STANBERY, John Stanley & Ralph Stanley

STANBERY, GIBSON, CLARK, IVES, WALDO, KLEMME, HOYT

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 11/17/2014 at 03:55:58

John Stanley & Ralph Stanley Stanbery

History of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
J.H. Wheeler. Lewis Pub. Co. Pp. 401-05. Chicago. 1910.

The senior member of the well known law firm of Stanbery & Stanbery, in which his associate is his son Ralph S., the subject of this review holds a place of prominence as one of the leading members of the bar of Iowa and is also an influential factor in civic and business affairs. The major portion of his life has been passed at Mason City and here he commands unqualified confidence and esteem as a citizen of sterling worth and as a leading member of the bar of Cerro Gordo county. On other pages of this work is given a memoir concerning his distinguished and honorable father, Dr. William C. Stanbery. As ready reference may be made to the article in question is unnecessary to repeat the data in the present sketch.

John S. Stanbery was born in Mercer county, Ohio, on September, 28, 1846, and he was about five years of age at the time of the family removal to Iowa. The home was maintained at Vinton, this state, until 1858, when the parents removed to Clear Lake, Cerro Gordo county, where they resided until 1860, when permanent location was made in Mason City where the subject of this review has continuously maintained his home since he was about twelve years of age. He was afforded the advantages of the pubic teaching in the district school in Cerro Gordo and Hancock counties. In the meanwhile he began reading law under effective preceptorship and finally he entered the law department of the University of Iowa, in which he completed the prescribed course and in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1870, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was simultaneously admitted to the bar of the state and he began the practice of his profession in Mason City, where he was associated in D. T. Gibson until 1873, when the partnership was dissolved. Mr. Gibson is now living retired at Waverly, this state. In 1874 Mr. Stanbery entered into partnership alliance with Hon. Joseph J. Clark now district judge, and they continued to be co-adjutors for thirty years, within which they built up and controlled a large and representative professional business. After the dissolution of this firm Mr. Stanbery was a member of the firm of Stanbery, Hill & Eulette for a period of two years, at the expiration of which in 1906, he admitted his son Ralph, to partnership under the present firm name of Stanbery & Stanbery. He has been attorney and counsel for various important corporations and representative business men of Cerro Gordo county and is an able trial lawyer who has appeared in connection with a large amount of important litigation in the various courts.

In politics Mr. Stanbery has ever accorded staunch allegiance to the Republican party and has rendered yeoman service in behalf of its cause as one of the leaders of its local ranks. He served six years in the office of justice of the peace and for an equal period was a valued member of the board of education of Mason City. In 1904 he was elected to represent the lower house of the state legislature, where he served through two sessions and proved a valuable conservator of the interests of his constituency and of those of the state at large. In the Masonic fraternity he has attained chivalric degrees and his maximum affiliation is with the Antioch Commandery, No. 43, Knights Templars (sic). He also holds membership in the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, though he does not now maintain any active affiliation with the same. For the past thirty years he has been an officer in the Methodist Episcopal church of his home city and he is one of its most influential and valued members. His personal popularity has its basis in his sterling integrity of character and his generous and kindly attitude in his association with his fellow men.

On the 29th of June, 1873, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Stanbery to Miss Laura J[anette]. Ives, who was born [December 4, 1841] at Mount Holly, Rutland county, Vermont, and who died on the 21st of August, 1875, leaving no children. In October, 1876, Mr. Stanbery wedded Miss Martha A. Waldo, who was born in Rock county, Wisconsin [November 11, 1843], and who was graduated in Milton Academy, Wisconsin. She was summoned to life eternal on the 11th of March, 1906, and is survived by two children, -- Anna W., who remains with her father a graduate of Cornell and Latin teacher in the high school for the past five years, and Ralph S., who is his father's associate in the practice of law.

Ralph S. Stanbery was born in Mason City on the 15th of January, 1881, and he completed the curriculum of the public school of this city, in whose high school he was graduated as a member of the class of 1898. Thereafter he continued his studies in Cornell College at Mt. Vernon, Iowa, after leaving which he entered the literary department of the University of Minnesota, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1903 and in the law department of which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1906 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. For one year after his graduation he was employed in the farm-loan department of the Northern Trust Company of Chicago and he then returned to practice of his profession, in which he is well upholding the prestige of the honored name which he bears.

Mr. Ralph S. Stanbery is staunchly arrayed under the banner of the Republican party and as a citizen he is essentially progressive and public spirited. He is now serving as secretary of the Mason City Commercial Club, to which position he was elected in January, 1910. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and he is affiliated with the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias, in the Sigma Nu college fraternity and the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity. He married Jessie Klemme on June 8, 1909. She was born at Klemme, Hancock county, Iowa, a daughter of Harmon J., and Effie (Hoyt) Klemme, the father a native of Indiana and the mother of Iowa. Mr. Klemme homesteaded land in Hancock county, Iowa, and followed farming for a time, later engaging in the lumber and grain business and now owning large tracts of land. He is a wealthy man and he makes his home in Belmond.

NOTE: John Stanley Stanbery died March 24, 1911, Mason City. Ralph Stanley Stanbery died April 3, 1957, Mason City. John, his two wives Laura and Martha, and Ralph were interred at Elmwood-St. Joseph Cemetery, Mason City.

Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, November of 2014

Cerro Gordo Biographies maintained by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen