assisted his father on the farm until 1862, when he enlisted in Company B, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, serving three years. He was at Champion's Hill, siege of Vicksburg, Mobile, and was honorably discharged in 1865; then returned to Illinois, where he resided until 1869, and then came to Story County, Iowa, settling on his present property. His farm, consisting of 120 acres, is situated two miles west of Colo and five miles east of Nevada. Mr. Cook was married, in 1877, to Miss Adalaide M. French, who was born in Story County, Iowa, on June 11, 1856, and who is the daughter of Isaac and Rebecca (Hague) French. The fruits of this union were three children: Glenville D. (born in 1880), Blanche (born in 1886), and Clarence Jay (born in 1888). In politics Mr. Cook is a Republican, and his first presidential vote was for Gen. U. S. Grant. He is a member of the A. F.' & A. M., and the G. A. R., and is one of the honorable men of Nevada Township.
Rev. Campbell Coyle, pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Nevada, Iowa, was born on a farm near Coburg, Canada, March 4, 1861, being a son of James and Ann (Thompson) Coyle, the former of whom was born near Dublin, Ireland, in 1819, and the latter near Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1821. He came with his parents to the United States in 1865, and until the fall of 1878 was a resident of the northern peninsula of Michigan, after which the family moved to Crawfordsville, the Athens of Indiana, where Wabash College is located, and from this institution Rev. Coyle was graduated in 1886. He then spent the three following years in McCormick Theological Seminary, of Chicago, and just before graduating received and accepted a call to the Presbyterian Church of Nevada, Iowa, and on June 11, 1889, was ordained and installed pastor of this church. He is an interesting speaker, and is a man who is honored and respected by the members of his church. He is a brother of Rev. Robert F. Coyle, D. D., pastor of Fullerton Avenue Presbyterian Church, of Chicago. He was married on September 10, 1889, to Miss Alice Hays, daughter of Rev. L. Y. Hays, but her death occurred on May 7, 1890, at the untimely age of twenty-one years and eight months. Her whole life had been devoted to Christian work, and she was a true and noble lady, and her early death was mourned by all who knew her.
Frank Bertis Cramer, editor and proprietor of the Slater News, Slater, Iowa. Mr. Cramer is a resident of the thriving and enterprising town of Slater, Story County, Iowa, and is also editor and proprietor of the Slater News, a neat, newsy journal, which is admirably supported by the people. Mr. Cramer was born in Hamden, Vinton County, Ohio, on the 15th of November, 1863, and was the eighth in a family of twelve children—four sons and eight daughters. His parents were both natives of Ohio, and the father was a harness-maker by trade. He is mayor of the town of Hamden, and has filled this position for twelve years with great satisfaction. He is now about fifty-six years of age. The mother is now deceased. Frank B. Cramer obtained a good practical education, and when eighteen years of age began learning telegraphy. He was train dispatcher for the Chicago, Rock-Island & Pacific Railroad for about three and a half years, which was a very responsible and onerous position for a young man of his years. He went to Des Moines, Iowa, where he resigned his position to take a similar one on a division of the Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City Railway, where he received a large salary. He at once, after leaving the dispatcher's "key," located in Slater, Iowa, in 1890, and founded the Slater News,