USA > Iowa > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume > Part 70
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120
He is a Freemason, and has been master of the Vinton Lodge, No. 62, the last three or four years.
He is a Presbyterian, and one of the deacons of the Vinton church.
In politics, he has been republican since the whig party dissolved. He was a member of the conven-
tion which organized the great party of freedom ; has attended most of its district and state conven- tions ; is an influential man in political circles, and has helped many men to highly honorable offices, which he did not covet himself.
His wife was Miss Marcia W. Ferguson, of Cedar Rapids, married on the 4th of November, 1849. She has had eight children, five sons and three daugh- ters, and all are living. The eldest child, William M. Traer, the first person born in Vinton, has a fam- ily, and is cashier of the bank of Traer Brothers; George, another son, is also in the bank; Glenn Wood, a third son, is a telegrapher.
Vinton, which Mr. Traer saw laid out in r85 1, has in twenty-six years grown into a city of between three and four thousand inhabitants, and has three banks, six or eight churches, two graded schools, a flourishing academy and the Iowa College for the Blind; and one of the foremost men in making the city what it is is John C. Traer.
HON. EDWARD L. BURTON,
OTTUMWA. .
M OST of the following sketch is taken from "Andrea's Historical Atlas." The closing portion, relating to his qualities and acquirements as a lawyer, has been furnished us by one of his pro- fessional brethren of the Ottumwa bar.
Mr. Burton was born at Waterloo, Seneca county, New York, on the 17th of February, 1831. His father, John Burton, was one of the earliest settlers of Seneca county, and a prominent lawyer in that part of the state. On the completion of his edu- cation at Waterloo Academy, Mr. Burton engaged in teaching school. He also devoted considerable time to the practice of land surveying, of which he had acquired a thorough knowledge. Subsequently he studied law, first at Waterloo, in the office of his brother, William H. Burton, also a lawyer of promi- nence in the county, and afterward at the law school of Professor Fowler, at Ballston Springs, New York.
In June, 1855, Mr. Burton, turning his steps west- ward, came to Lancaster, Keokuk county, Iowa, where, at the following November term of the dis- trict court, he was admitted to the bar. In January, 1859, he removed to Ottumwa, Wapello county, and there entered into a law copartnership with Judge
Henry B. Hendershott, who had then just retired from the bench of the district court. This copart- nership he continued for a period of twelve suc- cessive years.
In 1872 Mr. Burton professionally united in prac- tice, in Ottumwa, with the Hon. Edward H. Stiles, a gentleman widely and very favorably known to the legal profession as the author of the new Iowa Digest, and as official reporter, during several years, of the decisions of the Iowa supreme court. Messrs. Stiles and Burton have a large and increasing, as well as a highly respectable and lucrative, practice, ranking among the most able and eminent members of the bar in the southern part of the state.
In the years 1861, 1862 and 1863, Mr. Burton represented, as an alderman, the first ward of Ot- tumwa in the city council. In 1864 and 1865 he was city solicitor. Both the honorable positions, among others more prominent, have been filled also by Mr. Stiles.
In 1865 Mr. Burton was nominated to the de- mocracy of Wapello county as a candidate for rep- resentative in the state legislature, and notwithstand- ing a decided republican majority in the county, failed of election by only four votes.
49
490
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
In 1868, and again in 1872, he received the regu- lar democratic nomination for judge of the circuit court. The democratic party being in the minority in the counties composing the circuit, however, Mr. Burton was, of course, doomed to defeat.
In 1861 Mr. Burton purchased a newspaper at Ottumwa, entitled the "Democrat Statesman." and changing that name to the "Ottumwa Democratic Mercury," continued its publication, in connection with Samuel B. Evans, until the latter went to the war. Thereafter he remained sole publisher of the paper for nearly four years. In the editorial con- duct of the " Democratic Mercury " Mr. Burton was assisted by Judge Hendershott, who historically tes- tifies to the fact that Mr. Burton "wielded a forci- ble and spicy pen."
Mr. Burton was, during its entire existence, secre- tary and a director of the Saint Louis and Cedar Rapids Railroad Company, having its offices at Ottumwa, and which was organized in 1865.
It is as a lawyer, however, that Mr. Burton ap- pears in his strongest light, and the high position which he has attained at the bar is alone attribut- able to his thorough accomplishments and mental qualities as a lawyer.
It is perhaps not too much for a professional brother, who has had the advantage of a close and intimate observation and acquaintance, not only in respect to Mr. Burton, but of the leading lawyers of the state, to say that he possesses a legal mind of the choicest order, which, enriched by thorough study, and ripened by the long experience of a large and varied practice, entitled him to stand in the very front of the highest professional rank.
The writer of this portion of the foregoing sketch has had the good fortune to frequently witness, either before the state or federal courts, the efforts of near- ly, if not quite, all the lawyers who figure promi- nently at our bar, and he has no hesitation in saying that while as an advocate he has perhaps many su- periors in the state, yet for readiness, legal accuracy, resources and strength of argument, he has yet to see Mr. Burton's superior in a forensic effort before the court. Nor is it to be inferred from this that his powers as an advocate are of an ordinary character, for the same fertility of resources, strength and clear- ness that distinguish him in a purely legal argument characterize his efforts in summing up the case to the jury, and invest them with a persuasiveness not frequently excelled.
ALBERT W. PARSONS,
BURLINGTON.
AS S a prominent, influential and thorough-going business man, the subject of this brief biog- raphy is worthy of an honorable mention.
He is a native of Parsonfield, York county, State of Maine, and was born on the 5th of December, 1828. When about ten years of age he removed to the west with his father, and settled in Missouri, but afterward returned to the east. He attended school at Lancaster, in Cook county, New Hamp- shire, and also studied at Derby Academy, in Derby, Vermont. He was early trained to studious, indus- trious and upright habits, and the fruits of the dis- cipline then received have shown themselves in all his subsequent life.
In 1842 his father established himself in New York city, and ten years later (1852) became the publisher of the " New York Daily Sun." He also became a part owner of that sheet, and retained his connection with its publication till his death, which occurred in the year 1865. He was a man of very de-
cided character and fixed principles, and was highly esteemed by the many who knew him.
In political sentiment, he was a decided democrat.
In 1852 our subject, being then twenty-four years of age, left his eastern home and removed to the west, settling at Burlington, Iowa, which place he has since made his home. Soon after settling there he became a book-keeper in the dry-goods house of Messrs. Copp, Parsons and Co., and continued his connection with that house until 1866.
He was afterward engaged in the First National Bank of Burlington, and about December, 1870, be- came connected with the Merchants' National Bank, acting in the capacity of assistant cashier.
Throughout his entire business career Mr. Par- sons has shown a spirit of enterprise and business tact that have won for him universal respect, and made him known as a prompt, thorough and reli- able business man.
His dealings have always been marked by the
altarsoudy
493
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
strictest integrity ; and not only has he won a high place in the esteem of his fellow-citizens, but he has also met with that financial success which is the natural result of honorable and continuous effort.
In political sentiment, Mr. Parsons is a democrat. He has not, however, taken any active part in po- litical matters, and has never sought after political honors, finding in his legitimate business employ- ment for the exercise of his highest powers. Al- though he has not desired political distinction, he has been honored with various trusts, and in 1876 his fellow-citizens, without regard to political views, elected him mayor of his city, without opposition. In this capacity he has served with eminent success,
and won for himself universal confidence and re- spect.
As a man, Mr. Parsons is known for his gener- osity and frankness, and for his estimable social and personal qualities. He has been intimately con- nected with many of the public enterprises of his city, and in all shown a worthy public-spiritedness.
He has been especially active in the Working- men's Building Association, an organization which has done much for the improvement of the city.
In his religious communion, he is identified with the Episcopal church, and is a zealous member and one of the wardens of Christ's Episcopal Church of Burlington.
HON. STEPHEN N. LINDLEY,
NEWTON.
O NE of the most emphatically self-educated men in central lowa is Stephen N. Lindley, late circuit judge in the sixth district. With no school privileges, except those of the lowest grade, and those very limited, but with a strong love for books, he fitted himself, in early life, by private study, for a teacher; and later in life paid much attention to certain scientific branches, mastering the principles of geology and archæology, and established a repu- tation as one of the best versed in history in his county. In boyhood he read all the books he could borrow in the neighborhood. Poor as his early lit- erary opportunities were, he applied himself with great industry for many years, and is now a good scholar. His love for study, early cherished, never has left him.
Mr. Lindley is a son of Josephus Lindley, a tailor by trade, and for nearly twenty years postmaster at Merrittstown, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, where our subject was born on the 7th of May, 1817. The maiden name of his mother was Jane Chandler, daughter of Mary and George Chandler, a soldier of the revolution. Some of the latter family are now living near Brandywine, Chester county. The Lind- leys were early settlers in New Jersey. Josephus Lindley volunteered in 1813, about the time that Hall surrendered, and for some reason was not called into the service.
Judge Lindley spent his youth in Fayette county, attending school some, until sixteen years of age; at eighteen he immigrated to Athens county, Ohio,
where he taught school in the winters, and read law with A. G. Brown, of Athens, receiving from him a certificate. In 1851 he came to Iowa, spent three years in Lee county, teaching and fitting himself for the law; in 1854 he removed to Jasper county, still teaching during the winters. He was admitted to the bar at Newton in 1855, and to practice in the supreme court soon after, and has been in the practice ever since. His legal qualifications are of the best material, there being nothing superficial in his nature or attainments.
Judge Lindley was a drainage commissioner at an early day after settling in Jasper county, and when the office was one of some pecuniary consequence ; and in 1870 was appointed circuit judge, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Wins- low; the next year he was elected by the people to the same office. He filled this position in a very creditable manner, retiring therefrom on the 31st of December, 1873.
Judge Lindley was originally an anti-slavery whig, and promptly joined the republican party when it was organized. He has been quite active as a poli- tician. In the autumn of 1864 he was one of the commissioners appointed to take the vote of the Iowa soldiers, and left Atlanta, Georgia, on the last train before the railroad track was destroyed by Sherman.
He is a Blue Lodge Mason, and has passed the lower chairs in Odd-Fellowship. He is a member of the Universalist Society, and morally a man of
494
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
excellent standing in the community. He has al- ways regarded the legal profession as one of the most honorable practiced among men, and insists that the standard of qualification for admission to practice should be revised.
The wife of Judge Lindley was Miss Sarah Mc-
Cracken, of Washington county, Pennsylvania, their union taking place on the 23d of November, 1843, in Gallia county, Ohio. They have five children living, and have lost two. Ellen is the wife of George Lindley, and resides in Dakota Territory. The others are single.
SAMUEL G. A. READ, A. M., M. D.,
ALGONA.
S AMUEL G. A. READ, son of Daniel and Hul- dah (Jacobs) Read, was born in Moretown, Ver- mont, on the 13th of January, 1817. Daniel Read, who was a farmer in early life, educated himself for the medical profession, and commenced practice, but found himself brought in contact with so many dis- agreeable diseases, that his taste revolted and he returned to farming.
The family record of the Reads is uncommonly interesting. Hon. Jacob Whittemore Read, member of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society, now deceased, published in 1861 a history of the Reads and Reeds in England and America. He says : "The Reads are numerous, from the fact that they are descended from a clan or nation, and not from an individual. Though they have taken their origin from Aschanaz, the great-grandson of Noah, they have had an opportunity of becoming a numerous people. About five hundred years before the christian era the Persians invaded Greece, in consequence of which a company of merchants from Miletus and other cities of lonia, to escape the evils of invasion, departed with their ships, goods and retainers. They established themselves at Gades, and there fitted out an expedition against Ireland, which they conquered and divided into two king- doms. The capital of one they called Ballyreda, which in English means Reedstown. The inhab- itants of ancient Erin called them Dalredas, or Dal- redhas ; the Caledonians called them Dalraids. They were also called Scuits, or wanderers,-a phrase which gave name to Scotland when they overran that country. Surnames were not in use till about the year 1170, but clans had appropriate names, which some retained. The Dalraids crossed over from Ireland to Caledonia, and Agricola, king of the Romans, built a wall against them ; but Prince Reda and his knights scaled the wall and put the Romans to flight, A.D. 180. Then Adrian, about 210, built
another wall, to keep them out of his domain. The Dalraids kept possession of the territory between the two walls, and finally, in 843, conquered all Cal- edonia." See also Mitchell's Classical Geography, page 133: "About the middle of the fifth century the Caledonians first received the names of Picts and Scots; the latter, called also Dalriads, emigrated from the north of Ireland, and finally gave their name to the country." The Reads and Reeds of England descend from the above Raids, Reeds, or Readhas, and the principal families have been traced to them. They were connected with the royal family of England long before William the Con- queror. There was Withred, king of Kent in the seventh century ; Ethelred, or Read the Good, king of England in 866 ; Alfred, or Read the Shrewd, in 871 ; Eldred, or Read the Elder, in 946 ; Ethelred the Second in 978."
William, son of Brianus de Rede, was bishop of Chichester in 1140. From him the descent is as follows : Robert ; Galfrinus ; Thomas of Redydale ; Thomas; Thomas. of Heddington, married Chris- tiana, sister of the lord chancellor ; John, mayor of Norwich in 1388; Edward ; William, born 1450, pro- fessor of divinity ; Sir William ; William ; Sir Mathew ; William; John, who came to America in the " great fleet " in 1630; Samuel; Samuel; Samuel; Daniel ; Daniel; Samuel, the subject of this sketch.
The John Read who came to America in 1630 settled at Rehoboth, where Providence, Rhode Isl- and, is now built, and was one of the original pur- chasers from the Indians of large tracts of land. He died at eighty-five, and was buried in old See- konk cemetery, near Providence, where the rough granite slab is still standing at his grave, though there is a plan on foot among his descendants to replace it by a more suitable monument. Hon. Daniel Read, president of Missouri State University, and many other distinguished men, are among his
495
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
posterity. As a family, the Reeds are identified with American history. The great-grandfather of Dr. Read, with his nine sons, were all soldiers and offi- cers in the war of the revolution. Whoever would know more of these valiant sons of Aschanaz may find it set forth in the " History of the Read Family " referred to.
Samuel attended the Oberlin College in its in- fancy. while it was yet to some extent an uncertain experiment, paying his way there by manual labor. He took his professional course in Cleveland Medi- cal College.
The doctor experienced in early life an earnest desire for learning, but enjoyed very limited oppor- tunities for its gratification. Hard work on a new and heavily timbered farm was followed still by hard work, that field might be added to field, and farm to farm, of the paternal estate. Requests for permis- sion to attend school were refused, on the ground that not much education was needful for farming, which was "the best occupation in life." Thus, in lieu of the schoolroom, the book was taken to the cornfield, and the pages conned in time gained over others at the end of the row. He early showed a taste for the healing art, by compounding imaginary medicines and administering to imaginary patients. On leaving school he began teaching, for love of the work, and to enjoy facilities for increasing knowledge. At thirteen the family removed to Saint Lawrence county, New York. After two years they removed to Medina county, Ohio, where he remained through his early manhood, and entered his profession. In 1853 he removed to Whitby county, Indiana, thence in 1865 to Algona, Iowa.
He never sought public office, but was several times elected county superintendent of public in- struction, both in Ohio and Indiana. As an enthu- siastic educator he was identified with the effort to establish an institution of higher learning in north- western Iowa, and was the first and for several years president of the board of trustees of Algona College.
He was always a temperance worker, often lectur- ing on the subject : was an early Son of Temperance, also a Good Templar, and was the organizer of several lodges, and member of the Grand Lodge of Indiana. Also an Odd-Fellow, and member of en- campment ; a Freemason, and an officer of chapter, and member of Grand Lodge of Iowa.
He was trained up a Presbyterian, and joined the Methodist Episcopal church in early manhood ; is a republican, and was formerly a whig.
The doctor was first married to Miss Beulah Smith, who died in 1860. On the 4th of March, 1863, he was married to Miss Lizzie Bunnell.
He is of medium stature, well formed, weight about one hundred and forty-five, light complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. His social qualities are above the ordinary ; active temperament, great per- severance, ambitious, and desirous to excel. . He has been a leading practitioner in northwestern Iowa during his whole residence here, being frequently called beyond the limits of his own county. Gifted with a constitution capable of great endurance, his strength has been taxed to the utmost, first in the malarious districts of Indiana, and more lately upon the bleak and comparatively uninhabited prairies of Iowa, where several miles frequently intervene be- tween the homes of patients. Yet he is still hale and hearty when not suffering from overwork.
The wife of Dr. Read is one of the leading women of Iowa in more than one important movement, and a sketch of her life in this connection cannot be out of place. She was the daughter of Edmund H. Bunnell and Ann Ashley, and was born in Syracuse, New York, on the 24th of December, 1834. Her paternal grandfather and some of his brothers were revolutionary soldiers. Her mother had an excel- lent education ; was an able financier, a woman of strong mental faculties, yet exceedingly unobtrusive and retiring in her manners. The education of Liz- zie was embraced in three years' attendance at a public school. She was the fifth child in a family of nine children, who, we are told, made a sort of inde- pendent community by themselves, caring but little for other society so long as they were together. They used to have family lessons, debates and friendly rivalries in work and study. When Lizzie was four- teen her parents removed from New York to Indi- ana, where within six weeks after their arrival her mother died. This was followed in about a year by the death of a brother three years Lizzie's senior. Business ventures also now proved unfortunate, and the happy and affectionate circle was soon widely scattered. Before she was sixteen she commenced teaching school, using part of her scanty wages to help the more helpless younger ones, as did also her elder sister and brother.
At length a bad cough, weak lungs and pain in the side forced a change of employment. Having an opportunity at Fort Wayne to learn the printing business, she decided to try it. She found it con- genial, though laborious; served an apprenticeship
496
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
of two years; was then offered the foremanship of a weekly newspaper and job office in Peru, Indiana, which place she filled about four years. At the end of this time, being then twenty-six, she commenced in Peru the publication of a semi-monthly journal, called the " Mayflower," devoted to literature, tem- perance and equal rights. This paper had a sub- scription list reaching into all the states and terri- tories.
On the 4th of March, 1863, she was married to Dr. S. G. A. Read. In 1865 she removed with him to Algona, Iowa. Here she commenced the publi- cation of a weekly county paper, named the " Upper Des Moines," intended to represent the interests of the upper Des Moines River valley, which at that time, 1865, had no other such representative. After a year of this work, combined with the many hard- ships and disadvantages of a new country, failing health compelled the relinquishment of the enter- prise to other hands. She commenced to write for the press when about twenty, and has continued as a contributor to several different journals. A series of articles in the "Northwestern Christian Advo- cate " in 1872, on the " status of women in the Meth- odist church," led to their more just recognition in subsequent Episcopal addresses.
She was vice-president of Indiana State Woman Suffrage Society while residing there, and president of Iowa State Society ; also one of the original mem-
bers and promoters of the Woman's Congress. She has lectured occasionally on temperance, education and woman suffrage.
Mrs. Read has traveled in several of the New England, middle and western states, Canada and the territory of Dakota. Twelve years ago she spent two consecutive nights upon the prairies of western Iowa, out of sight of house or people, except her own small party. On the third day the first sign of distant habitation, we once heard her remark, pro- duced rather strange, but not unhappy, sensations.
She was educated a Methodist, and remains a Methodist in church relationship and in sympathy, but believes in the final happiness of all created intelligences, which is contrary to the traditions, but not, she thinks, contrary to the doctrines, of the church.
Her height is five feet, weight one hundred pounds, eyes blue, hair brown; temperament said to be men- tal vital; social qualities not well developed. She is fond of friends, and likes an occasional venture into society, but generally prefers to look on from a retired background. Contact with many people, she thinks, robs her of herself; makes her tired and ex- hausted ; disturbs and breaks up her electrical atmos- phere ; takes away from her more than she is able to get in return at the time, though subsequent diges- tion restores the equilibrium and generally shows something gained.
JOHN ST .- CLAIR TILFORD,
VINTON.
JOHN SAINT-CLAIR TILFORD, son of John Tilford, farmer, and Ann Workman, is of Prot- estant Irish descent, his grandsire and grandmother on both sides coming from the old country. The name was originally spelt Telford, and was changed some fifty years ago.
John S. was born in a block-house in Clark coun- ty, Indiana, on the 30th of July, 1811, and spent the first twenty years of his life in that county, aiding his father in clearing, breaking and cultivating land, with the poorest opportunities for education in that locality, in the youthful days of the state. He never went to school but six weeks in his life, yet learned to read and write in his early years, and secured, by self-teaching, a fair business education.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.