USA > Iowa > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume > Part 68
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not remunerative. Afterward, relinquishing all sub- sidiary affairs, he devoted himself exclusively to his profession, and when the war opened in 1862 he accepted the surgeoncy of the 12th Iowa Infantry, which he joined in August of that year at Corinth, Mississippi, and of which he retained medical com- mand until it was mustered out nearly four years after, being separated from it only when ordered to positions of greater responsibility as surgeon-in- chief of division or department. From the battle of Corinth, one of the most fiercely contested of the war, which occurred in October, 1862, he partici- pated in nearly all the great achievements of the army of the southwest, among which may be in- stanced those of Vicksburg, Jackson, Nashville, Mo- bile, and many lesser engagements, and in various expeditions and raids that occupied the time be- tween great battles, filling, in the meantime, all the grades of responsibility to which a regimental sur- geon is eligible. As surgeon of brigade, he served on the staff of the gallant General Mathias, of Iowa ; as surgeon-in-chief of division, on the staff first of General Mower and afterward of General McArthur. As surgeon-in-chief of the department of Alabama, on the staff of General Davies; this latter service was rendered in 1865. The capitulation of Lee found him at Montgomery, Alabama, but his division was transferred soon after to Selma. Scarcely were the troops fairly encamped in the environs of pictu- resque Selma, than the doctor was ordered to pro- ceed at once to visit the several confederate general hospitals in his department, take possession of them in behalf of our government, and convert such of their stores as were available into use for the Union troops, who were to be organized for the present into an army of occupation.
He was afterward immediately ordered to Mont- gomery, Alabama, to take charge of the central de- pot of supplies for the department, the business of which was in great confusion. He discharged the duties of surgeon-in-chief to the department until he was mustered out of the service in the winter of 1865-6, after a period of nearly four years of active and arduous labor, interrupted only by a few days' leave of absence in the winter of 1863-4, when he was called home to see his dying wife. Returning home in the spring of 1866, he entered again upon the business of his profession, which he soon rebuilt.
Soon after his return he was elected to the posi- tion of secretary to the State Historical Society and editor of its " Annals." The little publication grew
in his hands from a pamphlet of some thirty odd pages to a dignified quarterly of magazine propor- tions. Hitherto the state had been parsimonious in its patronage of this noble enterprise. Feeling deeply the need of more generous aid by the state, Dr. Huff visited the legislature during its session of 1868-9 at his own expense, and after a few weeks' lobbying, secured an appropriation of seven thou- sand dollars, with which to defray the expense of printing and preserving the records and accumula- tions of the society for the benefit of the future his- torian of the state. The sum was carefully ex- pended under the direction of the curators, and the result is now a part of the archives of the State University. After three years of toilsome but suc- cessful labor in this work, more imperative demands of private business compelled him to resign the po- sition, and the work has since been measurably sus- pended. Soon after this he was induced to engage in a newspaper enterprise, the Iowa "Tribune," then about to be started, and of which he afterward took the editorial management ; but his professional du- ties which he had never relinquished requiring his attention, the paper soon after passed by absorption into the hands of the "Republican."
In this connection we should not omit to notice the fact that a very flattering unofficial invitation to a "chair" in the medical department of the State University was declined by Dr. Huff in favor of the last-named enterprise.
The doctor was for several years, during his resi- dence in Iowa City, president of the medical asso- ciation of that county. He is also a member of the State Medical Association, and in 1877 was a dele- gate to the annual meeting of the National Medical Association held at Chicago.
In the spring of 1872 he removed to Sigourney, where he has since been in active practice, with an industry that would have broken down a constitu- tion less vigorous.
In politics, he has always been a republican, al- though for the past five years he has been other- wise too fully occupied to devote much attention to political matters. However, the late financial em- barrassments of the country having called his at- tention to the causes leading thereto, he was drawn into sympathy with what is known as the greenback movement, and having written and published in the Sigourney " News " a series of articles on what may be termed "the philosophy of the paper money question," which attracted much attention, he was
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naturally put forward as the standard bearer of the party in his district, and nominated for the office of state senator by that party.
The doctor has been twice married : first, in 1853, in his native state, to Miss Harriet E. Borland, then aged eighteen. She died in 1863, after ten years of harmonious companionship, leaving an only child, Alice, who has been educated at the State Univer- sity of Iowa, and is now completing her musical studies at an eastern institution. After a period of seven years he married, in 1870, Miss Laura S. Nickerson, a lady of New York parentage, born in the historical town of Ticonderoga; of high educa- tion and refinement, and of fine artistic talents. The fruits of the last union have been three children,
the eldest of whom, a darling boy, was accidentally killed at his father's gate by a runaway team. The others are named respectively Laura and Francis.
Dr. Huff is a man of fine physical proportions, measuring six feet and weighing over two hundred pounds, dark hair, fair skin, majestic and pleasing countenance. His life has been full of work, and he seems destined to wear out rather than rust out.
His taste for literature has not prevented him from concentrating his intellectual forces on the great sciences belonging to his profession. In it he · has always been a success, taking leading parts in professional gatherings, making an enviable reputa- tion as a practitioner and winning a large share of patronage wherever he has been located.
GEORGE M. STAPLES, A. M., M.D.,
DUBUQUE.
G EORGE MCLELLAN STAPLES was born T at Buxton Center, Maine, on the 26th of April, 1827. His parents were Hall J. and Abigail Staples. His mother, nearly ninety years of age, is still hale and vigorous. His grandfather on the father's side was an officer of the revolution. When George was fifteen years old a select school was opened four miles from his home, and so anxious was he for an education that he walked that distance twice a day, and did not miss a day during the term. Prior to that period he had had only common-school privi- leges. In 1844 he entered Gorham Academy, and by studying sixteen or seventeen hours a day he was enabled to enter Waterville College, now Colby University, in one year. He was graduated in 1849, and was among the first scholars of his class. His natural taste led him to select the medical profes- sion. He studied with Dr. Allen Phillips, of Farm- ington, in his native state. Before concluding his medical studies he was a short time principal of Hebron Academy, and two years at the head of the Center grammar school for boys, in Portland. He graduated as doctor of medicine in the medical department of Harvard University, Boston, in March, 1855, and immediately formed a partnership with his medical preceptor, with whose daughter, Abbie Crosswell Phillips, he had formed a partnership in August of the previous year.
Not fancying midnight rides over deep snowdrifts in a rural town, Dr. Staples, before the end of the
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first winter month, concluded to move to the west, and found himself, an entire stranger, in the city of Dubuque, Iowa, on the 3d of January, 1856. He had acquired a lucrative and growing practice be- fore the civil war broke out ; soon after that event, in November, 186r, he accepted the office of surgeon of the 14th regiment Iowa Infantry, and saw much hard service. On the opening of the battle of Fort Donelson he was ordered to the general hospital, and for six days did not remove his clothing, and found very little time for sleep. At Pittsburgh Land- ing on the morning of the battle he was appointed surgeon-in-chief of Wallace's division, and provided for all his wounded, between seven hundred and eight hundred men. Soon after the occupation of Corinth, from excessive labor, his health gave way, and he was compelled to ask for leave of absence to return north. About this time complaint was made that many disabled men had been enlisted in the new regiments, and at Adjutant-general Baker's re- quest General Grant ordered Dr. Staples to proceed to Dubuque and examine the four regiments forming there in August, 1862. The autumn of that year found him again at the front, and in the spring of 1863 he was transferred to Columbus, Kentucky, and appointed medical director of the sixth division, sixteenth army corps, on General Asboth's staff. When this officer was relieved by General A. J. Smith Dr. Staples continned with the latter officer, accompanying him on General Sherman's raid from
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Vicksburg to Meridian in the winter of 1863-4, and subsequently, as medical director of right wing, six- teenth army corps, up the red river to cooperate with General Banks, then back to Mississippi, where at Tupelo, after a brilliant victory over General. For- est won by General Smith, Dr. Staples had thrown upon his hands, as before upon the Red River cam- paign, hundreds of wounded men, most of whom had to be dressed and transported in wagons a dis- tance of fifty or sixty miles over the worst kind of roads. Still acting as medical director, he accom- panied this command into Missouri, sent there to repel General Price. The term of service of the 14th Iowa Infantry had now about expired, and the regiment had started for home; but General Smith refused to part with his medical director until the campaign closed. When finally Dr. Staples was relieved from duty General Smith sat down and hastily wrote as follows :
HEADQUARTERS RIGHT WING SIXTEENTH ARMY CORPS, HARRISONVILLE, MISSOURI, October 28, 1864. SURGEON G. M. STAPLES:
Dear Sir,-You have acted as the medical director of the right wing of the sixteenth army corps since April of this year, and been attached to my personal staff. You are now about to leave the service, and in justice to you I must ten- der you my most hearty thanks for the very able manner you have discharged the various duties devolved upon you. Our intercourse has always been most friendly, and I hope our friendship may die only with us. Wishing you health and prosperity, I remain, ever your true friend, A. J. SMITH, Major-General.
Dr. Staples was mustered out of the service at Davenport, Iowa, on the 16th of November, 1864. The following winter he was breveted lieutenant- colonel by the President, for "faithful and meritori-
ous services during the war." He immediately resumed practice in Dubuque, and has built up an extensive business both as medical practitioner and surgeon. It is said that he performed the first suc- cessful case of ovariotomy in this section of country. removing, in the spring of 1872, a tumor, weighing, with its contents, forty pounds. The woman is still alive and well. He was also among the first to resort to amputation of the leg through the knee joint, now so popular.
Dr. Staples has filled all the offices of the Dubuque Medical Society, and has long been a member of the American Medical Association. He has contributed several valuable papers to the medical journals of the country, and is a close student and enthusiastic- ally devoted to his profession. His reputation is widespread, and the benefit of his experience îs extensively sought for in difficult cases.
Dr. Staples has been a republican from the origin of the party, and a member of the Methodist church for more than twenty years. As a christian citizen and medical practitioner, he has always exhibited the finest traits of character. His sympathies are enlisted in every benevolent enterprise. The great resources of his art and skill are always at the com- mand of the public, and he has never been known to refuse medical aid to the worthy poor whenever it was possible for him to render it.
Dr. Staples has a sandy complexion and a san- guine temperament; is a little above the medium height, with symmetrical proportions, and though nearly fifty years of age is still as vigorous as in middle life.
JESSE C. WARE, M. D.,
FAIRFIELD.
T HE pioneer physician in Jefferson county, Iowa, was Jessie Corfield Ware, a resident of Fairfield since 1840 He practiced here long be- fore there were any roads or bridges in the county, visiting his few scattered patients, in some cases, by following Indian trails across a prairie ten or twelve miles wide, sometimes going thirty or forty miles. He was at one time the family physician of Keokuk, then at the Indian agency in Wapello coun- ty, twenty miles from Fairfield; was also the physi- cian of other Indian agencies. He was appointed physician to the agencies by General Street.
When he located at Fairfield, thirty-eight years ago, there were not more than half a dozen families in the place; Cranmore Gage and the widow of Ellis Woods being the only persons, now living there, that were there when he came.
Dr. Ware was born near Blairsville, Pennsylvania, on the 6th of March, 1812, and was the son of Hugh and Rebecca (Hanson) Ware. The Wares are Scotch-Irish, and were an early family in Vir- ginia. The parents of Jessie moved to Hillsboro, Highland county, Ohio, when he was six years old. The son was educated at Oxford College, from
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which he was graduated in 1831. He read medi- cine at first with Dr. McCollum, of Petersburg, and then with Dr. Kirby, of Hillsboro, and attended lec- tures in Cincinnati.
In 1846, after practicing several years, he attend- ed a course of lectures in Saint Louis, and received his diploma in 1846. He practiced two years in Knox county, Illinois, and two years in Saint Louis, Missouri; removed to Iowa in 1837, and after prac- ticing three years at Fort Madison and West Point, in Lee county, he located permanently in Fairfield, where he has since spent nearly all his time in gen- eral practice.
In 1846 he went to Saint Louis, attended a course of medical lectures, and received his diploma.
In 1850 he took a trip to California, was absent about eighteen months, and part of that time was in practice at Sacramento. In 1864 he spent a few months at Virginia City, Montana Territory.
The doctor is still in practice, doing all the busi- ness that a man of his age could reasonably wish for -more than he desires. He stands perfectly erect, and is as active, seemingly, as he was at forty
years of age. No stranger would take him to be even sixty years old.
He has seen Fairfield grow from an embryo vil- lage to a city of thirty-five hundred inhabitants, in- cluding nine or ten doctors. He has attended to his profession with the utmost closeness, having held only one office, that of marshal, to take the census in 1860, an office almost forced upon him.
He has been a life-long democrat, and for years attended most of the state conventions. He is well known all over the state, especially among politi- cians. By all classes he is highly respected.
On the 5th of July, 1833, Miss Jenny Ware, a cousin, and daughter of James Ware, of Bourbon county, Kentucky, was joined in wedlock with Dr. Ware, and they had one child that died in infancy. He has educated three orphan boys, two of them now lawyers in Dubuque and one of them an edi- tor in California, also two orphan girls. He now has a fourth boy, whom he is raising and educating. The doctor is a man of humane and very generous impulses, kind to everybody. His friends are many, his enemies few, if any.
JOHN MACLAY AND COMPANY,
DUBUQUE.
T HE growth and prosperous condition of this house is a fine illustration of what industry and integrity, coupled with energy and a prudent oversight of business, can accomplish in a few years, though starting on a very small capital. John Mac- lay and J. C. Green opened a stove and tin store at No. 768 Main street, in 1853, with a capital of about one hundred dollars. A wagon shop then stood on the leased lot, and they cut thirty feet off the front part and put up a frame front, using the rest of the wagon shop for a tin shop. At the end of five years Mr. Maclay bought out Mr. Green. The business steadily increased, and at the end of five more years Mr. Maclay put a man into the field and gradually branched out in the wholesale line. In 1866 he purchased the lot, tore down the old store, removed the débris of the wagon shop in the rear and put up a three-story brick store nineteen by one hundred and thirteen feet, and filled it from bottom to top with merchandise. At the close of 1875 his business capital had increased from fifty dollars, his share in the original investment, to thir- 48
ty-five thousand dollars, and his sales that year amounted to one hundred and forty thousand dol- lars. In March, 1876, he took into partnership two young men who had been in his employ for several years, their names being James W. Concher and Charles Schreiber. They had become thor- oughly posted in the business and had proved them- selves to be faithful, energetic business men. The wholesale trade of this house has had a healthy in- crease from year to year, and has spread over north- ern Iowa, southern Minnesota, northwestern Illinois and western Wisconsin. Stoves and tinners' stock have long been made a specialty, the stoves being selected from the best foundries in the United States. Since Mr. Maclay opened a store in 1853 at 768 Main street, that store has never wavered an iota in financial firmness.
John Maclay is of Scotch parentage, and was born in New York city, on the. 18th of August, 1826. In his infancy his family removed to Pittsburgh, and three or four years afterward to Galena, Illinois. He attended a common school for a few weeks each
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winter until he was fifteen, when he was appren- ticed to a tinsmith. He left Galena for Dubuque, Iowa, in 1845, and worked at his trade here as a journeyman until he went into business as before stated.
He has been a member of the Presbyterian church since 1842, and an elder for more than twenty years. He is now the senior elder of the Second Presbyte- rian church, Dubuque.
Mr. Maclay is a republican, unwavering in his political principles, but not an office-seeker. He served, against his wishes, two years as alderman, maintaining in that position, as in every other, his high sense of integrity.
In 1847 he was married to Miss Anna Alexander, a lady of Scotch descent and most estimable char- acter. They have seven children living, and have lost one or two.
GEORGE H. WARREN,
TAMA CITY.
MONG the younger class of men whose names appear in this book is George Henry Warren, who was born in Whitingham, Vermont, on the 18th of December, 1844. His parents were Linus Austin Warren, a well-to-do farmer, and Sophronia Parker, both industrious, religious and much respected peo- ple. They had five children, three boys and two girls, and strove to bring up all of them carefully, early instilling into their tender hearts the pure principles of christianity. George H. was the fourth child. His paternal grandfather, Deacon James Warren, moved from Conway, Massachusetts, to Whitingham at an early date, settling in the wil- derness, and residing in that town until old age, dying at Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, where he lived a short time. The maternal grandfather of George H. was Captain Samuel Parker, of Whiting- ham, a revolutionary soldier, who was detailed for special service under General Washington, with whom he was a favorite. Both the Warren and Parker families were remarkable for their physical strength and longevity.
From what we can learn in regard to the early life of Mr. Warren, it would appear to have been unusually happy. He had a pleasant home, affec- tionate parents, a love for books, and an opportunity to gratify it. He preferred mental to physical labor, and for that reason some of his bucolic associates called him "lazy," and that annoyed him; it was, perhaps, the sole grief of childhood years. He had so much literary ambition that at fifteen he was prepared to teach, and commenced his first district school. For three years he taught during the winter and studied in the summer.
At eighteen he entered the old and famous acade- my at Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, paying his
way by teaching a part of each day, while carrying on a regular and full course of studies. At nine- teen, owing to mental overwork, his health began to decline, and he gave up the idea, fondly cher- ished, of going through Brown University. He be- came teller of the Shelburne Falls National Bank, and soon afterward cashier of the same. Prior to this period he had been looking to the law as his profession, but relinquished this hope and made up his mind to be a banker.
In the winter of 1868 he resigned his position in the bank at Shelburne Falls, came to Tama City and carried on a private banking business until October, 1871, when the First National Bank of Tama City was organized, of which institution he has since held the position of cashier, and has man- aged its business with a great deal of clerical and executive ability.
During the last three or four years he has like- wise given a great deal of attention, and all the energy at his command, to the development of the water-power on the Iowa river at this point. He seems to be deeply impressed with the importance of encouraging manufactures at the west, as a hand- maid of railroads in embracing the true interests of all classes. The water-power enterprise, started here in 1874, has proved a grand success, several manu- factories being already in operation. While others wavered and became indifferent as regarded this noble scheme, Mr. Warren, with characteristic per- sistency, continued his efforts to keep it before the people.
At a grand jubilee held on the completion of this work, on the 13th of November, 1874, Rev. O. A. Holmes read a historical essay, in which he thus spoke of Mr. Warren's part in the work :
Caron
Fax By MB Hell & Sons Y Bar a. B.NY
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It is just to say, of all those who have labored for the accomplishment of this work, G. H. Warren is deserving of the highest credit. It is safe to say, only for Mr. Warren it would not have been undertaken, and no one but he could have carried it through. It was his strong faith, his dogged persistence, that did it. Some men do not know when they are defeated, and will always manage to turn a defeat into a victory. Such a man is G. H. Warren.
In 1875 Mr. Warren formed the Union Plow Com- pany, which bids fair to become one of the most successful enterprises in the interior of Iowa.
He joined the Freemasons in Massachusetts in 1867, and took the chapter degrees at Tama City in 1870.
He has been a member of the Baptist church since ten years of age, and has been accustomed from youth to make every business enterprise, or project or charge of any kind, a subject of especial prayer. He is convinced that his petitions have been answered, and evidently believes his Heavenly Father regards the minutest as well as greatest in- terests of the trusting one's life. He superintends the Sunday-school, and aims to make himself useful in many ways.
In politics, Mr. Warren is republican, but is not very active.
He married his wife at Shelburne Falls, Massa- chusetts, on the 14th of April, 1866, she being Miss
Kate Louise Gardner, only child of Joseph W. Gard- ner, a celebrated cutlery manufacturer of that place. Mr. Gardner is a native of England, and is a man of wealth and high standing. Mrs. Warren is the mother of one child.
Mr. Warren has a light complexion, is five feet and nine inches tall, and weighs one hundred and thirty-five pounds. Persons who know him best call him very conscientious and considerate. It is not likely that he ever intentionally injured any one. He has been wronged himself by trusting too implicitly in the promises and pledges of other persons whom he took to be honest and reliable. He believes there is a great deal of goodness in mankind in the concrete, but has found it rather diluted in some cases where he expected to find it in its full strength. He, however, is more to be commended who is overtrustful and confiding, though he may sometimes lose in the game of life, than he who distrusts everybody, approaches every man with his fists doubled up, and whose life is a warfare with the better elements of his own nature. Experience has taught Mr. Warren that caution may be a virtue; of late years he has made liberal use of it, and his life thus far, in a pecuniary and in every sense has been a splendid success.
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