dr. Pope, knowing the ambition of the young surgeon to visit Europe, 39
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