Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 597
MARCELLUS HOLBROOK

Marcellus HOLBROOK, an ex-banker of Missouri Valley, came to Harrison County in 1866, and first settled at Magnolia, coming to Missouri Valley in 1872. He was born in Somerset County, Pa., March 18, 1838, and is the son of Henry L. and Mary (CONNELLY) HOLBROOK, and is a descendant of one of the first colonists of New England. From MORSE's Genealogical Register we find that Thomas HOLBROOK, a native of Doresetshire, England, sailed from Weymouth, on the south coast of "white-cliffed Albion," on the 20th of March, 1635, with his wife, Jane HOLBROOK, and four children--John, Thomas, Ann and Elizabeth, and came to the Plymouth Colony, Mass., and settled at Weymouth. He died in 1674. Thomas, his second son, who was born in England in 1625, and was therefore ten years old when he crossed the water, became one of the leading citizens of the towns of Scituate, Weymouth and Braintree, and died in the latter place in 1697, leaving a family of children, among whom we may find Deacon Peter HOLBROOK. The latter was born in 1655, and died May 3, 1712, at or near Mendon, in the old Bay State. Among his children was John, who was born September 24, 1679. He married Miss Hannah CHAPIN, and after rearing a family departed this life, full of years, May 11, 1765, at Bellingham. His widow died at the same place, April 12, 1770, in her eighty-sixth year. Josiah, the son of John and Hannah HOLBROOK, was born January 17, 1714. He served in the Colonial militia through both of the French wars, and in the latter years of his life transplanted his family from Massachusetts to New York State, settling at Pompey. There he died February 4, 1873. He was the husband of two wives, Peggy IVES and Mary MOFFET, and had a family of children. One of these, David, whose birth occurred July 28, 1760, served as a soldier during our struggle for independence, receiving a sever wound at the battle of Bennington. After the Revolution he settled at Lafayette, N. Y., where he engaged in the practice of medicine, and there died November 29, 1832.

Henry L., the fourth child of Dr. David and Mehitabel (WELLS) HOLBROOK, was born in Onondaga County, N. Y., February 28, 1799. He received the elements of his education in that part of the great Empire State, principally at Pompey Hill. While there, in his younger manhood, he spent several years in teaching school, but about 1828 he removed to Somerset County, Pa., and for several years was Principal of the Somerset Academy. While residing there, May 12, 1829, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary CONNELLY, a native of that county, who was born in 1804. In 1834 he removed to a farm which he had purchased in the vicinity, where he made his home until 1865. In the spring of that year, with his family, he removed to the State of Iowa and settled in Monona County, where he made his home until called away by death February 11, 1874, his wife only surviving him until the 30th of May following. Mr. and Mrs. H. L. HOLBROOK were the parents of seven children: Charles H., of the firm of HOLBROOK & Bro., bankers, of Onawa: Eggleton W.; Bernard D., banker at Onawa; Norman Bruce, now President of the Iowa County Savings Bank, at Marengo, Iowa; Marcellus, of whom this sketch is written; Emily J., the wife of Herbert E. MORRISON, of Onawa; and Mary B., the wife of M. A. FREELAND, one of the leading business men of Onawa. Henry L. HOLBROOK was, during his residence in Somerset County, one of its leading citizens and a stanch and trusted member of the Democratic party and filled the office of County Surveyor there for many years. He never engaged actively in business after moving to Iowa. Of sterling integrity and simple tastes, like most of the race from which he sprang, the result of his life, upright and simple, has had its influence upon those left behind, and will prove "footprints on the sands of time" to lead his descendants for many generations in the path of moral rectitude.

Marcellus HOLBROOK's early education was received in his native county, in the common schools, and afterward he took a course of study at Morgantown, Va. He taught school a few years, and then began the study of law in 1861, and was admitted to the bar at Iowa City in 1863. He commenced to practice at Marengo, Iowa, and two years later removed to Magnolia, where he formed a law partnership with Henry FORD. In the spring of 1870, he engaged in the banking business with W. F. CLARK, at Magnolia, and two years later went to Missouri Valley, and bough the banking interests of William PELAN & Co., and operated a private bank until 1889, when the Valley Bank was formed of which he was made President. July 1, 1891, he sold his interest in this concern, and is now located at Springfield, Mo.

Politically, he is a Democrat. He belongs to the Masonic order at Missouri Valley.

He was united in marriage June 11, 1866, to Ellen BERKEY, the daughter of Dr. Michael BERKEY, of German ancestry. This marriage union resulted in the birth of six children, five of whom are living: Anna, wife of M. W. COOLBAUGH, cashier of the Valley Bank; Bruce, deceased when nine years old; Richard, Nellie, Katie and Burke. The three last named are still at home.

That no better citizen or business man ever lived in Harrison County seems to be the opinion of all who have been acquainted with Mr. HOLBROOK for the last quarter of a century.

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