Guy, Albert Ross

GUY

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/29/2021 at 11:32:31

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.705

ALBERT ROSS GUY
Albert Ross Guy, who for twenty-four years has been engaged in the real-estate business in Indianola and for the past ten years has also been well known here as an auctioneer, is numbered among the native sons of the county, his birth having occurred in Otter Township, March 15, 1859. His father, John Bryant Guy, was born in Morgan County, Indiana, and is now living at Milo, this county, at the venerable age of eighty years. He came to Iowa in 1848, settling in Polk County, where he entered land from the government, hauling his goods to his claim from Keokuk. In 1853 he removed to Warren County and established his home in Otter Township, where he purchased land and was for many years widely known as a suc­cessful farmer and stockman. He is now living retired in the enjoyment of a rest which he has truly earned and richly deserves.
With the pioneer development of this portion of the state he has been closely associated and his work in its behalf has been effective and valuable. For the past thirty-five years he has been a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he has always stood loyally for his honest opinions and for a considerable period voted with the Republican Party but believing the tem­perance question to be a paramount issue he became a stalwart prohibitionist. He enlisted in 1862 at Indianola for active service with Company C, of the Thirty-fourth Iowa Infantry and served for three years. It is stated by his comrades that no better soldier ever bore arms in defense of his country. They also told that he always displayed even in the darkest days of the Civil War the most remarkable, congenial disposition, was always happy and cheer­ing those with whom he was associated. The duties assigned to his regiment were of a most trying character but through it all J. B. Guy was the same brave, faithful, genial military hero. He enlisted from Warren County and at the close of the war returned to his old home, where as a citizen he has been as faithful to public interests as he was when defending the stars and stripes on the battlefields of the south.
He is now spending his declining years in the same community in which he has lived since the war, honored by his children and esteemed by an ex­tensive circle of friends which is almost coextensive with the circle of his ac­quaintance. He married Matilda Emmons, who was born in Zanesville, Mus­kingum County, Ohio, in 1826, and is now living at the age of eighty-two years. Their family numbered four sons and four daughters: Laura, who is deceased; Florence, who became the wife of Samuel W. Conrad, who was a soldier of the Civil War, followed farming and also served as county treas­urer but both are now deceased; Clarence, a farmer and stock-dealer of Guide Rock, Nebraska; Albert R., whose name introduces this review; Sherman, who resides on the old homestead in Otter Township ; Janie, who died at the age of two years; John B., who is an auctioneer and dealer in horses, making his home in Milo, Iowa; and Blanche, who became the wife of Dr. M. L. Hooper, of Indianola and is now deceased.
Albert Ross Guy, reared to farm life, attended the rural schools and afterward continued his studies in the high school at Milo. He left the home farm in the fall of 1878 and went to the Indian Territory, where he engaged in the stock business until the spring of 1879. He then removed to Texas, where he purchased cattle and drove them over the old Chisholm cattle trail to Caldwell, Kansas, where he sold out. He next went to Mexico, where he engaged in railroading for a year. Later he proceeded to Leadville, Colorado, where he worked in mining camps for a time and later went to Montana, where he engaged in prospecting. His interests have brought him varied experiences, as he has visited many sections of the country and his life if written in detail would constitute a story of picturesque interest and events. In the fall of 1884 he returned to Warren County and entered the real-estate business, negotiating many important realty transfers during the intervening twenty years. He has gained a national reputation as an auc­tioneer to which business he has largely devoted his energies during the past ten years. He makes a specialty of making sales of horses and cattle and has recently closed out a splendid bunch of shorthorn cattle known as the Oak Lawn herd. These were registered stock and were considered to be one of the finest herds in the state. He sold horses on the Chicago, St. Louis, Omaha, Des Moines and other markets and throughout the state disposes of as high as five hundred in a day. His success in this way has gained for him a national reputation and has brought him merited prosperity. As he has gained success he has invested in property and is now the owner of six hun­dred acres of choice and well improved land in Warren Township, constituting a valuable property, from which he derives a substantial annual income.
In 1886 Mr. Guy was married to Miss Eunice Wright, who was born in Highland County, Ohio, in 1863, a daughter of David and Martha Wright, who came to Iowa in 1865, settling in Palmyra township, Warren County. They were among the early residents here. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Guy have been born four children: Iva Missoula, who died at the age of two years; Lorain, who graduated from the Indianola High School; Florence Fay and Audry. The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Mr. Guy is a member of the Masonic order at Indianola, and he also belongs to the Odd Fellows society, the Woodmen camp and the Des Moines lodge of Elks. Since age conferred upon him the right of franchise he has staunchly advocated Republican principles. In his travels he has gained a wide knowl­edge of the country and learned to correctly judge men and experiences. This knowledge has proven of immense value to him in his auctioneering business and other qualities which contribute to his success are his genial manner, his tact, his business discernment and executive force.