Loriston F. Danforth (1843-1923)

DANFORTH

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 3/24/2022 at 22:47:40

Loriston Frances Danforth
(April 19, 1843 – December 8, 1923)

The fitting reward of a well spent and honorable business career is retirement from labor. Nature seems to have intended that man in his declining days shall rest after years of former toil. In youth one is ambitious and energetic ; when manhood advances there comes mature decision to guide one's energies and direct his labors, and if he be wise in the conduct of his affairs, husbands his resources and judiciously places his investments, he will acquire, through this channel, a comfortable competence if not a fortune, and will thereby be enabled to enjoy a well earned retirement. Such has been the case with Mr. Danforth, who for a number of years was classed among the enterprising merchants of Lake City, and who is widely known in Calhoun County as a most
reliable and enterprising citizen.
Mr. Danforth was born in Pomfret, Windsor County, Vermont, April 19, 1843,
and is a son of Hosly and Sarah (Wood) Danforth, both of whom were natives of the Green Mountain state. The ancestry of the family may be traced to Nicholas Danforth, who took up his abode in New England in the middle of the seventeenth century. Our subject was one of four sons, but his brothers have all passed away and his parents are also deceased. He pursued his preliminary education in the common schools, and in 1866 he came to the west, but prior to this time he had manifested his loyalty to his country by service on the battlefields of the south. It was in August 1864, that he enlisted as a member of Company E, Fourth Vermont Infantry, serving with the Army of the Potomac. He participated in the battle of Cedar Creek, where Sheridan made the historic ride of twenty miles. At length, when hostilities had ceased and the country no longer needed his aid, he was mustered out at Burlington, Vermont, in July 1865, and then returned to his home.
It was in the following year that Mr. Danforth came to the west. He spent one winter in St. Louis, and in 1867 he arrived in Iowa, stopping for a short time at Council Bluffs. He drove across the state and for a time worked in Clinton County, after which he went to Boone County, and in 1868 became a resident of Lake City, where he followed school teaching until 1873. Then in connection with J. J. Hutchinson, he purchased the store of Peter Smith, who is one of the honored pioneer settlers of the county. Mr. Danforth and Mr. Hutchinson conducted the business until 1888, when our subject purchased his partner's interest and carried on the enterprise alone until 1901.
The original store was where the present bakery shop is located, just south of the post office. He carried a large and well selected stock of merchandise, and his enterprise and industry brought to him richly merited success. He did everything in his power to please his patrons, his prices were reasonable
and his business methods honorable. In 1901 he sold his stock and retired from the line of business with which he was so long connected. On the organization of the First National Bank, he was elected vice-president and has since continued in that capacity, also acting as one of its directors. He has made judicious investments in real estate and is now the owner of the Danforth block, also his old store building and several residences.
In November 1873, occurred the marriage of Mr. Danforth and Miss Jennie Fox,
a native of Pennsylvania, but at the time of her marriage a resident of Lake City, Iowa. Her father was David Fox. For about twenty-one years they traveled life's journey together, but in January 1894, Mrs. Danforth was called to her final rest. He afterward wedded Mrs. Minnie E. Harris, nee Decker, of Antigo, Wisconsin, who was born at Viroqua, Wisconsin, in 1867.
In his political affiliations Mr. Danforth has always been a Democrat and has been honored with a number of public offices, in which he has discharged his duties with marked promptness and fidelity. He has served on the city council for several years, and in an early day was assessor, while for two or three terms he was township trustee. In 1881 he was elected to represent his district in the state legislature and discharged the duties of the office in a manner that reflected credit upon his party and upon the state. In 1901 he was a candidate for the legislature, and though the district gave a strong Republican majority, electing McKinley by seventeen hundred votes, he was
defeated by only three hundred and twenty-two votes. The fact that he thus ran far ahead of his ticket is an indication of his personal popularity and the confidence reposed in him by those who knew him best. In his social relations Mr. Danforth is a prominent Mason, belonging to Zerubbabel Lodge, No. 240, F. & A. M. ; Cyprus Chapter, No. 99, R. A. M. ; Rose Croix Commandery, K. T., of Sac City: and to the Mystic Shrine. He was the first high priest
of his chapter and has held many other offices in the various departments of the craft. He has also attained to the thirty-second degree of the Scottish rite and is a member of the consistory. There is no resident of Calhoun County who is held in higher esteem or to a greater degree deserves the regard of his fellow men than does L. F. Danforth, who in the various relations of life has ever won the respect of his fellow men by his sterling worth, his unwavering purpose and his unfaltering devotion to duty. [Source – Biographical Record of Calhoun County, Iowa, by S. J. Clarke, 1902, p.254]