James Laird (1901)
BARCLEY, GROVE, LAIRD, RODECKER, WILLIAMS
Posted By: Kent Transier (email)
Date: 4/17/2017 at 10:43:01
The Stuart Herald
Stuart, Iowa
Friday, July 26, 1901
Page 7, Column 7/8DEATH’S HARVEST AGAIN
Another of Stuart’s Old and Honored Citizens Passed Away
Saturday evening, at seven o’clock, James Laird passed to his reward. He had been gradually failing for some time and his demise at this time was not unexpected. While he has been suffering from heart trouble for several years, yet it was infirmities of age that have borne down the strong and robust constitution.
The deceased was one of the first citizens of Stuart. He has for years occupied a commanding position among his fellow townsmen. He was a man of firm conviction and sound judgment. No man’s opinions were more universally sought after in all matters of public concern than that of James Laird. He was a good neighbor and an indulgent husband and father.
Since coming to this city in 1877 he has filled many of the important offices within the gift of his fellow citizens. After serving his people several terms as member of the school board, in which position he was very efficient and useful, being deeply interested in public schools, he was elected mayor of the city in March 1881, and served his people with credit to himself and profit to the city for one year.
After retiring from active business he generously occupied the position as one of the trustees of the township, and being the city member, the poor came under his charge. His sympathies with them and his desire to discharge the duties of his office faithfully and well caused him to spend an unusual amount of time in looking after the wants of the poor. And thus was spent the declining years of a strong, active man, one, who in his prime was engaged in directing the large enterprise that threaded this state with railroads and changed the wild prairie into farms and towns in which now dwell people surrounded by all the necessities and comforts of modern life.
James Laird was born in Beaver county, Penn., Feb. 19, 1821. He comes from the hardy Scotch-Irish stock that has sent so many strong men and women into American life. His family was one of the leading families of the state in which they resided. He married Miss Nancy Barcley in Beaver county, October 20, 1842. The resided there for a few years, Mr. Laird working at his trade of carpenter, until 1858 when he moved to Black Hawk county, Iowa and opened up a farm.
He soon began freighting across the state ahead of the railroads, thus blazing the way for the railroads that soon followed. When the Rock Island began to move westward from Iowa City, Mr. Laird became a contractor. He had the contract for delivery of all the bridge timber and ties for the Rock Island, between Des Moines and Council Bluffs. He also had grading contracts along the line and worked a large force of men at various points. He lived successively, as the road progressed westward, in Iowa City, Marengo, Brooklyn, Grinnell, Kellogg, and Des Moines.
After the road was completed to Council Bluffs, he opened a stone quarry in Earlham and furnished large quantities of stone for building purposes in Des Moines and along the line of the road clear to Council Bluffs. He had a large contract with the state for stone used in construction of the state capitol. The Rock Island was a large purchaser of stone from the Earlham quarry while operated by him. In 1877 Mr. Laird moved his family from Earlham to Stuart, where they have since resided.
In October 1892, the golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Laird was celebrated at the Laird homestead. The event was made much of by the neighbors and friends of the family and several prominent railroad men with whom Mr. Laird had been associated in early life came to Stuart to pay their respects to the aged people. Mrs. Laird was quite feeble then from the infirmities of age and her demise soon followed.
The surviving members of the family are now Geo. A. Laird, Mrs. Anna Williams and Mrs. Jane E. Grove, of Stuart, Charles S. Laird, of Fairbury, Neb., John A. Laird, of Minnesota, and Mrs. Aggie Rodecker, of Denver, Colo. All but two of the children were present at the funeral. The services took place from the home Monday afternoon: Rev. Holman conducted the services.
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