Cunning, Henry U.

CUNNING, NEWKIRK, YOUNG, BRYANT, STARKWETHER

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 2/15/2003 at 09:11:33

Source: "The 1901 Biographical Record of Clinton Co., Iowa, Illustrated" published: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1901.

HENRY U. CUNNING

The subject of this review, who is one of the representative railroad men of Clinton, is one of Iowa’s native sons, his birth having occurred in Brooklyn, this state, on the 14th of June, 1866. His father, Michael Cunning, was born in Ohio, in 1834, of Irish ancestry, and in the early ‘50s removed to Brooklyn, Iowa. Throughout his active business life he has followed contracting and building. He served three years in the Civil war as a member of the Fourth Iowa Cavalry, and was wounded at two different times during his service. In politics he is a Republican, and has been an active worker for his party’s interests. He was married in Brooklyn, Iowa, to Miss Matilda Newkirk, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1842, of German ancestry, and was quite young when she came to this state with her parents. By occupation her father was farmer and tavern-keeper.

Henry U. cunning is the oldest in a family of eight children, the others being as follows: Eugene, now a caterer, living in New York City; Mary, wife of C. O. Young, who is general agent for the North of Ireland Insurance Company, and lives in Des Moines; Irene, also a resident of Des Moines; Charles, who lives in San Jose, California; Sadie, wife of Leonard Bryant, a farmer who lives near Montezuma, Poweshiek county, Iowa; Howard N., who as a member of the Fifty-first Iowa volunteer Infantry was in active service in the Phillippines during the Spanish-American war, and is now foreman on a ranch near San Jose, California; and Jennie, who is at home with her parents.

During his boyhood our subject pursued his studies in the public schools of his native town, and on laying aside his text-books at the age of fourteen years commenced learning the tinsmith’s trade, at which he served an apprenticeship of two years and a half. At the age of seventeen he began his railroad career as brakeman and switchman in the yards of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad at Brooklyn, remaining in the employ of the company only a short time, however. During the summers of 1884 and 1885 he worked with his father at the carpenter’s trade, after which he was again with the Chicago, Rock island & Pacific Railroad until November of the latter year, when he entered the employ of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway as brakeman. In September, 1889, he was promoted to conductor, and has since served the company in that capacity. His run was between Belle Plaine and Boone until the division was changed, when he removed to Clinton in 1897, and has since run between that place and Boone. While braking he lost part of his right thumb, but has been exceptionally fortunate during his railroad career and has met with no serious accidents. He owned a home at Belle Plaine, but sold the same on his removal to Clinton.

In January, 1888, Mr. Cunning was married in Belle Plaine to Miss Anna Starkwether, who was born in that place in 1868, her father, John Starkwether, being a hotel keeper there for many years. Both parents are now deceased. They had only two children, the younger being Frank, ,who is clerking in a store in Belle Plaine. Mr. and Mrs. Cunning have one son, Harold Robert, who was born in January, 1889, and is now attending the public schools of Clinton.

Mr. Cunning is one of the most popular members of Clinton division, No. 33, O.R. C., in which he served as assistant chief in 1900, and in January, 1901, was elected chief of the division. He has previously belonged to the Belle Plaine Division, which he joined in 1891. His wife is a member of the ladies’ auxiliary of that order, belonging to Nonpariel Lodge, and holds membership in the Presbyterian church. Politically Mr. Cunning is identified with the Republican party. His genial, pleasant manner has made him quite popular in business and social circles, and as a publicspirited and enterprising man he is recognized as a valued citizen of the community in which he resides.