he has been connected with public office, having served as township committeeman, member of the school board, member of the town council and in other capacities. He has been a prominent factor in local politics and in 1910 was campaign manager, succeeding in nominating M. S. Helland as a member of the legislature. He is a leader in every movement pertaining to the welfare of Slater and vicinity, going to the extent of guaranteeing payment for good public entertainments for the town. Fraternally he is identified with Slater Lodge, No. 384, I. O. O. F., and in religious affairs he gives his allegiance to the Lutheran church, for four years serving as superintendent of the Sunday school and leader in the choir. He was the organizer of the Central Luther League and its secretary for several years, from which was developed the Luther League of Iowa, one of the most important movements in the Lutheran church in this part of the country during recent years.
CHARLES H. HALL.
Among the young men engaged in the active practice of law in Story county is Charles H. Hall, of Nevada, who is now fairly launched in the second year of his professional career. He was born in Peoria, Iowa, October 25, 1880, a son of James M. and Mary Jane (Bell) Hall. The father was born in Indiana and has been identified with the mercantile business ever since reaching manhood. He is now living at Collins, Iowa, and is fifty-six years of age. Aside from his business his attention for many years has been given to the church and Sunday school. He is a stanch worker in the Methodist denomination and has been superintendent of a Sunday school for twenty years past. Politically he is identified with the republican party and fraternally with the Masonic order. He is a man of good business qualifications, unsullied character and the possessor of those attributes which are most essential in progressive citizenship. The mother of our subject was born at Valparaiso, Indiana, and is also an active member of the Methodist church. There were five children in the family of Mr. and Mrs. Hall, namely : Clara, who married H. C. Denniston, a farmer, now living near Collins; Charles H., our subject; Grace, now Mrs. O. G. Smith, of Nevada ; Milo, a shoe salesman of Des Moines, Iowa ; and Jennie, at home.
Charles H. Hall was reared in a peaceful home and even as a boy gave indications of a studious and thoughtful disposition which pointed to a professional career. He attended the public schools of Collins, graduating from the high school in the class of 1899, being then nineteen years of age. In 1902 he entered mercantile business at Colo, Story county, in which he continued for four years, at the end of which time he matriculated in the law department of Drake University, graduating therefrom with the degree