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p. 86 JEFFERSON SCOTT POLK. Time gives a
perspective which often serves to heighten the fame of an
individual when at closer range public judgment does not give
definite and accurate accounts of work accomplished and its
far-reaching results. Jefferson Scott Polk is one whose names
shines with brighter luster on the pages of Iowa's history as
the years go by, and it is seen how far-reaching was his
opinion and how sound his sagacity in relation to the duties
of the state and its upbuilding. His work was of a character
that contributed in full measure to the development of Iowa
along lines which have worked to its greatest good, and,
moreover, there were in him substantial qualities of manhood
and friendship which endeared him to all with whom he came in
contact. The humblest found him approachable and the greatest
recognized in him a peer. Such were the characteristics of a
man to whom Iowa owes a debt of gratitude for his efforts in
her behalf.
There was back in him a long line of Irish ancestry,
traced down from Baron Sir Robert Pollock, of Ireland, son of
Sir Robert Pollock, of Scotland. The second son of Baron Sir
Robert Pollock, of Ireland, served as an officer in Colonel
Porter's regiment under Cromwell and when he established the
family in America, in 1672, he changed the spelling of the
surname. On the voyage to the new world he was accompanied by
his wife, Mrs. Magdalene Pollock, a daughter of Colonel Tasker,
proprietor of Broomfield, Castle and Moneen Hall, estates on
River Foyle, near Londonderry. Further history of the ancestry
of Mr. Polk has been written by a contemporary biographer as
follows: "Colonel Tasker was a chancellor of Ireland and had
two daughters, Barbara and Magdalene. The former married
Captain Keys and they went with the army to India, where he
accumulated a large fortune. Later they returned to Ireland,
and their descendants still own Broomfield and a part of
Moneen. The younger daughter, Magdalene, became the wife of
Colonel Porter, who died soon afterward, and later she married
Colonel Porter's friend, an officer in his regiment, Captain
Robert Bruce Polk, with whom, as stated, she came to Maryland
in 1672. There she died in 1727, leaving Moneen, bequeathed to
her by her father, to her youngest son, Joseph Polk, whose
daughter, Ann Polk, was married in 1754, in Sussex County,
Delaware, to Daniel Morris, Jr., and became the mother of
Rhoda Ann Polk, the wife of Ephraim Polk III, so that in two
distinct lines the ancestry is traced back to Captain Baron
Robert Bruce and Magdalene (Tasker-Porter) Polk. Their son,
Ephraim Polk, of Somerset County, Maryland, and his wife,
Elizabeth Williams, were the great-great-grandparents of
Jefferson Scott Polk. His great-grandparents were Ephraim Polk
II and Rhoda Ann Morris, also of Sussex County. His parents
were Jehosephat and Sallie (Moore) Polk. The family were
strong adherents of the Scotch Coventanters and strict
Presbyterians.
"Ephraim Polk III moved with his family from Sussex
County, Delaware, to Scott County, Kentucky, in November,
1783, after marrying Rhoda Morris, who was a relative of
Robert Morris, the Philadelphia financier and patriot who
saved Washington's army from starvation at Valley Forge during
the hard winter of 1777, and by his business genius financed
the Revolution. In the ranks of that barefooted, suffering
host at Valley Forge was Ephraim Polk, who in the preceding
September had taken a number of horses from Delaware to the
army and after their delivery joined Colonel Williams Wills'
Philadelphia regiment, later the Third Continentals of
Pennsylvania. He served until the surrender of Cornwallis at
Yorktown.
"Because of Indian warfare and the continued persecutions
of the savages Kentucky was still known as the Dark and Bloody
Ground when Ephriam Polk settled in Scott County. In 1814,
while preparing to join Jackson at New Orleans, he died. He
had a family of eleven children, nine of whom reached adult
age, married and reared families.
"The fourth child was Jehosephat Polk, who was born in
1800 and became one of the most prominent men and successful
farmers of his state. He was a man of wonderful industry and
business activity and was extensively engaged in raising hemp,
on which he won premiums at the World's Fair in New York.
Losing his fortune by paying security debts for kinsmen, he
afterward became manager of R. A. Alexander's great Woodburn
stock farms, in which service he died. He was for many years
an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He married Sallie Moore,
and Jefferson S. Polk was the fourth of their family of six
children. The eldest son, Marcellus M. Polk, was a leading
attorney at the Kentucky bar, while another son, James E.
Polk, was for years a prominent wholesale merchant of
Cincinnati."
Jefferson Scott Polk, whose name introduces this review,
was born in Scott County, Kentucky, February 18, 1831. He
attended the public schools and was graduated from the college
at Georgetown, Kentucky. His early preparation for the bar was
made under the direction of R.L. Cable, of Georgetown, who was
afterward head of the Rock Island Railroad Company at Chicago.
Mr. Polk continued his studies in Transylvania University at
Lexington and following his graduation was admitted to the
bar, in March, 1854, and entered upon the active work of the
law in partnership with his brother Marcellus at Georgetown.
The same year - on the 25th of January - Mr. Polk had been
married in Georgetown to Miss Julia Ann Herndon, daughter of
John Herndon, a prosperous planter of Scott County Kentucky,
and a representative of one of the old Virginia families.
Following the removal to Kentucky the Herndons took active
part in the civil and military affairs of Scott County and
participated in the contest with the Indians during Wayne's
campaign in the War of 1812.
Attracted by the growing opportunities of the West,
Jefferson S. Polk removed to Des Moines, Iowa, which at that
time contained a population of about one thousand. He at once
opened an office and for a year engaged in law practice and in
the real-estate business, improving his opportunity for
judicious investments in property, which, increasing in value,
became the source of considerable wealth in later years. he
had been a resident of Des Moines for three months ere his
first client came to him and then his fee was but fifty cents.
After a year he was admitted to partnership with the firm of
Crocker, Casady & Polk, and for an extended period the firm
occupied a conspicuous place at the bar of Central Iowa, being
connected wit hmost of the important litigation of that
period. When General Crocker joined the Union forces, in 1861,
the firm style of Casady & Polk was assumed, and when, twelve
or fifteen years later, P.M. Casady withdrew from the practice
of law Mr. Polk was joined by F. M. Hubbell. Concerning his
early professional career, one of the local papers said at the
time of his death:
"As a young attorney Mr. Polk soon made his mark. He was
quiet, gentlemanly, and studious, and at the same time
watchful of his clients' interests and ready for legal fights
of any kind. he was of tall, straight figure- a giant in
stature- of abundant health and of tireless vigor, physically
as well as mentally adapted to the work of hewing and shaping
great business enterprises. He had a strong will and tenacity
of purpose and was accustomed to follow boldly the course his
own judgment pointed out. He became one of the greatest
lawyers of the state and had no superior among the members of
the Iowa bar of that day. His great force as a pleader in
court, the clarity of strength of his illustrations, were
demonstrated in a dramatic way only a few months ago when he
appeared in court himself in defense of his company."
For a quarter of a century the law firm of Polk & Hubbell
practiced successfully at the Polk County bar, and occupied a
place of leadership, but opportunities in other directions
also attracted them and their efforts became a potent force in
the development, upbuilding, and improvement of the city. They
became owners of the Des Moines water works, and other
business interests gradually precluded the possibility of law
practice. In this connection a contemporary biographer has
written:
"The history of his undertakings in business lines is
practically the history of the industrial development of Des
Moines. In 1867 he was associated with Mr. Hubbell and other
companies in organizing the Equitable Life Insurance Company,
which for over forty years has held the confidence and the
faith of the public and is one of the strongest financial
institutions of the state. It was the pioneer in the field of
life insurance in Iowa, and as secretary of the company for
fourteen years Mr. Polk largely directed its affairs. Three
years after the organization of the insurance company Mr. Polk
with F. M. Hubbell and B.F. Allen, incorporated the Des Moines
Water Works Company, with a capital of three hundred thousand
dollars, and secured a city franchise in 1871. The plant was
at once constructed, mains were laid to all parts of the town
and the residences of Des Moines were supplied with water by
the Holly system, and the city became the possessor of a water
supply of unsurpassed purity. Mr. Polk was prominent in the
management of the company's affairs until 1889, when he
withdrew.
"His name is perhaps most widely known in connection with
the development of electric and steam railway properties. He
was the promoter of the street railway system of Des Moines,
which had its beginning in 1866. He practically financed the
undertaking, although there were associated with him F. M.
Hubbell, W. B. White, and M. P. Turner, the last named
superintending the construction and the securing of the
franchise. Under that franchise the present consolidated
system of the city has operated. An ordinance was later passed
permitting the company to equip its line with electric power.
The first track was narrow gauge and extended on Court Street,
then the principal business thoroughfare, from the courthouse
to the foot of Capitol Hill. Two years later Messrs. Polk and
Hubbell sold their interests to Doctor Turner, but twenty
years later Mr. Polk again became prominently connected with
the railway interests of Des Moines. In 1888 he secured a
charter for the Rapid Transit Company to operate their cars by
steam, cable or the Patton system on all streets, but the work
undertaken in this connection was unsuccessful. In the
meantime, Mr. Polk built a line on Walnut Street, from the
Chicago Great Western crossing to the fair grounds, a team
locomotive furnishing the operative power for years. A more
gigantic task, however, awaited Mr. Polk and was successfully
accomplished by him. This was the consolidation of all the car
lines under one management in 1889. From the time he embarked
in the project until his death he devoted his splendid
business talents to extending and improving the railway system
to meet the constantly increasing demands of traffic. As the
city grew the street railway kept pace with it. He substituted
electricity for horse motive power and gave to Des Moines the
second electric railway in the United States and the fastest
railway service in the country, hesitating at no expense and
carefully investigating every device invented for its
improvement. At the time of the consolidation of the railway
interests in this city there were ten lines, all having the
right to charge a five-cent fare. He combined these under one
system, instituted a plan of transferring whereby one might
ride for twelve miles for a five-cent fare, introduced the
vestibule cars that the motormen might be protected from the
weather and at length secured a contract from the United
States Government for carrying the mails on the Des Moines
street railway lines. Since 1895 all the cars have been
equipped with letter boxes into which mail can be placed at
any street crossing and no matter what its speed, a car must
be stopped to receive it. Within twenty-five or forty minutes
from the time a letter is posted it has been carried into the
central waiting room and thence to the postoffice. No other
city in the country has similar service.
"Mr. Polk's was a mind that dealt boldly with each
problem and when the era of electric lines dawned he did not
falter to secure the means with which to extend lines
radiating from the city in every direction. He was
instrumental in building the electric line from Des Moines to
Colfax, twenty-three miles in length, and some other lines
were projected and built to Granger, Boone and Ames and later
between Des Moines and Fort Dodge, a distance of eighty miles.
The construction of interurbans made necessary immense
financial resources, but Mr. Polk met the contingency that
arose as he had years before met and over come similar
obstacles in enlarging and amplifying the street railways of
the city. At the time of his death he had plans under way for
the construction of interurban lines to Indianola, Winterset
and Newton. ' The street railway of Des Moines,' said one of
the papers, 'is the monument he left to commemorate the work
he performed in the upbuilding of the city in which he made
his home for fifty-two years. It will abide and endure as one
of the giant enterprises of a man whom the citizens love an
honor and to whom they owe very much for the splendid
advancement of the city in the march of modern progress.'
(George B. Hippee and Mr. Polk continued to operate the street
railways until the properties were sold.)
"At different times, especially in the twenty years'
interval in which Mr. Polk was not engaged in the building of
urban and interurban railways, he gave his attention to the
construction of steam railroads. He was the builder of the Des
Moines & Minnesota Railway, which became a part of the Chicago
& Northwestern system. He began that project in 1874 and in
1881-82 he built a narrow gauge line to Waukee and with others
extended it to Panora and Fonda, with a branch from Clive to
Boone. In later years this became a part of the Milwaukee
system. During the same period the syndicate built the Des
Moines & St. Louis road from Des Moines to Albia and also
organized and built the Des Moines Union Railway, a connecting
transfer line between all the trunk lines in this city, with
side-tracks to a large number of factories. It was Mr. Polk
who secured most of the right of way and subsidies for the
Keokuk & Des Moines Railway, now the Des Moines Valley
division of the Rock Island system. He was connected with the
building of railways, steam, urban or interurban, up to the
time of his last illness. He was always a busy man, and
although his wealth would have long before his death permitted
him to retire he remained a factor in the management of the
extensive and important interests in which he was connected."
By the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Polk there were born
seven children, only two of whom still survive: John Scott,
deceased, who wedded Miss Maud Haskit; Harry H., who married
Alice Kauffman; Mildred, the wife of George B. Hippee; and
Sarah J., deceased, who became the wife of Albert G. Maish.
Three children, Mollie, the first born, Lutie, the third in
the family and Daniel the fifth, passed away ere the father's
death. Mr. Polk established a beautiful home, called Herndon
Hall, in honor of his wife's people, on Grand Avenue, and it
became the center of a warm-hearted and generous hospitality,
while at the same time the fortunes of wealth and culture were
presented.
Mr. Polk's activity ever took cognizance of the
opportunities and possibilities of Des Moines, and his
patriotism was expressed in practical efforts for the benefit
and upbuilding of the city. He showed his faith therein by his
investments in real estate and he lived to see the city grow
from a population of one thousand to nearly eighty thousand.
When the Civil war broke out he proved his loyalty to the
Union cause in many ways. He had been reared in the faith of
the Democratic party, yet he recognized that Abraham Lincoln
was to be the leader of the people in the sanguinary struggle
between the North and the South and gave generously to support
the soldiers at the front. He was commissioned a first
lieutenant in the Union Home Guards, May 28, 1861, and he
never faltered in his advocacy of the federacy. He was a
worker in behalf of temperance and of all forms of morality,
and he gave generously to the support of almost every church
of Des Moines, while his gifts to benevolent and charitable
projects were most liberal. It has been oft times said that
persons can best be judged not by their treatment of their
equals but their inferiors or those who are in their service.
Judged by this standard the character of Mr. Polk is well
established. There were in his employ about five hundred
people, who found him a most considerate, just and kind
master. He felt in them a personal interest and gave to them
personal aid and friendship. When he felt that his life was
drawing to a close he asked that some of his old and trusted
employees should act as pallbearers at the funeral service.
Death called him on the 3d of November, 1907. Perhaps no
better estimate of his life and character could be given than
by quoting from an editorial, which appeared in a Des Moines
paper:
"Jefferson S. Polk, capitalist, financier, lawyer,
philanthropist, good citizen and friend, is no more. He was a
man of gentle mold. While sagacious and practical in business,
he never lost sight of the finer and nobler side of life. He
was domestic in his tastes to a high degree. Home, wife,
children, friend were always first in his thoughts. He loved
his books and his magazines and the cozy hours with them in
secluded nooks. He was a man of gentle mold. While sagacious
and practical in business, he never lost sight of the finer
and nobler side of life. He was domestic in his tastes to a
high degree. Home, wife, children, friends were always first
in his thoughts. He loved his books and his magazines and the
cozy hours with them in secluded nooks. he was a great lover
of nature, and in his quiet walks in the groves and fields he
found sweet companionship with God's emblems of life and death
and resurrection. In him all the nobler and loftier and purer
attributes of humanity were so rarely blended that all the
world could point to him and say, 'There is a man.' Death came
to him too soon. At the age of seventy-seven years he was
moved from life's activities. Meeting with an accident nearly
a year ago, he received injuries which proved stubborn and
incurable and finally pressed him into the tomb. he had
planned great enterprises. His fine brain had conceived
mammoth industries and dreamed of lofty achievements. He was
to make Des Moines a great interurban center, with steel
arteries reaching out in every direction over prairie and
woods and into villages and hamlets throughout the fertile
State of Iowa. No man has ever lived in our midst who has been
a greater public benefactor than Jefferson S. Polk. All the
time he has been the same kind and gentle citizen and friend.
He insisted on perfect courtesy on the part of his employees
toward his patrons, and many men have been dismissed by him
for lack of civility to women and children. Such a man as
Jefferson S. Polk cannot die without leaving a vacancy in
society. Grief for his departure is not confined in the circle
of his home. It reaches out into the community and heads are
bowed and hearts are wounded in thousands of other homes in
our midst. The business world will miss him. He was always a
valuable adviser, and his judgment on the practical affairs of
life were lofty and clean and he placed the standard of
manhood high and distinguishable. And he fitted his daily life
to his ideals. The name he leaves behind is the best monument
that can be reared to his memory. No marble shaft, however
stately, can so grandly honor him as the record he has left on
the tablet of human remembrance. He has passed away with the
dying year, crowned with honored hairs of silver, a life of
busy and fertile hours, love of family, respect of friends and
a name unsullied by scandal or the taint of mean and polluting
deeds."
In his beautiful oration Dr. J. A. Wirt said: "Mr. Polk
stands out preeminently as Des Moines's benefactor. He had
faith in the city and believed in her future. His liberal
hands, though often covered, caused the charitable
institutions of the city to pulsate with new life. he was a
friend alike to the rich and the poor. I could not attempt to
fathom the depth of his mental capacity. In him were combined
the profound thinker, the strong writer, the close reasoner.
He was stamped with a pronounced individuality, rugged,
simple, honest. He was quick to recognize a sham and as quick
to condemn it. He acknowledged real worth and showed his
appreciation of it, which is manifest in the long service of
many of his employees.
"He was characterized by that southern chivalry that
always respected an honest and open adversary. He was a
student in the truest sense, not only of books, for he found
sermons in brooks and stones and trees. He was aesthetic in
his taste, a lover of the beautiful, and the art gallery had
for him great attractions. The Bible was one of his principal
textbooks. He enjoyed the study of the Word which bore
particularly upon childhood and had compiled from the
Scriptures a Bible for children. He loved children and
appreciated that book which contained the truth that would
bless childhood. He was firm but kind. Those who knew him best
loved him most.
"The purpose of life is to afford opportunities for
physical, mental, and spiritual development. These
opportunities slip away from the sluggard. They tauntingly
play before the dreamer but they surrender to the individual
with high purpose, undaunted courage and indefatigable
determination. He who will take the time, make the application
and industriously set himself to solve the problems, gets out
of life its sweetest honey. Mr. Polk as a boy fought a good
fight when, amidst difficulties and reverses, he continued at
school, where he laid the foundation for his future
usefulness. His record is an inspiration to every young man
who will honestly endeavor to solve the problem of life.
"He believed that God set the solitary in families. He
honored and held sacred the family relations. It was here that
Mr. Polk was at his best, as all good men are. The dearest
placed to him on earth was the place he called home, and it
was in Herndon Hall that he was his true self. His conception
of a home as described in the Shadows and Memories of Herndon
Hall is exquisitely poetic. The architect may build a house
and shelter you from the storms without but the home is made
by its occupants of human love and human sympathy. Take from
the house these necessary ingredients and it ceases to be a
home. His attachment to his children is expressed in these
words: 'While Herndon Hall stands overlooking Des Moines, the
beautiful city of our adoption, it is deserted by all save an
aged father and mother who look and long and weep for the
return of their children without the consolation vouchsafed by
the Lord to Rachel...Home must sooner or later become to the
aged an oratorio of the memory, singing to all our after life
melodies and harmonies of old remembered joys.' "
The influence of such a life as that of Jefferson Scott
Polk can never die. His work was of stupendous magnitude in
its relation to material progress. His record was an inspiring
example of justice, charity and consideration for those in his
employ; of humanitarianism as expressed in generous assistance
where need was manifest; in citizenship where his patriotism
and devotion to the city of his adoption knew no bounds; and
most of all in his home. It were well if all who knew and
honored him while he was yet an active factor in life would
hold to the high ideals concerning home which was expressed to
his family: "Love, my dear ones, begets love. As you love your
children so will they love you. Get, I beseech you, in close
touch with your little ones. Get your arms around them, press
their dear little hearts up to yours and keep them there. Do
not let business or other pleasures cause you to neglect this
duty. Your children's love for you is worth more to you than
gold or diamonds, and your love to and for them is the
proudest legacy you can leave them. These memories, these
shadows, these dreams of loved father, mother and home will do
more to make of your children good men and women, good
citizens, and good Christians than all other influences
combined." |
