Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1915
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 606
CHARLES W. BAYS

It is a well-recognized fact that the most powerful influence in shaping and controlling public life is the press. It reaches a greater number of people than any other agency and thus has always been and always will be a most important factor in moulding public opinion, and, in a definite sense, shaping the destiny of the nation. The gentleman, to a brief review of whose life the following lines are devoted, is prominently connected with the journalism of western Iowa, being owner and editor of the Woodbine Twiner, one of the most popular papers of this section. The county recognizes in Mr. BAYS not only a keen newspaper man, but also a representative citizen, whose interest in all that affects the general welfare has been of such a character as to win for him a high place in the confidence and esteem of the people.

Charles W. BAYS was born in White Cloud, Kansas, on March 21, 1870, the son of Davis H. and Elizabeth J. (MCGAHAN) BAYS, the former of whom was a native of the state of Texas, born near Corpus Christi, where he remained until he was sixteen or eighteen years of age. He then went to Beaver Island, Michigan, where he remained for a few years and then came to this state and located in the then small village known as Kanesville, but which is now the thriving city of Council Bluffs. There he was married and for a time lived in Missouri and Kansas, in the latter of which states the immediate subject of this sketch was born. Davis H. BAYS then came back to this state, locating at Little Sioux, in this county, where he remained for a few years. He then moved to Galland's Grove in Shelby county, where he purchased land and farmed for six, or eight years. He had become interested some time previous in the teachings of the church of the Latter Day Saints and was by them sent as a missionary to Texas, near his boyhood home. He remained there for two years and then returned to his farm home in Shelby county, this state. In 1880 he sold that farm and moved to Persia, Harrison county, where he remained until 1885, in which year his wife, the mother of Charles W., died. Shortly after the death of Mrs. BAYS, Mr. BAYS and family started on the overland journey to the west central portion of Kansas, where Mr. BAYS bought a quarter section of land and remained for four years. He was there married a second time and remained in that locality until the death of his second wife, when he returned to Harrison county, and here passed the remainder of his life, his death occurring at Persia, Iowa. He was a photographer and did considerable work in that line in addition to his services as a minister of his chosen church. He was the father of nine children: Ella M., Flora E., George W., Charles W., Henry W. (deceased), Clara E., Myrtle E., Jessie E. (deceased) and Maud E.

Charles W. BAYS received his elementary education in the common schools of Persia, Iowa, later attending Highland Park College for two years, preparing himself for the vocation of teaching. He was an instructor in various high schools for twelve years, principal for two years at Panama, in Shelby county, principal at Smithland for five years and then principal at Mondamin for one year. He then entered newspaper work at Woodbine, which has been the scene of his labors since that time. He first took up newspaper work in 1898 at Persia, but continued his duties as a teacher for another ten years and it was not until 1908 that he assumed the ownership and active management of the paper which now claims his best efforts and which is justly popular throughout that section of the state which it so ably represents.

Charles W. BAYS was married on March 21, 1891, to Estella THOMPSON, known locally by the name of Estella TUPPER, inasmuch as she was reared by the TUPPER family, one of the oldest and most highly respected families of this county, and to this union have been born four children, Effie L., Leona H., Ethel B. and Zelma M.

Mr. BAYS is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America, and he is a member of the Christian church, in the progress of which organization he is sincerely interested, and to which he contributes of his time and means. Mr. BAYS is a Republican and that is the policy of the paper which he owns, the editorial columns of which are conducted in harmony with his political views. Believing that the fundamental mission of a newspaper is to give the news of the day to its readers, he has, to the best of his ability, striven to meet that idea and to keep the people of his section rightly informed on current events. Mr. BAYS is one of the representative citizens of Woodbine, the family being held in high regard by a large circle of friends and acquaintances.

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