USA > Iowa > The blue book of Iowa women; a history of contemporary women; > Part 9
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most important work probably was saving the church at Iowa City, the seat of the State University. Numer- ous men had been trying it for many years, supported by the American Unitarian Association and had not made much impression. Miss Gordon made the Uni- tarian gospel respected there and gave the church its
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first real grip on the university so that now it has a real reason for being. Cheerfulness and unselfishness, as well as intellectual ability of high order, have given Miss Gordon her strong hold upon the affections of the people she has served. Her preaching has always been sane and wholesome. She understands human nature and is charitable and broad in her views, so people have trusted her and been helped by her counsel. Her grasp of affairs and tactful way of getting on with people were well shown in her management of the Woman's Suffrage Campaign in the State Legislature. Miss Gordon was president of the State Suffrage Asso- ciation for two years. In this work, as in all her par- ishes, she commanded the devoted support of loyal friends, and these friends she holds through life, for they never fail to find her friendship helpful and up- lifting.
Miss Gordon was born in 1852 at Hamilton, Ill., the daughter of Samuel Gordon and Permelia Alvord. The Alvords were of English origin. The Gordons were Scotch Presbyterians, driven from Scotland under the Catholic persecution and settled in Ireland. They came to America in 1745, and the old Gordon homestead still stands in Peterborough, N. H. She was educated at the Iowa State University and at Cornell University, N. Y. Her address is Hamilton, Ill.
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MRS. SUSIE MOREING BURR HEALEY
Mrs. Susie Moreing Burr Healy who organized at Dubuque the National Society of the Women of the Civil War and was its first president, was born in Dubuque, Jany. 5, 1856. She is the daughter of Jesse Moreing and Celia Johnson. Her father was one of the very early settlers, having come with Dr. Stephen Longworthy, the first physician to come to that section of the state. He settled on a farm where their six chil- dren were born. Later he built the Illinois Central R. R. from Dubuque to Galena. Mrs. Healey was gradu- ated from the high school and taught in the city schools for several years. June 3, 1867, she was mar- ried to Prof. David P. Burr; to them were born two children, Louie Farwell and Theodore Louis. She is a member of the First Presbyterian church of Chicago. She has lived many winters in California and during the mid winter fair in San Francisco she was superin- tendent of the San Joaquin county building, the largest county building on the grounds. She has been appointed to an important position by the Woman's Board of the Panama Exposition, 1914. She has been a prominent club woman of Dubuque as secretary of the city federation of clubs, president of the church federate of women, and a member of the Y. W. C. A. Directorate. Because she, a Dubuque woman, organized the National Society of Women of the Civil War, that city will always be its national headquarters. She is familiar with every section of this country, having crossed the continent forty-two times and sailed around it once. She is a business woman, having dealt largely in land, as well as in city property. She has always been a successful self-reliant woman, and yet she is most womanly in her tastes and ideals.
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MRS. J. G. HUTCHISON
Mrs. Mabel Dixon Hutchison, of Ottumwa, is the daughter of J. W. Dixon and Sallie Ann Vernon, both of Pennsylvania Quaker stock.
The Vernons came originally from Cheshire, Eng., and owned Haddon Hall, from which Dorothy Vernon eloped with Sir John Manners. Her father was a graduate of Poughkeepsie Law School, N. Y. He came to Iowa in 1856 and served two terms as rep- resentative and two terms as state senator. In 1898 she was married to the Hon. J. G. Hutchison, a very well known lawyer. He served one term on the Iowa Legislature as representative and four terms as state
senator. He was a brilliant, scholarly lawyer and a man of wide knowledge of public affairs. A few years before his death Senator Hutchison had purchased a wholesale grocery establishment, of which his wife is now president and manager. She brought to this business enterprise a trained mind, a confident optimis- tic spirit which has made her work a success. Mrs. Hutchison is a member of the Trinity Episcopal church and for several years was leader of the boys' choir. She was a director of the first Y. W. C. A. or- ganized in the state of Iowa at Ottumwa. She was one of the founders of the Ottumwa Woman's Club and was one of the most popular presidents the Iowa federation ever had. She is a member of the Delta Gamma Sorority, having joined in her college days at the University of Wisconsin. She has a beautiful home, containing many rare art treasures. Her home is shared by a niece, Miss Esther Hutchison, whom she has adopted and educated. Two nephews, Clarence Vernon and Ralph Vernon, are associated in her busi- ness.
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MRS. HAROLD RIVERS HOWELL
Elizabeth Myra Brown Howell was born in Fon du Lac, Wis., the daughter of Henry Purchis Brown and Maria Kesiah Hall. Her father was a gradu- ate of Bowdoin College, Maine, and a pioneer of Wisconsin. She received her preparatory education in the Misses Martin's school for girls, and was gradu- ated from the Northwestern University in 1890 with honors. She was one of two women in the class elect- ed to Phi Beta Kappa, being the first woman in the University to be given that honor. Her sorority is Kappa Kappa Gamma. On Jany. 12, 1892, she was married to Harold Rivers Howell, a prominent busi- ness man of Des Moines. They have two children, Dorothy Brown Howell and Henry Adam Howell. She is a member of the First M. E. church and for ten years was superintendent of the primary department of the Sunday school. She is a member of the Des Moines Woman's Club and has served on the director- ate. She is a member of the Mayflower descendants, her ancestor being Gov. Bradford. She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution by the service of Capt. David Brown. She has served Abigail Adams Chapter as Regent, and was State Treasurer, and State Regent for two terms. She was the first chairman of the Early Iowa Trails Committee and in 1912 with an automobile party traced the Mormon trail from Council Bluffs to Keokuk and Montrose, verifying the old survey. She is chairman of The Children of the Republic Committee of Abigail Adams Chapter, which has done remarkable service in patri- otic education. She is a member of the Board of The Roadside Settlement, and of the Votes for Women As- sociation.
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MRS. GEORGE H. JOHNSON
One of the prominent pioneer families of Cedar county, is the Wilkinson family. Philip Wilkinson came to Iowa from Indiana in 1837 and entered land located near the present town of Tipton. Here he built a cabin in which he lived alone for nine years, cutting the forest and tilling the prairie ground. In 1845 he was married to Elizabeth Anderson. The original farm has remained continuously in the family, being now in the possession of Philip Wilkinson's daughter, Mrs. Drusy Moffett and her son, Perry Mof- fett. The subject of this sketch, Ella Wilkinson John- son, of Iowa City, was born April 6, 1857, the daugh- ter of these Iowa pioneers. She was educated in the public schools of Tipton and the Iowa State Univer- sity. In January, 1882, she was married at Anamosa, Iowa, to George Henry Johnson. They have one son, Ralph Wilkinson Johnson. She is a prominent church woman in the United Brethren denomination. She is president of the Iowa state branch of the Woman's Missionary Association. She is a member of the Iowa Woman's Club of Iowa City and has served as its presi- dent. She has also served the Toledo Woman's Club as its president. Mrs. Johnson is a widely read woman, one who studies and keeps abreast with the times, although she is inclined to be conservative in her views.
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MRS. JAMES B. HOWELL
One of the splendid women of Iowa who in her day was known in Washington society and in many cities of Europe was Mrs. James B. Howell. She was born in Iowa City, Oct. 29, 1829, daughter of General Jesse Bowen, who served as State Senator and as Adjutant General of Iowa. At the beginning of the Civil War he was appointed paymaster in the regular army by President Lincoln. After several years of service he resigned and passed the remainder of his life in retire- ment. At her father's home in Iowa City, Mary A. Bowen was married, Oct. 3, 1850, to James B. Howell, of Keokuk. Judge Howell was at that time the Whig leader of Iowa and was publisher of the Keokuk Gate City. He had been publisher of the Des Moines Valley Whig at Keosauqua, from 1845 to 1849, when he moved the paper to Keokuk and changed its name. He dis- tinguished himself as a journalist, a statesman, and a scholar. He became U. S. Senator from Iowa and later Federal Judge of the Court of Claims by appointment of President Grant and President Hayes. He was a
man of wide influence in Iowa affairs from the time he came to the state in 1841, to the day of his death in 1880. The Hon. Sam M. Clark, one of the most bril-
liant writers Iowa has produced, said of him: "We
have seen Judge Howell's life from the earth side of view where we stand with the general lookers on; and then from the moonside of Browning's fine fancy- that other side of a character which is its sacred own, and which those who look only at the public side can never know. So we know him well enough to know that it takes no charity to judge him. There is noth- ing to forgive and nothing to forget as to his charac-
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ter. We are disposed to hold him the most sagacious man we have ever known; the wisest in his judgment of men and events. While a man of affairs, he was a man of books; his reading was large and ac- curate, and finally James B. Howell was a supremely honest man." Seven children were born to Judge and Mrs. Howell, three of whom died in in- fancy. A son, Jesse B. Howell, died at the age of 45 years. He succeeded his father in the management of the Keokuk Gate City and for twenty-five years was its able business manager. Three children are still liv- ing: Miss Lida Gordon Howell, in whom are em- bodied the traditions of her family, a scholarly woman of the highest culture. Col. Daniel Lane Howell, U. S. A., and Capt. James Fredrick Howell, U. S. A. Mrs. Howell's life was a very full one. From her childhood she was associated with people in public life, for in her father's home in the territorial days were gathered the men who made the early history of this state. She had always a vital interest in her husband's career, and her fine tact and charming manners made her a helpmate indeed to her talented husband. She had a knowledge of business and politics which would have done credit to a man, and yet she was always woman- ly, full of sentiment, and high ideals. Her residence in official Washington society and in the capitals of other nations made her familiar with the usages of cosmopolitan society, and yet her heart was always in her home and its interests. She was a strikingly handsome woman and a woman of great dignity. She died June 17, 1903, in Keokuk, which had been her home for more than half a century.
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MRS. ROGER S. GALER
Mrs. Laura Bowman Galer was born in Carroll, May 12, 1877. She is the daughter of Truman Lewis Bow- man and Anna Hubbard. Her ancestors on both sides have been Americans since 1650 and have fought in 1776, 1812 and 1861. Her great grandfather, Godfrey Bowman, of Pennsylvania, was one of the eight men who carried Commodore Perry from ship to ship dur- ing the battle of Lake Erie. Her mother's mother was a Hale of Connecticutt of the same family as Nathan Hale and Edward Everett Hale. Mrs. Galer is a grad- uate of the Boston High School, of the Iowa State Nor- mal, B. Di. 1900, of Radcliffe B. A. 1904, and of the Rider Divinity School, B. D. 1911. She was a mem- ber of the faculty of the Iowa State Normal School 1904-'09, of Lombard College, 1909-'11. She was pas- tor of the Universalist church of Markesaw, Wis., 1911-'12. She is now pastor of the Mitchelville, Iowa church and vice-president of the Iowa Convention.
In 1912 she was married to Roger Sherman Galer at Wellesley Hills, Mass., a well known lawyer of Mt. Pleasant, which city is their home. Mr. Galer's parents were pioneers of southeast Iowa. He received the degree M. A. at Iowa State University, later studying law. Mrs. Galer believes very sin- cerely in equal suffrage,. She is a woman of the keenest intellect, and one of the most de- lightful public speakers among the women of Iowa. She thinks as she talks, and holds the interest of her audience every moment. She belongs to the Ladies' Library Association, the second oldest club in the United States. She is fond of society and has a rare faculty for making friends.
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MRS. H. E. JEWELL
"To whom it be given to dream, he can in no wise have peace, save in the recording of the vision."
Pauline Bonwell Jewell is the daughter of the Hon. John C. Bonwell of Audubon county, who served in the Iowa Legislature from 1906-'10. At the age of nineteen he enlisted in Co. F, 60th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served in Virginia and was taken pris- oner at Harper's Ferry in 1862; was paroled and sent to Ohio where he served with the State Militia and par- ticipated in the pursuit and capture of John Morgan in his raid through Ohio. In '64 he again enlisted in Co. A, 175th Ohio Vounteer Infantry, and served to the close of the war. He came to Iowa in 1869, to Marion county where he was married. His daughter was born and educated in Iowa and has lived here all her life. She was educated at Iowa State College at Ames. At an early age she was married to Dr. Harrison E. Jewell of Coon Rapids, where they now reside. There are three sons in their family. When a school girl Mrs. Jewell began to write verse and allegories, showing marked talent even as a child. She has written many verses since then, many of which have been published. At the time of the development of the water power at Niagara when there was a good deal of feeling over the possible destruction of the falls she wrote a book, "Wailing Waters." It is in the form of an allegory and profusely illustrated. For some time she has been at work on a series of poems, "Madonnas of the Cen turies." One series has been finished and the others are in process. When finished they will be an addition to Iowa's literature.
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REV. EFFIE MCCOLLUM JONES
Rev. Effie McCollum Jones of Waterloo, minister, lecturer and worker along philanthropic lines, was born near Ft. Scott, Kansas, March 29, 1869. She is the daughter of Cornelius A. McCollum, a native of Ohio, and Martha Kidwell, of Ten- nessee. She received her earliest schooling in the dis- trict schools of Kansas, later attending a training school in Ft. Scott. In 1888 she entered Lombard Col- lege, pursuing studies in the college department and carrying the work in Ryder Divinity school at the same time, from which she received the degree B. D. in 1892 and D. D. in 1907. She married Ben Wallace Jones, a classmate and with him was ordained to the ministry of the Universalist church in 1892. Their first home was at Waterloo where Mr. Jones was pas- tor of the church of the Redeemer. Mrs. Jones did missionary and supply work over the state. In 1894 they moved to Barre, Vt., where they were called as co-pastors of the First Universalist church, one of the oldest and strongest churches in Vermont. Here Mr. Jones died, Jany. 19, 1898, during an epidemic of ty- phoid fever, throughout which he had aided many, only to fall a victim himself. Dr. Jones remained more than six years as pastor after her husband's death. She had a wide range of influence and activity here outside her church. In 1904 she was called again to Waterloo, her husband's first pastorate. In 1910 Dr. Jones was honored by being one of the American speakers at the International Congress of Religious Liberals in Berlin. She is an officer of the Associated Charities, of the Woman's Club, W. C. T. U., P. E. O., Visiting Nurse Association and a trustee of Lombard College.
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MRS. JAMES B. DIVER
There is no more attractive spot in Iowa, than Port Sunshine, the home of Mr. and Mrs. James B. Diver, of Keokuk. It stands on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River and is filled with treasures brought from many lands, and with family heirlooms, price- less in their association.
When Port Sunshine was built, there were no river improvements on the rapids. Mr. and Mrs. Diver have seen from Port Sunshine the building of the Govern- ment canal and locks, the steel bridge which spans the river, the dam and power house, the greatest power plant in the world. Descriptive of this last great work, the power plant, Mrs. Diver has written a booklet, "Sound Waves," which gives a graphic picture of the great work, through the various sounds which accompanied the construction. The con- ception is unique, and it is charmingly written.
Lorene Curtis Diver, the daughter of Julius C. Cur- tis and Eliza Skinner Curtis, was born in Lima, Ohio. The family arrived in Keokuk to make their home the day on which President Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, and her early memory of the nation's sorrow is very vivid.
Mrs. Diver is a descendant from the Yale family of Wales. The first ancestor recorded in the direct male line in the pedigree, was Dominus Otho, nobleman, who came from Florence, Italy to England, in 1057, A. D.
The ancestor of the maternal side of the house, was Cuneda, 415, A. D., the head of the long line of kings and princes from whom the Yales were descended.
The name, date of, and place of birth, of the line
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from these two, down to Lorene Curtis Diver, is re- corded and vouched for by historical records.
In December, 1869, Lorene Curtis was married to James Brice Diver in Keokuk. Two children were born to them. Their first child died at birth. Helen Curtis Diver, born Thanksgiving day, 1875, lived fif- teen short years, passing in the early springtime of young womanhood.
Mr. Diver comes from a long line of honorable an- cestry, prominent in Colonial affairs, and in the forma- tion of the State of Maryland, Thomas Johnson and Thomas Brice, signers of the "Resolutions of the Com- mittee of Observation," March 22, 1775, which ante- dates the Mecklenburg Resolutions and the Declara- tion of Independence. On July 4, 1900, a bronze tablet commemorating the signers was placed on the ground in Harford county Maryland.
Mr. and Mrs. Diver accepted the committee's invi- tation and went to Harford county to witness the cere- monies.
James Brice Diver is the son of Dr. Wm. Beck Diver and Lavina Brice. Dr. Diver after graduating as a surgeon, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, was sent by the American Board of Foreign Missions as a medical missionary to China, May, 1838, where he es- tablished dispensaries and hospitals in Canton, Macoa, and other coast cities. Aftes his return to America he crossed the plains to California in 1849 as surgeon to the Cincinnatti Mining and Trading Co.
James Brice Diver, engineer in steel and iron construction, bridges, viaducts, etc., (now retired), among close friends he is called, "bureau of in- formation," a veritable court of inquiry ; courteous, generous, progressive, liberal and philanthropic in his
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views. Served in the Civil War, is a son of American Revolution, Shriner, Knights Templar, Royal Arch, Master Mason, Elk.
A few years ago Mr. and Mrs. Diver made the tour around the world. While in Macoa, China, they visit- ed one of the hospitals which Dr. Diver had establish- ed nearly seventy years before. When about to leave Madras, India, they incidentally learned from an Englishman of an interesting pagoda-like monument, erected in 1681, by Elihu Yale, then Governor of Mad- ras, in memory of his son, David. For more than two hundred years this peculiar structure had stood alone on the open plain in full view from the sea, now within the compound and surrounded by the High Courts of Madras. Believing they were probably the only de- scendants of the Yale family who had ever seen this monument (from America at least), a young German officer who was with them took a picture of this old, old structure, with these two twentieth century tour- ists in evidence; while under surveillance of a native guard, suspicious of their harmless intentions. Later, while on the home stretch, circling the world, they went purposely to Wrexham, Wales, to the church, the grave of this Elihu Yale, Gov. of Madras, founder of Yale University 1701.
In England they realized they were among their own, "The mother country," after more than a year among the dark races of the far east. They enjoyed the White Man's Country, and prowled about London by themselves, making dis- coveries of places read about, and found the locality, then the old building where Mrs. Diver's mother's forebears had manufactured ink, Printers Ink, an ink spot on her memory not to be effaced,
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Mr. and Mrs. Diver have traveled extensively through the States seeing the places of wonder and pleasure in their best seasons. In 1906-'07 they made the journey around the world. They took with them in their minds a wealth of information, and in their hearts, a love for travel, and so the journey meant vastly more to them, than the average traveler. They covered some 42,000 miles and visited 26 countries. Nothing could better illustrate Mrs. Diver's position in her home city than to give a list of clubs of which she is a charter member: Keokuk Book Club, 1883; Au- dubon Society of Iowa, 1886; Woman's Club, 1898; Keokuk Chapter D. A. R., 1898; The Benevolent Union, 1890; Monday Music Club, 1900; Wednesday Reading Club, 1895; Country Club; Humane Society ; Sunshine Society ; Civic League, 1912. Mrs. Diver was one of the organizers of the State Audubon Society in Iowa. She is devoted to the study of birds and loves nature in all its forms. The first meeting of the Keo- kuk Chapter, D. A. R., was held at "Port Sunshine," when the organization was effected.
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MRS. E. J. KELLER
Among the successful business women, as well as an efficient club woman, is Mrs. E. J. Keller of Salem. Emma Jane Lusk was born near Lancaster, Ohio, Feby. 2, 1853, the daughter of James Lusk and Nancy Ricketts Lusk, who came to Iowa in 1853, settling on a farm in Lee county. She received her education in the public schools and in the Denmark Academy, which was one of the first schools in that section of the state. It was a Congregational school and from its halls have gone many pupils who became successful in life above the average. She was married April 24, 1878, to D. S. Keller, of Bloomfield. They lived in Bloomfield until 1884, when they came to Salem. Mr. Keller died in 1908. For twenty-nine years Mrs. Kel- ler has been a successful business woman. For twenty- three years she kept the books and did all the clerical work in connection with their furniture business, and since 1909 she has conducted a variety store, which has been a very successful enterprise. She is a mem- ber of the Congregational church and active in all of its branches. She was a charter member of the Salem Woman's Club, (1895) one of the oldest in the state, serving as its president and its representative at several meetings of the federation. This club founded a city library which has a splendid collection of books. Mrs. Keller has been a state officer in the auxiliary to the K. P. Lodge, the Rathbone Sisters, which was later merged in the Pythian Sisters. She enjoys travel and has visited nearly every place of interest in this country. She has a rare faculty for making friends and is a woman of the greatest kindness of heart and charity.
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MRS. GEORGE HARPEL
Mrs. George Harpel, (Almeda Brenton Harpel), State Consulting Registrar of Iowa, D. A. R., was born in Johnson county, Indiana, and came to Iowa in infancy, with her parents, James Baird Brenton and Elizabeth Glenn Brenton. Her early education was received in the public schools of Dallas county which was later supplemented by a normal school training. She taught successfully for a number of years and was deputy superintendent of schools in both Dallas and Polk counties. At an early age she was married to George Harpel, who died in 1908. Since her husband's death she has been a very successful business woman. She was a charter member of Daniel Boone chapter at Boone, being admitted on the service of three Revolu- tionary ancestors : Maj. James Brenton, Archibald Glenn and Jacob Rhodes. Since 1911 she has been con- sulting registrar of Iowa Daughters of the American Revolution. She has been a very successful officer and has an unusual knowledge of revolutionary records and of lineage books. The Iowa Historical library is said to contain the third largest lineage records in the United States. Mrs. Harpel's residence is in Des Moines where she is a member of the Woman's Club and an active worker in the City Federation. She is vice president of the Chautauqua union and a mem- ber of the Order of the Eastern Star, and of the Rebec- ca order. Her line of ancestry in America is: Daugh- ter of James Baird Brenton and Elizabeth Glenn; granddaughter of Rev. Henry Brenton and Esther Baird, Archibald Glenn and Lydia Rhodes. Great grand daughter of Maj. James Brenton and Mary Woodfield; Archibald Glenn and Sarah Furgison; Jacob Rhodes and Elizabeth Fenlow.
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