Iowa
Old Press
Centennial Edition, Muscatine Journal
Muscatine, Muscatine, Iowa
May 31, 1940
Fewer than 100 Veterans of Civil War Survive in Iowa
Des Moines -- (AP) -- This year, for the first time since the
"boys in blue" came marching home in '65, there are
fewer than 100 Civil war veterans in Iowa. State G.A.R.
headquarters here today listed 95 veterans of the war between the
states as still living in Iowa, in contrast to the 76,000 who
answered the call of Lincoln from 1861 to 1865.
The average age of these men is 94.2 years. The youngest is 90;
the oldest, 101. Membership in the Iowa department of the Grand
Army of the Republic exceeded 20,000 at its peak about 1890. Now
there are 45 counties without even one Civil war veteran still
living.
Most of the remaining counties have only one. Only Cerro Gordo
(Mason City), Dubuque, Lucas (Chariton), Marshall, Muscatine,
Page (Shenandoah, Clarinda), Mahaska (Oskaloosa), and Polk (Des
Moines), have more. Muscatine has three remining, two in
Muscatine and one in West Liberty.
Ten counties lost their G.A.R. member in the past 12 months. A
year ago, there were 145 Civil war veterans in Iowa, living in 64
counties.
James W. Willett of Tama, elected state commander of the G.A.R.
at the 1939 encampment, died May 13, while still in office.
At the latest official report, March 31, the Grand Army of the
Republic listed 2,655 members in the United States, with deaths
reported at the rate of 100 per month. There were 52,192 widows
of Civil war veterans living on March 31.
Counties without any Civil war veterans living are Adair, Adams,
Allamakee, Bremer, Butler, Calhoun, Carroll, Cedar, Chickawaw,
Clay, Clayton, Crawford, Delaware, Dickinson, Emmet, Fayette,
Floyd, Franklin, Grundy, Hamilton, Hardin, Henry, Howard, Ida,
Iowa, Jackson, Kossuth, Lee, Louisa, Lyon, Madison, Mitchell,
Monona, Monroe, Osceola, Palo Alto, Pocahontas, Sac, Scott,
Shelby, Tama, Union, Winnebago, Worth and Wright.
The list and age of veterans reported by state G.A.R.
headquarters follows, by counties:
Appanoose - Byron D. Bates, 93, Cincinnati, Ia.; Edward Streepy,
95, Udell, Ia.
Audubon - John C. Bonwell, 97, Gray, Ia.; William H. Jay, 94,
Audubon, Ia.
Benton - Dr. William A. Vincent, 93, Belle Plaine, Ia.
Black Hawk - Henry Bray, 96, Waterloo, Ia.
Boone - Frank Ritter, 94, Boone, Ia.
Buchanan - George W. Kays, 92, Independence, Ia.
Buena Vista - Charles P. Matson, 93, Storm Lake, Ia.
Cass - A.D. Bullock, 94, Atlantic, Ia.; Edwin Perry, 92,
Cumberland, Ia.
Cerro Gordo - Nathan G. Thorn, 90, Mason City, Ia.; Rockley
Whipple, 100, Mason City, Ia.; John R. Williams, 94, Mason City,
Ia.
Cherokee - Nicholas T. Wells, 94, Marcus, Ia.
Clarke - Hiram A. Wirick, 94, Osceola, Ia.; Theodore Yetts, 94,
Hopeville, Ia.
Clinton - John Avery, 94, Clinton, Ia.; Jacob W. Liebler, 96,
Calamus, Ia.
Dallas - Charles S. Curler, 91, Perry, Ia.
Decatur - Jonas P. Hoffhines, 99, Leon, Ia.; James H. Pitman, 95,
Leon, Ia.
Des Moines - Edmund B. Davis, 96, Burlington, Ia.
Davis - Benjamin S. Armstrong, 95, Bloomfield, Ia.; William J.
Shuck, 98, Bunch, Ia.
Dubuque - James H. Jackson, 96, Dubuque, Ia.; A.E. Keen, 92,
Dubuque, Ia.; Frank L. Quade, 93, Dubuque, Ia.
Fremont - Larkin Miller, 94, Hamburg, Ia.; Phineas H. Drake, 96,
Tabor, Ia.
Greene - Robert G. Martin, 91, Rippey, Ia.
Guthrie - John Palmer, 96, Bayard, Ia.
Hancock - Llewellyn Lewis, 94, Klemme, Ia.
Harrison - Sylvester Pockett, 91, Dunlap, Ia.; Cyrus E. Cross,
93, Mondamin, Ia.
Humboldt - Charles H. Lingenfelter, 98, Dakota City, Ia.
Jasper - Elliott P. Taylor, 94, Newton, Ia.
Jefferson - Joseph H. Alverson, 95, Batavia, Ia.; John A.
Smithline, 93, Fairfield, Ia.
Johnson - Ebenezar S. McMurray, 95, Iowa City, Ia.
Jones - James S. Lawson, 92, Olin, Ia.; Mark H. Morse, 98,
Wyoming, Ia.
Keokuk - James Williams, 93, Sigourney, Ia.
Linn - Samuel J. Beck, 92, Cedar Rapids, Ia.; George S. Bushnell,
91, Cedar Rapids, Ia.
Lucas - William Humphreys, 96, Chariton, Ia.; Robert Killen, 96,
Lucas, Ia.; Henry A. Newhouse, 93, Lucas, Ia.
Mahaska - Jacob Watland, 96, New Sharon, Ia.; Henry A. White, 93,
University Park, Ia.; Henry T. White, 95, Oskaloosa, Ia.
Marion - William H.H. Barker, 99, Harvey, Ia.; Robert A. Millen,
93, Melcher, Ia.
Marshall - Benjamin M. Crookshank, 94, Marshalltown, Ia.; and
Joseph R. Coffin, 94, James H. Firman, 91, Peter Garver, 96,
Sylvester Manship, 92, Silas Parker, 101, and David B, Sisk, 94,
all of the Iowa Soldiers' home.
Mills - David M. Taylor, 93, Malvern, Ia.
Montgomery - Hiram Finley, 98, Stanton, Ia.; Joseph E. Kenworthy,
92, Grant, Ia.
Muscatine - August Eichoff, 93, Muscatine, Ia.; Joseph H. Miller,
92, Muscatine, Ia.; Charles F. Regnier, 95, West Liberty, Ia.
O'Brien - James P. Martin, 92, Sutherland, Ia.
Page - Matthias Baker, 95, Shenandoah, Ia.; Shelby S. Bertram,
96, Shenandoah, Ia.; John M. Gudgel, 92, Shenandoah, Ia.; Charles
Sinn, 90, Clarinda, Ia.
Plymouth - Andrew Crouch, 91, Le Mars, Ia.
Polk - John C. Ash, 97; Russell B. Bever, 96; Harrison Cole, 91;
John S. Merriam, 95; James McHargue, 95; J.J. Neuman, 93; T.J.
Noll, 95; and Alvin Smith, 96, all of Des Moines, Ia.
Pottawattamie - Sylvester Flummer, 93, Council Bluffs, Ia.
Poweshiek - Charles Van Doren, 94, Grinnell, Ia.
Ringgold - H.H. Crecelius, 93, Redding, Ia.
Sioux - John H. Huyck, 93, Hawarden, Ia.
Story - Charles Hamilton, 100, Ames, Ia.
Taylor - Benjamin F. Akers, 97, Gravity, Ia.
Van Buren - Eli W. McKinney, 95, Bentonsport, Ia.
Wapello - Michael France, 95, Ottumwa, Ia.
Warren - Charles Hester, 94, Indianola, Ia.; Anthony Snyder, 93,
Lacona, Ia.
Washington - Lewis Sigafoose, 96, Washington, Ia.
Wayne - William H. Earnest, 91, Seymour, Ia.
Webster - William R. Lindsley, 98, Fort Dodge, Ia.
Winneshiek - Ancil O. Ash, 91, Decorah, Ia.
Woodbury - Michael Hawk, 93, Sioux City, Ia.
The following non-resident members of the Iowa G.A.R. also were
listed:
Frederick Fisher, 90, Minneapolis, Minn.
Cyrus Fox, 94, Gandy, Neb. (Postoffice, North Platte)
Stephen Gilley, 93, Kansas City, Mo.
Gayen Kennedy, 97, Porterville, Calif.
John M. Lindsay, Burwell, Neb.
Edwin R. Somers, 95, Beverly Hills, Calif.
Joseph Steele, 93, Kansas City, Kan.
--
First evidence of a naturalization hearing to be conducted in the
local court to be gleaned from the early records occurs on June
28, 1841 when six persons took the oath of allegiance to the
United States of America. They were Michael Howard, a native of
Rosemont, Tipperary, Ireland; Christian Dietz, a native of the
Kingdom of Wintemburg; and John Will, Nicholas Will and George
Herchman, all from Bavaria in the empire of Germany.
--
Barry Name is Linked with Industrial Life for Four Generations
The name of Barry has long been prominent in the civic progress
and industrial development of Muscatine. Nicholas Barry Sr., the
first of the family to come to Muscatine, was born in Kilmore,
county of Wexford, Ireland, June 25, 1819. He came to the United
States from Ireland on a sailing vessel in 1839 with his mother
and sister at age of 20, proceeding by way of Quebec to Cleveland
where Mr. Barry operated a tailoring shop. With his eyes
continually on the new and fast-growing west, Nicholas journeyed
with his wife, the former Alice Potts, whom he married in
Cleveland in 1847, to Rock Island, then the head of navigation on
the Mississippi and a booming river port.
Within a short time he was offered the superintendency of the
Rock Island gas works and held this position until 1866 when he
moved with his family to Muscatine to become superintendent of
the gas works in this city. The family located in a brick
residence on the southeast corner of Second and Orange street
where the Huttig warehouse now stands.
In 1869, Nicholas began to fully realize that his sons were
growing up and that they could be of material help to him in a
business of his own which he could turn over to them later.So the
following year, N. Barry and Sons was started in a building which
was rented from William Held at 421 East Second street.
The firm operated a plumbing and heating business, which was the
only one in this section and soon was contracting in Waterloo,
Mt. Pleasant, Grinnell, Iowa City and other points, even going as
far east as Pittsburgh to do work for the H.J. Heinz Co.
In 1886, a patent was secured on a lead trap for sinks and wash
bowls, an invention which proved extremely popular. By 1890
business had grown to such an extent that a building was rented
on Fulton, near Jefferson street, in Chicago, and traps were made
there as well as in Muscatine.
The company bought out the Barry rotary niagra hydrant in 1890,
which was sold to lumber yards, grain elevators, fireboats and
docks and was also used in hydraulic mining. The four-inch stream
would travel 465 feet and was so powerful it could tear off
roofing and siding and peel down a pile of lumber board by board.
In the catalogue appear testimonials from fire chiefs in the
largest cities of the country.
Nicholas Sr., Patrick, Jr., Nicholas, Jr., and Thomas F. Barry
were all active in the firm at this time. Then it was that the
first whisperings of the start of a new industry, button
manufacture, began to be heard here with the discovery by J.F.
Boepple, a German emigrant, that buttons could be made from
mussel shells taken from the bed of the Mississippi river.
The first machinery was so crude that it was impossible to go
into commercial production so the Barrys went to work on the idea
and perfected the machines that meant the transforming of the
industry - cutting machiners, classifiers, hand facing and
drilling machiners and polishers.
Then came the single automatic, with the buttons being faced on
one machine and drilled on another, and in 1904 the Barrys
invented the double automatic which is still being built, in an
improved form, today.
With button manufacturing costs reduced and a more salable
product turned out as a result of the advancements in machinery,
prices dropped, and business boomed. The Barrys became to the
button business what the McCormick reaper was to the grain
business, the Whitney cotton gin to the textile industry.
In 1888, N. Barry and Sons incorporated as the Barry
Manufacturing Co., and in 1904 moved from the building on
Mulberry avenue, at the corner of Third streets (now occupied by
the Automatic Button Co.) and moved into larger quarters in a new
plant erected on Poplar street which covered a half-block in
area. The building included a foundry for making grey iron
castings.
Power transmission equipment was added to the line, and in 1912
experiments were begun to develop a split pressed steel pulley,
lighter in some cases but in all instances stronger than the wood
pulleys then on the market. The possibilities of this new type
pulley led to erection in 1914-15 of a new plant on Poplar and
Fifth street for manufacture of the pulleys.
Nicholas Sr., who had retired in 1885, died at the age of 93 in
1885, and his wife, also 93, succumbed one month later. In 1915,
the firm name was changed to the Barry Co., and incorporated for
$500,000. Following the death of Patrick J. Barry at the age of
80 in January, 1929, and the retirement of N. Barry Jr., in 1938,
at the age of 82, Thomas F. Barry became president of the firm in
1939, an office he still holds.
The fourth generation of the family, which for 70 years has given
its labors and efforts to promote the best interests and general
welfare of its employees and at the same time aid in the
development of the entire community, is now associated with the
firm.
--
TOOK VOWS IN 1847
Dublin, Ireland, was the birthplace of Samuel Sinnett on March
17, 1817, and he emigrated to Muscatine in 1839, while his wife,
the former Sarah Knox, was born in Washington, Ind., Oct. 22,
1820. Their marriage took place on Oct. 31, 1847. Mr. Sinnett
died Nov. 29, 1899 and Mrs. Sinnett on Nov. 13, 1897.
[transcribed by C.J.L., October 2006 and S.F., May 2008]