Sloanaker, Chester

SLOANAKER, HARTMAN, LYDAY, FAILOR, GUESSFORD

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 10/21/2009 at 08:13:51

Sloanaker, Chester

One great exemplification of the fact that wealth attends upon industry and that comfort is a close follower in the wake of thrift is shown in the life career of Chester Sloanaker, the popular and able vice-president of the First National Bank of Newton and a potent factor in the financial circles of the locality for many years, being regarded as one of the leading and substantial citizens of Jasper County; however, his is a plain record, rendered remarkable by no strange or mysterious adventure, no wonderful and lucky accident, and no tragic situation, Mr. Sloanaker being one of those estimable characters whose integrity and strong personality must force them into an admirable notoriety, which their modesty never seeks, who command the respect of their contemporaries and their posterity, and leave the impress of their individuality upon the age in which they live.

Mr. Sloanaker was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, January 11, 1856, of a sterling old New England family, members of which have figured more or less prominently in various walks of life since the old colonial days. He is the son of Isaac Morgan and Mary Trego (Hartman) Sloanaker, the father a native of Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he grew to maturity and was educated, and for many years he engaged successfully in the wholesale mercantile business in the city of Philadelphia, under the firm name of Sloanaker, Kilpatrick & Company, wholesalers and importers, which firm did an extensive and thriving business. His wife was the daughter of Maj. Gen. George W. Hartman, who took a conspicuous part in the War of 1812. His father, Major George Hartman, was a drummer boy when fourteen years of age at the battle of Brandywine, during the Revolution, and he was wounded in that engagement. His father was Major Peter Hartman, an officer in the patriot army. Peter Hench, the great-grandfather of Mrs. Isaac M. Sloanaker, lived at Valley Forge during the war for independence, and while Washington's army was camped there, and he turned out his herd of cattle to the commander, to be used as food for the soldiers, for which worthy service the government later voted him money. His wife baked bread for the army.

The maternal side of the family is traced back to Plymouth Rock, through the Weaver and Sharpies families, the subject's grandmother having been a Weaver. The earliest progenitor of the Hartman family in America was John Hartman.

Dr. William Dell Hartman, uncle of the subject, was a member of the Academy of Science at Philadelphia, and during his career as professor he made a fine collection of shells, which was eventually purchased by the Carnegie Museum at Pittsburgh.

Isaac M. Sloanaker, father of Chester, was a Whig and an Abolitionist. He was a strong-minded and a useful man, and his death occurred in 1863; his wife survives, having attained the age of eighty-seven years. She makes her home with the subject and is a woman of gracious personality. She is the mother of two children, Chester, of this review, and Mrs. Edith Mary Lyday, of Newton.

Chester Sloanaker was educated in the public schools and the State Normal at West Chester, Pennsylvania, and also studied at two private academies there. He first turned his attention to farming, which he continued in his native state for five years, then came to Newton, Iowa, in 1881 and was one of the organizers of the First National Bank here in 1882, becoming its cashier, the duties of which position he discharged in a most worthy manner for a period of ten years, his courteous treatment of the bank's patrons and his conservative and judicious management of its affairs rendering it one of the most popular financial institutions of central Iowa. He became its president, which important position he held for a period of ten years, during which the bank enjoyed a still greater period of prosperity; he is at this writing vice-president and is devoting part of his time to real estate and other large interests. He is essentially an organizer and promoter by nature, and he possesses rare business acumen and foresight, being able to forecast with remarkable accuracy the future outcome of a present transaction, and he has been very successful in a financial way, having, by his individual efforts, accumulated a handsome competency and extensive property interests, including one of the most attractive, modern and desirable residences in Newton, the presiding spirit of which is a lady of culture and genial personality, known in her maidenhood as Elizabeth Failor Lyday, whom Mr. Sloanaker married on September 13, 1881. She was born in Springfield. Ohio, and came to Jasper County, Iowa, in her youth. She is the daughter of Joseph H. and Mary (Failor) Lyday. This union has been blessed by the birth of six children, namely: George Hartman died when thirteen months old; Joseph Lyday, who lives near Fresno, California, graduated from Iowa College, Grinnell, class of 1908, and engaged in the eucalyptus tree industry, maintaining a large nursery at his home; Ruth married Earl C. Guessford, teller with the First National Bank of Newton; Ralph Chester is with Graber & Miles Garage Company, of Newton; Mary Cecelia graduated from the Newton high school with the class of 1911; Hiram Lyday is a student in the local high school.

This family belongs to the Lutheran church, of which Mr. Sloanaker is an elder, and he has been identified with the church council since he has resided in Newton. Politically, he is a Republican. He is a genteel gentleman at all times and a man in whom the utmost confidence is reposed owing to his honest methods. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 534.