NORTHWESTERN IOWA
ITS HISTORY AND TRADITIONS
VOLUME II
1804-1926
J
W. C. JARNAGIN
William Claude Jarnagin, proprietor and publisher of
the Storm Lake Pilot-Tribune, has been continuously identified with
journalistic interests during the past quarter century. His birth
occurred at Colfax, Iowa, on the 14th of August, 1879, his parents
being Joseph Warren and Sarah Catherine ( Aikin) Jarnagin, the
former born at Monmouth, Illinois, in October, 1853, and the latter
at Leighton, Iowa, in October, 1856. Joseph Warren Jarnagin
published newspapers at Colfax, Oskaloosa, Montezuma and Cedar
Falls. He was descended from early English colonists who settled in
the south under the name of Jarningham, while his wife came of
Pennsylvania Dutch lineage. Ancestors of William C. Jarnagin of
this review in both the paternal and maternal lines fought in the
Revolutionary war.
William C. Jaarnagin completed a high school course
at Montezuma, Iowa, by graduation with the class of 1896 and three
years later, in 1899, was graduated from the Iowa State Teachers
College at Cedar Falls with the degree of Master of Didactics. It
was in 1901, soon after attaining his majority, that he followed his
father's footsteps in the newspaper field, becoming proofreader on
the Des Moines Daily Capital. Subsequently he was employed as
reporter on the Des Moines Daily News and the Sioux City Tribune,
next became associate editor of the Cedar Falls Daily Record and
afterward returned to Des Moines. In the last named city he was
identified successively as reporter, city editor and managing editor
with the Des Moines Daily Capital, which he represented for eighteen
years, serving as managing editor during the last thirteen years of
that period. On the 1st of February, 1922, he purchased the Storm
Lake Pilot-Tribune and a year later removed to Storm Lake to begin
its publication. Here he has remained to the present time and has
built up a successful newspaper enterprise, the Pilot-Tribune being
an interesting, newsy journal with an extensive subscription and
advertising patronage.
At Woodbine, Iowa, on the 3d of May, 1902, Mr.
Jarnagin was united in marriage to Jean Gilchrist, a native of
Harrison county, Iowa. Her parents were Scotch and her maternal
grandfather was William Bogie, gardener for Sir Walter Scott at
Abbotsford. Mrs. Jean Jarnagin is an ardent member of the P. E. O.,
has done much newspaper work and originated the Elizabeth Dale
department of the Des Moines Capital. She is the mother of a son
and a daughter, namely: Philip Gilchrist Jarnagin, who is a
graduate of Drake University, where he specialized in journalism,
and who is connected with the Fairall Advertising Agency at Des
Moines; and Jane Catherine Jarnagin, a junior in the College of
Liberal Arts of the State University of Iowa.
In his political views Mr. Jarnagin is a stanch
republican. He served as president of the Storm Lake Commercial
Club in 1924 and also made a most commendable record as president of
the Storm Lake Kiwanis Club in 1926. In religious faith he is a
Presbyterian, while fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic
order, belonging to the blue lodge at Storm Lake, as well as to the
consistory and to Za-Ga-Zig Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Des
Moines. He is likewise a member of the Knights of Pythias, is an
associate member of Sigma Delta, Chi, a journalistic fraternity, and
also belongs to Delta Sigma Rho, an honorary debating fraternity.
Mr. Jarnagin has gained an extensive circle of warm friends in
these various connections. He ever stands fearlessly in support of
what he believes to be right and his position upon any vital
question is never an equivocal one.
C. H. JENSEN
Clay Henry Jensen, an able and successful young
attorney of Sioux City, was born in Davenport, Iowa, on the 26th of
November, 1887, his parents being Henry and Allee (Sneverkrubbe)
Jensen, both of whom are also natives of this state. The father is
a retired agriculturist residing at Alvord, Iowa.
Clay H. Jensen acquired his early education in the
public schools of Davenport and Rock Rapids and received his more
advanced intellectual training in Highland Park (now Des Moines)
University. He engaged in the profession of school teaching for a
brief period prior to taking up the study of law in the office of
Judge Kennedy in Sioux City and he was admitted to the bar in 1922.
He maintains offices in the Iowa Building and has been accorded a
steadily increasing clientage as he has demonstrated his ability in
the work of the courts. His diligence and energy in the preparation
of his cases, as well as the earnestness, tenacity and courage with
which he defends the right, as he understands it, challenge the
respect and admiration of his associates at the bar. He has
membership in the Woodbury County Bar Association, the Iowa State
Bar Association and the American Bar Association.
In 1908, at Des Moines, Iowa, Mr. Jensen was united
in marriage to Ethel Hume, daughter of Dr. Hume of that city. They
are the parents of two daughters, Virginia and Helen. The mother is
a member of the Women's Club and also of the Church Society.
Mr. Jensen gives his political allegiance to the
republican party, believing that its principles contain the best
elements of good government. He belongs to both the Kiwanis Club
and the Chamber of Commerce, while fraternally he is identified with
the Masons and the Knights of Pythias, holding membership in Tyrian
Lodge, No. 508, A. F. & A. M.; and Columbia Lodge, No. 13, K. P.
His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Unitarian
church of Sioux City. He derives pleasurable recreation in motoring
and fishing and has manifested considerable skill in amateur
photography. His life has been actuated by worthy motives and high
ideals in every relation, and his many friends attest the intrinsic
worth of his character.
A. W. JOHNSON
Possessing no advantages at the outset of his
career, Augley W. Johnson belongs to that class of men whose every
faculty must be exerted in order to achieve distinction, and through
the stimulating friction of battling with difficulties he has risen
superior to circumstances, taking his place among the foremost
attorneys of Sioux City and northwestern Iowa. He was born November
14, 1888, at Centerville, South Dakota, and comes of sturdy
Scandinavian stock.
His father, John D. Johnson, emigrated from Sweden
to the United States and sought the opportunities of the west. He
took up the study of photography and for several years was employed
in the Butler studio at Vermilion, South Dakota, mastering every
phase of the business. In 1896 he went to St. Paul, Minnesota,
opening a studio, which he operated for seven years, and in 1903
chose Sioux City as the scene of his activities. He was recognized
as an expert re-toucher and his work displayed the latest
improvements in photography. His artistic skill and honorable
dealing new to him a large patronage and he continued the business
until 1920, when he retired. His wife, Ebba (Hanson) Johnson, was a
daughter of Ture Hanson, of Stockholm, Sweden, who left his native
land in 1872 and came to the new world, locating in Sioux City. For
several years he was captain of a steamboat plying between Sioux
City and Fort Benton, Montana, and Bismarck, North Dakota, and after
abandoning a steam-boating life took up a homestead in Clay county,
South Dakota. From time to time he added to his holdings until he
became the owner of many acres of valuable farm land. During his
declining years, however, he lived retired in Sioux City, his death
occurring July 25, 1917, at the age of eighty-four.
Mr. Johnson received his early education at
Centerville, South Dakota, and was a student in the Cleveland high
school at St. Paul, Minnesota. He paid his expenses at Morningside
College by working in the telegraph department of the Illinois
Central Railroad at Sioux City and for two years read law in the
offices of the firm of Harding, Nickle & Kindig. He next went to
Des Moines, Iowa, becoming connected with the Western Union
Telegraph Company, and was engaged exclusively in government work
which required an expert operator with a thorough knowledge of the
code. During this period he attended Drake University, from which
he received the degree of LL. B. in 1913. He completed a three-year
course in tow years and was graduated with high honors, winning a
prize for excellence in the studies of evidence and real property.
Mr. Johnson began the practice of law at Sioux City
in June, 1913, and his ability soon won recognition. In 1916 he was
chosen for the position of assistant city attorney, which he filled
for two years, and in 1921 was appointed United States commissioner
for the northern district of Iowa. He has since served in this
capacity, meeting every requirement of the office, and also has an
extensive and desirable clientele. He has a comprehensive knowledge
of the fundamental principles of jurisprudence and the ability with
which he presents his cause has won for him many favorable verdicts.
In 1914 Mr. Johnson married Miss Hildur E. Ohlund, a
daughter of John and Mathilda (Swanson) Ohlund, of Sioux City. to
this union has been born one child, Arlene, who is ten years of age
and attends the public schools. Mr. Johnson is a prominent Mason,
belonging to Tyrian Lodge, No. 508, A. F. & A. M., and Sioux City
Consistory, No. 5, A. & A. S. R. of which he is junior warden of
Boaz Chapter, Rose Croix, No. 5. He is a member of Woodbury Lodge,
No. 98, K. of P.; Western Star Lodge, No. 282, I. O. O. F., and is
also identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, Sioux
City Lodge, No. 112. He has served as president of the Sioux City
Consistory Club and is also connected with the Hi Twelve Club and
the Swedish Business Men's Club. he is affiliated with the Trinity
Evangelical Lutheran church and was its secretary for a number of
years. He founded the Sioux City Bar Library, which now contains
approximately five thousand volumes, owned by the local bar
association, of which he is an ex-president. He is also a member of
the Iowa Stat and American Bar Associations and a man of high
intellectual attainments and fine character who had dignified the
profession of his choice.
E. F. JORDAN
Among the energetic and progressive business men of
Sioux City, who have been builders of the community's business
prosperity, specific mention should be made of Edward F. Jordan,
president of the Winchester-Simmons Hardware Company, Iowa's largest
wholesale hardware firm, for a large part of the splendid growth in
business which this company has enjoyed has been due to the
vigilance, the perseverance and the sound judgment of Mr. Jordan.
He was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on the 22d of March, 1857,
and is a son of Charles E. and Emily P. (Ray) Jordan, both of whom
were descended from old Revolutionary war stock. The father was
long engaged in railroad work in various capacities. Edward F.
Jordan attended the public schools of Worcester and graduated from
high school in Chicago, Illinois, in 1874. At an early age he began
his identification with the hardware business, for, in January,
1875, he entered the employ of the wholesale hardware firm of Miller
brothers & keep, Chicago. He remained with them five years and in
1880 became a traveling salesman for a wholesale hardware firm of
St. Joseph, Missouri. After being on the road several years for
that house, he entered the employ of the Simmons Hardware Company,
of St. Louis, having his headquarters in Omaha, from which point he
looked after the company's business in Nebraska. He held that
position nineteen years and then was made sales manager and
secretary of the Sioux City branch of the Simmons Company. In 1922,
after the merger of the Winchester Arms Company and the Simmons
Hardware Company, Mr. Jordan was made president of the
Winchester-Simmons Hardware Company, Sioux City branch, which house
does an exclusive wholesale business, covering the territory of
Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota and northwestern Iowa. In this
responsible position, as formerly, Mr. Jordan has abundantly proven
his eminent qualifications as a business man and executive, his
record with the Simmons Company and its successor being one of which
he has just reason to be proud.
Mr. Jordan is a director of the Sioux City Building,
Loan and Savings Association. Fraternally he is a member of Tyrian
Lodge No. 508, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Sioux City
Consistory No. 5, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, and he also
belongs to the Sioux City Boat Club and the Chamber of Commerce.
His religious affiliation is with the First Congregational church,
and he is a member of its board of deacons. He has been successful
in business, respected in social life and as a citizen has
discharged is obligations to the community in a manner that has
gained the respect of all.
C. L. JOY
Chauncey L. Joy, attorney at law of Sioux City, has
long enjoyed high standing in professional circles in this part of
the state. Sioux City also numbers him among her worthy native
sons, for his birth here occurred on the 7th of February, 1864. His
father, William Leonard Joy, was a leading representative of the
legal profession in Sioux City for forty-three years and ever
maintained a foremost place among the prominent lawyers of Iowa. In
1899, when seventy years of age, he was called to his final rest.
His birth occurred in Townsend, Vermont, on the 17th of August,
1829, his parents being William H. and Hetty (Leonard) Joy, the
former the grandson of a patriot of the Revolutionary war. William
H. Joy followed farming and was also the owner of milling property,
and during his youth William Leonard Joy largely assisted his
father. In the meantime, however, he attended school and prepared
for college as a student in Lelinad's Seminary in his native town.
When twenty-one years of age he entered Amherst College, completing
the regular course with the class of 1855, but in the meantime
devoting three winter seasons to teaching school. He was a teacher
in Leland's Seminary for a few terms and during that period devoted
all his leisure hours outside the schoolroom to the study of law,
which he continued under the direction of Judge Roberts. Early in
the spring of 1857 he was admitted to the bar and almost immediately
afterward came to Sioux City, Iowa, where he arrived on the 5th of
May. There he remained as an active member of the bar until his
death, which occurred in California.
William Leonard Joy entered into partnership with N.
C. Hudson, under the firm style of Hudson & Joy, and the relation
was maintained until 1866, after which he was alone in practice for
two years. He then became the senior partner of the firm of Joy &
Wright, which for twenty years maintained a reputation as the
leading law firm of Woodbury county. These gentlemen acted as local
attorneys for the Illinois Central Railroad Company and as general
attorneys for the Sioux City & Pacific, the Dakota Southern, the
Covington, Columbus & Black Hills Railroad Companies and for the
Iowa Falls & Sioux City Railroad & Land Company.
The clientage of William L. Joy continually
increased, and he practiced in both the state and federal courts.
He practiced in northwestern Iowa at a time when his professional
labors were attended with many hardships and difficulties. During
the winter seasons and when the waters were high he traveled the
circuit. The journeys were often fraught with danger, for he had to
make his way over wide prairies which were crossed by swollen
streams. There were nights spent by the lawyers in wandering over
bleak prairies, searching amid blinding snows and piercing winds for
a dim trail; days and nights spent in wet clothing, journeying
through drenching rains and swollen streams, crossing the almost
trackless prairies; trips on foot made through mud and water to
Dakota City and back; crossing the Missouri in skiffs and dug-outs
amid floating ice and angry waves, when the chances of reaching the
shoreless land were better than those of making the home port.
Then, too, for many years the possibility was ever before them in
their journeys that the red man might be lurking for them in every
clump of trees. This constant exposure to danger made them fearless
almost to recklessness.
As he found opportunity, William L. Joy made
investments in real estate and became the owner of extensive
property interests. In 1888 the partnership of Joy & Wright was
dissolved, and Mr. Joy afterward became the senior partner of the
firm of Joy, Hudson, Call & Joy. He did not confine his attention,
however, entirely to his legal practice, for he became a factor in
financial circles. For many years he was the president of the Sioux
National Bank, which was organized in June, 1881, with a capital of
one hundred thousand dollars, which was afterward increased many
fold. He was also a stockholder and a director in the Iowa Savings
Bank, which was organized January 15, 1883, and was likewise a
director of the Union Loan & Trust Company.
On the 10th of October, 1859, William L. Joy was
united in marriage to Miss Frances Alfreda Stone, who was born in
Westmoreland, New Hampshire, and is a representative of an old New
England family. She passed away in Sioux City, December 28, 1913,
mourned by her many friends. By her marriage she became the mother
of two children: Chauncey L., of this review; and Helen F., wife of
George Y. Skeels.
William L. Joy gave his political support in early
life to the Whig party and afterward to the republican party. He
was always deeply interested in school matters and for more than a
quarter of a century was a member of the school board of the
independent district of Sioux City. He gave the benefit of his
large business experience and much valuable time to the district.
To him and his colbrers, who comprised some of the most prominent
citizens of Sioux City, is due the excellent condition of the public
schools of the city and most of the property the district now owns.
He was twice called to represent Woodbury county in the lower house
of the state legislature, serving in 1864 and 1866, and he took an
active part in many public movements and measures having direct and
important bearing upon the welfare of the community. One of his
special duties was the investigation concerning railroad interests
of northwestern Iowa, and he succeeded in carrying through the
measures for which he was sent. Having accomplished this work, he
steadfastly refused to again become a candidate for office. For two
years he was a member of the board of county commissioners. He was
frequently urged by his friends to become a candidate for judge of
the district and circuit courts and also of the supreme court, and
his analytical mind and freedom from bias were qualities that would
have enabled him to grace the bench, but he never desired such
office. He held membership in the Baptist church for many years and
lived a life which brought him not only prominence but the respect
and confidence of his fellowmen. His demise was deeply mourned, and
his memory is still cherished by many with whom he came in contact.
Chauncey L. Joy, whose name introduces this article,
received his early education in the public schools of Sioux City and
continued his studies in the State University of Iowa at Iowa City,
from which institution he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor
of Arts in 1886. the same year he went to Nebraska, where he was
admitted to the bar, but had practiced for only a short time when he
left that state for South Dakota, where he also secured admission to
the bar. After a brief period, however, he returned to Sioux City
and was admitted to practice in Iowa. Here he became associated in
professional work with his father as a member of the firm of Joy,
Hudson, Call & Joy. Following the demise of William L. Joy, he
formed a partnership with A. H. Burton which was maintained until
the death of the latter several years later. Since that time
Chauncey L. Joy has followed his chosen profession independently and
he has won well merited success therein. His clientage is extensive
and of an important character. He is remarkable among lawyers for
the wide research and provident care with which he prepares his
cases. At no time has his reading ever been confined to the
limitations of the questions at issue. It has gone beyond and
compassed every contingency and provided not alone for the expected
but for the unexpected, which happens in the courts quite as
frequently as out of them.
On the 2d of August, 1924, Chauncey L. Joy was
united in marriage to Miss Frances Matthews, of Maine, whose
forefathers left England to take up their abode among the early
settlers of this country.
Mr. Joy exercises his right of franchise in support
of the men and measures of the republican party. He made a
commendable record during twenty years' service as referee in
bankruptcy in Sioux City. He belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and
fraternally is affiliated with the Masonic order, being a member of
Landmark Lodge No. 103, A. F. & A. M.; Columbian Commandery, No. 18,
K. T.; Sioux City Consistory, No. 5, S. P. R. S.; and Abu-Bekr
Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He is likewise identified with the
Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the World.