Dr. Morris M. Trainer

TRAINER, BURNHAM, ALLISON, STEAM, MOORE, STRATTON, STEAR, JONES

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 3/6/2007 at 12:04:01

Biographies from the 1914 "Past and Present of O'Brien and Osceola Counties of Iowa"

DR. M. M. TRAINER.

Success in what are popularly termed the learned professions is the legitimate result of merit and painstaking endeavor. In commercial life one may come into possession of a lucrative business through inheritance or gift, but professional advancement is gained only by critical study and consecutive research long continued. Proper intellectual discipline, thorough professional knowledge and the possession and utilization of the qualities and attributes essential to success have made Dr. M. M. Trainer eminent in his chosen calling and he stands today among the scholarly and enterprising dentists of his community.

Dr. M. M. Trainer, a successful dentist of Sibley, Iowa, was born November 2, 1850, in Pennsylvania. His parents, John and Caroline (Burnham) Trainer, were natives of the same state. The Trainers are of Irish descent, the American branch of the family going back to the time when three brothers came from Ireland in the early history of the country. One of the three brothers, Michael, settled in Pennsylvania, and married Betsey Allison, who was of English extraction. To this union were born nine children: John (the father of Doctor Trainer), Hannah, Sarah, Wallace, Joseph, Grimes, Esther, Jane and James. John Trainer was born in Pennsylvania July 4, 1804, and died in 1886. His wife, Caroline Burnham, was born in 1816, and is one of ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Chester Burnham. Charles C. Burnham was twice married and had two families of ten children each.

Charles C. Burnham has an interesting history. He was born in the little country of Wales and came to Philadelphia in 1800 and when a young man learned paper making. In 1811 he went with the Spanish to LaGuayra, South America, and worked in a paper mill which had just been completed there. The paper mill had been put into operation for the purpose of manufacturing paper on which to print the laws of the country. The famous Caracas earthquake in Venezuela destroyed the mill and at the same time brought death to thousands of people. Mr. Burnham, however, fortunately escaped. The country paid him in a cargo of sugar and coffee and with this he set sail for Baltimore in 1811 and was captured by the British. They confiscated his cargo and took him as a prisoner to the Bahama islands, from whence he escaped on a Spanish ship. His knowledge of Spanish probably saved his life at this time, since he arranged with the captain to take him to Baltimore and set him free. He immediately enlisted in the American navy, and no doubt the fact that the British had confiscated his cargo induced him to join the Americans in order to fight against them. He served in many famous engagements, among which was the sea fight between the "Frolic" and the "Wasp." He later enlisted in the militia during the War of 1812 and served to the end of that struggle. He then married the daughter of his captain (Capt. William Steam.) and later received grants of Pennsylvania land in return for his services in the war. He received two tracts of land in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, one of four hundred and forty-four acres and another of somewhat less acreage. He immediately moved upon one of these tracts, but, despairing of making a living upon the land, he leased it to a tenant for twenty-one years and never went back to it. Subsequently he lost track of the land and although the Trainers still have the original title deed to the land, they have never presented their claim. Charles C. Burnham died at the age of eighty-four years.

John Trainer and wife were the parents of seven children: James, deceased, a former principal of the Sibley schools: John Core, of Carroll County, Iowa, and a former superintendent of the Sioux county, Iowa, schools for two years; Winfield Scott, deceased, former principal of the Indiana, Pennsylvania, schools; Morris M., whose history is here related: Mrs. Emma Moore, of Knox, Pennsylvania: Mrs. Anna Stratton, of Strattonville, Pennsylvania; Jennie, a music teacher of Grandview, Washington.

Dr. Morris M. Trainer was educated in the common schools of his county in Pennsylvania and later attended an academy and normal college in Pennsylvania, after which he taught school in Pennsylvania for a time and then studied dentistry for two years. Still later he pursued a post-graduate course in dentistry in Chicago in order to better equip himself for the practice of his present profession. He practiced for a time in Pennsylvania and in 1881 came to Iowa and settled in Sibley, where he has pursued his profession for the past thirty-three years. He was a pioneer dentist of northwestern Iowa. For a time he and another dentist at Sheldon were the only ones within the radius of fifty miles. Doctor Trainer has kept abreast of the advances in his profession and has been eminently successful since coming to this state. He has enjoyed a large practice ever since coming to the county.

Doctor Trainer has been twice married, the first marriage occurring in 1883 to Irene Stear, who died many years ago. To this first marriage two sons were born. Kenneth, a stenographer at Kansas City with the Armour Grain Company, and Don, a bookkeeper for the Illinois Life Insurance Company at Chicago. Some years after the death of his first wife Doctor Trainer married Mrs. Viola Jones, who had two children by a former marriage.

Doctor Trainer has always taken an active part in the civic life of his city and has served as city clerk for eight years. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his wife are earnest members of the Congregational Church and render it their zealous support. He has always been interested in everything which affected the welfare of the people, particularly from the viewpoint of their health. Accordingly he has taken an active interest in the National Hygiene Association as well as the National Congress of School Hygiene, in both of which organizations he holds membership. His long career in this community has been fraught with much good to its people and no movement which might better his community has been made which did not find in him a hearty and enthusiastic supporter.

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