Best, John A.

BEST

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/26/2021 at 16:13:39

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.712

JOHN A. BEST
Captain John A. Best may truly be termed one of the representative men of Indianola,.. representative of activity in business, progression in citizenship, and devotion to rules of conduct that are manly and upright. He is well known over a large territory in eastern Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri as travel­ing salesman for a Chicago house, and wherever he is known, Captain Best numbers his friends.
That his youth was largely a period of earnest and un­remitting toil is indicated by the fact that when a lad of twelve years he was employed upon river boats and so continued for about twenty years, when he removed westward to Chariton, Iowa, taking up his abode there about 1866. He was nineteen years of age when he was married and removed from Pennsylvania to the Mississippi Valley to engage in steamboating in this section of the country. He advanced rapidly because of his bravery and good judgment and made a record which was enviable among the heroes of the old war days.
In speaking of this epoch of his career one of the local papers said "The last trip Captain Best made was the most memorable of his long career. He had a cargo of fourteen thousand bushels of wheat to deliver at the head of the Illinois River navigation. The thermometer registered 10 below zero, and all boats were frozen up in the river. To deliver the wheat meant the ruina­tion of the boat; not to deliver it meant the financial ruin of the owner. It was claimed by many old river captains that the trip was impossible, but some one had to make the effort. The task fell to the lot of Captain Best. He secured log chains, beaded the boat, and pushed it through the ice, through the river and Peoria Lake to Bacon, arriving at two o'clock in the morning. The boat was torn and shattered, but the cargo was delivered—a fitting close to the captain's twenty years in the service. At the death of Captain Best's life long friend, Captain Tom O'Hara, the Chicago Tribune said : 'Captain O'Hara was one of the bravest men and one of the most trusty pilots of the day. He was pilot for Captain Best during the Civil war, and he and Captain Best took the wheel about the time when it needed good judgment, as no search lights were in use. They had to take the boat through the dangerous places in fog and darkness and narrow channels and were known as the safe men at the wheel, when all lives below depended on the pilot. Captain Best is somewhere in the west and is one of the few left of the old river captains and pilots.'"
As previously stated. Captain Best took up his abode in Chariton, Iowa, in 1866 and in that year, leaving the river, became a traveling salesman for a clothing house. He has since remained upon the road and during the last thirty-one years of this period has represented Rothschild & Company, of Chicago. He is now the oldest man with the firm and that he is one of the most trusted, able and faithful employees goes without saying. He has out­lived two of the proprietors of the establishment and is now working for a son of one of the first proprietors, who was born and had his education and business training since Mr. Best began with the house. He covers a large ter­ritory, to which he makes his regular trips and is still a most active man. although he has passed the time of life when most men retire. The years, however, rest lightly upon him. He is splendidly preserved and most peo­ple would take him to be a man from ten to twenty years younger than he is. Among his patrons he is popular from the fact that he is not only reliable in his business dealings but also courteous and genial. His cordiality is un­feigned and his geniality is a part of a nature that has learned to look upon life from the bright side and take the best that the world and his fellowmen offer, never placing undue emphasis upon the little unpleasantnesses which may arise but putting them with those things which, happening yesterday, are forgotten.
In early manhood, when but nineteen years of age, Captain Best was married in Pennsylvania to Miss Harriet Johnston. More than a half cen­tury has since passed and they are yet spared to travel life's journey to­gether. As the years have been added to the cycle of the centuries their mutual love and confidence have increased and the ties of comradeship and companionship between them have ever been strengthened. There is a story told of a remarkable display of courage and quick thought on the part of Mrs. Best, who is the worthy wife of the brave river captain. During many of his trips Mrs. Best was by her husband's side on the river and especially during the war, and on the occasion alluded to, she manifested the greatest presence of mind when she, with her two children, was hurled into the river under the stretched lines at Peoria bridge. She held on to both of her chil­dren, however, and saved their lives. The two sons are now well known busi­ness men. R. L. Best being a clothing merchant of Indianola, while Johnston Best is a general merchant of Rockwell City, Iowa. For more than thirty years residents of Indianola, Captain and Mrs. Best have a most extensive circle of friends here and enjoy the high regard of all who know them. Their home is a hospitable one and they delight in entertaining those to whom they are joined by ties of friendship and personal regard. Captain Best is a man of fine personal appearance and possesses the vigor and energy of a much younger man. In spirit and interests he is yet in his prime and at all times he keeps in touch with modern thought and progress.