ROGERS, HAL E.

ROGERS, GALBRITH, OSGOOD, SHURTZ

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 8/27/2003 at 22:08:20

Biography reproduced from page 26 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

Hal E. Rogers is the owner, editor and publisher of the Des Moines Valley News, one of the popular and influential journals of the Hawkeye state. He was born in Fennimore, Wisconsin, May 11, 1871, and is a son of Edward H. and Georgia (Galbrith) Rogers. The paternal grandfather, Patrick Alexander Rogers, served in the War of 1812. The father was born in New Marlboro, Massachusetts, June 22, 1836, and received his education at Jacksonville, New York. At the age of twenty years he removed to the west, spending two years in Michigan and one in Indiana and then effected his permanent settlement in the state of Ohio. At the first call for volunteers, on the opening of the Civil war, he enlisted in Company A, Forty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served as a private in the ranks for a period of three years. The command to which he belonged was engaged in the battles of Petersburg, Cumberland Gap, Charleston, Chickasaw Bluffs, Port Gibson, and the battle and siege of Vicksburg, also participating in other engagements of less renown. At the close of the war he removed to Grant county, Wisconsin, and in 1876 settled in Woolstock township, Wright county, Iowa. Upon the opening of Eagle Grove, in 1881, he engaged in the grocery business, to which he gave his attention for many years. To him belongs the distinction of having completed the second house in Eagle Grove. In 1895 he took up his abode at Luverne, where he has since continued to reside. With the exception of the years spent in the grocery business he was always engaged in agricultural pursuits. The mother was a native of Kentucky, in which state she was married. To Mr. and Mrs. Rogers six children were born: Hattie, who is a widow and resides in Redding, California; Hal E., of this review; Harry; Goldie, the wife of Ralph Osgood, of Chicago, who is employed as a conductor with the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company; and two, who died in childhood in Wisconsin. Mr. Rogers has consistently followed the standard of the republican party since the days of the historical Bloomington convention and was one of the early compatriots and defenders of Abraham Lincoln and the political issues to which he devoted his life. On January 10, 1865, he became a member of the Masonic order, joining Lodge No. 246, F. & A. M., at Garrettsville, Portage county, Ohio, and is now a member of Eagle Grove Lodge, No. 464.

Hal E. Rogers was reared at home and educated in the public schools of Eagle Grove. He remained under the parental roof until he was seventeen years of age, at which time he became an apprenticed printer, and after acquiring a knowledge of that trade he followed the occupation of journeyman printer, being employed at various places throughout Iowa for a number of years. In 1895 he purchased the Des Moines Valley News, which was established January 17, 1890, by Dr. Lacy and S. C. Platt, the latter of whom was a principal of the Luverne schools. The Des Moines Valley News was first published as an eight column folio but afterward changed to a five column quarto, in which form it has since remained. With this publication he has been continuously identified as owner, editor and publisher since 1895 with the exception of one year – from April, 1902, to April, 1903. At the former date he sold the paper and moved to Morton, Minnesota, and there bought and published the Morton Enterprise, which he sold in 1903, and then returned to Luverne and again purchased the Des Moines Valley News. He owns the newspaper and printing plant, the buildings and the lots upon which his print shop is located. He also owns a residence surrounded by eight acres of land, located in Humboldt county but within the corporate limits of Luverne, the street past his residence being the county line between Humboldt and Kossuth counties.

Mr. Rogers was united in marriage in 1895 to Miss Clara Shurtz, of Lake City, Iowa, and to them two children have been born, Alice, aged fourteen, and Laurel, aged twelve, both of whom are attending school. Mr. Rogers is affiliated with the republican party and has served on the city council for several years and was serving his second term as township clerk at the time he moved across the county line into Humboldt county, which move disqualified him for a continuance in office in Luverne township. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he and Mrs. Rogers are members of the Rebekahs. He is religiously inclined to the faith of the Presbyterians and is liberal in his religious views. Mr. Rogers is one of the popular and influential editors and newspaper proprietors of the state of Iowa and is always ready to give the benefit of the influence of his paper to the advancement of any public enterprise intended to improve the condition of the people throughout his state and county.