DR. J.S. CASTER

CASTER, HATFIELD, FERL, BIEDERMAN, STOERZBACH

Posted By: Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert (email)
Date: 2/1/2002 at 21:21:22

Decatur County Journal
July l6, l9l4

DR. J.S. CASTER, cousin of J.A. and J.M.
CASTER, of Leon, passed away at
his home in Burlington Friday morning of last
week, after an illness of
about three weeks. DR. CASTER was born in
Decatur County, but left here
many years ago. He had been prominent in the
affairs of Burlington and
that portion of the state for years and was
one of that city's best
known citizens. The funeral was held Monday
of the present week. The
following account of the death of DR. CASTER
appeared in the Burlington
Hawkeye last Friday morning:

DR. J.S. CASTER, a widely known and greatly
honored citizen of
Burlington, passed away at his home on North
Fourth Street at l o'clock
this morning. He had been ill but a few
weeks, and few of his friends
even knew that his sickness was anything
fatal. He had been of so
rugged a nature that those who knew him best
little thought that disease
would lay him low.

Some three weeks ago DR. CASTER began to show
signs of breaking health,
and he was persuaded to give up his practice
for the summer. He
consented to this with reluctance and his
many patients were notified
that for the first time since he began the
healing art, he would not
receive them at his customary hours until
next August.

Meanwhile, his condition became alarming, and
a consultation of
physicians was called who held out little
hope to the members of his
family and his friends. There was hope that
in spite of this the doctor
would get better, and for a time this seemed
likely to be true. But the
disease which was a complication of the
kidneys, slowly made its power
felt, and by yesterday little hope of the
doctor's recovery was
entertained by anyone.

The death of DR. CASTER will be keenly felt
by thousands of people in
Burlington, who have come to honor and
respect him for his sterling
qualities of honesty, and his keenness of
judgment in all matters of
private and public life. As Mayor of
Burlington, during l904 and l905
he introduced many reforms, and was accorded
the distinction of being
one of the best chief executives Burlington
ever had. As member of the
council previous to this he was a power for
good in every class of
legislation. As a citizen, Burlington has
never possessed one that had
done more for his place of residence in the
matter of high ideas and
broad, constructive policies.

A native of Iowa, DR. CASTER was born in
Franklin Mills, Decatur County,
September l5, l860, his parents being DR.
PAUL and NANCY (HATFIELD)
CASTER. His paternal grandfather, JOHN
CUSTER, for so the name was then
spelled, was of German lineage, of an
ancestry that was represented in
Pennsylvania at an early day. He removed
from the Keystone state to
Hagerstown, Ind., becoming one of the
pioneers of that locality, and
there DR. PAUL CASTER was born and reared.
The latter, subsequent to
his marriage, and the birth of their eldest
child, came with his family
to Iowa, settling in Decatur County, where he
early followed the
wheelwright's trade and also engaged in the
milling business, being one
of the pioneer representatives of industrial
interests there. In l866
he took up the profession of magnetic healing
and gained wide and
lasting reputation by his skill and
efficiency. Removing to Ottumwa,
Ia., he erected a building there in l869, at
a cost of eighty-six
thousand dollars--now the Ottumwa Hospital.
There he treated people
from all parts of the world, patients coming
to him from distant
sections of this country, as his fame
demonstrated by the practical
results that attended his efforts. He died in
April l88l, while his wife
passed away when her son, JACOB, was but two
years old. PAUL CASTER
married, second, MRS. SARAH FERL, a widow of
a soldier who was killed at
Lookout Mountain, Tenn.

To the first marriage was born DR. J.S.
CASTER. Accompanying his
parents to Ottumwa, Ia., when about eight
years old, DR. CASTER
continued his education in the public schools
of that city, and later
entered the Commercial College, from which he
was graduated.
During the last five years of his father's
life he was associated with
him in practice as superintendent of his
infirmary. It was the father's
earnest desire that the son should take up
his profession, but DR. J.S.
CASTER refused because of the close
confinement necessitated in the
conscientious performance of the duties
involved. Instead he turned his
attention to the machinist's trade and for
nearly nine years was in the
service of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
Railroad Company in that
capacity.
He came to Burlington while so employed, and
while still in the railroad
service he treated a number of charity cases
here, his sympathy being
aroused and his broad humanitarian principles
promoting his ready aid in
behalf of those who had not the means to
secure other professional
treatment. The cures he effected drew to him
the attention of many of
the citizens of Burlington, and many pleaded
with him to treat members
of their families.

Thus, without effort on his part, he
gradually worked into a practice
that made heavier and heavier demands upon
his time and attention,
energies into the channels of magnetic
healing, and in l889 he opened
his office. Since that time patients have
come to him in Burlington
from forty different states and territories,
extending from Maine to
California, and from the Canadian border to
the Gulf of Mexico. Since
the 3rd of September, l89l, he has kept a
record of his business, having
given eighty thousand treatments, of which
thirty-four thousand were to
residents of Burlington, showing his high
position in the public regard
in his adopted city.

In his political views, DR. CASTER has always
been a Republican, and the
questions and issues of the day have claimed
his earnest consideration
and careful thought. He has come to be
recognized as a leader in the
ranks of his Party in Burlington, and in
l879, was chosen alderman,
being the first Republican elected to office
in the Third ward in many
years.

In l904, named as his Party's candidate for
the highest office within
the gift of the city, he was elected Mayor of
Burlington by a plurality
of l992, the largest received by any
Mayoralty candidate in Burlington.
Thus with the endorsement of public opinion,
he entered the office, the
ballot has been in no degree set and the
favorable regard evinced in or
modified as he discharged the onerous duties
which devolved upon him.

When he took the office after a Democratic
Administration there was an
indebtedness for completed contracts
amounting to $l08,992, and yet DR.
CASTER was enabled to do a larger amount of
paving, repairing and other
practical and beneficial work. The (?) from
the police department
averaged over eight hundred dollars per
month, against less than
one-half that amount in previous times. His
administration of the
affairs of the city was conducted along
strictly business lines,
appealing to the sound judgment and keen
discernment of the citizens,
and his course won for him high encomiums.

He was elected President of the Iowa League
of Municipalities at the
Convention held at Burlington in October,
l905.

On the 23rd day of March, l880, DR. CASTER
married MISS MARY BIEDERMAN,
formerly of Ottumwa, Ia. They had four
children, but the first born
died at the age of eight months. The others
are CHARLES E. of
Burlington, who married ANNA E. STOERZBACH;
MABEL B. and MARY E. at
home.

DR. CASTER was a member of the First
Methodist Episcopal Church. He
resided in a beautiful home at the corner of
High and Fourth Streets in
one of the most attractive residence portions
of the city.

Through the open door of opportunity, which
is the pride of our American
life, DR. CASTER made his way to
professional, social and political
prominence, and in the light of public
criticism, whereby every
individual is judged, his course will bear
the closest investigation,
and cannot fail to awaken admiration. A
blending of geniality and
dignity in his manner of courtesy and
kindness in his deportment, of big
purpose and honorable action in his political
career, he stood among the
representative business men of Burlington--an
honor to the city which
honored him with high official preferment.

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Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert
February l, 2002