The history of Polk County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., biographical sketches of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men, Part 101

Author: Union Historical Company, Des Moines, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Des Moines, Iowa : Union Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1074

USA > Iowa > Polk County > The history of Polk County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., biographical sketches of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 101

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HIRSCH, L .- L. Hirsch, the subject of this sketch, is a member of the progressive and popular clothing house of Hirsch Bros. He was born in. Germany, October 25, 1845, and remained in Fatherland until sixteen years of age, when, imbued with the spirit of enterprise which has culmi- nated in success, he turned his face toward the Sunset Land and in 1864 planted himself and his worldly possessions in Des Moines. He became a salesman in a store, winning friends and popularity by his urbanity and

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courteous manners, until 1867, when he was admitted as a partner in the well established firm of Simon & Straus, continuing thus until 1874, when he, with his brother Henry, purchased the entire interest of the other part- ners. With an aim to please and satisfy the public they have year by year increased their business and enlarged their domains until they stand first in the one, and extend from street to street in the other. Starting life without money, Mr. Hirsch has won a most enviable success in business as the result of enterprise and thorough business capacity. January 11, 1876 he married Miss Matilda Bieringer, at Rochester, New York, and two children, Milton and Harry, have come to bless their hone.

HORTON, J. A .- Of the firm of Horton & Co., photographers, is a native Hawkeye, having been born in this State, January 24, 1851. He was raised as a farmer and followed that occupation until 1870, when he be- came engaged in teaching, and continued that until 1877. In 1872 he learned the photographing business and still follows the same successfully, being a practical and skillful artist.

HUNTER, DR. A. O .- Physician and surgeon. Is a native of West- moreland county, Pennsylvania, and was born on the 26th day of October, 1836. When fifteen years of age his parents moved to Fayette county, same State. He received the advantages of a good academical education, and is also a master of the Latin and Greek languages. He read medicine with Dr. W. L. Lafferty, of Brownsville, for three years, and attended lectures at the Medical University of Philadelphia. After practicing his profession for · one year in Greenfield, he commenced investigating homeopathy,and becoming convinced of its superior merits, he decided to abandon the allopathic system, and studied with Drs. Cote & Herron, eminent homeopathic physicians of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the Cleveland Medical Col- lege and commenced practicing in the towns of California and Greenfield until 1868. He then came to this city and since that time has been iden- tified with Des Moines' best interests. In his medical relations he has built up his reputation by skill and energy, and much of his success may be attributed to his careful attention to the details of his profession. He is a well-read man, of independent thought, and has strong convictions of his responsibility as a citizen. He was married in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, September 1, 1864, to Miss Eliza Heaton. Their family circle are: Guy and Fred, aged respectively thirteen and eleven years.

HUSSEY, TACITUS-The subject of this sketch, familiarly called "Tac," is a Hoosier by birth and a Hawkeye by adoption. He first opened his eyes to sublunary things in the beautiful city of Terre Haute, Indiana, October 10, 1834. He developed into explosive boyhood with all that the term implies, and at the age of sixteen was inducted into the sublime duties of His Satanic Majesty in a printing office, which he performed with eminent satisfaction to himself, and the frequent emphatic dissatisfaction of the "jours." Graduating as master of his art he was attacked with the western fever, which carried him off, and he landed in Des Moines in 1855, when he entered the office of the Statesman, a paper which died more deaths and was raised more times than any hebdomedal sheet in the history of this county. Here he remained one year, when he entered the employ of Mills & Co., where he remained five years. In 1864 he struck hands with J. S. Carter and E. N. Curl, and embarked in business as printers and blank book makers, and thenceforward the firm have increased their busi- ness and profits, keeping pace with the growth and prosperity of

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the city and the development of the country. Wthout capital, except willing hands, earnest hearts and probity of character, they have established a name creditable to themselves and the city. Mr. Hussey is probably the oldest printer who has been in continuous service in the city. In business circles he stands high. In social circles he is much esteemed. He possesses a genial nature and a rich fund of quaint humor which wins friends. He is also an enthusiastic lover of field sports, and has run the race with them all as they have come and gone, except base ball. He never joined a league and parceled himself out to the surgeons for repairs. He is largely given to aquatics and archery, in the latter of which he is an adept, and has done much to encourage and popu- larize the healthful and invigorating game. August 18, 1859, he was joined in marriage with Miss Jennie Clement, a native of Poughkeepsie, New York, but the census-taker utterly failed at his door to gather any re- turns which shall serve to secure the expected one million and a half of population in Iowa for the present year.

TNGALLS, REV. P. P .- Editor of the Iowa State Tribune. Among the leading Methodist clergymen of Iowa, and one who is as widely known, is the subject of this sketch, who was born in Franklin county, Ohio, on the 1st day of February, 1823, and was there raised. He was educated at the Ohio Wesleyan University, and when twenty years of age he entered the ministry at Portsmouth, and served the churches at Chillicothe, Zanes- ville and Marysville, Kentucky. In 1855, he came to Iowa and settled in Burlington, and from this place to Chariton, and had charge of the district as presiding elder. From Chariton he went to Mt. Pleasant, and in 1860 to Keokuk, and from there he entered the army as chaplain of the Third Iowa cavalry in 1861, serving until 1863, when he resigned and returned to Mt. Pleasant, and for six months was pastor of the M. E. Church at that place. He then engaged in the interests of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home, as Secretary. This institution was organized by private contri- bution, and had been unsuccessfully managed, but by his untiring zeal and energy and incessant labor, combined with eloquence, he raised eighty-five thousand dollars, and was instrumental in getting the Leg- islature to adopt the institution in 1866. That same year he came to Des Moines, remaining for two years, when he went to Toledo, Ohio, and after a residence there of two years returned to this city and until 1875 was pastor of the Fifth Street M. E. Church. He then went to Kansas City, and after remaining there for six months was called to Iowa City, which was his home for two and a-half years, and returned to this city, where he became permanently located, and has devoted two years to the temperance missionary work, thus making an active service in the ministry for thirty-four years. He has pursued his chosen course with untiring zeal and with a success which has earned for him no inferior rank among the preachers of the State. He is a man of strong, sharp intellect, untiring am- bition, and as a pulpit orator has few superiors. In whatever he under- takes he throws his whole energy, and to this his success may be largely attributed. He is gifted with minor graces often denied men of studious habits, being genial, engaging and attractive in manner. He ranks high as a promoter of every good work and has made a record to which the lim- its of our space render it impossible for us to do justice. In December, 1879, he became editor and publisher of the Iowa State Tribune. Mr. Ingalls has been twice married; first, to Miss Mary McDowell, on the 15th

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of June, 1846. She was born in Knox county, Ohio, and died in 1861, leaving two children: Joseph and Ida (now Mrs. A. E. Swisher, of Iowa City). His second marriage occurred November 20, 1865, to Miss Mary Kibben, of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. By this union they have two children: James and Mary. ..

INGERSOLL, E. J .- President of the Hawkeye Insurance Company, is a native of Pulaski, Oswego county, New York, and was born March 28, 1828: He traces his ancestry to England, they having come to America previous to the Revolutionary War. Young Ingersoll lived with his parents until after his majority; he was educated in the common schools and in the academy at Mexico, New York, and Falley Seminary at Fulton, New York, when he entered the office of Judge Huntington of Pulaski. After about two years in the office he entered the law school at Balston Spa, where he graduated in the spring of 1852 with the degree of Bachelor of Law. In the following September he began the practice of law at Adams, New York, where he continued in a successful business until September, 1858, when he emigrated West and settled in Des Moines, Iowa, where he resumed the practice of his profession. In 1865 the Hawkeye Insurance Company was organized with Mr. Ingersoll as president. He had no intention of abandoning his profession, but in the fall of 1870 his increase of business, insurance and legal, compelled him to abandon one branch, which the force of circumstances, with money investments, decided in favor of his contin- uance with the Hawkeye. Mr. Ingersoll is a man possessing great force of character and eminent business qualifications, energetic, persistent, faith- ful and reliable in all business undertakings, and as a manager and finan- cier, has but few superiors. On the tenth of January, 1861, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Whitcomb of Adams, New York.

ACOBS, A. D .-- Of the firm of Jacobs Bros., dealers in staple and J fancy groceries. Was born April 14, 1854, in Carroll county, Illinois, and when nine years of age moved with his parents to Jasper county, this State. There he was raised on a farm and was educated in the common schools and Hazel Dell Academy of Newton. In the spring of 1878, he opened a general store in Newton and continued to keep the same until January, 1880, when he came to this city. He opened out a new and fine stock of staple and fancy groceries at his present place. Is unmarried.

JACOBS, H. F .- A brother of the above and his partner in business; . was born May 13, 1859, in Carroll county, Illinois. He was there raised, and received his education in the common schools, and also the Des Moines Baptist University. January 1, 1880, he began business with his brother, and they, by fair dealing and strict attention to business, have built up a fair trade.

JACOBS, B .- Grocer. Was born in Mt. Carroll, Illinois, February 6, 1848, and at the age of fifteen years came to Iowa, locating at Cedar Rap- ids, where he lived for two years, and thence to Newton. He resided there four years, working on a farm. In the spring of 1869, he came to this city and entered the employ of Thos. Naylor, with whom he remained eight and one-half years. In September, 1876, he opened a grocery store in connection with Ira Critzer in the building he now occupies. In May, 1879, Mr. Critzer retired and was succeeded by C. E. Ford, and since that time the firm name has been Jacobs & Co. Mr. J. came to Iowa without means and owes his success in business to his economy, prudence and good management. He was married on the 11th day of September, 1870, to

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Miss Mary E. Johnston. They have three children: Lutie, Ernest and Harry (twins).

JAMES, TOM .- Of the firm of James & Pratt, photographers. Was born in Reddick, England, on the 24th day of January, 1853, and at the age of five years he emigrated with his parents to the United States, land- ing in New York, and from there went to Rhode Island, where he re- inained until 1859, then came to Iowa City, where he learned the pho- tographers' business, and continued the same until the 14th of February, 1880, when he came to Des Moines. His gallery is one of the best in the city, finely furnished, etc. His marriage was in Iowa City, March 13, 1877, to Miss Fannie G. Berryhille, daughter of W. D. Berryhille.

JARRETT, GEO. L .- Of the firm of Johnson & Jarrett, manufactur: ing millwrights, was born in North Carolina, August 22, 1852. Some six years prior to forming his present partnership he was in the employ of Mr. Johnson a greater portion of the time as foreman of his establishment. In the spring of 1876 the present partnership was established, and they are now doing an extensive business in their line, their trade extending into Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota-in fact this establishment is one of the per- manent and growing industries of the city. Mr. J. was married in 1877 to Miss Elizabeth Wright, of Minneapolis, Minnesota. They have one ichild, John G.

JENNINGS, A. C .- Principal of the Iowa Business College. Is a na- tive of England, and was born on the 10th day of December, 1850, and when two years of age came with his parents to the United States. They settled first in Michigan, where they remained two years, and thence to Wisconsin, where the subject of this sketch was principally raised. He had the advantages of the common schools, supplemented with a two years' course at the University at Madison, and finished his course in the Busi- ness College of that place. He came to this city in 1874 and took charge of the Iowa Business College, an institution founded in 1865, and one that has steadily grown in reputation and well deserves the success attained. Mr. Jennings was married in 1879 to Miss Gertrude Tregea, a native of Wisconsin.

JENKINS, E .- Dealer in house furnishing goods, new and second-hand. Was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, February 15, 1849, and there grew to man- hood and learned the trade of cabinet maker. During the war he enlisted, February 22, 1863, at the age of fifteen years, in the Fifth Ohio cavalry as a bugler. He served in that position for some eight months, when he was promoted to orderly of his company, and was mustered out at the close of the war as commissary. After serving his time at his trade he went to Danville, Kentucky, where he was engaged in business some three years, and was there married on the 15th of June, 1869, to Miss Elizabeth Ed- wards. In 1872 he removed to Des Moines and has been engaged in his present business since 1875. Besides his store on the West Side, he has also recently opened out one on the East Side. Mr. and Mrs. J. have a family of five children: Nellie M., Maud L., Emma F., James W. and Charles G.

JOHNS, STACY-Of the firm of Stacy Johns & Co., dealers in boots and shoes, is deserving of more than a passing notice in this work. He is the son of John and Ann Johns, and was born in Burlington county, New Jersey, on the 26th day of January, 1831. His father was a native of Del- aware, and his mother was born in New Jersey. When the subject of this

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sketch was two years of age, he was taken by his parents to Summit county, Ohio, where he was raised with mercantile experience. In 1855 he came to this city and engaged in his present business, in connection with his father, and at the present time the house is the second oldest business firm in the city, Dr. Baker alone having priority, and few men have a better record and a marked characteristic during his entire career has been his untiring energy and enterprise. A man of determined purpose, he turned the whole current of his life force in one direction and as a result has se- cured that reward and success which must follow persistent, honorable ef- fort, and while comparatively few business men are successful in these days of fluctuating strife and competition; but the subject of this sketch is an exception, and his private life and business record is without a stain. He was married to Miss Mary Doty on the 2d day of September, 1861; she is a native of Lockport, New York. Their family consists of five children: Carrie, Mamie, Nellie, Willie and Walter. Mrs. Johns is a daughter of Nathan and Johanna Doty. What is a remarkable circumstance in their family is that the father and mother of Mr. Johns and also of Mrs. Johns have both celebrated their golden wedding, and there was in attendance at the latter's the brothers and sisters (five in all) of the mother.

JOHNS, CALEB-Of the Union Coal Company. Was born in Wales, in 1833, and was raised there on a farm until twenty years of age and then followed the occupation of miner. He emigrated to the United States in 1862, and settled in Trumbull county, Ohio, and lived there three years, and thence to Pennsylvania, where he remained one year, and returned to Ohio and after living in various places in the State, he came to Polk county, in August, 1875, and in company with others commenced mining on his own account. He has since purchased his partners' interest and is con- ducting it alone. He was married in 1862 to Miss Hannah Thomas, of Wales.

JOHNSON, HERBERT E .- Was born in Rochester, New York, June 20, 1856. His early youth was spent in this beautiful city of the Empire State, where he divided his time between the public schools and a book store, where he was part of the time employed as a clerk. In the fall of 1873 he removed, with his parents, to Iowa and located near Winterset, in Madison county. He completed the regular course of study at the Win- terset high school and graduated in 1876. He afterward took a course of study at the State University at Iowa City and then entered the law office of A. W. C. Weeks, of Winterset. After spending quite a time in the study of law he was admitted to its practice, having been examined before the bar of Polk county. His office is with the State Insurance Company, whose attorney he is. He was married December 24, 1876, to Miss Mar- gery Cooper, of Logansport, Indiana.

JOHNSON, A. T .- Was born in Harrison county, Ohio, April 19, 1820. His early youth was passed on a farm. When he arrived at the years of maturity he engaged in the stage business. He removed to Pittsburgh in 1844, where he was employed in stage, express and railroad offices for fourteen years. He was the first express agent west of the Alleghany mountains, and shipped the first Baltimore oysters that were sent to Chi- cago. In April, 1856, he removed to Des Moines, and entered the employ of the Western Stage Company, remaining with the company until July, 1870. Since the Western Stage Company went out of existence, Mr. Johnson has been employed in the management of the Des Moines Omni-

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bus line, of which he is proprietor. He was married June 15, 1848, to Miss Mary E. Smith, a native of Pennsylvania. They have two children, a son and a daughter, named respectively Frank and Kate.

JONES, A .- Dentist. Was born in Knox county, Illinois, April 9, 1843, and is a son of W. W. Jones, who renioved with his family to Fort Des Moines in the spring of 1847. Here he lived four years, and then moved to Valley township, where young Jones was raised at farming, fol- lowing this occupation, after completing his education, until called to the defense of his country. On the 20th of July, 1862, he enlisted in company A, Twenty-third Iowa infantry, and served with that regiment until the close of the war, participating in the following engagements: Port Gib- son, Champion's Hill, Big Black River Bridge, siege of Vicksburg, Red river expedition, and Spanish Fort. He returned to his home at the close of the war and commenced the study of dentistry, which he continued until 1867, when he followed his profession in different localities in this vicinity. In 1872 he opened his dental rooms in East Des Moines, and the year fol- lowing removed to the West Side, and came to his present location in 1880. August 11, 1872, he married, in this city, to Miss May E. Daugherty, a lady whose grace of mind and person have endeared her to all who enjoy her acquaintance.

JONES, WM. M .- Of the firm of Jones & Blair, attorneys, is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was born of Welsh parentage on the eighth day of August, 1838. When thirteen years of age he was taken by his parents to Dayton, Ohio, where, until seventeen years of age, he was raised on a farm. He then read law, but before being admitted as a prac- titioner at the bar, engaged in railroading which he followed for a number of years with success, and when he left the business was the general western passenger and freight agent of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad. He removed to Indianapolis in 1870 and was admitted to the bar and en- gaged in the practice of his profession, and continued the same in this place until 1876, when he removed to Chicago and thence to Des Moines in the spring of 1877, and has taken a prominent place among the profession. He was married August 8, 1860, to Miss Caroline Faries, who was born in But- ler county, Ohio, in 1843. They have four children: Charles J., born in March, 1862, (and at the present time a clerk in the Des Moines Bank), Naomi E. (born November), 1864, William M. (born October, 1867), and Edna (born in July, 1874).

JORDAN, HON. JAMES C .- The subject of this sketch was born in Harrison county, Virginia, March 4, 1813; his boyhood days were spent in the Old Dominion; in the fall of 1832 he moved with his mother and family to Michigan and settled near Niles, his father having died about one year before in Lewis county, West Virginia; here he was married, in 1833, to. Malinda Pitman, of Mount Vernon, Knox county, Ohio; he removed to Platte county, Missouri, in the winter of 1839, where he resided until the fall of 1846, when he located in Walnut township, Polk county, Iowa, where he. has since resided; he pitched his tent the first night under the oaks that: were soon to shelter his cabin, and whose now wide-spreading branches shade his stately mansion; the tent, the oaks, the mansion, have all grown in the thirty-four years since the weary pioneer halted to make this his life-long home; Mr. Jordan, well endowed in mind and heart by nature, and disciplined in the vicissitudes of frontier life, here struggled with great

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zeal for independence, and few in his day and in his sphere have been as successful; as a farmer and dealer in stock he is widely and honorably known ; something of the extent and success of his business is known by his income tax of nearly a thousand dollars a year to the government; in the days of State banks, he was one of the directors of the branch of the State Bank at Des Moines; the public life of Mr. Jordan began in 1854; he had always been a Henry Clay Whig; he was radically opposed to the " Kansas-Ne- braska Bill," and at a sacrifice of personal interests he reluctantly accepted the nomination to the State Senate on that issue; he was elected by eighty- four majority, but owing to slight informalities in one or two townships, in Jasper county where he had a majority, his opponent was counted in and given the certificate of election; in the contest which followed for the seat, Mr. Jordan was successful, not however, until his opponent had enjoyed the privilege of voting for U. S. Senator; this wrong, however, was righted by the U. S. Senate sending the contest, which resulted in this election, back to the State Legislature for another election, when Mr. Jordan had the privilege of contributing his influence and ballot to the sweeping ma- jority for Mr. Harlan for U. S. Senator; his term in the State Senate was marked by the struggle for location of the State Capitol, in which he was thor- oughly in earnest, and which resulted in bringing it to Des Moines; it is with just satisfaction he looks back on his conflicts and triumphs of these early legislative days; he served for years as chairman of the county Board of Supervisors under the old law, and his sound practical judgment has been in demand in most of the public interests of the county in all these years; his public spirit is indicated in his gifts to public enterprises ; when the Valley Railroad proposed to extend their line to Des Moines if seventy thousand dollars could be raised he was one of the two hun- dred to voluntarily tax themselves according to their last assessment, to make up that amount; it cost him about one thousand dollars in cash to do this; his gifts to the cause of education and religion would aggregate a small fortune; his conspicuous place in local politics could hardly fail to create some animosity, but his recent unsought nomin- ation and enthusiastic election to the Legislature was a more mature estimate of his worth as a citizen, and a well deserved compliment to his loyalty to the party; Mr. Jordan, though raised on slave territory, has been a life-long enemy to slavery; his devotion to political life as a staunch and stalwart Republican is the outgrowth of deep-seated conviction; it is among the pleasant things to remember, that under his protecting roof John Brown and his associates, with more than a score of recently liberated slaves, have offered their prayers and sung their first jubilee hymns on their way to Canada, in the old slave days; said Brown, when forecasting the next day's journey, with a view of safe quarters for the next night, " we can stay with our enemies but prefer to stay with our friends"; in the panic created in war time by fear of rebel raid on Des Moines banks, deposits and securities were privately removed from the city and secreted at Mr. Jordan's place; he has been twice married and has raised quite a family; the chil- dren by first marriage are Benjamin P., Emma (now wife of Dr. Hanawalt of Des Moines), Henry C., John Q., James F., George B .; his wife by sec- ond marriage was Cynthia D. Sheppard of Yates county, New York; and 'the children by this marriage are Ella (now Mrs. Cook), Calvin, Eva, Eda (who died young), and Edward, all now, but the two above-named, living in Polk county; Mr. Jordan has been for fifty years a member and an earnest

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The history of Polk County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., biographical sketches of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men, Part 101

Author: Union Historical Company, Des Moines, pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Des Moines, Iowa : Union Historical Co. Number of Pages: 1074

Author: Union Historical Company, Des Moines, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Des Moines, Iowa : Union Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1074