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.