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CHARLES A. BLOSSOM, president of the Citizens' National Bank of Belle Plaine, has spent thirty years as a progressive factor in the finances of Iowa, and no one has a more intimate and practical knowledge of its history, condition and needs. When only eighteen years of age he started as a bookkeeper in the First National Bank of that city, and obtained a wide experience as a banker in other sections of the state before he returned to Belle Plaine as the organizer of the institution of which he is now the head. The Citizens' National Bank is a United States depository and fully covers all the departments of the business, being strong and up to date in every particular.
President Blossom was born in Rutland county, Vermont, on the 5th of August, 1861, and is a son of William and Mary J. (Lamb) Blossom, both also natives of that state. Three children were born to them, Mr. Blossom having one living sister, Ella, now Mrs. Miller, of Belle Plaine. The father left his Vermont farm for Iowa in 1870, first locating at Tama City for a short time and then moving to Belle Plaine, where for some years he conducted a hotel in connection with his farm. The father died in 1902, aged eighty-eight years, and the mother passed away in February, 1907, when seventy-three.
The early boyhood of Mr. Blossom was spent on the home farm near Belle Plaine, and he obtained his education at that place and the academy at Blairstown. After leaving the latter he spent a short time at home, and then (in 1882, when eighteen years of age) secured a position as bookkeeper in the "First National Bank of Belle Plaine. Holding that position for ten months, he went to Hubbard, Iowa, and for three years filled a similar position in the bank of that city. In 1885 he established the Bank of Shaler in the Iowa town by that name, acted as its cashier for a year, and in 1886 purchased the Bank of Gladbrook, Tama county, and was president and cashier of that institution for six years. This brings Mr. Blossom to 1892, when he returned to Belle Plaine and assisted in the organization of the Citizens' National Bank, of which he was cashier for five years and has been president for the past twelve. Necessarily, its fine standing is due far more to his activities, ability and substantial influence than to any other personal force. His business and financial leadership has been strongly supplemented by his prominence as a Mason, as he has been identified for years with Hope Lodge, Mount Hobart Chapter, St. Bernard Commandery and the Shrine, at Cedar Rapids. Both he and his wife are members of the Congregational church of Belle Plaine. On September 1, 1885, his marriage occurred to Miss Clara B. Reed, a native of Illinois, but reared here in Belle Plaine, born November 29, 1863, and who has become the mother of Warren R., living at home, teller in the Citizens' National Bank; Charles A., Jr., deceased; and Louisa, also with her parents.
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