Mansfield, Douglas

MANSFIELD, CURRAN, MCCULLOUGH, POWELL, MELLEN

Posted By: Volunteer Transcribers
Date: 1/28/2003 at 18:58:30

DOUGLAS MANSFIELD

The subject of this sketch has been a resident of Clinton for twenty years and for twenty-one years an employe of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company. He was born in Clayton, Iowa, January 2, 1863, and is a son of James and Sarah (Curran) Mansfield. His father, born in New York in 1835, came to Iowa in 1867 and settled in Clayton. Later he removed to Cedar Falls. His wife was born in Canada in 1838. Both of the above received their education in the district schools. To them were born four sons and two daughters. One son died in early childhood. The others were as follows: Allen died in Marshalltown, in December, 1899, aged twenty-eight years, and left a wife and two children. Benjamin lives in Marshalltown and is a conductor on the Iowa Central Railroad. Douglas is the subject of this sketch. Carrie is the wife of James McCullough, who is a conductor on the Iowa Central Railroad, and together they live at Grinnell, Iowa. Mary is the wife of D. Powell, employed in the freight department of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, and they are living in Marshalltown. These children were educated in the public schools of Cedar Falls, receiving the common school course. At the time Mr. and Mrs. Mansfield came to live in Iowa, Clayton had but few inhabitants. In politics Mr. Mansfield is a Republican, and as stated above, has always been a strong party worker. Both Mr. and Mrs. Mansfield are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and are held in the highest esteem by their many friends and acquaintances.

Douglas was educated in the common branches in the schools of Cedar Falls, where he lived with his parents from the time he was but a child until he went to work on the railroad at the age of nineteen years. He started as fireman and his runs were between Boone and Clinton. After five years as fireman he was rewarded for his faithful attention to duty and promoted to the position of engineer, and August 2, 1886, made his first trip in that capacity. In all his years of experience our subject has had but one accident, and this goes to show how thoroughly competent he is to accomplish the work he has so far undertaken.

In 1887 Mr. Mansfield married Miss Hannah Mellen, who was a native of England, but who came with her parents to this country and settled in Pennsylvania when a very young child, being but six years of age, and later came with them to Clinton, where she received her education in the public schools. Her mother is still living and is a resident of Clinton. To Mr. and Mrs. Mansfield have been born two children: John, born in 1893; and Mildred, born in 1895, both attending school.

The faith of the Methodist Episcopal church is that professed by our worthy subject and his wife, and he is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotime (sic) Engineers, Division No. 125, which he joined in 1886. In politics he is a Republican, although he takes no active part, simply doing his duty as a citizen.

Too much cannot be said to the credit of Douglas Mansfield. He is a self-made man in every sense of the word. His education has been the result of his own efforts, and his promotion has been due to close application to business and his faculty for hard work.
Source: The 1901 Biographical Record of Clinton Co., Iowa, Illustrated published: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1901.