USA > Iowa > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume > Part 84
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He was married on the 21st of July, 1861, to Miss S. C. Fuel, of Lucas county, Iowa; their family con- sists of three children, one girl and two boys, the youngest boy being dead.
He is a rabid republican in politics, and in re- ligious convictions a spiritualist. He is a Master Mason, also a member of the encampment and sub- ordinate lodges of Odd-Fellows, of which he is a past grand.
WILLIAM CORNS, M. D.,
TAMA CITY.
O NE of the best-read physicians and most skill- ful practitioners in Tama county, Iowa, is Will- iam Corns, of Tama City, who has been a resident of Iowa since he was two years old. He is a native of Ohio, and was born in Muskingum county on the 17th of October, 1835. His father, William Corns. was a millwright in his younger years, and later in
life a farmer, and his grandfather was a revolution- ary soldier. The Cornses are of German pedigree, and settled in Pennsylvania. The mother of Will- iam was Phebe Adaline Bagley, whose ancestors were early New England settlers. William Corns, senior, moved with his family to Princeton, Bureau county, Illinois, in 1836, and the next year crossed
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the Mississippi river, and settled in Muscatine coun- ty, where West Liberty now stands. When he lo- cated in what was then a part of Wisconsin Terri- tory his worldly effects consisted of a yoke of oxen, an excellent four-wheel wagon, a little bedding and furniture, and wife and two small children. Though but two and a-half years old, the subject of this sketch recollects crossing the great river at Daven- port, and also the names of the oxen. When a little older he hoed corn for an uncle on ground which now constitutes the principal streets of West Liberty. He lived in that vicinity, tilling land and attending school until March, 1861, finishing his literary ed- ucation at the West Liberty High School, which he attended one term. At the date just mentioned he commenced reading medicine with Dr. Peter A. Car- penter, of West Liberty, who, a few months later, went into the army as surgeon of the 5th Iowa Infantry, and who died of consumption at Fort Collins, Col- orado, some time after the close of the war. Mr. Corns finished his medical studies with Dr. Albert Ady, of West Liberty ; attended two courses of lec- tures at Keokuk, Iowa, in the winter of 1862-63, and
in the following spring graduating in June, 1863. In the following August he was appointed contract sur- geon, and served in that capacity in the general hos- pital at Keokuk until the Ist of April, 1865. He was in active practice during all that time, having new cases constantly, and an excellent opportunity for im- provement, particularly in surgery. The discipline he then and there received has served an excellent purpose in his practice since that date. It gave him skill in his profession, and laid the foundation of his present extensive practice and popularity. He loves surgery, studies science con amore, and is a progressive man. He is a member of the Iowa State Medical Society, and was its vice-president two or three years ago. His standing among the medical brethren of the state is excellent.
Dr. Corns located in Tama City in the spring of 1865, and since that date has had a growing prac- tice. He is examining surgeon for pensions. In politics, he is republican, but keeps out of office.
On the 11th of October, 1864, he married Miss Isabel Hemperly, of Muscatine county, and has six children.
ARCHIBALD S. MAXWELL, M. D.,
DAVENPORT.
PROMINENT among the physicians of Iowa is enrolled the name which heads this sketch. He was born on the 22d of June, 1818, near New Philadelphia, Ohio. His father, John Maxwell, was of Scotch descent, of liberal education, but a native of York county, Pennsylvania, and was born in 1766. His mother's maiden name was Ruth Cypherd, who was of Holland descent, being a near relative of the proprietor of the noted publishing house of William Cypherd, Amsterdam, Holland. She was born in Adams county, Pennsylvania, in 1774, and married in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1792. The novelty of pioneer life led them to leave a most comfortable home in the east to immigrate to Ohio, soon after that state was admitted to the Union. There Mr. Maxwell spent most of his large means in opening farms, erecting mills, etc., which resulted more in the accommodation of poor emigrants than the enrichment of his estate. He died in New Philadelphia, Ohio, in May, 1822. His wife died in October, 1839. The family consisted of ten sons and four daughters. Three sons died in infancy ; 59
the rest lived to rear families and hold honored po- sitions in society ; five are still living.
The doctor's early life was that of a farm boy un- til his sixteenth year; meanwhile receiving a com- mon-school education. Although a natural mechan- ic, he at an early age developed a taste for literary labor, and resolved to make it his profession ; to this end he eagerly read all biography and history within his reach. To procure means to complete his edu- cation and to somewhat satisfy his longing for read- ing matter, he, in October, 1834, procured a situa- tion in a printing office in his county town, where he rapidly learned the art and posted himself in the current events of the day ; applying every odd mo- ment in the study of the rudiments of an academic course, aided a medical gentleman of fine attain- ments, who edited the paper on which he labored.
In October, 1836, he went with his employer, to complete his apprenticeship, to Findlay, then a small village in the wilds of Ohio, and started the "Find- lay Courier," a democratic paper
In 1837, being a master workman, he was em-
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ployed as foreman of the "Whig" office for one year ; there he enjoyed the society of a cultivated gentleman and lady (Mr. and Mrs. Marion), who gave him great assistance in the study of Latin, Greek and French during his hours of recreation.
In the spring of 1839 he removed to Mansfield, Ohio, and commenced to publish the "Shield and Banner," a democratic journal, in company with Colonel John Meredith. For two years he labored successfully, at the same time continuing his studies, receiving help from several noted ministers and law- yers by books, suggestions and recitations. He also commenced the study of law, aided by Hon. Jacob Brinkerhoof (now one of the most prominent judges in that state) and Esq. Gates, now of Iowa. In the meantime he took an active part in the Presidential campaign of 1840, as well on the stump with Samuel J. Kirkwood (then studying law at Mansfield, but now United States senator from Iowa,) as through the columns of his popular paper. At the close of his engagements with Colonel Meredith he refused numerous favorable offers to continue his connec- tion with the press, and devoted his time to obtain- ing an education.
He had made all arrangements to enter the Ohio University at Athens, but owing to the convenience of the Ashland Academy to Mansfield and the un- settled state of his business, he chose the latter and commenced in earnest, under such noble instructors as Drs. Fulton and Andrews (since Colonel An- drews of the 4th Infantry and president of Kenyon College). In eighteen months he completed his academic course, taking the honors of the institu- tion.
Continuing his law studies, he was seized by a se- vere attack of Laryngitis, which destroyed his voice, and resulted in his having to leave his collegiate course and abandon his favorite profession, the law. With deep regrets, almost with remorse, and with many misgivings, he commenced the study of medi- cine in 1842 at Berlin, Ohio, with John M. Cook, M.D., an eminent and successful practitioner, late of York, Pennsylvania. He entered earnestly into his studies, which soon took quite a practical form ; for, from necessity, he had to be doctor as well as student; this interrupted his studies, but gave a training of value. He graduated at Cleveland, Ohio, in the medical department of the Hudson College, in 1847, with a prominent standing in a class of sev- enty-six.
Returning to Berlin, he entered into partnership
with his former preceptor, which continued to 1850, when he took in his youngest brother.
In 1852, his health failing him, he with his family traveled through the western and southwestern states, performing many of the finer operations of surgery. His health being partially restored, he commenced practice, in connection with the management of a stock farm.
He sold his interests in Ohio and located in Dav- enport, Iowa, on the 3d of April, 1855. He spent most of his time and means in improvements in the city and country until arrested by the crash of 1857, in which he suffered severely financially. He again devoted himself to the practice of his profession, and although it took the greater part of his consid- erable real estate to meet his obligations, every cent was paid, and by energy, frugality and industry he reinstated himself in comfortable circunstances.
At the first call for men to go to Mexico he vol - unteered and raised nearly a company, but received the unwelcome word that the regiments were full, and on account of poor health he had to refuse a commission as assistant surgeon in the roth regi- ment, United States army.
During the war of the rebellion he was sent by Governor Kirkwood to give medical and surgical relief to our soldiers in the field. This was imme- diately after the fall of Fort Donelson, and under orders of the chief medical director he aided the sol- diers in the field, hospital transports and general hos- pitals as assistant surgeon, United States army. He was at Shiloh, Corinth, Jackson and other battles; at the battle of Iuka he was surgeon inspector gen- eral on Grant's staff, and had charge of the wounded and sick being sent north. He was placed in charge of hospitals Nos. 6 and 8 at Keokuk, during which time he filled the chair of physiology and pathology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk.
In June, 1863, he was appointed sanitary inspect- or of hospitals in the eastern division of the army, and declined to accept an appointment from the governor as state sanitary agent or surgeon at large to operate in the field. He visited the principal hospitals in the south and west, rendering aid and relief, particularly at the siege of Vicksburgh and Fort Hudson, and extending to New Orleans and the gulf.
In January, 1864, he returned to lowa and made his final report of operations to the governor and legislature, receiving their hearty approval. Resign- ing his position, he returned home and resumed the
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practice of his profession, receiving a cordial and liberal support which has continued to this day.
In 1852 he received the nomination for state sen- ator, but declined, as it required too much sacrifice of business and principle to accept. In 1843 he was nominated for congress on the democratic ticket in the district composed of Tuscarawas, Holmes, Co- shocton and Knox counties, in Ohio, in which a nomination was equivalent to an election ; but as he was expected to support the introduction of slavery into the territories 'of Kansas and Nebraska he de- clined the honor.
In company with Mrs. Anna Witteimer he made, while in Jackson, Tennessee, in 1862, a plan of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home as a state institution, while she suggested the idea of a private one instituted and supported by her own liberality and patriotism. The doctor is surgeon for the Soldiers' Orphans' Home in Davenport ; also consulting surgeon and director of the Mercy Hospital in same city.
He is a member of the Masonic order, having joined in Mansfield, Ohio, in 1842, and is a life member of the Young Men's Christian Association.
He was raised in the democratic school of politics, but left that party in public convention in 1861, as he could not stay with a party that would not fight for the preservation of their country.
In religion, he is a Protestant, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church since 1836.
He was married on the 16th of February; 1847, to Miss Charlotte S. Hough, a lady of culture, and daughter of William Hough, Esq., a merchant in York, Pennsylvania, who died when she was but four years old, leaving her to the guardianship of her uncle, Colonel John Hough, a noted merchant and manufacturer at York, Pennsylvania. Five sons and four daughters are the fruits of their union.
Dr. Maxwell possesses a fine commanding pres- ence; is six feet one and a half inches in height and rather spare; has a large head, with high, broad fore- head; a Grecian face and nose, with blue eyes, mild and intelligent in their expression, and hair and beard a light auburn.
In every position which in his eventful life he has filled, Dr. Maxwell has been successful in the high- est degree, and has left an untarnished and unspot- ted reputation. As a business man, he has been upright, reliable and honorable ; as a physician, at- tentive and obliging, ranking among the leaders in his profession in the state. In all places and under all circumstances he is loyal to Truth, Honor and Right. Few men have more devoted friends, or merit more the confidence and esteem of their fel- low-citizens.
LORENZO H. SALES, M.D.,
LEON.
ORENZO HARRISON SALES, a resident of Iowa since it became a state, is a descend- ant of a Mohawk Dutch family, and was born in Ontario county, New York, on the 28th of March, 1819. His parents were Hiram Sales, surveyor and farmer, and Nancy Ann Thorington, his mother be- ing a native of Rutland, Vermont. His maternal great-grandfather was a Phillips, whose ancestry is traced back directly to the Mayflower. He was in the revolutionary army ; was taken prisoner, brought as far west as Detroit, Michigan, by the Indians, and kept there several years. At length he made his escape, and after much hardship reached Ver- mont.
When Lorenzo was three years old the family re- moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. Young as the boy was, he still recollects the trip down the Alleghany and Ohio rivers on a raft. The scenes on the way were
a wonderful novelty to his young eyes, and time fails to obliterate them. After spending one year in Cincinnati his father removed to Troy, Miami county, where he died in 1823, leaving his widow with seven children. There Lorenzo received a common-school education in a log school-house.
In 1834 the family removed to Defiance, where Lorenzo prepared himself for the medical profes- sion, and where he practiced until 1846; removing to Iowa City, Iowa, a few months before it doffed its territorial robes. After practicing in Iowa City a little less than two years he removed to Wash- ington county, continuing his profession in Wash- ington and Richmond villages until 1856, when he removed his family to Leon, Decatur county. While at Richmond he received from President Pierce the appointment of receiver of the United States land office, at Chariton, Lucas county, and was in that
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position three years, when the office was moved to Des Moines.
Since residing in Leon Dr. Sales has been in a variety of occupations,-practicing medicine a lit- tle ; keeping a hotel at sundry times, in all about twelve years; selling drugs; editing a newspaper ; dealing in real estate, and acting as county officer, being judge of Decatur county two years. The judge is well known all over the county.
In 1862 he went into the 17th Iowa Infantry as lieutenant, company A, and acting adjutant ; served
six months and was discharged on account of dis- ability.
In his political principles, the judge has been a life-long democrat.
In August, 1845, he was joined in wedlock with Miss Mary Ann Wartenbe, of Defiance, Ohio, and they have three children. Nancy Ann, the eldest child, is the wife of Lyman W. Forgrave, contract- or and builder, of Leon; Lewis Cass is a printer in Leon, and Frank Knox is a brick mason and resides in Crete, Nebraska. Both sons are unmarried.
HON. DAVID C. CLOUD, MUSCATINE.
H ON. DAVID COMER CLOUD, attorney and counselor-at-law, one of the oldest and most distinguished practitioners at the bar of Iowa, and an author of considerable repute, was born in Cham- paign, Ohio, on the 22d of January, 1817, and is the son of Robert Cloud and Anna née Comer. The Cloud family is of French origin, the great-grand- father of our subject being of that nationality. In middle life he removed to England, where he died ; his son Robert Cloud, the grandfather of our subject, emigrated to America not very long after the revolu- tion, and settled in Maryland, where he became a Methodist minister ; from that state he removed to Kentucky, and in company with Rev. Enoch Matt- son he crossed the Ohio river into what was then known as the Northwestern Territory, where he la- bored for several years, and then returned to Ken- tucky, where he died. He and Mr. Mattson were the first Methodist preachers that ever visited and preached the gospel north of the Ohio river. His father in early life removed from Kentucky to Ohio and settled in Champaign county, where for twenty years he operated a small farm; he then removed to Franklin county, where he remained four years, and subsequently took up his abode in Columbus, where he died. The mother of our subject was of German origin. Her father was a cattle dealer in Ohio, and was accustomed to drive his herds over the mountains to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His last trip was made in 1822, when he is known to have sold a large drove of beef cattle in Philadel- phia, received payment for them, and started on his homeward journey. He never returned to Ohio, and is supposed to have been murdered and robbed.
An uncle of our subject, his father's eldest brother, Rev. Caleb W. Cloud, was also a noted Methodist preacher in Kentucky. He was a prominent Mason, and during the anti-Masonic crusade on the part of the Methodist and other churches which grew out of the murder of Morgan, who had revealed the secrets of the order, he withdrew from the con- nection, and built a conventicle, which he called "Saint John's Chapel," in Lexington, Kentucky, in which he preached during the remainder of his life. At his death the congregation reunited with the old church.
D. C. Cloud is the fourth child of a family of four- teen children, three of whom died in infancy; the eldest, Mrs. Rachel O'Hara, died in 1876, and ten are still living, the youngest being forty years of age. D. C. was raised on his father's farm, and had only the privilege of the common education of a log school- house during a brief period of the winter months, up till the age of twelve; the only schooling which he received subsequent to that age was six weeks at an academy, where he intended to pursue a two- years' course, but his father meeting with a reverse in business, the long cherished scheme of the boy had to be abandoned.
At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to learn the book-binder's trade, but after a six months' trial he gave up this experiment, and was next appren- ticed to the carpenter's trade, to which he served the regular time, and it is said was one of the finest mechanics at that time in the west. Shortly after completing his apprenticeship, at the age of twenty- two years, in the year 1839, he removed to Musca- tine county, Iowa, where he has since resided. He
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at once procured employment as a journeyman, and worked steadily at his trade for several years, em- ploying his spare time in reading such books as fell into his hands. These were of what may be termed a " solid " nature, and evidently were instru- mental in preparing his mind for the cultivation which it afterward received. After he had been two years in Muscatine, he conceived the idea of enter- ing upon a course of study preparatory to the legal profession, and accordingly all his energies were directed to that result. He procured the necessary books by working for their hire, which he read after the close of his day's work. He pursued his studies in this way for five years, when after a strict exam- ination he was admitted to the bar in the year 1845, and at once discontinued his trade, and engaged in the active practice of his profession. He has since been an arduous and incessant student, not only of the law, but of all subjects and matters pertain- ing to politics, government and social economics, so that he is now one of the best informed men of his day, one of the most efficient criminal lawyers at the western bar, and an author of national renown. During the year 1851-2 he held the position of pros- ecuting attorney for the county of Muscatine, and was afterward elected the first attorney-general of the State of Iowa, on the democratic ticket ; he held this office for four years. After this he was elected to the state legislature, in which he served during the winter of 1856-7, being chairman of the com- mittees of ways and means, and of railroads. Since then he has devoted himself exclusively to his pro- fession, and to the pursuit of literature. His fame as a jurist became widely extended, and his practice as a lawyer increased accordingly. He is now re- garded as one of the best, if not the best, criminal lawyer in the west. He is also recognized as the Nes- tor of the bar of Iowa, having been practicing longer than any attorney now in the state. He is the au- thor of the law on the Iowa statute books which makes railroad corporations liable for all deaths caused or damage done by them in the prosecution of their business, and he has during his career as a lawyer tried over two hundred cases against rail- roads and recovered more damages from railroad corporations than perhaps any other lawyer in the northwest, if not in the nation. In short, if Mr. Cloud can be said to have any specialty in the prac- tice it is in the prosecution of suits against railroads.
In politics, he was raised in the Jefferson school, and continued a democrat till after the formation
of the republican party, with which he united, being opposed to the spread of slavery and the Nebraska policy of the democratic party. He was a member of the convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency, and during the war with slavery was a staunch supporter of the government, and so continued until 1872, when, with many other good men of the party, he joined the reform movement, and was a member of the convention which nom- inated Horace Greeley for the Presidency. Since the dissolution of the liberal republican party, as it was called, he has acted with the democratic party, and was nominated as one of the Tilden (Presidential) electors in 1876. In a more compre- hensive sense, however, he belongs to that class or party that always want reform, being an anti-monop- olist and an anti-protectionist, and favoring free trade and hard money.
During the progress of the late war he wrote a book entitled "The War Powers of the President," taking the strongest ground in favor of the adminis- tration, and the measures adopted for the suppres- sion of the rebellion. The volume, which was ex- tensively circulated, demonstrated deep research and a very high order of talents on the part of the all- thor, and received universal approbation in the northern states. In 1874 he published his great work entitled " Monopolies and the People," which had a circulation of over ten thousand copies. It received the very highest commendation of the press of the principal cities of the country, the New York " Tribune " devoting two columns of its space to a review and commendation of the work.
Mr. Cloud was in early life a member of the Meth- odist church, but is not now in communion with any denomination ; he is, however, an unswerving be- liever in the bible, and in the doctrines of the chris- tian religion, and gives generously to religious and benevolent objects.
In the year 1839 he was married to Miss Annetta Dibble, of Columbus, Ohio, who died in 1846, leav- ing two infant children, whose death occurred soon after hers; and in 1848 he was married to Mrs. Mi- randa H. Morrow, widow of the late Dr. James G. Morrow, of Muscatine, and daughter of Wm. R. Olds, Esq., of Bennington, Vermont, by whom he has two children, a son and a daughter. The son, George W., is preparing for the profession of his father. The daughter, Annie, is still unmarried.
The remarkable career of Mr. Cloud from the car- penter's bench to the position of one of the first
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lawyers and publicists of the state, and his no less brilliant advancement to the leadership of his party in the chairmanship of the two most important com- mittees of the house of representatives, were neither the accident of fortune nor the reward of political intrigue, but of a genius and character essentially independent and progressive.
In his second candidacy for the attorney-general- ship he challenged the fealty of his party by declar- ing himself an anti-Nebraska democrat, and at the expiration of his term asserted his political inde- pendence by accepting a nomination from the anti- slavery citizens of his county for the legislature. Earnest and active in his loyalty during the rebel- lion and a member of the republican party from its organization till 1872, he was, on being convinced of the necessity of the departure, the first in his state to lead in the liberal movement of that year. The call for the first liberal republican state con- vention held in Iowa proceeded from his pen, and was one of the most pungent arraignments of the dominant party, as well as the ablest political paper drawn out by the movement of that year. The in- dependence and vigor which have characterized Mr. Cloud's political life found an equally able and spir- ited expression in his celebrated work above alluded to, " Monopolies and the People," in which he has exhaustively reviewed the whole subject of Ameri- can monopolies, from an extortionate tariff, the gold operations of Wall street, and the greed of railroads, down to the lowest species of barnacle on Ameri- can industry to be found in the abuses of the patent office. This volume, replete with statistical infor- mation and curious items of history, which are wo-
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