P. M. Guthrie, of Carroll, is a member of the well-known firm of Guthrie & Bowman, general agents for the Iowa Railroad Land Company. The firm was established in 1871, the gentlemen coming from Dubuque, this State. Mr. Guthrie has been a resident of Iowa since 1853, at which time he settled in Dubuque, and was one of the prominent residents of that city. He was born in Clare County, Ireland, in 1830, and came to America in 1848. His parents, Matthew and Sabina Guthrie, came to this country in 1852. The father died in Dubuque in 1857, and the mother is still living, at the age of eighty-eight years. Mr. Guthrie was but eighteen years old when he came to America. In 1846-’47 he was in the employ of the British Government. During the troubles in Ireland he was imprisoned for several weeks for having taken his father’s gun to shoot some hares. It was soon after this event that he came to America. Upon his arrival here he engaged as clerk for a firm in Wisconsin for six months, and was then employed as foreman on the Michigan Southern Railroad while that road was being built. He was engaged in that capacity when that road entered Chicago, and it was the first railroad that entered that city from the East. Mr. Guthrie was also a contractor in the construction of the Rock Island and Illinois Central roads. He contracted for and built some of the principal structures of Dubuque, including the city hall, and was also a contractor for improving the streets of that city. He was treasurer of Dubuque from 1862 to 1867. He was one of the contractors in the construction of the Dubuque & Southwestern Road, between Farley and Cedar Rapids. The immediate cause of Mr. Guthrie’s making his home in Carroll was the fact that he and Mr. Bowman had bought of the Iowa Railroad Land Company a tract of land which now constitutes the township of Wheatland, in this county. They at one time owned the whole of that township, and had been here but a year when they were appointed the general land agents of that company. They have also an office in LaMars, in this State, of which Mr. Bowman has charge. Mr. Guthrie is a Democrat in politics, and has long been influential in the councils of his party. During the administration of President Buchanan, he, with W. H. Health, published at Dubuque, the Northwest, a journal devoted to the interest of the Democratic party. Mr. Guthrie and Mr. Bowman established Der Demokrat, the present German Democratic paper of Carroll. He is still president of the company and owns much of the stock. The firm of Guthrie & Bowman do a very extensive business. They have sold all the lands belonging to the railroad in Carroll County, and much in Sac and Calhoun counties; also considerable town property. Mr. Bowman is general agent for the Iowa Falls & Sioux City Railroad. Our subject was married in Galena, Illinois, to Miss Emma Maher, a native of Pennsylvania. They have four children—John W., born in Dubuque in 1866, now a law student; Thomas, Fred and Mary.

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