 |
|
 |
|
CHARLES F. STOOKEY, an attorney of Shellsburg, dealer in real estate and loans, and also for some twenty-three years proprietor and publisher of the Shellsburg Call, was born March 21, 1856, at Warsaw, Indiana. He is a son of Abraham and Sarah B. (Lightfoot) Stookey; the latter, born in 1812, died in 1903, when nearly ninety-one years of age, on, the old homestead east of Shellsburg, in Linn county. She had lived there since 1863, when she and her husband settled there. They were from Ohio, and came to Iowa in 1857, locating in Linn county. Abraham Stookey died there in 1884, in his sixty-ninth year; he was a farmer and stockman all his life. They had a large family of children, five of whom grew to maturity, of whom Charles F. is the youngest. The others are: Nelson H., living on the old homestead in Linn county; Marion F., a lawyer in Leon, Iowa, proprietor of the Leon Journal, who represented in the state senate his district of Decatur, Ringgold and Union counties; Mrs. Margaret E. Lightfoot, of Fayette township, Linn county; and Maria A., Mrs. McVey, who died in 1907.
Charles F. Stookey was reared on a farm and attended Western (now Leander Clark) College, of Toledo, after which he took up the study of law at home. Later he began reading law with his brother, Marion F., and was admitted to the bar in Decatur county, Iowa, January 14, 1881. He had previously spent a short time teaching school. Mr. Stookey located in Shellsburg April 26, 1881, and has continued there in the successful practice of his profession. He also has other business interests, and is a thoroughly enterprising and wide-awake business man, paying close attention to his interests.
Mr. Stookey is a director of the People's Savings Bank, of Shellsburg, and of the Altoona (Kansas) Portland Cement Company, capitalized at six hundred thousand dollars. Politically he is a Republican; in 1894 he was elected to the office of county attorney. Mr. Stookey is a member of Benton City Lodge, No. 81 Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and of Ola Lodge, No. 120, Knights of Pythias, of Shellsburg. His wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
On April 20, 1882, Mr. Stookey married Lucy A., daughter of W. J. and Sarah A. White, pioneers of Benton county, who lived near Shellsburg; Mr. White entered land and lived there until his death, April 10, 1895, when nearly eighty-one years of age. Mr. Stookey and his wife have children as follows: Charles Owen, Pearl L. and Sarah Marie. Charles O. was born October 18, 1883, and is now serving in the reclamation service for the United States government at North Yakima, Washington; he is a graduate of Shellsburg High School, and took a business course, later passing the government civil service examination. Pearl L., the second son, was born October 3, 1889, and is in the employ of Frick-Russell-Stearns Company, of Cedar Rapids. Sarah Marie, born December 24, 1895, lives at home and is attending high school.
 |
