George Washington HANNA

HANNA, MELROSE, MCINTOSH, SWISHER, GEORGE, TILLER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 8/18/2010 at 11:00:00

June 3, 1850 -- January 16, 1918

GEORGE W. HANNA DIES AT LUVERNE

BORN IN BLACK HAWK COUNTY JUNE 3, 1850

Civil Honors and Riches Had Come to Him—Pride in Humble Birth.

George W. Hanna, a member of one of Iowa’s pioneer families, died at his home at Luverne, Ia., at 5:15 p.m. yesterday. Mr. Hanna suffered a stroke of paralysis a year ago and his health had gradually failed since that time.

George Washington Hanna was the third son of George W. and Mary Melrose Hanna and was a native of Black Hawk county. Altho he had attained great honor as a citizen and accumulated much of this world’s goods he took greater pride in his humble birth than anything else, and this is best expressed in his own words:

Pride in Humble Birth.

"I was born June 3, 1850, in a log cabin built by my father in Waterloo township. This log cabin was the first in the township and served for many years as a church, courthouse and a free hotel. I was rocked in a cradle dug out of a basswood log. It was great to be able to boast of a cradle in that day and age."

The father had entered land included in a part of the present city of Waterloo and in 1853 with others he platted the town site and moved to the village. Young George attended the village school and Prairie Home seminary conducted by the Fields sisters and, later, Upper Iowa university at Fayette. After completing his education he taught school for a term in the Jockeytown district, south of Waterloo, and then went to Goldfield, Wright county, which town his father and uncle, John Melrose, were instrumental in bringing into existence.

He was in business in Goldfield for several years and was interested more or less in stock raising with his father and older brother, John. In 1881 he founded the town of Luverne, Kossuth county, and made it his home until the time of his death. He was owner of the bank of Luverne, one of the most prosperous in that section, and his holdings of northwestern Iowa lands comprise several thousand acres. He was constructive by nature and an indefatigable worker. His lands were divided into nine "ranches," as he called them, with that many groups of buildings and tenants.

Served in Iowa Legislature.

Mr. Hanna represented Kossuth county in the Thirtieth and Thirty-first general assemblies and even greater honors were his had he chosen to accept them.

His experience was one that comes to few. Born when Central Iowa was on the frontier, a region remote from civilization, he had been privileged to witness it grow from a land of prairie and forest to commonwealth surpassed by none in the union and he himself had played no small part in the making. His passing is not only a loss to his family but to the community in which he lived and the state as well.

Mr. Hanna was married to Ophelia K. McIntosh, Goldfield, Sept. 27, 1877. The widow and following children survive him: Mrs. T. Ayers Robertson, Monterey, Mexico; W. Scott Hanna, Luverne; Mrs. Ingalls Swisher, Iowa City; Miss Consuelo Hanna, student at Iowa University. Other relatives are one brother, Consul General Philip C. Hanna, Monterey, Mexico; three sisters, Mrs. Emily George and Mrs. Mollie Tiller, Cedar Falls. An older brother, John Q. Hanna, died at Blackwell, Tex., last Sunday. A great attachment existed between brothers. Each was extremely solicitous of the other’s welfare and the letters exchanged during their last illnesses were touching.

Funeral Services at Luverne.

Funeral services conducted by Dr. F. W. Clark, Waterloo, will be at the home at Luverne Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and interment will be in Luverne.

Waterloo Evening Courier - Iowa
January 17, 1918