NORTHWESTERN IOWA

ITS HISTORY AND TRADITIONS

VOLUME II

1804-1926

K

L. L. KELLOGG

In but few persons have there been combined so perfectly the qualities which commend men to their fellows as was the case with the late Leonard Lamb Kellogg, president of the Sioux City Gas and Electric Company, whose death occurred June 7, 1925.  Possessing a strong and alert mind, a kindly and tolerant disposition, yet positive in his convictions and courageous in their utterance, a soundness of judgment and shrewdness in business affairs that would have insured success in any undertaking, and a never-failing friendliness in his relations with those about him, he commanded the respect and admiration of the community throughout his long and useful life.

Mr. Kellogg was born at Haverhill, Ohio, on the 30th day of October, 1856, and was a son of William and Thurza (Story) Kellogg, who also were natives of the Buckeye state.  The father was for many years a farmer in Scioto county, Ohio, and commanded the respect of all who knew him.  The subject of this memoir attended the public schools of Haverhill.  At the age of seventeen years he began his association with the gas business, an industry with which he remained closely identified to the day of his death, a period of more than half century.  he became office boy for the Ironton Gas Company, with which he remained about ten years, rising to the position of superintendent of the company.  He then went to Galena, Illinois, as superintendent of the gas plant there, and about 1883 became superintendent of the gas plant at Nebraska City, Nebraska.  In each of these positions he had achieved eminent success and in 1885 was induced to come to Sioux City as superintendent of the plant of the Sioux City Gas Company, which at that time had but a few hundred patrons.  Subsequently he was made manager of the company and eventually became vice-president.  When electricity came into general use, the company was reorganized as the Sioux City Gas and Electric Company, and in 1912 Mr. Kellogg was made president of the company, in which capacity he served to the time of his death.  From the beginning of his connection with this company he had great faith in its future possibilities, expressing his faith by buying stock in the company from time to time as opportunity offered and his means permitted, until eventually he became one of its largest stockholders.  He devoted himself closely to the interests of his company, showing a remarkable comprehension of the situation here in the days when only a cool and dispassionate judgment could solve the problems.  His labors were effective in their eventual results and the Sioux City company came to be regarded as one of the best managed public utilities in the middle west.

Mr. Kellogg was married in 1883 to Miss Elizabeth Pritchard, of Ironton, Ohio, and they became the parents of two children, one of whom is deceased, the survivor being Alice Marie, who was educated at Washington College and is now at home.  Politically Mr. Kellogg was a stanch supporter of the republican party, in the affairs of which he took a deep interest.  He was a close personal friend of William McKinley and Mark Hanna, and because of this personal relation he was most active in the great campaign of 1896, managing the party's interests in Woodbury county.  In 1897 Governor Shaw appointed him a member of the commission for the erection of the state hospital for the insane at Cherokee, an office which he filled with rare fidelity to the interests of the tax papers and with credit to himself.  On the completion of this work, he resigned form the commission and thereafter took no very active part in public affairs, except as a delegate to the state conventions of his party.  He was a member of Tyrian Lodge, No. 508, F. and A. M.; Sioux City Chapter, No. 26, R. A. M.; Sioux City Consistory, No. 5, A. A. S. R.' Abu-Bekr Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., and Sioux City Lodge, No. 112, B. P. O. E.  He also belonged to the Sioux City Boat Club and the Sioux City Country Club.  His religious connection was with the Congregational church.  To such men as Mr. Kellogg the great middle west owes its prosperity.  He performed his full part in the development of Sioux City's resources and through a long series of years could always be depended upon to support whole-heartedly and unselfishly every worthy enterprise and undertaking for the public good.  His standard was a high one and he maintained it faithfully, being universally recognized as splendid citizen, of lofty character, sturdy integrity and true to his ideals - such a man that the world was better for his having lived.

J. W. KINDIG

Iowa has always been distinguished for the high rank of her lawyers and as one of the ablest and most successful members of the legal profession in the state James w. Kindig is entitled to specific mention in this work.  The firm of Kindig, Stewart & Hatfield, of Sioux City, is recognized generally as one of the strongest law firms in the northwest and not a little of this prestige has been gained through the personal labors and ability of Mr. Kindig, who  has long enjoyed a reputation as an unusually sound and safe practitioner.

James W. Kindig was born in Welton, Iowa, on the 3d of December, 1879, a son of David and Margaret (Tully) Kindig.  His father was a native of Massillon, Ohio, and came of Swiss and Pennsylvania German stock.  The grandfather, Jacob Kindig, drove through from Ohio to Iowa, with his family, in a prairie schooner, in 1854, at which time the son David was but two years of age.  They settled in Welton, Clinton county, and were among the earliest pioneers.  There Jacob Kindig spent his remaining years, dying at the age of seventy-nine years.  David Kindig was reared on the Clinton county farm, and was educated in the district schools.  About 1877 he was married to Margaret Tully, who was born and reared at Welton.  Her father, James Tully, came to this country from Scotland and first settled in the vicinity of Welton, Clinton county.  David Kindig continued to farm in Clinton county until 1886, when he came to Woodbury county, buying a farm in Arlington township, which is still a part of the estate.  His death occurred there in October, 1917, at the age of sixty-five years.

James W. Kindig attended the district schools and Morningside Academy.  Later he attended Morningside College, where he was graduated in 1906, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and then entered the law school of the University of Washington, where he received his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1907.  he immediately came to Sioux City and engaged in practice in partnership with W. L. Harding, who later (1916-19) served as governor of Iowa.  Some five or six years later Mr. Kindig severed this connection and allied himself with W. H. Munger, now judge of the fourth judicial district court.  This law partnership continued until January 1, 1915, after which Mr. Kindig served two and a half years as assistant county prosecuting attorney and corporate counsel for the board of supervisors.  For a year following he served as assistant attorney general of Iowa and in 1918 the law firm of Kindig, McGill, Stewart & Hatfield was formed, continuing until 1925, when Mr. McGill withdrew from the firm to become Iowa attorney for the  Chicago Joint Stock Land Bank at Des Moines.  The firm are attorneys for the Sioux City Public Utilities, for the Armour Packing Company, The Toy National Bank, The Farmers Loan & Trust Company and for numerous bonding and insurance companies and has been associated as counsel with practically all of the more important cases in the local courts and those of neighboring counties.

On September 3, 1908, Mr. Kindig was married to Miss Gertrude Crossan, who was born and reared in Sioux City, a daughter of Allen Crossan, who came to this city in the '80s and for several years was one of the notable figures in the building of a greater Sioux City, being extensively engaged in the real estate business.    He now lives in Los Angeles, California.  Mr. and Mrs. Kindig have two children, Burdette C., born February 22, 1911, and Lowell c., November 26, 1913.  Mr. Kindig is a member of Morningside Lodge, No. 615, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Morningside Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Columbian Commandery, No. 18, Knights Templar; Sioux City Consistory, No. 5, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite; Abu-Bekr Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and Sioux City Lodge, No. 112, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.  He belongs to the Sioux City Chamber of Commerce, the Professional Men's Club, the Sioux City Country Club, the Sioux City Rod and Reel Club, and maintains professional affiliation with the Sioux City Bar Association, the Iowa State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.  He is a member of the board of trustees of Morningside College and is a director of the Sioux City Service Company.  Mr. Kindig is a man of forceful individuality and attractive personality.  By a straightforward, honorable course he has built up a large and lucrative legal business and has been successful far beyond the average of his calling.  In discussions of the principles of law he is noted for clearness of statement and candor, his zeal for a client never leading him to urge an argument which is not in harmony with the law.  Years of conscientious work have brought with them no only increase of practice and reputation, but also that growth in legal knowledge and that wide and accurate judgment the possession of which constitutes excellence in the profession of law.  He maintains a deep interest in the public affairs of his city, giving his earnest support to every measure for the upbuilding of the city and the betterment of the public welfare, and no worthy cause appeals to him in vain.

C. A. KNAPP

The late Clarence Albert Knapp, prominent Sioux City hardware merchant, was born at Green Bay, Wisconsin, April 13, 1846, a son of William Albert and Lucinda Amelia (Gilbert) Knapp, who came from England in 1630 and settled at Watertown, Massachusetts.  From him and his wife, Unity (Buxton) Brown, the line of descent is traced through their son Caleb and his wife, Hannah Smith; their son Samuel and his wife, Hannah Bushnell; their son Joshua and his wife, Abigail Bostwick; their son Daniel and his wife, Lucy Gray, to their son, Ezra Gray Knapp and his wife, Anna Peck, who were the grandparents of our subject.  His father became a pioneer hardware merchant of Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1834 and represented Winnebago county in the Wisconsin legislature during 1865-66.

Clarence Albert Knapp was educated in the public and high schools of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and at Lawrence University of Appleton, Wisconsin.  In 1866 he began his business career as clerk in a hardware store at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and in 1868 became an independent merchant in the hardware trade at Northwood, Iowa.  He then sought a broader field an din 1881 embarked in the wholesale and retail hardware trade at Oskaloosa, Iowa, in association with E. C. Spalding, under the firm name of the Knapp & Spalding Company,  In 1887 the firm removed to Sioux City, where they established a strictly wholesale hardware business.  In 1885 the company was reorganized as The Knapp & Spencer Company.  Mr. Knapp was president of The Knapp & Spalding Company from its organization and continued as head of the reorganized business until about 1916, when he retired from the presidency and was made chairman of the board of directors.  In 1916 Mr. Knapp was elected president of the National Hardware Association of the United States.  He held membership in the Sioux City Golf and Country Club, the Commercial Club and the Boat Club and was a worthy exemplar of the teachings and purposes of the Masonic fraternity, in which he attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and was past commander of Columbian Commandery, No. 18, K. T., of Sioux City.  His political affiliation was with the republican party and he was a communicant of the Congregational church.

Mr. Knapp was married May 11, 1870, to Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of John Sewell, of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and left two children:  Walter S., president of the Knapp & Spencer Company; and Marguerite Clare Knapp.  He died in Sioux City, Iowa, November 1, 1918, when seventy-two years of age.

The following tribute to Clarence A. Knapp was paid by G. M. Evenson:  "A pleasant journey down life's pathway, in the company of one whom I have grown to look upon almost as a father, has been interrupted by the Great Creator of all things who has taken this fellow-traveler from my side and given to him the great reward that awaits all men who have used their lives as my companion used his life.  His was a dual personality, but unlike the dual personality known so well to all of us as Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, my companion's two personalities were both beautiful.  I wish all of you might have known him as I did.  I wish all of you might have seen him in his home life where he exemplified one side of his dual personality.  I wish you could have seen how he made his home a beautifully successful home by giving to every detail of it that same careful, gentlemanly, courteous attention that made his business life so successful.  I wish you might have sat with my friend in the evening firelight and watched the play of emotion on his face as he told me of some new book he had just read.  I wish you could have seen, as I have so often seen, his sincere devotion to the companion of his life, his beloved wife.  I wish you could have seen him pay court to the affections of his daughter, and I prize it as one of the most beautiful mind pictures I have of him, the first time I saw him and this daughter together.  It was on the first Sunday I ever spent in Sioux City.  I was invited to his home for dinner on that day and in the afternoon he proposed that he, his daughter and I go out to Riverside park in order that I might see that playground.  His devotion to his daughter, who was then a girl of fifteen, was such as the fairest lady of the land might covet from the most noble knight that ever lived.  I stood in profound admiration watching the manner in which  he handed that little daughter down from the carriage.  And this was the same man in whose presence I had sat the day before and heard drive a shrewd bargain in galvanized sheets.  That wonderful business mind could, during the passing of a night, cast aside all thoughts of business and so far as I could see he considered it one of the greatest privileges of his life to wait upon his daughter.

"Yet his was not a complex life - it  was a simple life because it had a unifying motive.  It was his principle - yes, it was his life's oath, to give every man more than a full measure.  Worry was not a part of my friend's life because there was no confusion.  He met each day's tasks with a smile and a feeling of confidence that he was equal to them.  His imagination never soured because he kept away from gloom and small, petty things, and instead of letting his life grow moldy as he grew old he let in the sunlight and pure air of which he knew there was such an abundance.  It was his philosophy that a life lived in pessimism, which frowns upon gaiety, and takes delight in suspicions and fault findings, grows moldy and poisonous.  Love of our own kind, he believed, turns us as naturally towards happiness as a fern in a lady's window bends its stalks towards the sunlight.  In all the days that I have been associated with him - during all the trying business periods through which he steered this business ship, I never heard a cross word pass his lips, and no matter what the turmoil of problems that lay before him, he received every caller promptly, and neither his manner nor his face showed other than that each one was welcome, and his business, no matter how selfish or uninteresting, received courteous consideration and attention. But it was in his work as a buyer that he proved that a man does not have to indulge in sharp or questionable practices to be successful in business.  He knew hardware and its value as few men did, and the dignity with which he approached a business proposition always called from the seller a like dignity and brought from the seller the best he had to offer.  I have seen and heard him drive many a bargain, yet I never knew or heard of a man who had entered into a business contract with my friend who was not happy because of that fact.  His business was his life's blood - he loved it, not with avariciousness - not as a miser loves his pot of gold, but just because this magnificent institution that stands at the corner of Third and Nebraska streets is the realization of his dream, while he drive his ox team forty miles across country to his little hardware store at Northwood, Iowa.

"Ill since last March, yet with days now and then when there was a partial return to his former strength and vigor, he always wanted, when out for a ride, to 'go down past the store' so that he might once more embrace with his eyes the product of his life's work.  he loved his business because it was a part of himself, and into the principles of its conduct, into the rules that governed it, into the very mortar that held the bricks of the walls together, he had put the rules that he had laid down, early in his life, to govern his conduct.  I never have known and never expect to know any man whose ideals of business honesty and integrity were higher than my friend's because there are no higher rules.  His were the rules of the Great Creator and of His Son whom my friend chose to take as his example.

"My friend read the future, not as the clairvoyant does by fakes and bluffs, but he read the future because he read men.  His gray eyes under bushy brows looked straight through one, and his keen mind quickly separated the truth from untruth.  His prognostications of future market conditions were so true as to cause one to believe that he held the fate of any line of goods being considered in his own hands.  Men left his office, stripped of the very best they had to offer in the matter of price and terms and always glad that they had given it up.  His going out of the lives of the rest of us leaves a void that can never be filled because God does not make duplicates of men and there will never be another Clarence A. Knapp.

""It is fortunate for the Knapp & Spencer Company that his son, Walter S. Knapp, approaches the task of taking his place at the head of the institution founded  by his father, with deep and sincere knowledge of the great task that lies before him.  Mr. Walter S. Knapp has for twenty-six years been a close student of his father's methods and so devoted were these two men to each other, so in accord were their ideals and principles, that all of us who are left to continue this business may proceed with a confident feeling that the right man has his hand upon the helm of this business organization and that the principles laid down for the conduct of the business by its founder will continue to be its principles as long as his name remains a part of it.  And if it be given to those who have preceded us on the great journey, to pause and look back upon us mortals whose time has not yet come, I know my friend well enough to say that a smile of satisfaction will come over his face when he sees us laboring here below and steering this ship of business true to the course he laid out upon the chart of life."

W. S. KNAPP

Among the families that through past years have been closely and actively identified with the progress and upbuilding of Sioux City, none takes precedence over the one of which Walter Sewell Knapp is a worthy representative.  In all phases of community life the members of this family have stood staunchly for progress and improvement and have been potent factors in the city's substantial prosperity.  Walter S. Knapp is a native son of Iowa, born in Northwood, Worth county, on the 12th of September, 1874, his parents being Clarence Albert and Sarah Elizabeth (Sewell) Knapp, the latter born at Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1851.  A sketch of Clarence Albert Knapp, deceased, may be found on another page of this work.

Walter S. Knapp received his education in the public schools, attending the high school but not graduating.  He was about thirteen years of age when the family came to Sioux City and when a youth of sixteen he entered his father's hardware store.  He has been actively identified with the business to the present time,  being now president of the Knapp & Spencer Company.  The trade of this firm has steadily increased through the years until now it is one of the largest independent wholesale hardware concerns in the northwest, selling to retailers in northwest Iowa, southwest Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana.  Practically every item carried in the largest and most up-to-date hardware stores anywhere in the country may be found in this establishment.  The company is housed in  splendid building, six stories and basement, the large stock carried insuring quick service to buyers.  One hundred and ten men are employed and the policy of the company has made friends of all who have had dealings with it.  Walter S. Knapp is also a stockholder and director of the First National Bank of Sioux City.  Like his honored father, he has shown as effective interest in the public affairs of his city, giving his support to all movements for the betterment of the community and contributing generously to all worthy objects.

On October 18, 1899, at Unadilla, New York, Mr. Knapp was married to Miss Mary Catherine Robinson, who was there born June 10, 1878.  Mrs. Knapp is active in the club and social life of Sioux City and is a member of the Woman's Club.  Politically, Mr. Knapp gives his support to the republican party.  He is a member of Tyrian Lodge, No. 508, A. F. & A. M.; Sioux City Chapter, No. 26, R.. A. M.; Zodok Council, No. 24, R. & S. M.; Columbian Commandery, No 18, K. T.; Sioux City Consistory, No. 5, A. A. S. R.; and Abu-Bekr Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S.  He also belongs to the Sioux City Country Club, the Sioux City Boat Club and the Chamber of Commerce, of which he has been a director for nine years.  Mr. and Mrs. Knapp are communicants of St. Thomas Protestant Episcopal church.  By reason of strong and alert mentality and sound business judgment, he holds a place in the front rank of commercial interests of Sioux City.  He is  ably carrying forward the business so soundly established by his father and which has long been numbered among the most successful and substantial mercantile enterprises of this section of the country.

ADELAIDE C. H. KNIGHT

One of the most highly esteemed residents of Spencer, Clay county, is Mrs. Adelaide Clark House Knight, who enjoys an enviable reputation as a writer for the press and whose charming personality and gracious qualities have gained for her a host of loyal and devoted friends throughout this community.  Mrs. Knight was born in Burt county, Nebraska, on the 14th of January, 1868, and is a daughter of Harvey and Mary Jane (House) Clark.  Her father was born at Nunda, New York, November 13, 1838, and died July 8, 1873, while her mother, who was born in Jo Daviess county, Illinois, October 26, 1843, died September 18, 1869.  Mrs. Knight is descended from sterling gold English stock, her line being traced back directly to Richard and Frances (Dighton) Williams, who lived in Taunton, Massachusetts, in 1838, and also to Thomas Rogers, a passenger on the "Mayflower," through his granddaughter, Elizabeth Rogers, who was a daughter of John Rogers, and who married Nathaniel Williams.  Her paternal grandfather, James Clark, was the son of John, whose father, Jonathan Clark, was a soldier in the Revolutionary army from Morristown, New Jersey.  Through these connections Mrs. Knight has been proved eligible to the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Mayflower Descendants, the Daughters of the Colonists, Colonial Dames, Order of the Crown, Americans of Royal Descent, Magna Charta Barons and other equally exclusive societies.  Harvey Clark, who was born of pioneer parents, received a common school education, himself became a pioneer in Nebraska and was a veteran of the Civil war.  Mrs. Knight was but one year old at the time of the death of her mother, soon after which event her father, who died a year later, took her to her maternal uncle, A. E. House, at Delhi, Iowa, where she was reared and educated.  She was married in that place, June 7, 1893, to Frank Wadsworth Knight, who is of English and Huguenot descent, the son of Joseph and Lois (Acker) Knight, both of whom were natives of Rushford, New York, the former born March 8, 1829.  Mr. and Mrs. Knight had two children, Louise Lareau, born September 29, 1894, and Frank Albert, born June 19, 1896, who is in the naval aviation service.  Mr. and Mrs. Knight lived in Milford, Iowa, about twenty years, when they moved to Spencer, where they have lived for the past eleven years.   Mrs. Knight taught school two years and published and edited the Earlville (Iowa) Phoenix two years.  Politically, she is aligned with the republican party and takes a deep interest in public affairs.  She is a member of the Congregational church and belongs to the Woman's Club, the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Mayflower Descendants.  She has been an extensive reader, holds well defined opinions on the leading questions of the day, and possesses a strong and vigorous literary style, her writings being widely read.  Personally she is gracious and tactful, is a pleasing conversationalist and is extremely popular in the circles in which she moves.