ARMSTRONG, H. C.

ARMSTRONG, CLARK, HENRY

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 5/27/2004 at 15:33:36

Biography reproduced from page 49 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

The business interests of Titonka find an able representative in the person of H. C. Armstrong, cashier and manager of the First National Bank. He is recognized as one of the foremost citizens of his community and in connection with his other duties is capably filling the office of mayor, in which capacity he has served for more than four years. A native of Iowa, his birth occurred in Butler county on the 24th of February, 1875, his parents being A. J. and Myrtle (Clark) Armstrong. The paternal grandfather, L. Armstrong, removed from Ohio to Iowa with his family during the early pioneer period, locating in Franklin county, where he filed on a homestead. There A. J. Armstrong, whose birth occurred in Ashland county, Ohio, was reared to manhood and educated. Although reared on a farm, he did not adopt agriculture for his vocation but learned the carpenter’s trade, and was for some years successfully engaged in contracting and building. Later he went into the lumber business in Boise, Idaho, where he remained for several years. The mother, who is also a member of one of the pioneer families of Franklin county, was born in this state and here made her home until she accompanied her husband to Idaho. There he passed away in 1900, but she is still living and now resides in Boise City.

The greater part of the boyhood and youth of H. C. Armstrong was passed in Palo Alto county, his education being completed in the high school at Emmetsburg. He began his business career in a machine shop, following which he engaged in the bicycle business for three years. At the expiration of that time he went to Rake, Winnebago county, this state, where he had accepted a minor position in a bank. The work proving to be more congenial than any he had heretofore engaged in, he decided to adopt it for his life vocation and diligently applied himself to mastering the many details of banking and acquiring a thorough knowledge of finance. As he was painstaking and thorough and exercised more than average intelligence in the discharge of the duties assigned him, he was soon promoted to the position of assistant cashier. He remained there until 1906, when he accepted the office of manager and cashier of the Titonka bank, with which he is still identified. The progress and development of this institution is without doubt largely due to the efforts of Mr. Armstrong, who has acquired the enviable reputation of being thoroughly reliable and trustworthy. His business ventures are characterized by sagacity and sound judgment, and although he readily recognizes opportunities not discernible to the man of less perspicacity, he is too conservative in his methods to take hazardous risks on the possibility of realizing large returns. In connection with his banking interests Mr. Armstrong has recently been dealing quite extensively in Kossuth county lands with gratifying success, having made during that period some of the most important realty transfers effected in the county. He is one of the two local stockholders of the bank, and one of the most enterprising and progressive citizens of the town, whose opinion on matters of business is held in high repute by his fellow townsmen.

At Emmetsburg in 1899, Mr. Armstrong was united in marriage to Miss Mabel Henry, who was there born and reared, and to them have been born three sons, Neil H., Dean M. and Gordon C.

In matters of faith Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong are Congregationalists and hold membership in the First church of that denomination at Emmetsburg. He takes an active interest in local politics, supporting the republican party, and has been discharging the duties of mayor since 1908. He has proven to be a very able and efficient executive, whose practical ideas and progressive measures no less than his systematic methods of procedure have won for him the approval and cooperation of the town’s leading citizens.