Dr. Knapp's remains were brought to Ames for burial in the College cemetery. He was an educator and philosopher, a gentleman of learning and culture. Of superior ability, he yet recognized individual obligation and the truth of the universal brotherhood of mankind.
JOHN Y. LUKE.
The present incumbent of the office of city attorney in Ames is John Y. Luke, who was born in Galena, Illinois, on the 12th of April, 1870, a son of John W. and Sarah A. Luke. The father, a native of the Empire state, was born in Albany county on the 31st of March, 1840, and after completing his academic education he studied law, being most successfully identified with that profession during his entire life. In 1882 the family located in Hampton, Franklin county, Iowa, and there the father died in January, 1896, but the mother is still living and makes her home in Hampton.
John Y. Luke, who is the second in a family of nine children, was only twelve years of age when the family removed to Iowa and therefore has spent the greater part of his life in this state. After completing the grammar school course he graduated from the high school at Hampton and then taught in the country. Later he entered the Iowa State College at Ames and after three years' study in that institution he accepted a position as principal of the schools in Roland, Iowa. While a student in the high school he studied law in his father's office and completed his law course and was admitted to the bar during his two years' residence in Roland. At the close of his school he opened an office in that place and began practicing. He only remained there during the summer, however, and in the fall of 1895 he went to Nevada, Iowa, where he formed a partnership with J. F. Martin under the firm name of Martin & Luke. On the 1st of January, 1896, this partnership was dissolved because of the death of Mr. Luke's father necessitating his return to Hampton to look after the latter's large practice and business interests. He remained in Hampton for ten years, and during that period built up a large practice, proving through his capable discharge and execution of the business of his father's clients that he was a man of unusual mental attainment. His powers of deduction, keen discrimination in grasping the points at issue and his elucidation of the abstruse problems in a legal entanglement were quickly recognized and accepted at their full value. In 1907 Mr. Luke came to Ames and entered into partner-ship with Mr. McCarthy, taking the position in the firm previously held by Mr. Lee, who was retiring from private practice to accept a position on the bench. The partnership however, is but a nominal one, Mr. McCarthy having retired from active practice.