1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa
Page Index:
Cullison |
Robinson |
White |
Bomberger |
Brommenschenkel |
Poole |
Brown
George W. Cullison, of Harlan, Iowa, was born in Henry county, Iowa, on a farm near New London, October 6, 1848. His father, Elisha Cullison,
came to the territory of Iowa in the spring of 1842 from Rush county, Indiana. Elisha Cullison was born in Harrison county, Kentucky, January 24,
1808. When he was a young man,, he went from there to Indiana and married Matilda McCabe, of Rush county, in 1839. The mother, Mrs. Matilda
(McCabe) Cullison, was born in Ireland, June 15, 1818, and was brought to America when an infant.
On coming to Iowa, Elisha Cullison and wife settled on a farm of unimproved land where George W. Cullison was born. In 1858 the family moved
to Missouri and settled on a farm near the village of Paulville, on the easternedge of Adair county. That part of Missouri does not have the rich soil
of western Iowa, but it is a most beautiful country. The gently rolling prairies are from four to eight miles wide, sloping off to the southeast; belted
on both sides by most beautiful woodland in the midst of which may often be found a perpetually running stream, fringed to the water's edge with sand
and gravel. The little village of Paulville was located upon the prairie just at the eastern fringe of one of the timber belts. It was a nice, clean little
village of perhaps two hundred souls. Adjoining this village on the east, Elisha Cullison bought a farm and made his future home. In less than two
years of peaceful life at his new home, the furies of war broke forth. The people of that locality were nearly evenly divided on the question involved
and soon divided into hostile camps, one rebel, the other Union. Bitterness and hate took the place of friendship and love, and peace fled from the little
community.
Elisha Cullison was a courageous and determined man. He was born in the mountains of Kentucky, tall, straight, angular and active. He remained loyal to the Union and soon became a leader in organizing and helping to organize the Union forces in that part of the state. He thereby incurred the bitter enmity of the rebels and he and his family suffered many depredations at their hands. They were robbed twice during the war of all their cattle, horses, wagons, harness, flour, feed, grain and hay. The father was hunted and pursued by squads of rebels and rebel sympathizers. They never caught him. On one occasion, they chased him for nearly nine miles, but he eluded them and made his way to the Union lines. He was in the beginning of the war what was known as a "lookout" and would find out the rebel camps, their forces, and their movements generally and convey the information to the Union forces.
If he did not convey the information in person, he usually sent it by his son George W., who was then a lad thirteen or fourteen years of age. The
elder son, William, had previously enlisted in the Fourteenth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry. The son, George W., was. sent many times on such
errands. At one time, he was sent from Paulville to Macon, Missouri, a distance of forty miles. He left home at dusk and delivered his message
the next morning. At another time he was sent to Lancaster, Missouri, a distance of thirty miles. He left home in the afternoon and reached his
destination about midnight, arQused the Union officer and delivered his message. At still another time, the rebel general, Porter, had passed through
Paulville and just as the dawn began to appear his father sent the lad with a dispatch to Edina, Missouri, a distance of twelve miles. The territory
through which he passed was full of rebel scouts. His father delivered him the dispatch folded into a very small piece of paper and instructed him that
if he were halted by rebels to swallow the dispatch; he was tOld to follow the road over which the rebels passed for about three miles and if at that point
the trail showed the rebels had gone south, he was to take the east road for Edina; but if the trail showed the rebels went east, to return home quickly.
This was the only time the lad felt fear. To use his own language in describing his feelings, he said, "I never felt afraid to do what father told me to do
but once. In fact, the danger in doing such things never occurred to me till I was sent to Edina. I knew the situation better then. Father had been watching, from his hiding place, the rebel army pass during the latter part of the night. I suppose he knew something unusual was on. He aroused me before daylight, told me what had happened and said he wanted me to take a dispatch to Edina. He said the country was full of rebels and they might be headed for Edina and asked me if I was afraid to go. I said no. He directed me to get a horse and go at once. When I was ready to mount, he handed me the little folded paper, gave me directions as to how to go and said, `If the rebels halt you. swallow the paper.' That made me feel mighty chilly. I think I shook but said nothing. I intended to rely on my horse. He was fleet and always willing and I knew every cow path on the way. As I rode away, father said, `Go quickly and be brave.'
"His encouraging remark made me feel worse. I know as I rode away I trembled from head to foot. But the little horse was willing if the rider was not. He cantered along impatiently till I reached the forks of the road and by close looking, I could see in the dawn and darkness the trail of the rebels running south. I whirled the horse into the road running east and gave him more freedom from the rein. He seemed to leap to his task of a nine-mile race as if he was anxious to carry his trembling rider to safety. The further along the road I got, the better I felt, for I knew if the rebels were behind me, they would have to stay there (my horse had been tried before) and the chances rapidly decreased of their being in front of me. I reached the Union pickets just as the sun began to appear.
"A moment of explanation to them and on I went. I rode up to the head-quarters in the old court house, handed my note to an officer. He read it, then frowned and looked up at me with a smile and said, `Bub, have you been to breakfast'? Being told I had not, he told me where to go for breakfast
and feed for my horse and sent a soldier with me, I suppose to give directions. I ate my breakfast while others cared for my horse. After eating,
I felt like a careless boy again. The fear had vanished. In a little while nearly all that Union force of between four and five thousand men (as it looked to me), moved out southwest in the direction where General Porter was supposed to be."
At this time conditions in northern Missouri were most deplorable. Elisha Cullison and two of his associates, Dr. J. W. Lee and T. J. Lycan, had become the most hated Union men in that section and it was reported that the rebel authorities had offered five hundred dollars each for their capture. They had organized the Union League (a secret loyal organization that existed during the war), in that part, of the country. George W. Cullison was admitted as a member although a mere boy. Every member of this league would report generally in the night time) to the league or' its officers, every move of every rebel or, rebel suspect that came to his knowledge. These officers in turn would report to the commanders of the Union troops, either at Edina or Kirksville, and by this means, the troopers were enabled to pick up rebels or rebel suspects in every part of that country. George W. was often
appointed to convey these reports to the Union forces. It was not so dangerous but it often required an all-night ride, especially if the circumstances
were urgent.
Assassination became frequent. And it was generally the Union men that were assassinated. A judge, an ex-county officer, a sick, furloughed soldier and a farmer, all Union men, were assassinated. Besides, numerous attempts at assassination failed. Elisha Cullison and his associates had more to dread from that source than any other. He decided he would go with the regular aimy and send his family back to Iowa till the war was over. Accordingly, the boy George W., was directed to take his mother and younger children to Iowa.
They started, but after one day's travel in a wagon one of the small children took sick and the family returned to their home the next day and remained during the war. This dreadful condition continued from the beginning of the war till after the battle of Kirksville, August 6, 1863. From that time on, the Union forces held sway in North Missouri and peace again returned. Elisha Cullison died February 1, 1865, and George W. started out to shift for himself. Nearly everything had been lost during the war except the land and that was valueless. He hired out and worked on a farm. from March till September. He had received no schooling and could scarcely read and write. In the fall of 1865, he started in school at Monroe City, Missouri, and remained there until January, 1866. During the year 1866 and till August, 1867, he worked on a farm, generally receiving twenty dollars per month. In the fall of 1867, he enrolled as a student in the North IVlissouri Normal School, at Kirksville. It was a private school at that time and began September 4, 1867. Mr. Cullison was the second student enrolled: He studied, worked and taught school and in 1870 was awarded a diploma. The school afterward became a state school and Mr. Cullison was given a diploma from the State school in 1874. Mr. Cullison taught school for ten years and for six years of that time he conducted schools of his own; that is, private schools, and secured his income by charging tuition. He conducted a private school at Unionton, Missouri, from September, 1870, till June, 1871. He then transferred his school to Troy, Davis county, Iowa, and conducted that school till June, 1875. He then went to
Bloomfield and became one of the principals of the Southern Iowa Normal and Scientific Institute and remained there one year. He was then appointed
superintendent of the school of Allerton, Iowa, and remained there till December, 1880.
During his career as teacher, he came to be recognized as one of the leading educators of the state. He conducted Normal Institutes in Davis, Appanoose, Wayne, Montgomery, Pottawattamie and Shelby counties in Iowa and held teachers' meetings in Clarke, Scotland, Putnam, Mercer and
Grundy counties, Missouri. In this work he was greatly admired and always received the highest salaries of the time. Re is remembered now in love by
the hundreds of the men and women in Iowa and Missouri, who were his pupils in those far-off days.
Mr. Cullison from his boyhood wanted to be a lawyer. Notwithstanding the vicissitudes and deprivations of his early life, his hope to be a lawyer never dimmed and his determination never wavered. During his spare time while teaching, he studied law and in 1876 was admitted to the bar by the district court of Davis county, Iowa, Judge J. C. Knapp presiding. In 1880, he formed a partnership with Hon. T. H. Smith, in Harlan, Iowa, under the firm name of Smith & Cullison. The new firm began January 1, 1881, and continued till January 1, 1895. In 1899 he formed a partnership with Hon. L. B. Robinson under the firm name of Cullison & Robinson. In 1904, he was associated with H. V. Yackey under the firm name of Cullison & Yackey. In 1908, he became associated with his son, Shelby Cullison, under the firm name of Cullison & Cullison and that firm still continues. In 1887, the firm of Smith & Cullison formed a partnership with F. A. Turner, at Avoca, under the firm name of Turner, Smith & Cullison. In 1895, Mr. Smith withdrew from that firm and it exists now as Turner & Cullison. The firm of Turner & Cullison is probably the oldest partnership in western Iowa.
Mr. Cullison has been a student ever since the war and is a great student now. An evening seldom comes that does not find him in his home library
studying history, philosophy, literature, science, social problems or the Bible. He is recognized as one of the best educated men in the West. As a lawyer, he is regarded by all who know him, both bench and bar, as one among the best in the state. Few, if any, members stand higher in personal esteem of both the bench and the bar than Mr. Cullison. His arguments to the court are clear and concise and closely logical. The courts and lawyers listen attentively to what he says and it is generally thought something of importance will be said when he speaks. His printed arguments and briefs for the appellate courts are models of clearness and usually are exhaustive of the subjects treated. His practice is very extensive in western Iowa and in both State and Federal courts.. As a public speaker, he is pleasing and entertaining and unfolds his theme with great care and precision. His language is
keen and apt, and his mode of speech is such as attracts instant attention.
On July 11, 1872, Mr. Cullison married Jennie S. Gates, near Fairfield, Jefferson county, Iowa. At that time he was conducting his school at Troy, Iowa, and Miss Gates was one of the students. She was born in Essex county, New York, came to Iowa when a child and grew to womanhood in Jefferson county. Her father was a farmer and carpenter. She became a teacher in the country schools and was attending Mr. Cullison's school when he became acquainted with her. They were both poor in purse but rich in hope and ambition. She had saved a few dollars while teaching and he had one hundred and twenty-five dollars. They began housekeeping with what they had and were contented and happy. She was gentle, kind, Industrious and economical and he was ambitious and ceaseless in his endeavor to succeed. They both studied and worked, she in the home and he in his schools. Life went pleasantly with them, not because of riches, emoluments and fame, but because of the happiness and contentment of their humble home. In 1880, Mr.. Cullison decided to quit school work and enter the practice of the law. At that time, they had a family of four children. When he told his wife his decision, she asked, "Do you think we have enough to support the family till you get started ?" "Well," he replied, "We will use it all if need be, and exhaust my personal credit, and if I can't succeed by that time I will turn to something else." "I hope you can succeed and believe you will" was her only comment. Mr. Cullison did not use all his accumulation in beginning the practice of the law for he was fortunate enough to make a living from the start.
They have had six children, four girls and two boys. One of the boys died when he was five years old and one of the girls after she reached womanhood. Mrs. Jennie S. Cullison died November 18, 1898, of tuberculosis. The attack was totally unexpected to both her and her husband. She was taken ill in June and lingered until November. She is buried in Harlan. On December 25, 1899, at Boulder, Colorado, Mr. Cullison married Mary Iowa Gates, a sister of his first wife. His home life now is in all essential respects the same as when he was first married. It is plain, frugal, unostentatious, economical and very pleasant. He has three children by the second wife, two girls and one boy. One of the marked features of their home life is the fact that it is still a real home for all his children whenever any of them choose to return. One would not know from their treatment of each other that they were not all full brothers and sisters.
In politics, Mr. Cullison was first a Republican, then a Democrat and is now a Republican. Prior to 1872, he was a Republican, but in that year voted for Horace Greeley. It was due more to the family love for Greeley than anything else, for the father had taken "Greeley's Tribune," as it was called by the people then, for many years. The paper was the only one received and it was read by all who could read. Greeley was looked upon as a real tribune of the common people and they loved him. When he became a candidate for President, all the voters in the Cullison family voted for him. Mr. Cullison remained a Democrat till 1900 when he voted for McKinley. In 1896, he was not satisfied with the Democratic party's position on the silver question. He remained with the party, however, and believed the silver question would soon pass, but the Spanish war came on. The Philippine Islands came into the possession of the United States. In 1900, the Democratic party declared itself opposed to their retention by the United States, and opposed the re-election of President McKinley on that ground. It also renewed its declaration in favor of the free and unlimited coinage of silver. Mr. Cullison made up his mind to vote for McKinley instead of Mr. Bryan, the Democratic nominee. When asked why he was opposing Bryan, he replied, "Mr. Bryan is in favor of inflation, opposed to expansion and that presages an explosion."
At that time Mr. Cullison went no farther than to vote for McKinley, but in 1904 he voted the Republican ticket and became a Republican in fact. During all his life, Mr. Cullison has advocated and actively supported all movements in the locality where he lived for its upbuilding and the `betterment of the people. Before he was of age, he subscribed for stock in the Normal School at Kirksville, Missouri, from which he afterward graduated. In 1869, he cast his first vote in favor of bonding Adair county, Missouri, in the sum of eighty thousand dollars to secure a state normal school at Kirksyule. The bonds carried. He afterward was appointed and served on a committee to meet the state authorities and secure from them the location of a state normal school at Kirksville. They met at St. Louis and were before the locating committee three days. Kirksville won out by a bare majority of one and the school was located at Kirksville. It has grown to be one of the greatest educational institutions of the West and Kirksville has grown from a town of about one thousand five hundred to a city of over ten thousand.
In 1874, Mr. Cullison subscribed to the fund to buildt he Southern Iowa Normal and Scientific Institute at Bloomfield, Iowa. It is a small college but
has had such an elevating influence on that city that it has become one of the most beautiful and homelike little cities in the state.
In March, 1881, and in less than three months after he moved to Harlan, he was elected a member of the school board and served on that board
continuously for twelve years and was president of the board most of that time. Later he was elected to the board and served for six years, making full
eighteen years altogether. It is not too much to say that he has done more to shape the policy of the Harlan public schools than any other man. His
loyalty to them and his unswerving purpose to make them at least equal to the best has been a constant force for their good and a blessing to the children. He was never so busy he did not take time to attend to the wants and needs of the schools. He has often said that during his eighteen years on the school board, he has given at least one full year of time to the schools.
In 1905, Mr. Cullison was one of the few men who established the Harlan Chautauqua Association and his associates say that but for him the Chautauqua would have failed. He was superintendent and manager of the Chautauqua Assembly at Harlan for five years and is still a member of the board. He helped establish the Western Iowa Vocational College at Harlan, is a member of its board of trustees and was its general manager from its beginning till August 1, 1914. He was one of the first advocates and chief supporters of the city's policy of erecting and maintaining a system of water works and electric lights, of cement walks, sewers and paving. He has often said, "Such things promote the health, happiness, comfort and well-being of the people and in all such things that the individual cannot do for himself, he, as a member of society, ought to help the public do."
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 615-622. Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
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The gentleman whose name heads this biography is widely known in Lincoln township, Shelby county, Iowa, and is one of the honored citizens of his community, where he is living in honorable retirement after a strenuous life of activity in connection with agricultural pursuits. His well-directed efforts in the practical affairs of life, his capable management of his business interests and his sound judgment have brought to him prosperity, and his life demonstrates what may be accomplished by any man of energy and ambition who is not afraid to work and has the perseverance to continue his labors in the face of any disaster or discouragement that may arise. In all the relations of life Mr. Robinson has commanded the confidence and respect of those with whom he has been brought into contact and a biographical history of this locality would not be complete without a record of his career.
John W. Robinson, one of the most substantial farmers of Lincoln township, was born in Jones county, Iowa, in 1854. His father, Charles Robinson, was born in 1820, in Champaign county, Ohio, and his mother, Theresa Reynolds, was born in 1838, in Whiteside county, Illinois. Charles Robinson came to Iowa in 1835, and settled in Jones county, being one of the earliest settlers of the county. He came to Shelby county in 1875. He was a man of great ability and recognized as a man of wide influence in the affairs of the county. He improved two farms in Jones county and lived the last two years of his life at Defiance, in Shelby county, where his death occurred in 1890. His wife passed away ten years later.
John W. Robinson was one of nine children born to his parents, and received a good common school education and at the age of twenty-two began farming for himself in this county. He first rented one hundred and ten acres of land and in 1879 bought his first farm in Lincoln township. Since that time he has bought and sold several farms in different places in the county, at one time having owned the farm which is now in the possession of John H. Clausen in this township. He has the honor of setting out the large shade trees on that farm, which attract attention from all of the passersby. He now owns three hundred and twenty acres of land in Lincoln township, upon which he has made extensive improvements. He has been an extensive breeder of high grade live stock for the past twenty-two years, making a particular specialty of Polled Durham cattle. He has won many prizes on his cattle at fairs throughout the state. Mr. Robinson has always been a hard working man and is still active in the management of his farm. He can be seen during the plowing season behind a walking plow, in the corn fields, while his son uses the riding plow.
Mr. Robinson was married in 1878 to Rachel Casey, who was born in Carroll county, Ohio, in 1859, and to this union have been born six children,
of whom five are living and are the pride of their parents: Dr. V. J., a graduate of the Chicago Veterinary College, who had previously attended
the Iowa State College for two years, and is now practicing his profession at Atlantic, Cass county, Iowa; Maud, who married George A. Luxford, an
attorney of Denver, Colorado; John, also a graduate of the Chicago Veterinary College and practicing with his brother, V. J., at Atlantic; Otis, a practicing physician of Atlantic, Iowa, and a graduate of Creighton University, of Omaha, Nebraska; Clair, the only one of the children still at home with his parents; Paul, deceased.
Politically, Mr. Robinson is a member of the Republican party and in the split which occurred in 1912, he remained true to the old line wing of the party. He and his family are all members of the Christian church and have taken an active part in the various departments of church work in that denomination. Mr. Robinson has always been a very generous contributor to the support of his favorite denomination. His notable straightforwardness has gained for him the confidence and good will of all who know him best, and he is in every way deserving of the high esteem in which he is held by all classes. He has kept well abreast of the times and has always had the courage of his convictions, and while primarily engaged in the furtherance of his own interests, he has never lost sight of his larger duties to his county and state and ever supported such measures as make for the general good.
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 622-624. Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
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Singular and pronounced attainments on the part of an individual are always worthy of attention and there is likewise a recognized necessity for
recording the same. Every man seems endowed by nature and fitted peculiarly for a certain task and the truth of the time-tried saying, "There is a niche
for every man and a man for every, niche," was never better exemplified than in the history of Edward Speer White. The point worthy of emphasis in
writing of the career of Mr. White, the historian of this volume, is that he is naturally gifted with literary talents with a decided leaning toward historical writings. Readers of this history will agree with the foregoing statement without doubt. As he is one of the leading attorneys of the county and a lifelong citizen of this community it becomes the duty of the biographer to record the salient facts regarding Mr. White's career for insertion in the pages of the biographical department of this volume.
Edward Speer White was born October 27, 1871, on a farm in Benton county, Iowa. He is a son of James W. and Eliza (Speer) White, residents of Jackson township, in Shelby county. James W. White was born in County Down, Ireland, and is a son of John and Mary (Copeland) White, both natives of County Down, Ireland. Eliza (Speer) White was born September 18, 1848, at Le Claire, Scott county, Iowa. Her parents were James and Margaret (Crawford) Speer, both natives of Pennsylvania, who settled in Scott county, Iowa, in 1840. Mr. and Mrs. James W. White settled in Jackson township, Shelby county, in 1875, coming from Benton county, Iowa, and are yet residing on the land broken out by Mr. White. They are the parents of seven children: Edward S., Matie, Margaret (deceased), Lydie, wife of S. J. Philson, Nellie M., wife of E. F. Morris, John H. and Jessie F.
E. S. White lived in Jackson township until he attained his majority. He attended the district schools and assisted on the home farm, later graduating from the high school at Harlan in 1890, at that time under the supervision of that distinguished instructor, Professor A. B. Warner. Professor Warner later became superintendent of the Tacoma, Washington, schools. At present he is a professor in the State Normal school at Kirksville, Missouri. Following his graduation from the Harlan high school, Mr. White entered the State University of Iowa where he pursued the classical course and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1894. While a student at the University he was active in student affairs and was chosen editor of his college paper. He was also president of the athletic association and president of one of the literary societies. He was made a member of the honor scholastic fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa, and is also a member of the Sigma Nu Greek letter fraternity. After his graduation he became a teacher and taught his first school in the Fritz district in Jackson township. Later he taught the Copenhagen school in his home township. After teaching a year in the district schools he became an instructor in the high school at Cherokee, Iowa, and, though re-elected, decided to accept a position in the Harlan high school which had been offered him. For the next five years he taught in the Harlan high school, being elected to the superintendency of the city schools in 1898. He held this position for three years and then resigned to enter the law school of the University of Michigan, from which he graduated in 1902 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In the fall of the same year he passed the bar examination at Des Moines, Iowa, and immediately began the practice of his profession at Harlan, where he has since remained.
While in the University of Michigan, Mr. White contributed a number of special articles to the Chicago Record-Herald on various phases of college life. Later he wrote special articles and sketches for the Register and Leader of Des Moines, the Council Bluffs Nonpareil, the Omaha Bee, the Sioux City
Journal, and the Minneapolis Journal. The Midland Monthly of Des Moines accepted and published three or four articles written by him, one of which
entitled, "Denmark in America," was commented on and excerpts therefrom republished in the department, "Leading Articles of the Month," of the
American Review of Reviews edited by Dr. Albert Shaw. In a contest for prizes offered by Collier's Weekly for suggestions looking to the betterment
of this magazine, he was fortunate enough to win three prizes in succession consisting of books and the sum of twenty-five dollars.
Mr. White was married in 1898 to Clyde Beryl Cobb, the daughter of Dr. E. A. and Martha (Foster) Cobb. Mrs. White is a graduate of the high school at Harlan, class of 1893, as well as a graduate of the University of Iowa, class of 1898. She belongs to the Daughters of the American Revolution, the P. E. 0. Society, the Harlan Literary Club, and the college sorority of Pi Beta Phi. Mr. White and wife are the parents of two sons, Leland Cobb and Edward Speer, Jr.
Mr. White is a Republican in politics, active in the affairs of his party, and has served as county chairman. He has served three terms as county attorney and while in office was very active in the meetings of the state association of county attorneys, serving as secretary of the association. He appeared on the programs of the annual meetings and discussed various legal topics. He and his wife are members of the Congregational church.
Mr. White is one of the county's most useful and talented citizens and enjoys the respect and esteem of a large number of friends and acquaintances.
Those who know him have the kindest feelings and warmest friendship for him as a man and are ever ready to assist his undertakings. Besides being a
writer of recognized ability and a talented member of the Shelby county bar, he is an orator of more than local reputation. He is frequently called upon
to give addresses at local gatherings and often beyond the borders of his county. He is gifted with a plenteous endowment of good common sense
and judgment, qualities which go far to commend him in the eyes of those whom he meets.
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 624 - 626. Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
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The history of the Bomberger family has been traced back several generations and the family is fortunate in having their history well preserved. It is not possible in the space here allowed to follow the various branches of the family, now numbering several hundred members, and in the life of William Moore Bomberger the genealogy will be but briefly reviewed. The Tillie Zimmerman Record, of Shafferstown, Pennsylvania, gives a complete record of the Bomberger family for several generations.
The first member of the family to come to this country from Germany, the ancestral home of the family, arrived here several years before the Revolutionary War. It seems that the first Bomberger located in the state of New York and later settled in southern Pennsylvania. Joseph Bomberger, the
grandfather of William M., with whom this narrative deals, was a common laborer in his boyhood days and, when a young man, found employment
with John Andres, a wealthy farmer living near Lebanon, in the southern part of Pennsylvania. It so happened that Andres had a handsome daughter and, as so often happens, the two young people were soon in love with each other. They plighted their troth and were happily planning on marriage when an unforeseen circumstance arose. When the youthful Joseph broached the question of marriage to his betrothed's father he found him utterly opposed to their union. He was not particularly opposed to young Bomberger because of any unworthiness on the latter's part but for the reason that he had Hessian blood flowing in his veins. At that time the Pennsylvania Germans had very little love for the Hessians because they had served England against the Colonies in the Revolutionary War. However, Mr. Andres overcame his scruples on this score, and knowing that the young man was in every way worthy of his daughter, gave his consent to their union.
The nuptials of Joseph Bomberger and Sarah Andres were solemnized with splendor and, to add to the happiness of the young couple, her father built a large brick house and a stone barn on a hundred-acre tract for them. He gave them the farm thus equipped on condition that they should pay for the improvements, which amounted to about eight thousand dollars. Her father felt that they would appreciate their home if they had to work some for it, and in this he showed excellent judgment. They readily accepted the offer and on this farm the nineteen-year-old husband and seventeen-year-old wife began their married life. They soon paid the indebtedness on the farm, added to it and were in the course of time among the most substantial people of the community where they lived. Their place was one of the most beautiful in southern Pennsylvania and is still standing and occupied by their descendants. Joseph Bomberger and wife reared a family of several children, namely: Sarah Shirk (deceased), Andres J. (deceased), William, Joseph, Mrs. Emma Wells and Augusta (deceased), a soldier in the Union army.
It is not possible to trace the children, since the limits of this article confine the historian to the line represented by William Moore Bomberger, the son of Andres John. The father of William M. was born in Pennsylvania, near the city of Lebanon, and reared in the home which had been in the family for nearly a century. Andres John Bomberger was married on November 19, 1850, to Henrietta Moore, the daughter of Phillip and Margaretta (Winters) Moore. To this union were born four children, John, William Moore, Phillip and Ida May. The daughter died in infancy and the three sons grew to manhood.
The Moore family are of German extraction, the first members of the family having come to this country from the Palatinate district in the year 1735. At the time the family came to America there were several other families, among them being the Misers, Stumps, Zellers, Fakes, Beckers and many others. The Moores landed in New York City and at once went up the state and located in Schoharie county. Shortly afterwards, in the same year, the family accepted the liberal offer of William Penn and moved to southern Pennsylvania. Here the great-grandfather of William Moore Bomberger bought a large tract of land and lived the rest of his life. Nine children were the result of the marriage of this great-grandfather, three boys and six girls. One of the three boys was Phillip, who was born in Heidelberg, Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, on March 15, 1795. Phillip Moore married Margaretta Winters, who was born at Wintersville, Berks county, Pennsylvania. To Phillip Moore and wife were born eight children, four of whom died in infancy. The four who grew to maturity were Sarah, Adaline, John B. and Henrietta, the mother of William Moore Bomberger. Henrietta was born in 1833 and died in 1864, shortly after she and her husband located in Missouri. As a girl she was strong and healthy but some time before her marriage she met with an unfortunate accident which ultimately resulted in her death. One evening, as she was bringing the cows from the pasture, she injured her ankle and this finally made her a cripple from which she never recovered. Her father, Phillip Moore, was a man of great strength and one of the most influential men of his community. He
built all of the buildings on his farm of stone and they are still standing and are in as good shape as they were when erected, a century ago. He was
especially interested in horticulture, in trees, flowers, fruits and ornamental shrubs of all kinds. He had extensive orchards and sold thousands of
bushels of apples to the distilleries for the purpose of making apple-jack, a drink which was used by everyone in his day and generation.
The Bombergers and Moores have married and intermarried until the family histories are very much confused. The Tillie Zimmerman Record, which has been previously mentioned, contains much of the Moore history as well as that of the Bombergers. Much of the data has been gathered from tombstones in the family burying lots. The families have become so related that there are no less than six John Bombergers in a limited neighborhood. In the settlement of one Moore estate there were sixty-seven heirs within the two families. Most of the members of both families have never left their native state, although there are members of the families now living in Illinois and Nevada, as well as Iowa.
William Moore Bomberger was born in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, May 28, 1856, and was the second of four children born to his parents. He was born in a blue limestone house built by his ancestors in 1735 and the house is still in an excellent state of preservation and occupied by members of the family. His father, Andres John, farmed and at the same time operated the hotel in the city of Lebanon. In 1861 the family went west and finally stopped at Quincy, Illinois, arriving there just at the time Fort Sumter was fired upon. After some discussion, Andres John decided to take his family farther west, and at once went into the state of Iowa, locating on a farm in Louisa county, near Wapello. The family remained here only a short time and then settled in Morning Sun, Iowa, where they remained until 1865. Then they went to Missouri and there Andres John-Bomberger managed the farm of an ex-slave holder in Brunswick, Chariton county. Here the wife and mother died and the children were taken back to Pennsylvania and placed in the hands of relatives for a time. At this time William M., with whom this sketch deals, was a lad of eight. The father remarried in Iowa and William M. then returned west and lived with his father and step-mother. His step-mother died shortly afterward and the following spring his father died. From this time the youthful William was thrown on his own resources and he showed himself abundantly able to care for himself.
William Moore Bomberger had lived in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri before his mother died. After the death of his mother, in 1864, he returned to his native state and lived one year with one grandfather and two years with the other grandfather. During this time he got a taste of farming on stony soil and the experience was one which he has never forgotten. He returned to his father in Iowa, after his father's second marriage, and upon his death was apprenticed by his guardian to the Bennet and Franz Carriage Company, of Burlington, Iowa. In less than a year the firm was burned out and young William was out of employment. At this time he returned to Morning Sun, Iowa, and found work on the farms of the Scotch Covenanters near that place. He worked in the summer, attended school in the winter time and was making a record as a student. While attending school the village postmaster took a liking to him and asked him to come into the office as his deputy, and although he was only seventeen years of age at the time, he was made a full-fledged public official, his first taste of public life.
This proved to be the turning point in the career of Mr. Bomberger, and the acquaintances and friendships which he formed the next three years in Morning Sun were destined to point him for his future career. Here he lived for three years, rooming and boarding with T. M. Findley, the superintendent of the town schools, and all the time acting as deputy postmaster. He formed the acquaintance of Henry Wallace, who was just out of the seminary and preaching his first sermons in Morning Sun. It was this young minister who was later to become the editor of the Wallace Farmer and a man whose name and fame is known throughout the whole United States. The three years which Mr. Bomberger spent here under this environment determined largely his future and gave him a keen desire for an education. He spent every spare minute in study and when he left here, at the age of twenty-one, he had a good education.
In 1877 he went to Shelby county with two friends, R. M. Pomeroy and William Shirk, on a prospecting trip. He selected a tract in section 7, Shelby township, erected buildings upon it, rented the farm to a satisfactory tenant and in the fall went to Mount Vernon, Iowa, to attend Cornell College. However, he changed his mind and decided to enter the State University at Iowa City, a decision largely influenced by the fact that he would have free tuition in the university. He spent two days at the university and in that time saw so many of the students file in and out of the saloons of the city that he decided it was not the place for him. He next went to Grinnell college, looked it over, but the place seemed too lonesome. He then returned to Cornell College and there he spent the next four years, years which gave him that broad education which has made him such a successful man in the affairs of the world. While he attended college, during the college year, he worked on his farm in Shelby county every summer and thus was enabled to maintain himself in school the rest of the year.
The year 1881 saw William M. Bomberger a graduate of Cornell College but with his health very much impaired as a result of hard manual as well as mental labor. He secured a teacher's certificate and in the fall of 1881 began to teach the Gooding school in Center township, although a small-pox scare caused the school to be closed before the end of the school year. This proved to be the last service of Mr. Bomberger in the school room and the pedagogical profession lost an able instructor when he laid aside the ferule. During the summer of 1882, R. M. Pomeroy was elected treasurer of Shelby county and he appointed Mr. Bomberger as his deputy, a position which he held for the next four years. The next county treasurer, W. F. Cleveland, although a Democrat, retained him as his deputy, and he remained with Mr. Cleveland for two years.
In the year 1888 Mr. Bomberger decided he was wasting his time and energy by working for someone else, and one day informed Mr. Cleveland that he was going to quit as deputy treasurer. The treasurer wanted to know if anything was wrong but was told that the only reason why he wanted to get out was so he could work for himself. Instead of returning to his farm he sold it and invested all of his money in land near Harlan. He had always been interested in horticulture and now had the opportunity to get into the business for which he felt that he had the most ability. This he has made his life work and has built up a reputation along this line which has extended far beyond the limits of his state. He has been identified with the horticultural interests of Iowa for more than a quarter of a century in various ways. For twelve years he was the horticultural editor of the Iowa Homestead and for a similar length of time he was secretary of the Southwestern Iowa Horticultural Association. He was secretary of the Farmers' Institute Association of Shelby County for ten years and during this time was of great service to the farmers of his county. He was president of the Iowa State Horticultural Association for two years and treasurer of the same for a period of three years. At the Iowa State Fair he has won fifty-three first and second prizes on his fruits and a valuable trophy vase for the best display of boxed apples. He also received a prize for the second best display of boxed Jonathan apples. Enough has been said to indicate the standing of Mr. Bomberger in the line of his chosen life work, a field in which he has been remarkably successful.
It is pertinent to mention something of the college career of Mr. Bomberger. While in college he was a classmate of Cato Sells, Robert G. Cousins
and Charles Cummins, the eminent artist. The latter was one of the instructors in his class and received the highest scores and marks given by the
faculty. Mr. Bomberger was also an artist and received high marks for the excellence of his work. In his college course he achieved his greatest success in art, English, literature, history, Latin and Greek. Leslie Shaw, later governor of the state of Iowa and secretary of the treasury under President Roosevelt, completed his course in Cornell the year before Mr. Bomberger entered and was selling fruit trees for Professor J. L. Budd, of Shellsburg,
Iowa. Mr. Shaw sold Mr. Bomberger the first fruit trees he planted in Shelby county on his farm in Shelby township. Shaw made his way through
school by selling fruit trees during his summer vacations. A deep friendship sprung up between Professor Budd and Mr. Bomberger and this had not a little influence on the later career of Mr. Bomberger. Professor Budd had charge of the department of horticulture in Ames College for many years and was regarded as one of the best informed men in the west along this line.
In politics, Mr. Bomberger was a stanch Republican until 1912, when he affiliated with the newly organized Progressive party. Religiously, he was reared a German Lutheran and Presbyterian, although he is now a loyal member of the Congregational church of Harlan.
Mr. Bomberger was married in 1882 to Arbella DeButts, of Leaf River, Illinois, whom he met while attending college. She is the daughter of Enos and Catherine (Thomas) DeButts. Her grandparents on her father's side were Addison and Barbara (Coffman) DeButts; on her mother's side her grandparents were Elias and Susan (Rice) Thomas, natives of Maryland.. The Thomas family came overland to Leaf River, Illinois, in 1835. Mr. and Mrs. Bomberger are the parents of two children, Arthur and Henrietta Ada. Both the children are graduates of Lake Forest University and are now giving expert assistance to their father in his horticultural work. Henrietta is a student in the Art Institute in Chicago, where she is specializing in commercial art.
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 626 - 632. Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
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In the largest and best sense of the term Hon. Levi Franklin Potter is distinctively one of the influential and notable men of his day and generation, and as such his life record is entitled to a conspicuous place in the annals of his county and state. As a citizen he has been public spirited and enterprising. As a friend and neighbor he has combined the qualities of head and heart that have won confidence and commanded respect. As a banker he has achieved a notable success and won the highest recognition for his attainments in financial circles possible for an individual in the state of Iowa. As
a legislator he became recognized throughout the state for his signal services in behalf of the people and won fame as a true representative of the people. His interests while in the halls of the state legislature as one of the law makers for the people were purely and unselfishly impersonal and he sought only to accomplish what he deemed right and just. Eminent as a financier, useful as a progressive and enterprising citizen, esteemed highly as a friend, he is one of the valued members of the community in which he has resided for fifteen years or more and has rendered valued service as the fitting climax to a long and successful career in public life.
Levi Franklin Potter is a son of Levi Brigham Potter, a descendant of an old New England family. In his veins flows the best blood: of New England ancestors and he has had the inspiration given by the deeds of illustrious forbears who, far back in the days of the Colonial and Revolutionary periods
of the nation's history, rendered valiant service in behalf of the struggling Republic. He was born in Wawatosa, Milwaukee county, Wisconsin, March
27, 1855. His mother was Hitty (Wenzel) Potter. Levi B. Potter, his father, was the grandson of Ebenezer Potter, a valiant soldier of the Revolution. Col. Levi Brigham, his great-grandfather was also a veteran in the American war for independence. Levi B. Potter was the son of Ebenezer Potter, Jr. The maternal grandmother of Mr. Potter was Susanna Brigham, a daughter of Lieutenant Levi and Tabitha (Hardy) Brigham. She was a mother of Ebenezer Potter, Sr.
In the year 1839, Levi B. Potter emigrated from his ancestral home in New England to the wilds of Wisconsin and there carved a home from the forest in Milwaukee county. He was one of the race of empire builders who broke the way and endured the hardships which were necessary for the development of the middle West. He lived and died on the homestead which he created with his own hands. He bequeathed to his country a family of eight children, only three of whom are now living: Milton B., residing at Wawatosa, Wisconsin; Mrs. Susan De Graff, a widow, formerly a resident of Colorado, but now making her home with Mr. Potter; Levi Franklin, with whom this narrative is directly concerned.
L. F. Potter received his primary education in the public schools of his native county and attended the Ripon and Beloit colleges of Wisconsin. For a period of three years he taught school. While still a young man in years he hearkened to the call of the west and made a trip into Iowa as far as Pottawattamie county, Iowa, in 1876. The possibilities of attaining success in the new country impressed him apparently, for, in 1879, he came again to the state and here he has remained. He located in the town of Oakland and engaged in the mercantile business. He continued in business until March of 1884, when he became the cashier of the Citizens State Bank, of Oakland, and for the past thirty years has been connected with this institution. Here it was that his latent ability for financial attainments found an opportunity for full play and he has since achieved high prestige in banking circles. He resided in Oakland until 1899, when he came to Harlan for the purpose of having a wider field for his operations.
During his residence in Oakland he was one of the leading citizens of the city and county. He was twice elected mayor of the city. Mr. Potter was there elected a member of the twenty-sixth General Assembly, representing Pottawattamie county, which convened in 1896 and again in extra session
in 1897 for the purpose of effecting- a complete codification of the laws of the state.
Mr. Potter made an enviable record for statesmanship while a member of the legislature. While serving in the twenty-sixth General Assembly, he was chairman of the committee on telegraph, telephone-and express and was a member of the important committee on ways and means, and also a meniher of the code revision, banks and banking, municipal corporations, police regulation and labor committees. His fine work on the ways and means committee attracted the attention of chairman J. H. Funk, so that when Mr. Funk was elevated to the speakership of the house of representatives of the
twenty-seventh General Assembly to which Mr. Potter was elected in 1898, he appointed Mr. Potter chairman of this committee. During the session
of the twenty-seventh General Assembly he was a member of the following additional committees: Railroads and commerce, banks and banking, telegraph, telephone and express, municipal corporations, rules, labor, and was a member of the joint committee on retrenchment and reform. Mr. Potter
introduced and was successful in having passed the following bills: House bill number 199, providing for shorter forms for assessment rolls and assessors' books, an important money-saving act and the operation of which has saved hundreds of dollars every fiscal year to each county; house bill, number 165, providing for the appropriation of twenty-five thousand dollars (in addition to ten thousand dollars appropriated at the previous session), to
defray the expenses of the Iowa exhibit at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition; house file number 101, extending the term of school treasurer, the merit of
which measure is fully appreciated by those who have noticed the efforts of banks to control the school funds; house file number 147, providing severe
penalties for the adulteration of candy. During his first session, Mr. Potter had charge of and secured the passage in the house of the senate bill taxing
express companies one per cent on the gross amount of business annually done by them within the state. Prior to the passage of this bill, the express
companies had avoided the payment of any considerable amount of taxes in the state. While a member of the twenty-seventh General Assembly, he
supplemented this statute by introducing and securing the passage of house file, number 234, which doubled the taxes heretofore paid by the express
companies. He was also interested in legislation having for its object the encouragement of the beet sugar industry within the state.
When Mr. Potter took up his permanent residence in Harlan he organized the First National Bank and served as the president of this concern until
its merger with the Shelby County State Bank in January, 1906. Mr. Potter had previously secured the controlling interest in the Shelby County State
Bank and the merger was the natural result of his financiering and the culmination of well-laid plans to establish in Harlan a strong and aggressive
financial institution. He became president of this flourishing bank and its activities were considerably broadened while he occupied this responsible
position. In June of 1911, failing health compelled Mr. Potter to relinquish the presidency of the Shelby County State Bank and he retired to make way
for a younger man who would relieve him of the burden of directing its affairs. Since that time he has been devoting his time to the attending of his
personal affairs and indulging in well-earned recreation. His elegant home on Baldwin street in Harlan is equipped with what is probably the most ex-
tensive library in the county and one of the best and largest libraries in western Iowa which is evidence of his educational and literary attainments. At
the time of his retirement, Mr. Potter had considerable land holdings but has recently disposed of his Shelby county farm land. He is president of
the Citizens State Bank of Oakland and of the Bank of Defiance in Shelby county. All of the banks in which Mr. Potter is interested are members of
the Iowa Bankers Association. Another great honor which came to Mr. Potter is the presidency of the Iowa Bankers Association, to which position
he was elected in 1903, having previously served two years as treasurer and one year as vice-president.
Mr. Potter was married in November, 1881 to Martha J. Wood, a daughter of William Wood of Oakland, Iowa. He is a member of and liberal supporter of the Harlan Congregational church. He is fraternally connected with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and is a Knight Templar. Mr. Potter is president of the Harlan Country Club, an organization whose object is to provide recreation for its members.
Mr. Potter has been a life-long Republican in his political preferment and has taken a rather active part in local and state politics. He was a delegate to the national convention of his party which nominated William H. Taft for the presidency in Chicago in 1908. His influence has been felt in various ways at different times along political lines. Besides attaining eminence as a financier and serving his state as an honored and capable member of the legislature his sense of civic responsibility has found outlet in the performance of those duties which are the part of the average citizen. He was one of the promoters of the Shelby County Chautauqua Association, an institution which has met with popular favor and been very successful each year. He was president of the Chautauqua Association for four years. He was one of the prime movers in the inception of the Harlan Commercial exchange which numbers among its members the most progressive and hustling citizens of the city and has for its object "A greater and better Harlan." He filled the office of president of this organization for several years. Mr. Potter is also connected with the Shelby county Fine Live Stock Exchange as its treasurer. This is one of the first if not the first organization of its kind in the United States and has accomplished wonders in advertising the greatness of Shelby county as a fine live stock producing center and bringing the producers together to work harmoniously.
By virtue of his ancestry, Mr. Potter is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. He is also a member of the Iowa State Historical Society. Another organization of which he is a contributing and active member is the famous Burbank corporation, composed principally of men of means who are banded together for the purpose of promoting publicity of the discoveries and propagations made by Luther Burbank, the California scientist and naturalist.
Sufficient has been said to indicate the character of Mr. Potter and to show his high standing in the community which has been his residence for the past fifteen years, and it only remains to be said that throughout his entire financial and civic career he has been animated by good motives and made personal considerations subordinate to the claims of duty. Broad and liberal in his views, his associations with his fellowmen have been characterized by the best of fellowship and his record bears out the idea that a man gifted with talents supplemented with an educational training, can, with little or no
assistance other than that afforded by his hands and brain, overcome obstacles and achieve a high position and success even in the smaller communities.
This review is intended as an appreciation of the accomplishments of Mr. Potter and will ultimately prove an inspiration to those of a younger generation who are seeking to find a way to rise above the average. Of such men does history mainly treat. The historian records the acts accomplished by men, and the biographer chronicles the personal facts regarding the individual. Thus is a complete and concise history of any community created.
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 632 - 636. Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
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There is no higher earthly calling than the ministry of the Gospel; no life more uplifting and grander than that which is devoted to the amelioration of the human race; no life which demands more sacrifices. The true minister is willing to cast aside all earthly crowns and laurels of fame in order to follow in the footsteps of the lowly Nazarene. It is not possible to measure adequately the height, depth and breadth of such a life, for its influences continue to permeate the lives of others through succeeding generations, so that the real power it has can not be known until "the last day when the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible."
One of the self-sacrificing, ardent, loyal and true men who has been a blessing to the community in which he has lived is Father Peter Brommenschenkel, the pastor of St. Boniface church at Westphalia, in this county. He was born September 27, 1846, in Prussia, in the Rhine Province. His parents were Nicholas and Catherine Brommenschenkel, who came to this country in June, 1850, and settled at Hennepin, Illinois. Two years later
the family moved to Chicago and here the father pursued his usual occupation for a short time. The family next went west and eventually located in
Dubuque, Iowa, where Nicholas established a wagon shop of his own and managed it until his death. To Nicholas Brommenschenkel and wife were
born nine children, all of whom are deceased except Father Brommenschenkel and one sister, who is a nun in a convent at Ashland, Wisconsin.
Father Brommenschenkel was three and one-half years of age when his parents left Germany and came to this country, and, consequently, all of his
education has been received in this country. He first attended the Catholic school at Dubuque, Iowa, and then entered St. Francis Seminary at Mil-
waukee, Wisconsin, to study for the priesthood. He became a student in this excellent institution in 1861 and remained in actual attendance until
1869. He was ordained to the priesthood August 1, 1869, by Bishop Hennessey, of Dubuque, Iowa, receiving the ordination at St. Raphael's Cathedral.
Immediately after his ordination he was assigned to the St. Mary's church parish at Iowa City, but remained there only a short time, being transferred to Council Bluffs, Iowa, to assist Father McMennomy, of St. Mary's church. He was stationed at Council Bluffs until July, 1870, when he was put in charge of the church at Marshalltown, Iowa, remaining at that place until November, 1875. He was now assigned to the Holy Trinity church at Richmond, Iowa, and for the next five years ministered to the spiritual needs of his people at that place. In the fall of 1880 he was sent to Riverside, Iowa, to assume the charge of St. Mary's church in that city. Nearly six years of zealous pastoral labor and devotion marked his career in this place.
For the past twenty-eight years (since May 20, 1886), Father Brommenschenkel has been in charge of St. Boniface church at Westphalia, Iowa, having the mission at Harlan under his direction as well. During this time he has had the pleasure of seeing his church grow in power and influence and his people living lives in accordance with the teachings of the church. He takes his share of the burden of civic life and is a firm and consistent advocate of good government, casting his ballot on election days for the best men irrespective of their political affiliations. Father Brommenschenkel is highly respected by all the people of the city where he has spent so many years of his active life, knowing, as they do, that he is a man who is working to raise the standard of civilization and thereby make this a better place in which to live.
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 636-638. Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
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A good citizen, a widely known pioneer of Shelby county, and a valiant soldier of the Civil War, was the late Samuel G. Poole of Lincoln township.
In the respect that is accorded to men who have fought their own way to success through unfavorable environment we find an unconscious recognition
of the intrinsic worth of a character which cuuld not only endure so rough a test as the Civil War but gain new strength through the discipline which
carried him through the long years of warfare in behalf of his country and enabled him to carve a fortune for himself in Shelby county. Samuel G.
Poole was not favored by inherited wealth or by the assistance of influential friends, but in spite of this, by perseverance, industry and wise economy, he
had atttained a comfortable station in life and made his influence felt for good in his community in Lincoln township, where he had long maintained
his home. His career was an honorable one of which his descendants can be justly proud, and they can also be proud of the fact that he was numbered
among those patriotic sons of the North who assisted in saving the nation's integrity in the dark days of the sixties. No man is more worthy of an
honorable place in the annals of this county.
Samuel G. Poole was born May 29, 1841, in Delaware county, Ohio, and died in Shelby county, Iowa, September 24, 1914. His parents, Peter and Frances (Wilson) Poole, were born in Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania, in 1800 and 1810, respectively. Peter Poole settled in Ohio in the early history of that state and lived the life of a simple farmer there until his death in 1865. They were the parents of several children, two of whom, Mrs. William Southwick and Mrs. Marion Mittchell, are yet living. When Samuel G. Poole was eighteen months of age his parents moved to Washington county, Pennsylvania, where they resided for a time. They then went to Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, where they lived until the son grew to manhood. Mr. Poole's father died when he was yet a lad and he was reared on a farm and received his education in the district schools of the neighborhood. When he was seventeen years of age, he came to Davenport, Iowa, where he worked for eighteen months at the trade of carpenter. He went from Davenport to St. Louis where he worked for a time. He was also employed in Alton, Illinois, and journeyed as far south as New Orleans, arriving in this city just before the outbreak of the Rebellion. It was in this far southern city that he heard a number of prominent southern men addressing the people, inciting them to revolt against the Washington government and go to Washington and kill President Lincoln. He returned to the north and went to Salem, Ohio, where his mother was residing.
He responded to President Lincoln's call for three hundred thousand men on August 13, 1861, and became a member of Company C, Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served for three years, being honorably discharged at Chattanooga in 1864, his time of enlistment having expired. He again enlisted and joined General Hancock's veteran corps and served until his discharge in March of 1865. He participated in the great battles of Shell Mountain (Virginia), where he was first under fire, Gaily Ridge (Virginia), Bull Run, Antietam, South Mountain, Nashville, Hooper's Gap, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Buzzard's Roost, Dalton and Resaca, beside many minor engagements. Mr. Poole received his final discharge from the service in New York city and at once returned to his old home in Ohio and worked at various occupations until the year 1870 when he came with his family to Shelby county, settling on the Rock Island railway land. He squatted on the railroad land for three years and then purchased a tract of one hundred and sixty acres at eight and ten dollars an acre in Lincoln township. After making his first payment on this land he was too poor to buy horses to break it up. He hired it broken up for the first time and gradually got a start, but it was many years before he could call himself a prosperous farmer. He put up a shanty with two rooms and lived in it until 1892 when he built the present substantial home. The country at the time Mr. and Mrs. Poole came here was mostly an unbroken prairie and there was a time when Mr. Poole hauled his corn to a market twelve miles away and received only fifteen cents a bushel for it. He and his good wife met with many discouragements and hardships, but they stayed with the farm and had the satisfaction of seeing it yield more satisfactory returns as the years went by. At the time of Mr. Poole's death September 24, 1914, he was the possessor of one of the best improved farms in the county. The funeral of Samuel G. Poole was held on the Sunday following his demise and the services were conducted by Rev. Hardaway, of the Methodist Episcopal church. A short talk was also made by D. 0. Stuart. The body was interred in the city cemetery in the presence of a large assemblage of friends and relatives and members of the Grand Army post of which Mr. Poole was a member.
Mr. Poole was married July 13, 1860, to Mary (Tucker) Brown. To this union eight children were born, Joseph R., William L., Nevada (wife of P. F. Wash), Rolla A., Ralph E., Nellie (wife of R. W. Boardman), Pearl (wife of Clinton Hoover) and Mount Trevada, who died in infancy. Mrs. Poole is residing on the old home place in Lincoln township. She was born January 22, 1841, in West Virginia, the daughter of Shertan and Julia (Tucker) Brown.
Mr. Poole voted the Republican ticket for more than fifty years, having cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in the fall of 1864. He was a member of the Grand Army post and took a deep interest in its affairs. For over forty-four years he was a resident of Shelby county and had the satisfaction of seeing it emerge from a broad and trackless waste of prairie land to its present prosperous condition and did no inconsiderable part in the bringing about of this wonderful transition. No man in the county is more deserving of a higher regard than he, and when he answered the last roll call, there was removed from the county one of its worthiest pioneers. He was a kind and true husband, a loving father, a good neighbor and was respected by all who knew him.
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 638-640. Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
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The newspaper of today is the most powerful factor in the molding of public opinion that we have. Through the influence of its editorial expressions men are made and unmade; governments are created or overthrown; new policies are exploited and the existing powers in control of the government for the time being are compelled to hearken to the voice of the people as expressed through the medium of the all-powerful press. The press, like many of our best institutions, has undergone a wonderful transformation for the better during the past decade and has grown in independence, prestige and financial strength owing to the adoption of progressive business methods in the management of the hundreds of newspapers in the towns and cities of the country. It is now universally recognized and conceded that a newspaper located in a town or city is one of the business institutions of the community and all of its activities must be conducted upon a firm business standpoint. While the times still call for adherence on the part of the editorial department to more or less editorial allegiance to one of the political parties, it is conceded that there should be more independence of thought and expression on the part of the editors than heretofore; We are living in a progressive age and the people are becoming more and more independent in their thinking as regards public questions of moment. This change is undoubtedly due to the molding power of the newspapers of the present decade which have a decided influence toward developing independent lines of thought in the minds of its readers.
The Harlan Republican, edited by P. B. Brown, is an advanced type of the modern newspaper conducted along successful business lines and in such
a manner as to serve best the people of Shelby county. It is a high-class weekly newspaper, ably edited, and wielding a certain influence among the
people of the county. Its development in late years is practically due to the activity and decided ability of its proprietor and editor, of whom it is our
province to speak biographically.
Mr. Brown was born near the village of Oakfleld, Perry county, Ohio, on June 29, 1859. He is the son of David and Arminda Frances (Latta) Brown. David Brown was of New England ancestry and his forbears were among the early pioneer settlers of the New England country. Mr. Brown's mother was of French descent.
David Brown was a soldier of the Union army and fought in defense of the Union in the Civil War. He enlisted in 1861 in Company D, Thirtieth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died of typhoid fever at Sutton, West Virginia, after four months of service. Three brothers of David Brown also fought in the Union army, namely: William, Merrick and Joseph. David was the father of the following children, Perley Benton and Mary Elizabeth, the wife of Frank Okell of Morning Sun, Iowa. In 1863, the mother of Perley B. married Cyrus Green of Perry county, Ohio, and migrated to Iowa shortly afterward and settled on a farm near Morning Sun. In his old age Mr. Green retired to a residence in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, where his widow still resides at the advanced age of seventy-five years. To this union were born the following children: James C. and Grant, of Iowa; Mrs. Frank Grow and Mrs. Albert Grow, of Brunswick, Nebraska; Mrs. David McCahan, of Kansas; Mrs. David Rich of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa; and May, at home with her mother.
P. B. Brown received his education in the district schools of the neighborhood in which he was reared. Being bright and apt in his studies he was constrained to adopt a different calling from that in which he was reared and early conceived an ambition to become a newspaper man. When he became
eighteen years of age he purchased a half interest in the Morning Sun Reporter. However, he did not embark in business without serving an adequate
apprenticeship at the trade, having served as office boy in the editorial rooms of the Burlington Hawkeye when it was in the heyday of its prominence
under the assistant editorship of the late Robert J. Burdette. Attorney-General Hatton was then the editor and owner of the Hawkeye. It is interesting to note herein that Mr. Brown left the parental roof when eleven years of age, an immature youth, to carve his own fortunes in the world. From this time on he has earned his own living and achieved a fair success. He drifted into the printer's trade and managed to secure his education while working at his trade and attending school part of the time. It is thus that many editors are made and it is a matter of record that the ablest and best newspaper men of the time have risen from poverty and are self-made. From "devil boy" to the proprietor of a successful and influential newspaper would make interesting reading as a title for a detailed account of the experiences of Editor Brown of the Harlan Republican.
Mr. Brown remained in Morning Sun in charge of the Reporter until 1876 and in March of 1877 he removed the plant to Dysart, Tama county, and
there established the Reporter. Four months later he leased out his interest in the newspaper and went to Wapello, where he was employed for a period
of four years by L. W. Myers, the publisher of the Wapello Republican. He served on the staff as compositor and assistant editor. In the meantime he
continued his studies and read assiduously, as he realized that in order to be successful in his chosen calling a wide knowledge of literature and history
was necessary. In this manner he developed considerable latent editorial ability and further fitted himself for more responsible work. From 1881 to
1883 inclusive he was employed in the printing establishment of Acres-Blackman and Company of Burlington. He then married and removed to Carrol,
Iowa, where he was connected with the Herald for a period of six years. In May of 1889 he made a permanent residence in Harlan, purchasing a half
interest in the Republican in partnership with C. W. R. Hinesmith. This partnership continued until January 1, 1903, when Mr. Brown purchased his
partner's interest and became the sole proprietor. Many new and modern additions to the plant of the Republican have rendered it one of the best
equipped printing plants in the state in conformity with the size of the city. Mr. Brown edits an excellent newspaper which is popular with its readers,
attractive in typography and general makeup, and well patronized by the merchants and advertisers within the radius of its circulation.
Mr. Brown was married on April 10, 1887, to Eva L. Dougherty of Fairfield, Iowa. To this union have been born six children, as follows: Mrs. M. I. Westerguard, of Harlan; Bessie F., an evangelist of the Methodist Episcopal faith; David K., who is associated with his father in the publication of the Republican; Leah, a student in Simpson College at Indianola, Iowa; Harold and Margaret, students in the Harlan high school. Mr. Brown's children are being reared wisely and well and are a credit to their parents and to the community.
Politically, Mr. Brown is a stanch Republican and his pen is ever ready to espouse the cause and emphasize the principles of this party. The Republican is the official organ of the party in Shelby county and it can be said that its editor through the long years of his residence in Harlan has been unswerving in his allegiance to the party of his choice. Mr. Brown is fraternally connected with the Odd Fellows, subordinate lodge and encampment, and the Daughters of Rebekah. His reputation as an able writer and newspaper man is firmly established; as a citizen he does his duty and is generally found
in the forefront of all matters intended for the betterment of existing conditions and is unswerving and steadfast in his loyalty to his home city and county.
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 640-643. Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
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