Charles M. Dunbar(1833-1903)

DUNBAR

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 4/19/2008 at 07:49:03

Maquoketa Excelsior
May 1, 1903

Died – At his home in this city very suddenly about noon Sunday, of heart trouble, Charles M. Dunbar aged nearly 70 years. He was a native of Charleston, Coles county, Ill., and was born Dec. 21, 1833. In 1836 his father removed to Milwaukee, Wis., and in 1846, came to Iowa and located in this county where he died in 1848; the family being broken up, Charles M. lived with John E. Goodenow in Maquoketa for two years; he then entered a store as clerk. In 1852, he went to Chicago and took a course in Bell’s Commercial college; on his return, he engaged in the capacity of clerk and bookkeeper, and during his leisure time turned his attention to the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in November, 1858, and then practiced his profession in this county; he was the senior attorney in practice in this city, until ill health and deafness unfitted Mr. Dunbar to longer follow his profession. His law library was counted one of the very best in this county. In 1858, he married Miss Charlotte L. Walker of New York; she died March 1, 1865, leaving one daughter, Emma, now Mrs. Fleming of Des Moines. In July 1868, he married Mrs. Myra A. Fiske (formerly Miss Myra A. Shore) a native of New York; one son was born to them, Louis S. Mrs. Dunbar has two children, Fred C. and Charles W. Fiske. Though very much broken in heath, Mrs. Dunbar and the four children survive deceased and were present at the last sad obsequies.

The funeral took place from the Congregational church, Tuesday afternoon, and was attended by many sympathizing friends and neighbors. The Masons and Knight Templars, of which order Mr. Dunbar had been a member many years, were present in a body and escorted the remains to Mt. Hope cemetery where they performed the last sad rites at the grave. Rev. Samuel Shepperd preached the funeral sermon and gave the following character sketch of the deceased, who was one among Maquoketa’s pioneer settlers:

The life journey about which we have been speaking, came to an end suddenly for Charles M. Dunbar, the brother to pay our tribute of respect and love to whom we are gathered here this afternoon. His life record has for many years been an open book to the community. Most of you have been reading it longer and are much more familiar with it than I am. An attempt on my part to picture it in detail is therefore useless. Yet I feel constrained to call attention to a few things in his life and character worthy of being remembered and emulated.

He was an industrious man – a man of strong will and indomitable energy. The prominent, and influential position he held in the community and in his profession before physical infirmities disabled him, was an eminence to which he conquered his way by his own ability and push and sterling worth. This fact may well teach all of us, and especially the young, the wholesome truth that the surest way to success, to the fulfilling of our mission – is the way to honest persistence energetic duty doing.

Those associated with him professionally recognized Mr. Dunbar as being a man of more than ordinary intellectual ability. I am told that he used to possess one of the best law libraries in the city, and that through diligent study he had gained a good degree of familiarity with the facts and precedents and principles contained in his books. “What sort of a lawyer was Mr. Dunbar?” I said the other day to one of the oldest and most honored members of the bar “Good,” was the answer “one of the best in the association.” He was an antagonist to be feared. He never descended to petty trickery, but you could count on this, that he would give a case thorough study and present all the arguments on his side of it in a forceful and telling way.”

He was a very genial man socially, always gave you a hearty greeting and a warm hand grasp. He loved companionship with his friends and always made them feel welcome in his house. One of his heaviest crosses, during his last years, was the narrowing of a social life occasioned by the deafness that afflicted him. He was one of the most generous hearted of men. When financially able, I am told, that he gave with a free hand for the helping of the poor, and for enterprises having their purpose the promotion of the public well being. In his home Mr. Dunbar was kindness itself. His tenderness and devotion in caring for his invalid wife was beautiful. His genial presence and unselfish kindliness will always be, for his children, one of the brightest features in their memory of the old home. He loved to lighten his wife’s burden by helping her with the household work and was getting dinner while she visited with a guest when the Master called him.

Mr. Dunbar had been for many years a member of the Congregational church. During his years of physical health and activity, he showed himself willing to spend, and he spent for the Church of Christ. In those days he was one of the largest givers for her financial support, but put himself as well as his money into her work. For years he was a faithful member of her choice being regarded, I am told, as one of the best bass singers in the city. He was chairman of the Building committee when the new church was erected and gave his time and attention to the enterprise without stint. “He could not have taken more interest in it” says the Senior Deacon “if it had been his own personal affair.”

And now, as I said a while ago, the end of his life journey has been suddenly reached. His record, with its story of mistakes, of excellences and virtues and successes is closed, and is all known in the court above. He has gone to meet the God whom he loved. In the keeping of that kind Father whose disposition it is do the best that infinite love can do for all his children, we trustfully leave him. May god comfort the bereaved wife and the children and grand children, to whom he had endeared himself. May there be for them consoling power in the divine assurance of Eternal reunion for the pure in heart.

No obituary of the life of Mr. Dunbar would be complete without a reference to his love for children, and no more familiar sight can be mentioned than that of Mr. Dunbar stopping on the streets of our city as he has done through all the years of his life, talking with the little ones. His love for children was so unusual and his expression of it in daily life so frequent that his acquaintance among the children of our city was probably more extensive than any other person of mature age in our midst. No greater monument to the kindness of his great heart in this direction could be shown than the successful reputation and in the lives springing through this kindness, into well trained matured life as shown in his two step-sons, his own son and daughter. These children, going out from a home where they were loved and cared for to successful and honorable lives, now theirs are a living monument bearing testimony to the valuableness of the home where kindness and consideration for children is the basis of daily life. In this trait of character the life of Mr. Dunbar is shown in it’s best, truest and most enduring light.