Biographies
For
Muscatine County Iowa
1889



Source: Portrait and Biographical Album, Muscatine County, Iowa, 1889, page 378

ALLEN BROOMHALL, of the firm of Broomhall & Kemble, attorneys at law and real estate, loan and exchange brokers, of Muscatine, Iowa, is a native of Ohio, and was born in Belmont County, May 26, 1834. His parents were James and Rebecca ( Bond ) Broomhall, who were members of the Society of Friends. The Broomhall family is of English origin, the founders having settled in Chester County, Pa., soon after the landing of William Penn, where a large colony of the descendants are still to be found. Our subject traces his descent from Enos, son of John and Jane Broomhall, who was born in May, 1758, and married Phoebe, daughter of Amos and Sarah House. She was born July 7, 1770, and died Aug. 3, 1836. Enos Broomhall died Sept. 22, 1808.

James Broomhall, the father of our subject, was born in Chester County,Pa., June 22, 1796, and removed with his parents to Belmont County, Ohio, in 1808. He there married Rebecca Bond, who was born in Pennsylvania, April 15, 1797, and was descended from Quaker ancestry of the original Penn colony. Her death occurred April 21, 1858, and James Broomhall died May 15, 1837, leaving four children, namely : Elihu, who was born Jan.1, 1827, and died March 12, 1885 ; Elizabeth, Feb. 20, 1829 ; Olinda, Oct. 21, 1830 ; Allen is the youngest, and the subject of this sketch. An heirloom, very highly praised, which has descended from father to son for the last 200 years, being now in the possession of our subject, is a large tome of William Penn's Sermons, bearing date of 1650.

Allen Broomhall received his primary education in the log school-house of his native town, and subsequently took a course in the classical institute at Barnesville, Belmont Co., Ohio. In 1856 he removed to Iowa, and located at West Liberty, Muscatine County, where he purchased some wild land, which he improved and divided into farms. During the following winter, 1856-57, he taught the school at West Liberty, and in the spring of 1857 he removed to Atalissa, where he engaged in the lumber business and other enterprises. In the meantime he began the study of law under the direction of Hon. J. Carskaddan, of Muscatine, which he pursued as he found leisure, and in January, 1861, he was admitted to the bar. In 1859 he was appointed agent at Atalissa for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, which position he held for about five years, discharging the duties much of the time by deputy, however. He removed to Muscatine in November, 1863, and has continued to make that city his place of residence until the present time, 1889. During the late war, though circumstances did not admit of his entering the army, Mr. Broomhall was an earnest supporter of the war measures of the administration, and was active in advancing the sanitary interests of the army. In 1865 he entered the Cincinnati Law School, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1866, with the degree of LL.B., and regularly entered upon the practice of his profession at Muscatine. He had previously formed a law partnership with Hon. D. C. Cloud, which was continued successfully for over nine years. In 1873 Mr. Broomhall began to devote considerable interest to real estate and loan brokerage, and in 1875 formed a law partnership with Judge Scott Richman, the latter to reside in Davenport, and their business relations were continued until Februery, 1877.

The important subject of popular education has been one that has long excited the interest of Mr. Broomhall. He was a warm advocate of improved school facilities, higher standards of scholarships, and better wages for teachers. For seversl years he agitated the subject of the erection of a new High School building for Muscatine, and upon that issue, in 1873, he was elected President of the Muscatine School Board. In 1874, the law having been changed, he was chosen a member of the School Board for three years, and was by that body annually elected President of the board during his term. In 1877 he was again elected a director for a period of three years, and at the first meeting of the new board was again elected President, and was re-elected to that position for the succeeding years of his service in that body. The city of Muscatine regards the President of its School Board as occupying the most honorable and important office in its gift, and it is because Mr. Broomhall has so honored and exalted the office that it now reflects so much of its luster upon him.

Our subject has been twice married. His first wife was Harriet Fowler, daughter of Levin and Juliet Fowler, who was born at Barnesville, Ohio, June 11, 1836. Four children were born of their union : Ella, born May 14, 1859, is now the wife of George M. Titus, of Muscatine, a partner of the law firm of Titus & Jackson ; Harriet, born Nov. 11, 1860, died Aug. 2, 1862 ; Elizabeth, born Oct. 19, 1862, is the wife of William T. Sharp, of St. Louis ; Mary Rebecca, born Sept. 17, 1866, resides in Chicago. Mrs. Broomhall's death occurred on the 17th of September, 1876, and Mr. Broomhall was again married at Muscatine, on the 11th of November, 1879, to Miss Eliza B. Meason, daughter of Hon. George and Mary ( Ewing ) Meason, and a native of Pennsylvania, born Dec. 27, 1850. Their children are : Allen, born Nov. 21, 1880 ; Eliza, April 18, 1883 ; and Anna, Dec. 20, 1884; all born in Muscatine.

The parents are members of the Congregational Church, and take an active interest in the cause of religion. Our subject is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and was a member of Ionic Lodge No. 99, of Atalissa, Iowa, and for five years was Master of the lodge. He demitted and is now a member of Royal Arch Chapter No. 4, of Muscatine, and also belongs to the A. O. U. W., Muscatine Lodge No. 99. In politics Mr. Broomhall was an anti-slavery man, his views being consistent with his early religious training in the Society of Friends. His first vote was cast in 1856 for Fremont and Dayton, the first nominees of the Republican party for President and Vice President, and he has continued to vote with that party ever since. He has never been ambitious of holding office, but has preferred to devote his attention to the practice of his profession. He became a stockholder and director in the Hershey Lumber Company in 1877, and continued that connection until 1885, when he resigned and sold his stock, and organized the Iowa Mortgage Company, which was incorporated in September 1883. He was chosen President of the company, and maintained his connection with it until the fall of 1885, when he resigned and disposed of his stock. That same year he formed the existing partnership with John M. Kemble, since which time their business has become quite extensive , and extends throughout Iowa. Mr. Broomhall has now been in business in Iowa as an attorney, real-estate and loan broker for more than a quarter of a century, and during the time has formed an extensive acquaintance throughout the State. His course has been unifomly fair and upright, and his business and social record pure and clean. Industrious and methodical in habit, he is a close observer of details, and eminently conservative and safe. In manner he is courteous and dignified, and impresses the observer as a man who is conscious of the rectitude of his character, and sure of deserving the highest respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens.


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