USA > Iowa > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume > Part 79
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first legislature which met at Des Moines, and took his seat in that body in January, 1858.
In 1859 he was elected one of the supervisors of Polk county, which office he held by reelection for a period of six years.
In the fall of 1873 he was nominated and elected to a seat in the upper house of the Iowa general assembly, of which body he has since been an active and influential member.
He was first married on the 14th of August, 1841, to Almira, daughter of Benjamin Swift, a farmer, then of Thetford, Vermont, by whom he had five chil- dren, as follows : Oran F., lieutenant of company I, 8th Iowa Cavalry, who died at Waverly, Tennessee, on the 8th of March, 1864, aged twenty-two years; Mary Ann, the wife of M. R. Hoxie, who has three children, Thomas Mitchell, Carrie and Elsie ; Charles Melvill, aged twenty-six, a farmer of Polk county, Iowa, who is married to Lizzie Delong, and has one son, named William Delong; and the youngest, Wal- ter A., eighteen years of age, who is attending school at the seminary of Mitchellville. Mrs. Mitchell died on the 16th of June, 1860, aged about forty years.
Mr. Mitchell was married on the 17th of June, 1871, to Anna C. Mattern, by whom he has two chil- dren, Harry Herbert and Maud, aged respectively six and two years.
ALLEN BROOMHALL, LL. B.,
MUSCATINE.
A LLEN BROOMHALL, attorney and counselor at law, and president of the board of directors of the public schools of Muscatine, was born in Bel- mont county, Ohio, on the 26th of May, 1834, his par- ents being James Broomhall and Rebecca nee Bond, who were members of the Society of Friends (Hicks- ite). The Broomhall family is of English origin, the founders of it in America having settled in Chester county, Pennsylvania, soon after the first landing of William Penn, where a large colony of the descend- ants are still to be found.
The father of our subject moved to Ohio with his parents in the year 1808, where he subsequently mar- ried Rebecca Bond, who was also descended from the Penn Colony stock. He died in 1837, leaving four orphan children, three of whom were older than our subject.
An heirloom, very highly prized, which has de-
scended from father to son for the last two hundred years, being now in the possession of our subject, is a huge tome of "William Penn's Sermons," bearing date as far back as 1650.
Allen Broomhall received the rudiments of his education in the log school-houses of his native place, and subsequently took a course in the clas- sical institute at Barnesville, Belmont county, Ohio. He removed to Iowa in 1856, and settled in West Liberty, Muscatine county, where he purchased and improved several farms, and made some profitable investments in real estate. In 1857 he removed to Atalissa. in the same county, where he started a lumber yard, and conducted several other enter- prises. He also commenced the study of law under the direction of Hon. J. Carskadden, of Muscatine, which he pursued with pertinacity during his leisure hours.
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In 1859 he became agent of the Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company at Atalissa, a position which he retained some five years, discharging the duties mainly by deputy, however.
In 1861 he was admitted to the bar in Muscatine, but did not enter fully upon the practice of his pro- fession until 1866. Meantime he spent a year at the Cincinnati Law School, from which he gradu- ated in the spring of the last named year with the honorable degree of LL.B.
He had previously formed a partnership with the Hon. D. C. Cloud for the practice of law, which continued successfully for nine years.
In 1875 he formed a law partnership with the Hon. J. Scott Richman, the latter to reside in Dav- enport, which continued in force until February, 1877, since which period he has been without a partner.
Mr. Broomhall has always been an earnest advo- cate of popular education ; of new and better school- houses; higher standards of scholarship; increase of teachers' salaries, with improved tuition and a more constant and earnest appreciation of the work of the schools. He had for several years agitated the erection of a new high-school building for Musca- tine, and upon this issue, in 1873, he was elected president of the Muscatine board of education, a position which he has since retained. In 1874, the law being meantime varied, he was elected a mem- ber of the board of education for three years, and by that body was annually elected president of the organization during that term. In 1877 he was again elected a director for a period of three years, and at the first meeting of the new board was again elected to the presidency, and is perhaps among the best and most popular school officers of the state. To his efforts and influence are largely due the erec- tion of the splendid institution above alluded to.
He also advocated and finally carried, in 1873, the measure providing for the appointment of a special committee to examine applicants for situa- tions in the public schools, which has resulted in giving a superior class of teachers, and benefiting in a great measure the public-school service.
The city of Muscatine regards the president of its school board as occupying the most honorable and important office in its gift; and it is because Mr. Broomhall has so honored and exalted the office that it now gratefully reflects so much of its lustre upon him.
Mr. Broomhall is a member of the Masonic order;
was worthy master of a blue lodge for five years, and is a member of the Royal Arch Chapter. He is also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and was the first presiding officer of Mus- catine Lodge, No. 99, of this order.
Our subject was raised in the communion of the Society of Friends of the Hicksite branch, in which he had a birthright; but in the year 1865 his re- ligious views underwent a change which led him to unite with the Congregational church, of which he has since been a consistent member and office- holder.
Educated in the school of Elias Hicks, his po- litical views were naturally molded on the "aboli- tion " plan. He was taught to regard slavery as the crowning sin of this nation, and accordingly his first Presidential vote was cast for John C. Fremont in 1856; since then he has acted with the republi- can party. He has never sought office, however, preferring the quiet, unostentatious pursuit of his profession, and the social enjoyments of family and friends.
On the 21st of June, 1857, he married Miss Har- riet Fowler, of Barnesville, Ohio, a most excellent christian lady; she died on the 17th of September, 1876, leaving a family of three interesting daugh- ters: Ella, Elizabeth and Mary Rebecca. The eld- est is a graduate of the Muscatine High School, and is now making preparation for the completion of her education in the Iowa State University, and is a young lady of large promise. The second is a member of the high school, and the youngest is fol- lowing after as rapidly as possible.
Mr. Broomhall is a gentleman of very fine appear- ance, nearly six feet high, and weighing one hun- dred and seventy pounds; erect figure, fair com- plexion, dark hair and eyes, regular features, easy manners and pleasing address; quick in his sympa- thies, kind and unselfish ; a total abstainer from all ardent beverages and tobacco.
It is often said of him that he is too honest to be a lawyer; too truthful to serve the client who seeks to win his case by deceit or trickery.
As a practitioner, he enjoys in the fullest measure the confidence and esteem of the courts, the bar and the people. It is, however, by his office of president of the school board that he is best known to the public. Though, as the attorney of several of the largest business interests of the city, and with an extensive outside clientage, he is compelled to economize his time to meet his professional and
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public engagements. He is not fond of the excite- ment and wrangle of the forum, and prefers to be recognized rather as a chamber counselor. His theory is that the only reasonable parties to be ad- dressed are the parties in the case, who can sooner be made to agree by the fair speech of one lawyer in his law office, than by twelve jurymen, contend- ing counsel, and any number of district or supreme judges.
Following his own pleasant line of practice in his
chosen profession, and blessed with the contentment resulting from a pleasant home and cultured chil- dren, he has beautifully demonstrated, in the years he has unselfishly given to the public service with- out fee or hope of reward, that the true citizen never surrenders to the charms of his fireside or the calls of his profession the allegiance he owes to mankind.
He is a director and secretary of the Hershey Lumber Manufacturing Company of Muscatine.
COLONEL WILLIAM PATTERSON,
KEOKUK.
W ILLIAM PATTERSON, ex-mayor of Keo- kuk, Iowa, was born in Wythe county, Vir- ginia, on the 9th of March, 1802, and is the son of Joseph and Jane Patterson née Walker, of Scotch- Irish descent. When he was five years of age his father moved to Kentucky, settling in Adair county, where he had the advantage of a common-school education, attending school in the winter and assist- ing on the farm in the summer. He had a taste for farming, and intended to make it the occupation of his life. He left Kentucky in 1829 and settled in Marion county, Missouri; remained three years and moved thence to Sangamon county, near Springfield, Illinois. Here he remained till 1837, when he set- tled on a farm at West Point, Lee county, Iowa, then a portion of Wisconsin Territory. Here he lived till 1846, and becoming tired of farming, came to Keokuk and opened a store in connection with furnishing boats with produce and meat. Keokuk at that time was a small village of one hundred and fifty to two hundred inhabitants, built upon the edge of the river, and the hill upon which the city now stands was covered with woods. In connection with his mercantile pursuits he commenced the business of pork-packing as an experiment, till 1848, when he sold his interest in merchandise and engaged exclusively in pork-packing, and now packs on an average twenty thousand hogs per annum. Few business men in Keokuk have been more successful than Colonel Patterson, and his success is a good illustration of what may be achieved by persever- ing steadily in one branch of business. He has fol- lowed pork-packing exclusively for over thirty years, and the result of this steady perseverance and good management is seen in the large and lucrative busi-
ness which he has built up, which not only affords him a handsome income but adds an important in- terest to the trade of Keokuk.
Colonel Patterson has from the early settlement taken a prominent part in public affairs. He was elected a member of the first legislature of the Territory of Iowa in 1838, and while in that body was influential in settling the disturbance about the boundary line between this portion of Iowa and Missouri. He was commissioned colonel of militia by Governor Lucas, of Iowa, and during the border troubles received the following order :
[GENERAL ORDER No. 1.]
HEADQUARTERS, BURLINGTON. I. T. December 7, 1839.
COLONEL WILLIAM PATTERSON :
Sir,-In pursuance of an order from the commander-in- chief under date of the 6th instant, and in compliance with the requisition from the deputy marshal of same date, you are hereby directed to furnish from your regiment one com- pany of mounted men, armed and equipped for active ser- vice, directing the officer to have his command properly furnished with the necessary implements and munitions of war, and that he report to me at Farmington, Van Buren county, with the least possible delav.
I. B. BROWNE, Maj .- Gen. Commanding Ist Div. Iowa Militia.
The company was ordered forward, but by efforts of Colonel Patterson and some of his colleagues in the legislature, prevented the effusion of blood; the militia were disbanded, and soon after congress es- tablished the boundary line according to the claim of Iowa. He was several times elected to the leg- islature, both to the upper and lower house, and served in all during nine sessions, regular and spe- cial. He was a member of the constitutional con- vention which convened in Iowa City in 1857. He has been elected three times mayor of Keokuk, and was postmaster of Keokuk seven years.
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Colonel Patterson was for a long time president of the Des Moines Improvement Company. He was one of the principal movers and most liberal donors to the erection of Westminster Church, of Keokuk, which is one of the most beautiful church edifices in the state.
He has been a leading member of the Presbyte-
rian faith for forty years, and was the first elder of the Old School Presbyterian church elected in Iowa in 1837.
His life has been one of ceaseless activity and in- dustry, and is remarkable for energy and courage. Socially, he is pleasant and affable, and no one has more friends in the community.
ANDERSON J. SMITH, M. D.,
DE SOTO.
A ANDERSON JEFFERSON SMITH, for whose especial benefit congress passed a bill in 1876, is a native of Indiana, and was born in Harrison county on the 12th of October, 1832. His parents were John S. Smith, stonemason and house-builder, and Hannah Ford. His paternal grandfather, John Smith, was in both wars with England, and was killed in the battle of New Orleans on the 8th of January, 1815. His maternal great-grandfather, Benjamin Ford, was in the first war mentioned, and his ma- ternal grandfather, John D. Ford, was killed in the second, at Black Rock, now in the city of Buffalo, New York.
Anderson J. received a common-school educa- tion, and learned the house-builder's trade; worked at it in Harrison county until 1850, when he re- moved to Clark county, Illinois, entered land and worked it three seasons, devoting half of this time to the study of medicine.
In 1853 he removed to Clinton, DeWitt county, in the same state; completed his medical studies, and in 1855 commenced practice at Petersburg, Menard county. The following year he settled at Spring- field, the capital of the state, practicing there until after the civil war had commenced.
In August, 1862, Dr. Smith raised a company for the 130th Illinois Infantry Volunteers; was elected captain of company A, but declined the position and went in as second sergeant of that company. For a short time, while at Camp Butler, near Springfield, he had entire medical charge of the regiment. He served in the field as a soldier until the 8th of April, 1864, when he was taken prisoner at the battle of Sabine Cross Roads, Louisiana. He was taken to Camp Ford, near Tyler, Smith county, Texas, and held a prisoner fourteen months. Four weeks after being taken Governor Yates promoted him to first lieutenant for especial service in the battle just men-
tioned, in which he exhibited great coolness, self- possession and bravery, but the commission did not reach him for more than a year afterward. During the time he was a prisoner he built a rude hospital, and managed it in the interest of the sick prisoners, the confederates furnishing neither shelter nor sur- geon, nothing but a little medicine. He was released on the 17th of May, 1865, by the breaking up of the war, and mustered out just one month later. When the rebel guards left he had two hundred and eighty- six sick soldiers on his hands, and brought them all through to our lines except one man, William Mar- tin, who was left at Shreveport, Louisiana.
The knowledge of Dr. Smith's hospital services while a prisoner coming before congress, the milita- ry committee of the lower house made the following report :
The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill ( H. R. 597) for the relief of Anderson f. Smith, re- port the same back with a recommendation that the same do pass, and also report the following statement of facts :
It appears from the testimony . that Anderson J. Smith, then a sergeant in company A, 77th Illinois Volunteers, was captured, in the line of his duty, on the 8th day of April, 1864, and detained as a prisoner of war at Camp Ford, in Texas, until the 17th day of May, 1865. That dur- ing this time he rendered valuable service as a physician and surgeon to the United States prisoners at that place. He was commissioned by Governor Yates, of Illinois, first lieutenant of company A, of the 130th Illinois Volunteers, on the 22d day of July, 1864, with rank from the 6th day of May, 1864, but owing to the fact that he was detained as prisoner never received his commission. That he has been honorably discharged from service. As he was unable to perform the duties of first lieutenant, by reason of confine- ment as prisoner, and did voluntarily and ably perform the duties of assistant surgeon, the committee consider that he is entitled to pay as such, and report accordingly.
Subsequently the following act was passed by the forty-fourth congress, July, 1876 :
AN ACT FOR THE RELIEF OF ANDERSON J. SMITH.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the paymaster-general of the army be, and he is hereby,
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directed to pay to Anderson J. Smith, late of company A, 130th regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, the pay and allowances of an assistant surgeon in the army from the sixth of May, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, to the date of his muster-out of service on the seventeenth day of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, deducting whatever pay he received for said term as sergeant; and that such payment shall be made out of any money appropriated for the pay of the army. MILTON SAYLER,
Speaker of the House of Representatives pro tempore.
T. W. FERRY, President of the Senate pro tempore.
After the prisoners of the 130th and other regi- ments were released, and while on their way from New Orleans to Saint Louis on the steamer Magenta, on the 7th of June, 1865, twenty-one commissioned offi- cers, from four or five different states, signed a paper in which they speak of Dr. Smith's services as a soldier, physician and surgeon in the strongest terms of com-
mendation. He received the act of congress, one thousand one hundred and sixty-six dollars and ninety-eight cents.
At the close of the war Dr. Smith settled in Dal- las county, Iowa, reaching here on the 9th of No- vember, 1865, and he has since that date been in practice, having an extensive ride. Since 1869 his home has been in De Soto, a pleasant little village on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad. The doctor is a well-informed man, and a valuable citizen.
On the 25th of December, 1855, he was united in marriage with Miss Caroline Brown, of Sweet Water, Menard county, Illinois, and they have two sons and one daughter: Charles H., James William and Mary A. Smith.
CHARLES H. SPENCER,
GRINNELL.
A MONG the enterprising men who have built up Grinnell from the nucleus of a village to a city of three thousand inhabitants is Charles H. Spencer, who settled here when the place contained less than twenty-five families, and who has been thoroughly identified with all its interests. He is a native of Saybrook, Connecticut, is a son of Sylves- ter Spencer, for many years a notary public and bank clerk, and was born on the 6th of June, 1824. The maiden name of his mother was Elizabeth Clarke, whose father, Ezra Clarke, was a soldier in the revolution, aiding the colonies to gain their free- dom from the British yoke. The Spencers were from England, three brothers coming over about two cen- turies ago, one of them settling in New York, and the other two in Connecticut. From one of the latter brothers sprang the branch to which Charles Henry belongs.
At the age of twelve years he went to New York city, and served as a runner boy in a bank for three years; then went to Great Bend, Jefferson county, in the northern part of the state, and clerked in a store ; a few years later became proprietor of the store; remained in that place about twelve years, in mercantile trade, and in the winter of 1856 settled in Grinnell, where for twenty-one years he has been one of the leading business men.
After merchandising here alone for three years Mr. Spencer went into the drug business, in partner-
ship with Dr. Thomas C. Holyoke, whose life is re- corded in other pages of this work, and continued that business connection until the demise of the doctor in 1876. They instituted at an early day a small exchange office, which grew into the First Na- tional Bank of Grinnell, organized by Mr. Spencer and others in 1865, and going into operation in March, 1866. He became its cashier, and has held the office ever since, making it not only a very firm but very popular institution. In earnestness and expedition in business Mr. Spencer is unexcelled in Grinnell, and the confidence of the people in his honesty is unlimited.
Mr. Spencer has been a member of the Congrega- tional church since 1860, and has at different times held the offices of trustee and treasurer of the so- ciety.
He has also been treasurer of Iowa College, which is located at Grinnell. He has probably had more money pass through his hands than any other man in Grinnell, and not a dollar of it has failed to be accounted for. A truer or more trustworthy man it would be difficult to find anywhere.
Politically, Mr. Spencer is a republican, with whig antecedents, but as much as possible he has shunned office, though he is now one of the county super- visors.
On the 6th of February, 1850, Mr. Spencer chose for his life companion Miss Mary A. Haworth, of
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Evans Mills, Jefferson county, New York, and they had four children, three of them yet living, two sons and one daughter. Henry C. and Louis E. are graduates of the Agricultural College at Ames, and Mary is a student in Iowa College. Henry C. is assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Grin- nell, and Louis E. is in the law school at Des Moines, all children of good promise.
Mr. Spencer is generous-hearted, very liberal, and a true neighbor, never forgetting the injunction of the Savior to remember the poor. His charities are distributed in the most quiet and private man- ner. He is also a warm friend of the young, often giving them, in an unobtrusive and most kindly man- ner, words of advice which are " like apples of gold in pictures of silver."
CAPTAIN ORLO H. LYON,
ROCKFORD.
O RLO HENRY LYON, banker and postmaster at Rockford, Floyd county, is descended from an old English family which early settled in Connec- ticut, and is a relative of General Lyon, who perished in the battle of Wilson Creek, Missouri, in the sum- mer of 1861. The parents of Orlo were Asa Lyon, a farmer, and Sabra Ann née Skinner, and were liv- ing in Woodstock, Windham county, Connecticut, at the time of his birth, on the 20th of January, 1835. The son farmed until fourteen years old; was edu- cated at the academies at South Woodstock, Con- necticut, and Dudley, Massachusetts; taught school one winter when sixteen; at seventeen entered a store at Thompson, and clerked there and at Wood- stock three or four years; in February, 1856, came to Cedar Falls, Iowa, and resumed the same busi- ness; remained there about a year and a half, and in August, 1857, settled in Rockford. In company with J. S. Child he built a store, making the mortar with his own hands and acting as hod-carrier; and the firm of Child and Lyon, dealers in general mer- chandise, continued about a dozen years. Mr. Child was elected county treasurer, and for two years Mr. Lyon was alone in trade. Mr. Child's term of office having expired, the old firm continued about two years more.
During the second and third winters that Mr. Lyon was at Rockford, business being somewhat dull, after the crash of 1857, he taught school : one season at Rock Falls, the other at Rockford.
During the last eight years he has been postmas- ter. He was one of the editors and proprietors of the "Reveille " between two and three years, and its sole proprietor one year, selling out in July, 1877. On the Ist of August of the same year he went in- to the banking business in company with Ralph C. Mathews, a son of the late R. N. Mathews, of the 56
old firm of Mathews and Son. For the last ten or twelve years he has also been an extensive farmer, and has three hundred acres under cultivation, op- erating in this branch mainly through renters.
In the month of August, 1861, he enlisted as a pri- vate in the 3d Iowa Battery, which at first was con- nected with the 9th Infantry, but subsequently was by itself. He was in a large number of battles, had his horse wounded two or three times, served four years and two or three months, and never was scar- red, and was promoted eight times, coming out as captain. The adjutant-general's report of the State . of Iowa, made during the rebellion, speaks of Cap- tain Lyon's bravery and efficient operations during more than one engagement with the enemy. In the battle at Helena, Arkansas, on the 3d of July, 1863, the 3d Iowa Battery took quite a conspicuous part, Lieutenant Lyon during the entire engagement " en- couraging his men to deeds of valor by his exam- ple." He had his horse wounded twice severely, though not fatally. The report of M. C. Wright, first lieutenant commanding 3d Iowa Battery, states that Lieutenant Lyon, during the charge on battery C, "changed the position of his six-pound gun to command the ravine running westward from the Catholic Church, and by his fire contributed very materially in repulsing the enemy." The Shellrock valley furnished many brave soldiers during the civil war, none, probably, braver than Captain Lyon.
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