Cassius Clement Stiles (1938)

KILMER, MCGINNIS, STILES, STOCKDALE

Posted By: Treva Patterson
Date: 7/9/2007 at 19:35:58

The Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Wednesday, May 11, 1938
Page 1

FORMER AUDITOR DIES IN DES MOINES

C. C. Stiles, Former Resident of Madison County Will Be Buried Today

Cassius C. Stiles, for many years a resident of this county, died at his home at 1335 East Walnut street in Des Moines, Sunday evening, at the age of 76.

A few days ago, he suffered a stroke while attending the funeral of a nephew at Milwaukee, Wisc., from which he never rallied.

Mr. Stiles was born near Blair Chapel church in South township 76 years ago. His parents were Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Stiles, who located in this county in 1860.

Handicapped by lameness, he fitted himself for the teaching profession and taught in the rural schools of that community and at Patterson.

In 1894 he was appointed assistant county auditor. After serving in that capacity, the people of Madison county twice elected him to the office of county auditor, a position in which he showed more than usual ability.

In 1903 he was appointed to a position in the office of Secretary of State, under the late W. B. Martin of Greenfield. He was later appointed Superintendent of Archives in the State Historical building and served in that capacity until last winter.

In the latter position he spent the greater part of his adult life and performed a public service of inestimable value to the state. The Iowa Department of Archives used as a model by other states, was largely the result of Mr. Stiles' efficient and painstaking devotion.

Remaining members of his family are his wife, formerly Elizabeth Kilmer of Warren county, three sons, Ray and Dale Stiles of Des Moines and Ralph of San Francisco, and three brothers and a sister-Loren Stiles of Des Moines, Mrs. T. J. McGinnis and Albert Stiles of this county. (only two brothers are named)

Funeral services were held today at the Hamilton funeral home in Des Moines and burial was at Pine Hill cemetery.
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The Winterset News
Winterset, Iowa
Thursday, Mary 19, 1938
Page 2, Columns 1 & 2

County Briefs – St. Charles

Many of the relatives and friends attended the funeral of C. C. Stiles which was held from the Hamilton funeral home in Des Moines last Wednesday afternoon. Interment was made in Pine Hill cemetery which is north of the city limits of Des Moines.

C. C. Stiles was born in 1860 on a farm about a mile west of the Blair Chapel church in South township, Madison county, Iowa. His parents were Captain R. W. and Mary Stockdale Stiles who first settled in Warren county in 1858 and in Madison county in 1860. Cassius attended the country school known as “Ebenezer”and later his parents sent him to Simpson to prepare them for teaching because he had received a hip injury which would handicap him from doing hard manual labor.

He began teaching the country schools in Madison and Warren counties and later taught the upper room in the Patterson schools. About 1894 he was deputy auditor under Newton Hull and in 1896 was elected auditor, serving four years with outstanding service. He later moved to Des Moines where he had a position in the secretary of state’s office. When the Archives Department of the Historical Department of Iowa was organized, he became a superintendent of this department, serving until last February.

He was married in 1886 to Miss Elizabeth Kimer whose parents lived in Warren county just over the line from Madison and near St. Charles. She also was a schoolteacher. She, three sons and five grandchildren survive. Also three brothers Albert of Patterson, Lorin of West Allis, Wisconsin, and Charles of Winterset and one sister, Mrs. Lizzie McGinnis of Patterson survive.

It was while he was attending a funeral of Lorin Stiles Hervey at West Allis, Wisconsin that he suffered a stroke from which he never rallied. Lorin Hervey was a grandnephew, who met a tragic death by being buried under some debris caused by a slide of a steep cliff which he was attempting to climb while on an outing with his wife and two other companions.
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The Annals of Iowa
Volume 21 (1938)
Page 399

Cassius Clem Stiles, former Superintendent of the Public Archives Division of the Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa, died in Des Moines May 8, 1938.

He was born in Madison County, Iowa, October 17, 1860, the son of Thomas W. And Mary Ann (Stockdale) Stiles.

After attending Simpson College, 1880–81, he taught school until 1892. In the following year he removed from Patterson, Iowa, to Winterset, becoming in the same year deputy auditor of Madison County, serving as deputy until 1897, when he became auditor, which position he held until 1901.

In January, 1902, he came to Des Moines as a deputy in the office of the Secretary of State, remaining there until 1907, when the Public Archives Division was established in the Historical, Memorial and Art Department. As the first superintendent of that division, Mr. Stiles wrote a manual of classification and filing of archival material widely used in other states. He was also a frequent contributor to the Annals of Iowa.

In varying positions, he had been in public service fifty-eight years. He was a Methodist in religion and a Republican in politics.

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