USA > Iowa > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume > Part 73
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dollars. Their business improved until they had a stock of twelve or fourteen thousand dollars' worth on hand at a time, and from a business of perhaps eight or nine thousand dollars the first year it in- creased to thirty or forty thousand a year during the progress of the civil war, and even prior to that date.
In the summer of 1867 Mr. Friend died. In 1868 Mr. Culbertson closed his store, bought a farm near town, and for the last six years has paid considerable attention to agriculture. He has also an interest in a lumber yard, managed by his only son, John T. Culbertson, an enterprising business man.
About 1844 Mr. Culbertson was appointed clerk of the district court, the only political office of the least consequence that he would ever accept.
He has always acted with the democratic party ; during the rebellion was known as a war democrat, he being a firm Union man.
Mr. Culbertson has been a member of the Meth- odist church since boyhood ; is a trustee of the Tip- ton church, and has been a lay delegate to eccle-
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siastical gatherings. He is a liberal supporter of religious enterprises, and one of the strong pillars of the Tipton Methodist Episcopal church.
On the 12th of December, 1837, Miss Margaret Jones, of Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, became his wife, and they have had four children, all living ex- cept the eldest daughter, Susan M., who, full of prom- ise, and while being educated at Cornell College, died at the age of eighteen years. John T., the eldest child, already mentioned, is married and has a fam- ily; Ellen is the wife of John Ferguson, junior, of Tipton; Margaret B., the youngest child, lives at home.
Mr. Culbertson is a good illustration of what econ- omy and perseverance can accomplish. He came to Iowa territory a poor man ; has always been prudent in his expenditures; pushed his business, until of late years, day and night, and his labor, pluck and perseverance have been well rewarded. He is one of the wealthy men of Tipton, and every dollar he possesses is the fruit of untiring industry.
EDWIN MANNING,
KEOSAUQUA.
O NE of the earliest settlers and most success- ful business men of Iowa is Edwin Manning, one of the merchant and farmer princes of this noble commonwealth. He is of English descent, the pro- genitor of his branch of the family being a settler in the Bay State a few decades after the arrival of the Mayflower.
Edwin is the son of Calvin and Desire (Gurley) Manning, and was born in South Coventry, Tolland county, Connecticut, on the 8th of February, 1810. He was raised on a farm, and educated in a common school until sixteen years of age, when he worked for an uncle, Royal Manning, six months in a coun- try store for his board and clothing.
He had now accumulated about thirty dollars as the proceeds of his industry, and started out to seek his fortune in the beech woods of northern Penn- sylvania. He went by steamboat to New York, and had his first glimpse of habel life in a great city. He kept his eyes wide open, being a careful ob- server, and had the good luck to get safely out of the city with only one exorbitant tax on his verdan- cy - a double price for a cabman's services. He went to Bethany, Pennsylvania; became a clerk in
his uncle James Manning's store, at ten dollars a month and board, and at the commencement of the fourth year was taken into partnership. with one- third interest in the business.
In the summer of 1831, being of age and possess- ing a strong desire to see more of the country, Mr. Manning took his uncle's old family horse and went through the northern counties of the state, visited every county seat, and made observations and notes of his travels, and in reaching Smithport, in Mckean county, he made up his mind that whatever occupa- tion one adopted in that forest-covered country at that time, solid work was before him if he expected to succeed.
His explorations finally resulted in his locating at a small place known as Canton Corners, in Brad- ford county. There he opened a general exchange store, paying in merchandise for all kinds of farm and forest products. He was very successful, be- came popular, and seems to have been highly es- teemed by everybody, excepting the man who had preceded him in business and made a failure. This man's envy or jealousy, or some other mean ingre- dient in his composition, led him to sue Mr. Man-
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ning, under the pretense that he (Mr. M.) was not selling a certain article of merchandise in exact ac- cordance with the statutes of the state. Mr. Man- ning understood his business, carried on the suit and won - the only lawsuit he had for many years. The writer once heard him remark that it was a good lesson, and doubly impressed on his mind the importance of never meddling with the law unless he had a clear case.
Mr. Manning had a partner named John C. Rose, and the firm of Manning and Rose was for six years a synonyme for integrity in dealing, and for sound- ness and success.
In the autumn of 1836, having disposed of his interests in Canton Corners, Mr. Manning made his début in what was then the "Far West." He crossed the Mississippi and visited Saint Louis. He was told by Colonel Benton and Colonel Brant that that was the place for an enterprising young man who desired to expedite the building up of his fortune. But Mr. Manning ran his hands down into his pockets and concluded that they were not deep enough to make a start in so large a city. Accordingly he pushed on, with some associates, reaching Lexington, in the same state, and surveying the country in that vicini- ty, he made some investments in real estate, but did not fall in love with the system of slavery, and bore northward toward freer lands.
In December, 1836, he and his associates came to Saint Francisville, on the Des Moines river, Lee county, Iowa, found a shelter in a log cabin, literally filled with sojourning people, with fireplace ample for every reasonable purpose. Some of the denizens were " half-breed " speculators, and, to be fashion- able, Mr. Manning invested lightly in “half-breed claims," the extent being five hundred dollars. That was not the foundation of his great wealth. Near the close of the month just mentioned Mr. Manning and John J. Fairman rode out to Fort Madison, and on their way called on Black Hawk in his "wick-a- up." He treated then well, but seemed quite low- spirited, but not any more so, probably, than some other monarchs after their glory had departed.
In January, 1837, Mr. Manning, aided by his un- cle and Mr. Fairman, with John Carns and James Hall, laid out Keosanqua, being struck by the beau- ty of the location on the Des Moines river. They named the place for the Indian name of the river. In 1838 Mr. Manning attended the first land sale in Iowa, held at Burlington, bought lands to a small extent for himself and for other parties, entering
thousands of acres. This practice he continued for years, entering lands for actual settlers and giv- ing them liberal time for payment.
In 1839 Mr. Manning started a store here. A few years later began to start others, one at a time, until he had branch stores at Bonaparte, Fairfield, Bloomfield, Eddyville and Chariton, running them all simultaneously. He took all kinds of farm prod- uce in exchange for his wares, and at an early day ran it on flat-boats down the Des Moines river, and thence via the Mississippi to Saint Louis. He built the first flat-boat that ever passed out of the 1)es Moines. In 1851 he pulled out the lock gates and other obstructions and ran a loaded steamboat char- tered at Saint Louis to Des Moines, thus opening this the grandest natural canal of Iowa, and giving the capital of the state direct commercial inter- course by water with Saint Louis. He was commis- sioner of the Des Moines river improvement from 1856 to 1859, and caused the settlement of the dif- ficulties with the New York company, thus benefit- ing the state more than one hundred thousand dol- lars. His name is engraven in the history of Iowa as deeply as the bed of her deepest rivers.
During the civil war, when the five-twenty gov- ernment bonds were put on the market, he was the first man in lowa to invest, taking ten thousand dol- lars to start with, adding from time to time, until many thousands were invested. He had unbounded confidence in the perpetuity of the government, and was glad of an opportunity in any way to aid in the prosecution of the war. A purer patriot than Mr. Manning does not breathe in Iowa.
He now owns five stores, has a half interest in two more in as many different Iowa towns, is sole owner of the Exchange Bank of Keosauqua, and "half owner of Manning and Penick's bank at Char- iton, he being president of both, and until recently has operated a pork-packing house at Eddyville. He is the owner of more than ten thousand acres of choice land, one third of it in Van Buren coun- ty, where he lives. He has also one of the finest farms and summer resorts in Connecticut. There is no better financier in Iowa.
Mr. Manning was a Henry Clay whig and a life- long admirer and personal friend of Horace Gree- ley ; latterly has been a republican with independ- ent tendencies. He has repeatedly been urged to take office, and could have had the nomination for congress a year or two ago, but declined to let his name go before the convention. He seems to be
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contented with being the peerless merchant and | qualities and an earnest christian. Three of her farmers' friend of the Hawkeye State. Mr. Man- ning is a good talker in public, his speeches always attracting much attention. children survive her. Calvin, the elder son, is mar- ried, and is a promising young attorney; settled in Ottumwa, Iowa. William S. and Anna G. are at He is a member of no church, leans to Unitarian- ism in his faith and is a liberal contributor to all the denominations in Keosauqua and vicinity. home; the son is acquainting himself with all the details of that calling by which his father has ac- cumulated a magnificent fortune. The second wife He is a warm friend of education, and his munifi- cence has been felt by many of the literary institu- tions of Iowa. of Mr. Manning was Miss Nannie B. Bryant, an adopted daughter of the late Hon. Joseph A. Wright, formerly governor of Indiana. By this union they He is a strong advocate of temperance, and goes for prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors ex- cept by the general government. have had six children, and five of them are living : Edward Bates, Albert Wright, Kate Wittlesey, Stan- ley White and Craig Ives. Of Mrs. Manning it can be said that she is a noble and a christian woman. None stand higher among the class of liberal and ever-aiding ones than she. Truly Mr. Manning has been fortunate in having the aid of such a loving and kind wife.
Mr. Manning has had two wives, the first being Miss Sarah J. Sample, of Lee county, Iowa, a sister of Hugh W. Sample, of Keokuk; married in March, 1842. She had four children, and died on the Ist of June, 1857. She was a woman of many kind
ADDISON L. HARVEY.
LOGAN.
A DDISON L. HARVEY, one of the early re- corders and treasurers of Harrison county, and its leading land dealer, is a native of Madison county, New York, and was born in Smithfield, on the 8th of July, 1829. His parents were Nathan and Auril T. (Lyman) Harvey. His paternal grand- father, Spencer Harvey, was a native of Vermont, and removed to Madison county, New York, when it was an almost unbroken wilderness, and there cleared and improved a farm. Addison spent his youth and early manhood in that county; in his seventeenth year attended Munnville Academy ; sub- sequently clerked five years in a store at Peterboro, and three in a railroad office at Piermont, Rockland county, twenty-five miles from New York city.
Believing the west to be a promising field for young men, in 1855 Mr. Harvey crossed the Missis- sippi river at Davenport, and came as far as New- ton, Jasper county, and after prospecting one sea- son, settled in Magnolia, then the seat of justice of Harrison county. After spending one year in the mercantile trade he was appointed recorder and treasurer of the county, and by election and reëlec- tion held the office for five consecutive years, com- mencing in January, 1859, with a salary of four hundred dollars for the combined offices.
In 1864 Mr. Harvey began operating in the real-
estate business, and still continues it, though since December, 1875, at Logan, where the county seat has been since the autumn of that year. He is by far the most extensive land dealer in the county, and as a business man is very successful. He is upright, high minded and fair dealing, and has as many personal" friends as any citizen of the county. No man takes more pleasure than he in the pros- perity of the farmers whom he has furnished with homesteads. No man has done so much to fill the county with a good class of agriculturists.
In September, 1876, he started a bank, associating with him in this business Mr. James C. Milliman, and they are the proprietors of the Harrison County Bank, an institution founded on a solid basis and rapidly rising in popularity.
During most of the time that the civil war was in progress Mr. Harvey acted as assistant assessor of internal revenue, his district including, part of the time, Shelby as well as Harrison county.
He has always affiliated with the republican party, and is a firm adherent, but seems to have no very strong political aspirations. He has been at sundry times and is now chairman of the republican central committee, and is the most influential man in the county. In agricultural and other enterprises he is also a leader.
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He has been a Freemason since about 1860, and is a fifth-degree Odd-Fellow.
His religious views would be designated liberal.
His wife, Miss Maggie Miller, of Piermont, New York, married on the 4th of December, 1860, has had seven children, all of whom are living except the eldest daughter.
The parents of Mr. Harvey moved to Iowa the year before he did, and his father died at the son's house, in Magnolia, about ten years ago. His moth- er, now in her seventy-fifth year, is living with her son, and is in fair health. The Lymans are an ex- tensive family in New England, and are gradually spreading over the western states.
JOHN HERRON,
LEMARS.
JOHN HERRON, treasurer of Plymouth county, J is a native of Wexford county, Ireland, and was born in 1836, his parents being Nicholas and El- eanor (Lambert) Herron, industrious members of the farming community. They emigrated to Ameri- ca when the son was about fourteen years old, land- ing at Quebec, and proceeding thence to Madison, Wisconsin, where the subject of this sketch com- menced labor by carrying the " Statesman," a paper published by W. W. Wyman. In that office he spent one year, and partly learned the printer's trade, fin- ishing at Watertown, in the same state, with J. A. Hadley, of the "Chronicle." Returning to Madi- son, he worked about six years on the " Argus " and "Democrat," went thence to Mineral Point, founded the " Home Intelligencer," changed its name to the " National Democrat " in 1864, conducted it until the autumn of 1868, when he sold out, and in March, 1869, took up a homestead near Lemars, one mile from the depot.
The next January he moved to Vermilion, Da- kota Territory, and worked in the " Republican " office three months for Charles H. True; spent about the same length of time on the Yankton " Press," of which he became part owner, and in
the same year (1870) he returned to the homestead once more.
Continuing his farming, he also dealt considerably in real estate from 1871 to 1874. At the beginning of the latter year he became county treasurer, to which office he had been elected the autumn before. He has been reëlected twice, and is now serving his third term. He is a democrat, and lives in a republi- can county, and his strength and popularity are seen in the fact that he has been reëlected by an increased majority. In 1877 he received over one thousand votes out of one thousand four hundred cast. His honesty and capability have been thoroughly tested ; he is serving the county with the utmost faithful- ness, and his labors are fully appreciated.
Mr. Herron was reared in the Catholic church, and firmly adheres to the faith of his parents and ancestors. He has lived a life above reproach.
He retains the homestead near the city of Le- mars, has other lands in the county, and is in very comfortable circumstances.
The wife of Mr. Herron was Miss Susan Gehlen, daughter of Peter Gehlen, many years a resident of Jackson county, Iowa, and now a manufacturer in Lemars.
HENRY W. HART, M. D.,
COUNCIL BLUFFS.
H ENRY WATTS HART has been a practicing physician for more than thirty years, most of this time in the State of Iowa. He went into the profession from a love of it; has pursued it with great diligence, made constant progress in the heal- ing art, and stands among the foremost men in the medical fraternity in western Iowa.
He is a native of Chenango county, New York, dating his birth at Sherburne, on the 14th of Octo- ber, 1818. His grandfather, Thomas Hart, was a Connecticut man, and a revolutionary soldier. His father, Thomas Hart, junior, was a farmer, and in that employment reared his son Henry.
About 1833 the family moved to Ontario county,
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in the western part of the state, and in 1838 to Bel- videre, Illinois, the son being engaged in agricultural pursuits until he became of age. At this period, having received only a common-school education, and quite unsatisfied with his literary attainments, Mr. Hart returned to New York in 1840, and at- tended the Franklin Academy at Prattsburg, Steu- ben county. While pursuing his literary education he commenced reading medicine with Dr. Addison Niles ; attended lectures at Geneva, New York, and graduated in 1846.
After practicing a year or more in his native state, Dr. Hart moved to Johnston, Rock county, Wiscon- sin, remaining there until 1853, when he removed to West Union, Fayette county, Iowa; there he built up a large practice, and was doing finely when, in 1861, civil war burst upon the land. In September of that year he went to the south as surgeon of the 9th Iowa Infantry, Hon. William Vandever, colonel; at the end of about one year was transferred to the 38th, and was its surgeon until the regiment was mustered out in the summer of 1865.
At Vicksburg Dr. Hart had charge of the gen- eral hospital; was overworked, broke down, and had a three months' sickness ; the only period he was off duty during the three years and ten months he was living a camp life. He is a man of very kindly feel- ings, and his heart, as well as his judgment and con-
science, prompted him to be very attentive to the sick and wounded.
While Dr. Hart was in the army his family resided in Dubuque, and on his return he remained in that city practicing and prospecting for a short period.
In 1868 he settled in Council Bluffs, and has gained a high standing in his profession. His long experience in the army gave him superior advan- tages in surgeonry, which he has latterly made a specialty, though his practice is general. His stand- ing in every respect is excellent. He lives to benefit the well, and never neglects the sick.
In politics, the doctor was in early life a whig; of late years has been a republican. He quietly casts his vote, and has time to do but little more in that direction.
He has been a member of the Congregational church since returning from the war; is a trustee of the Council Bluffs Society, and is deeply inter- ested in the progress of the christian religion.
On the ist of May, 1845, he was joined in wed- lock with Miss Sarah H. Way, of Bath, New York. They have lost one child, and have two sons and one daughter living. Frank H. has a family, and is a banker and real-estate dealer in Beloit, Kansas; Jane Way is the wife of James D. Edmunson, an attorney of Council Bluffs, and Ernest E. is a stu- dent in Yale College.
JOSEPH BENNETT,
MUSCATINE.
W THEN Richard Cobden came down the Mis- sissippi, during his visit to America in 1856, he stepped off the steamer while it was discharging and receiving cargo at Muscatine, and walked into the city. Viewing the long lines of business blocks on Second street, Mr. Cobden exclaimed : " Here it is again! Everywhere I go in the west I find these marvelous cities that have risen as if by enchant- ment in a night." Foremost among those western magi whose potent wands have called these cities into being, as it were out of the ground, like Mac- beth's witches, stands the man whose name heads this sketch. His character is distinctly traced in his enterprising life, one of the most busy and use- ful in the great valley of the Mississippi. To-day we find him throwing a bridge across a river at his own expense, costing thousands; to-morrow building the
largest flouring mill in the state ; the next day organ- izing a telegraph company and putting up the wires; the next building a plank road to bring some rural district into commercial relations with the city of his adoption, and anon building a steamboat to trans- port the merchandise of his city to the seaboard. In a word, the promoter of all the best interests of his city ; a man with a large heart, an expansive mind, and zealous in all good works,- such is Joseph Bennett.
Ile was born at Lunensburgh, Worcester county, Massachusetts, on the 5th of December, 1817. His parents were Archelas T. Bennett and Debora née Wheeler. His father was a respectable shoemaker, and followed the business through life. He was a quiet, honest, conscientious, plodding man ; and al- though he was able to make a comfortable living for
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his family, they were left to their own resources in early life.
The ancestors of Joseph Bennett emigrated to this country from England soon after the revolution, and settled in Massachusetts, where a colony of the descendants still reside.
Our subject attended the common schools of his native place during eight weeks of each winter till the age of fourteen, after which he worked as a farm hand till the age of twenty-one, when he removed to Muscatine, Iowa, and was employed as clerk in the store of Mr. Brownell ; but after three or four months he bought out the interest of his employer, and commenced his career as a merchant. A year later he was joined by his brother, Oliver Bennett; the business was enlarged, taking in everything in the line of general merchandising. Three years after- ward Mr. Stephen L. Foss was admitted to a partner- ship, Mr. Oliver Bennett retiring. In 1848 the busi- ness again passed under the exclusive control of our subject, and was conducted with great success until 1 860, when a series of disasters, culminating in finan- cial embarrassments, caused him to retire from com- mercial pursuits and devote his attention entirely to farming, which he has since followed, and at which he has enjoyed more contentment and prosperity than at any other business.
He was a man of indomitable perseverance and energy. There was no enterprise engaged in for the benefit of Muscatine, or the prosperity of its people, in which he was not prominent, and to his energy and influence are due as much as to any other man the success and enterprise of the city of Muscatine. In 1850 he built the largest flouring mill then in the west, at a cost of thirty thousand dollars. It was capable of grinding five hundred barrels of flour per day. This magnificent structure was accident- ally burned to the ground, and became a total loss, without insurance, in less than a year after it was built, but in less than ninety days thereafter it was rebuilt and in operation again, and so continued until 1869, when he sold it to Mr. John B. Hale.
Mr. Bennett had observed for a number of years that a serious obstacle to the trade of Muscatine was the want of a bridge over the Cedar river, south- west of the city ; accordingly in 185 t he organized a company for the purpose of spanning the stream by an iron tressel-work viaduct. The organization was known as the Washington and Oskaloosa Road and Bridge Company, of which Mr. Bennett was presi- dent. The contract for the construction of the
bridge was let to a Mr. Kilburn, of Saint Louis, Mis- souri, who was very highly indorsed by Mr. Filley, of that city, and others, and hence no security was required of him. Stone piers were erected at great cost, and a swing bridge was projected across the stream, but the work seems to have been done in a manner so unsubstantial and so utterly at variance with scientific principles that several members of the company withdrew, while others refused to hazard any more money till the structure was completed. The architect still insisting that the work would prove a success, and Mr. Bennett unwilling to lose so much money without a fair trial, he continued to make advances to the contractor, till the occurrence of a wind storm completely demolished the structure, which became an immediate loss, the débris of which still cumbers the channel of the river. In this enter- prise Mr. Bennett lost over ten thousand dollars. About the same time he was engaged with others in the construction of a plank road from Muscatine to Tipton, a considerable distance of which was graded, but for want of cooperation this enterprise also came to nonght, and buried about five thou- sand dollars of Mr. Bennett's money. Simultane- ously with these enterprises he was also engaged, on his individual responsibility, in building a wharf in front of the city, which he brought to a successful issue and retained the franchises of until 1869. He was also largely interested in the first steamboat ever owned in Muscatine, which after running suc- cessfully for several years was, in 1858, sunk between Saint Louis and Cairo, becoming a total loss and involving Mr. Bennett in heavy liabilities. These are but a few of the enterprises in which our subject was engaged; there was no public improvement, nor any undertaking of importance or hazard, for the benefit of Muscatine with which he was not promi- nently connected. But of all his enterprises during an active and busy life none has afforded him more real satisfaction and happiness than the building, entirely at his own cost, of a mission church and Sunday-school room at south Muscatine. This in- stitution, of which he is still the proprietor, has been in successful operation since 1856, Mr. Bennett hav- ing been in attendance every Sunday since its in- auguration to the present time, except four, when he was on a visit to Massachusetts. It has been the means of leading many souls to Christ, and will bear fruit in eternity.
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