Bartholomew, Wm. N.

BARTHOLOMEW

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/13/2021 at 13:18:28

WILLIAM NEWTON BARTHOLOMEW
born Sep 25, 1850, Illinois

W. N. Bartholomew, one of the leading farmers and stock men of Warren county, Iowa, is a gentleman to whom Iowa owes much for the part he has taken in advancing the stock interests of the State. He is a native of McLean county, Illinois, born September 25, 1850, one of the six children now living of George M and Mary (Flesher) Bartholomew. The Bartholomew family is one that has figured conspicuously in the history of several of the Northern States, especially Indiana. For facts regarding the ancestry of our subject, the reader is directed to biography of George M, Bartholomew, which appears on another page of this volume. When W. N. Bartholomew was two years his parents left Illinois and moved over Iowa, making settlement at Palmyra, one the oldest villages in Warren county. He lived and worked at home until he attained his majority, although he practically started out for himself when only fifteen years of age, as a merchant, and when seventeen was taken in as apartner with his father. He continued merchandising up to 1881, at which time he purchased a farm two miles south of the town. Soon after, however, he moved back to Palmyra and for several years thereafter rented his farm. Some twelve years ago he became deeply interested in improving the breed of horses for farm and general purposes, and from that time to the present his efforts in this direction have been untiring and have resulted in signal success. He has owned many of the finest heavy-draft horses ever imported to this country. Returning to the farm, he has recently added to its equipment a horse barn fitted up with the most modern conveniences for stock; and has made numerous other improvements. His home place comprises 320 acres and is particularly adapted for a grain and stock farm. Among his draft horses the young “British Flag 2d” is one of the finest in the land, and his mare, “Black Dutchess,” which was imported especially for him, is the largest and heaviest of all the horses ever brought into the State. He has a magnificent imported, French, thoroughbred coach horse, and a very fine herd of Shetland ponies. All together he has upon his farm about sixty head of horses and colts, among them being several standard-bred colts, giving promise of great speed, Cinchona, a three-year-old, being particularly promising. Also, Mr. Bartholomew has for years paid considerable attention to the breeding of fine cattle, having tried consecutively the Shorthorns, Red Polls, and Herefords. He has recently purchased a herd of the noted Galloways, a notably hardy and thrifty breed. Hogs, too have received no little attention from him, and in this business he is likewise successful, breeding the Poland-China and Jersey Reds, now having about 200 head. And Mr. Bartholomew has worked in more ways than one in his efforts to improve the breed of stock in this part of the State. Through his individual efforts the Breeders’ Gazette, the leading stock journal of the United States, has been widely introduced, he for three years having been the champion agent of that journal in the United States. Many of the fine herds to be seen all over this region are the direct result of his work along this line. Aside from his home interests, Mr. Bartholomew owns farms in Missouri and Nebraska, owning in all no less than 1,040 acres. He is a director of the Farmers’ Mutual Insurance Company of Polk and Warren counties. Associated with John T. Wallace and Lee Talbot, he was largely influential in bringing the Warren County Agricultural Society up to the point where its fairs were second to none in the State. In March, 1870, Mr. Bartholomew married Miss Mary B. Payne a native of Palmyra and daughter of A. and Nancy (Glimpse) Payne. Her father was the first blacksmith in Warren county. He is still living in Palmyra. Her mother died in 1893. They were the parents of three daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Bartholomew have eight children, namely: Lenora, Viola, Nellie, Archie, Lula, Camma, Paul, and Walter. The eldest daughter, Lenora, is the wife of W. S. Igo, of Palmyra. The other children are all at home. In politics Mr. Bartholomew has always been a Republican, stanch and true to the principles advocated by that party. He is a member of College Camp, Modern Woodmen, and the I.O.O.F. In the prime of life, enterprising and earnest in all he undertakes. W. N. Bartholomew is one of the men to whom this section of the State owes much.
Source: A Memorial and Biographical Record of Iowa, Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1896, vol.1, p.213

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.861
WILLIAM NEWTON BARTHOLOMEW
William Newton Bartholomew, deriving his income from valuable invest­ments in land, has in all of his business affairs displayed the keenest discern­ment and most progressive spirit. He has ever looked beyond the exigencies of the moment to the possibilities of the future and has labored along progressive lines, while time has justified the wisdom of his judgment.
He was born September 25, 1850, at Lexington, Illinois. His parents were George M. and Mary (Flesher) Bartholomew. He attended the schools of Palmyra, Iowa, and then entered his father's store as a partner, remaining there for sixteen years. On the expiration of that period he removed to a farm in Palmyra township and turned his attention to the raising of registered horses, dealing extensively in Percherons, English Shires, Clydesdales, standard bred French coach horses and Shetland ponies. He also became a large breeder of and dealer in red polled, Galloway and Hereford cattle and he was one of the first men in Warren County to breed the Duroc Jersey hogs. In all of his stock-raising interests he prospered, being an excellent judge of the good points and the value of farm animals. He had three hundred and twenty acres of land in his Palmyra township farm, which he purchased from Jacob Moon, who entered the land from the government in pioneer times. It is still known as Moon's Grove and is situated about two and a quarter miles southeast of Palmyra. For a long period Mr. Bartholomew figured as one of the most prominent and largest stock-raisers and dealers of the County, his business bringing to him a large measure of success. In 1900 he removed to Indianola and in that year purchased a ranch in Nebraska, on which he placed three hundred head of black polled cattle. The ranch was in Chase County and the active work of the place was carried on by the Bryant Brothers, of Indianola.
In 1902 Mr. Bartholomew extended the field of his activity by establishing a hardware and implement business and later he added the stock of Taylor Brothers to that which he originally secured. The following year, 1903, he sold his Nebraska ranch of fifty-two hundred acres and also disposed of the stock. He still owns a valuable farm of three hundred and thirty-five acres three and a half miles southeast of Indianola, which he is now operating. He also has one hundred and twenty-two acres five miles southeast of the city and a tract of two hundred acres eight miles south of the city, while his home place comprises fifteen acres within the corporation limits of Indianola. In addi­tion to his valuable holdings in this county his possessions include six hundred and forty acres in Sanborn County, South Dakota. In all of his business affairs he has displayed an aptitude for successful management and his investments have been most judiciously placed, bringing to him a gratifying return. As the years passed he has been very successful and is now numbered among the wealthy residents of Warren County.
Mr. Bartholomew was married in 1870 to Miss Mary B. Payne, who was born in Palmyra in 1855, her parents being Archibald and Nancy (Glimpse) Payne, of McLean County, Illinois. They came to Warren County in 1852, her father being one of the first blacksmiths in the county. He settled at Palmyra and is said to have made the first breaking plow constructed in the county. He was closely identified with pioneer development here and his labors were an element in its improvement and upbuilding. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Bartholomew have been born ten children, of whom eight are living, as follows: Leonora, the widow of W. S. Igo, a son of Lewis Igo, of Indianola ; Viola, the wife of Harry Hiatt, an electrician of Grinnell; Nellie, who became the wife of Thomas Reynold, a locomotive engineer of Des Moines; and George A., Lulu, Camalie, Paul and Walter, who are yet at home.
Mr. Bartholomew holds membership relations with the Odd Fellows, the Modern Brotherhood and the Woodmen, while his wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he is an unswerving Republican. He served for some time as postmaster of Palmyra and he or his father or some other member of the family continuously filled that position from 1854 until 1905 with the exception of the periods of Grover Cleveland's administra­tions. He also filled some township offices and served for two terms as a member of the city council of Indianola. He belongs to the group of distinctively representative business men who have been the pioneers in inaugurating and building up the chief business interests of this section of the country. He early had the sagacity and prescience to discern the eminence which the future had in store for this great and growing district and, acting in accordance with the dictates of his faith and judgment, he has garnered in the fullness of time that generous harvest which is the just recompense of indomitable industry, judicious investment and well directed enterprise.