Broadie, Alfred Adam

STEIN, RICKER, SHEPHERD, ELLSWORTH, CARR, PERRY

Posted By: BCGS
Date: 12/13/2009 at 21:57:12

Among the men who were prominent factors in inaugurating and shaping the course of commercial and general business development in Waverly was numbered Alfred Adam Broadie, who was for many years a member of the firm of A.A. Broadie & Brother, well known druggists of that city, and connected through investment or official service with a number of other important business concerns. Through the years of an active business career and in all the relations of life he commanded the respect and confidence of his associates and his death was regarded as a distinct loss to business interests of this locality. Mr. Broadie was born in LeRoy township, Bremer county, May, 1856, and was a son of Adam and Jane (Stein) Broadie, the former born in Chatham, Canada, May 24, 1824, and the latter in the same city, November 9, 1832. The parents moved to Illinois in 1850 and the father became connected with the building of the old Chicago and Galena Railroad. In 1858 he came to Bremer county and settled on a farm in LeRoy township, whence he moved to Waverly in 1865, engaging in blacksmithing. In 1886 he retired from active life, continuing to reside in Waverly until his death, which occurred December 2, 1907. He was very active in public affairs, serving for many years as a member of the city council. His wife passed away May 8, 1900. They were the parents of three children: Alfred Adam, of this review; Mary, who married D.C. Ricker, a real-estate dealer of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Herbert H., who is engaged in the drug business in Waverly. Mr. Broadie's mother had been twice married, her first husband having been a Mr. Shepherd, a native of Canada, who was accidentlally killed three months after his marriage. To this union was born a son, Wesley, whose birth occurred in Canada in 1854 and who passed away in 1873.

Alfred A. Broadie was reared in LeRoy township and acquired his preliminary education in a little log schoolhouse, afterward completing his studies in the grammar and high schools of Waverly. He earned his first money at the early age of seven, when he received fifty cents per day for herding sheep for a neighbor. During his youth he worked at various occupations, principally as a farm hand, continuing thus until he was eighteen years of age, when he turned his attention to teaching, engaging in this work for a period of four years. In 1877 he was apprenticed to Dr. Burbank, of Waverly, under whom he learned the drug business, and in 1880 passed his examination and became a registered pharmacist. He then went to Madison, Lake county, South Dakota, where he conducted a drug store for three years, after which he returned to Waverly, purchasing in 1883 the business formerly owned by Dr. Burbank. He operated this in partnership with his brother, Herbert, under the name of A.A. Broadie & Brother, and he continued his connection with it until his death in 1912. The partners controlled a large and representative patronage and had one of the finest drug stores in Waverly, a modern, three-story building which they erected in 1901. They specialized in the manufacture of a line of farm remedies for hog cholera and stock medicine of different kinds and their business along this line extended so rapidly that for four years prior to Mr. Broadie's death the firm kept four wagons in constant operation throughout the county. Mr. Broadie was president and a very prominent member of the State Pharmaceutical Association and interested in everything that pertained to the drug business, of which he had made a lifelong study. His activities were not, however, confined to this field, for he was for ten years a director of the Waverly Short Line, now a part of the Rock Island Railroad. He was also connected with the German-American Loan & Trust Company for a number of years.

Mr. Broadie was twice married. On the 8th of June, 1881, he wedded Miss Alveline Almeda Shepherd, who was born in New York state and came to Bremer county when she was about sixteen years of age. To this union was born one son, LeRoy Wesley, whose natal day was October 28, 1882. He married Miss Madge Ellsworth, a native of Ames, Iowa, and they have one son, Alfred Douglas, born July 2, 1910. The father is a civil engineer in Grandview, Washington. Mr. Broadie's first wife passed away November 28, 1882, and on May 6, 1863. She is a daughter of Horace Adam and Voloovia (Carr)Perry, the former born in Clarendon, Orleans county, New York, May 11, 1828, and the latter in Pompey, that state, July 21, 1834. The father moved to Illinois with his parents when he was still very young and was reared upon a farm there, later turning his attention to agricultural pursuits. The mother moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin, in her girlhood, and there engaged in teaching, later following this occupation in Bushnell, Illinois. She afterward returned to Wisconsin, where she was married March 21, 1856. She and her husband afterward returned to Illinois and from there came to Bremer county in 1858. They located on a farm six miles east of Waverly, continuing there until 1861, when they again moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin. After a short time they went to Chicago, Illinois, where the father obtained a position as a conductor in the employ of the American Express Company, holding this position until his health failed in 1868. His wife survived him many years, dying March 23, 1898, at Chicago, Illinois. They were the parents of five children, two of whom are yet living. Frank Horace was born July 1, 1861, at Kenosha, Wisconsin, and is now a resident of Long Beach, California, where he is engaged in the retail cigar business. He is a member of St. Bernard's Drill Corps and a thirty-second degree Mason. the other surviving member of this family is Mrs. Broadie, wife of the subject of this review. Mr. and Mrs. Broadie became the parents of two children: Perry Henderson, who was born July 28, 1887, and who is now managing his mother's interests in the drug store in Waverly; and George Alfred, who was born April 20, 1889, and who is now engaged in the automobile business.

Alfred A. Broadie was a member of the Masonic lodge and chapter and he gave his political allegiance to the republican party. He never sought nor desired public office, however, preferring to concentrate his attention upon his business affairs, which he managed in an intelligent and progressive way, winning a success which placed him among the leading business men of Waverly. His life-long residence in Bremer county made him very widely known and his sterling qualities gained him the good-will and confidence of all with whom he was associated in business or social relations. When he passed away he left to his family the heritage of an untarnished name and an example that is well worthy of emulation.

History of Bremer County, Iowa Vol. II 1914