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.