Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1915
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 767
CHARLES B. DRAIN

In his particular line of business there are few men in this county who have a more comprehensive grasp on the technique of the vocation in which their talents are being exercised than Charles B. DRAIN, who for the past 18 years has been foreman of the erecting department of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company's shops at Missouri Valley. Since the year 1884, Mr. DRAIN has been connected with the railroad service and has come to be recognized as a man of exceptional ability in his line. Practically his whole active career has been given to the mechanical side of the railroad service, and he has done faithful and conscientious work for his employers.

Charles B. DRAIN, the son of John and Martha DRAIN, was born at Council Bluffs, Iowa, May 9, 1865. His father died about 20 years ago and his mother is now living at Chadron, Nebraska.

C. B. DRAIN was educated in the schools of Plattsmouth, Nebraska, to which place his parents had removed when he was four years old. He was graduated from the high school and at once engaged in the railroading business. He spent one summer at Topeka, Kansas, as foreman of a sidewalk gang, and in 1884 went to Missouri Valley where he worked for the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company as a night caller. He worked at this for nine months and was then made roundhouse foreman. Recognizing the fact that he did not have the practical experience to qualify for a good position in the railroad shops, he returned to Chadron, Nebraska, where he served an apprenticeship as a machinist. In 1890 he returned to Missouri Valley and again took a position with the chicago & Northwestern railroad in the shops in that city. Five years later he was appointed to the position of erecting shop foreman and has since filled that position in a very satisfactory manner.

Mr. DRAIN was married March 29, 1890 to Mattie HILL of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and to this union have been born two sons, Harry and Lawrence. Harry was born in 1892, was graduated from the Missouri Valley high school and will be graduated in 1915 in the mechanical engineering course at Ames College, Ames, Iowa. Lawrence was born in 1895, and after he was graduated from the Missouri Valley high school entered Iowa State University where he is taking the dental course. During the summer vacations, he works as a bookkeeper in the car shops in his home city. Mr. DRAIN is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. Politically he is a Republican, but the nature of his duties are such that he has never taken an active part in political matters. His wife and sons are members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. DRAIN is a self-made man and owes his present position solely to his own initiative and well directed efforts. He is highly regarded by those who know him as a man of sterling character and honesty of purpose.

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