Jefferson County Online A part of the IAGenWeb and USGenWeb Projects Who's Who in 1921 & 1922 Henry W. Pickard

"The Fairfield Tribune"
Thursday, June 16, 1921
Page SIX

(Not numbered - should be NO. 16)

HENRY W. PICKARD

Hail! The Duke of Penn Township!

Which is by way of introducing to you one Henry W. Pickard, a personage of some fame in and about East Pleasant Plain. The same Henry W. Pickard who is now engaged in the gainful occupation of selling lumber, coal and grain, but who used to give most of his attention to seeing that the right parties got into the proper political offices.

Having no suitable photograph from which to work, the Tribune cartoonist was forced to make the above drawing from a description of Henry given by an admiring lady friend, which may account for any charges that he is being presented as too good-looking. The lady who gave the description was very enthusiastic about Henry. Said he was not only a very handsome man but was also "so nice and considerate in his manners." To illustrate his consideration of others she related an incident as follows:

Henry and his wife had come to Fairfield and were attending the county fair. They brought their lunch along in a big package. Friend Wife was carrying the lunch because Henry had a lot of other packages to carry. Eventually he insisted also on carrying the lunch package, and his wife complied.

"That was nice of you to insist on carrying the lunch package in addition to all those others you are carrying," the lady who was with them, told Henry. "I like to see a man so considerate of his wife."

"Yeh!" said Henry, "There's such a blamed big crowd here and I was afraid we might get separated."

There was a time when Henry Pickard owned all of Penn township--politically speaking. That's how he got his title, the Duke of Penn. Henry carried the political sentiment of his dukedom in his pocket and delivered it wherever he believed it would do the most good. Some of the republican county bosses at different times tried to get a little influence down there in Penn but they never had much luck--Henry had the Penn township vote sewed up in a sack, tagged and ready for delivery.

A man who was a candidate for a county office and was a bit uninformed and inexperienced, one time went down into Penn to hustle up a few votes for himself. He accosted a mild-mannered old Quaker.

"Hast thou the support of Henry Pickard?" asked the Quaker.

"Henry Pickard? Huh, never heard of 'im--what's he go to do with it,"

"Friend," gently replied the old man, "by thine own confession thou hast shown that thy ignorance unvts thee for the office. A candidate may not be versed in the knowledge which books give and may yet be capable to fill public office, but he who knows not Henry Pickard could never qualify."

Which serves to show you that Henry's subjects down in the Dukedom of Penn think that Henry is some pumpkins.

Fact is, they think a lot of Henry Pickard around Penn. You see he was born there, and has been there all his life, which has given the people there a pretty good chance to get well acquainted with him. And Henry has been on the square with them so he has earned their confidence. It wasn't always that way ,though (sic). When Henry was a youngster he had half the township mad at him because of the pranks he played on them. You see Henry liked a joke so well that he was always busy getting one on somebody, and he didn't spare anyone. Since he's grown up he likes the jokes just as well as ever, only he's a bit more diplomatic about them now and plays them only on the fellows he's sure will stand for them. He is said to be so fond of a joke that he possesses that rare quality of seeing one when it's on himself.

Taken by and large Henry W. Pickard is a pretty sizeable sort of a chap, a man who believes in his community and hustles for it. And when he used to hand over the Penn township vote to some candidate you might be dead sure that the candidate was the right sort of a man for the office, for Henry lives mighty true to his Quaker principles of being four-square with your fellow-man. And, even if what the lady tells about him carrying the lunch is true, what of it? Great Scott, a man doesn't want to take a chance of going hungry!