Kamrar, Hon. John L.

KAMRAR, MCGILL, SABIN, DIE

Posted By: Laura Evans Schnabel (email)
Date: 2/8/2007 at 19:19:35

Biographical Record and Portrait Album of Webster and Hamilton Counties, Iowa
Published 1888
Page 231-232

Hon. John L. Kamrar, attorney at law, Webster City, was born on a farm in Union County, Pennsylvania, October 12, 1842, the third son of John and Mary (McGill)Kamrar, natives of Pennsylvania, and of German and Scotch ancestry. His youth was spent on the farm in his native State. At the age of fifteen years he removed with his father's family to a farm in Stephenson County, Illinois where he made his home until 1864. His education was obtained in the common schools, the academy at Franklin, Pennsylvania, and high school at Mt. Carroll, Illinois, where he graduated in 1863, and soon therafter was employed as principal of the schools at Savanna, Illinois, which position he resigned in the fall of 1864, and enlisted as private in Company E, One Hundred and Forty-sixth Regiment of Illinois Infantry Volunteers; was afterward elected and commissioned Lieutenant of his company. The headquarters of his regiment were at Springfield, Illinois, and the companies were scattered about the State on provost duty until the close of war, so that they saw no active service and endured none of the hardships incident to the soldier's life. October 5, 1865 he was united in marriage with Miss Frances A. Sabin, of Stephenson County, Illinois, the third daughter of Ralph and Amanda(Die) Sabin. Mrs. Kamrar was a farmer's daughter. She was educated in the common schools, at the the Freeport High School, and at the Ladies'Seminary in Mt. Carroll, Illinois. She taught school at Savanna, Illinois, and other places during her girlhood. After their marriage they settled on a farm near their parents in Loran Township, Stephenson County, Illinois, where they remained until the spring of 1869, when they came to Webster City, Iowa, where he engaged in manufacturing and in the sale of agricultural implements in a small way. In 1870 he formed a partnership with Judge D.D. Miracle in the real estate and abstract business, devoting most of his time to the study of law, having previously read Blackstone. He was admitted to the bar in Hamilton County, Iowa, November, 1872, by his honor Judge D.D. Chase and soon became one of the hard-working, fighting lawyers, which reputation he still sustains. The firm of Miracle & Kamrar continued successfully until January, 1880, when the senior member took his seat as Judge of the Circuit Court, to which office he had been elected the fall before. Mr. Kamrar succeeded to the business of the firm of Miracle & Kamrar, and now ranks among the leading lawyers of northwestern Iowa. During the construction of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad through Hamilton County, Mr. Kamrar did a large amount of work for the company. While he has never been a salaried attorney for the company, he is still employed by them in their local contested business. The town of Kamrar was named in his honor by Mr. Marvin Hughitt, who was then the general manager of the company. Mr. Kamrar is an uncompromising Republican, although he was raised under Democratic influences, his father being a member of that party, and supported Douglas in 1860. Unsolicited by Mr. Kamrar, he was elected mayor of Webster City, Iowa in 1879, and in 1881 he was elected State Senator without opposition, serving in the Nineteenth and Twentieth General Assemblies with honor to himself and credit to his constituents. He took an active part in favor of passage of the Prohibitory Liquor law. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Acacia Lodge, No. 176, Hope Chapter, No. 88, Triune Commandery, No. 41, and the Grand Consistory of Iowa 33 degree, A.&A.R. Senator and Mrs. Kamrar are the parents of five children--Harris S., Russell H., Eva F., Carrie A., and John R. Mr. Kamrar gives Judge Miracle the credit of persuading him to renew the study of law, the greatest kindness ever done him by his fellow man.