Ordway, Dr. William W.
ORDWAY, MARTIN, WOOD
Posted By: Kathy Leach (email)
Date: 10/24/2010 at 13:11:17
From The History of Monona County, 1891, pages 503-504 (at the Onawa Public Library)
WILLIAM W. ORDWAY, M.D.
Perhaps in Western Iowa there is no individual more widely or better known than Dr. Ordway, one of the oldest settlers of Monona County, who located here in August 1855. At that early date he entered twelve hundred and eighty acres of land in Ashton Township, and there being but limited accommodation in the county, and having no house built, went to the little village of Smithland, Woodbury County, where he passed the winter, making his home with O. B. Smith most of the time. The following spring he located in this county and has made it his residence ever since.
Dr. Ordway is a native of Lewis County, NY and was born March 2, 1830. His father, Stephen Ordway, the son of Stephen Ordway, Sr., was born in New Hampshire about 1792, and died September 22, 1882. William W. attended the district school at Turin, in his native county, until he was about fifteen years of age. He then left home and attended an academy at Plymouth, NH and later, one at Romney, in the same state, and in the latter prepared the way for the study of medicine. His uncle, Aaron Ordway, with whom he afterward studied for the profession, and his grandfather, seeing his abilities and studious habits, furnished the means for his tuition. He resided with his uncle until he was about nineteen years of age, at which time he took up a different branch of the science under Dr. Goodrich, of Plymouth, NH, with whom he remained about six months, having in the interim devoted some attention to dentistry with a Dr. Kelly. Having grounded himself sufficiently in the medical science and in dental surgery, and accumulating a small capital by the practice of the latter, supplemented by a loan from his sister, he started for California on the breaking out of the gold excitement in that region, in company of Dr. Kelly. They took out with them about $500 worth of drugs, and practiced medicine in partnership in San Francisco, during the winter of 1849-1850, and made considerable money. In the spring they divided their stock, in Dr. Ordway removed to Klingman’s Point, in the northern part of the state, where he practiced medicine, running a store for the sale of miner’s supplies and a boarding house at the same time. He continued in these several business for about four years, at the end of which time he removed to Chips’ Flat, and engaged in the same lines for a year. While there, he invested about $1000 in a gold mine, and after operating it for a year, sold one half of his interest for $2550, and the other half shortly after for $1500. He then returned to New York for a visit and remained about six months, then went back to California and purchased his old business, and ran it about eighteen months, and in the summer of 1855 came to Iowa. It was not his intention at that time to locate here, but to settle his sister and invest his money, he having about $12,000, which he had made during his stay in California. In the spring of 1856 the sister and her husband, Barnabas Martin, came to the county and settled on one of the Doctor’s farms, where she died the following August. In the winter her husband went to Colorado. They had one child, which the Doctor took to rear, but during the winter of the deep snow, it took a severe cold and died December 4, 1856.
Having now no one to look after his interests in this locality, the Doctor was compelled to make his stay a permanent one. He entered into the practice of medicine which assumed large proportions, extending from Sergents’s Bluff to Little Sioux and Magnolia, and from Ida Grove to the Missouri River. Having a large amount of means at his disposal, he has been engaged largely in the loaning of money, and like many others engaged in that business, has made some enemies, but at the same time has won many friends. In his professional duties, he is largely spoken of as a conscientious and faithful physician, never leaving a patient while in danger, and although his favorite pills and doses of other medicines were large, they usually had the effect that he desired to produce. On the night of January 2, 1885, an attempt was made to murder the Doctor for the sake of robbery, as is detailed in the history of Kennebec Township, in which he was severely wounded, and while he was confined to his bed, was the recipient of kind attentions from many friends, which were duly appreciated for no man holds in higher estimation the value of a friend than does W. W. Ordway.
The doctor was united in marriage, March 2, 1863, with Mary E. Wood, a native of Wisconsin, born January 26, 1844, who died April 22, 1874, having had a family of six children, of which the following is a record: William W., born January 26, 1864; Ada A., born November 10, 1865, died February 22, 1866; Frances, born February 7, 1867, died September 22, 1868; Frank, born January 15, 1869; Mary L., born February 19, 1871, died August 30, 1871; and John S., born September 5, 1872.
The Doctor has had most eminent success in this county, from a financial point of view, and is rated among the wealthiest men of Western Iowa, and is the largest land-owner in Monona County, if not in the northwestern part of the State. In spite of his many business cares, he has never divorced himself from his chosen profession, and still is engaged in practice, although increasing years have confined his efforts principally to office work.
When the Doctor came to this locality he brought with him a large amount of gold, the most of which he carried in his trunk. When starting from O.B. Smith’s residence, near Smithland, having something like $1200 worth of money about his person, he left a small satchel, containing some $3,000, with Mrs. Smith, who was not aware of its valuable contents and threw it under her bed. Feeling curious, on account of its great weight, she spoke about it, and a man and his wife, who were staying there, manifested the same curiosity. After Smith and his wife retired to their bed at night, the couple, who lay on the floor near by, talked about it to themselves. The next morning Mrs. Smith missed the satchel quite early, and her husband rising, followed some tracks from his door to some hollow trees near the bank of the river, and then to the stream, and plunging into the water the fish spear he had in his hand, drew out the valise, empty of its valuable contents. The man who was staying with him, who claimed he had lost his pants and $112, was placed under surveillance, and the cabin searched, while a man was send for Dr. Ordway who had gone down to Belvidere. After some search the whole amount of the money, including the $112 of the suspected party, was found in two hollow trees near the Sioux River, and on Ordway’s return was returned to him. The man was sent to Council Bluffs and lodged in jail, but through the negligence of the janitor, and the machinations of his alleged wife, escaped and was never brought to justice for his crime.
Monona Biographies maintained by Linda Ziemann.
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