Gable, George H. (1860-1909)

GABLE

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 1/3/2024 at 12:13:09

George Harvey Gable
(November 1, 1860 – June 15, 1909)

George Harvey Gable, one of the rising young lawyers and active public spirits of the city of Council Bluffs, was born in a log house in Coon Grove, Crawford County, Iowa, November 1, 1860. He was the third of a family of eleven children – three girls and eight boys – all of whom attended the country schools near the Gable farm in Milford Township, where this large and happy family was reared in health and industry. This large farm, owing to its picturesqueness and abundance of its fruit, was known as Orchard Glen. Upon this farm George worked, and attended school in the winter, earning his first money at the age of 11 years under a contract with his father to hoe forty acres of corn. The winter of 1880-81 he attended the Vail school, under Professor Ainsworth, walking four and one-half miles to and from school, a distance of nine miles each day for four months, missing but two days during the whole term, one of the severest winters ever known in the history of Iowa. A prize was given by the school board for the best written article on “Parliamentary Law” which George won. He taught school for a time, and in the winter of 1893 entered Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa, where he remained for four years, graduating from the Miltonian Literary Society in 1886. He joined the Adelphian Society soon after. He went from Cornell without taking a degree to Michigan University, at Ann Arbor, where he graduated in law in 1888, returned west in the spring of 1889, and commenced the practice of law in Council Bluffs.
George’s father, Solomon Levi Gable, was the fifth of twelve children of Solomon Gable of Yost County, Pennsylvania. His ancestors were Germans, possessed of those sterling qualities – economy, industry and honesty – which have always characterized the Gables. The Gable boys went west at an early date. Three of them, Amos, Harvey and Aaron, located in California, crossing the plains the time of the gold excitement in California. Amos and Harvey now reside at Woodland, California, and rank among the wealthy and most favored of its pioneers. Uriah Gable, now a large property holder in Nebraska, was a Union soldier during the Rebellion, being with Sherman on his memorable march to the sea.
George’s mother, Asenath Gable, was born at Wheeling, Virginia. She was the daughter of Carey Hampton, a physician of some note. Her mother was Emily Walton, of English descent, and her father a descendant of the notable Robert Carey of England. She is a strong advocate of woman’s suffrage and temperance, and is an untiring Christian worker. Mr. and Mrs. Gable were among the early pioneers of Crawford County, braved the hardships incident to western life long before the railroad crossed the state, and while it still swarmed with murderous savages. They now reside at Denison, Crawford County, in a picturesque house, well adapted for a peaceful retirement from the active duties of life, and with a competency sufficient to make pleasant and agreeable their declining years. They have always taken a prominent part in the moral and political discussions of the day. Solomon L. identified himself with the republican party and was a number of times offered positions of public trust and honor, but preferring the more quiet walks of life, declined them. George was married July 2, 1896, to Ida Germain. In politics he has always been a republican; and, while his experience in practice of his profession has necessarily been limited, his efforts have been quite successful. Studious habits, love for the profession and devotion to the interests of clients promise a highly successful future, and professional rank to be proud of, for he has adopted the right course to secure these results.
[Source – Biographies and Portraits of Progressive Men of Iowa…, by Gue & Shambaugh, 1899, vol.2, p.243]