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 104
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returned to Portland and became a salesman in a West India importing house, where he remained till. 1854. From Portland he went to La Salle, Illinois, and engaged in the saddlery and harness business. He entered the army in August, 1862, enlisting in company A, of the Eighty-eighth Illi- nois regiment. He was promoted first to the office of orderly-sergeant, then to the office of second lieutenant, first lieutenant and then to that of cap- tain, which office he held when discharged, in June, 1865, when he came to Des Moines and became a member of the firm of Merrill, Keeney & Co. He was married in March, 1868, to Miss Minta K. Baker, a native of Con- necticut. They have one son, named Frank H. Three children, one son and two daughters, have died.
MERRITT, COL. W. H .- Mayor of Des Moines, is a native of New York city, and was born on the 12th of September, 1820, and when between two and three years old his father moved to Ithica, New York. He was educated at the Genesee Wesleyan University, Lima, New York, and went thence to Rock Island, Illinois, and engaged in mercantile pursuits for a few months, when, about the year 1839, he was sent by his employers to Ivanhoe, Linn county, Iowa, to manage a branch store. He operated it for two years, with Sac and Fox Indians for his principal customers, and was one of the first men who ever sold goods in the interior of Iowa, except the licensed traders. During the winter of 1840-41 he received the appoint- ment of enrolling clerk in the Territorial Council, whose session was held in the old Methodist church at Burlington, and at the close of the session joined his father at Buffalo, New York and went into the mercantile busi- ness. In 1847 Mr. Merritt returned to Iowa, took charge. of the Miners' Express, Dubuque, and ran it nearly two years, sold out and went on a government survey in the northern part of the State. On the first of Jan- uary, 1849, when the news of gold discoveries in the new Eldorado reached Iowa, he started for California by the Isthmus; returned in March, 1851; the same year, in connection with W. A. Jones, became once more propri- etor of the Miners' Express, and at the end of two years united it with the Herald. While conducting the newspaper, about 1852, he was appointed surveyor of the port of Dubuque, the first officer of the kind there. În 1855 Mr. Merritt was appointed register of the newly-created district land office at Fort Dodge, held that office two years, selling about 2,000,000 acres of land, and in 1857 resigned to go into the banking business at Cedar Rapids, with George and William Greene. That business he followed until the President's first call for troops to suppress the rebellion, when he went into the field as lieutenant-colonel, First Iowa infantry. Owing to the illness of Colonel Bates, Colonel Merritt led that gallant regiment at the hotly con- tested battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri, showing much coolness and brav- ery on that occasion, and standing within a few feet of General Lyon when that heroic officer fell mortally wounded. When the regiment was mustered out, at the end of nearly four months, Colonel Merritt was appointed on the staff of General McClellan, with the rank of colonel of cavalry; was stationed awhile at Fort Leavenworth and late in the year 1863 left the service and returned to Iowa. Locating at Des Moines, he purchased the Statesman and conducted it until 1867, when he sold out. The next year he joined William Irving & Co. in building the Rockford, Rock Island & St. Louis Railroad, and since that date has been a railroad contractor, part of the time in Illinois and part in Ohio. In March, 1880, he was elected Mayor
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of the city and still holds that office. On the 6th of January, 1846, Miss Marcia M. Sutherland, of Buffalo, New York, a distant relative of Judge Sutherland, of the Supreme Bench, became the Colonel's wife, and seven children were the fruit of this union, only three of them now living: Ed- ward S., William H. and Douglas D.
McMULLIN, THOMAS-Deceased. The subject of this brief sketch was a native of Butler county, Kentucky, and was born May 20, 1819. From Kentucky he removed to Indiana. He learned the trade of cabinet making in early life, and was for a time engaged in the wood business on the southern Mississippi river. He came to Des Moines December 15, 1845, and became a clerk in Hoxie's store. In April following, at the elec- tion of county officers, he was elected Recorder, and in 1848 was elected School Fund Commissioner. He was a member of the first grand jury of the county. He speculated to some extent in real estate, and one of the additions to the city bears his name. When the location of the capital was being selected, there was much excitement here, and real estate speculators were on the alert to make investments if Des Moines should be selected. One day W. D. Jones, in the presence of a crowd who were about the post- office, read a letter just received written by himself, but purporting to come from a friend in Iowa City, and which stated that probably the capi- tal would be removed to Des Moines. Tipping a wink to Wall Clapp, they went off together, and were soon discovered walking over the town with a plat in hand. McMullin took the hint and invested largely in town lots. In a few days the joke got out, when McMullin fairly made the air blue with his vigorous expletives. But Tom had his revenge. Lots went up, and Jones got nothing. He subsequently went to Colorado, and died, July 11, 1880, from injuries received in a fall from a wagon at Silver Cliffs. He was a man of active temperament, brusque in manners, and rather unprepossessing exterior, but upright and honest in purpose. He valued his good name highly, and it was said of him that his word was as good as his bond. Under his brusque exterior beat a kind and generous heart. He was twice married, his first wife being a daughter of Dr. Grimmell; the second a Mrs. Longnecker, by whom he had one son, named Lee.
MESSINGER, G. W .- Proprietor of Messinger livery and feed sta- ble, was born in Illinois March 16, 1839, where he was raised. After leav- ing school he moved to Keokuk this State, and there had charge of a ferryboat on the Mississippi river, and this he ran until 1856. Then be- came engaged in dealing in horses and continued in this business until 1864 when he went to Idaho, remaining until 1865. He then came to this city and followed the livery business, and also horse dealing, and in 1876 he went to Nebraksa. There he followed the stock business and on the tenth of May, 1880, he bought his present place. His stable is among the best stocked in the city. His marriage was in Janesville, New York, in Octo- ber, 1869, to Miss Mary E. Calvin. By this union they have two children : George H. and John F.
MEEK, FAYETTE-Dealer in provisions, is a native of Ohio, and was born on the ninth day of March, 1831. In 1840 he came with his parents to Van Buren county, Iowa, and was raised there with a mercantile exper- ience. For the past twenty years he has been engaged in handling and curing meats, and his brand of hams have a reputation throughout the State of Iowa. He came to this county in 1864, and has followed his pres-
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ent business since that time. He married Miss Caroline A. Dibble, a na- tive of Rochester, New York, in 1858. By this union they have three children : Harper, Alva and Dale.
MILLER, HON. WILLIAM E .- Lately on the Supreme Bench of Iowa; was born near Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, on the eighteenth of October, 1823. His father was a native of Somerset county, in the same State. He spent his youth on his father's farm, and in his fifteenth year engaged with him in a foundry and machine shop at Mount Pleasant, receiving at the same period, a fair English education in the se- lect school of those days. In 1846 he commenced the study of law, and in the summer of 1852 he moved to Iowa, settling at Iowa City. The fol- lowing winter he reported the proceedings of the Senate during the Fourth General Assembly for the Iowa City Republican, and the Iowa Capitol Re- porter. The following May, 1853, he was admitted to the bar of Johnson county, which was strongly Democratic, yet in 1854 Judge Miller was elected ;Prosecuting Attorney for that county on the opposition ticket. In October, 1858, he was elected Judge of the Eighth judicial district, and established an enviable reputation as an energetic, prompt, efficient and able jurist. His four years on the bench had not quite expired, when, in 1862, he became colonel of the Twenty-eighth Iowa infantry. In March 1863, on account of ill health, he resigned, and in 1864, soon after resum- ing law practice at Iowa City, he began to prepare " A Treatise of Pleading and Practice in Actions, and Special Proceedings at Law and in Equity in the Courts of Iowa, under the Revision of 1860." In 1869 Judge Miller was again placed on the bench, this time in the Circuit Court of the Eighth judi- cial district. Before his term of Circuit Judge had expired a vacancy oc- curred in the Supreme Court by the transfer of Judge Dillon to the Circuit Court of the United States, and the governor appointed Judge Miller. He had been on the Supreme Bench but a few months when, in October, 1870, the republican party elected him to the same office. His term expired on the first of January, 1876. In the spring of 1871 Judge Miller succeeded Judge Wright in the law department of the State University, as professor of constitutional and criminal law. This connection he held until June, 1875. Two years prior to this date, in the spring of 1873, in order to have access to the archives of the Supreme Court, and to the State Library, he moved to Des Moines where he continues to reside. The judge is a prominent member of the Masonic order, has written more or less masonic literature of a legal character, and has a high standard among the fraternity in the Commonwealth. Was married on the first of August, 1844, to Miss Mary Robinson, daughter of James Robinson of Fayette county Pennsylvania. They have a family of eight children: Annette L. (wife of W. R. Kerr, of Chicago, Illinois), Laura N., James W., William E., Jr., May, Albert, How- D. and Grace. He has recently revised the Code of Iowa, one of the most complete works of the kind ever published.
MILLER, MARTIN H .- Superintendent of the glucose works, was born in Pennsylvania in 1851, and lived there until sixteen years of age, and then removed to Washington City, and after traveling and living in various Southern States, he came to this city from St. Louis in 1879 to su- perintend the machinery necessary for the manufacture of grape sugar and sirups. He was married to Miss Ellen Drawland, May 2, 1874. She was born in Pennsylvania. By this union they have two children.
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: MILLER, JOHN F .- Dealer in second hand goods, was born in Mary- land, January 18, 1814, and when quite young his parents removed to Ken- tucky where they resided some four years, then removed to Ohio, and from there to Indiana. In the latter named State Mr. Miller resided until 1850, when he came to Iowa, locating in Polk county on a farm in Madison township, there being then but five families in the town of Polk City, and scarcely any settlement in the prairie portion of the township. He came to Des Moines in 1876 and for something over a year has been engaged at his present business. He was married to a Miss Rodney in 1838, with whom he lived until 1876, when she died leaving five children: Jonathan R., Philander C., Orra, Almina (now Mrs. Simon Dorn), and India Ann (now Mrs. John McNeely).
MITCHELL, W. F .- Of the firm of Mitchell, Bartlett & Crain, whole- sale druggists, was born in Westchester county, New York, on the sixth of November, 1845, and when only an infant was taken by his parents to Illinois, locating in Peoria. In 1855 he removed to Galesburg and there attended Lombard University, and after leaving that institution he com- . menced farming, continuing the same until 1862. Then enlisted in com- pany G, Eighty-third Illinois volunteer infantry, and served until the close of the war, when he was mustered out at Chicago. He then returned home remaining until August 1869, when he became engaged with the Keokuk & Des Moines Railroad Company. In April, 1875 he went to San Fran- cisco, California, where he became engaged in the wine commission busi- ness, remaining until August, 1876, when he returned to Des Moines. Then became engaged in the drug business with E. R. Cory, and is now in the same business under the firm name of Mitchell, Bartlett & Crain. Mr. Mitchell was married in this city December 30, 1874, to Miss Eliza, daughter of Dr. Henry Cox.
MITCHELL, HON. JOHN-Circuit Judge of the Fifth district, is a native of Claremont, New Hampshire, and was born on the 28th day of February, 1830. He was fitted for college at Kimball Union Academy, Mereden. He entered Dartmouth College and at the end of his sopho- more year was compelled, on account of impaired health, to relinquish his studies and seek a change of climate. He traveled west and in 1856 located at Des Moines, and finished reading law with Finch and Crocker (having read the previous winter with Freeman & McClure, of his native place), and was admitted to the bar in August, 1856. In 1857 he commenced the practice of his profession on his own account. On the 17th day of July, 1861, he was commissioned captain of a company of cavalry in the State service and served against the Indians for three months on the northwestern border of Iowa and southern border of Minnesota. In the fall of the same year he was elected a member of the Legislature of Iowa from Polk county and served two years during the exciting times of 1861-2. After this he continued the practice of his chosen profession, serving as a member of the city council and Board of Supervisors and its first chairman, and filling various offices of trust in the city and county until May 30, 1867, when he was appointed Register in Bankruptcy in the Fifth congressional district. In November, 1868, he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court of the Fifth judicial circuit of Iowa for four years from January 4, 1869. Since then twice elected without opposition, all parties supporting him. Entered on third term January 1, 1877, making twelve years for which he has been elected, and so continues. His honesty as a man and his ability'as a juris
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are of the highest order, and in the various positions of trust and honor to: which he has been called he has discharged his official duties with scrupu- lous care and fidelity. He was married December 29, 1858, to Rebecca Anshutz, daughter of C. P. Anshutz, at Moundsville, West Virginia. Their family consists of one daughter, living, Caroline. Have lost one bright little gem, Lizzie, died March, 1869.
MITCHELL, IRA -- Was born in Claremont, New Hampshire, August. 22, 1826, and there resided until of age, receiving an academic education .. He traces his ancestors on his father's side to Scotland, they having emi- grated to this country about the year 1760, and took active part in the behalf of their adopted country in both the wars with England. His mother was of English origin. At the age of twenty-one Mr. Mitchell removed to New- port, New Hampshire, and engaged in merchandising until 1858, when he removed to Concord. That business he followed until 1861, when he was appointed inspector in the quartermaster's department. This position he held until 1863. During that time he went through Baltimore with the Second New Hampshire regiment, prepared to avenge the fate of the mem- bers of the Fifth Massachusetts regiment, who fell in passing through that city. In 1863 Mr. Mitchell returned to Newport and resumed his former occupation. In 1870 he removed to this State and became a permanent resident of this city. In February, 1853, he was married to Catharine, daughter of Seth Richards, who was a prominent merchant of Newport, New Hampshire, for upwards of fifty years. They have one son living, Frank. Have lost one, James.
MORRISON, DR. E. M .- Dentist. Was born in Preble county, Ohio, October 15, 1826, and made that place his home until 1850. He was raised on a farm until about seventeen years of age, when he went to a select school and from there to Farmers' College and began the study of medi- cine. After the usual course of study he graduated from the Miami Med- cal College, of Cincinnati. He followed the practice of his profession for nearly ten years and then turned his attention to dentistry, which he has followed since, both in Indiana and Ohio. In May, 1873, he came to this. connty and has since resided here. While living in Indiana he was a mem- ber of the school board which first admitted the colored children into the free schools of Hamilton county, and the first in the State of Indiana. He found a wife in the person of Miss Julia A. Burnan, whom he married on the 22d day of April, 1851. She was born in Preble county, Ohio, Novem- ber 11, 1827. They are the parents of five children: Eliza (now Mrs. Geo. M. Dimmitt), Ella T. (now Mrs. C. L. Webb, of Des Moines), Thomas A., Rose and Julia. - .
MORRIS, JOHN-Tailor. Was born in England, October 13, 1832, and remained there until the fall of 1851, when he emigrated to America, landing in New York. His education was obtained in the common schools of his native country. After leaving New York he went to Lafayette, Indiana, and there engaged in the tailoring business. In 1853 he came to this city and has followed his trade since. His marriage was in Des Moines, in September, 1857, to Miss Laura Smith.
MORGAN, P .- Proprietor of the Morgan House, was born May 1, 1829, and owed his nativity to Belmont county, Ohio. In 1839 he moved, with his parents to Harrison county, where he lived until 17 years of age. Then learned the harness and saddlery trade with William Knox, of Cadiz, and after serving four years returned home and started a shop on his own
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account in Georgetown. He remained there about six years and in 1856 reemoved to Albia, this State, landing there with $300 in money, with which he bought a shop in that town. In December, 1861, he came to this city and engaged in the shoe leather and hide business, which he fol- lowed about four years, then dropping the shoe leather business and in place of that article took in a supply of saddlery goods. In 1870 he dis- posed of his hide business and turned his entire attention to saddlery and hardware business. In 1878 he formed a partnership with Mr. N. W. Hunter, which continued until July, 1879, when he sold his interest to Mr. Hunter. In 1875 he bought what was known as the Pacific House, and in 1876 erected the large and commodious hotel which bears his name, and in July, 1879 he refitted and refurnished it, and it is one of the well known hotels of Des Moines. He was married in November, 1865, to Miss Martha A. Wiley, a native of Ohio. By this union they have had two children: Flora O., now living, and P. W., who died in September, 1870.
MOSIER, C. A .- Short-hand reporter, is a son of Eli and Maria Mosier, and was born in Richland county, Ohio, on the 13th day of October, 1837, and when two years of age was taken by his parents to Platt county, Mo., where he lived until ten years of age, and then removed to this county in 1848, his father being one of the first settlers of the county. He improved a farm west of town and set out the first orchard between the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers. The youth of Mr. Mosier was spent in farming and · acquiring an education, principally by private instruction. He assisted in breaking prairie for Father Bird, in what is now the heart of the city, for 373 cents per day. Not relishing agricultural pursuits he availed himself of all the facilities in his power to fit himself for teaching, which he fol- lowed successfully for six or seven years. During this time he was per- fecting himself in stenography, and was appointed court reporter by Judge Gray. In 1866 he was elected County Superintendent of Schools, and after filling the office for a time very acceptably he resigned in order to devote his entire time to his court work, a position he has held by election or appointment for seventeen years. Mr. Mosier has given considerable attention to writings on pre-historic subjects, and finds convincing evi- dence to his own mind that the country was inhabited prior to its occupa- tion by the Indians or Mound Builders. He married Miss Rachel A. Bell in 1861. She was born in Cadiz, Ohio. They have four children: Lenore, M. Blanche, Albert G., Charles R.
MUTCHLAR, D. L .- Proprietor of the Des Moines Steam Dye Works. Was born in Marion county, Ohio, July 14, 1835, and was there raised. When twenty years of age he began to learn the business of chemical dyer with one W. D. Robertson, of Leeds, England, who was one of the finest chemical dyers in the country. He remained with him about five years and gained a thorough knowledge of the business. He then com- menced business for himself, and followed it in various cities until 1871, when he came to Iowa and opened his present dye works. He is a self- made man, and has accumulated what he has by close attention to, and strict integrity in, business. He always gives perfect satisfaction to his custom- ers, coloring all kinds of fabrics from the finest to the heaviest. Mr. M. has also perfected a process of applying a durable dye to the upholstery of furniture without removing it from the frames at a comparitively small ex- pense. He was married October 27, 1858, to Miss Julia, daughter of Sam-
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gel Cretors, of Greene county, Ohio. They have a family of five children living: Leroy E., Lizzie, Charles, Ella and Grace. Lost three who died. in infancy.
N APIER, THOS. H .- Justice of the Peace; one of the pioneer settlers of Polk county. Was born in Giles county, Virginia, on the 20th of July, 1809, and when seven years of age was taken by his parents to Gallia county, Ohio, where he was raised on a farm. He removed from that place to Knox county, Ill., and in 1839 removed to Louisa county, Iowa, and remained there one year, and thence to Johnson county, and helped quarry and furnish the stone for the State House at Iowa City. From this place he changed his residence to Wapello county, and on the 6th day of April, 1846, came to this county and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was elected a justice of the peace in 1851, elected Sheriff of the county, and in 1855 was elected County Judge, and held the office 42 years. In 1861 he went to the Rocky Mountains, and in 1864 to Montana. He mar- ried Miss A. Martin, of Putnam county, Indiana, in 1843. She was born in Butler county, Ohio. Their family consists of three children: Mary L. (now Mrs. H. Brown), Edward L. and Helen (now Mrs. C. Harris). Lost one in infancy.
NASH, JOHN A., D. D .- President of the University of Des Moines, and an educator of much experience and eminence. Is a native of Sher- burne, Chenango county, N. Y. Was born July 11, 1816. When he was five years of age he lost his father, and was brought up on a farm by an aunt in Otsego county. At the age of twenty he entered the preparatory department of Madison University, and graduated from the university in 1842, and from the Theological Seminary at the same place in 1844. His first pastorate was at Watertown, N. Y., where he spent six years, and on the 3d of January, 1851, came to Des Moines, which has since been his. home. He immediately gathered the few Baptists together, organized a church, and was its pastor between seventeen and eighteen years, teaching also the larger part of this period. About 1835 he started a select school, which soon grew into what was long known as the Forest Home Seminary. Des Moines being centrally located in the State, and some inducements being held out to the Baptists, it was resolved to establish an institution here of the highest order, and the University of Des Moines is the result of that movement, organized in April, 1865. Dr. Nash became its financial agent, and labored in that capacity, with some interruption, for four years, until his health broke down. This was not, however, until some time after the brick building on the hill in Des Moines had been completed and the institution was in operation there. During the period that he was regaining his health, Dr. Nash was Superintendent of Schools for Polk county, his term expiring on the 1st of January, 1874. Prior to this date, in the autumn of 1872, he became acting President of the University, and was at its head three years, when Hon. Frederick Mott became President, but after holding that position a little over a year he resigned, and Dr. Nash was again placed in the presidential chair, May, 1877. Since he located in Des Moines at the opening of 1851 he has accomplished a great religious as well as educational work, organizing two Baptist churches, one on each side of the river, and being largely instrumental in the formation of nearly thirty others in Central Iowa. Every good cause receives his hearty and powerful support. Dr. Nash has been twice married. First, in July, 1846, to Miss Jennie C. Calhoun, of Pittsford, Monroe county, N.
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