USA > Iowa > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume > Part 86
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The Waterloo "Courier," published at the home of Mr. Parrott, thus spoke of him as a man about the same time :
Mr. Parrott is a gentleman in every sense of the word, one against whose integrity not a word can be whispered. He has been one of the partners in the publication of the " Iowa State Reporter " ever since it was started as a repub- lican paper, and among the first steps taken by the firm which resurrected the " Reporter," and parent firm of the present flourishing house of Parrott, Girton and Sherman, was the establishment of a bookbindery. This branch of the business, from occupying narrow quarters in Union block, has grown with the steady increase of the "Re- porter." Long connection with this establishment has given Mr. Parrott thorough knowledge of the business, and every one who knows him will unite with us in saying that the interests of the office of state binder would he greatly sub- served by being intrusted to his hands. Mr. Parrott has been connected with the printing business for twenty-six years, and during a large portion of this time has been iden- tified with the republican press of Iowa. He has always been a stalwart champion of true republican doctrine, and has never wavered in his support of the right as it appeared to him. We have known this gentleman for a score of years past, and can say that we have always found him a man worthy of the highest trusts.
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The writer of this sketch has known Mr. Parrott for nearly twenty years, and can indorse all that is here said of him.
In local enterprises Mr. Parrott has promptly lent the aid of his hand and pen, and is in all respects an enterprising citizen. Should his business take him to Des Moines, even temporarily, he will be missed in Waterloo.
Mr. Parrott has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1860, and has held various official positions. He was a charter member and the first junior warden of Victory Lodge, No. 296, of Water- loo; was afterward senior warden, then treasurer, and is at the time of writing filling the master's chair; is also a member of the chapter, command- ery and consistory, and has been prelate of Ascalon Commandery, of Waterloo, since its organization.
He is a member of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Waterloo, and a man whose christian integrity is
above suspicion. He is a firm believer in practical Christianity and charity, and always ready to relieve the necessities of the destitute or to extend a help- ing hand to those who need such encouragement.
Politically, he was a whig, like his father, in youth, and shouted for Scott and Graham in 1852. Since old enough to vote he has affiliated steadily with the republicans ; but while a party man, he is not one of those who believe a party is of more importance than right and honesty.
On the 25th of October, 1859, he was married at Davenport to Miss Frank M. Field, youngest daugh- ter of Isaac N. Field, and they have three boys.
Mr. Parrott has gray eyes, a florid complexion, an unwrinkled face, a young look, a pleasant disposition, and the cordiality of a sincere, honest and warm heart. He is five feet and eight inches tall, weighs one hundred and ninety pounds, and has very sym- metrical proportions.
LEWIS CARMICHAEL,
TAMA CITY.
NE of the most enterprising canal and railroad | The first tunnel ever built in Illinois he put up at contractors in the northwest is Lewis Car- michael, son of Zophar Carmichael, a farmer, and Sarah Eldred, residents of Orange county, New York, where Lewis was born on the 7th of May, 1825. His paternal great-grandfather was from Scotland; the Eldreds were from England, and set- tled in Orange county about the time of the rev- olution. In that seven years' war Lewis' paternal grandfather carried a knapsack and musket.
At fifteen years of age, after receiving a knowl- edge of farm work and the meagre rudiments of an education, Lewis commenced railroading, beginning at the lower round of the ladder, as "jigger." In a short time he became foreman, and a little later gen- eral superintendent of construction, operating some- times on canals and oftener on railroads. During the last thirty years he has taken and filled contracts on railroads in New York, Indiana, Illinois, Ken- tucky, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Colorado and Utah. lle never took a contract without finishing it, and never agreed to finish a job in a designated period without doing it. Few men have done as much heavy work as Mr. Carmichael. He has con- structed half a dozen tunnels in almost as many states, New York, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa,
La Salle in 1853. His last work of railroading was on the Union Pacific road and the Chicago and Northwestern in Wisconsin. He had several con- tracts between Omaha and Promontory, no contract- or on that great line exhibiting more energy and business dispatch. During part of these years that he was railroading he lived in Davenport and Mus- catine, Iowa. For the last eighteen years he has re- sided in Tama county, and since 1867 in Tama City. He is one of the most public-spirited citizens of this young city.
The Bank of Tama was organized and opened in 1870, and Mr. Carmichael is its president.
He has been engaged in real estate for several years, having lands in New York, Iowa and Nebras- ka. In Tama county alone he has fifteen hundred acres of improved lands, all worked by renters ex- cept the home farm, of which he has taken the su- pervision during the last three years. Prior to this period contracting was his main business, and by it he had made most of his money. He began a poor boy with no capital but a good constitution, a plucky heart and two industrious hands, and his life has been one of liberal undertakings and liberal success. He seems to know "no such word as fail."
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Mr. Carmichael was originally a whig, and of late years has been a republican, always too busy with his own matters to assume the duties of a political office.
He is a Knight Templar in the Masonic brother- hood.
On the 29th of October, 1847, he was joined in wedlock with Miss Mary E. Bunce, a native of Hart- ford, Connecticut, but residing at the time of her marriage in Sullivan county, New York. She died four years ago. She was a member of the Baptist
church, heartily cooperating with her husband in all efforts to advance the kingdom of Christ. She had nine children, and one of them preceded her to the spirit land. Of those living, Mary E. is the wife of George E. Maxwell, cashier of the Bank of Ta- ma, Tama City; Henry F. has a wife and also lives in Tama City. The others are single.
Mr. Carmichael has a stately mansion standing in a six-acre lot, overlooking the whole city, a residence which the proudest prince of the old world need not be ashamed to occupy.
PETER N. WOODS, M. D., FAIRFIELD.
P ETER NESBIT WOODS, a practicing physi- cian for nearly a quarter of a century, and one of the leading citizens of any profession in Jeffer- son county, Iowa, is a native of Ohio, a son of James and Hester A. Woods, and was born in Greenville, Stark county, on the 8th of September, 1829. His paternal great-grandfather came from Germany to this country, with his friends, when quite young, and settled near Harrisburgh, Pennsylvania. His father was a native of Virginia, was left an orphan at an early age, and lived with his maternal grandfather until he was apprenticed to a gunship near Harper's Ferry, Virginia. In later life he was a farmer in Stark and Richland counties, Ohio.
Peter Nesbit was the fifth child in a family of eight children. He lived at home during his youth, in Richland county after eight years of age, aiding his father in cultivating land, and securing such edu- cation as a common school afforded. When he was eighteen years of age he entered Vermilion Insti- tute, at Hayesville, Ashland county, Ohio, where he remained two years, teaching during that time. In 1850 he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, where he pursued special studies for one year, teaching a school in the summer and vocal music in the winter; then became a medical student in the office of Dr. O. J. Rotsel, of Rome, Richland county ; read for three years, and took two courses of lectures in Cincinnati, receiving his diploma on the 10th of June, 1854.
After spending one year in company with his old preceptor at Rome, Dr. Woods found himself alone, Dr. Rotsel retiring from the practice. In May, 1856, Dr. Woods crossed the Mississippi, and made a
permanent settlement in Fairfield, where for twenty years he has been a leading physician.
On the breaking out of the civil war, in 1861, he was appointed medical examiner for Jefferson coun- ty, under direction of the war department. In Sep- tember of the next year, while six hundred thousand troops were being raised, he was commissioned as surgeon of the 23d Iowa Infantry, but to accommo- date a friend of the colonel of that regiment, took the same position in the 39th. He was with the latter regiment in the battles at Jackson and Parker's Cross Roads in 1862, wintering at Corinth, Missis- sippi; was in the series of battles near Tuscumbia, Bear Creek and Town Creek in the spring of 1863 ; was made surgeon-in-chief of his division the winter following, under General Sweeny, with headquarters at Pulaski; and subsequently was in the whole se- ries of engagements before reaching Atlanta. At this time Dr. Woods was detailed to see that the wounded of the fourth division, fifteenth army corps, were properly dressed before being sent back to the division hospital, he spending his nights in dressing the wounded. In July, 1864, he was made surgeon of the division hospital at Rome, Georgia, and had the care of the wounded after the battle of Altoona. Dr. Woods continned in that position on General Sherman's march to the sea ; at Savannah was put in charge of a branch of the general hospital, and on being relieved was ordered to Blair's Landing, at Buford, South Carolina, and made surgeon-in- chief of General Sherman's provisional division, in which capacity he served until the disbanding of the division at Raleigh, North Carolina. In June, 1865, the regiment was mustered out, and Dr. Woods
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returned to lowa, having been in the service nearly three years.
It is doubtful if any lowa surgeon in the civil war was more faithful in discharging his duties in their fullest sense. He was untiring in his devotion to the sick and wounded.
Since the close of the rebellion Dr. Woods has been very assiduous in his duties as a citizen, as well as a physician, taking great interest in the pros- perity of his adopted home. He is proprietor of the Fairfield woolen mills, and is doing all he can to encourage manufactures and whatever is for the benefit of the state. He was chairman of the build- ing committee of the school board when the elegant and stately Union school-house was erected. His professional duties are very arduous, yet he finds some time, as it is seen, to devote to local interests.
Dr. Woods is a third-degree Mason ; a past-grand in Odd-Fellowship; a republican since the demise of the whig party, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
On the 14th of September, 1855, Miss Mary L. Wolph, a native of Richland county, Ohio, became the wife of Dr. Woods, and they have two children, both boys. Both parents have been very active in religious and benevolent enterprises.
Dr. Woods is a hard student, and not only keeps up with the progress of medical science, but also de- votes considerable attention to the collateral sciences, chemistry, electricity, etc. He is a progressive man.
His residence, located in the center of the city, is one of the finest in the place. Its tasteful sur- roundings are an indication of culture and refine- ment within.
A. W. COFFMAN AND S. C. HARLOW, AVOCA.
T HE best representatives of the mercantile inter- ests of Avoca, Pottawattamie county, Iowa, are Messrs. Coffman and Harlow, proprietors of the new Opera-house block, completed in the autumn of 1877, at an expense of twelve or fourteen thousand dollars. The store which they occupy in the block is forty by eighty feet, fourteen feet in the clear, and filled with the finest stock of groceries and provisions in the place.
Archibald W. Coffman, the senior member of the firm, is a native of Jackson county, Ohio ; is the son of John Coffman, a farmer, and Priscilla Myrick, and was born on the 18th of February, 1832. His father enlisted for the Mexican war in 1846, but the company was not called into the service. When Archibald was four years old the family moved to Lake county, Indiana, and ten years later returned to Ohio, settling in McArthurstown, then in Athens, now in Vinton county.
When nearly of age Archibald came into north- western Indiana, and spent a dozen years or more in the lumber district of La Porte and the adjoin- ing counties, part of the time as a chopper, and part of the time as a contractor.
In the early part of the summer of 1870 Mr. Coff- man crossed the Mississippi, reaching Avoca on the 18th of June, and in August, 1871, engaged in the mercantile trade, his business being attended with
marked success. He has been of the firm of Coff- man and Harlow from the start.
Mr. Coffman has a pleasant home in the city of Avoca, some lands of his own exclusively in the southern part of the state, and four hundred acres in company with Mr. Harlow. By economy, pru- dence, and careful management, in the few years which Mr. Coffman has been in Iowa, he has put himself on a solid financial basis, and with his part- ner has a standing second to none in the town.
He is a republican in politics, a strong and active partisan, but carefully avoids office, being contented to be known as a successful business man.
He is an Odd-Fellow ; has passed all the chairs in the subordinate lodge, and is a member of the en- campment.
On the 11th of July, 1853, he was joined in Wed- lock with Miss Clarretta A. Wilkinson, of Middle- bury, La Grange county, Indiana, and they have one child, Alice M., aged twenty-two years.
Silas Chandler Harlow, the junior member of this firm, is the son of Chandler and Mary Banks Har- low, of Piscataquis county, Maine, and was born in the town of Parkman, on the 30th of May, 1848. Both families were early settlers in New England, and his maternal great-grandfather was a soldier in the struggle for freedom from the mother country. Silas lost his mother when he was three years old;
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at sixteen he left Parkman, with only the education common to farmers' boys; worked one year in the lumbering district of Pennsylvania, finely develop- ยท ing his muscular powers; returned to his native state, and in the autumn of 1867 pushed westward into the Territory of Wyoming. There he worked as a teamster, and found no trouble in securing honest use for his toil-hardened hands. He was careful to husband his earnings, and at the end of three years turned his steps eastward, halting at Avoca, in west- ern Iowa, here making his home, and here achieving success.
After being in trade by himself for a year or more, on the 6th of August, 1871, he became a partner of Mr. Coffman, and they have since been together. In public spirit, enterprise, business tact, and all the
elements which constitute the first-class merchant, they are well mated.
Mr. Harlow has been a Freemason since a little prior to the date of his settlement in Iowa, going, however, no higher, as yet, than the blue lodge.
He uniformly votes the republican ticket.
His religious sentiments accord with those of the Baptists, though he belongs to no church. He is a young man of excellent standing in society.
Mr. Harlow has a light complexion and dark hazel eyes; is five feet and nine and a-half inches tall, having a solid build and a robust appearance. He weighs one hundred and eighty-five pounds.
His business education, picked up at intervals of leisure, is excellent, and, like his partner, he is very active and efficient.
HON. HENRY C. TRAVERSE,
BLOOMFIELD.
H ENRY CLAY TRAVERSE, son of Charles and Sarah Forrest Traverse, members of the agricultural class, was born in White county, Indi- ana, on the 29th of August, 1839. His paternal an- cestors were Virginians, though both of his parents were natives of Kentucky. His maternal grand- father aided in gaining the nation's independence.
When Henry C. was eight years old his father died, and his mother, with four children, moved to Monroe county, Iowa, and a year later settled in Davis county, where she is still living.
The subject of this sketch had a rough time in boyhood, being obliged to "paddle his own canoe " at an age when the hands are tender. He worked at farming for some time, and at length found his way into a printing office in Bloomfield, and here, and in Illinois and Missouri, worked his way up from boy-of-all-work, classically called the "printer's devil," to a first-class journeyman, and also dipping at times into journalism. To the mental drill of the district school and the printing office he added some hard study in private, having from early youth a strong relish for books. To this early love of study it is understood he attributes what degree of success he has had in life. He taught school at dif- ferent times, in all five or six terms.
In 1860 he commenced reading law with Hon. George W. McCrary, of Keokuk, now secretary of war; was admitted to the bar at Bloomfield in Sep-
tember, 1862, and before commencing to practice entered the service in company F, 30th Iowa In- fantry, acting as orderly sergeant for three years. He was offered the position of lieutenant of the company at one time during the progress of the war, but for reasons best known to himself refused to be promoted. He was with the 30th through all its campaigns and battles, accompanying General Sher- man as far toward the sea as Ringgold, Georgia, where he was disabled and followed the regiment no farther.
Since returning from the south Mr. Traverse has been in the practice of law, and has built up a thrifty business. He is of the firm of Traverse and Eichelberger, who have been attorneys for two local banks, and whose collecting business is extensive and growing. They are prompt and reliable, have the fullest confidence of the community, are among the younger class of attorneys in Davis county, and stand well.
Mr. Traverse excels as an office lawyer. He is a close student.
He was a member of the lower house of the gen- eral assembly in 1866, and of the senate in the ses- sions of 1868 and 1870, and in the upper house was on the committees on the judiciary and federal rela- tions, and chairman of one or two committees of minor importance.
In 1877 he was the republican nominee for mem-
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ber of the assembly in the seventh district, and was defeated by the combined opposition of democrats and greenbackers. Mr. Traverse ran a long way ahead of the gubernatorial candidate of his party. His connection has always been with the republi- cans. He makes an effective political canvass.
His religious connection is with the Universalist church. He is a third-degree member of the Odd- Fellows order.
On the 12th of April, 1868, he was united in . matrimony with Miss Ellen Presson, of Bloomfield, and they have two children.
MAJOR JOHN W. CARR,
MONTEZUMA.
JOHN WESLEY CARR, one of the many patriot- ic young men who early responded to the Presi- dent's call for volunteers in 1861, from Poweshiek county, is a son of William Carr, an Illinois farmer, and Catherine Moore, and was born near Mount Pulaski, Logan county, on the 26th of April, 1839. The Carrs were among the early settlers in Virginia, and moved into Ohio when it was a very new state. William Carr was a soldier in the war of 1812. Both parents of John W. died when he was quite young, and from eight to seventeen years of age he lived on a farm with his paternal grandmother, who re- moved to Iowa in 1846.
After working one season for himself he attended school at Iowa College, Grinnell, two years, teach- ing during the winters until the rebellion.
In August, 1861, he went into the service from Montezuma as second lieutenant in company F, 10th Iowa Infantry; resigned the next February on ac- count of ill health; in September, 1862, again en- listed, this time as captain in company C, 28th Iowa; was wounded at the battle of Winchester, Virginia, on the 19th of September, 1864; soon afterward had command of the regiment for two months, and remained in the service until mustered out, in Au- gust, 1865. Before leaving he was breveted major
for meritorious services. He made a splendid rec- ord while in the army, and has since done nothing to soil it.
On returning to Iowa Major Carr engaged in the mercantile business at Montezuma, and followed it until March, 1870; was elected clerk of the district and circuit courts the following autumn, and by re- peated elections served six years, ending on the 31st of December, 1876 ; he made a popular officer, doing his work with the utmost accuracy and promptness.
During the time that he was in the clerk's office he studied law; was admitted to the bar in February, 1877, and has recently added the abstract and real- estate business to that of law, he being in partner- ship with W. H. Redman, an enterprising and pros- perous firm.
Major Carr is a staunch republican, and a Royal Arch Mason.
His wife was Miss Lottie Frick, of Montezuma, chosen on the 10th of January, 1866. They have two children.
Major Carr has light blue eyes and a fair com- plexion, is five feet and eleven inches tall, stands perfectly, and weighs one hundred and forty pounds. He has the bearing of a dignified, open-hearted, strictly honest man, whom it would be safe to trust.
NORMAN R. CORNELL, M.D.,
KNOXVILLE.
T HE oldest practicing physician in Knoxville, Marion county, is Norman Riley Cornell, who settled in Iowa in May, 1850, when the state was only four years old. He is a native of Steuben county, New York, and was born on the 11th of September, 1824. His parents were Amos Cornell, a farmer, and Destimony Chamberlain. The Cor-
nells were from England, and early settlers in Mas- sachusetts. Amos Cornell was a soldier in the sec- ond war with the mother country. When Norman was eight years old the family moved to Livingston county, New York, settling near Mount Morris, the son aiding his father and attending the winter term of the district school. At nineteen he went to Ken-
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tucky and attended the Lexington Academy; read medicine at Hartford, Kentucky, with Dr. Samuel (). Peyton, afterward member of congress; prac- ticed two years; graduated from the Geneva (New York) Medical College in 1848; was one year at Cromwell, Ohio county, Kentucky, and then settled in Knoxville, where he has been in practice with the exception of a period of eight or nine years when out of health, and while in the army.
In 1863 Dr. Cornell went into the service as as- sistant surgeon of the 23d Iowa, and in January, 1864, was appointed by Governor Stone surgeon of the 40th Infantry, serving until the regiment was mustered out in August, 1865. During most of the time the last year he was brigade surgeon. His services in the army were eminently satisfactory.
Since the war Dr. Cornell has attended very close- ly to his profession, his experience in the army in- creasing his reputation, particularly as a surgeon. He makes a specialty of the eye and ear, yet does a general practice, with a standing second to none in the county.
Dr. Cornell has always acted with the democratic party, but refuses to be a candidate for any political office. He has a fine library, literary as well as med- ical, and is much more interested in medical science than in political preferment. He is a Master Mason. He attends the Christian church.
The wife of Dr. Cornell was Miss Mary Fletcher Timmonds, of Hartford, Kentucky. They were mar- ried in October, 1847, and have had eight children, of whom seven are living. Two of the sons have chosen their father's profession. The eldest, Corwin W. Cornell, a graduate of Rush Medical College, Chi- cago, is in partnership with his father and rapidly rising in the profession. Park L. is a graduate of Louisville Medical College, and is settled in Pleas - antville, Marion county, twelve miles from Knox - ville. Dr. Cornell and his son Corwin are surgeons for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railway Company.
The subject of this sketch is a member of the County and State Medical Societies, and has a high- ly creditable standing in both organizations.
CHARLES L. CHAMBERS, M. D.,
TIPTON.
O NE of the oldest practicing physicians in Ce- dar county, Iowa, is Charles Lewis Chambers, son of Mustoe Chambers, a physician and surgeon, and Mary Ann Lewis. He was born in Rocking- ham county, Virginia, on the 18th of May, 1818. His father was an adjutant in the war of 1812-15. The Chamberses and Lewises were originally from the north of Ireland. Four brothers of the Lewis family came over and settled in Virginia, and all be- came distinguished men. Andrew Lewis was with General Braddock at the time of his defeat; was himself afterward a general, and defeated the cele- brated Indian, Cornstalk, in 1774, and later in life held the same office under General Washington. Thomas Lewis was a member of the houses of burgesses in Virginia. William Lewis was in the French and Indian wars, and a colonel in the revo- lutionary army. Charles Lewis was a colonel, also, and was killed in the battle of Point Pleasant, on the 10th of October, 1774.
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