IOWA VILLAGE PRODUCED REAL MEN.

CALDWELL, WRIGHT, KNAPP, CLARK, DAVIS, DILLON, MCCRARY, HOWELL

Posted By: Volunteer - Cathy Joynt Labath
Date: 2/3/2004 at 08:36:33

Daily Iowa State Press
Iowa City, Johnson,
Iowa June 29, 1903

(Minneapolis Journal)

IOWA VILLAGE PRODUCED REAL MEN.

Three United States Senators and as Many Millionaires Came from Provincial Keosauqua.

The retirement of Judge H.C. Caldwell from the bench of the eighth United States circuit marks the departure from public life of one one the last of the "Keosauqua colony," famous, at least, in the west.

The little provincial way-back town of Keosauqua, Iowa, numbering at its last census scarcely 1300 people, has, however, furnished to the United States two United States district judges, one United States circuit judge, one United States supreme judge, three United States senators, two members of congress, one nominee for governor, three millionaires, tow of them having colossal fortunes, one attorney general of Iowa, one secretary of state of Iowa, and one member of the presidential cabinet.

Among these men are Senator W. A. Clark of Montana, the late A.G. Davis of Montana; Judge Caldwell, United States Senator J.B. Howell, Judge George W. McCrary, secretary of war under President Hayes, and John F. Dillon, the renowned attorney of New York city, counsel for the Gould interests.

There is no town of any size in Iowa that has produced half the prominent men as the village of Keosauqua, and it is certain that no town so small anywhere else in the United States can approach the Van Buren county metropolis.

"How did it happen?" repeated C.L. Wright of this city, son of Senator Wright. "I don't know and I have never found any one who could explain it. One of the remarkable phases of it is that these men came from all parts of the east. They just chanced to land at Keosauqua. Had to Seek it Out.

It is certain that Keosauqua possessed no attractions sufficient to account for the settlement of distinguished personages. The town was even smaller in those days and to-day has but one railroad. The men who became famous trudged overland or rode horseback that they might find the place. Later the line of travel passed up and down the Des Moines river and as Keosauqua was but a short distance above Keokuk, it was natural that settlers should make their way there.

At that day ever since the village householders sat on boxes in the local stores and told yarns over their whittled sticks. Today the people of Keosauqua point with pride to the products of the village but they are still on the store boxes. The town itself is a forgotten shell, like a nest that has freed its larvae.

Advent of George Wright.

George Wright, in an early day left his Indiana brother, Joseph, who later became governor of Indiana and minister to Berlin under Lincoln, and went to St. Louis. At St. Louis he bought a horse and rode up the Mississippi river until he cam to the Des Moines when he turned to the northwest and followed its shores. He came to a settlement of a hundred straggling houses, clinging to a high bank and skirted by a graceful bend of the river. It was a likely spot and he stayed here.

Here he found Joseph Knapp, just beginning as a lawyer, and they decided to become partners. Henry Clay Caldwell came to Iowa when about 15 years old. He too went to Keosauqua with his parents. He had ambitions to be a lawyer and Wright & Knapp gave him the chance. After studying with this firm a few years he was admitted to the bar, and in 1856 the firm became Wright, Knapp & Caldwell. Caldwell was soon sent to the legislature but went to the war when it broke out. While he was gone, George F. Wright, a cousin of Knapp, was a member of the firm. He is now at Council Bluffs, one of the first attorneys at the state bar.

Caldwell became major of the 4th Iowa cavalry and when he came back from the war he settled at Little Rock, Ark. There he was appointed United States district judge, prior to 1870, and later to the circuit bench.

In the meantime Wright had been elected to the state supreme bench, in 1855, where he served till 1873, when he was sent to the United States senate two terms declining re-election. Knapp had no limitations except that he was a democrat, which was shortcoming in Iowa. He was twice nominated for governor and once for supreme judge, but majorities were against him and he practiced in Keosauqua until his death twelve years ago.

Clark and Davis. In the meantime a red-headed boy was playing with a few not very select companions in the streets, or, rather, street, of Bentonsport, a tiny embryo of a town a few miles below Keosauqua. Occasionally his father would take this boy to Keosauqua with him to "see the sights" and they were admitted by the youngster to be marvelous. That lad was William A. Clark now of Montana, whose name today is the symbol of a quantity of dollars that cannot be counted.

A.G. Davis, the Montana millionaire whose name became famous by the contest over his estate, was a Keosauquan in early days, as was Edwin Manning, who became a millionaire and the richest man in Iowa in his prime. He made it by banking and buying land.

A boy who was born and grew to early manhood without attracting especial attention in Keosauqua town was George W. McCrary. He later became congressman, United States district judge and finally secretary of war under Hayes. He was associated in the practice of law with Judge Samuel F. Miller of Keokuk and had such intimate relations in Keosauqua that the town claims him.

John F. Dillon, now of New York, was a boy in old Keosauqua, serving on the Iowa supreme bench for a time. Other Keosauquans were J.C. Bonney, secretary of state for Iowa, beginning in 1848; J.B. Howell, later editor of the Keokuk Gate City and appointed United States senator in 1870; C.C. Nourse, now a Des Moines lawyer, attorney general in 1860-'67; J.C. Hall whose son Benjamin was congressman from the first district.

Cathy Joynt Labath
Iowa Old Press
http://www.IowaOldPress.com/
Researching Catcott & Crane in Van Buren Co.