USA > Iowa > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume > Part 74
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He has been all his lifetime a total abstainer, and to his honor and credit be it recorded that during
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the early history of Muscatine, when every merchant sold whisky, and it was considered an essential article of commerce, Mr. Bennett refused to have anything to do with the article; on the contrary, he opposed the traffic in intoxicating drinks in every way in his power; and when a law was passed in 1856 restraining and regulating its sale, he was foremost in aiding the authorities in the enforcement of it, and in this way became so obnoxious to the foreign element of the city, that his effigy was publicly car- ried through the streets and burned on the wharf amid the jeers and hoots of the rabble.
He became a member of the Congregational church in 1856, and has since adhered to that faith.
In politics, he has always been radically republi- can.
On the 14th of August, 1845, Mr. Bennett was married to Miss Elizabeth Rodgers Schenck, daugh- ter of Colonel Wm. Rodgers Schenck, one of the western poets, and granddaughter of Wm. C. Schenk,
brother of Hon. Robert C. Schenck, late United States minister to England, and only sister of James F. and R. C. Schenck, of Dayton, Ohio. They had six children born to them, three of whom, William, Oliver and Nelly, died in infancy, and the remain- ing three, Joseph, Phoebe and Charles, still survive. Joseph is engaged in merchandising at Waterloo, lowa, but the two youngest are still under the pa- ternal roof.
Mrs. Bennett died on the roth of August, 1872, in the 48th year of her age, universally regretted. She had been a follower of Christ since her seventeenth year, and since 1851 a member of the Congregational Church of Muscatine. She died with a calm and peaceful trust in her Saviour. Her life was pure, lovely, and of good report, and her name is cherished as a precious keepsake by her surviving family and many friends, to whom she had been for many years a beautiful and noble example in all the various re- lations of life.
ORLANDO B. AYRES,
KNOXVILLE.
O NE of the self-made men and leading attor- neys at the Marion county bar is Orlando B. Ayres, who never went to school to exceed four months in his life after he was twelve years old, and to-day is one of the best office lawyers in this part of the state. He was born in Willoughby, Lake county, Ohio, on the 26th of July, 1836. His fath- er, Buenos Ayres, was from Massachusetts, and his mother, Sarah Osborn, from Connecticut. In his infancy the family moved to Hicksville, Defiance county, in the northwestern part of the state, and when he was fourteen removed to Waupun, Wiscon- sin, spending one year there. In 1851 they removed to Dover, Bureau county, Illinois, and two years la- ter to Cambridge, Henry county, where the subject of this sketch continued to work on a farm until 1861, when he commenced reading law at Kewa- nee, with Howe and North. He was admitted to the bar at a term of the supreme court held at Ot- tawa in December, 1863.
Prior to commencing the study of law Mr. Ayres managed to secure a good practical business educa- tion by private studies, mastering arithmetic, English grammar and other branches. He sometimes went eight or ten miles to borrow a useful book.
On receiving his certificate permitting him to prac- tice, Mr. Ayres opened an office in Kewanee with Levi North, his preceptor, and at the end of ten months located in Knoxville, where he has been in constant practice, a partner all of the time of ex- Governor Stone. He has sedulously refused to ac- cept any office, except that of notary public or something in a business line; is very studious, and is a growing man. He is fully up to the average as a jury lawyer, is a perfect master of the details of an office, prepares his cases with the utmost care, and is logical, clear and forcible in court work. In industry he is almost a match for Judge Cole, late of the supreme bench. The library of Messrs. Stone and Ayres is large and choice, and the latter, when not in court, is found there, applying himself to severe studies.
Pecuniarily as well as professionally he is success- ful, and is vice-president of the Marion County Na- tional Bank. He has been from its organization a director of the Knoxville and Des Moines railway, the road now being in the hands of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Company. He is still a director.
In his youth Mr. Ayres was an abolitionist in
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political sentiment, and since there was a republican party has voted that ticket.
In religious sentiment, he is a Universalist. He is a Chapter Mason and a sixth-degree Odd-Fellow.
The wife of Mr. Ayres was Miss Annie L. Stone, sister of his law partner. They were married on the 13th of July, 1864, and have had seven chil- dren, six of them yet living.
ISAAC F. HILDRETH, M.D.,
LEON.
SAAC FREESE HILDRETH, son of Simeon I
and Sarah (Freese) Hildreth, is a native of Ban- gor, Maine, and first saw the light on the 20th of March, 1822. His great-grandfather was from Ire- land, and with two brothers fought for American independence. The Freese family early settled in Maine, but its pedigree we are unable to trace.
The subject of this notice attended the graded schools of Bangor till fourteen years of age; moved with his father's family to Granville, Ohio, in 1836; attended for two years the preparatory department of Granville College, now called Dennison Univer- sity; then learned of his father the cooper's trade, at Alexander, near Granville ; worked at it five years; taught a select school at Columbus two terms; in 1843 commenced studying medicine with Dr. J. S. Skinner, of Columbus; attended lectures at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia; graduated in 1846; practiced two years at Shadesville, near Columbus; the same length of time in Columbus; five or six years at Mount Liberty, Knox county, and early in the summer of 1856 left Ohio and settled at Lovilia, Monroe county, Iowa. He practiced there seven or eight years; at Bellefontaine, Mahaska county. In
1868 moved to Leon. Here he was employed in the drug business five years, and since that time has been practicing medicine, speculating in real estate, building, and looking after his property. He erected the Opera House block in 1876, to commemorate the centennial year, and has several fine business houses and other property in the city of Leon. He is pub- lic-spirited, full of energy and enterprise, and is do- ing his full share in beautifying the place, being the most extensive builder, probably, in the city. His works are his monument, and will stand long after he has departed.
Dr. Hildreth was originally an old-line whig, and of late years has been a republican. He was a mem- ber of the board of supervisors of Mahaska county, and member and chairman of a similar board in Decatur county one year.
He belongs to the Decatur County Medical Soci- ety, and is a Royal Arch Mason, and has been high priest of Chapter No. 33, Leon.
On the 26th of June, 1848, Miss Laura Devereaux, of Granville, Ohio, became the wife of Dr. Hildreth, and they have one daughter, Sadie, the wife of John D. Robberts, of Albia, Iowa.
GEORGE W. ARGO,
LEMARS.
T HE Argos are of French descent. The pro- genitor of the family in this country, John Argo, came over about the time of the revolution, settled in Virginia, and fought under General La- fayette. The name in the old country was Arago, changed we know not why. Alexander M. Argo, son of John and grandfather of George W., was a soldier in the second war with England. The par- ents of George W .. John and Sarah (McDonald) Argo, moved from Virginia to Pennsylvania about 1835, and thence, a little later, to Logan county,
Ohio, where the subject of this notice was born, on the 19th of September, 1843. When he was twelve years old the family moved to Allen county, Indi- ana, near Fort Wayne, settling on a farm. There his mother died in 1861 and his father in 1862, leav- ing the son with three younger sisters to take care of. Before the death of his parents George W. had learned the carpenter and millwright's trade, work- ing at it steadily until nineteen, except during the winters, which he spent in a district school. When the civil war broke out he was attending the Fort
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Wayne College, and when the 55th Indiana regi- ment was mustered into the service, he was a pri- vate in company E. After being in the service nearly two years he resigned, having previously been promoted to second lieutenant of the company.
Soon after leaving the army Mr. Argo commenced reading law at Fort Wayne with Hon. J. L. Worden, now chief justice of Indiana. Having to support himself and three sisters, at the end of two years he had to return to his trade, still giving his leisure time to his law books.
In March, 1866, Mr. Argo came to Marengo, Iowa county, Iowa, where he was admitted to the bar in February, 1867. Before opening an office he went to Fort Randall, Dakota Territory, and aided in building the new fort, he being foreman of the car- penter's department. He was a member of the leg- islature of that territory in the winter of 1870-71. On the 16th of the next November he reached Le- mars, which has since been his home, law being his exclusive business. Probably no attorney in this part of the state ever rose more rapidly. Since he settled in Plymouth county he has had extraordi- nary success, especially as a criminal lawyer. He
has been retained on every case of the kind tried in the county since locating here, and his success as- tonishes those who have the highest opinion of him. He seems to have the law at his tongue's end, and is a powerful advocate. He is growing in knowl- edge, in popularity and in legal acumen and intel- lectual strength. Evidently a brilliant future is to be his.
Mr. Argo was a democrat before coming to Iowa, and has since acted with the republicans, being classed among the moderates or conservatives; yet at times he is very active, exhibiting great zeal for friends whom he wishes to see elevated to office. He works to win, and rarely fails.
He is a member of the blue lodge in the order of Free and Accepted Masons.
Religiously, he is partial to the Presbyterian faith and order of worship, but is a member of no church. At the time of writing he is giving his leisure to ad- vocating the cause of temperance, a fine field in which to show his oratorical powers.
On the 25th of December, 1866, Miss Carrie Swe- zey, of Marengo, Iowa, was married to Mr. Argo, and they have two children and have lost two.
COLONEL BENJAMIN A. BEACH.
MUSCATINE.
BENJAMIN A. BEACH, ex-colonel of the 11th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, was born in Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio, on the 20th of January, 1827, and is the son of John and Rosanna (Wilson) Beach, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of Pennsylvania. The ancestors on the male side are of German origin, and of the same stock to which the wife of Benjamin Franklin, from whom he is named, belonged; while on the female side the lin- eage is traced back to the north of Ireland, and thence to Scotland. Our subject was the fourth of a family of six children, two sons and four daughters, and was made an orphan at the age of five years by the death of his father. His mother was left with- out means, and the children were early thrown upon their own resources. The schooling of Benjamin A. was limited to three months annually in the depth of winter, at the public schools, previous to the age of nine years, at which period he commenced work- ing in Graham's paper mills, near Hamilton, Ohio, at fifty cents per week, where he remained steadily
for four years. At the age of thirteen years he was apprenticed to a tinsmith in Richmond, Indiana, to learn the trade of his master, at which he continued three years. At the outbreak of the Mexican war he ran away from home and enlisted as a soldier in the 1st Ohio Volunteers, Colonel A. M. Mitchell commanding, and remained in the service some six- teen months. The change of diet, and especially the malarious climate of the south, brought on an attack of fever that reduced him almost to a skele- ton, and for weeks his life hung by a thread, but on being removed to a higher latitude he recovered with great rapidity, and became one of the most ro- bust and healthy veterans of the army. He further- more developed a taste and aptitude for soldiering that placed him in the front ranks as an accom- plished soldier. He served through all the marches and campaigns of that struggle, fought at Monterey and in other engagements, and was honorably dis- charged at the close of the war. After laying down his musket he resumed his trade at Hamilton, Ohio,
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where he worked steadily for over two years, and in 1850 moved to Muscatine, Iowa, which has been his home ever since. Here he opened a shop and store, and conducted a profitable trade until the outbreak of the slaveholders' rebellion, when, actuated by pa- triotic motives, he again tendered his services to his country, and on the 17th of April, 1861, he enlisted in company A, Ist Iowa Volunteers. But his pre- vious military experience was too important to per- mit of his remaining in the ranks, and on the or- ganization of the company he was elected to the position of first lieutenant. He served in this ca- pacity through the three months' campaign, and par- ticipated in the battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri, at which the lamented General Lion was killed. On the 17th of October, 1861, he reentered the service for three years, as captain of company H, 11th Iowa Infantry. He commenced his career in the new organization early in the spring of 1862, on the Ten- nessee river, and participated in the battle of Shiloh, on the 6th of April, where he lost some thirty men of his company. He also took part in the campaign against Corinth, under command of General Halleck. While stationed at Bolivar, Tennessee, in Septem- ber, 1862, he was placed in command of a detach- ment consisting of his own company and a battalion from the 31st Illinois, as a train guard, between Bolivar and Jackson, and while en route for the latter point was attacked and surrounded by a brigade of rebel cavalry under General Jackson, of Tennessee, who destroyed the track, cut off retreat, and de- manded an unconditional surrender ; but the gallant captain was not made of surrender stuff. By a bril- liant manœuvre he fell back a few rods to Madora station, which he barricaded with cotton bales, and defended the depot and stores with great tenacity, keeping his assailants at bay for a period of four hours, when reinforcements from Jackson arrived for his aid. His loss in the encounter was six men, among whom was his orderly sergeant. The rebels were subsequently repulsed with considerable loss. Captain Beach was commended in general orders for his gallantry and soldierly qualities in this en- gagement. Next day he rejoined his regiment at Bolivar, which was then under marching orders for Corinth. His regiment was assigned to the com- mand of General Ord, and on the 30th of Septem- ber participated in the battle of Iuka, and in the second battle of Corinth on the 3d and 4th of Octo- ber, when the regiment again lost heavily. In No- vember following the regiment returned to Grand
¡ Junction, Tennessee, and joined the army of General Grant, which was then contemplating a move upon Vicksburgh, by way of the Mississippi Central rail- road, but this line of approach was abandoned in consequence of the cutting off of supplies by the rebel general Van Dorn, at Holly Springs. The army then fell back to Memphis, and approached Vicksburgh by the river. After a siege of over six months this stronghold surrendered to Grant, on the 4th of July, 1863. After resting in Vicksburgh till the middle of August, our subject, with his regiment, was transferred to the command of General Stephen- son, and participated in the bootless campaign of western Louisiana, terminating at the Washita river. The country being marshy and swampy, the men suffered greatly from malarial fever, and on return- ing to Vicksburgh nine tenths of the command were on the sick list, there being but two members of Captain Beach's company able to walk from the steamboat to the camp. After recuperating at Vicks- burgh, the regiment veteranized, and our subject was granted a thirty-days leave of absence. He next joined General Sherman at Ackworth, Georgia, and participated in the campaign against Atlanta, and thence in the march to the sea, with all its skirmishes, battles and adventures, till its arrival at Savannah ; thence to Bufort, South Carolina ; thence through the Carolinas to Goldsborough, participating in Sherman's last fight with the rebels at Smith- land; thence to Raleigh, being present at the sur- render of the rebel general Joe Johnson ; thence to Washington, by way of Petersburgh and Richmond, and was present at the grand review in the national capital in May. 1865. We have thus given an out- line of his brilliant military career without interrupt- ing the narrative to note his several promotions, which we will now place on record.
At the battle of Atlanta, the same engagement in which General McPherson was killed, on the 22d of July, 1864, Major Foster, of the 11th, was killed, and Captain Beach was elected over all the inter- mediate line officers to fill the vacancy. Before the arrival of his commission as major, the colonelcy of the regiment became vacant by the resignation of Colonel Abercrombie, when he was elected over the intermediate officer to the command of the regi- ment, and retained that position until the arrival of the army in Washington, when he was placed in command of an Iowa brigade consisting of the 11th, 13th, 15th and 16th regiments, and was offered a brevet to his rank, which, however, he declined, the
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war having been ended, and the compliment being an empty one. During his long, active and brilliant military service he was never a day off duty by sick- ness, never wounded, captured, or absent on leave, save the thirty days referred to above, nor was there ever a charge of any kind preferred against him. He was mustered out of service at Louisville, Ken- tucky, on the 19th of July, 1865, he having made a stainless and eminently honorable record, which will be a legacy of priceless worth to his children.
After quitting the army he returned to Muscatine, where, in partnership with Wm. T. Butts, he opened a large grocery establishment, which still continues in successful operation.
He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, being a Knight Templar.
He has been for many years a consistent mem- ber of the Presbyterian church, and is a generous contributor to all local charitable institutions.
Politically, he was raised in the democratic faith, in which he continued till the outbreak of the rebel- lion, since which period he has been among the most radical of republicans.
He has been twice married : first, on the 29th of November, 1854, to Miss Mary Rebecca, daughter of George D. and Ellen Stevenson, of Muscatine, Iowa. She died on the 11th of March, 1857, leaving one child, which followed her to the hither shore soon after ; second, on the 31st of January, 1866, to Miss Josephine, daughter of George and Ellen Mason, of Muscatine, Iowa. They have two chil- dren, boys, George and Frederick.
In a word, Colonel Beach is the type of an honest man, a quiet and orderly citizen, and a loyal patriot. Whether upon the march, in the camp, in the coun- cil, at the post of danger and responsibility, or in the more peaceful walks of life, he has proved himself the typical man of honor and probity. He is a man of great decision of character, strong and enduring convictions of right, and can no more be swerved from established principles than the needle from the pole. He stands ever ready to vindicate the cause of truth, honesty and impartial justice, both by word and deed. No man in the community is more highly esteemed for his quiet and unostentatious manners and solid worth than is Colonel Benjamin Beach.
HON. DANIEL HUNT,
AVOCA.
D ANIEL HUNT, representative in the general assembly from Pottawattamie county, is a son of Seth Hunt, a miller and mill-owner, now residing in Monroe county, Iowa, and was born in Glouces- ter, Providence county, Rhode Island, on the 17th of May, 1836. An ancestor, Captain Seth Hunt, a seafaring man, was one of the early settlers in the city of Providence. The maiden name of Daniel's mother was Hannah C. Tourlellot, a descendant of Gabrial Tourlellot, a French Huguenot who fled to South Carolina at the time of the persecution, and moved thence to Rhode Island. The great-grand- father of Daniel on his grandmother's side, Daniel Smith, was in the first war with the mother country. His grandfather, Pardon Hunt, was once high sheriff of Providence county.
The subject of this biography lost his mother when he was only two years old, and went to live with his grandfather just mentioned, an early Rhode Island cotton manufacturer, who carefully reared and edu- cated him. At a suitable age he was placed in the Fruit Hill Classical Institute, in North Providence,
where he remained until his seventeenth year, when he went into the counting room of an uncle, and spent three years clerking for him and other parties. Subsequently he was interested in the cotton busi- ness in Providence with the late S. Sterry Smith.
When about twenty years of age Mr. Hunt, hav- ing a strong desire to see the great west and other parts of North America, started on a tour of obser- vation and speculation, first visiting the central west- ern states, then proceeding southward to Texas, then to old Mexico, Central America, California, Oregon and the British provinces, mining, trading, etc.
During this time his father moved to Mills county, in the extreme southwestern part of Iowa, settling there about sixteen years ago, and in the autumn of 1866 the son returned from the Pacific slope, and after remaining one winter with his father the whole family removed to Pottawattamie county. They set- tled in the Nishnabotna valley, four miles southwest of where Avoca now stands, building a flouring-mill and engaging in milling and farming.
About five years ago Mr. Hunt lost his health ;
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sold out his interest in the mill and other property and traveled a year or two until his health was re- stored. On returning he made Avoca his home, and since 1875 has been operating in real estate, farming and stock-raising. He has a thousand acres of land in Pottawattamie county, and is cultivating about one-third of it.
In the autumn of 1875 Mr. Hunt was elected to the lower house of the general assembly, and served in the session of 1876, being on the committees on asylum for the deaf and dumb, county and township organizations, compensation of public offices, and for the suppression of intemperance. During that ses- sion he was influential in getting a bill for a new county, to be called Grimes, and to be taken from the eastern part of Pottawattamie, but the measure was defeated by a vote of the people.
Mr. Hunt was reared a whig, and since the disso- lution of that party has acted with the democrats. He usually attends the state conventions of his party, and is one of its leaders in Pottawattamie county. He has a great deal of magnetism, and exerts a strong influence.
He is a Master Mason.
The wife of Mr. Hunt was Miss Harriet M. Mor- timore, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana; they were married on the 14th of August, 1861.
Mr. Hunt is of a nervous temperament, has gray eyes and a dark complexion ; he is five feet eleven and a half inches in height, and weighs one hundred and fifty pounds. He has seen a great deal of the world, and has "roughed it " to some extent on the Pacific coast, yet he has a good polish of manners and excellent social qualities.
THOMAS J. ANDERSON,
KNOXVILLE.
T HE subject of this notice is a son of Robert Anderson, a farmer, and Lucinda Larue, and dates his birth in Fulton county, Illinois, on the 4th of March, 1837. The Andersons, his ancestors, are of English descent and an old Virginia family. The Larues were French Huguenots. Robert An- derson was a private soldier a short time in the war of 1812-15. In 1853 he moved with his family to Marion county, Iowa. Here the son worked on a farm one season, but having reached the age of sev- enteen, with but limited educational advantages, he bought his time of his father, and turned his atten- tion to literary pursuits, spending three or four years alternating between attending a select school at Os- kaloosa, taught by Professor Drake, and in teaching a district school in Marion county. In 1858, Mr. Anderson, then a promising young man, was elected surveyor of Marion county, and having some leisure commenced the reading of law in the autumn of the same year with Hon. J. E. Neal, of Knoxville. He was admitted to the bar in October, 1860, and has practiced continuously at the county seat, except when absent in the service of his country. In the autunın of 1862 he went into the army as first lieu- tenant, company A, 40th Iowa Infantry ; was subse- quently promoted to captain, and while holding that position resigned on the 2d of December, 1864, and returned to Knoxville. During the last five or six
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