Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1915
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 624
JAMES S. DEWELL

A man of exceptional legal and business ability is James S. DEWELL, who has been a resident of this county since 1883. He has not only been active in legal circles but has taken a prominent part in the business life of his county. As a public-spirited citizen he has held a large number of offices of various kinds and has never failed to give his hearty support to such measures as he felt would benefit the community at large. He has been secretary of the Missouri Valley board of education for more than thirty years, a record which has probably never been equaled in the state. In addition to his various interests in the city of Missouri Valley he has extensive land holdings in many different states.

James S. DEWELL, the son of Nathaniel and Winnie (MCCOMB) DEWELL, was born at Tipton, Cedar county, Iowa, June 16, 1857. His father was a native of Ohio and his mother of Indiana, and they came to Iowa after their marriage, locating in Tipton, Cedar county, in 1855, where they lived until their death, the mother dying in 1865 and the father in 1890.

Nathaniel DEWELL was a prominent citizen of Cedar county, Iowa, during all the time he was a resident of Tipton. He was a member of the board of supervisors in Cedar county and held many other offices. He was married three times. To his first marriage to Winnie MCCOMB were born eight children, four of whom are living, M. F. DEWELL, of Ida Grove, Iowa; George A., of Sioux City, Iowa; Mrs. Silas SILSBY, of Sedalia, Missouri, and James S., of Missouri Valley, Iowa. Hiram W., the eldest son of this marriage, served in the thirty-second and thirty-third sessions of the Iowa Legislature from Cedar county. The second wife of Nathaniel DEWELL was Mrs. Anna WILKINS, and to this marriage two children were born, Mrs. Ella WESTFALL, wife of Jerome WESTFALL, of Trenton, Missouri, and Mrs. J. A. MADDEN, of Council Bluffs, Iowa. His third wife was Amanda BIXLER, and to this union two children were born, Harman, the superintendent of the electric light plant at Clinton, Iowa, and Fred B., a farmer of Clarence, Iowa. Mrs. Amanda BIXLER DEWELL is now living in Clinton, Iowa.

James S. DEWELL was reared on a farm near Clarence, Cedar county, Iowa, where he remained until he was twenty-one years of age. He was educated in the high school at Clarence, and at Iowa State College at Ames. He was graduated from the scientific course in 1881 and then entered Iowa State University, being graduated from the law department in 1883. In September of the same year he came to Missouri Valley, where he has been living since.

Mr. DEWELL has been very active in the life of Missouri Valley. In the spring after he located in the city he was elected city clerk, and the following year was elected mayor, holding this position for one term. He was city attorney for several years, and in 1888 was elected county attorney. He was elected secretary of the board of education of the city in 1884, and has held this position continuously since that time. He has always taken a prominent part in Republican politics and was chairman of the Harrison county Republican central committee for several years. He has been a delegate to nearly every state convention of his party since locating in the county. He was a district delegate to the national Republican convention in 1908. He has served on the state central committee, and in fact, has been one of the leaders of his party in this section of the state for more than a quarter of a century.

Mr. DEWELL is vice-president of the State Savings Bank of Missouri Valley, and a director in the Missouri Valley Ice and Cold Storage Company. He has been attorney for the City Electric Light Company since its organization, and for many years was attorney for the Northwestern Railway Company. He served for a number of years as president of the Capital and Merchants and Bankers Insurance Company, of Des Moines, Iowa, until they recently retired from business. In company with W. A. SMITH he built a thirty-thousand-dollar opera house in Missouri Valley in 1895, in which he maintained an interest until it was sold in 1909. He has two farms in Harrison county, one of which he leases to a responsible tenant, while he operates the other himself. He also owns a one-third interest in one thousand acres of land in Monona county, Iowa, and has other real-estate holdings in eight different states throughout the Union. Thus it is seen that Mr. DEWELL is a man of extensive interests, and a man deeply concerned in the welfare of his city and county.

Mr. DEWELL was married October 18, 1893, to Emma JOY, a daughter of Samuel JOY, who was born in New York state. To this union has been born one daughter, Joy, who is now eighteen years of age.

Mr. DEWELL is a thirty-second degree Mason, and a Shriner, holding membership in the Consistory and the Shrine at Des Moines. His other fraternal affiliations are with the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. DEWELL is a man of broad sympathies and keenly interested in all measures which are promoted for the general advancement of the community where he makes his home. In all things he has acted as the true American citizen, and thus merits inclusion among the representative men of Harrison county.

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