CULVER, Miles Knowlton

CULVER, KNOWLTON, HILLMAN

Posted By: Gordon Felland (email)
Date: 6/27/2009 at 20:37:47

Miles Knowlton Culver, who for twenty-five years has been a resident of St. Ansgar, came to Riceville, Mitchell county, in 1885. He was born near Corning, Steuben county, New York, July 13, 1868. He was the only son of William H. and Louisa (Knowlton) Culver, who belonged to the pioneer families of western New York. The Culver family originally came from Scotland before the Revolutionary war, while the Knowlton family came from England in 1632.

William H. Culver served through the Civil war as a member of the Fiftieth New York Engineers. For nearly half a century, following the war, he farmed in New York, Minnesota and Iowa, and is now enjoying his declining years with his son in St. Ansgar, at the age of nearly seventy-nine years. He has been known in every community where he has lived as one of its most upright citi­zens. The mother, whose maiden name was Louisa Knowlton, was the daughter of Captain Chester Knowlton, pioneer and one of the most prominent citizens of Steuben county, New York. She was a school teacher during the years of her early womanhood, and was noted for her strong piety. She died in 1868.

Miles Knowlton Culver, the subject of this sketch, received his early education in the schools of New York, Minnesota, and Iowa, and later by his persistence and industry worked his way through college. He did this by teaching school during winters, selling books during summer vacations and sawing wood and doing janitor work during the college year. He completed his college course at the Upper Iowa University, at Fayette, Iowa, with the class of 1891. At this time, Hon. Walter H. Butler, the newly elected congressman, from the fourth district of Iowa, was looking for an editor and manager of his paper, the Fay­ette County Union, while he was away in Washington attending the sessions of congress, and he was impressed with the industry and trustworthiness of young Culver and gave him the position in spite of an entire lack of experience in that line of work. In this as in everything else, Mr. Culver was successful, and remained in West Union as manager of the Union, until after the defeat of Mr. Butler for reelection, when he came to St. Ansgar and purchased from Martin Moe, the St. Ansgar Enterprise, then one of the best small town papers in the state. During the years that Mr. Culver has been the publisher of the paper he has increased its size, extended its influence and doubled its .subscription list.

Mr. Culver was also admitted to the practice of law in 1904—passing one of the highest in a class of more than forty—after a course of study in the Min­nesota State University Law School, and elsewhere, but he never gave up journalism to give his exclusive time to the practice of law. He has held the offices usually held by leading citizens of a community, been a member of the school board, town council, mayor, and in 1912 lacked only ten votes at the county primaries of capturing the nomination for member of the legislature for this district. During the last ten years Mr. Culver has devoted considerable time lecturing on subjects connected with farmers' cooperative societies, this work taking him into nine states of the middle west.

On the 29th of April, 1893, Mr. Culver was united in marriage to Miss Libbie Hillman, a native of Buchanan county, Iowa, who had also lived in South Dakota, and just before her marriage was teaching school in Tama county, Iowa. Ever since coming to St. Ansgar Mrs. Culver has been associated with Mr. Culver in the publication of the Enterprise, at times, especially when Mr. Culver was studying law, having the management of the office and business, and conducting it with signal ability. Four children were born to them. The eldest is Rush A. Culver, who was born on October 6, 1894, and is a graduate of the St. Ansgar high school and of the Upper Iowa University. He is now the publisher of the St. Ansgar Enterprise, having succeeded his father. The daughter, Lucile Doris, was born on June 3, 1908, and is attending the fifth grade of the St. Ansgar schools. Two sons, Victor and Donald, died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Culver are members of the Congregational church.

Source: History of Mitchell and Worth Counties, Iowa, 1918, Vol. II, pages 65-67.