SAMUEL H. FAIRALL was born at Little Meadows, Allegheny County, Maryland, on
the 21st of June, 1835. He was educated in the public schools and at an
academy of Fayette County, studied law, located at Iowa City in 1855, and was
admitted to practice in the Supreme Court in 1856. He has been an active
politician in the Democratic party, serving as a delegate to the Philadelphia
and New York National Conventions for the nomination of candidates for
President. In 1861 he was elected a Representative in the Ninth General
Assembly, serving one term. In 1867 he was elected to the State Senate,
serving eight years by reelection, being a member of the Twelfth, Thirteenth,
Fourteenth and Fifteenth General Assemblies. In 1886 he was elected judge
of the District Court, and was reelected in 1890. From 1868 to 1873 he
was a member of the Board of Legal Inquiry with W. H. Seevers and J. O. Crosby.
While a member of the General Assembly Judge Fairall was the author of
several important acts. He is the author of a Reference Digest of Iowa
Reports, and a work on Township Laws of Iowa.
DAVID S. FAIRCHILD was born in Fairfield, Vermont, September 16, 1847.
He attended the academies of Franklin and Barre, after which he studied
medicine in the university of Michigan, and Albany, New York. Going west
after graduation, he was appointed physician to the Iowa Agricultural College
and in 1879 was elected professor of physiology and comparative anatomy which
position he held until 1893. He then resigned to accept the position of
surgeon for the Chicago & Northwestern Railway; later he was made district
surgeon, and in 1897 was appointed special examining surgeon for the Milwaukee
Railway. In 1882 he was elected professor of histology and pathology in
the Iowa College of Physicians and Surgeons in Des Moines, and in 1885 was
transferred to the chair of pathology and diseases of the nervous system; in
1886 he was given the chair of theory and practice. He served two years
as president of the college. Dr. Fairchild has always taken an active
interest in medical organizations, serving as an officer of the District
Medical Society, in 1895 as president of the State Medical Society, and has
also been president of the Western Surgical and Gynecological Association.
He was a delegate to the International Medical Congress in 1876; assisted
in the organization of the Iowa Academy of Sciences, and was chairman of the
committee appointed by the State Medical Society to prepare a history of
medicine in Iowa.
SEWELL S. FARWELL was born in Ohio, April 26, 1834, came to Iowa in 1852 and
made his home in Jones County. When the Civil War began he entered the
military service and was commissioned captain of Company H, of the Thirty-first
Iowa Volunteer Infantry and before the close of the war was promoted to major.
He participated in the battles of Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, siege
of Vicksburg, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta,
Jonesboro and Sherman's March to the Sea. In 1865 he was elected on the
Republican ticket to represent Jones County in the State Senate, serving four
years. In 1869 he was appointed by President Grant Assessor of Internal
Revenue for the Second District of Iowa for the term of four years. In
February, 1875, he was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue, serving six
years, in the same district. In 1880 he was nominated by the Republicans
for Representative in Congress and was elected, serving one term.
ORAN FAVILLE, first
Lieutenant-Governor of Iowa, was born in Herkimer County, New York, October 13,
1817. He was reared on a farm, received a liberal education, having
graduated at the Wesleyan University of Connecticut in 1844. For many
years he was instructor in ancient languages in various seminaries in New York
and Vermont. While Professor of languages in Lebanon College, Illinois,
his health failed and he removed to a farm in Mitchell County, Iowa, in 1855.
In 1857 he was elected Lieutenant-Governor of the State on the Republican
ticket, that office having been created by the Constitution just adopted.
He became President of the Senate and ex-officio President of the State
Board of Education. In January, 1864, he was chosen secretary of the
board and in March was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, serving until
1867. Mr. Faville was president of the State Teachers' Association in
1864-5 and editor of the Iowa School Journal from 1863 to 1867. He died
on the 31st of October, 1872.
JOSEPH D. FEGAN is one of the pioneers of Iowa, having lived in the State
since 1849. He was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, July 26, 1831,
and had but few educational advantages, learning the tailor's trade when
fourteen years of age. In 1849 he came West, and stopped at Fairfield,
Jefferson County, Iowa. In 1850 he removed to Princeton, Scott County,
and later settled in Clinton County. In 1862 Mr. Fegan enlisted as a
private in Company I, Twenty-sixth Iowa Volunteers and was promoted to
sergeant-major, participating in twenty-one engagements and several sieges,
He was in the battles of Arkansas Post, Lookout Mountain, Missionary
Ridge, Ringgold, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain and in the sieges of Vicksburg,
Atlanta and Savannah and the march to the sea. Mr. Fegan was promoted to
first lieutenant and adjutant of the regiment in 1863, and later became captain
of company B, of the regiment. He was commissioned by President Lincoln
Assistant Adjutant-General in the regular army. He was chairman of the
Commission appointed by Governor Jackson to locate and mark the position of
Iowa troops engaged in the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge and
was also one of the commissioners appointed by Governor Shaw to locate and mark
the lines of Iowa troops at the siege of Vicksburg. Captain Fegan was
formerly a Democrat but since the Civil War has affiliated with the
Republicans.
LIBERTY E. FELLOWS was born at Corinth, Vermont, August 22, 1834. His
education was acquired in the common schools and academies of Orange County.
In 1857 he removed to Iowa, locating near Lansing, where for several
years he was engaged in farming and school teaching. He studied law, was
admitted to the bar in 1862 and entered upon the practice of his profession.
In 1865 he was elected on the Democratic ticket to the House of the
Eleventh General Assembly. At the close of his term he was elected to the
Senate, serving in the Twelfth and Thirteenth General Assemblies. In 1889
Mr. Fellows was appointed judge of the District Court to fill a vacancy, and
has been three times elected for full terms in the same position. He was
for twelve years a member of the Board of Trustees of the Hospital for Insane
at Mount Pleasant and many years a regent of the State University. He was
two years Grand Master of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Iowa. In 1883, Judge
Fellows united with the Republican party.
STEPHEN N. FELLOWS, theologian and
educator, was born May 30, 1830, in North Sandwich, New Hampshire. His
early educational advantages were meager; at the age of eighteen he entered
Rock River Seminary, at Mount Morris, Illinois, but for lack of means was
unable to continue his studies beyond the fourth term. In 1851 he entered
Asbury, now De Pauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, where he graduated with
the degree of A. B. in 1854. Previous to his graduation he was made professor
of mathematics and natural science at Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa.
In 1856 he joined the Upper Iowa Conference of the Methodist Episcopal
church, and in 1860 resigned his professorship and entered the ministry, having
charge of churches at Dyersville, Tipton, Lyons and Marshalltown. In
1867, by an unanimous vote, Dr. Fellows was elected principal of the Normal
Department of the State University, holding the position for twenty years.
When he began his work, the State had neither made provision for any
higher normal course nor planned to do so; but Dr. Fellows recognized the need
of this higher education of teachers and it was largely through his influence
that the standard of the department was raised. In 1873 through the
efforts of Dr. Fellows the elementary normal department was formed and became
the chair of didactics and united with that of mental and moral science.
For six years this was the only chair of didactics in any American
college or university. Dr. Fellows was president of the State Teachers'
Association in 1869 and 1872.l He has had great influence in State
temperance work, his open letters on the subject attracting wide attention.
He was at one time president of the State Temperance Alliance. In
1871 he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Cornell College.
In 1891 he was a delegate to the Ecumenical Methodist Conference at Washington
and in 1893 was a member of the Advisory Council of Religions at Chicago.
He was a leader in organizing the Indian Rights Association of Iowa.
ANDREW J. FELT, pioneer
journalist, was born at Victor, Ontario County, New York, December 27, 1833.
He was educated at Hamilton Academy, later studying law, and came to Iowa
in 1855 before being admitted to the bar. Mr. Felt located in Clayton
County and the following year became associate editor of the North Iowa
Times of McGregor. He was admitted to the bar in Chickasaw County and
established the Cedar Valley News at Bradford, attending to law business
and editing his paper. In 1860 he renewed his editorial connection with
the North Iowa Times until the Civil War began when he enlisted in
Company B, Seventh Iowa Volunteers. At the Battle of Belmont, he was
taken prisoner, remaining in captivity for a year, when he was exchanged and
joined his regiment at Corinth. After returning from the army Mr. Felt
established the Public Record at West Union, and in 1867 the Nashua
Post which he conducted until 1874 when he purchased an interest in the Waterloo
Courier. He was originally a Democrat but became a Republican during
the war period. He was a delegate to the National Republican Convention
at Chicago which, in 1868, nominated General Grant for President and was chosen
one of the secretaries. Later he removed to Kansas where he became
prominent in public affairs and was elected Lieutenant-Governor of the State.
ROBERT S. FINKBINE, the builder of
the permanent State House of Iowa in his fourteen years' superintendence of
that structure, erected a monument to his own memory that will endure for many
generations. Form the day that he was appointed Superintendent of the
construction of the Capitol not a dollar of the appropriations made from time
to time was misapplied. He was thoroughly competent from long experience
in building and no contractor was ever able to deceive him in the quality of
the material furnished. His eagle eye was on every part of the work and
from start to finish the State never lost a dollar of the $2,876,300 expended
under his supervision. Mr. Finkbine was born in Ohio on the 9th of July,
1828, removed to Iowa in 1850 and for many years was a resident of Iowa City,
where he engaged in contracting and building. On the 22d of February,
1856, when a State Convention of the opponents of slavery assembled at Iowa
City and proceeded to organize the Republican party in Iowa R. S. Finkbine was
one of the delegates from Johnson County. He was one of the men who in
the evening at the ratification meeting called out Samuel J. Kirkwood for a
speech which was the first introduction of the afterwards famous "War
Governor" to the public. In 1863 Mr. Finkbine was elected to the
House of the Tenth General Assembly and two years later he was reelected to the
Eleventh General Assembly. He was not a speechmaker but was esteemed as a
member of excellent judgment. Soon after his appointment as
superintendent of the erection of the State House, Mr. Finkbine became a
resident of Des Moines, where he died on the 8th of July, 1901.
MATURIN L. FISHER was born in Danville, Vermont, on the 10th of June, 1807.
He was a graduate of Brown University and studied law, but never
practiced. He was the Democratic candidate for Congress in the Worcester
District of Massachusetts in 1836. In 1849 he removed to Iowa, settling
on a farm in Clayton County, making that his permanent home. In 1852 he
was elected to the State Senate from a district embracing fifteen counties of
northeastern Iowa. Two years later he was elected President of the Senate
of the Fifth General Assembly ad presided over the joint convention which first
elected James Harlan to the United States Senate. At the extra session of
1856 Mr. Fisher was chosen President of the Senate by a unanimous vote.
In April, 1857, he was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction on
the Democratic ticket, although the Republicans had carried the State at the
preceding August election by more than 7,000 majority. Mr. Fisher was
elected one of the trustees of the Mount Pleasant Insane Asylum in 1860 and
served as president of the board until 1872. In 1861 he was appointed to
act with the State Treasurer to negotiate the sale of State bonds for the War
and Defense Fund. In 1863 Mr. Fisher was nominated for Governor by the
Democratic State Convention but declined. He was one of the commissioners
who superintended the erection of the Hospital for the Insane at Independence
and the State House at Des Moines and was universally esteemed as one of the
most useful public men of Iowa. He died on the 5th of February, 1879.
WILLIAM H. FLEMING was born in the City of New York on the 14th of April,
1833. His education was acquired in the schools of that city and in the
printing offices where he was employed. He came to Iowa in 1854, stopping
in Davenport where he worked at his trade. A few years later he went to
Le Claire where for three years he published a paper. He was later city
editor of the Davenport Gazette, and soon after the beginning of the
Civil War he became a clerk in the office of Adjutant-General Baker. In
1867 he was appointed by General Ed. Wright, deputy Secretary of State,
remaining in that position until appointed private secretary to Governor
Merrill. He has served as private secretary also to Governors Carpenter,
Kirkwood, Newbold, Gear, Drake and Shaw. No man in Iowa has a more
thorough knowledge of the State affairs and public men of the times than
Major Fleming. He has been employed in superintending the State census
upon several occasions. In 1883 he purchased an interest in the Iowa
Weekly Capital and soon after established the daily edition. During
his residence in Iowa he has done a large amount of newspaper work on various
papers, and has long been regarded as high authority on all matters relating to
Iowa history. In 1903 he received an appointment in the Treasury Department
at Washington. He is a Republican in politics and has been a life-long
worker in the temperance cause. He was one of the founders of the
Unitarian church in Des Moines.
JAMES P. FLICK was born at Bakerstown, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, August
28, 1845. When he was seven years of age his parents removed to Iowa,
making their home in Wapello County. In 1857 they became residents of
Taylor County which has since been Mr. Flick's home. He enlisted in the
Fourth Iowa Infantry in April, 1862, and served in the Civil War as a private
soldier. Studying law after his return he was admitted to the bar.
He was elected on the Republican ticket to the House of the Seventeenth
General Assembly and was District Attorney for six years. In 1888 he was
elected to Congress in the Eighth District and reelected in 1890, serving four
years.
JOHN G. FOOTE was born at Middlebury, Vermont, April 21, 1814. He
came to Iowa in 1843, locating at Burlington where for thirty-three years he
was engaged in the hardware business. He was one of the influential
promoters of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad and treasurer of the
company for several years, also serving as director of the Peoria, Carthage
& Burlington Railroad and of the first telegraph company which built a line
to Burlington. Mr. Foote was one of the organizers and a director of the
First National Bank of Burlington. In 1861 he was elected on the
Republican ticket State Senator, serving in the Ninth and Tenth General
Assemblies. He ranked high in financial legislation. In 1872 he was
chosen one of the commissioners to superintend the erection of the new State
House and had charge of the finances until the building was completed in 1886.
Under his administration $2,876,300 were disbursed and not a dollar was
misappropriated during the fourteen years in which the work was in progress.
He was a man of fine business ability and of stern integrity. He
died on the 4th of March, 1896.
SIDNEY A. FOSTER was born May 17,
1849, in Allegany County, New York. His education was obtained in the
schools of that section and the printing office. He came to Iowa in 1874
and was employed in writing county histories for the Andreas Historical Atlas,
and later was one of the authors of the histories of the counties of Dubuque,
Fayette, Howard, Mitchell and Floyd. Later he was engaged in conducting
the Mitchell County News and the Worth County Eagle. In
1884 he was elected chief clerk of the House of the Twentieth General Assembly.
In 1886 he was one of the organizers of the Royal Union Mutual Insurance
Company of which he has since been secretary. He is a notable public
speaker and in one of his addresses acquired more than State-wide reputation as
the author of the following remark: "Of all that is good, Iowa
affords the best."
SUEL FOSTER was one of the pioneer horticulturists of Iowa. He
was born at Hillsboro, New Hampshire, on the 26th of August, 1811, and on his
mother's side was related to George Bancroft the historian. He was reared
on a farm and educated in the common schools. In 1836 he made the journey
to Rock Island. Mr. Foster and his brother purchased a sixth interest in the
town of Bloomington for $500, which then consisted of one hundred sixty acres
of land upon which were two log cabins. Here Mr. Foster made his
permanent home and here the city of Muscatine grew up. In 1852 he began
to plant a nursery and to give his attention to experimental work in
horticulture. He became a well-known writer on fruit and forest growing,
contributing to the principal journals of agriculture and horticulture in the
West. Mr. Foster was one of the founders of the Iowa Horticultural
Society and a life-long member. As early as 1847 he began to advocate the
establishment of a State Agricultural College, similar to institutions existing
in Germany. He gathered information relating to the European schools of
agriculture and was a strenuous advocate of the establishment of one in Iowa to
be supported by State aid. He assisted in preparing a bill which was introduced
into the Legislature by R. A. Richardson in 1856, for the creation of
such a college. When the Seventh General Assembly provided by law for a
State Agricultural College, Suel Foster was made one of the trustees and was
for five years president of the board. To the end of his life he
continued to work in experimental horticulture and by his pen advocated
industrial education.
BENJAMIN T. FREDERICK was born in Fredericktown, Columbiana County, Ohio, on the
5th of October, 1834. He removed to Iowa, becoming a resident of
Marshalltown where he engaged in manufacturing. For a long time he was a
member of the school board and also of the city council. In the fall of
1882 he was nominated by the Democrats of the Fifth District for Representative
in Congress. The election was close and the certificate was awarded by
the canvassers to his Republican competitor, James Wilson. But
after a long contest, lasting until the last day of the second session, it was
decided that Mr. Frederick had been elected in place of Wilson who had held the
seat. Mr. Frederick was again nominated in 1884 and elected over Milo P.
Smith. In 1886 Mr. Frederick was nominated a third time but was defeated
at the election and soon after removed to California.
ALICE FRENCH was born March 19, 1850, in Andover, Massachusetts, and was
educated at Abbott Academy in Andover. She came to Iowa with her parents
in 1857, making her home at Davenport. At an early age Miss French
developed a talent for story writing and eventually became one of the best
known authors of fiction in the West. Her character delineations of the
west and southwest are among the most graphic to be found, showing close
observation of the salient peculiarities of the types of that region.
Among her best known works of fiction are "Knitters in the
Sun," "Otto the Knight," "Stories of a Western
Town," and "Expiation." She is perhaps more widely known
as "Octave Thanet" a nom de plume adopted. Her stories
have been in demand by the best magazines of the country and are among the most
fascinating in American fiction.
WILLIAM E. FULLER was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, March 30, 1846.
The family removed to Iowa in 1853, settling at West Union in Fayette
County. William E. attended the Upper Iowa University and graduated from
the Law Department of the State University in 1870. He then entered upon
the practice of his profession at his home in West Union. In 1866 he
received an appointment in the Indian Bureau of the Department of the Interior
and spent two years in Washington. In 1876 he was a member of the Lower
House of the Iowa Legislature. Mr. Fuller was elected on the Republican
ticket Representative in Congress for the Fourth District in 1884 and in
1886 was reelected, serving two terms. During this time he was a member
of the Republican Congressional Committee. In 1901 Mr. Fuller was
appointed by President McKinley Assistant Attorney-General of the United
States, having charge of the Spanish war claims.
AMBROSE C. FULTON was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1811, working
on his father's farm until 1827 when he went to Philadelphia and began a career
of adventure, He went to sea, landed in New Orleans and engaged in trade
with the West India Islands, accumulating money to build several business
houses in New Orleans. He raised a company and aided Texas in its revolt
against Mexico. In 1842 Mr. Fulton located in Davenport, Iowa, where he
built the first flat-boat that made the trip to New Orleans from that city.
In company with others he selected a mill-site on the Wapsipinicon River
in Buchanan County and built a dam and flouring mill. In 1848 he
built a large flouring mill in Davenport and was one of the first to project
the railroad which was built west from that place. In 1854 Mr. Fulton was
elected by a union of the Whigs and Antislavery voters to represent Scott
County in the State Senate and helped elect James Harlan to the United States
Senate to take the place of George W. Jones. For more than forty years
Mr. Fulton was engaged in nearly all public enterprises for the building up of
Davenport and during that time erected thirty-seven buildings. He was
always one of the leaders and promoters of public enterprises to advance the
development of the city and State. He was an intelligent writer for the
leading newspapers and did much in that way to bring settlers into the city,
and men of capital into the State.
ALEXANDER R. FULTON, author of
"The Red Men of Iowa," was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, October 11,
1825. He received a liberal education and came to Iowa in 1851 where he
was employed in newspaper work on the Fairfield Ledger for three years.
For twelve years he was county surveyor. He was one of the founders
of the Republican party of Iowa, and was judge of Jefferson County when that
officer had charge of financial affairs. In 1867 he was elected a member
of the House of the Twelfth General Assembly. During the years 1868-9 he
traveled through the counties of Iowa for the State Register writing historical
sketches, which were of permanent value. He compiled a book on the
"Free Lands of Iowa," giving a large amount of information to persons
seeking homes in the State. Mr. Fulton served several years as secretary
of the State Board of Immigration and also as secretary of the Capitol
Commission. In 1872 the State Printing Company was organized at Des
Moines to supply auxiliary printed sheets to country papers and Judge Fulton
was selected as editor, a position he held under various changes as long as he
lived. The work for which he will be longest remembered was performed
during this time. No history of the Iowa Indians was in existence and
Judge Fulton entered upon the work, which was completed and published in 1882.
The title of the volume was "The Red Men of Iowa" and was a
comprehensive and reliable history of the various Indian tribes which had at
times occupied portions of Iowa. Judge Fulton was secretary of the
Pioneer Lawmakers' Association at the time of his death, which occurred September
29, 1891.
ABRAHAM B. FUNK, journalist and
legislator, was born at liberty, Illinois, January 12, 1854. He came to
Iowa with his father's family in 1865, first locating in Hamilton County and
later removing to Esterville. Here in 1870 the young man entered the
office of the Northern Vindicator as compositor and made such progress
that in two years he became half owner of the Spirit Lake Beacon.
In 1878 he established a paper at Flandreau, Dakota, where he was elected
the first mayor of the town. In 1879 the same year he returned to Spirit
Lake of which he also became the first mayor, and was connected with the Beacon
at the same period. Through this journal Mr. Funk acquired wide
influence in northwestern Iowa. His political career began with his
election as delegate to the National Republican Convention of 1884, and in 1887
he was elected to the State Senate from the district consisting of the counties
of Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Palo Alto and Kossuth. He served in that
position for three terms, attaining high rank among the leading members of the
General Assemblies during that period of twelve years. As chairman of the
committee on ways and means he was largely instrumental in framing and securing
the passage of the bill creating the State Board of Control. In 1897
Senator Funk was one of the most prominent candidates before the Republican
State Convention for nomination for Governor, at the time Leslie M. Shaw was
nominated. Upon the creation of the State Commission to improve and complete
the Capital building, Senator Funk was made a member.
JAMES H. FUNK was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, February 15, 1842.
His educational advantages were meager but by evening study he became
qualified to teach school. In 1862 he enlisted as a private in the
Fifty-third Illinois Infantry. After returning from the war he studied
law and was admitted to the bar in 1871. He took an active part in
Illinois politics and served tow terms in the Legislature of that State.
In 1890 Mr. Funk removed to Iowa, making his home on a farm near Iowa
Falls where he engaged in raising horses. He became an active participant
in public affairs and in 1893 was elected on the Republican ticket to the House
of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth General Assembly. He was chairman
of the committee on the suppression of intemperance and was reelected to the
Twenty-sixth General Assembly where he became chairman of the committee on ways
and means. He was elected to the Twenty-seventh General Assembly and was
chosen Speaker of the House.