Iowa History Project
Harlan, Edgar Rubey.
A Narrative History of the People of Iowa.
Vol III. Chicago: American Historical Society, 1931
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."