Col. Jacob W. Bopp
The subject of this biographical review was
born in Chicago, Illinois, on the 28th of September, 1853. At the
time of his birth his parents were on their way to the then frontier
country designated on the map as Iowa. He is the oldest child of
John Michael and Margaretha Bopp, whose personal sketch appears
fully under their own names in this volume.
Jacob W. Bopp was reared amid the
environment of pioneer life and his early years were spent in
attending the district school and in working on the parental farm.
But he early developed a taste for reading and study which
ultimately led him into schools of higher standing and he soon
developed into a district school teacher. But after two years
employed in teaching, he again returned to his studies as a student,
at Ainsworth’s Academy, in West Union, where he spent two years very
profitably. During his two years of teaching, it may be added, he
spent his evenings in teaching night schools in the surrounding
districts and in private study. This special teaching was in the
nature of instruction on bookkeeping, commercial arithmetic and
penmanship, and Mr. Bopp says that he believes he was as much
benefited by this work as any of his students. In the autumn
of 1876 the subject became a student in the collegiate department of
the Iowa State University, and continued there for two years, when
he transferred his allegiance to the Upper Iowa University, in his
home county. He earned the money to prosecute his collegiate
work as a newspaper correspondent, a line of literary endeavor in
which he became very prominent and well known throughout the
Northwest, and in which he continued, in connection with other lines
for many years. In the spring of 1880 he became associated with the
local papers at Mason City, Iowa, and at the same time served as
special correspondent to several metropolitan dailies in the West.
At the convening of the Legislature in 1882,
Mr. Bopp was elected secretary of the railroad committee of the
Senate and discharged the duties of that position in connection with
his work for the press. On adjournment of the Legislature he
entered upon his journalistic work with renewed vigor, being very
actively engaged in politics, and supplied the leading Republican
papers of the Northwest with a daily resume of political news. In
his capacity as a reporter his presence was required at the leading
summer resorts, fairs and expositions, and thus he was enabled to
combine sight-seeing and extensive travel with a pleasant and
profitable business. While thus employed Mr. Bopp came in contact
with the leading men of the state and nation, and was well
acquainted with prominent politicians everywhere.
Mr. Bopp took up the preliminary study of
law in the office of Miller & Cliggitt, at Mason City, thus
multiplying his manifold duties; but he has always been noted as a
busy man, and even now, after fortune has smiled upon him, rendering
work unnecessary, he probably devotes as many hours to business as
any man in Fayette county. In the autumn of 1882 he entered
the law department of the State University and was graduated
therefrom with the class of 1883. He took up this study, he
says, for the mental discipline it afforded, and without any
intention of ever practicing law; but it is noticeable that in the
manipulation of his extensive real estate business his legal advice
is often sought, and is found to be accurate and reliable.
While in law school, in recognition of his
ability as a writer, Mr. Bopp was chosen editor of the Vidette
Reporter, conducted by the students attending the university.
During commencement week, in connection with a fellow student, he
published a special edition, designating it, for the time being, as
the Law Times . In this was published a full synopsis of
addresses delivered on that occasion, also a general review of the
public exercises, notes by the way, and a large amount of
information valuable to the embryo lawyer.
After his graduation Mr. Bopp took a few
weeks’ vacation to visit his home people, and then allied himself
with the interests of the Republican party in the capacity of
special correspondent to the leading journals of the state. He
was employed by the state central committee to report speeches,
joint debates etc., and assisted Hon. H. S. Fairall in the
preparation of a volume entitled “Manual of Iowa Politics.” He
continued his connection with the Associated Press until the
convening of the Legislature, when he resumed his former position as
secretary of the railroad committee of the Senate, and also served
in the same position at the succeeding session. While thus employed
he was a regular correspondent to the Burlington Hawkeye,
Davenport Gazette, Dubuque Times, Cedar Rapids
Republican, and other daily papers.
At the close of the twentieth General
Assembly, Mr. Bopp accompanied the delegation of Iowa physicians on
their excursion to the International Medical Congress, at
Washington, D.C., and reported their proceedings to the press of the
country. Following the close of the congress he spent a month in
sight-seeing in the national capital, in Virginia, North and South
Carolina, and the great cities of the East and South.
Returning to Iowa, Mr. Bopp took an active
part in the congressional campaign of 1884, and in the winter
following attended the World’s Fair at New Orleans, visiting the
jetties and other points of interest in the South. Mr. Bopp was the
founder of syndicate letters in Iowa, a system of correspondence now
generally followed by newspaper correspondents. For many years he
furnished the farm department for the West Union Gazette,
which matter was syndicated to most of the leading papers in Iowa.
He assisted in organizing the Fayette County Farmers’ Institute, as
he did many others, and was an officer or director during all the
years that the local institute was in active operation. He was for
fifteen years a director of the Fayette County Agriculture Society,
and has always been active and zealous in promoting its interests .
Several years of his life were spent in
connection with the Republican state central committee as report for
special campaign work and big meetings everywhere. While actively in
the newspaper harness, he and his co-laborer, A. W. Clancy, gave a
complimentary dinner to the newspaper fraternity in Des Moines, at
the Capital City Hotel, which was characteristic of the way he
treats his friends. The following bill of fare will show with what
spirit the guests toasted to the good health and long lives of
their hosts:
Mr. Bopp has been an extensive traveler,
both in the capacity of a news-gatherer and for his own pleasure and
enlightenment. He has made five extensive trips through the South
and several through the East, and has made two extended trips
through the British possessions on the North. But the climax came
when he and his brother, Charles W., made their memorable trip
through all Europe. They embarked on the 12th of May 1900, and
landed at New York, returning September 23rd, of the same year. A
handsomely printed “Souvenir Itinerary” designates the points to be
visited each day during the four months’ sojourn abroad, but lack of
space prevents its publication here in full.
The subject is a lover of the beautiful,
both in nature and art. While on his European trip he made notes and
diagrams in the matter of home adornment, which he transplanted to
his beautiful suburban home, “Linden Park,” on the western margin of
West Union. This is one of the most artistically arranged homes and
grounds to be found anywhere. A full description is not a
possibility in this connection. Suffice to say that the newspapers
of the state, both local and foreign, have found “Linden Park” the
subject of much favorable comment, and handsome cuts of the premises
have been printed in the home papers, the Des Moines papers and
others . . ..
Mr. Bopp is a bachelor, and his handsome
home is also the home of Mr. And Mrs. F.E. Whorley, who have charge
of the premises, farm, stock, etc., and with whom Mr. Bopp makes his
permanent home . . .. For some time after his return from Europe Mr.
Bopp was in great demand as a lecturer, and entertained large
audiences, both in public and at parlor parties, in reciting the
beauties of other countries. But he has always devoted considerable
time to the lecture field, usually on topics related to agriculture,
horticulture, stock raising, etc. The “good roads” movement has
always received his full support from voice and pen.
The souvenir edition of the West Union
Gazette, published in 1898, gives Mr. Bopp some well deserved
compliments, intermingled with a superfluity of “hot air,” fired off
with the clearness and versatility characteristic of the late
Charles H. Talmadge. Mr. Talmadge seemed to deprecate the fact that
Mr. Bopp had “swapped” the ever-alert faber of a talented, active
and popular journalist for the more staid and “homey” employments of
a real estate man. This was about the beginning of Mr. Bopp’s career
in that business, which he took up after a successful siege of
farming, or managing, the home estate in accordance with the latest
methods in scientific farming, and in which he and all concerned
were phenomenally successful. But Mr. Bopp has always been
successful in all of his varied undertakings, a result achieved only
by hard work and careful, intelligent management. He is today one of
the most successful and widely advertised real estate men in
northeastern Iowa.
But Mr. Talmadge again charges that Bopp
accepted the appointment to a place on the staff of Governor Drake,
serving two years, and thereby acquiring the title of “Colonel,”
which is liable to stick to him through life.
Mr. Bopp possesses a rather striking
personality. Even during his student life he took no interest in the
usual sports which engage so much of the time and energies of the
average student, nor has he ever “acquired the habit.” He has never
been associated with any secret societies, though admiring their
work for humanity and often encouraging others to join them. He is
not associated with any religious organization, but is a liberal
contributor to the support of the gospel and the up building of all
social and benevolent institutions. During the great temperance
movement in Iowa, which placed the prohibitory amendment on the
statute books, he took a decided stand in favor of its adoption, and
with voice and pen rendered every possible assistance to the cause
of temperance and sobriety. Since its adoption, and the ruling of
the Supreme Court rendering it inoperative, he has rendered all
possible assistance in furthering legislative enactment’s looking to
the state control of the liquor traffic. He is a man of positive
convictions, and whatever he believes to be right and just receives
his hearty support, even though alone and unsupported by popular
opinion. Like our worthy President, Mr. Bopp wears a smile that will
not come off and a temperament adjusted to all occasions. No one
ever saw him “ruffled,” but a genial smile and pleasant, seductive
voice meets every rebuff, and stamps Mr. Bopp as a polished
gentleman. He is exceptionally well informed, particularly on
political topics, and enjoys the acquaintance and friendship of a
greater number of prominent officials, office-seekers and
politicians than any other man in northern Iowa. His Democratic
friends delight to place him at the head of the so-called
“Republican ring,” and Bopp rather enjoys the distinction! He has
always declined public office, preferring to help his friends, or
his party principles, but would never accept a nomination, though
easily within his grasp.
Mr. Bopp is an extensive property holder in
West Union and Fayette County, all accumulated, largely, through his
own unaided efforts. Besides his beautiful home property, he owns
eight handsome residences in West Union, all of which have been
built or rebuilt within recent years and modernized and rendered
“up-to-date” by the owner. These, besides being a handsome addition
to the town, are always in demand at good rental figures. The Bopp
block, a modern two-story brick building, with handsome stone front,
was constructed in 1898, and is occupied by several permanent
tenants, besides Mr. Bopp’s commodious offices.
Such, in brief, is the record of a man now
in the prime of life, who is distinctively “self-made,” as that
expression is understood. As shown in his parental sketch, to which
reference has been made, he was born of German parents who came to
this country in pioneer days, and were poor, ignorant of the manners
and customs of American people, and also ignorant of the usual
methods of money-making. The subject heard no language in the home
except the German until after he was six years old, but the memory
of the mother tongue is one of the sweetest remembrances of
childhood’s happy days. In later years he studied the language and
is fluent and accurate in the use of German.
It is not the purpose of this article, nor
of consistent biography generally, to unduly extol the merits of any
individual, except as their recital stimulates an effort to imitate
the example of a worthy subject. If this object lesson should
encourage any struggling young man to work for attainments above the
mediocre, and pave for himself the pathway to success, it will have
served a worthy purpose.
History of Fayette County Iowa, 1910
Volume I, pages 584 – 590
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Fayette County IAGenWeb