For
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume II, Biographical, 1911, page 69
JOSEPH WORRELL EELLS. Joseph Worrell Eells, an able attorney of the Muscatine Bar, was born in Woodville, Hancock county, Illinois, August 31, 1858, and is a representative an old New England family. His grandfather, Samuel Eells, was a native of Connecticut and in that state his father Dudley B. Eells, was also born. The latter became a minister of the Congregational church. When about ten years of age he had accompanied his parents on their removal to the west, the family home being established near Payson, Adams county, Illinois, where he was reared to manhood and where he now resides. He was married to Miss Camilla Cooke, a native of New York and a daughter of Dr. Joseph Cooke, a physician by profession, who was born in Massachusetts. He, too, became one of the pioneer settlers of Illinois, establishing his home in Hancock county, where he died at an advanced age. The death of his daughter, Mrs. Camilla Eells, occurred in Ontario, California, in 1902, when she was sixty-six years of age. At the time of the Civil war The Rev. Dudley B. Eells served as a chaplain in the Union army. Unto him and his wife were born seven children who reached mature age, five sons and two daughters : Rev. Emery S., of Grandview, Iowa; Dr. Clarence W.,who is a resident of Denver, Colorado; Louis W., living in Crocker, Iowa; Rev. A. M., of Dodge City, Kansas; Joseph Worerll, of this review; Evelyn, the wife of Frank Van Meter, of Trenton, Missouri; and Lola, who is the wife of Dr. W. S. Simpson and resides in Des Moines, Iowa. They also lost two children, Charles and Ella E., in early life.Joseph W. Eells spent his youth in various parts of Iowa, owing to the fact that his father's service as minister of the church led to various removals of the family. He supplimented his early education by study in the Denmark Academy and in Iowa College. Subsequently he engaged in teaching for several years and in 1884 was admitted to the bar, having during his leisure hours as a teacher mastered the principles of jurisprudence. For ten years after his admission he occupied the position as traveling attorney for the Iowa Mortgage Company of Muscatine. In 1894 he was elected clerk of the district court and his capability in office is indicated in the fact that he was reelected in 1896 and again in 1898, so that his incumbency covered six years. He is now president of the board of commissioners of insanity. His public duties have ever been discharged in a most capable and acceptable manner, winning for him the high regard and approval of all concerned.
On the 10th of June, Mr. Eells was married to Miss Esther Smalley, a daughter of Abraham and Eliza E. Smalley, of whom mention is made elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Eells are prominent in the social circles of the city and their home is noted for a gracious and tactful hospitality.
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