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Bios With Davenport Connections From Transcribed by Debbie Clough Gerischer WILLIS H. BARRIS, clergyman and scientist, was a native of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, where he was born July 9, 1821. He entered Alleghany College at Meadville in 1835 and graduating, took a course of civil engineering, which he completed in 1841. From his youth Mr. Barris was a student of natural science, especially geology, in which later he prosecuted original studies. At the age of twenty-one he entered his General Theological Seninary in New York City from which he was graduated in 1850, being ordained in 1852. Upon the advice of Bishop Lee, Mr. Barris came to Iowa in 1855, becoming rector of Trinity church at Iowa City. While there he continued his work in geology and became a member of the Board of Regents of the University in 1858. The following year he became rector of Christ's church at Burlington and "contributed largely to the creation of that scientific interest with which Burlington limestone is now regarded." Portions of his collection went to the British Museum, but a larger part went to the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, and a large number of crinold forms described by Wachsmuth, Springer and others were first discovered by Dr. Barris. In 1866 he became professor of ecclesiastical history (including Greek and Hebrew) in the Theological Department of Griswold College at Davenport, the chair having been created and endowed for his occupancy. Dr. Barris occupied the chair for twenty-five years, being above all else a churchman. He was, however, a leading spirit in all scientific research and while at Davenport published many valuable articles, mainly in the Geological Reports of Illinois. He was largely instrumental in founding the Davenport Academy of Sciences, served on its board of trustees and was its president, 1876, and later was curator and corresponding secretary for many years. He was a member of many scientific societies and in 1869 Griswold College conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Dr. Barris died at his home in Davenport June 10, 1901, having been a citizen of Iowa for forty-six years. WILLARD BARROWS was one of the first Government surveyors of the public lands of Iowa. He was born at Munson, Massachusetts, in 1806 and received a good education. In 1832 he was employed in surveying the lands of the Choctaw Purchase and later the swamp lands of the Yazoo River. In 1837 he came to Iowa and was employed in the first surveys of the "Black Hawk Purchase," along the Wapsipinicon River. In 1838 he located with his family at the new town of Rockingham on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River, five miles below Rock Island. In 1840 he surveyed the islands in the Mississippi between the Rock River and Quincy. In 1853 he made a careful examination of northern Iowa and published an excellent map of the State, with descriptive notes. It was by far the best map of Iowa that had been made and was adopted as the official map of the State, when published in 1854. Mr. Barrows was an extensive traveler over the American continent and an accomplished writer. He was the author of the first history of Scott County, which was published in the old Annals of Iowa. WILLIAM H. FLEMING was born in the City of New York on the 14th of April, 1833. His education was acquired in the schools of that city and in the printing offices where he was employed. He came to Iowa in 1854, stopping in Davenport where he worked at his trade. A few years later he went to Le Claire where for three years he published a paper. He was later city editor of the Davenport Gazette, and soon after the beginning of the Civil War he became a clerk in the office of Adjutant-General Baker. In 1867 he was appointed by General Ed. Wright, deputy Secretary of State, remaining in that position until appointed private secretary to Governor Merrill. He has served as private secretary also to Governors Carpenter, Kirkwood, Newbold, Gear, Drake and Shaw. No man in Iowa has a more thorough knowledge of the State affairs and public men of the times than Major Fleming. He has been employed in superintending the State census upon several occasions. In 1883 he purchased an interest in the Iowa Weekly Capital and soon after established the daily edition. During his residence in Iowa he has done a large amount of newspaper work on various papers, and has long been regarded as high authority on all matters relating to Iowa history. In 1903 he received an appointment in th Treasury Department at Washington. He is a Republican in politics and has been a life-long worker in the temperance cause. He was one of the founders of the Unitarian church in Des Moines. WILLIAM C. HAYWARD was born in Cattaraugus County, New York, November 22, 1847. His education was acquired in the public schools of Minneapolis and Iowa, and at the Iowa Agricultural College. He came with his parents to Iowa in 1864. After leaving college he became county surveyor, and was for twelve years postmaster at Garner. For fourteen years he was editor of a country newspaper, and has since been engaged in milling, banking and manufacturing. After removing to Davenport Mr. Hayward was five years president of the school board. In 1897 he was elected on the Republican ticket to the State Senate, serving in the Twenty-seventh, Twenty-eight, Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth General Assemblies. He introduced a bill providing for compulsory education which paved the way for the law which was enacted at the following session. JOSEPH R. LANE was born in Davenport, Iowa, on the 6th of May, 1858, and was the son of Hon. James T. Lane. He was educated at Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, attended the Law Department of the State University and began to practice law in Davenport in 1880. In 1898 he was elected to Congress on the Republican ticket in the Second District, serving but oneterm, as he declined a reelection. He has long been one of the active Republican leaders in the Second Congressional district, but prefers the line of his profession to official positions. JOSEPH B. LEAKE was born in Cumberland County, New Jersey, April 1, 1828. In 1836 he removed with his parents to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he received his early education. He entered the Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, graduating in the class of 1846. After leaving college he studied law in Cincinnati and was admitted to the bar in 1850. Coming to Iowa in 1856, Mr. Leake opened a law office at Davenport. In 1861 he was elected to fill a vacancy in the House of Representatives at the extra session of the Eighth General Assembly in 1861. He was elected to the Senate of the Ninth General Assembly, serving at the regular and extra sessions, when he resigned to enter the army. Mr. Leake was commissioned captain of Company G, and was soon promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the Twentieth Regiment of Volunteers. He participated in the Battle of Prairie Grove, where he commanded the regiment. Soon after his command was transferred to the Army of the Tennessee, and after the fall of Vicksburg the Twentieth Regiment joined the Army of the Gulf in the Mobile campaign. Colonel Leake was taken prisoner at the Battle of Bayou Fordoche, remaining in a Confederate prison until July, 1864. In 1865 he was brevetted Brigadier-General for conspicuous service and was mustered out in July of the same year. Upon his return to Iowa, General Leake was again elected to the State Senate of the Eleventh General Assembly where he was chairman of the judiciary committee. Later he occupied several positions of trust in his home city and county. Early in the seventies General Leake removed to Chicago, where in 1879 he was appointed by the President, United States Attorney for the District of Northern Illinois, serving until 1884. From 1887 to 1891 he was the attorney for the Chicago Board of Education; and he has filled the position of Commander of the Legion of Honor of Illinois. JOHN HERRIOTT was born at Herriottsville, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, October 24, 1844, where his youthful years were spent on a farm. He usually attended school a few weeks in the winter season until he was twelve years of age when he received three months' instruction in the Normal School in the winter of 1865. When the Civil War began young Herriott enlisted in a Pennsylvania regiment and served as a private soldier in nearly all of the great battles fought by the Army of the Potomac up to September 27, 1864, when his term of service expired. In August, 1865, he emigrated to Iowa, settling on a farm near New Liberty, Scott County. In 1872, Mr. Herriott removed to Stuart where he opened a drug and book store. He was elected on the Republican ticket treasurer of the county, serving two terms and making a record which brought him out as a prominent candidate for State Treasurer. He received the Republican nomination for that position in 1894, was elected and twice reelected, serving three terms. He brought marked ability to the discharge of the duties of that office, introducing many new methods in the transaction if its important duties, which met general approval. As a member of the Executive Council Mr. Herriott took an independent stand in advocacy of whatever he believed to be right. He was a courageous advocate of important reforms in the assessment of corporate property, acting alone in that respect in the Executive Council. So warmly was his position endorsed by the people, that his Congressional District gave him a unanimous support for Governor in the Republican State Convention of 1901. The convention, however, nominated A. B. Cummins for Governor and Mr. Herriott for Lieutenant-Governor, to which position he was elected by a large majority. JOHN F. DILLON was born in Montgomery County, New York, December 25, 1831. His parent removed to Davenport in 1838, then a frontier village in the new Territory of Iowa. Here the son was educated in the common schools and when seventeen began the study of medicine with Dr. E. S. Barrows. He attended medical lectures at the Keokuk Medical Colllege but finally concluded to study law. He entered the office of John P. Cook and pursued his legal studies until admitted to the bar in 1852. Soon after he was elected Prosecuting Attorney and rose rapidly in the profession until, in 1858, he was elected judge of the Seventh District. He served with distinction four years and in 1863 was nominated by the Republican State Convention for Judge of the Supreme Court. He was elected and in 1868 became Chief Justice. In 1869 he was reelected for six years but before qualifying was appointed by President Grant United States Circuit Judge for the Eighth Circuit, consisting of the States of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and Colorado. In 1869 he was made lecturer on Legal Jurisprudence in the State University of Iowa. He was the founder and editor of the Central Law Journal and author of a "Digest of the Decisions of the Supreme Court of Iowa," as well as five volumes of United States Circuit Court Reports from 1871 to 1880. In 1879 he resigned the Circuit Judgeship (a life appointment) and removed to New York City where he had been chosen Professor of Real Estate and Equity Jurisprudence of the Law Department of Columbia College. In 1891-2 he was Lecturer on Municipal Law in Yale College. In 1892 he was chosen president of the American Bar Association. He has long had charge of the legal business of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, the Western Union Telegraph Company and the Manhattan Elevated Railroad Company. He has found time to continue his law writing as the author of a "Commentary of the Law of Municiapl Corporations," published in 1872, which has run through four editions; "Removal of Causes from State Courts to Federal Courts," published in 1875, which has passed through three editions; "Laws and Jurisprudence of England and America," being a series of lectures delivered before Yale University, published in Boston in 1895. Judge Dillon's works have had a large sale in England as well as in America, some editions having been published in London. In this country they were from the first recognized as standard legal authority. He is the author of many pamphlets on legal and historical affairs, and one of the most elegant memorial volumes that has appeared in this country, in memory of his wife and daughter who were lost at sea in July, 1898. His wife was the accomplished daughter of Hon. Hiram Price, long member of Congress from the Second Iowa District. From a boyhood of poverty and obscurity, but endowed with remarkable intellectual powers and untiring energy, John F. Dillon has by force of character, during a life of continuous work, reached the summit of the American Bar. JAMES T. LANE was born at Freeport, Pennsylvania, on the 16th of March, 1830. He was educated at the University of Lewisburg in that State, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and came west in 1854 in search of a location. He stopped in Davenport, then a flourishing little city on the upper Mississippi River. Here he located on the 23d of February, 1854, and opened a law office, making it his permanent home. He soon acquired a good practice and upon the organization of the Republican party on the 22d of February, 1856, mr. Lane took an active part, serving as a delegate from Scott County in the first State Convention which met at Iowa City and was one of the secretaries of that gathering which brought a new party into existence. He entered into partnership with Abner Davisson, upon the death of D. S. True, and Davission & Lane was for many years one of the leading law firms of Davenport. In 1861 he was elected on the Republican ticket to the House of the Ninth General Assembly and took rank among the leading members; was made chairman of the committee on military affairs, then the most important of the standing committees, as the country was in the midst of the great Civil War. In 1873 Mr. Lane was appointed by President Grant United States District Attorney for Iowa, serving with distinction until 1882. He died on the 19th of March, 1890. HENRY W. LEE, the first Episcopal Bishop of Iowa, was born in Hamden, Connecticut, on the 29th of July, 1815. A few months later his father removed to Springfield, Massachusetts, where the son spent his youthful days and received his education. In October, 1839, he was ordained to the ministry of the Episcopal church by Bishop Griswold. He was called to be Rector of Christ Church at Springfield in April 1840, where he remained three years. He then accepted a call to St. Luke's church, at Rochester, New York, where he remained eleven years. The degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by Hobart College in 1850 and by the University of Rochester in 1852. In 1867 the degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by the University of Cambridge, England. On the 1st of June, 1854, Dr. Henry W. Lee was elected Bishop of the Diocese of Iowa and on the 18th of October was consecrated at Rochester in teh presence of the Bishops of New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan and Illinois, Bishop Eastman of Vermont, presiding. Bishop Lee made a visit to the principal churches of Iowa in the fall of that year and in January, 1855, removed to Davenport. He immediately entered upon the work of raising a permanent fund for the diocese which was wisely invested in more than 6,000 acres of land which as the years went by became valuable, yielding a large income. He was instrumental in founding Griswold College at Davenport which was opened in 1860. In 1867 he made a visit to the principal countries of Europe, preaching in some of the largest churches of England, France and Ireland. After an arduous service of twenty years as Bishop of Iowa Henry W. Lee died at his home on the 26th of September, 1874. The last great work he gave to the diocese was the erection of Grace Cathedral at Davenport. DAVID J. GUE was born in Farmington, Ontario County, New York, January 17, 1836. He acquired a common school education with one year at an academy. In 1853 he came to Iowa and assisted an older brother on a farm in Scott County. He studied law in Tipton and was admitted to the bar in 1860. In 1862, as counsel for J. S. Maxwell, he won a noted case for his client whose seat in the General Assembly was contested by Milo Smith, who retained Judge C. C. Cole. Mr. Gue was chosen assistant secretary of the SEnate at that session. In 1859 he connected his name imperishably with history, in secret effort to save the lives of John Brown and his companions who were then organizing the "raid" on Harper's Ferry. The particulars of this episode are to be found in Vol. II, of this history. When a small boy David J. had possessed a remarkable talent for pencil sketching, especially of portraits. In 1865 he located at Fort Dodge in the drug business. But his love for art grew with the years and he finally sold out and gave his attention to portrait painting. Among his Iowa work are portraits of John A. Kasson, Bishop H. W. Lee, Governors Merrill, Carpenter and Larrabee; Chief Justices of the Supreme Court J. M. Beck, J. R. Reed and C. C. Cole. Settling in New York many years ago, his most notable portraits were Ex-President Millard Fillmore, General U. S. Grant, Henry Ward Beecher, Lyman Abbitt, Nellie, daughter of President Arthur. In 1898 Mr. Gue visited the art centers of Europe, making studies of many notable places. He has attained remarkable success in marine painting. D. N. Richardson, editor of the Davenport Democrat wrote of Mr. Gue as an artist: "It was not until he was twenty-four years old that he saw an oil painting. After twelve years of work as a portrait painter in New York, he occupies a position that many of the hardest working students of the best foreign masters have failed to attain." BENJAMIN F. GUE was born in Greene County, New York, on the 25th of December, 1828. His education was acquired in the public schools, with two terms in academies of Canandaigua and West Bloomfield. He taught school in the winter of 1851 and early in March, 1852, came to Iowa and bought a claim on Rock Creek in Scott County. He was an Abolitionist and took a deep interest in the antislavery movements of that period. Mr. Gue was one of the delegates sent from Scott County to the convention which assembled at Iowa City on the 22d of February, 1856, to organize the Republican party of Iowa. In 1857 he was chosen by the Republicans as one of the Representatives in the SEventh General Assembly. He was one of the authors of the act to establish a State Agricultural College and was selected to fight the bill through the House against an adverse report of the committee of ways and means. He was reelected at the expiration of his first term and in 1861 was elected to the Senate for four years. In that body he was the author of two important bills: to prohibit the circulation of foreign bank bills in Iowa, and the law devised to secure an immediate income from the Agricultural College Land Grant, without sacrificing the lands. By the adoption of this plan Iowa secured for all time a larger income for support of the college than any State having the same amount of land. At the close of his term in 1864, Mr. Gue removed to Fort Dodge, purchased the only newspaper establishment where for eight years he published a Republican paper. In 1865 he was appointed postmaster of Fort Dodge but resigned in the fall of that year, having been nominated by the Republican State Convention for Lieutenant-Governor. In 1866 he was elected president of the Board of Trustees of the State Agricultural College and for several years gave a large portion of his time to the building and organization of the college. He carried a proposition through the board for the admission of girls as students, against strong opposition. As a member of the committee on organization, he visited the Agricultural Colleges of the country and was instrumental in selecting President Welch and the first crops of professors. Mr. Gue has always taken a deep interest in the growth of this college and by voice and pen defended and supported it through all of the years of its existence. In 1872 he removed to Des Moines and became editor of the Iowa Homestead. Receiving the appointment of United States Pension Agent of Iowa and Nebraska from President Grant, he gave his entire time to the duties of that position for eight years. Upon retiring in 1881 he again became editor of the Homestead. For more than fifteen years he took an active part in the political campaigns as a public speaker for the Republican party. He was one of the founders of the "Iowa Unitarian Association," of the "Pioneer Lawmakers' Association," and is author of a History of Iowa. ANTOINE LE CLAIRE was born at St. Joseph, Michigan, in 1797. His father was a French trader and his mother was the daughter of a chief of the Pottawattamie Indians. He was conversant with many Indian dialects and acted as interpreter for Colonel Davenport in his intercourse with the Indians, while stationed at Fort Armstrong. In 1820 Le Claire married the granddaughter of a Sac chief. In the treaty of 1832 between the Sac and Fox Indians and the United States, in which Le Claire was the interpreter, a grant of two sections of land was made to him by these tribes. One section is now embraced in the limits of Davenport and the other was where the town of Le Claire has been built. The Pottawattamies gave him two sections of land now embraced in the city of Moline. Mr. Le Claire was one of the founders of the cities of Davenport and Le Claire and a liberal promoter of many public enterprises in the two places in early days. He died at Davenport in September 1861. ALBERT M. LEA, who gave the name to Iowa before it had an organized existence as a Territory or State, was born in east Tennessee in 1807. With a common school education he entered the Military Academy at West Point in 1827 from which he graduated in 1831. He was appointed second lieutenant in the artillery service. In 1832 he was detached on topographic work and in 1834 was transferred to the First Dragoons, in the company commanded by Captain Jesse B. Browne. The regiment was sent to the upper Mississippi with headquarters at old Fort Des Moines (now Montrose) in Lee County, Iowa. It was from here in 1835 that Lieutenant Lea accompanied the exploring expedition under Captain Boone which marched through the wild regions bordering on the upper Des Moines, Boone and Iowa rivers. Lieutenant Lea wrote the first description of that part of the county ever published, from notes and maps made while on the march. After his return, he published a book of forty-five pages to which he gave the title "Notes on the Iowa District of Wisconsin Territory." This is believed to have been the first time the name "Iowa" was applied to the country which two years later became the Territory of Iowa. While in camp on the shores of a beautiful lake in southern Minnesota, Lieutenant Lea made a plat and sketch which was sent to the War Department, where the name "Albert Lea" was given it. He soon after resigned his commission and purchased claims at the mouth of Pine Creek on the west side of the Mississippi, eighteen miles below Rock Island, where he laid out a town which he named Ellenborough. He expected this to be an important city as the country became settled but the founding of Davenport on one side and Muscatine on the other, ruined his hopes and the plat became in time a farm. Lieutenant Lea was employed as a civil engineer to assist in establishing the disputed boundary between Iowa and Missouri. In 1841 he was chief clerk in the War Department and in 1843 was Professor of Mechanics in the University of Tennessee. During the Civil War he was an officer in the Confederate army. He died at Corsicana, Texas, on the 30th of January 1891. GEORGE F. MAGOON, first president of Iowa College, was born at Bath, Maine, March 29, 1821. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1841 and studied theology at Andover and Yale Seminaries. He came west and was principal of an academy at Plattsville, Wisconsin, and later was pastor of churches in Galena, Illinois, and DAvenport and Lyons, Iowa. In Davenport he was pastor of the college church, was chosen a trustee, holding that office during the removal of the college to Grinnell. In 1862 he was chosen president of Iowa College, although he did not leave his church at Lyons until 1865. He remained president for twenty years, retiring in 1884, though he continued to teach mental and moral philosophy. During his administration Dr. Magoon aided materially in securing a larger endowment fund for the college. He was an ardent advocate of prohibition of the liquor traffic and wielded his pen with great effect in the cause. He was editor of the Iowa News Letter and the Congregational Quarterly, and a contributor to many educational journals. He died January 15, 1896, at his home in Grinnell. GEORGE METZGAR was born in Germany, April 19, 1845. His father, who was engaged in the Revolution of 1848-9 became an exile, coming with his family to the United States in 1850. The son received his education in the common schools and in 1862 enlisted in the One Hundred Twenty-fifth New York Volunteers. He served in General Hancock's Second Corps and participated in most of the battles fought by the Army of the Potomac, receiving a severe wound at Gettysburg. He came to Iowa in 1869 making his home in Davenport. He became an active and influential Republican and has held the highest positions in the Grand Army of the Republic. In 1894 Mr. Metzgar was appointed by the Governor custodian of public buildings of the State, serving four years. In 1898 he was appointed postmaster of Davenport by President McKinley. JEREMIAH H. MURPHEY was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, February 19, 1835, was educated in the schools of Boston and after removing to Iowa, graduated at the State University. He read law in Davenport, was admitted to the bar and at once entered upon practice. He was an active Democrat and in 1873 was elected mayor of Davenport. In 1874 he was elected to the State Senate, serving four years. In 1879 he was again chosen mayor. In 1882 he was elected to represent the Second District in Congress and was a member of the committees on rivers and harbors and on railroads and canals. On the latter committee he worked faithfully to secure an appropriation for the Hennepin canal. Mr. Murphey was reelected in 1884, serving four years. He died in Washington on the 11th of December, 1893. JONATHAN W PARKER was one of the pioneer lawmakers of Iowa Territory. He was born in Clarendon, Vermont, on the 10th of August, 1810. After acquiring the usual education he began the study of law in Pennsylvania and came with his father's family to Davenport in 1836. He was admitted to the bar at the first term of court held in Scott County and immediately began practice. In 1838, upon the organization of the Territory of Iowa, he was elected to represent Scott and Clinton counties in the Council of the First Legislative Assembly and was reelected, serving in the Second, Third and Fourth Territorial Legislatures. He attained high rank as a legislator and was President of the Council during the session of 1841-2. In 1841 he was mayor of Davenport. In 1852, while on a visit to Cincinnati, he died of cholera at the early age of forty-one. MATT PARROTT was born in Schoharie County, New York, in 1837 and , after securing an education, learned the printer's trade. In 1850 he went to Chicago where he obtained a position on one of the daily papers. From there he went to Davenport, Iowa, continuing in the trade of printer. He at one time became the owner of an interest in the Anamosa Eureka. In 1869 he went to Waterloo and, in company with J. J. Smart, purchased the Waterloo Reporter and printing establishment. In 1879 he secured the office of State Binder which he held for three terms. He was elected to the State Senate in 1885 and served two terms. In 1895 he was elected Lieutenant-Governor and reelected in 1897. He was twice a candidate before Republican State Conventions for Governor but was defeated. Mr. Parrott, with his sons, converted the Reporter into a daily paper of which they became the sole owners. He was at one time President of the State Press Association, and was a life-long Republican. He died at Battle Creek, Michigan, on the 21st of April, 1900. HIRAM PRICE was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, January 10, 1810. He worked on his father's farm in boyhood, attending school during the winter months. He was a great reader, borrowing books of neighbors and thus acquiring an education. In 1844 he removed to Iowa, locating in Davenport, where he opened a store. In 1847 he was chosen School Fund Commissioner and a year later was elected recorder and treasurer of Scott County, holding the position eight years. mr. Price was a radical advocate of temperance and was one of the founders of the order of "The Sons of Temperance." He was one if the framers of the first bill for the prohibition of the liquor traffic in the State, which was enacted into law by the Fifth General Assembly in 1854. He was the editor of the Temperance Organ, a State paper devoted to prohibition. He had been a Democrat in politics up to the time of the attempt to force slavery into Kansas when he left that party and was one of the organizers and founders of the Republican party of Iowa. Upon the enactment of the State Bank Law, Mr. Price was one of the organizers of the Davenport branch and was the second president of the State Bank officers. When the War of the Rebellion began, he assisted in raising the money to enable Governor Kirkwood to equip the first two Iowa regiments. He was the first paymaster of Iowa troops and was untiring in his support and assistance to the Governor in raising men and money to meet the calls of the President. In 1862 he was elected by the Republicans of the Second District to Congress and for six years was one of the ablest members of the House. He was an earnest advocate of the most energetic war measures and of legislation to strengthen the credit of the Government. Mr. Price was one of the founders of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home. In 1876 he was again elected to Congress and served until 1880. In 1881 Mr. Price was appointed by the President Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in which position he served with distinguished ability for four years. He made many reforms where abuses had grown up in dealing with the Indians. He was one of the pioneers in railroad building in Iowa. In 1853, when the first railroad was being built from Chicago toward Iowa, Mr. Price was chosen to traverse the counties on the projected line through the Stare to the Missouri River to create an interest among the people and towns. In 1869 when a railroad was projected from Davenport in a northwesterly direction Hiram Price was elected president of the company which constructed the road. One of his last public acts before removing to Washington was to endow a free reading room in the public library of Davenport, his old home. He was a life-long and prominent member of the Methodist Church. He died in Washington, D. C., May 30, 1901. DAVID N. RICHARDSON was born in Orange, Vermont, March 19, 1832. He was reared on a farm and completed his education with two terms at an academy. He taught when eighteen years of age and later entered a printing office in Illinois where he learned the trade. In 1854 he came to Davenport, Iowa, where, in company with James T. Hildreth and George R. West he purchased the Democratic newspaper establishment and began the publication of the daily Iowa State Democrat. Here for nearly forty years Mr. Richardson was engaged in conducting one of the foremost newspapers of Iowa. He was for many years a regent of the State University and was untiring in his efforts to make that the foremost educational institution in the State. He was also one of the original members of the State commission to plan and erect the Iowa Soldiers' Monument, serving until the work was completed. During the period of eighteen years during which Mr. Richardson was a regent of the State University he was one of its most intelligent and effective promoters. It was an often expressed desire to his to live to see our State University equal to any in America. That institution never had a more devoted friend or more useful officer. Mr. Richardson was a graceful and accomplished writer and one of the ablest of Iowa editors. He became an extensive traveler in foreign countries and his letters descriptive of the lands and cities visited were of absorbing interest. His acquaintance with the public men of Iowa was very wide and although he was a lifelong Democrat and an active and influential leader in his party for more than forty years, he won and retained the confidence and personal friendship of his political opponents everywhere. He died on the 4th of July, 1898. BENJAMIN S. ROBERTS was born in Manchester, Vermont, on the 18th of November, 1810. He graduated at the Military Academy at West Point in 1835, and was commissioned a second lieutenant. In 1839 he resigned and became chief engineer of a railroad company and later was Assistant State Geologist for New York. He finally studied law and in 1844 located at Fort Madison, Iowa, where he practiced law. When the Mexican War began in 1846 he returned to the service and was appointed first lieutenant in a regiment of mounted riflemen. Mr. Roberts greatly distinguished himself in the campaign of General Scott against the City of Mexico. He led the advance into the city and with his own hands raised the American flag over the ancient palace of the Montezumas. At the close of the war he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the regular army. In 1849 the Iowa Legislature bestowed upon him a sword of honor for his gallant services during the war. When the Civil War began Colonel Roberts was in command of the southern district of New Mexico, where he routed the Confederate army and saved the Territory to the Union. In 1862 he was promoted to Brigadier-General and became Inspector-General of General Pop's army in Virginia. In June, 1863, he was assigned to the command of the Department of Iowa with headquarters at Davenport. He served with distinguished ability to the close of the war. NICHOLAS J. RUSCH was born in Holstein, Germany, in 1822. He received a liberal education and taught school several years. In 1847 he emigrated to America and located on a farm near Davenport, Iowa. He was a young man of fine ability and studious habits and soon acquired a knowledge of the language, laws and institutions of his adopted country. A Republican in politics he was an influential leader among the German Americans. In 1857 he was nominated by the Republicans of Scott County for State Senator and was elected by a large majority. He attained prominence in the session of 1858 as a Senator and in 1859 was nominated by the Republican State Convention for Lieutenant-Governor on the ticket with Samuel J. Kirkwood. After a campaign of unusual vigor they were elected. Lieutenant-Governor Rusch presided with dignity and ability over the Senate during the regular session of 1860 and the war session of 1861 but was not a candidate for reelection. In May, 1860, he was appointed by Governor Kirkwood Commissioner of Immigration and served two years with great efficiency. In 1862 Governor Rusch was appointed to a position in the Commissary Department of the military service in the Civil War, with the rank of captain. In 1864 he died in the service of Vicksburg, Mississippi, at the age of forty-two. EDWARD RUSSELL, one of the noted editors of Iowa, was born in London, England, October 6, 1830. He received an education at Hill House Academy. In 1845 his father came to America, stopping in New York, where he lost most of his property and Edward became a carpenter. At one time he traveled as a peddler. In September, 1848, the family removed to Iowa, locating on a farm near Le Claire in Scott County. Here the son worked at farming and carpentering for several years. He began to write for the press on slavery and other topics and became a regular correspondent for the National Era of Washington, a radical antislavery paper. He was also a contributor to the Davenport Gazette. In 1858 he became editor of the Le Claire Express and in 1862 began his career as editor of the Davenport Gazette. Here he found a congenial field and soon attained a position among the able political writers of the State. In the Republican State Convention of 1865, Mr. Russell introduced a resolution declaring for negro suffrage in Iowa. It was smothered by the committee on resolutions but Mr. Russell made a vigorous fight for it before the convention and carried it by a decisive majority. In 1864 Mr. Russell was appointed postmaster of Davenport, serving for nearly sixteen years. In 1871 he retired from the Gazette but four years later again became its editor, serving seven years. He was one of the ablest political writers in the State but was not in harmony with the Republican party on a protective tariff. He as a vigorous advocate of a tariff for revenue, standing bravely by his convictions to the close of his life. He was one of the earliest advocates of the construction of the Hennepin canal for uniting the waters of Lake Michigan with the Mississippi for purposes of navigation. In the later years of his life Mr. Russell lost control of the Davenport Gazette and removed to Minneapolis where he died December 18, 1891. ADDISON H. SANDERS was born on the 13th of September, 1823, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His education was begun in a printing office of his native city and completed at Cincinnati College. In 1845 and again in 1846 he came to Davenport, where his brother Alfred, was struggling to put his Gazette on a paying basis. During each of these visits he stayed several months, taking editorial charge of the paper and thus relieving his overworked brother, so that he might bring the business department into better condition. When the city had grown large enough to demand a daily paper, Addison H. removed to Davenport, in October, 1856, took editorial charge of the Daily Davenport Gazette and continued in that position until he entered the Union army. At the beginning of the Civil War no newspaper in Iowa had wider influence that the Daily Gazette of Davenport. Early in 1861, Add. H. Sanders was commissioned aid to Governor Kirkwood, serving with Judge Baldwin of Council Bluffs and later in the year he was placed in command of Camp McClellan, at Davenport, where the Union volunteers were mustering for the organization of regiments and for drill. The Sixteenth Regiment was organized early in the winter of 1862 and Governor Kirkwood was so impressed with the excellent work and superior qualifications of Add. H. Sanders, that he offered him the position of colonel of the new regiment. But having observed the disadvantage of placing inexperienced officers at the head of new regiments he declined the command, urging the selection of a regular army officer for the place. The Governor and General Baker realized the wisdom of such a selection and Captain Alexander Chambers of the Eighteenth United Stares Infantry was appointed colonel and Mr. Sanders was commissioned lieutenant-colonel. The regiment received its "baptism of fire" at the desperate and bloody battle of Shiloh and at Corinth, Lieutenant-Colonel Sanders was wounded very severely. He did gallant service during the war, often in command of the regiment. At the Battle of Atlanta, July 22, 1864, Colonel Sanders was taken prisoner, suffering everything but death in the Confederate prison and when exchanged was so low with starvation and fever that for a long time his recovery was doubtful. On the 2d of April, 1865, he was discharged from the service for disability, having been brevetted Brigadier-General for gallant conduct on many battle-fields Upon his return home, he was appointed postmaster of Davenport. In 1870 he was appointed by President Grant Secretary of Montana Territory and became acting Governor. In 1872 he was appointed Register of the United States Land Office for Montana. He returned to his old home at Davenport where for many years he has done editorial work on several of the daily papers. As a writer, General Sanders has for a third of a century ranked among the ablest in the State. ALFRED SANDERS, pioneer journalist, was a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, having been born in that city on the 13th of May, 1819. Like his brother, Addison H., he received his education in the printing office and at Cincinnati College. In 1841 he came to Davenport, Iowa, where in August he established the Davenport Gazette, a weekly Whig newspaper. It was from the first a model typographical journal and gave particular attention to the local interests of the new city and Territory. The young man was but twenty-two years of age and possessed all of the enthusiasm and ability to "work and wait," that characterized the youthful adventurers who hesitated not to leave the comforts of civilization, to help found a new State. For twenty-one years Alfred Sanders worked in his chosen field with undeviating faith in a brilliant future for his journal, his city, and State. The "old Davenport Gazette" was, under his administration, among the most potential forces in helping to lay a sure foundation for the upbuilding of one of the most beautiful and substantial cities of Iowa and no paper in its day contributed more largely toward the material development of all that is most desirable by good citizens, in the growth of a State. Alfred Sanders never sought office and held steadfastly to the career of journalism which he had chosen in youth; was an active member of the Christian Church and died at the early age of forty-six, on the 25th of April, 1865. JAMES P. SANFORD was born in Seneca County, New York, November 11, 1832. When thirteen years of age he went to South America and spent four years in that country, Mexico and the West India Islands. In 1851 he located in New Orleans where he remained until 1855 when he removed to Iowa, taking up his residence at Bentonsport. The following year he became a Universalist minister, preaching his first sermon at Big Rock in Scott County on the 22d of March, 1856. He was a public speaker of unusual ability and eloquence and rose rapidly in the profession until in a few years he became one of the most famous ministers in Iowa. Early in the Civil War Mr. Sanford enlisted in the Second Iowa Cavalry and was commissioned first lieutenant and was afterwards promoted to captain. Upon the organization of the Forty-seventh Infantry he was commissioned colonel of that regiment. In 1864 he retired from the service and went to Europe, making an extensive tour of the countries of the old world. Upon his return he lectured on foreign lands and people he had visited. Mr. Sanford crossed the ocean fifteen times and extended his travels into almost every country of the eastern world. Possessed of rare descriptive powers and pleasing address, Colonel Sanford soon won national fame as a lecturer on foreign countries. He eventually became one of the most extensive travelers in America as well as one of the most notable lecturers CHARLES A. SCHAFFER, late president of the State University, was born August 14, 1843, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His early education was thorough and he was fitted for college at the Germantown Academy. His progress was so rapid that he was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1861, at the age of eighteen. He then began the study of medicine, entering a pharmacy and beginning a laboratory course in Philadelphia which was continued at Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1862 he became private secretary to his uncle, General Herman Haupt, then stationed in Virginia. The following year he enlisted in Landis' Philadelphia Light Brigade and in a skirmish at Carlisle distinguished himself for gallant conduct. In 1863 he entered the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard, remaining two years. From there Mr. Schaffer went to Union College at Schenectady, New York, as instructor in chemistry. In 1867 he went abroad for advanced study in chemistry and for two years was a student at Gottingen, where in 1868 he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. During the following year he studied metallurgy at the Berlin School of Mines and completed his foreign studies by a course of six months in Paris. While studying there he was elected to the chair of analytical chemistry and mineralogy at Cornell University, at the time being but twenty-six years of age. There he remained nineteen years, and during the absence of the president, Andrew D. White, was usually called to act in his absence. During his last year at Cornell Dr. Schaffer was dean of the faculty. He was inaugurated president of the Iowa State University, in June, 1887, and entering upon the work he voluntarily took upon himself instruction in chemistry of the medical and dental students with lectures on medical jurisprudence. Dr. Schaffer worked untiringly for a large endowment for the University throughout the State and before the Legislature. He was not a brilliant public speaker and "his strongest point was his remarkable executive ability," says Henry Sabin. During his residence in the State he was an earnest worker for the upbuilding of Iowa City, the home of the University. He stood high in the councils of the Episcopal Church and was a trustee of Griswold College and St. Katherine's Hall, Davenport. President Schaffer died in the midst of his great usefulness at Iowa City, September 13, 1898. WILLIAM O. SCHMIDT is a native of Davenport, where he was born June 9, 1856. He was educated in the public schools of his native city and at the State University, entering upon the practice of law in Davenport. He has always been a Democrat and since 1896 has affiliated with the sound money wing of that party. Mr. Schmidt was a member of the House of Representatives in the Nineteenth and Twentieth General Assemblies, and a member of the Senate of the Twenty-first, Twenty-second, Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth General Assemblies, having served continuously for twelve years. He was the author of a bill for the regulation of the liquor traffic which received the endorsement of the Democratic party in State convention, and similar to the plan upon which Horace Boies was twice elected Governor of the State. WILLIAM A. SCOTT was born in Crawford County, Indiana, December 18, 1818. When Fort Des Moines was established at the Racoon Forks in 1843, Mr. Scott came with the troops, having contracted to furnish provisions for the garrison. He remained at the fort three years and when the Indians were removed to Kansas he accompanied them to their reservation as Indian trader. When the public lands in the vicinity of Des Moines came into market, Mr. Scott returned and entered five hundred acres on the east side of the river including most of the ground upon which East Des Moines has been built. He erected his log cabin where the city gas works stand near East Market street and established a ferry across the Raccoon River near its mouth. He built the first bridge across the Des Moines River and laid out the city of East Des Moines on his farm. Mr. Scott was active in securing the removal of the Capital from Iowa City and in procuring the location of the State House on the east side of the river. In order to comply with the requirement of the State to furnish a Capitol building and grounds free of expense, Mr. Scott donated most of the land upon which the permanent State House stands, the "Governor's Square" and other ground amounting to fifteen acres. He then became one of a company which erected the first Stare House at a cost of nearly $40,000. In the accomplishment of these enterprises Mr. Scott had encumbered his real estate to raise the large sums of money required. In 1857 came the most disastrous financial depression of the century; banks and thousands of business houses went down in widespread ruin. Good money disappeared from circulation and real estate could not be sold. Generous, public spirited "Alex. Scott" was caught in the flood-tide of ruin with his vast holding of real estate mortgaged and no income to tide him over. He started for the Pike's Peak gold field with the desperate hope that fortune would favor him and enable him to save his property. But he was stricken with sickness and died in a tent on the plains, June 23, 1859. ----- Original Message -----
From: "Sandy Terry" <skterry1@mchsi.com>
Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 7:26 PM
Subject: Re: 1903 Bio of William A. Scott
Just wanted to clarify this information for you, this one is my ancestor, his name was Willson Alexander Scott. He is buried on the State Capitol grounds. I have attached a picture. Below is what that the it says on the top of the headstone. I can provide more proof if you want.
RICHARD H. SYLVESTER was one of the pioneer journalists of Iowa. He was born in Charlestown, New Hampshire, and attended school at Exeter Academy, taking a course at Yale College and graduating at the Law School of Ann Arbor. In 1854 he came to Iowa and continued he law studies with Judge James Grant and John F. Dillon at Davenport. In 1855 he went to Iowa City and reported the proceedings of the General Assembly. Later he established the Iowa City State Reporter, a Democratic paper. He was chosen superintendent of schools in Johnson County and founded the Iowa State Press, after conducting it several years sold it to John P. Irish. During the Civil War he was a war correspondent of the New York World. In 1862 he was nominated by the Democratic party for Secretary of State but was not elected. He went south and was for some time editor of the Memphis Argus, and secretary of the Howard Association. He located in St. Louis where he was managing editor of the Daily Times. In 1880 he removed to Washington D. C., where he was associated with Frank Hatton on the Washington Post as managing editor until he died in 1896. Mr. Sylvester was an able and graceful writer, spending nearly all of his mature life in journalism. His eulogy on Governor Kirkwood was one of the finest productions of the time. He was the originator of the Memorial Bridge project over the Potomac to commemorate the war and link the North with the South. JAMES THORINGTON was born on the 7th of May, 1816, in Wilmington, North Carolina. He was a graduate of the State University of Alabama, and studied law with his father. He located at Davenport, Iowa, in 1839, where he began practice. In 1842 he was chosen mayor of the city, serving four years. He was one of the leaders in the Free Soil movement and in 1854 was nominated for Representative in Congress for the Second District by the antislavery elements of the various parties. The district embraced all of the northern half of the State and few expected the Free Soil candidate to be elected. Several prominent men declined the nomination and it was offered to Mr. Thorington. He said, "Gentlemen, I am not anxious to take the chances, but if you choose to nominate me, I will make an aggressive canvass and shall expect to be elected." His response aroused enthusiasm, he was nominated and made a vigorous campaign, having for his Democratic competitor Ex-Governor Stephen Hempstead. Thorington was elected by more than 1,500 majority. He served two years from March, 1855, and was largely instrumental in securing to Iowa the land grants of 1856 for the aid of railroads. This most important act gave to his district three trunk lines of railroad from the Mississippi to the Missouri River. But it compassed his defeat for renomination. Delegates in the convention from counties not on the lines of the projected railroads united against him and nominated a Republican in Dubuque. Mr. Thorington was one of the leaders in the political movement which resulted in uniting the antislavery elements into the Republican party in 1855-6. In 1858 he was a candidate for United States Senator to succeed George W. Jones but James W. Grimes was nominated and elected. Mr. Thorington was appointed by the Governor agent for the State at Washington to secure title to the swamp lands embraced in the grant. In 1872 he was appointed by President Grant United States Consul to Aspinwall, where he served ten years. It has often been remarked that our State never sent a Representative to Congress who accomplished so much in a single term as this first Republican member from Iowa. He died June 12, 1889, at Santa Fe in New Mexico. ASA TURNER, "missionary patriarch," was born at Templeton, Worcester County, Massachusetts, July 11, 1799. He prepared for college at Amherst Academy and entered Yale, taking a three years' theological course and earning the means to pay his expenses. After graduating with the degree of B. A. he joined the "Illinois Association" of seven who pledged themselves to missionary preaching and the founding of a college. In 1830 Mr. Turner was sent to Quincy, Illinois, and soon occupied a field composed of a dozen counties, twice going as far north as the Galena lead mines. No statistics can record the manifold labors involved in this circuit; preaching, organizing churches, lecturing on temperance, founding antislavery societies, stimulating schools and the higher education, drawing young men and women of promise to seminary and college from the rude frontier homes. In 1834 he explored the newly acquired "Black Hawk Purchase" for a missionary field as far up as Crow Creek in Scott County. Two years later he removed to Denmark, where he founded the first Congregational church in Iowa and was the first installed pastor of any denomination in the Territory which two years later became Iowa. Here he labored for thirty years. He had been one of the first trustees of the Illinois College, and among the notable things in his active career was the stand he took for temperance and antislavery in both States in which he lived. In Quincy he face mobs and rioting around the church building; and at Alton, just before the assassination of the Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, Father Turner presided at a meeting which established the first antislavery society in Illinois. Denmark was always one of the stations on the Underground Railroad and Rev. Asa Turner was one of the most fearless conductors on the line. When James W. Grimes was nominated by the Whig party for Governor in 1854, for the first time the Whigs believed it possible to elect their candidate if he could receive the votes of the abolitionists. Grimes was known to be an uncompromising foe to slavery and was anxious to receive the support of the antislavery party. When the State Convention of that party assembled to consider the situation, Father Turner was chosen president. He knew Grimes to be in full sympathy with the antislavery cause, and he had prepared resolutions to be presented to the convention, as follows: WHEREAS the Nebraska Bill is the great question in National Politics, and WHEREAS the Maine Liquor Law is the great question in State politics, therefore RESOLVED, That we will vote for James W. Grimes of Des Moines County for Governor. The resolutions were adopted and the antislavery vote was given solid for Grimes at the August election. Grimes and Turner were the first public speakers in the cause of prohibition in southeastern Iowa. "Father Turner stands as the projector and leading founder of two of our oldest educational institutions, Denmark Academy and Iowa College," says Dr. Magoon. The last seventeen years of Father Turner's life were spent at Oskaloosa where he died in December, 1885. HENRY VOLLMER was born in Davenport, Iowa, in 1867. He received his education in that city, the Iowa State University and Georgetown University at Washington, D. C. He took a thorough law course, was admitted to the bar and began practice in Davenport. He early developed a talent for public speaking which brought him into prominence as one of the young leaders of the Democratic party. In 1893 he was first chosen mayor of Davenport and at once applied himself to the inauguration of municipal reforms. He was the youngest mayor in a city of the first class in the United States. He was three times reelected and secured the erection of a fine city hall without an increase of taxation. In 1893 he was chosen president of the Democratic State Convention and delivered an address which for eloquence and ability gave him more than a State-wide reputation as a public speaker. He was one of the leaders of what is termed the sound money wing of the Democratic party of Iowa in the presidential campaign of 1896. CHARLES M. WATERMAN was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, on the 5th of January, 1847. His education was acquired in the public schools and in a private academy. He came to Iowa in 1854 and studied law. The first office he held was that of city attorney of Davenport. In 1877 he was chosen one of the Representatives in the House of the seventeenth General Assembly on the Republican ticket. On the 28th of June, 1887, he was appointed by Governor Larrabee to fill a vacancy in the office of judge of the Seventh Judicial District caused by the death of Judge John H. Rogers. He was elected for a full term in November of that year and reelected in 1890 and 1894. In the summer of 1897 he received the nomination at the Republican State Convention for judge of the Supreme Court and was elected in November, taking his place on the bench the 1st of January, 1898. ANNIE T. WITTENMYER, an Iowa woman who won the enduring gratitude of hundreds of soldiers during the Civil War, was born at Sandy Springs, Adams County, Ohio, on the 26th of August, 1827. She developed remarkable gifts for writing, before she was thirteen years of age. Her poetry at that time attracted attention and she became a regular contributor some years later to various publications. She was married in 1847, and three years later came with her husband to Iowa, locating in Keokuk. There were no public schools in the village at that time and Mrs. Wittenmyer opened a free school for children of the poor. With the help of other women this school was maintained for many years, accomplishing great good. When the War of the Rebellion began, she was one of the first to assist in organizing Soldiers' Aid Societies which did so much in relieving the wants of soldiers in the field and hospitals. She visited the army in the field early in 1861 and began to collect and distribute supplies for camps and hospitals. She wrote letters from the army to the newspapers telling the needs of the soldiers and soon had her entire time occupied in receiving and distributing the contributions of the generous people of the State. A record of her work during the war would fill a volume. She was appointed one of the State Sanitary Agents for Iowa and during her administration collected and distributed more than $160,000 worth of sanitary supplies. She was active securing furloughs for sick soldiers in hospitals, thus saving many lives. When she found armies camped in unhealthy localities she managed in numerous cases to exert influence to get the camp removed to a healthier location. She was one of the originators of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home established in Iowa at Davenport for the care and education of dependent children. She projected the Special Diet Kitchens which were established at hospitals, where such special food was prepared for the sick as was recommended by the surgeons in charge. This was the beginning of a great and much needed reform in providing suitable food for sick and wounded soldiers, in the hospitals. The entire supervision of these kitchens was placed under the control of Mrs. Wittenmyer. The reform was warmly indorsed by General Grant and there is no double that hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives of suffering soldiers were saved by this salutary change in food. When this reform was fully organized, more than a million of rations were issued through it each month. In 1892 Mrs. Wittenmyer spent a large portion of the winter in Washington working with Congress to secure pension for army nurses. For more than twenty years these worthy workers for the relief of suffering soldiers had applied in vain for any recognition by the Government for their unselfish devotion in war times and told it so earnestly that a pension of twelve dollars a month was granted the nurses. Mrs. Wittenmyer was largely instrumental in securing the purchase and preservation of the grounds embraced in the Andersonville prison pen. Eighty-five acres have been secured under the control of the Women's Relief Corps, including the "Providential Spring," and the grounds enclosed in the deadly stockade. After a long life almost entirely devoted to good works of a public nature, this noble woman died at her home on the 2d of February, 1900. |
