Stone, David O.

STONE, PORTER, DUNHAM

Posted By: Debbie Clough Gerischer, volunteer
Date: 12/8/2009 at 10:49:55

A Narrative History
of
The People of Iowa
with
SPECIAL TREATMENT OF THEIR CHIEF ENTERPRISES IN
EDUCATION, RELIGION, VALOR, INDUSTRY,
BUSINESS, ETC.
by
EDGAR RUBEY HARLAN, LL. B., A. M.
Curator of the
Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa
Volume IV
THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Inc.
Chicago and New York
1931

DAVID O. STONE was a man who played many parts during his active life in
Northwestern Iowa. He was taken to what is now Hawarden when it was almost
Indian country, grew up and lived there, was in the newspaper business, and
always a forceful and enterprising citizen, giving generously of his own
efforts and means to promote the common welfare.

He was born at Belpre, Ohio, February 25, 1864, and was about three years
of age when, in 1867, his parents, Rufus and Almire (Porter) Stone, moved
out to Iowa and settled first in Cherokee County and then moved to a place
called Calliope, now Hawarden, in Sioux County. There were only three
families located there when the Stone family arrived in 1868.

In this frontier and pioneer community David O. Stone grew up, attending
public schools, had some of his educational advantages at Orange City, and
in 1880, when he was seventeen years of age, the responsibility devolved
upon him of taking over the newspaper owned by his father, who died in that
year. Thus early he was introduced to what became his chief life work,
printing and the newspaper business. During the next forty years he made the
Hawarden Independent a newspaper vital in its influence for good, and he gave
over the responsibilities of editor and publisher only when death took him
away February 18, 1921.

Mr. Stone was postmaster of Hawarden from 1895 to 1899, and for a number
of years represented his county in the Legislature, being elected four
terms. He was a Republican in politics, and was a member of the Knights of
Pythias and Modern Woodmen of America.

Mr. Stone married, December 25, 1884, Miss Generzia Irene Dunham, daughter
of John L. and Fannie (Smith) Dunham. The son, Merle Rufus Stone, born
January 6, 1887 is now editor and owner of the Hawarden Independent, which
has, therefore, been in the stone family through three generations. He
married, September 2, 1914, Nellie E. Finch, of Hawarden and later of Seattle,
and they have two children: David O., born December 27, 1921, and Forothy
O., born June 11, 1923. The daughter, Opal O. Stone, born November 19,
1889, married February 12, 1912, Jack Armstrong, a farmer four miles from
Hawarden, and they have one daughter, Elaine, born June 2, 1922.

Transcribed by volunteer,
Debbie Clough Gerischer
Iowa History Project