Eugene Secor 1841-1919

SECOR

Posted By: S. Ferrall - IAGenWeb volunteer
Date: 2/25/2010 at 04:24:55

Eugene Secor was born at Peekshill Hollow, New York, May 13, 1841, and died at Forest City, Iowa, May 14, 1919. He came to Forest City in 1802 and soon thereafter entered Cornell College, Mt. Vernon. In about a year he was called to Forest City to take charge of the business of his brother, David Secor, who had enlisted in the army. Caring for his brother's business included acting as treasurer and recorder of Winnebago County and as postmaster at Forest City. He performed these duties until the end of the war. He was the first mayor of Forest City, serving four consecutive terms. He was afterwards a member of the city council for many years. From 1870 to 1876 he was clerk of the district court. From 1877 to 1S81 he was county auditor. He was county cornorer, serving two years. In 1901 we was elected representative and served in the in the Twenty-ninth General Assembly. For many years he was, by appointment of the governor, a delegate from Iowa to the Farmers' National Congress. From 1889 to 1894 he was a trustee of the Iowa College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. He was a member of the board uf trustees of Cornell College for twenty years and held the honorary degree of A. M. from that institution. For fifteen years he served as a member of the boara of education of Forest City. For twelve years he was president of the Winnebago County Farmers' Institute. He organized the Winnebago County Agricultural Society and was its first president. He was at one time president of the Iowa State Society, Sons of the American Revolution. For many years he had conducted a real estate and loan business, was interested in banking and for the last few years in breeding registered Short Horn cattle. For forty years he was a bee culturist and won world-wide reputation in that work. In 1893 he was sole expert aparian judge at the World's Columbian Exposition. He was at one time president of the North American Beekeepers' Society, and for seven years its general manager and treasurer. He was a regular contributor to various agricultural and technical journals. He was an active member of the Iowa Horticultural Society, at one time its president and for many years was regularly on the program of its meetings. At the time of his death he was devoting his attention largely to horticulture. Mr. Secor was a Republican and in 1892 was a delegate to the national convention at Minneapolis. He was a Methodist and in 1892 was a delegate to the general conference at Omaha. He was an accomplished writer of both prose and verse, a naturalist, philosopher, scholar, public servant and christian gentleman.

~Annals of Iowa, Vol XII, No. 8, April, 1921, Notable Deaths, pg 386