NORTHWESTERN IOWA
ITS HISTORY
AND TRADITIONS
VOLUME II
1804-1926
Z
R. A. ZWEMER
Among the active and progressive citizens of Sioux
City whose records have been such as to gain for them distinction
among their fellowmen, was Richard A. Zwemer, who was a member of
the Woodbury county bar and held the position of secretary and
traffic manager of the Sioux City Live Stock Exchange. At a recent
date he removed to Chicago where he is now practicing law as a
member of the firm of Huff & Cook. Mr. Zwemer was born in Sioux
Falls, South Dakota, on the 20th of November, 1893, and is a son of
Adrian P. and Cynthia (Gleysteen) Zwemer, the former a native of
Virginia and the latter of Iowa. The father settled in Sioux Falls
in 1885 and engaged in the real estate business to the time of his
death, which occurred in 1894. The mother is now a missionary and
is stationed at Peking, China. her father, Dirk Gleysteen, settled
in Alton, Iowa, in the early '50s, being one of the pioneers of that
locality.
Richard A. Zwemer, who was the only child born to
his parents, attended the public schools of Virginia, Oklahoma and
Iowa, and then entered the University of Wisconsin, where he was
graduated, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, in 1914. He next
became a student in Columbia University, New York city, where he
took a course in law. Mr. Zwemer attended the Plattsburg (New York)
training camp and received a commission as second lieutenant on
August 14, 1917. He was then stationed at Camp Upton until December
8, 1917, when he became chief instructor of military science and
training at Camp Joseph E. Johnston, Jacksonville, Florida, and
while at this place he received successive commissions as first
lieutenant and captain. He went to France as commanding officer of
Motor Transportation Company, No. 457, and after the Armistice he
was made commanding officer of Motor Command, No. 15, and commanding
officer of the motor reception park at Marseilles, France. He
returned to the United States in July, 1919, and was discharged on
the 22d of that month at Washington, D. C., with the rank of
captain. Prior to entering the Plattsburg camp, Mr. Zwemer was with
the Postal Telegraph Company in New York about one and a half years.
After the war he came to Sioux City and became traffic manager for
the Sioux City Live Stock Exchange, holding that position from
September 1, 1919, to March, 1921, when the offices of secretary and
traffic manager were combined and he now filled both. He proved
himself well qualified in every respect for this responsible
position and was an invaluable officer of the exchange. Mr. Zwemer
was admitted to the bar of Iowa, June 6, 1924, and became associated
in the general practice of law with the firm of Farr, Brackney &
Farr, but is now practicing in Chicago, Illinois, as member of the
firm of Huff & Cook.
On November 24, 1917, in New York city, Mr. Zwemer
was united in marriage to Miss Susanna Weare Pierce, daughter of
Howard G. Pierce, a prominent stock commission man of Sioux City.
In her maidenhood her mother was Mary Weare, daughter of George
Weare, a pioneer banker of Sioux City. Mrs. Zwemer is a member of
the Woman's Club, the Qui Vive Club, is state president of the
Girls' Friendly Society and is corresponding secretary of the Boys'
and Girls' Home of Sioux City. Mr. Zwemer is a member of Tyrian
Lodge, No. 508, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Sioux City
Lodge, No. 112, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, belonging also
to the One Hundred Club, the Sioux City Country Club, the Rotary
Club and the Iowa State Bar Association. He is also a member of the
transportation committee of the National Live Stock Exchange. He is
a communicant of St. Thomas' Protestant Episcopal church.
Personally, Mr. Zwemer is courteous and accommodating in his
business relations, is a man of reliable judgment and wise
discrimination, and in every relation of life has been true to every
trust. Because of these attributes, as well as for his genial and
friendly manner, he is held in the highest measure of esteem by his
fellow men.
