Edward K. Pitman

PITMAN

Posted By: Gordon Felland (email)
Date: 11/17/2006 at 09:55:29

Edward Kincaid Pitman, whose long connection with the printing business has brought him to his present position as head of the Pitman-Barnes Printing Company of Northwood, was born January 19, 1871, in Leon, Decatur county, Iowa, his parents being Edward Kincaid and Louisa (Osborn) Pitman. The father was for three years a Union soldier in the Civil war. A native of Virginia, he devoted his life to newspaper publication, to merchandising and to real estate dealing, and he was also active in connection with public office in Iowa, serving as postmaster of Leon and as clerk of the courts of Decatur county. He died in the year 1903, having long survived his wife, who passed away in 1874.

Edward Kincaid Pitman was at that time a little lad of three years and he was reared by an older sister. He pursued his education in the grades and the high school of Leon, Iowa, and in the school of experience has learned many valuable lessons, lessons which have ofttimes been difficult but which have proven of value in later years. In early manhood he occupied a clerical position in the postoffice at Leon during the Cleveland and Harrison administrations and at different periods he has been substitute railway mail clerk, printer, reporter, theatrical advance agent, traveling theatrical manager, newspaper owner and editor and opera house manager. As printer and reporter he spent some time in St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, St. Joseph, Quincy, Keokuk and Des Moines. For ten years he was editor of the Northwood Anchor and for seven years sole proprietor of that paper. He is now senior partner in the Pitman-Barnes Printing Company, a business which has assumed substantial proportions and is the direct outcome of the long experience, capable management and enterprise of Mr. Pitman.

On the 9th of June, 1896, in Leon, Iowa, Mr. Pitman was united in marriage to Miss Fannie Violet Harris, a daughter of James G. and Caroline (Howard) Harris, the former a native of Kentucky, while the latter was born in Indiana. They became pioneer settlers of southern Iowa, where Mrs. Pitman spent her girlhood days. She is a skilled newspaper woman, has been worthy matron of the Northwood Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, has been a delegate to the state convention of the order and also a delegate to the national convention of the P. E. O. at Los Angeles, California, in 1915.

Mr. and Mrs. Pitman have an adopted son, George Harris, who is seven years of age. They attend the Baptist church, of which Mrs. Pitman is a member, and Mr. Pitman belongs to the Masonic fraternity, in which he has taken the Royal Arch degree; the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; the Modern Woodmen of America; the Order of the Eastern Star; and the Rebekahs. His political allegiance is given to the republican party. His business activity has led him into connection with several other organizations and he is now a member of the Midwest Theatrical Managers' Association of Chicago, the Iowa Editorial Association and the International Typographical Union.

Source: History of Mitchell and Worth Counties, Iowa, 1918, Vol. II, page 29.