Stone, David Orland, 1864-1921

STONE, PORTER, DUNHAM

Posted By: Lydia Lucas - Volunteer (email)
Date: 11/13/2016 at 09:47:50

David O. Stone, editor of the Hawarden Independent, died on February 18, 1921. His death was reported in most, if not all, of the Sioux County newspapers. The obituary in the Hawarden Independent was by far the most extensive, although it is long on flowery commentary. However, it is compromised by blurring and black-outs at the bottoms of all three columns of the obit--in the digitized version, probably also on the microfilm that was the source of the digitized version, and perhaps in the original newspaper. The obit below captures as much as possible of the Hawarden Independent obit, supplemented or confirmed by additional information found in other newspapers. The Hawarden Independent obit also includes a photograph, but it is totally blacked out in the digitized version.

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From the Hawarden Independent, February 24, 1921:

DEATH OF D. O. STONE
Passed Away in Des Moines Last Friday After Brief Illness

D. O. Stone, for more than forty years publisher of this newspaper, passed away in his room in the Savery Hotel in Des Moines at 4:30 o'clock last Friday afternoon following an illness of only eight days duration from erysipelas. His son and daughter were at his bedside when the end came. He was first taken sick on Thursday morning, Feb. 10th, when he did feel able to attend to his legislative duties. He remained in his room but a physician was not summoned until the following day. He was then placed under the care of a nurse but the doctor was unable to detect anything alarming in his condition for several days and as late as Wednesday expressed confidence that he would be up and about his duties within a few days. Thursday morning, however, his condition showed a decided change for the worse and from that time on the real treachery of the disease was ever apparent and all the efforts of medical skill to check the spread of the disease proved futile, and while for a time on Friday afternoon he seemed to rally and thus give grounds for hope to those who tenderly watched over him, that vain hope was abruptly blasted when the poisons which he had been unable to throw off touched his heart and he suddenly expired.

Funeral services were held at Dunn's Funeral Home in Des Moines at [?] o'clock Saturday afternoon, which were attended by the members of the Iowa General Assembly and other friends in Des Moines. Rev. J. P. Burling of Des Moines, a former pastor of the Congregational church of Hawarden, spoke briefly at this service while Senator Abben, Representative Weaver and Senator Frailey delivered eulogies on the life of their friend and co-worker. Saturday's session of the House of Representatives was adjourned out of respect to the deceased after adopting resolutions of respect and naming a committee of six members to accompany the remains to Hawarden and act as honorary pall bearers at the funeral. This committee consisted of Representative Moen of Lyon county, Gilmore of [illegible] county, Held of Plymouth county, Harrison of O'Brien county, Year of [illegible] county, and Senator Abben of [illegible] county.

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have made their home during the past year. Funeral services were held at 2:15 Monday afternoon at the Congregational church, where hundreds of life long friends of the deceased gathered to pay a last sad tribute of respect to his memory. Members of the Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen of America orders attended in a body and members of the Knights of Pythias were active pall bearers, while the members of the legislature acted as honorary pall bearers. Rev. A. M. McIntosh preached the funeral sermon, while Representative Moen and Senator Abben voiced expressions of esteem on behalf of the General Assembly and the state of Iowa. Mrs. F. H. Edminster sang two solos and following this service the remains were taken to Grace Hill cemetery where interment was made beside his wife who passed away less than three years ago. Besides members of the legislature others from a distance who attended the funeral were Mr. and Mrs. Fred P. Stone of Sioux Falls, A. C. Forbes of Beresford, Mrs. Madge Geisal of Cedar Rapids, Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Turner of Sioux City, Jas. C. Gillespie of LeMars, Justin Barry of Cherokee, and delegations from Orange City, Ireton and Sioux Center.

David Orland Stone, youngest son of Rufus and Almira Porter Stone, was born at Belpre, Ohio, Feb. 25, 1864, and in one more week would have reached his 57th birthday. He was brought by his parents to Cherokee county, Iowa, in 1867, reaching there on May 4th of that year. The following year they came to Sioux county and located at Calliope on Aug. 12, 1868, and his home has ever since been in this community. On Dec. 25, 1884, he was united in marriage with Miss Generzia Dunham, who shared with him the joys and sorrows of life for more than thirty-three years but who preceded him in death on Aug. 28, 1918. One son and one daughter, Merle R. Stone and Mrs. L. A. Armstrong, were born to this union, both of whom survive. He also leaves one brother, Fred P. Stone of Sioux Falls.

Thus between two dates has stretched the span of his life--an active, busy life that knew privations and hardships, sorrow and happiness. it is not an easy task to attempt here a word of tribute to one whose whole life has been like a guiding star to his children, his hand ever outstretched

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and affection that existed between father and children. Father--yea, he was much more than that--he was a companion, a friend. And this we know, that in his passing we have lost one in whom we ever had an implicit faith, one to whom we ever looked for guidance and advice, whose attitude was one of kindness and gentleness, and who was always considerate of our slightest wish. Our consolation must come in the certain knowledge that he lived a life which was strictly honorable in every particular and there is no more priceless heritage which a father can leave to his children than an honored name.

A review of his life and activities would be almost synonymous with the history of the growth and progress of this community, so closely was his daily life interwoven with the lives of those who have been his neighbors and friends throughout these years. Coming here in an early day when there were but three other families within the borders of the county, he has witnessed all the steps of its transformation from a wild, rolling prairie to the present state of high cultivation with its flourishing towns and prosperous people. For a number of years after the arrival of the family in Calliope they lived in a log house on the bank of the Sioux river. Here they passed through the vicissitudes of pioneer days--the grasshopper scourge and early day blizzards. He attended the common schools in Calliope and also attended school in Orange City for a couple of years and it was there that he started to learn the printer's trade at the age of fourteen, setting type out of school hours in the office of the Sioux County Herald. Later he worked for short periods of time in newspaper offices at Rock Valley and Hull. In December, 1980, his father purchased the Sioux County Independent, then published at Alton, and moved the plant to Calliope, but within a month was taken sick with the smallpox and died. Thus, before the son had reached the age of seventeen he found himself installed as editor of a newspaper. In partnership with his only brother, Fred P. Stone, he conducted the Calliope Independent for a time but soon acquired his brother's interest. The town of Hawarden was not founded until 1882, when the Northwestern railway built to this point, but immediately there [illegible] in an intense rivalry between the two towns. He [espoused?] the cause

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conducted this newspaper. Thus for a period of more than forty years has he been actively identified with the business interests of this community and the daily life of its citizens. Children have been born, marriages consummated, and hundreds have been carried to their final resting place on the hill, and it has been his privilege to speak of these occurrences, welcome the new born, extend felicitations to the newly wed, and offer condolence and words of sympathy and cheer to those who mourned the loss of loved ones--all through the medium of his newspaper. His newspaper business was founded on the principle of service to the community and this ideal he ever endeavored to inculcate in those who labored with him in the production of his paper. Founded on this high ideal it is only natural that his business prospered accordingly. He sought to maintain a high standard of reliability in every issue of his paper and he took great pride in the mechanical neatness and typographical arrangement of his paper.

He always took an active interest in public affairs. He served as postmaster of Hawarden from 1895 to 1899 and was a member of the board of education of Hawarden for several years. In 1914 he was elected as Sioux county's representative in the state legislature and was re-elected three successive times. He had attained a position of commanding influence in the present session, where he was serving as chairman of the appropriations committee. He was respected and revered by his fellow members who admired his straightforward honesty and sincerity of purpose. One of his colleagues remarked that no one ever approached D. O.Stone with a shady transaction for they instinctively knew that any such proposal would be instantly frowned upon. He made no pretentions as an orator or public speaker but gained his position of leadership in the legislature through hard work, conscientious study, a desire for right and justice, and the exercise of an abundance of good, common sense.

The first of this year he admitted his son into a full partnership in his newspaper business and had so arranged his affairs that he might secure relief from some of the more arduous duties and responsibilities of the business. And it is just this fact that makes his untimely taking away so difficult to reconcile. His life has been one of service and devotion to others and just when he had reached the point where he might be able to really enjoy some of the fruits of his years of toil--while still in the fullness of health and enjoyment of life--to be thus ruthlessly stricken is a thing which the human heart and mind cannot comprehend.

Perhaps it was the call of his life's companion who passed to the Great Beyond just a brief while ago, the one whom he had devotedly loved and tenderly cared for. She may have beckoned to him. He was her constant companion during the closing years of her life when she needed him most and when she passed on, in paying a tribute to her memory, he chose to publish the following little verse which was his own composition:

"Somewhere, sometime, I know we'll meet again,
My heart will call so loud that yours will hear,
And then, across the miles that lie between,
You'll come to meet me--well, I know it, dear."

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From the Rock Valley Bee, February 25, 1921:

REP. D. O. STONE DIED FRIDAY IN DES MOINES

Representative D. O. Stone, one of the most prominent members of the Iowa State Legislature, and widely known throughout the state as publisher of the Hawarden Independent, died of erysipelas at the hotel where he was staying in Des Moines, Friday afternoon after an illness of eight days.

Mr. Stone was born at Belpre, Ohio, February 25, 1864, and came to Iowa in 1880, his father establishing a printing plant at Hawarden. His father died in the fall of the same year, 1880, and the son, D. O. Stone, succeeded him as proprietor of the Hawarden Independent which he published for more than forty years. Only recently he took his son, M. R. Stone in partnership with him.

This was Mr. Stone's third term in the house of representatives. He was first elected in 1914 and had served four years and had started his fifth year. He was chairman of the appropriations committee, one of the most important positions in the legislature, and was universally conceded to be one of the foremost leaders at the state house. He was also a member of the reform and retrenchment, judiciary, constitutional convention, commerce and trade, election, insurance, domestic manufactures and printing committees. Mr. Stone attended the session of the legislature on Thursday, a week before his death, but fell ill Thursday evening and rapidly became worse. During the first few days of his sickness, physicians despaired of saving his life, but the day before his death he rallied slightly and it was thought he might recover, but he later became worse.

Mr. Stone was one of the earliest pioneers of Sioux County. In fact, there are only one or two men now living in the county who were here when he came. He is well known throughout the state and especially in the northwest and in Sioux County and he was held in high esteem by all who knew him. Out of respect to him, the house of representatives adjourned for the afternoon following his death.

He is survived by one son, Merle Stone, whom he took into partnership with him last January, and one daughter, Mrs. J. A. Armstrong, of Hawarden. His wife died three years ago.

Funeral services were held at Hawarden Monday afternoon. A committee from the legislature consisting of Representatives T. Gilmore, G. E. Held, Harrison, F. W. Year and Senator Ben Abben attended the funeral at Hawarden. Services were also held in Des Moines, both the house and senate members attending in a body.

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Most of the other locally published obits are similar to that published in the Bee.

The Alton Democrat (Feb. 26) characterizes him as "a man of simple tastes and sound philosophy, always modest concerning his own achievements, never boastful, giving praise where praise was due and honestly serving the people of Sioux County as member of the legislature, giving the best service of which he was capable and for which he merited the thanks of the county."

The Alton Democrat obit also includes a photograph.

The Hawarden Independent of January 20, 1921, includes commentary from several other newspapers on the management transition from Stone to his son Merle, with some comments on the history of the newspaper and many compliments to it and to Stone. One of them notes that he was better known as "Brick."