USA > Iowa > The blue book of Iowa women; a history of contemporary women; > Part 2
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Susan Elizabeth Safely Blake, wife of the widely known attorney, W. E. Blake, was born in Waterford, N. Y., April 23, 1845. Her father was Thomas Safley, and her mother, Henrietta Fenwick, who died, when her daughter was only six years old. In 1853 her father with his family came to Linn county, Iowa. All three of Mrs. Blake's brothers served in the Civil War. Dr. A. F. Safley enlisted in New York, Alexander F. Safley in a Colorado Regiment and won from the Indi- ans the name "Brave White Chief" because of his bravery. Maj. John J. Safley enlisted in the 13th regi- ment at Davenport which was a part of the Iowa Crocker Brigade.
She was married to W. E. Blake, Nov. 4, 1903. He has practiced law in Burlington since 1869. He has been an elder in the First Presbyterian church for over forty years and was superintendent of the Sunday school for twenty-five years. He was a mem- ber of the Board of Education for twelve years, being president for eleven years. Mrs. Blake belongs to most of the clubs and associations in Burlington which are worth while, among them the Musical Club, the King's Daughters, the Y. W. C. A., the Visiting Nurse Association, the Red Cross society, the Humane society, the Hospital Aid and her church organizations. To all these she gives very helpful support. She has lived in Burlington for forty- one years and through all that time has had a part in the best life of the city. She has seen the city grow and improve in these years until it seems transformed, very few of the old land marks being left.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
DR. KATE STEVENS HARPEL
Kate Stevens Harpel born Oct. 22, 1867 near Spring- field, Ill., is the daughter of Asher M. Stevens and Jo- hanna Chelsey who came to Cerro Gordo county, Ia., in 1868 and settled on a farm which is still in the pos- session of the family. Her paternal grandmother, Julia Kellog, was a granddaughter of Eliphalet Kel- log, an officer in the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Stevens died in 1878 leaving a family of seven children, the daughter Kate, with an elder sister, did the house work and attended district school.
At the age of 15 she went to Mason City, where in two years she completed a four years course, working for her board and expenses, graduated at the head of her class. She taught in the Mason City schools until 1887 when she entered the Iowa State College, having saved sufficient money to cover a year's expenses. The other three years she taught during the winter and acted as assistant librarian at the college. She received the degree of Bachelor of Letters, 1890, ranking second in a class of forty-four. For one year she was principal of the Webster City High School. In July, 1892, she was married to Llewel- lyn V. Harpel, a successful lawyer of Perry, where they lived until 1903, when they moved to Boone, their present home. For three years she was a member of the school board in Perry. She studied medicine in Drake University, receiving her degree in 1903, since which time she has been a successful practitioner. Her only son, Gates Harpel, was born in 1893. She is in religious belief a Universalist and is an efficient club woman. Through her life no difficulty has ever daunt- ed her; through courage and native ability she has come to success in all she has undertaken.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
ANNIE TURNER WITTENMYER
One of the greatest heroines of the Civil War, of whom General Grant said "No soldier on the firing line gave more heroic service than she rendered," was an Iowa woman. Annie Turner Wittenmyer was born in Sandy Springs, Ohio, in 1827. Her husband was Wm. Wittenmyer, a merchant. They moved to Keo- kuk in 1850, where she conducted a free school at her own expense. In 1862 she was appointed by the Iowa legislature, State Sanitary Agent. Secretary Stanton issued a pass which admitted her and her supplies through all army lines. Over $150,000 in Iowa alone passed through her hands in money and supplies. Later she entered the service of the Christian Com- mission, having charge of the diet kitchen; the first one opened was in Nashville. She raised the hygienic excellence of these kitchens to a higher grade than had then been known in military life. Until the winter of 1865 she constantly cared for the sick and wounded on the field and in the hospitals.
Through her influence the soldiers' Orphans Home in Davenport was established, the first of its kind in the United States. She was National President of the W. R. C. and practically wrote its code of laws. She was first national president of the W. C. T. U. She inau- gurated the plan under which the Woman's Home Mis- sionary Society of the M. E. church operates. Largely through her influence the federal law pensioning army nurses was passed. She was the author of "Under the Guns, a Woman's Reminiscences of the Civil War," and other books. President Lincoln, General and Mrs. Grant, were personal friends.
She died Feb. 2, 1900, having in her life rendered public service of a very high order.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
MRS. E. F. BROCKWAY
A village in one of the garden spots of Iowa bears the name Letts. To many of its residents the name re- calls a train of golden memories of the pioneer, Madi- son Letts, for love of whom the people changed the name of their village from Onanawa to Letts. From the tower of the church where his descendants still worship, a sweet toned bell, the gift of appreciation for the honor bestowed, still calls the people to wor- ship. In 1854 the Letts family journeyed westward from their Illinois home and established here the "Letts Homestead." Here it was that Rowena B. Letts spent her girlhood days and here in 1860 was married to Edwin F. Brockway of Canesville, a de- scendant of an honored pioneer family. All the sterl- ing characteristics of the pioneer father and the lov- able traits of a refined mother seem to have centered in the personality of Mrs. Brockway. She glorified womanhood in its highest degree and the influence she created in her home, church and society, still lives to honor her memory. Hers was a keen intellect and her father, husband and son, who have aided in shaping Iowa's laws and destinies found in her a helpful ad- visor. She was a loyal member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, of the Nehemiah Letts chap- ter. A history of this Revolutionary ancestor was written by her and published in the history of the Iowa D. A. R's.
The later years of her life were spent at the "Letts Homestead," where she dispensed hospitality and good cheer until her death in September, 1912. The world was better for having known her.
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MISS MINNETTE ELEANOR BROWN
Minnette Eleanor Brown is the daughter of Dr. Lafayette and Angeline Loretta King Brown. Her father's ancestors came from England in the early days of the country's history and settled in New York, and in later years came to Wisconsin where the family was prominent in a political and educational way. Dr. Lafayette Brown who died in 1912, was a gentle- man of the old school, a scholarly man along many lines. Mrs. Brown's parents came in pioneer days to Hamilton, Ill., where their influence was felt in a marked degree on Methodism.
Miss Brown has had many advantages of education, travel and association with gifted people. She re- ceived her higher education in Drake University and in the Chicago University. She is an Episcopalian and an exemplary church woman. She is president of the Woman's Auxiliary of St. John's church and an asso- ciate editor of Church Life, the parish paper. She is talented to an unusual degree along many lines. She has a historical and technical knowledge of music, she lectures delightfully on literary topics, she reads and interprets literature as a professional, she has done a great deal of journalistic work and writes with a charming style. For ten years the family lived in Chi- cago where she belonged to the Every Wednesday Club. During her residence in Keokuk she has been interested in all that tends to civic and social better- ment. She is a member of the Y. W. C. A. Directorate, an officer in the Monday Music Club, a member of the Civic League, the Mentor Reading Club and the Ben- evolent Union, a charity organization. She is eligible to the D. A. R. and to the Colonial Dames.
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MRS. ADDIE B. BILLINGTON
Helen Adelaide Bonnell Billington inherited mental activity and refined gentility from parents of noted an- cestry. She received her early education in the schools of Wisconsin and Indiana and finished school in a sem- inary on the Mt. Holyoke plan. She says the public library was her university. She was a success- ful teacher as preceptress in the German-English Normal School at Galena, Ill .. , and as Dean of Women in Coe College. On Dec. 22, 1873, she was married to T. E. Billington and lived in Marion. In 1882 she ac- cepted a secretaryship in the Department of Public In- struction in Des Moines, which position she held many years. She has marked journalistic ability and has contributed articles to Chicago papers, Eastern maga- zines, conducted for two years "The Ladies' Social Circle" in the Burlington Hawkeye, has been on the editorial staff of the Des Moines Capital. For the
Register-Leader she wrote a series of sketches "Women Whom Iowa Delights to Honor," a portrait- ure of Iowa home life such as had never appeared in print before. She has always been active in church and temperance work. She held membership in the Social Science club of Chicago and was one of the five lowa members of the Association for the Advancement of Women which met in Des Moines in 1886. She was one of the founders of the Des Moines Woman's Club and is honored with a life membership. She was presi- dent of the Iowa Press and Author's Club in 1907-'OS, is a member of Abigail Adams chapter D. A. R. She is a woman of unusual ability and she herself is a "Woman whom Iowa Delights to Honor."
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
MRS. WILLIAM A. BROWNELL
Mary Higbie Brownell was born in Penfield, N. Y., March 15, 1841. She is the daughter of Silas Higbie, born in Duansbery, N. Y., Nov. 1, 1810, and of Hester A. Ross born at Penfield, May 13, 1820. Her father was of Holland ancestry, Aneke Jans, of Old Trinity church in New York was an ancestor. Her mother was of fine Scotch ancestry. Mrs. Brownell was educated in the Tracy Female Seminary at Rochester, N. Y. She was married in Penfield, February 13, 1861, to William Augustus Brownell who died in Keokuk, Feb. 20, 1901. They came to Muscatine, Iowa, to live, later moving to Keokuk where Mr. Brownell was associated with his brothers in the Keokuk National Bank. Seven children were born to them, four of whom lived to be grown. Ralph Brooks died at the age of 33 years ; Edwin Higbie living in Beverly, Wash .; Francis Ray- mond and Marion Harold both living in Hailey, Idaho. These sons have been a great comfort and joy to their mother. At the age of 13 she united with the Baptist church, but after her marriage, with her husband united with the Congregational church of which she is a devoted member. She is a member of the Keokuk Chapter D. A. R., of which she has been regent. She was a charter member of the Woman's Club and treas- urer for many years. She belongs to the Civic League, the Y. W. C. A., the Wednesday Reading Club, the Art Club and church societies, having a helpful interest in all of them. It was Emerson who said "The only way to have a friend is to be one." Mrs. Brownell has hosts of friends who are devoted to her. She is a patrician by birth and in all her tastes, she is fond of society and brings to it a gracious, charming presence.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
MRS. JOHNATHAN P. DOLLIVER
Louise Pearsons Dolliver was born in Vermont and came with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. George R. Pear- sons to Ft. Dodge when she was but two years old. That city has been her home ever since except for the time spent in Washington during the public life of her husband. She received her education at Wellesley College, being graduated in the class of 1889. She was married Nov. 20, 1895, to Johnathan P. Dolliver, who was then Congressman from the 10th District. From the time of their marriage until 1910 when Senator Dolliver died, their home for the greater part of the year was in Washington. They have three children, Margaret Eliza, born in 1900, Francis, born in 1901, and Johnathan Prentiss, born in 1905.
Mrs. Dolliver is eligible to almost all patriotic so- cieties ; she is a descendant of the Colonial governors, has ancestors who fought in the Revolution, the Mex- ican War and the war af 1812. She is interested in historical societies and is an advocate of the co-opera- tion of historical and patriotic societies. Her uncle, Dr. D. K. Pearsons, of Chicago, who gave millions of dollars to endow small colleges had a very efficient helper in Mrs. Dolliver in the selecting of colleges most worthy. During the long service of her gifted husband in Congress and in U. S. Senate, Mrs. Dolliver was one of the most popular women in Washington society. She was a most gracious hostess and a woman with every qualification for the social duties which came with her husband's position. Johnathan P. Dol- liver was one of the men of whom Iowa is very proud ; he possessed unusual native ability, was a great states man, an incomparable orator, and a man of the highest personal integrity.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
MRS. RANDOLPH S. BEALL
Martha Stahl was born Aug. 11, 1862, the daughter of Michael and Mary Talley Stahl who came to Ring- gold county in 1856, locating on a farm bought from the government which is still in Mr. Stahl's possession. She was graduated in 1888 from Simpson College and has the degrees of B. S. and M. S., later taking post graduate work in the Chicago University. For nine years she was professor of Latin in Simpson College. On August 25, 1904, she was married to Randolph S. Beall of Mt. Ayr. She is an active member of the M. E. church and for several years has been secretary of the Des Moines Conference Woman's Foreign Mis- sionary Society. In 1912 she was a delegate to the General Conference, being the only woman delegate from the district comprising Iowa and Nebraska. She is president of the Monday Club and of the Village Im- provement Association. She organized and was for several years president of the Mt. Ayr Lecture Course Association. She has travelled in this country and in Europe. A sister, Miss Josephine Stahl, has for twenty years been a missionary in India and Burma, and was the heroine of the Darjeeling disaster in 1897. Mrs. Beall's family in all of its branches are devoted mem- bers of the M. E. church. Her father was a member of the first class organized in the county and for sever- al years his home was used for religious services since there were no churches of that faith near. Of his nineteen living children and grandchildren all are members of that church and fifteen of them have been educated in Simpson College.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
HELEN MANVILLE HENSHAW
Helen Manville Henshaw, author and secretary of the Young Women's Christian Association, the only child of Edwin and Helen Hinman Henshaw, was born April 5, 1876, at Clarinda, Iowa, died at Des Moines, July 11, 1908. Her father and mother are descend- ants of early New England patriots of English origin dating back in elear line on her father's side, to the family of Henry VII, and on her mother's side, to Sir Edward Hinman, an officer in the body guard of Charles I.
After preparation at Miss Clarke's School, Des Moines, and at Stanley Hall, Minneapolis, Miss Hen- shaw spent four years at Vassar College, receiving her A. B. degree in 1900. The next five years she was at home, dividing her time among social interests, study, and volunteer service in the local Y. W. C. A., and the State Committee of Iowa. So splendidly did she perform these volunteer duties that she was called the most efficient worker of this kind in the United States. In 1905, she became Student Secretary of the Y. W. C. A. for Iowa, and continued so to serve until her death.
As secretary she revealed marked adaptability. Her academic training, social charm, beautiful home life, and depth of religious life, combined to make her an unusual secretary. Her executive services and her ef- feetiveness as a public speaker ranked her among lead- ing Y. W. C. A. secretaries.
These things, however, were not the measure of her greatness. It was in dealing with the personal prob- lems in religious matters, that the student women of Iowa found Helen Henshaw an evangel. Wholesome, well poised, experienced, she won instinctive trust;
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sympathy and spontaneous love for young women made her a dear personal friend, a wise counselor.
From the thick of the struggle for advancement comes the book with a message. There were in Miss Henshaw's life and work numbers of vital incidents, striking examples of character development, evidences of the joy and power of applied Christianity. Little wonder that conclusions from such combinations were expressed in book form. From snatches of time she wrote, completing but a few weeks before her last ill- ness her only draft of "The Passing of the Word," a novel that has done splendid part in meeting some of the questions of modern doubt and in bringing scores to a Christian life.
In the summer of 1905, Miss Henshaw, in company with Miss Ruth Paxson, now National Student Secre- tary of the Y. W. C. A. for China, attended the World's Student Christian Federation in Zeist, Holland, and afterwards visited extensively in Europe. A rare Christian friendship united these two girls. Upon Helen's death, Ruth gave sincere expression of a de- voted heart in a matchless memorial booklet.
Near the close of her work she was tendered the secretaryship of the Vassar College Christian Associa- tion in Tokio, Japan, but refused to accept the honor on account of the declining years of her parents. To be from home and her mother, as duty demanded, was grievous hardship, but to return after even the brief- est absence was gladness unalloyed. Her generous fund of quaint humor was a well spring of joy in the home. One who never saw Miss Henshaw with her family failed in estimating her character, for here her being yielded its most natural fruitage.
The Proteus Club, Des Moines, of which Miss Hen-
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shaw was a constituent member, memorialized her by hanging four choice copies of the old masters, on the walls of the Y. W. C. A. building. Her sympathies were with all activities advancing the cause of women. For equal suffrage she always stood firm. Hers was a rare soul, capable, unassuming, cheerful, heroic, ad- herent to every standard of truth and nobleness. In her passing, thousands of the young women of our land had common grief, but they have also abiding for- ever the uplifting power of her gracious Christian life.
MRS. GEORGE MARTIN KERNS
Mrs. Leona Gertrude Kerns was born in Towanda, Ill., in 1878, the daughter of John A. Miller and Alice Salina Chaney. She was educated in the Illinois Wesleyan University B. S., a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority. On April 24, 1906, at Bloomington, Ill., she was married to George M. Kerns, an architect of Ottumwa, which city is their home. She is promi- nent in society and in club life. She is a member of the Art Club, Tourist Club and Fortnightly Club. She has served the Art Club as president and has been sec- retary of the other two. She is a member of the Play Ground Association and of two social clubs. She is a member of the Presbyterian church and believes in Equal Suffrage.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
MRS. EDWARD READ BURKHALTER
Lucy Anna Denise was born in Franklin, Ohio, Jany. 18, 1847. She is the daughter of Denise Denise and Mary Elizabeth Schenk Denise who in 1847 moved to Burlington, Ia., where they were honored residents and pillars in the First Presbyterian Church the re- mainder of their lives.
An ancestor founded the old "Log College," which afterwards became Princeton University. She was married on July 12, 1870, to the Rev. Edward Read Burkhalter, of New York City, and moved to New Rochelle, N. Y. Four children were born to them, Lucy, Denise, Mary and Louis D. In October, 1876, the family moved to Cedar Rapids, where Dr. Burkhalter became pastor of the First Presbyterian church. Mrs. Burkhalter was president of the local W. C. T. U. for many years and has held office in the State organiza- tion. She has been president of the City Missionary Society which founded and maintained an institution known as The Helping Hand, which aided women of the poorer classes by teaching them practical lessons along many lines. Mrs. Burkhalter has had many ad- vantages of travel, having been in almost every state in the Union, has traveled through Europe and in the countries around the Mediterranean, Adriatic and Red Seas. Her life is one of practical service; she has sought to bring the kingdom of God to the earth right where she lived and follows closely the precept of Him "who went about doing good."
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
MRS. JOHN ALEXANDER BERRY
Jennie Iowa Peet, born Feby. 5, 1866, in Fair- view, Ia., is the daughter of Wilbur Riley and Sarah Ellen Gillilan Peet, both of Revolutionary descent. Her mother was a native of West Virginia and her father was born in Iowa territory. She was educated in the public schools and in the Epworth Seminary. For seven years after graduating she taught in the public schools. On July 7, 1887, at Troy Mills she was married to John Alexander Berry. She is a member of the Presbyterian church and of the Home Missionary and the Chapel Society connected with it. Mrs. Berry is one of the leading patriotic women of this state. She has held almost every local office and state office in the Woman's Relief Corps which is an auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic. She has served this or- ganization as the National President in 1909-1910. When we remember that the organization has a mem- bership of 167,000 we appreciate the honor which was given Mrs. Berry. She is now a member of the com- mittee on revision of national law and is president of "The Past Department President's Association." She is regent of Ashley Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. She was for three years president of the Cedar Rapids Woman's Club and has been chairman of several of its departments. She has served the Iowa Federation of Women's Clubs as corresponding secre- tary and been chairman of several state committees. She was a prominent factor in securing the passage of a law for the appointment of a woman factory inspec- tor to better labor conditions. £ She has contributed many articles to patriotic publications and has done a great deal to promote patriotic education in this state.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
MRS. JOHN B. BUTLER
Prominent among the women in Ft. Dodge in clubs and in society is Mrs. John B. Butler. Her maiden name was Mary Ida Rhodes, born June 14, 1862, in Webster county. Her parents, Daniel and Margaret Ann Willetts Rhodes, came in the early days by cover- ed wagon from Indiana to Webster county where they had a large part in the progress and development of that part of the state. She received her education in the Fort Dodge High School and in the Iowa State Teachers' College at Cedar Falls. For eight years she followed the profession of teaching. She was married on Nov. 3, 1887, to John B. Butler, at Kendallsville, Ind. They have four children, Harry, Margaret K., John B. and Elizabeth Rhodes. She is affiliated with the Congregational church and is active in all of its branches of work. She is president of the local chap- ter of P. E. O. and has been their representative at both state and national conventions. She is an officer in the Fort Dodge Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution. Her lineage comes from Frederick Rhodes who came to America from Germany and fought in the Revolutionary War. Mr. and Mrs. Butler have travel- ed extensively in this country and in Europe. She has visited every great exposition given in this country ex- cept the Centennial, and saw the Paris Exposition. They have a beautiful home in Ft. Dodge and a cottage at Lake Okoboji where they spend their summers.
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The Blue Book of Iowa Women
MRS. EUGENE S. BAKER
Mary Cochran Baker of Keokuk, is the daughter of Isaae K. and Elizabeth Stark Cochran, the father a na- tive of Tennessee, and the mother of Kentucky. Mrs. Cochran was a great great grand daughter of Col. Wm. Stark, brother of Gen. John Stark of Revolutionary fame. The family moved to Keokuk in Mrs. Baker's infancy. She received her education in Williams Sem- inary and in private schools before the publie schools gained their present efficiency. She was married June 17, 1874, to Eugene S. Baker, the son of Dr. and Mrs. S. F. Baker. Three sons have been born to them, Eu- gene Ross, Jesse Edgar, and Myrle Fitch, all of whom are splendid young men, a joy and pride to their mother. Mr. Baker has large business interests; he is president of the Keokuk National Bank, the senior member of the firm of S. F. Baker & Co., a business es- tablished by his father, and has many other business in- terests. Mrs. Baker, since her childhood, has been a member of the First Baptist church of which she is a regular attendant and a constant worker. She has many charity interests; she was a charter member of the Benevolent Union and has held every office in the association. She is vice president of the Visiting Nurse Association, a director in the Civie League and a member of a number of prominent literary and social clubs. She has traveled all over America from Alaska to Cuba and Mexico and has visited almost every eoun- try in Europe. Her greatest pleasure is in her beauti- ful home, Cor. of 4th street and Orleans Ave., over- looking the Mississippi, one of the most beautiful seenie spots in Iowa.
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