The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume, Part 90

Author: American biographical publishing company, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Chicago, New York, American biographical publishing company
Number of Pages: 954

USA > Iowa > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume > Part 90

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PETER G. BALLINGALL,

OTTUMWA.

P ETER G. BALLINGALL, one of the most pub- lic-spirited citizens of Ottumwa, is a native of Scotland, and was born in Glasgow, on the 3d of March, 1830. He came to America when about seven years old; was in the province of Ontario, Canada, three or four years, acting as errand boy for a wholesale tobacconist, and selling matches made by his step-father ; before he was eleven years old he walked from Cobourg, seventy-three miles below Toronto, to Chicago, by a roundabout way, a dis- tance of seven or eight hundred miles ; at the age of thirteen was a waiter boy in the New York House, Chicago; after one season went into the City Hotel, kept by Brown and Tuttle ; accompanied them to the old Sherman House, and remained with them seven years, serving in every capacity from bell-boy at six dollars per month to that of steward at six

hundred dollars a year. At the end of this period he was appointed by the Court of Chancery receiver of the Lake House, at a salary of eighteen hundred dollars a year, and managed so acceptably to the reg- ular boarders that on leaving in January, 1855, the guests presented him with an elegant hunting-case gold watch. Among the guests were several men who have since become quite prominent, such as R. L. Wilson, E. C. Larned, John H. Kenzie, H. Newhall, C. S. Dole, and John R. Palmer. Such tokens of regard are a stimulus to a young man, leading him to try to do well in the future.

Soon after leaving the Lake House Mr. Ballingall traveled through most of the southern states ; sailed from Charleston, South Carolina, for New York ; was driven back by a storm as far as the Bermudas ; went from New York city to Boston, and there en-

Eng ª byHBHall & Sons.NY.

P.G. Balling all

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gaged to return to Chicago and become steward of the Briggs House. The following notice is from the Chicago "Tribune " of the roth of April, 1855 :

We are glad to learn that our old friend Ballingall, so long and universally known and admired as steward of the Sherman House, and lately connected with the Lake House, will go into the Briggs House as its steward. There could be no one step taken which would give the house more cer- tain popularity than this. Mr. Ballingall's name is, in itself, a tower of strength, and he will be sure to not let his already acquired laurels rust in his new position.

A few months later he became proprietor of the Haskall House, Galesburgh, Illinois; closed out his interest at the end of one year, and in the autumn of 1856 became manager of the Ivins House, Keo- kuk, Iowa, where, on Christmas morning following, he was the recipient of a silver service from his guests. The next_spring he removed to Benton's Port, Van Buren county, forty miles from Keokuk ; opened the Ashland House in a partnership, which did not lead on to fortune; removed to fairfield at the end of a year, and a few months later to Agency City, then the western terminus of the Chicago, Bur- lington and Missouri River railroad, and opened the Revere House. Moving westward as the railroad progressed, in the summer of 1858 Mr. Ballingall settled in Ottumwa, still running a hotel, and engag- ing in many other pursuits. At one time he had seventeen licenses for as many branches of business. For nine years he was proprietor of a stage line from Ottumwa to Bloomfield, and till recently run a stage to Sigourney. The Ottumwa "Courier," on the 14th of July, 1870, thus spoke of his operations as a stage proprietor :

With persistent energy, amid trials and vexations of no mean kind, he has constantly kept a line of coaches run- ning to the end of the North Missouri railroad, through sunshine and rain; and when that treacherous stream, Big Soap, swelled with pretensions and overflowed its banks, in order not to stop communication, Mr. B. built a pontoon bridge across its bosom during the darkness of the night and pelting of the storm, so that passengers should not be delayed, and that they could pass hither and thither on time and in safety. He has coach lines running all over this country ; superintends the Depot Hotel, and we know not what else, besides holding the most thankless position a man was ever placed in-democratic trustee in a republican city council - where the same spirit of unconquerable busi- ness proclivities marks his proceedings. And with all his idiosyncrasies he is always the same affable, genial, whole- souled gentleman, one we could illy spare from our commu- nity, and whose fame for his business peculiarities is one well merited.

An irrepressible, slashing, dashing, energetic enigma. Has more vim and perseverance in him than any other man we know. It is as impossible for him to let a dollar lie useless as it is to get along without breathing. Here, there, everywhere at the same time, the nearest an omni- present entity that can be reared in this imperfect world. If Pete had the means he would build the whole face of the globe over, and sigh for more ground. His first great am-

bition is to do good and be accommodating, and to accom- plish this end he permits no surmountable obstacle to block his pathway. With an indomitable will and plenty of nerve to hack it, Pcte is decidedly a man for the public ; no demonstration of a public kind can be set on foot but that he is in the front with cheery voice and restless soul, ready and anxious to do something.

The " Iowa Homestead " of Des Moines, edited by J. Duane Wilson, thus spoke of Mr. Ballingall in July, 187 1 :

"Pete," as he is familiarly called, is equal to any emer- gency. For a number of years he catered in Chicago, and is well known to thousands. Twelve or thirteen years ago he came to this promising town, and has been one of its moving spirits from the date of his arrival. Ile takes advantage of every opportunity for improvement, and never lets money rot or rust in his possession. One man of his stamp in a community is worth a thousand miserly drones, and a hundred of such could make a large city in about six days. He is not called rich, in what this world calls riches, but he is worth more than the entire generation of antedi- luvians who have a being in the common den of idleness, lust and selfishness. The citizens of Ottumwa are beginning to learn that they have a man in their midst who is worth his weight in gold. His business is everywhere, and he turns his hand to everything. The press is enthusiastic in his praise, and those who envy him his position must yet learn to pay him homage.

In 1866 he built the Ballingall House, a four-story brick structure with mansard roof, one of the finest hotel buildings in the Des Moines valley, and he is also proprietor of the Depot Hotel, finding no diffi- culty in operating both.

Mr. Ballingall is interested in the pork-packing business; has attended three national conventions of pork packers, and was vice-president of the con- vention which met at Indianapolis in 1876.

He has always been a democrat, and is an active and warm partisan. He often attends the state con- ventions of his party, and was a delegate to the na- tional democratic convention in 1876. In 1871 he ran for state senator in a strong republican district, and greatly reduced the usual republican majority. He has been in the city council as alderman ten years.

He was a leading spirit in organizing the library association of Ottumwa, and is one of its oldest di- rectors. He is foremost in all commendable enter- prises. In March, 1873, he received from his fellow- citizens a fine gold watch and chain, the whole costing five hundred and twelve dollars, as a token of their appreciation of his services as an enterpris- ing man. The inside front case is most elegantly engraved with the following inscription : "Hon. P. G. Ballingall, by his guests at Soldiers' Reunion at Des Moines, 1870, and other friends in Iowa, in token of. esteem." On the chain is a gold heart, with the date of presentation on one side, and on

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the other the inscription, "The live man of the place." The Hon. E. H. Stiles, reporter of the su- preme court of Iowa, made the presentation speech. In the course of his remarks he very appropriately said :

It seems to me that one of the most gratifying facts of a man's existence and life, one of the most pleasant reflections, is that there is something about his character that attracts man to man. These vows of sympathy bind man to man as brothers; it is one of the most pleasant reflections that a man has, that he is loved in life, and will be mourned when dead.

Mr. Ballingall was commissioned major of the 5th regiment of the lowa National Guard, on the 20th of May, 1876, and was presented by the Sheridan Guards with a handsome gold-mounted sword, with steel and bronze scabbard and gilt regulation belt, engraved on the hilt, " Presented to Major P. G. Ballingall, by the Sheridan Guards, Ottumwa, June 25, 1876"; and on the scabbard, " Major P. G. Bal- lingall." Was commissioned colonel on the 10th of

April, 1877. He was made temporary president of the convention of the national guard of the state, held at Dubuque on the 6th of June, 1877; also permanent president of the convention held at Des Moines on the 6th of February, 1878, and has re- ceived the nomination from nearly all the compa- nies in the state for major-general.

Mr. Ballingall's employés presented him with an elegant gold-headed ebony cane, on the 14th of Jan- uary, 1878.

Colonel Ballingall is a Methodist in religious sen- timent, but very liberal.

It will be seen that he began early in life to paddle his own canoe; and he has so managed as never to get stranded. As an energetic, industrious man, he has few equals, always planning some public or private improvement, and never resting or halting until he sees it completed. Such men are the most useful citizens in any community.

HON. AARON KIMBALL,

CRESCO.

A ARON KIMBALL, state senator representing Howard, Chickasaw and Bremer counties, is a son of Thomas D. Kimball, a farmer, and Mary Ann Youngs, and was born in New York city on the 16th of March, 1836. The Kimballs were an early New Jersey family. The mother of Aaron was a native of Chester, Orange county, New York. When he was a little more than a year old the family moved to Middlebury, Elkhart county, Indiana, where the son spent his youth in aiding his father in tilling land. The winter of 1851-52 he gave to study in the On- tario Indiana Academy, and the next three winters he taught district schools, spending his summers on the farm. In March, 1854, we find him in the fresh- man class of the University of Michigan, in which institution he remained three years, paying his way by manual labor and with the funds accumulated by teaching before entering college. At length, his exchequer being exhausted, he left at the close of the junior year; in March, 1857, came to Howard county, of which he has since been a resident, and of which he early became a leading citizen. The first year and a half in the county he served as deputy recorder and treasurer, and taught school meantime at Vernon Springs. In that township, in January, 1859, he settled on a farm, which he culti-

vated until January, 1865, when he became clerk of the district court and of the board of supervisors, a position to which he was reelected, and in which he was offered a third term; but Cresco, a new town on the Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul railroad, needed a bank; Mr. Kimball moved to this place, and on the 14th of May, 1869, the banking house with which he is now connected was organized. The name of the firm is Kimball and Farnsworth, his partner being John Farnsworth, a native of Mus- catine county, Iowa. Theirs is the oldest bank in Howard county, and it is a substantial and highly reputable institution.

Mr. Kimball was elected to the state senate in October, 1877, and while we write he is serving his first term. He is on the committees on ways and means, soldiers' orphans' home, and suppression of intemperance, and chairman of the committee on college for the blind.

The "Howard County Times," the republican organ at Cresco, thus spoke of the politics of Mr. Kimball, on the 4th of October, 1877 :

Politically, he is of the republican faith, beginning with the Fremont campaign in Indiana, when Henry S. Lane was elected governor, and the old-time republican gospel was propounded by such men as Kinsley S. Bingham, An- son Burlingame, Cassius M. Clay, and Schuyler Colfax,

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down through the intervening years; and while not an ar- dent partisan, he has been a consistent and earnest republi- can, believing the principles and policy of this party to more nearly represent his own convictions than any other of the great political parties of the country.

Mr. Kimball is thoroughly identified with the in- terests of the county and state, and has done valu- able service to both. In January, 1871, he was made a director of the State Agricultural Society, and la- bored assiduously to advance its interests.

He is a member of the Congregational church, and an earnest worker in the Sunday-school cause. His character has always been above suspicion.

Mr. Kimball has a second wife : his first was Mrs. Irene S. Kelley, of New Bedford, Massachusetts; married on the 21st of August, 1858; she died on the 19th of August, 1870, leaving one child, Mary F. His present wife was Miss Emma W. Laird, of In- dianapolis, Indiana; married on the 20th of March, 1872 ; she has two children, Lois C. and Ruth L.

Mr. Kimball is six feet in height, weighs two hun- dred and ten pounds, and his fine physique, dignified bearing, frank address and cordial manners naturally arrest the attention of strangers. It is not surprising that he is most popular where best known.

N. L. VAN SANDT, M. D., CLARINDA.

A LEADER of the people, a man of most excel- lent judgment and an iron will, a keen observer of human nature, a man of pronounced opinions upon all subjects, professional or political, one who likes his friends and hates his enemies; in fact, a perfectly reliable man, one whose good discretion lets him see the right, which he follows, let it lead where it may ; such can truly be said of Dr. Van Sandt.

His father, John Van Sandt, was born in Fleming county, Kentucky, on the 23d of September, 1793. In the meridian of life he removed to Brown county, Ohio, where the subject of this sketch was born on the 7th of May, 1825. He was by nature opposed to the institution of slavery, and being a man of fixed character he made many enemies, and was subjected to long-continued lawsuits in defense of his princi- ples, which exhausted his means. John Van Sandt married Miss Nancy Northcote, daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Northcote, who was a Methodist minister of the Kentucky conference for upward of sixty years, and remained upon his estate in Fleming county, Kentucky, until his death in 1850, at the advanced age of eighty-seven.

John Van Sandt was an energetic and intelligent farmer, a rabid abolitionist at a time when it cost something to be such, and at the age of fifty-four he died at Hamilton county, Ohio.

Dr. Van Sandt worked upon his father's farm dur- ing the summer months, and attended a district school until he was eighteen, when he went to an academy ten miles off, at which place he resided, being in disfavor with his step-mother. From this academy he went to Woodward College, Cincinnati,

where he remained awhile, and then returned to the school at College Hill, where he had previously been, and which had been reconstructed, finally finishing his instructions at the hands of a private tutor near his father's home.

About this time he began the study of medicine for one year under Dr. Avery at Reading, Ohio, and then took a course of lectures at the Eclectic Med- ical Institute, Cincinnati, from which he graduated in 1850. This year he married Miss Eliza Heald, of Miami county, Ohio, after which he located in Troy, Ohio, and practiced medicine there for eight years. From Troy he removed to Iowa, located at Clarinda, at which place he has continuously resided, practic- ing his profession.

Dr. Van Sandt was originally a whig in politics, then a free-soiler, and subsequently a red-hot repub- lican. He has been an active politician ever since he came to Clarinda. He was a zealous supporter of all the war measures of President Lincoln's ad- ministration. He was elected to the tenth assembly of Iowa in 1863, and was again elected to fill the unexpired term of Hon. Charles Linderman.

Although continuously prosecuting his profession while at home, he has found time to devote an im- mense amount of exertion in the development of a farm of one hundred and thirty acres, which he pur- chased in 1862, situated near the city, and where he now resides. This is indeed a model farm, so far as success in winter wheat and fruit raising is concerned. He was the first to cultivate fall wheat to any extent in Page county. In his reports to the agricultural bureau at Washington he demonstrated the fact, as

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the result of his experiment, that fall wheat produced in four crops averaged sixty-eight bushels to the acre, as against forty-six bushels of spring wheat per acre for the same four crops. His fruit growing, too, is an immense success. In apples of a superior quality and variety, in "Concord " grapes and in cherries, his farm takes the lead of every other in Page county.

Dr. Van Sandt has had born to him two children, one of whom died in infancy ; the other is a young man of twenty-five, of varied education and a supe- rior mind, well stored with the higher order of literary attainments. He is at present with his father in the real-estate business, of which he has the management.

The doctor was appointed postmaster under Presi- dent Grant, from 1871 to 1873, and has been United States pension agent since 1863 to the present time, with the exception of two years.

He is a Presbyterian in religious views, but, like Prof. Swing, takes no stock in Calvinism.

Clarinda was a close inland town, fourteen miles away from the main trunk of the Chicago, Burling- ton and Quincy railroad, and by the exertions of Dr. Van Sandt and a few others the Nodaway Valley railway via Clarinda was constructed, which has proved not only to be the making of the city, but in itself a source of profit to its projectors.

GENERAL HIRAM SCOFIELD,

WASHINGTON.

H IRAM SCOFIELD, soldier and lawyer, was born at Hadley, Saratoga county, New York, on the Ist of July, 1830, and is the eldest son of Will- iam Scofield and Susannah nee Bishop. The Scofield family in the United States is descended from Eng- lish ancestors who settled in Stamford, Connecticut, about the year 1730, where a large colony of the descendants still reside, though large offshoots have found their way in the middle and western states. Major-General J. M. Schofield is of the same lin- eage, and not very distantly related to our subject.

The grandfather of our subject, Neazer Scofield, who was fourth in descent from the first settler of that name in America, was born in Stamford, Con- necticut, in the year 1752, and married Thankful Scofield, a relative of his own.

He was a soldier of the revolutionary war, serving in southern Connecticut, in the vicinity of Long Isl- and, and up the Hudson river; was present at the engagement in which General Wooster was killed, and saw him fall. He was also present in New York city at its evacuation by the federal forces in 1777. About the year 1800 he removed with his family to Saratoga county, New York, going up the Hudson, and being among the pioneers of the mineral-spring region, since become one of the most fashionable summer resorts in the nation, if not the world. He was a pensioner of the government up to the time of his death. He was, moreover, a man of large intelligence and considerable influence in his day and generation, and a leading member of the Pres- byterian church. He died in Saratoga county, New

York, in the year 1846, in the ninety-fourth year of his age.

The father of our subject, William Scofield, was born in Stamford, Connecticut, in the year 1793, and removed with his parents, when but a lad, to Saratoga county, New York. He was a tiller of the rough and comparatively unfruitful soil of the last named locality, from which he was able, with the utmost frugality and industry, to wring out a sub- sistence for his family, who, it will be naturally in- ferred, were brought up in habits of industry and economy.

Mrs. Scofield was a most excellent woman, am- bitious, energetic, and devoted to the interests of her children. To her influence and efforts is mainly due the superior education that all her children at- tained. She was a devout christian, an exemplary member of the Presbyterian church, as was also her husband, both of whom lived to old age. He died in Washington, Iowa, in the year 1874, in the eighty- first year of his age, and she in 1862, in the seven- tieth year of her age.

The preparatory studies of our subject were pur- sued in the public schools of his neighborhood, and at the Cambridge Academy, Washington county, New York, after which he entered Union College, Schenectady, then under the presidency of the Rev. Eliphalet Nott. D.D., from which he was graduated with honors in the class of 1853.

After quitting college he removed to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he engaged in teaching for two years, reading law at the same time under the di-

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rection of the celebrated Albert Pike. Returning to his home he attended the law school of Albany, New York, from which he was graduated in 1856.

In the year following he removed to Washington, Iowa, which has since been his home, where he en- gaged in the practice of his profession, at which he has long since taken a leading rank.

Immediately after the outbreak of the rebellion, and in response to the first call of President Lincoln for troops to defend the national flag, he enlisted in the 2d Iowa Infantry, and was mustered into the service on the 27th of May, 1861, and served one month as a private, for which he received the mu- nificent sum of eleven dollars. He was then pro- moted to the rank of second lieutenant, and soon after to that of first lieutenant.

His first military service was in northern Missouri, guarding the Hannibal and Saint Joseph railroad, then down the Mississippi to Bird's Point, under General Fremont. He commanded his company at the battle of Fort Donelson, on the 14th and 15th of February, 1862, in which the regiment lost heavily, - but covered itself with glory, and wrung from the imperturbable Halleck the most enthusiastic admira- tion. Colonel Tuttle, who commanded the regiment, in his official report, among other staff and line offi- cers, commends Lieutenant Scofield by name for noble deportment in this memorable struggle. In his history of "Iowa and the Rebellion," L. D. In- gersoll thus refers to the conduct of the 2d Iowa at the siege of Fort Donelson :

Colonel Tuttle led the advance. Not a man spoke, not a gun was fired from the ranks. Silent as the grave and in- exorable as death the 2d Iowa pushed its way up the hill through a storm of grape, shell and ball. Many dropped dead, many were wounded, but not a groan or a cry was heard. The regiment moved as noiselessly as so many lions stealing upon their prey. Reaching the works, the men bounded over with wonderful agility. . .. The enemy re- sisted with great stubbornness, but the whole regiment forming in line inside the rebel works drove the enemy before them.

On the surrender of the fort, on the following day, the 2d Iowa was awarded the post of honor, and was the first to enter the rebel stronghold, marching in at the head of the grand column, which made a most imposing display. The 2d marched up to the citadel, when Corporal V. P. Townley, the only one of the color guard who had escaped uninjured, planted the stars and stripes upon the captured fort amid the wild huzzas of the victorious army. This was the most complete victory of the Union army. The surrender of the rebels was unconditional.

Soon after the fall of Donelson our subject was

promoted to the rank of assistant adjutant-general and placed on the staff of General Lauman, and in that capacity he participated in the battle of Shiloh, where he received a musket ball through the leg, which for a time rendered him unfit for service. In the latter part of 1862 he was placed on the staff of General McCarthy in the same capacity, and served through the Tennessee campaign and down the river to the neighborhood of Vicksburg. Took part in the siege and capture of Corinth; the battle of the Hatchie, under Generals Ord and Hurlburt, where his gallantry, courage and skill were conspicuous, and received the well-merited commendation of his superiors.

In May, 1863, he was promoted to the command of the 8th Louisiana Colored Infantry, afterward the 47th United States Colored Infantry. After his ap- pointment to the rank of colonel he commanded the post at Lake Providence, and at Milliken's Bend during the siege of Vicksburg, and was among the first to enter the city after its capture. He subse- quently commanded the second brigade in the di- vision of colored troops in the siege of Blakely and in the operations against Mobile, where himself and his command won an imperishable fame, and already fill one of the brightest pages in the history of the rebellion ; was stationed and commanded at Alex- andria, Louisiana, during the summer and fall of 1865. He also did considerable duty on court-mar- tials ; his legal knowledge, no less than his cool and impartial judgment, eminently fitting him for that duty. He was mustered out at Baton Rouge, Lou- isiana, on the 6th of January, 1866. He was brevet- ed brigadier-general in April, 1865.

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The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self made men, Iowa volume, Part 90

Author: American biographical publishing company, pub Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Chicago, New York, American biographical publishing company Number of Pages: 954

Author: American biographical publishing company, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Chicago, New York, American biographical publishing company
Number of Pages: 954