NORTHWESTERN IOWA

ITS HISTORY AND TRADITIONS

VOLUME II

1804-1926

"D"

Thomas Dealtry

Probably no one identified with the live stock commission business in northwestern Iowa is more widely or favorably known than Thomas Dealtry, of Sioux City.  With an intimate knowledge of every angle of the live stock business, not only locally, but nationally and internationally as well, he is unusually well equipped mentally for successfully handling the business which he represents, being particularly well qualified as an advisor.  he has given long and close study to the live stock situation of the world and his analysis of conditions and his prognosis as to the future conditions of the market have invariably been found to be correct.  For these reasons, as well as his sound business judgment and his sterling integrity, he has long held an enviable position as dean of the business in this section of the state.  Thomas Dealtry was born in Madras, East India, October 11, 1860, and is a son of a minister who was serving in that country.  When eight years of age he accompanied his parents on their return to England, where he attended the public schools and completed his education at Rugby.  In 1880 he came to the United States, locating at LeMars, Iowa, where he paid one thousand dollars to Colonel Morton to learn the business of farming, being principally required to milk six cows morning and evening.  In 1882 he joined with a Mr. Fullbrook and bought a farm, which they conducted under the firm name of Dealtry & Fullbrook.  Later he engaged in the grain business at Morris and bought live stock throughout the district, having seven stations.  In those early days prices were quite low, Mr. Dealtry recalling that when he landed at LeMars the best farm lands were selling at from five to fifteen dollars an acre, hogs form two and a half to three and a half cents a pound, cattle from two to four cents a pound, wheat from thirty to forty cents a bushel, corn at twenty cents and oats at fifteen cents a bushel.  From 1890 to 1900 Mr. Dealtry was located at Adrian, Iowa, where he gained a wide reputation as a discriminating and successful livestock man.  He was active in local affairs there and served as a member of the town council.  In 1900 Mr. dealtry came to Sioux City and in January of that year organized the firm of Wood Brothers & Company, his partners being S. E. (Doc) Wood, James Wood and Dick Nash, the concern being formed as a branch house of Wood Brothers of Chicago, which had been established by S. E. and James Wood in 1867.  During all these years after he first recognized the wonderful possibilities of the livestock business Mr. Dealtry kept closely in touch with the operations of his firm which he directed with a master hand up to November, 1925, at which time he severed his connection with this firm and organized the live stock commission firm of Dealtry & Gilman, which began business on January 1, 1926, with Mr. Dealtry as managing head of the business.

In 1888, at Carbondale, Illinois, Mr. Dealtry was united in marriage to Miss Harriet Hill.  He is a member of Tyrian Lodge, No. 508, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Sioux City Lodge, No. 112, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.  he was a charter member of the Prairie Club of LeMars and served several years on its board of directors.  He is a member of the Sioux City Country Club, the Sioux City Boat Club and the Chamber of Commerce, and is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church.  A man of kindly and genial manner, he nevertheless possesses a strong and forceful individuality, is a man of well defined opinions, with the courage of his convictions, and exerts a beneficent influence throughout his community, in the general welfare of which he has always maintained a deep interest.  Because of his success, his public spirit and his affable and friendly manner, he is deservedly popular throughout the community.

G. W. Downs

Among the residents of Palo Alto county who have gained enviable reputations because of their progressive and enterprising methods, and whose efforts have been rewarded with a goodly measure of success, stands George W. Downs, secretary of the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company of Palo Alto county and special agent for a number of other mutual insurance companies.  Mr. Downs was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, on the 19th of July, 1853, and is a son of John and Mary S. (Kuhn) Downs, the father a native of Ireland and the mother of Westmoreland county.  John Downs came to this country in young manhood and for a number of years was employed on the construction of the York & Erie Railroad.  In 1854 he came west, locating in Allamakee county, Iowa, where he bought a tract of government land, on which in later years he engaged in farming.  He lived in his seventy-fifth year, long surviving his wife who died at the comparatively  early age of thirty-tow years.

George W. Downs attended at the Upper Iowa University.  He then engaged in teaching school for a number of years, after which he began farming.  In 1878, with twelve or fifteen companions, he came to Palo Alto county, walking from Algona to Emmetsburg, the railroad not having yet been constructed through this locality.  Their object was to secure work on the building of the railroad and Mr. Downs was so employed for one summer.  During the period, he and his brother, James P., bought a quarter section of land near the town of Emmetsburg on the south, and they farmed this land in partnership for eighteen or twenty years.  He then sold his interest to his brother and bought two hundred acres, located two miles west of his first farm.  Later he added eighty acres to this tract and cultivated that place until 1915, when he moved into Emmetsburg, where he has since lived, though he still owns the farm.  For a number of years before leaving the farm he had been actively interested in the Farmers mutual Insurance Company of Palo Alto County and in 1916 was made secretary of this company, for which reason he moved into the town in order to keep in closer touch with his office.  From that time he has been a conspicuous figure in insurance circles of this locality, also representing other mutual insurance companies in this field.  he is a man of sound and reliable judgment and is energetic and progressive in his methods, his record in the insurance business being one that reflects very creditably on him.

In 1879 Mr. Downs was united in marriage to Miss Sarah J. Dungan, of Allamakee county, Iowa, and to them were born nine children, of which number eight survive, namely:  Mary Irene, James F., Margaret C., Charles J., Leo A., Ruth Estella, Blanche I. and Harold D.  Mr. Downs is a member of Palo Alto Lodge, No. 252, Knights of Pythias, and the Modern Woodman of America.  His religious faith is that of the Roman Catholic church.  He is a man of sterling character, takes a commendable interest in everything pertaining to the progress or the welfare of his locality and by his life and achievements he has merited the high place which he holds in the estimation of the public.