BELL, Edgar E.

BELL, PAINTER, REFFY, ALEXANDER, MYERS, HORNER, ROBINSON, HASKETT, LESTER

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 1/20/2014 at 06:04:34

History of Decatur County Iowa and Its People
Illustrated, Volumne II.
Prof. J. M. Howell and Heman C. Smith, Supervising Editors
The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company. pp. 272-74. Chicago. 1915.

EDGAR E. BELL

EDGAR E. BELL, the senior member of the firm of Bell & Painter, druggists of Leon, was born in this city on the 15th of August, 1875, a son of John and Mary A. (Reefy) Bell, a sketch of whose lives appears elsewhere in this work. Our subject attended the public schools and later was a student in the College of Pharmacy of the Northwestern University of Chicago, from which he was graduated on the 17th of June, 1897. For three and a half years he was in the employ of W. A. Alexander, but later he worked in the drug store which was conducted by W. E. Myers & Company, who in 1898 had purchased the business from T. E. Horner. When W. E. Myers & Company became the proprietors of the business they located on the west side of Main street, but Bell & Robinson, their successors, who bought the business in 1906, purchased the fine building in which the store is at present and which measures twenty-four leet front and eighty feet deep. Bell & Robinson were succeeded by Bell & Painter, who have made the store a credit to the city of Leon. For five years they have sold the Rexall goods and their store is the only Rexall store in Decatur county, which fact gives them considerable prestige. Not only is Mr. Bell a registered pharmacist, but he also employs another registered pharmacist and the prescription department of the store is most carefully and accurately conducted. In 1914 they installed a new fountain and on the opening day, April 4, of that year, over thirteen hundred people visited the store, each receiving a souvenir of the occasion. The firm is prepared to serve an elaborate fountain menu, one that compares favorably with that offered by citv establishments.

Mr. Bell married Miss Hattie Haskett, a native of Leon, Decatur county, and a daughter of the late E. W. Haskett, who was born in Wabash county, Indiana, on the 23d of October, 1848. In 1853 he removed with his parents to the vicinity of Keokuk, Lee county, Iowa, and was reared in that locality. After attending the public schools he entered the Mount Pleasant high school, from which he was graduated in due time and subsequently he was a student for several terms in Whittier College. After teaching for a number of years he began the study of law in the office of Hon. Scott Howell of Keokuk, and in 1872 was admitted to the bar. Two years later he married Miss Jennie Lester, of Salem, Iowa, and the following year removed to Leon, Iowa, where he began the practice of his profession. He possessed a fine mind and was a convincing speaker before the court and as the years passed won distinction as a criminal lawyer. He was prominent in politics and in 1884 was appointed by President Arthur United States attorney for the territory of Alaska, while in the same year he was urged by the Iowa delegation for the supreme court bench, which shows the high estimation placed upon his ability and legal learning by those who were best acquainted with his career. He organized the federal judiciary of Alaska but onlv remained in that territory for about a year. He resigned in 1885 and was returning home when he fell from the car at Needles, Cahfornia, and was killed. He belonged to the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Congregational church, associations which indicate much concerning the principles that governed his life. His wife, who was a graduate of Whittier College and a woman of fine scholarship, taught in the Leon schools for ten years following his demise and lived until 1903. Mr. and Mrs. Bell have two children, both in school: Edgar Haskett, who was born in 1907; and Jennie Lester, born in 1909.

Mr, Bell is a stanch republican and was the first alderman elected from his ward after Leon became a city of the second class. He is well known in Masonic circles, as he belongs to the blue lodge, the chapter and the commandery at Leon and the Mystic Shrine at Davenport, and his fraternal connections also identify him with the Knights of Pythias and with the Modern Woodmen of America. His wife holds membership in the Order of the Eastern Star and is also a member of the Congregational church, in w^hose work she takes a praiseworthy interest. Mr. Bell is an excellent business man, combining the power of initiative with discretion and sound judgment, and his drug store is recognized as one of the best in Decatur county.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, January of 2014