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PAUL C. TAFF, B. S. Practically the entire educational career
of Prof. Paul C. Taff has been identified with the Iowa State College of
Agriculture and Mechanic Arts at Ames, where he received his own training and
where he is now assistant director of the extension department. He serves also
as the state leader for the Boys' and Girls' 4-H Club work, is a lecturer of
ability and has been judge of corn and grains at numerous national exhibitions.
Professor Taff was born in McLean County, Illinois, February 28, 1887, and is a
son of Alexander and Ann (Kaiser) Taff. His father was born at Richmond,
Indiana, in 1856, and grew up in an agricultural community, where he received a
rural school education. In young manhood he moved to Illinois, where he engaged
in farming for many years, becoming one of the substantial citizens of that
community, but since 1920 has been living a retired life at Ames. Mrs. Taff was
born in Germany, in 1857, and was eighteen years of age when she came to
Illinois, where she met and married Mr. Taff. She also survives and resides at
Ames. Paul C. Taff attended school in Illinois and Iowa and in 1913 was
graduated from the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts with the
degree of Bachelor of Science in agriculture. He then entered the extension
department of his alma mater as head of crops and soils, later supervised
correspondence courses and then was made assistant director of the extension
department, a position which he still retains. He has shown a great deal
of interest and has done much valuable work as state leader in the Boys' and
Girls' Club work, and has lectured on extension work all over the state and on
boys' and girls' club work in general. In addition to having been judge of corn
and grains at numerous national shows, he has written ten or twelve bulletins on
grain and club work, and produced one entire course on farm plants and soils,
which is printed in sixteen catalogues. He belongs to several honorary and
social fraternities, and takes an active part in civic affairs. Professor Taff
is a Roman Catholic in his religious faith and member of the Knights of
Columbus.
On June 18, 1913, at Panora, Guthrie County, Iowa, Professor Taff was united in
marriage with Miss Gertrude Carberry, who was born and reared at Panora, where
she attended school, and then took a course at St. Joseph's Academy, Des Moines.
Professor and Mrs. Taff are the parents of five children: James A., born July 6,
1915; Ann M., born June 10, 1918; Regina E., born November 6, 1920; Mary, born
July 4, 1921; and Marjorie, born October 6, 1922. All of the children were born
in Ames.
CHARLES F. TAYLOR, assistant superintendent of the Iowa State
Sanitarium at Oakdale in Johnson County, was born and completed his medical
education in Chicago, and had a general experience and training in surgery and
in private practice before he came to the state institution at Oakdale.
He was born in Chicago, Illinois, September 22, 1891, son of Charles F. and
Alice B. (Webster) Taylor, both of whom reside in Chicago. The Taylors are of
Scotch-Irish and the Websters of English ancestry. The Websters have been in
America for about 2 centuries. Charles F. Taylor was born in Ohio, which was
also the native state of his wife. He has for many years been in the real estate
and insurance business. The four children of the parents are: Mrs. Flora Marie
Hufton, of Chicago; Mrs. Mary Webster Sawyer, of Chicago; Dr. Charles F. Taylor;
and Dr. Ray H. Taylor, of Chicago.
Charles F. Taylor attended public schools in Chicago, graduating from high
school in 1912, and paid part of his own expenses while in high school, working
for individuals and business concerns, including the National Oxygen Company. In
1912 he entered the University of Chicago, where he took his pre-medical course
and graduated with the B. A. degree in 1916. His last two years of medical
college work were done in Rush Medical College of Chicago, from which he
received the M. D. degree in 1918. He was still in medical school when America
entered the World war and was put in the Thirteenth
Hospital Unit and later sent to Camp Lincoln, at Springfield, with the Eleventh
Regiment. Doctor Taylor was honorably discharged from the Government service in
1918 and completed his interne experience in the hospital of the Illinois Steel
Company, where he was an assistant surgeon.
Doctor Taylor came to Iowa in 1919 and carried on a successful general practice
at Prairieburg until 1923. While there he acted as medical examiner for the city
schools. He was put in charge of the General Hospital of the State Sanitarium of
Oakdale in 1923, and since 1928 has had the official title of assistant
superintendent. Doctor Taylor passed the Illinois State
Medical Board in June, 1918, and was licensed to practice in Iowa in November
1919. He is a member of Johnson County and Iowa State Medical Societies, is a
member of the state Sanitarium Association and secretary of the Mississippi
Valley Sanitarium Association. He is a Republican in politics and is affiliated
with the Masonic fraternity and Knights of Pythias.
Doctor Taylor married, November 8, 1917, at Chicago, Miss Harriett M. Sack. They
are the parents of seven children: J. David, born in 1918, Charlotte Bernice,
born in 1920, Richard Ray, born in 1922, Harriett Louise, born in 1924, Thomas
Fletcher, born in 1926, Daniel Webster, born in 1927, and Philip Alan, born in
1928.
OTHO S. THOMAS is a well established lawyer in Lyon County, at
Rock Rapids, and several times has enjoyed the honor and responsibility of
serving as mayor of his home community.
Mr. Thomas was born at Des Moines, Iowa, August 17, 1885, son of William H. and
Alice Theresa (Buckingham) Thomas. He grew up at Des Moines, attended public
schools there and at Valley Junction and at the age of eighteen entered Drake
University. He graduated Bachelor of Philosophy in 1908 and in 1910 took his LL.
B. degree at the college of law of Yale University. He remained at Yale another
year in post-graduate study, taking the Master of Laws degree in 1911 and during
1911-13 was instructor in law in Drake University. During 1913-14 he was
assistant to the attorney general of Iowa, and when he engaged in private
practice he brought to his work a degree of training and experience such as few
young attorneys possess.
Mr. Thomas practiced in Des Moines for about a year and in 1915 moved to Oakland
and in 1919 to Rock Rapids. Here he was associated with Samuel D. Riniker until
the death of Mr. Riniker in 1924. Subsequently he took in a young attorney as a
partner, Homer C. Myers, who is now practicing in Chicago. Mr. Thomas carried on
a general law practice and has an important routine of duties in connection with
his profession.
He was first elected to the office of mayor of Rock Rapids in 1922 and has
served four terms in that office and has given the town a progressive and
economical administration of its affairs. Mr. Thomas is a Republican in
politics, is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner and is a Methodist. He is a
member of the Iowa State Bar Association and the American Bar Association, also
a member of the State Historical Society of Iowa.
He married, December 15, 1920, Miss Julia Olive Waldron, of Council Bluffs,
Iowa, daughter of Sherman T. and Rosella (Coulter) Waldron, of Glidden, Iowa.
SETH THOMAS, A.M., LL. B., controls in the City of Fort Dodge a
law practice that marks him as one of the leading members of the bar of Webster
County. In this vital and important city, metropolis and judicial center of the
county, he has been established in the practice of his profession during a
period of twenty years.
On the parental home farm in Morgan County, Ohio, the birth of Seth Thomas
occurred May 18, 1873, and he is a son of William H. and Louisa J. (Wilson)
Thomas, the former of whom was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, and the latter in
Mason County, West Virginia, their home being now maintained near Charleston,
Illinois, where Mr. Thomas is living retired, at the venerable age of
eighty-three years, his wife being eighty years of age. William H. Thomas in the
active years of his life rendered good account of himself as a farmer and
blacksmith, and he still gives a general supervision to his farm near
Charleston, Coles County, Illinois, a property that he purchased in 1920, upon
his removal to that state from Ohio. Of the six children in the family all are
living except one: Simeon E. is a member of the faculty of the Teachers' College
at Charleston, Illinois; Seth, of this review, was next in order of birth;
Margaret is the widow of F. H. Birthisel and now resides in the home of her
venerable parents; Melvin resides at Charleston, Illinois, and is serving as
farm agent of the Coles County; Cora is the wife of T. Roush, a farmer in Mason
County, West Virginia. The parents are earnest members of the United Brethren
Church, and the father is a Democrat in political alignment, he being a man of
superior intellectual ken and having always taken deep and intelligent interest
in community affairs. He is a son of Enos Thomas, who was born in Pennsylvania
and who became a pioneer settler in Ohio, from which state his son Franklin went
forth as a loyal soldier of the Union in the Civil war. Mrs. Louisa J. (Wilson)
Thomas is a daughter of the late George W. Wilson, who was born and reared in
Virginia and who became a prosperous farmer in that section of his native
commonwealth that later became the State of West Virginia. He was a gallant
soldier of the Union in the Civil war, as were many other men from West
Virginia.
Seth Thomas received the advantages of the West Virginia public schools and
thereafter was a student two years in the University of West Virginia. In
continuing his education he found it expedient to come to the West, and in 1904
he graduated in the University of Iowa with the degree of Bachelor of Arts,
while two years later the university conferred upon him, after his
effective post-graduate work, the supplemental degree of Master of Arts. The
same university was the medium through which he prepared himself for his chosen
profession, as he was graduated in its law department in June, 1910, his
reception of the degree of Bachelor of Laws having been forthwith followed by
his admission to the Iowa bar and by his opening an office in the City of Fort
Dodge, where he has since continued in the active and successful general
practice of law and where his law business is now one of important and
representative order. Under the administration of President Wilson he served as
assistant United States district attorney for the northern district of Iowa. He
has membership in the Webster County Bar Association, the Iowa State Bar
Association and the American Bar Association.
Mr. Thomas gives staunch allegiance to the Democratic party and has been
influential in its councils and campaigns in this section of the Hawkeye State.
He is affiliated with the local Blue Lodge and Royal Arch Chapter of the Masonic
fraternity, and he and his wife are zealous members of the Congregational
Church.
July 25, 1905, was marked by the marriage of Mr. Thomas to Miss Ella Brown, who
was born in Washington County, Iowa, where her father, Benjamin F. Brown, gained
no minor precedence as a progressive and successful exponent of farm industry,
he having been born in Brooke County, West Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have
two children: Eleanor is a graduate of Iowa State College, at Ames, and Reynolds
B. is a student in the Fort Dodge High School.
CHARLES E. THOMPSON, Doctor of Osteopathy, is one of the older
graduates of Still College at Des Moines, is a former president of that
institution, and has been carrying on the work of an osteopathic physician in
the capital city for over a quarter of a century.
Doctor Thompson was born at Momence in Kankakee County, Illinois, December 14,
1864, son of John M. and Phoebe Jane (Mott) Thompson, his father a native of New
York State and his mother of Canada. His grandfather, Nicholas M. Thompson, was
born in New York State, and the family of Thompsons have been in America since
Colonial times and were represented in the Revolutionary war. They have always
been leaders in their communities. John M. Thompson was educated in New York,
went to Michigan and then to Illinois, and spent most of his life as a farmer
and school teacher. He held township offices, was a Republican in politics, and
he and his wife were Methodists. Of their five children three are now living.
Dr. Charles E. Thompson attended the public schools in Illinois, continuing his
higher education in Ewing College of that state, and taught both in Ewing
College and in public schools. He also had some school work in Texas. Altogether
he gave about fifteen years to educational interests, and in 1900 came to Des
Moines and was made instructor of chemistry while carrying on his osteopathic
studies in Still College. He was graduated in 1902, and then remained with the
college as a teacher until 1905, when he was elected president. Doctor Thompson
was president of Still College for six years, and since resigning had devoted
his attention to a growing practice and is one of the ablest representatives of
his profession in the state. He is a member of the National Osteopathic
Association.
Doctor Thompson married, in 1895, Miss Berta Carr, who was born in Illinois and
was educated in that state. Her father, J. C. D. Carr, was a physician at
Galatia, Illinois. Doctor and Mrs. Thompson have one daughter, Dorothy Octavia,
a highly cultured young woman, who was educated in Des Moines, graduated A. B.
from Grinnell College, Master of Science from Iowa State College at Ames, and
taught both at Grinnell and Ames. Doctor Thompson is a member of the First
Baptist Church, and has been a deacon of the church for twenty-three years. He
is a Republican in politics.
HIRAM H. THOMPSON, Davenport artist, painter of portraits and
murals, was born in a family of artists, and from earliest boyhood had no other
thought than that he would follow the family traditions in the use of the pencil
and brush.
Mr. Thompson was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, February 18, 1885, son of Thomas
Edward and Rhoda (Wright) Thompson. His mother is now deceased. His father, a
resident of Chicago, has been a scenic painter for many years. Hiram Thompson
has a brother, Frank Wright Thompson, who has also made a creditable record as a
scenic artist in the City of Chicago.
Hiram H. Thompson attended school in St. Louis. After leaving school he began
his serious study of art as a profession and means of livelihood. He attended
the Chicago Art Institute and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and later studied
privately under Walter Ufer, N. A., who took a great deal of interest in his
talented pupil and regarded him as one of the most promising students he ever
had. Mr. Thompson while living in Chicago became a member of the Palette and
Chisel Club, membership in which organization is a coveted honor among artists.
On removing to Davenport Mr. Thompson engaged in the field of commercial art and
for twelve years handled the work of the U. N. Roberts Company. He now has a
spacious studio in the Davenport Turner Hall Building, where he handles such
nationally known accounts as Montgomery Ward & Company, the Gordon-Van Tine
Company, the Ferry-Hanly Advertising Company, the L. W. Ramsey Company, the
Cribben Sexton Company, the Rock Island Stove Company, the Hydraulic Pressed
Brick Company, etc.
Although the larger portion of Mr. Thompson's accounts and commissions come to
him from the larger cities of the East and West, he makes his home in Iowa,
preferring the beauty and peace of Iowa's rivers and hills to the hectic
existence of the large cities.
Mr. Thompson's training and ambitions have been toward the painting of
portraits. During the past several years he has come into the realization of his
ambitions, having brilliantly executed a number of portrait commissions. Chief
among these were the portraits of Judge Charles McGhee Waterman, former justice
of the Supreme Court of Iowa, and Dr. Clarence Theodore Lindley, donor to the
Davenport Municipal Art Gallery. This latter commission was by the City of
Davenport after Mr. Thompson won the L. W. Ramsey award for the best work in any
medium with his portrait "Louise."
Many thousands of Davenport people have greatly admired what is perhaps his
largest piece of work, the mural painting depicting the signing of the Indian
treaty between the chief of the Sac and Fox tribes and General Winfield Scott,
an event that might be considered the cornerstone of Davenport's history. This
painting occupies a prominent place in the handsome American Commercial Bank
Building.
Mr. Thompson is a trustee of the Davenport Friends of Art. He is the 1930 master
of Roosevelt Lodge No. 626, A. F. and A. M. also belongs to the Consistory and
is an Elk. He married, in 1902, Bertha Reichow, a native of Chicago. Their
children are Dorothy, Janette and Hiram H., Jr.
JOHN A. THOMSEN, JR. This is a name that has been prominent in the
agricultural, business and civic affairs of Clinton County for a great many
years. The late John A. Thomsen, Sr., came to this section of Iowa from Denmark
when a boy of fourteen, and his energy, thrift, good judgment and integrity made
him a substantial figure in that community.
John A. Thomsen, Sr., was born in Denmark January 20, 1857, and died at his home
in Sabula December 19, 1926, at the age of sixty-nine years, ten months and
twenty-nine days. His early education was given him in the schools of his native
country. When the family came to America they located near Mount Algor, where
the son John contributed his part to the upkeep of the family by working as a
farm hand. Later he and his brother Fred rented a farm and provided a home for
their parents.
John A. Thomsen married, in 1883, Miss Elisa Petersen, also a native of Denmark.
She came to America when seventeen years of age. After their marriage they lived
on a farm a mile north of Teeds Grove, later purchasing the land, and in 1901
they bought the R. E. Walker farm six miles southwest of Sabula. Mr. Thomsen
engaged in farming there until about 1920, when he moved to the town of Sabula.
He was in every respect a self-made man. His hard work, practice of thrift and
the exercise of good business judgment brought him the competency that enabled
him to spend his last years in comfort. For two years before his death he had
been an influential member of the Sabula City Council. He was baptized when a
child in the Danish Lutheran Church, and was also a member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, being buried under the auspices of that order.
He was survived by his widow, who lives at Sabula, and of their seven children
two daughters died in infancy and the son Frank in 1905, at the age of sixteen.
The surviving children are: Mrs. J. H. Petersen, of Sabula; Le Roy, of Sabula;
John Thomsen, Jr.; and Carl, whose home is near Teeds Grove.
John A Thomsen, Jr., is a representative of the family who has made himself a
factor in the business and financial affairs of the Teeds Grove Community. He
was born on the home farm near the town June 1, 1896. His education was supplied
by country schools, the Sabula High School and in 1915 he graduated from the
Clinton Business College. After a year on his father's farm he entered the Teeds
Grove Savings Bank, in 1917, as clerk. Later another year was given to farming,
and since 1919 he has been cashier of the bank at Teeds Grove. He is a member of
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Thomsen married, February 22, 1922, Miss Vera Jackson, daughter of William
H. and Florence Jackson. Her parents were born in Iowa and her father was a
farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Thomsen have two daughters, Myrna and Velma.
GEORGE KING THOMPSON. Among the members of the legal profession of
Iowa, George King Thompson, of the firm of Barnes, Chamberlain, Hanzlik &
Thompson, of Cedar Rapids, is perhaps best known as a trial and corporation
lawyer. His hard-headed common sense, his keen insight into human nature and his
personal charm and magnetism seem to bring him into immediate and close touch
with a jury. Thus he has gained and held a commanding position at the bar, and
while so doing has found time to enter actively into those civic movements which
commend themselves to all progressive and right-thinking citizens.
King Thompson, as he is familiarly known, was born near Jamaica, Guthrie County,
Iowa, November 24, 1887, and is a son of William Jenkins and Ida (King)
Thompson. His grandfather, John Thompson, came from Franklin County, Indiana, to
Iowa in 1879 and settled down to agricultural pursuits, in which he was engaged
until the time of his death. William Jenkins Thompson was educated at Earlham
College, and always engaged in farming and live stock raising, although he also
carried on a hardware and implement business at Jamaica. A Democrat in politics,
he was active in his party and served as a delegate to the national convention
at Saint Louis in 1904. Fraternally he was affiliated with the Masons and the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mrs. Thompson was born in Guthrie County,
Iowa, a daughter of George King, who came to Iowa in 1850 and spent his life as
an agriculturist. In young womanhood Mrs. Thompson was a public school teacher,
and since the death of her husband, in 1919, has made her home at Cedar Rapids.
King Thompson attended the Jamaica public schools and the Guthrie County High
School, following which he spent three years in farming in association with his
father. Not caring for the life of a farmer, he decided upon a higher education,
and accordingly was a student at the University of Iowa for seven years,
receiving from that institution the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1911 and the
degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1914. He was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon
and Phi Delta Phi fraternities, and while attending college was co-owner and
editor of the Daily Iowan, and correspondent to the Chicago Record-Herald, Des
Moines Register and Leader, Omaha Bee, Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Minneapolis
Tribune, Davenport Democrat and Cedar Rapids Gazette. He was, from the time of
his graduation, city editor of the Iowa City Citizen until January, 1915, when
he resigned to locate at Cedar Rapids and take up the practice of law, as a
member of the firm of Rickel, Dennis & Thompson. In May, 1917, he joined the
firm of Barnes & Chamberlain, and in 1920 joined the present firm of Barnes,
Chamberlain, Hanzlik & Thompson, with offices at 612-622 Higley Building, Third
Avenue and Second Street. This firm is noted for its large corporation,
insurance and trial practice, and is counsel for the Cedar Rapids National Bank,
Peoples Savings Bank, Cedar Rapids & Marion City Railway Company, United Light &
Power Company and numerous other large enterprises. Mr. Thompson, in the various
cases which he has conducted, has shown himself absolutely at home in the court
room and familiar with its every detail. He has at his fingers' tips every
intricacy of practice and is never at a loss what to do. While open and above
board himself, he knows how to meet trickery, and his faculty of anticipation
and forestalling a move of his opponent is one of his strongest assets. He is a
master of cross-examination, holding his case well in hand at all times and
driving his points home with telling force. From 1923 to the present he has
served in the capacity of assistant county attorney of Linn County. He is a
member of the Linn County Bar Association, the Iowa State Bar Association and
the American Bar Association, belongs to the Lions Club, Country Club,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is
a thirty-second degree Mason and Shriner, and a member of the board of trustees
of the Westminster Presbyterian Church. Mr. Thompson is a Republican in his
political allegiance and one of the strong members of his party. He is a great
love of out-door sports and athletics of all kinds.
Mr. Thompson married Miss Margaret Kane, of Iowa City, Iowa, who died in 1918,
leaving one son: George King, Jr. The present Mrs. Thompson was Miss Grace
Byfield, who prior to her marriage to Mr. Thompson was superintendent of nurses
at Saint Luke's Hospital, Cedar Rapids. They have one son: William Byfield.
WILLIAM V. THORNBURG is a physician and surgeon now practicing at
Guthrie Center, and has been favorably known both as a man and a doctor in
Guthrie County since early manhood.
He was born in Dallas County, Iowa, November 12, 1879, son of Thomas A. and
Jennie (Vestal) Thornburg. His father was born in Indiana, April 9, 1847, and
came to Iowa in 1856. The Thornburgs were pioneers, since practically all the
families that came before the Civil war had to go through the era of hardships
in improving the land and establishing the facilities of civilization. Thomas A.
Thornburg in 1864, when he was seventeen years of age, enlisted in the Union
army and served until the close of the war. He was numbered among the
substantial representatives of the farming industry in Dallas County for many
years, and was elected and served as a state representative in the General
Assembly in the Twenty-second and Twenty-third Sessions. He died July 1, 1912.
His wife was born October 27, 1848, in Indiana, was bought to Commerce, Iowa,
where she was reared, and they were married October 11, 1871, at Linden, where
she still has her home, being now eighty-two years of age. Their family
consisted of five sons and one daughter, and the three sons now living beside
Doctor Thornburg are: Mark G., state secretary of agriculture at Des Moines;
Carroll K., a farmer at Linden; and Thomas H., a farmer at Dallas Center, Iowa.
William V. Thornburg grew up on a farm, but completed his education in Des
Moines, where he graduated from the Oak Park High School then spent two years in
Highland Park College, and in June, 1905, took his M. D. degree at the
University of Iowa, at Iowa City. Doctor Thornburg in September, 1906, engaged
in private practice at Yale in Guthrie County, and in September, 1928, moved his
home and office to Guthrie Center, but still does a large practice among his
former patients around Yale. He is a member of the Guthrie County, Iowa State
and American Medical Associations. Doctor Thornburg is much interested in
Masonry and is district deputy grand lecturer. He belongs to the Lodge, the
Scottish Rite bodies of the Consistory and the Mystic Shrine. He is a ember of
the Lions Club.
Doctor Thornburg married, June 30, 1920, Miss Adele Sonaglia. She was born at
Brazil, South America, was graduated from high school in Hibbing, Minnesota, and
completed the nurses' training course in Saint Joseph's Hospital at Saint Paul,
Minnesota, graduating in 1917. For one year she was an army nurse at Fort Des
Moines Hospital. Doctor and Mrs. Thornburg have one daughter, Mafalda Jane, born
at Yale June 30, 1921, now attending school at Guthrie Center.
KENT H. THORNELL is a junior partner of the Clasrinda law firm of
Stephens & Thornell. He was born in Southwestern Iowa, was with the colors
during the World war and has been practicing law at Clarinda since he left the
service.
He was born at Sidney, Iowa, September 8, 1891. His father, Andrew B. Thornell,
is a prominent resident of Sidney, whose career is sketched on other pages of
this publication. The son was graduated from the Sidney High School in 1910, and
subsequently spent one year as a student in the University of Nebraska and two
years at the University of Michigan. In 1917 he was graduated from the law
department of the University of Iowa and on the fourteenth of May of the same
year enlisted and joined the First Officers Training Camp at Fort Snelling,
Minnesota. Mr. Thornell was commissioned a second lieutenant, later was promoted
to first lieutenant and had assignments of duties in several training camps over
the country, but did not have the opportunity to get overseas.
He received his honorable discharge from the service January 6, 1919, and
immediately returned to his native section of Iowa, and since July 4, 1919, has
been practicing law at Clarinda, with Homer S. Stephens as his senior partner.
Mr. Thornell married in March, 1917, Miss Helen H. Hill, at Hamburg, Iowa. She
was educated at the University of Iowa, and is a daughter of Frank W. Hill, a
retired druggist of Hamburg. Mr. and Mrs. Thornell have one daughter, Elaine,
born in 1919.
Mr. Thornell is a Presbyterian, has taught a class in Sunday School and has
served as president of the Men's Class. Mrs. Thornell is a Methodist.
Fraternally he is affiliated with Nottaway Lodge No. 140, A. F. and A. M., at
Clarrinda, is a member of the Phi Gamma Delta and Phi Delta Phi college
fraternities, a Republican in politics, and is a member of the Iowa State Bar
Association and the American Legion Post at Clarinda.
HON. ANDREW BARNETT THORNELL. Few of the old-time lawyers who made their
mark at the Fremont County bar still remain amid earthly scenes. For the greater
part they have passed away. Some have handed in their briefs and resigned from
active participation in the profession which they honored and which, in turn,
showered honors upon them. Among those who are still in active practice, and
foremost in the ranks, is Hon. Andrew Barnett Thornell, a member of the bench
and bar for fifty-five years at Sidney, who during this long period has been
identified, either as lawyer or judge, with some of the most important
litigation that has been fought in the courts of the state.
Judge Thornell was born on a farm five and one-half miles west of Rochester, in
Monroe County, New York, October 22, 1846, and is a son of Joseph B. and Susan (Maxfield)
Thornell. His father was born in England and came to the United States at the
age of four years, settling in New York State, where he spent his entire life as
an agriculturist. He was a stanch Republican in politics and a strong
abolitionist, assisting many slaves to escape to Canada via the "Underground
Railway" system, but did not live to see the abolition of slavery, his death
occurring in 1857. Mrs. Thornell was born on the Mohawk River, new York, and was
of Holland descent, her ancestors having been among the first settlers of New
York. She died May 23, 1861. Mr. and Mrs. Thornell were originally Baptists, but
later adopted the faith of the Second Adventist Church. Of their seven children
Judge Thornell, the second youngest in order of birth, is the only survivor.
Andrew Barnett Thornell attended the public schools of New York and the Wesleyan
Seminary at Lyman, that state, following which he took the freshman course at
Knox College, Illinois. He graduated from Tabor College in 1873 and attended the
State University of Iowa as a member of the law class of 1875, following which
he studied law privately and under the preceptorship of Judge L. W. Ross, of
Council Bluffs, Iowa, and was admitted to the bar in 1875, commencing practice
at Sidney April 3 of that year. From the start he made rapid progress in his
profession, serving as district attorney of the Thirteenth District from 1885
until 1887, when the district was reorganized and changed to the Fifteenth
District, to which he had been elected District judge in 1886. For thirty years
he dispensed justice from this honorable court, resigning in 1917 to return to
private practice with his son, A. V. Thornell, and C. M. Adams. This is one of
the most formidable combinations of this part of the state, and Judge Thornell
still remains in active practice, although he has passed his eighty-third
birthday. During his long career on the bench he secured the confidence and
esteem of those with whom he came into contact in any way. He was stern in the
administration of justice, but his decisions were always tempered by the quality
of mercy, and few of his findings were reversed by the higher courts. Thoroughly
grounded in principles and precedents, and possessed of the true judicial
tempercible and dignified manner, which made him one of the most respected as
well as one of the most beloved members of the bench. He is a valued and
venerated member of the Fremont County Bar Association, the Iowa State Bar
Association and the American Bar Association. For many years he has been
interested in politics as a Republican, and his interest in the cause of
education has shown itself in his long and faithful service as a member of the
school board. Fraternally he is a Mason, and for fifty-three years he has been a
consistent member of the valuable contributor to the Presbyterian Church.
On January 25, 1877, Judge Thornell was united in marriage with Miss Olive B.
Gray, who was born in Coles County, Illinois, a daughter of John B. Gray who
moved from Illinois to Missouri and thence to Iowa during the Civil war period.
He was a substantial farmer and prominent citizen, and at one time served as
recorder of Fremont County. Of the nine children born to Judge and Mrs. Thornell
seven grew to maturity: Elizabeth, who married Morton Adams, whose son is one of
her father's law partners at Sidney; Susanna, the wife of C. R. Barnes, an
attorney of Shenandoah, this state; A. V., educated in the public schools of
Sidney, Wabash College at Crawfordsville, Indiana, the law department of the
University of Iowa, and the University of Chicago, where he spent one year, now
practicing law in association with his father and Mr. Adams, at Sidney, married
Miss Sarah Yount, of Crawfordsville, and has three children, Andrew Yount, John
and Barbara Caroline; Frances Ellen, the wife of H. H. Steven, an attorney of
Clarinda, Iowa; Major John G., deceased; Kent H., who is engaged in the practice
of law at Vlarinda; and Dr. Joseph B., a physician and surgeon of Council
Bluffs. The mother of these children, who had been a member of the Presbyterian
Church for fifty-four years and was greatly beloved in her community for her
many fine qualities of heart and mind, passed away at Sidney, October 28, 1927.
John G. Thornell, son of Judge Thornell, was a graduate of West Point in 1910
and was a captain in the regular army. When the United States entered the World
war he was assigned with a mechanical detachment and was sent by the United
States Government to Europe, where he was transferred, with the rank of major,
to the air service as a balloon observer. Following the war he remained in the
regular army as a major in the Flying Corps and was sent to Italy by the United
States Government to complete the negotiations for the purchase of the giant
dirigible Roma. This was successfully effected, but after its arrival in the
United States the ill fated ship was wrecked. February 21, 1922, at Hampton,
Virginia, after leaving Langley Field, and having been outfitted by him for a
long cruise. In the fall this brave and efficient officer was one of the
thirty-three who were killed. Thornell Avenue at Langley Field is named in his
honor and memory.
THOMAS F. THORNTON, M.D. A physician of more than ordinary skill,
widely-known throughout Blackhawk County, Dr. Thomas F. Thornton is a leading
member of the medical profession of Waterloo. He was born on a farm in Lincoln
Township, Blackhawk County, Iowa, a son of Thomas Thornton, and a grandson of a
native of Ireland, whose entire life as spent on that island. After his death
his widow, grandmother of Doctor Thornton, moved with her children to Glasgow,
Scotland.
The father of Doctor Thornton, Thomas Thornton, was born in County Mayo,
Ireland, but accompanied his mother to Glasgow, and he and his brother William
were the only members of the family to come to the United States. William
Thornton settled in Wisconsin, but is now deceased, although his son and
daughter survive him. From the time he was seven years old until 1861 Thomas
Thornton lived at Glasgow, and in the latter year came to the United States and
went into the lumbering industry in the vicinity of Green Bay, Wisconsin. After
ten years of hard work in the lumber camps, during which period he saved his
money, in 1871 he came to Blackhawk County and bought a tract of land from the
Government for $1.25 an acre, a few acres of which were broken. Returning to
Wisconsin he spent the winter in that state, and then, in 1872, came back to his
claim, arriving in the spring. On it he erected a small frame house that was
occupied by the family for thirty years. He also planted all the fine large
trees that now beautify the place, as there were no trees there at the time.
This first home has been replaced with one much more commodious. All of the
necessary farm buildings have been erected; the machinery is modern and well
cared for, and the 200 acre farm is one of the best-improved and productive
properties in the county. At the time Thomas Thornton came to Blackhawk County
this section was but sparsely settled, although Waterloo was a thriving village.
Wild game was plentiful, but there were difficulties in getting in commodities;
there were but few improvements, and it took faith to venture into a region
where so much remained to be done before living was comfortable. The mother of
Doctor Thornton was Miss Hannah C. Hagerty before her marriage, and she was born
at Calumet, Michigan, a daughter of Dennis Hagerty, of Irish ancestry, and an
early settler of Michigan. During the war between the states Mr. Hagerty served
in the Union army, and following his honorable discharge from the army at the
close of the war he settled in Texas, and there died of yellow fever when only
thirty-nine years old. His wife was a member of the Kelly family, and she
survived him many years, dying in 1914, at the age of eighty-seven years. Mr.
and Mrs. Thornton had twelve children born to them, and all of them were living
in 1930.
When the Thorntons came to Blackhawk County the development at Waterloo was
mainly along the west side of the river, and it was considered a great treat by
the children to be permitted to ride to town with their father. Doctor Thornton
first attended the rural schools of Lincoln Township, and later the Iowa State
College, Cedar Falls. Still later he entered the Creighton School of Pharmacy,
Omaha, Nebraska, and was graduated therefrom in 1909, after which he entered the
medical department of Creighton College, and was graduated therefrom in 1913,
with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. From the summer of 1912 until the fall of
1913 he served as an interne at Saint Joseph's Hospitals, Omaha, after which he
came to Waterloo, where he has since remained, building up a very large and
valuable practice. At different times he has done post-graduate work in the best
hospitals of Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago, and is one of the
best surgeons of Waterloo.
In the year 1915 Doctor Thornton married Miss Veronica M. Finley, daughter of
John C. and Maria (Denning) Finley, farmers at Ferryville, Wisconsin. Mrs.
Thornton was born at Ferryville, Wisconsin, and they have four children: Thomas
F., born April 24, 1916; John F., born September 30, 1917; R. Joseph, born March
12, 1920; and Maurita, born April 5, 1924. By a former marriage Doctor Thornton
has two other children: Edna Marie, born March 29, 1910, is a member of the
Foreign Mission Sisters of St. Dominic of Maryknoll, New York, and is now known
as Sister Miriam Thomas. The work of this order is among the oriental countries,
such as China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Hawaii and also mission son our own
Pacific coast for oriental immigrants. Sister Miriam Thomas is now in training
for this type of service and will be ready for foreign duty in January, 1932.
The other child of Doctor Thornton is T. Eugene, who is in the class of 1934 at
Columbia College at Dubuque. Doctor Thornton and his family belong to Sacred
Heart Catholic Church, and he is a member of the Knights of Columbus, B. P. O.
Elks and Kiwanis Club, of which he is past president and in 1923 was delegate to
the National Convention at Atlanta, Georgia. He also belongs to the Blackhawk
County Medical Society, of which he is also a past president; the Iowa State
Medical Society, of which he was chairman of the Surgical Section in 1929, and
the American Medical Association, of which he has for the past five years been a
delegate to the House of Delegates, and he is a Fellow of the American College
of Surgeons. In 1929, Doctor Thornton took with him as partner, his cousin, Dr.
John W. Thornton, a graduate of Rush Medical College and interne of Cook County
Hospital. He is a son of Dr. John H. Thornton, deceased, formerly of Lansing,
Iowa.
In the pursuit of his honorable professional career Doctor Thornton has gained a
strong position by the ability with which he has accepted and discharged his
responsibilities; and while he has made a steady progress in the peaceful
accumulation of the traits of his vocation, he has established himself in the
confidence and hearts of the people of Waterloo, and few men stand any higher in
popular esteem than he.
HENRY THUENEN has had a long and honorable career as a lawyer,
member of the Davenport bar, and his career has been identified in lines outside
of his profession with his native city. he is now senior member of the law firm
Thuenen & Thuenen, his junior associate being his son. Their offices are in the
Kresage Building.
Mr. Thuenen was born at Davenport July 9, 1868, son of Henry and Elizabeth
(Busch) Thuenen. His parents were born in Germany, his father on May 19, 1832,
and his mother on June 30, 1829. They were married in Davenport, where Henry
Thuenen established his home in 1855. They lived to celebrate their golden
wedding anniversary together in 1906, and the wife passed away the following
year, and Henry Thuenen, Sr., in 1914. Henry Thuenen was a wagon maker and
blacksmith, and one of the old substantial mechanics who did their work
thoroughly, and only a few years ago a man from the western part of the state
told Henry Thuenen, the lawyer, that he was still using a wagon built by his
father years before.
Mr. Henry Thuenen was educated in public schools at Davenport, graduating from
high school in 1887, and following that studied law in the office of Judge
French and Judge Waterman. He successfully passed the bar examination in
October, 1890, and is now rounding out forty years of successful work as a
lawyer. He has handled a general practice, and from time to time has been called
upon to perform the duties of public office. For many years he has been chairman
of the local Republican committee. He has elected and served in the
Twenty-eighth General Assembly, but resigned to become city attorney of
Davenport. He was city attorney until 1906, and again held that office from 1922
to 1926. In 1895 he was elected a member of the board of alderman and served
three years. He is a Mason and an Elk.
Henry Thuenen married in 1892 Miss Emma Neumiller, who was born at Davenport,
daughter of Joseph and Marie Neumiller. Six children were born to their
marriage, Joseph H., Harold F., Henry W., Millie M. the wife of Thomas M.
Manley, Helen L., the wife of Leroy C. Wallace, and Edna Viola. The junior
partner of Thuenen & Thuenen is Harold F. Thuenen, who is a graduate of the law
department of the University of Iowa. He is a past commander of St. Simon of
Cyrene Commandery No. 9, Knights Templar, a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite
Mason, and one of the officers of Kaaba Temple of the Mystic Shrine.
LUCIAN C. TILDEN has been a resident of Ames from the time of his
infancy and has here been actively concerned in civic and material progress
during the period of his mature life, the while he has maintained impregnable
vantage-ground in the confidence and esteem of the community, in which he was
reared and educated. He is now serving as postmaster of Ames, and he has held
other local positions of public trust.
Mr. Tilden was born at Rochester, Vermont, November 15, 1868, and is a son of
Major George G. and Lydia (Cooper) Tilden, both likewise natives of Rochester
and both representatives of Colonial New England ancestry. Major George G.
Tilden was one of the youthful sons of the old Green Mountain State who went
forth in defense of the Union when the Civil war was precipitated, he having
been but twenty yours of age when he was chosen captain of his company in the
Eleventh Vermont Volunteer Infantry, which was assigned to the Army of the
Potomac and with which he participated in the various campaigns of that splendid
organization, including the Gettysburg campaign. He took part in many battles
and minor engagements, and while at the front won advancement to the rank of
major, with which grade he received his honorable discharge.
After the close of the Civil war Major Tilden continued his residence in Vermont
until 1869, when he came with his family to Iowa and established himself in the
general merchandise business at Ames, which was then a mere village. He was
founder of the now large and important business that is conducted under the
corporate title of the Tilden Store Company, the business having been
incorporated in 1910 and being conducted on the site of the original store here
opened by Major Tilden fully sixty years ago. Major Tilden was prominently
identified with the development and progress of Ames, was a citizen of
prominence and influence, and his sterling character and worthy achievement
marked him for unqualified popular confidence and esteem. His political
allegiance was given to the Republican party, he was affiliated with the Grand
Army of the Republic and he and his wife were earnest members of the
Congregational Church. The death of Major Tilden occurred in 1892, and his widow
passed away in 1925, at a venerable age and as one of the loved pioneer women of
Ames. Of the children Lucian C., of this review, is the eldest and he was not
yet one year old at the time the family home was established at Ames, where were
born all other children of the family: J. Galen was born March 28, 1874, and
continues his residence in Ames, where he is one of the principals in the
corporation of the Tilden Manufacturing Company and the Union National Bank;
George, next younger of the sons, was a resident of Seattle, Washington, at the
time of his death, in 1921; Mary is the wife of Harry F. Brown, who is the
general representative at Ames of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance
Company, of Milwaukee; Winifred R. is professor of physical education for women
in Iowa State College, at Ames.
After completing his studies in the Ames High School Lucian C. Tilden here
entered Iowa State College, which was then known as Iowa Agricultural College,
and in this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1888 and
with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He then became associated with his
father's general merchandise business, and upon the death of the honored father
of the firm name of Tilden Brothers & Company was adopted, this title having
been retained until 1910, when the business was incorporated as the Tilden Store
Company, he being still one of the executive officers of this representative
mercantile corporation, which is one of the most important in Story County.
Mr. Tilden has ever shown loyal and helpful interest in all things touching the
welfare and advancement of his home city, served as a member of its municipal
council in 1894-96, was mayor in 1897-98, and for nine years he was a member of
the local board of education, of which he was president a portion of the time.
In 1923 he was appointed postmaster of Ames, and by reappointment he has since
continued the incumbent of this office, in which his administration has been
signally progressive and popular. He has been influential in the local councils
of the Republican party, he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, being a
Knight Templar Mason, he is a valued member and former officer of the local
Rotary Club, and he and his wife are active members of the First Congregational
Church.
July 20, 1897, recorded the marriage of Mr. Tilden to Miss Ruth Duncan, who was
born at Darlington, Wisconsin, and who was a child when her parents established
their residence at Ames, Iowa, in 1882. John E. Duncan, father of Mrs. Tilden,
was long editor and publisher of the Ames Intelligencer and also served as
postmaster of this city. Mrs. Tilden was reared and educated at Ames, and was
here graduated in Iowa State College as a member of the class of 1895 and with
the degree of Bachelor of Arts. She is a popular factor in the social, cultural
and church activities of her home community. To Mr. and Mrs. Lucian C. Tilden
were born two children, a son and a daughter. The son, Clark D. Tilden, was born
April 25, 1898, was graduated in Iowa State College, the alma mater of his
parents, and is now manager of the Tilden Store Company, and treasurer of the
corporation that conducts this business that was founded by his paternal
grandfather. In 1923 he married Miss Dorothy McCorkindale, and they have two
children, John Duncan and Robert C. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lucian C.
Tilden is Harriet Tilden, who was born June 22, 1902, and who remains at the
parental home. She is popular in the social life of her native city, having
graduated from Iowa State College as a member of the class of 1923, she then
taught art for two years in the State University of Texas, at Austin, Texas,
after which for some time she was engaged in an executive capacity in mercantile
business in Chicago and in her home city of Ames. At the present time (1930) she
is majoring for her M. A. degree at Columbia University, New York City.
MRS. LYDIA COOPER TILDEN came to Iowa when a young woman after
graduating from one of the most famous colleges for women in the East. Education
might be called the ruling interest of her life. She was for many years
prominent in the educational and community life of the city of Ames, the seat of
Iowa State College.
She was of staunch New England ancestry and was related to the Cooper family of
which James Fennimore Cooper was a representative, and was also related to the
Emerson family of Concord. She was a graduate of Barrie Academy, and was a
member of the class of 1866 of Mount Holyoke Seminary, Massachusetts. She
participated in the fifty-fifth annual reunion of her class. Shortly after
graduating from Mount Holyoke she came to Iowa, and taught in a private school
at Keosauqua. Keosauqua at that time was one of the most cultured communities of
the state. While teaching there she lived in the home of Judge Manning. She was
married to Mr. George G. Tilden, of Rochester, Vermont, and moved to Ames in
1869. Mrs. Tilden for many years was president of the high school board of
education at Ames. She was always a student, and she completed and received
diplomas representing six courses in Chautauqua clubs. She was also a leader in
the First Congregational Church at Ames, and for many years superintendent of
the Sunday School, president of the Missionary Society, and in later years a
devoted and beloved leader of the Women's Bible Class. Mrs. Tilden passed away
in 1925.
Her influence as an educator has been continued through the career of her
daughter, Miss Winifred R. Tilden, who holds the chair of professor of physical
education for women in Iowa State College.
Miss Tilden was born at Ames, attended public schools there, and the cultural
environment of New England. In 1899 she was graduated from the Dana Hall School
at Wellesley, Massachusetts. From there she entered her mother's alma mater,
Mount Holyoke College, where she was graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree
in 1903. It was a number of years later before the subject of physical education
was given recognition as an essential of the curriculum. On her return from
Mount Holyoke she was put in charge of girls' athletics both in the Ames High
School and in the Iowa State College. In 1904 she was made instructor of
physical training and education at the college. In this field she did the work
of a pioneer. For a time she was the only instructor in the department. Now she
has six assistants, and the department serves 1,300 students.
Miss Tilden was primarily instrumental in establishing the annual May Day
celebration and the Jack O'Lantern observances at Iowa State College. She wrote
the pageants that were presented in connection with the semi-centennial
celebration at the college in 1920. Her work has made her deservedly one of the
most popular members of the faculty.
During the World war Miss Tilden went to France, in 1918, and, representing the
national board of the Y. W. C. A., was appointed recreational director at Toul.
It was after this war service abroad that she was raised to the rank of
professor in the Iowa State College and put at the head of the department of
physical education for women. In 1904-05 she took a special course in physical
training at the summer school of Harvard University and in 1908 a course in the
Chalif Normal School of Dancing at New York City. She also took post-graduate
work in physical education at Columbia University, New York City, in 1927.
Miss Tilden is affiliated with Chapter AA of the P. E. O. society; is a Gamma
Phi Beta; member of the Omieron Nu, the Home Economics Honorary Society; and the
Phi Kappa Phi sorority. She belongs to the church of which her mother was so
devoted a member, the First Congregational at Ames. She is a member of the
National Physical Education Association, the Mid-West Physical Education
Association, the National Association of the Directors of Physical Education for
Women in Colleges and Universities, and a member of the women's division of the
National Amateur Athletic Federation. She served as state chairman for the
national section on women's athletics, working especially in the interest of
basketball for women. Miss Tilden was a member of a conference called by Mrs.
Herbert Hoover at Washington in April, 1923, in the interest of athletics for
women and girls.
ANTON F. TILL, who on his business stationery always signs his
name Tony F. Till and is known as Tony in the community of Bellevue, where he
has spent practically all his life, has made a tremendous success of the
hatchery business. Till's Hatchery was started by him seven or eight years ago
and has been developed into an industry that now supplies baby chicks to
customers all over the Middle West in quantities of several hundred thousand
every season.
Mr. Till was born in Jackson Township, Jackson County, Iowa, September 1, 1897.
His parents, Peter J. and Anna (Herrig) Till, were also natives of Iowa and
still have their farm near Bellevue. Of their six children Anton F. is the
oldest, the others being Lena, Louis, Leo, Oscar and Clarence.
Anton F. Till attended country schools and had one year in the Bellevue High
School. Up to the age of twenty-three he assisted his father in the routine of
farm work and then farmed for himself two years.
It was in 1922 that he launched into the hatchery business as his special field.
The first season he operated a 2,400 egg incubator. The second year his capacity
was increased to 9,600 eggs, the following year by an additional 10,000, giving
him a total capacity of 22,000 eggs. After a change of equipment he had a plant
for incubating 47,000 eggs at a time, and at present his capacity is 186,000
eggs, with every possibility that this equipment will be doubled in a short
time. In order to take care of his rapidly increasing business and provide one
of the most modern hatcheries in the state, he erected, in the fall of 1927, a
brick building eighty by forty-four feet, two stories, with basement, every
feature being either the product of his own specialized experience or in
accordance with the highest standards set by poultry authorities. In the spring
of 1931 he established the Live and Grow Hatchery, at Dubuque, and also the
Preston Hatchery, at Preston, Iowa.
The Till Hatcheries are certified hatcheries, and those familiar with the
poultry industry understand the high requirements maintained in any plant
operating on a certified basis. Every flock producing eggs for this hatchery is
certified as well as the hatchery itself. Mr. Till operates his business on a
three-fold guarantee, the first being that all chicks sold are true to breed and
the quality of stock described, and he also guarantees the live arrival of the
full number of chicks ordered. His hatchery is a member of the American Baby
Chick Producers Association and the American Poultry Association, and what local
business men think of his enterprise is typified in the words of the president
of the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce, who says: "Mr. Tony F. Till has resided in
this vicinity all his life and has established for himself a reputation for
business integrity and honesty. He is thoroughly familiar with the details of
the operation of a first class hatchery."
Mr. Till is a member of the Knights of Columbus and the St. Joseph Catholic
Church at Bellevue, and is a Democrat in politics. In addition to his hatchery
he does an extensive business dealing in Purina farm and poultry feeds and
supplies. His business requires the services of five persons besides himself.
Mr. Till married, February 16, 1919, Virginia Pollock, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
William Pollock, natives of Iowa. Her father is a well-to-do farmer. Her mother
is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Till have two daughter, Bernice and Loretta.
EMMET TINLEY, head of one of the largest law firms in Iowa, has
been a resident of Council Bluffs sixty years, since he was two years old.
He was born in Macon County, Missouri, September 22, 1867, son of Mathew and
Rosas (Dolan) Tinley. Both parents were born in Ireland and were brought to
America when children. Mathew H. Tinley and wife were married in Illinois, lived
there two years, then went to Missouri, and on April 28, 1869, arrived in
Council Bluffs. He died in 1907 and his wife in 1913.
One of the reasons for the family making its permanent location at Council
Bluffs, in the opinion of Emmet Tinley, was the excellent schools there, which
at that time were regarded as highly as any schools in the country. All the
children were liberally educated. The two sons who came with the parents to
Council Bluffs were Hubert and Emmet. Hubert for many years has been cashier of
the State Savings Bank of Council Bluffs. The children born after the arrival of
the family in Council Bluffs were: Mary L., John P.., Beatrice, Mathew A.,
Aurelia and George L. Mary L., is practicing medicine and John P. is practicing
law in Council Bluffs. Beatrice received training as a nurse at Bellevue
Hospital and is now Mrs. A. V. de Goicouria, of Santa Barbara, California.
Mathew A., a physician by profession, served with the rank of colonel in the
World war and is now a major general in the Thirty-fourth National Guard
Division. Aurelia is assistant cashier of the State Savings Bank at Council
Bluffs. George L., a Spanish American war veteran, is a city official.
Emmet Tinley attended the common schools at Council Bluffs and the high school,
graduating in 1886. He studied law in the office of Col. D. B. Dailey, and was
admitted to the bar in 1888. Since his admission to the bar he has carried on a
general law practice, and at the present time Mr. Tinley is head of the law firm
Tinley, Mitchell, Ross & Mitchell. In 1919 he was president of the Iowa State
Bar Association. Mr. Tinley is a member of the Knights of Columbus and B. P. O.
Elks, and St. Francis Catholic Church.
Mr. Tinley married, February 19, 1901, Elsie, daughter of N. M. Pusey, a pioneer
lawyer of Council Bluffs. Mr. and Mrs. Tinley have two children, Gertrude Mary
and Lesie Pusey, Gertrude is the wife of George A. Spooner, a Chicago architect,
and has two children, George A. and Marjorie Spooner. Elsie is the wife of
Folsom Everest, now a partner in Mr. Tinley's law firm, and their three children
are Mary Rose, Frances and Emmet.
JOHN P. TINLEY is a native son of Council Bluffs, a lawyer by
profession, and his reputation as a criminal lawyer is well established over
half a dozen states bordering on the Missouri River.
Mr. Tinley is member of one of the pioneer families of Council Bluffs, where he
was born January 29, 1871, son of Mathew H. and Rosa (Dolan) Tinley. His parents
were born in Ireland, were brought to America when children, were married In
Illinois and lived for a time in Northern Missouri before coming to Council
Bluffs. The family arrived at Council Bluffs April 28, 1869. At that time there
were two sons, Hubert and Emmet, the latter a prominent member of the Council
Bluffs bar. The children born since then were Mary L., John P., Beatrice, Mathew
A., Aurelia and George L., all of whom have made records for themselves. Hubert
for many years has been a Council Bluffs banker, Mathew, a physician, was
colonel in the World war and is now a major-general of the Thirty-fourth
National Guard, while George L. is a Spanish-American war veteran and a former
city official of Council Bluffs, now in the state tax department at Des Moines.
John P. Tinley attended the city schools of Council Bluffs and studied law under
his brother Emmet, who had begun practice in 1888. He was admitted to the bar
October 5, 1892, and in the spring of 1894 moved to the Town of Doon in Lyon
County, Iowa, where he remained about eleven years. In 1905 he returned to
Council Bluffs, and from the first his abilities have made him pronounced in the
work of a criminal lawyer. He has handled cases before court and jury and of
counsel not only in Iowa, but over Nebraska, Minnesota and the Dakotas.
Mr. Tinley married, July 18, 1892, Miss Margaret G. Starr, who was born and
educated in New Jersey and in 1888 came out to Nebraska. They have had five
children: Miss Beatrice, now teacher of domestic science in the Junior High
School; Genevieve, wife of Donal Fox, an Omaha attorney; Gertrude, a clerk in
the State Savings Bank of Council Bluffs; John P., Jr., who was educated in the
University of Iowa, and is now practicing law with his father, married Helen
Yepson, who also attended the University of Iowa, and they have three children,
Helen, born in 1926, J. P. III, born in 1929, and Mary, who was born in 1930;
and Patricia, wife of Max E. Duckworth, a Sioux City attorney, and has a
daughter, Patsy, born in 1926.
Mr. Tinley and family are members of Saint Francis Catholic Church. He is
affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, B. P. O. Elks, Fraternal Order of
Eagles, the Macabees and Modern Woodmen of America. By preference he has kept
his work and interests close to his profession, but while living at Doon he was
elected mayor of the town and has always been interested in the success of the
Democratic party. He was a delegate to the national convention at Houston,
Texas, in 1928.
NELLIE GREGG TOMLINSON. To say that Mrs. Nellie Gregg Tomlinson,
collector of customs, Federal Building, Des Moines, Iowa, came into the world,
received a good education, taught school, married, bore children, and trained
them for right living would indicate that she has lived a natural, wholesome and
well-rounded life and would adequately chronicle life achievements which would
satisfy most women. But such a summary would give only a hint with which this
exceptional woman has pursued lofty aims and has accomplished work of national
significance.
The romance of her attainments reaches far back into America's pioneer history
and begins with Elijah Billingsley, born in Tippecanoe, Ohio, and with Simon
James Gregg, a native of Pennsylvania. The latter was a contractor of
considerable means whose wanderlust led him through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois
to Iowa and, after a period of work and further accumulation of resources, to
Kansas, where he and his wife died.
To Iowa, too, in 1842, bringing his bride, Prudence Strong, came Elijah
Billingsley. The Billingsleys were accompanied by the bride's mother, Prudence
Elliott, and her five children. Leaving his wife and her mother's family at
Keokuk, Elijah Billingsley walked fifty miles to Jefferson County, Iowa, where
he made arrangements to buy a farm. Before returning to Keokuk for his family he
planted a field of flax, which was the source of a tablecloth woven by his wife
and taken by him as a present to his mother when he returned to Ohio in the
spring of 1843 to pay his mother a visit. Thus did the old world art of Prudence
Elliott (who had sailed from Ireland at the age of nine), handed down to her
daughter, find beautiful expression in the rough and hard conditions which
attended the settlement of the Northwest Territory.
James M. Gregg was a boy of nine when his father, Simon James, brought him to
Jefferson County, Iowa, in 1854. It was there that he met Elizabeth Billingsley,
daughter of Elijah, whom he married in 1869. Four daughters issued from this
union, - daughters worthy of their patriot father who, under age and under size,
went into Company G of the Thirtieth Iowa Infantry at the age of seventeen; who
took part in several important engagements; who lost his voice during the
Atlanta campaign; and when he passed away, January 28, 1929, at the age of
eighty-four, still suffered from that old trouble.
Nor do the lives of the forebears of the Nellie Gregg Tomlinson who is the
subject of this sketch show greater evidence of integrity, courage and
enterprise than do her descendants. Of her four daughters, Margaret has
manifested a remarkable aptitude for commercial life; Gulielma Dorothea, though
a successful wife and home maker, still follows her chosen profession of
painting; Florence Stone has received a university education and is now going in
for law; and Prudence Gregg is preparing herself for a life of social service by
her work in Ames College, where she is majoring in the economic sciences.
Both Mrs. Tomlinson and her husband, Isaac H. Tomlinson, in early days attended
Howe's Academy, Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Their further education was received in
different schools, she preparing for pedagogical work and he for the practice of
law. He is now a prominent and successful attorney in Des Moines.
Mrs. Tomlinson taught only three years before her marriage in 1892. The years
that have intervened since that event have been filled with worth-while
activities in the Presbyterian Church (of which she is a devout member); in
editorial and feature article writing for newspapers and magazines; in the
Women's Federation of Clubs, of which she has served as president; in National
League of Women Voters, in which he has also served as president; and in local
politics, in which she has always taken the keenest and most intelligent
interest.
Since taking her present office in January, 1926, Mrs. Tomlinson has devoted her
entire time to her office in Des Moines. As this is headquarters for the two
subsidiary ports of Sioux City and Dubuque, her staff of six men is kept
constantly busy. The unique features of Mrs. Tomlinson's personal history are as
pronounced as the official distinction she enjoys. The latter consists in being
one of an exclusive and conspicuous group of national officers. She was the
second of three women appointed to fill out the corps of forty-seven federal
customs collectors. She was a member in 1930 at a conference called by the
secretary of the United States Treasury and Commissioners of Customs held in
Washington, D. C., and was attended by every collector of customs in the United
States and island possessions. While attending this meeting she was informed
that her reappointment for another four year term had been confirmed by the
Senate and signed by President Hoover. It would be difficult to say anything
more eloquent than that she graces the position she holds.
CLAUDE J. TRAWVER. Probably no one factor in the world's history
has had such a widespread and changing effect upon commerce and industry as the
invention of the automobile. The manufacture of the motor car alone has
revolutionized transportation to a degree that would have been unbelievable a
little more than two decades ago. But it is not the manufacture and sale of the
automobile alone that should be taken into consideration, for some of the most
prominent and successful industries of the county have been built up on the
foundation of the allied interests of the industry, which are numerous and
varied, and not the least of which is the sale of automobile supplies. One of
the leading dealers in this line at Des Moines is Claude J. Trawver, president
of the Iowa Automobile Market, which is known as American's only automobile
department store.
Mr. Trawver was born at Paris, Edgar County, Illinois, March 17, 1882, and is a
son of Joseph C. and Sophia (Davis) Trawver. Joseph C. Trawver was born on an
Edgar County farm and received his education in country schools. The outbreak of
the war between the states found him an adventurous and patriotic lad, who, with
several boon companions, walked forty miles to a recruiting station to volunteer
their services to the Union. However, Mr. Trawver was only twelve years of age
at the time, and he was rejected and sent home, sadly disappointed. Immediately
after his return he began to do a man's share of work on the farm in Illinois,
where he remained until 1900, in that year coming to Iowa, where he purchased a
farm, but sold it two years later. In 1902 he went to Winterset, Iowa, where he
resided on a farm for six years, and then retired. He now makes his home with
his son, Claude J., at Des Moines. He is a Republican in his political
convictions, and during his active life held a number of local offices. In spite
of the fact that he attended country schools intermittently only until he was
twelve years of age, he is a well educated and well read man. Mrs. Trawver, who
was also born in Edgar County, died in 1916. They were the parents of four sons,
of whom two are living: Claude J., of this review; and Harry, who is associated
with his brother in charge of the service department. Another son, William L.,
who was also associated with the company, met his death in an automobile
accident in 1927. Mrs. Trawver was active in the work of the Presbyterian
Church, to which Mr. Trawver also belongs. Fraternally he is affiliated with the
Knights of Pythias.
Claude J. Trawver attended the high school at Paris, Illinois, later the high
school at Clarinda, Iowa, and finally the school at Winterset, this state. Upon
the completion of his educational training he began his career on the home farm,
where he was engaged in agricultural operations near Winterset for six years.
Following this he purchased a farm in Polk County, of which he was the operator
until 1922, when he sold out. In the meantime, in May, 1912,he had recognized
and accepted the opportunity for the founding of a large enterprise identified
with the automobile industry, and so firm was his faith in the success of this
concern that he invested his entire capital of $25,000 in it. The new concern
was given the name of the Iowa Automobile Market, Inc., and at the start the
officers were: Orval B. Van Hosen, president; Claude J. Trawver, vice president;
and Sam Gordon, secretary and treasurer. The present officials are: Claude J.
Trawver, president; L. J. Muffett, vice president; and N. L. Van Horn, secretary
and treasurer. This company, as before noted, is the only automobile department
store in America, but while being unique in this character, is conducted
strictly as any other big mercantile concern, and has sixteen different
departments, doing both a wholesale and retail business. The company is
incorporated for $100,000, and now has $300,000 invested, did over $1,000,000
worth of business in 1928, and maintains a sales force of nine men on the road.
While he is largely immersed in business affairs, Mr. Trawver has found time to
be a good citizen, and is an enthusiastic and active member of the Kiwanis Club
and a liberal supporter of good reads movements. Politically he is a Republican,
belongs to the Masonic Lodge at Winterset, and is a member of the Plymouth
Congregational Church at Des Moines. The large modern store of the Iowa
Automobile Market is situated at 1309 to 1369 Locust Street.
In May, 1916, Mr. Trawver was united in marriage with Miss Vera Van Hosen, who
was born at Winterset, Iowa, and educated in the public schools of that place,
where her father was a well known merchant and capitalist. To Mr. and Mrs.
Trawver there have been born two children: Van J., born in 1917; and Patricia,
born in 1922, both of whom are attending public school.
VERNON L. TREYNOR, specialist in internal medicine, is one of the
men who have constituted such a successful and important organization as the
Council Bluff's Clinic. Doctor Treynor has been a prominent physician at Council
Bluffs for over thirty-five years.
He was born in that city September 28, 1866. His people were among the earliest
pioneers of Southwestern Iowa, crossing the states in wagons from the
Mississippi River long before the advent of railroads. Doctor Treynor himself
was born about the time Council Bluffs became prominent as a railroad center. He
is a son of Thomas P. and Mary E. (Smith) Treynor. His father was born in
England, son of a British army officer who lost his life while serving in India.
Thomas P. Treynor was left dependent on his own resources, came to America at
the age of seventeen, and went through many hard experiences in getting
established. He lived in Northern Ohio for some years, educated himself, and was
always a constant leader and had a wide knowledge of many subjects. After coming
to Iowa in 1853 he was engaged in the newspaper business for several years and
was postmaster of Council Bluffs for eight years. Later he bought a farm and
lived on it until his death. He was city recorder at one time and during the
Civil war was draft officer for the Government. He was a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife, Mary E. Smith, was born in Northern
Ohio, daughter of Sylvester Smith, who came out to Iowa in 1853. He was a man of
considerable fortune when he came to Iowa and bought property which enabled him
to live retired.
Dr. Vernon L. Treynor attended school in Council Bluffs, and graduated from the
medical department of the University of Iowa in 1891. He began practice in
Council Bluffs the same year, and his increasing experience has identified him
more and more with work as a specialist in internal medicine.
He married in 1891, the year he graduated from medical college, Miss Susan C.
Clark, who was born in Iowa City and grew up there. her father, George Clark,
was a prominent attorney, and served as an officer in the Union army. Her uncle,
Rush Clark, was an Iowa congressman for many years, and another uncle was George
Boal, a noted railroad attorney who for a number of years was at Denver, as
attorney for the Denver & Rio Grande Railway. Doctor and Mrs. Treynor have two
children. Their son Thomas P. spent six years in the University of Iowa in the
College of Liberal Arts and Medical School, received his hospital training in
the Harper Hospital at Detroit, and is now practicing at Big Rapids, Michigan.
For two years he was in the army, most of the time in the Army Medical School at
Washington, working in the X-Ray department, and was promoted from private to
sergeant, and was refused permission to go overseas. The second son, Jack Bernon,
attended high school at Council Bluffs, also spent six years in the University
of Iowa and three years in special training in New York hospitals, and is now
practicing at Council Bluffs.
Dr. Vernon L. Treynor was for six years professor of physiology in the Omaha
Medical College. He served six years on the board of regents of the University
of Iowa. Mrs. Treynor is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and he is a Royal
Arch Mason, and a member of Lodge No. 531, B. P. O. Elks. Doctor Treynor for
eleven years was secretary, is a past president and is now a trustee of the Iowa
State Medical Association. He belongs to the Pottawattamie County Medical
Society, the Council Bluffs, Southwestern Iowa, Missouri Valley and American
Medical Associations, and has attended many conventions of his fellow workers in
medicine and surgery and has contributed a number of papers giving the results
of his researches and observations. Doctor Treynor is a Republican in politics.
MYRON C. TULLAR. The entire career of Myron C. Tullar, sheriff of
Webster County, has been an interesting and colorful one, filled with action and
abounding with unusual experiences. Starting life as water boy with a railroad
construction gang, he has engaged in a variety of activities, largely identified
with the maintenance of law as a peace officer, and his reputation is that of a
courageous and conscientious official whose services have been of material value
to his community.
Sheriff Tullar was born at Plano, Illinois, in November, 1875, and is a son of
Abner and Martha (Lathrop) Tullar. Abner Tullar was born at White River
Junction, New York, in which state he married Miss Lathrop, who was born in
Vermont, near the New York State line. Following their marriage they moved to
Illinois and in 1872 first took up their residence in Iowa, but returned to
Illinois, and did not settle permanently in Iowa until 1876, in which year they
took up their residence at Fort Dodge. Abner Tullar was a mine superintendent
while in Illinois, subsequently was a stockman and railroad construction
contractor in Iowa, and later in life devoted himself to the business of buying
and selling live stock. Both he and his wife died in the faith of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, in which they had been active workers. Mr. Tullar was a
Republican in politics, and while he did not seek public office on his own
account was an active worker in his party, particularly in support of the
campaigns of U. S. Senator Dolliver. There were four children in the family:
Fred, who is deceased; Frank, a locomotive engineer in the employ of the Great
Western Railroad, with a run out of Council Bluffs, Iowa; Myron C., of this
review; and Mattie, the wife of A. E. Muzzy, an employee of the Detroit Street
Railway Company.
The Fort Dodge public schools furnished Myron C. Tullar with his educational
training, and as a boy he began work carrying water for railroad construction
gangs. He was then promoted to the position of mule-driver in railroad
construction work and followed this line until the age of twenty-six years, when
he secured a position on the Fort Dodge police force. He rose through all the
positions in the department until he made chief, but subsequently resigned to
accept a position in the secret service department of the Chicago & Great
Western Railway, and one year later was made chief special agent of the entire
system. At the death of A. B. Stickney the line was taken over by the Baltimore
& Ohio Railway Company and conditions became such that Mr. Tullar resigned and
entered the business of buying wild horses. At the outbreak of the World war, in
1914, he began buying horses throughout the entire country for war purposes and
continued in this line until after the signing of the armistice. Returning to
Fort Dodge, he opened a private secret service office, having a large private
clientage and doing some work for the United States Government. In 1926 he
entered politics as a candidate for the office of sheriff. There were six
candidates for this office and the fight was a bitter one. According to the law
it was necessary for one candidate to secure at least 35% of the votes to gain
the election, and as Mr. Tullar, the leading candidate, secured only 31 - 1/2
per cent the matter was thrown into a convention. In this he was defeated by the
candidate who had run second to him, but he announced himself subsequently an
independent candidate, and as such, with no party organization behind him, won
by a majority of more than 500 votes. After two years of splendid service in the
office he was elected without opposition in 1928, when he received more votes in
Webster County than were cast for the President or for any other candidate.
Sheriff Tullar has four deputies on his staff, but does the brunt of the work
himself and takes entire responsibility for the most dangerous assignments of
his office. During his first term of office he arrested forty-six people who
received terms in the penitentiary, from short periods to life sentences. In the
discharge of his duties he had displayed the utmost courage, but at the same
time has been tactful and judicious, winning not only the respect but the
friendship of the law-abiding element throughout this section. In politics he is
a Republican and his fraternal affiliations are with the Woodmen of the World,
the Loyal Order of Moose and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
In 1898 Sheriff Tullar was united in marriage with Miss Mary Johnson, who was
born in Norway and was brought as a child to the United States by her parents,
who settled in Webster County, where she received her education in the country
schools. Her father was for many years identified with the construction
department of the Minneapolis & St. Paul Railroad. Mrs. Tullar is a member of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been very active in its work. To Sheriff
and Mrs. Tullar there have been born two children: Lyle, who received his
education at Fort Dodge and at Georgetown University, Washington, D. C., and now
is a deputy sheriff to his father's office; and Roland, who was educated at Fort
Dodge and at Columbus College, South Dakota, and now employed by the Mona Motor
Oil Company, at Fort Dodge.
FRANCIS A. TURNER is one of the veteran and representative members
of the bar of Pottawattamie County, where he has been established in the
practice of his profession at Avoca, during a period of more than forty years,
and as loyal citizen and able and successful lawyer he has conferred honor on
his native State of Iowa.
Mr. Turner was born on the pioneer farm of his parents, near West Burlington,
Des Moines County, Iowa, and the date of his birth was November 29, 1856. He is
a son of Jerome and Margaret (Perry) Turner, the former of whom was born near
Zanesville, Ohio, and the latter in Washington County, Pennsylvania, their
marriage having been solemnized at Burlington, Iowa, and the remainder of their
lives having been passed in this state, where the father gave the major part of
his active career to farm industry. Of the ten children six are living: Francis
A., who is the subject of this review; J. H., who resides in Council Bluffs and
is overseer of the poor in the City of Council Bluffs; William P., who is a
retired farmer residing at Oakland, Pottawattamie County; Thomas J. R., who is
engaged in the produce business at Oakland; Mildred D., who is the wife of E. C.
Anthony, present (1930) auditor of Shelby County, Iowa; and Oscar B., who
remains on the old home farm of his parents. Jerome Turner was a Republican in
politics and he and his wife hold membership in the Protestant Methodist Church.
Mr. Turner came to Iowa about the year 1852, and in 1857, the year following the
birth of their son Francis A., of this review, they removed to and established
their home on the old homestead farm in Washington Township, Pottawattamie
County, where were born all of their children save the subject of this sketch.
Mr. Turner was a son of J. H. Turner, who was born in Ohio and who was a farmer
and a clergyman. T. J. R. Perry, father of Mrs. Margaret Turner, was born in
Pennsylvania and became a pioneer settler and influential citizen near
Burlington, Iowa.
Francis A. Turner gained his early education by attending the rural school near
the old home farm in Washington Township, and thereafter was a high school
student during a period of six months. He studied law in the office of Smith &
Cullison, of Harlan, and in 1887 he was admitted to the bar, he having since
been established in the practice of law at Avoca and having long controlled a
substantial and representative practice. He is one of the honored members of the
Pottawattamie County Bar Association, of which he is now serving as vice
president, and he is also a member of the Iowa State Bar Association, has been
long active and influential in the local councils of the Republican party, and
he and his wife attend the Congregational Church in their home community.
April 7, 1896, marked the marriage of Mr. Turner to Miss Rose M. Woodward, who
was born in Ohio, where her parents were visiting at the time, their home having
been previously established in Iowa. J. D. Woodward, father of Mrs. Turner,
became a leading farmer in Monona County, where his extensive operations
included the raising of broom corn, in the utilizing of which he established on
his farm a broom factory that long was maintained in successful operation. He
finally retired from his farm, removed to Onawa, the county seat, and there
passed the remainder of his life. Joseph W., eldest of the children of Mr. and
Mrs. Turner, was born January 31, 1897, was graduated in the law department of
Georgetown University, District of Columbia, after having previously been a
student two and one-half years in the University of Iowa, and since 1923 he has
been associated with his father in the practice of law at Avoca. He is a
Republican in politics and is affiliated with the Delta Chi college fraternity.
May 20, 1923, recorded his marriage to Miss Elizabeth Clark, who was born at
Danville, Pennsylvania, and they have two children, Richard Clark and David
Howard. Frances Alberta, next younger of the children, is the wife of C. L.
Byers, who is assistant city attorney of San Diego, California. Robert G.
resides in Council Bluffs, the metropolis of his native county, and is a
salesman for the International Harvester Company. Howard M., is the air service
of the United States army and at the time of this writing, in 1930, is assigned
to Brooks Aviation Field, near San Antonio, Texas, where he is an instructor in
aviation.
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