DAVENPORT PAST AND PRESENT

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CHAPTER XXII.

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HIRAM PRICE, ESQ.

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A picture of Mr. Price is location from the Scott County,Iowa main page - click on Pictures/Documents.

Mr. Price was born January, 1814, in Washington county,Pennsylavania.  He removed, in 1819, to Mifflin county, Pennsylavania, in1822 to Huntingdon county, in the same State, and in the fall of 1844 he came toDavenport, which place has since been his residence.

His capital in business was one hundred dollars, and with thishe started as a Merchant.  His small pecuniary effects, however, were madeup in other of his possessions-he had determined perseverance, inviolateintegrity, good business tact, was temperate to a the fall, and keenlyconscientious.  With this capital he started into the work, and in a fewyears had erected upon it a fine fortune.

He continued in the Mercantile business until 1848.  In1847 he was elected the first School Fund Commissioner of Scott county, whichoffice he held nine years.  In 1848 he was elected Recorder and Treasurerof Scott county, which positions he filled for eight years, after which hedeclined being a candidate for re-relection.  The length of time which hewas continued in these offices is a high compliment to the manner in which hefilled them.

Mr. Price has always taken a decided and consistent position infavor of the cause of Temperance.  He was one of those who, in February,1848, organized the Grand Division of the Sons of Temperance for the State ofIowa, and was elected first Grand Worthy A.; and after, Grand Worthy Patriarchfor the State.  He has been elected every year, since the organization ofthe Grand Division of Iowa, as representative to the National Division of NorthAmerica.  In 1847 he was instrumental in organizing the present Division ofSons of Temperance in this city, and was elected the first W. P.  In 1854,he was elected President of the "Maine Law Alliance" of the State; andhe filled this position in a manner which, while effectual toward the end inview, invariably held the respect of its most inveterate opponents.

He was Treasurer for the Scott County Bible Society for theyears 1851, '2, '6 and '7, and President for years 1854 and '5.

Mr. Price is entitled to an infinite deal of honor for the parthe has taken in this section towards the construction of our Railroads.  Hewas one of the first, West of the Mississippi, who agitated a railroadconnection with the Atlantic, and it is owing as much or more to his effortsthan to those of any other one, that our city and county were induced tosubscribe to the project.

He also lent his exertions to the Mississippi and MissouriRailroad-which, when completed, will unite us with the Missouri River, andeventually with the Pacific.  He was one of its corporators, and traveledthe entire length of the line to the Missouri, pucuring right of way for theroad-holding meetings in the counties through which the line runs, for thepurpose of securing the interests of and making friends for the M. & M. R.R., and eventually succeeded in driving off a project for a rival road.

His present business connections are a partnership in thePublishing House of Luse, Lane & Co.; another in the Henry County CoalCompany, and he is also secretary, Cashier, and one of the Directors, of theMississippi and Missouri Railroad.

Mr. Price is one of the few living, but much quoted, examples ofwhat perseverance, untiring industry, and, above all, integrity, willaccomplish.  In fourteen years each dollar of his original hundred has beenreproduced in a thousand; and with them all is the conviction that they are thefruit of honest industry.

His views and position upon Temperance have given him aprominence possessed by no other private citizen in the State, and yet, with hisprominence, and his strong blows in warring against the serried hosts ofantagonistic men and principles, there is not, we venture to say, a man of hisopponents who does not respect the singular honesty of his endeavors, and hisentire freedom from all effort to gain either personal or political popularity. It need not be added that he is liberal-the character we have thus fargiven him, fully indicates it.  Added to this trait, he possesses theutmost regularity of habits-rising invariably at six o'clock, well-knowing thatlife is short, and its hours precious.

With an expression of regret that his fervent, philanthropicexertions upon the Temperance question have not met with the full success whichtheir character and end deserve, and of satisfaction that his life haspractically demonstrated the success of CORRECT PRINCIPLES, we leave to theconsideration of our readers.