OLIVER DWIGHT ENO

A most creditable and honorable record was that of Oliver Dwight Eno, now deceased, who for several terms served as auditor of Worth county and who was long well known in journalistic circles in Iowa. He was born in lower Canada, March 21, 1831, his parents being Almas P. and Charlotte (Bowen) Eno, both of whom were natives of Connecticut, where they were reared andmarried. The father engaged in farming in that place and afterward removed with his family to lower Canada and there followed agricultural pursuits. On leaving the Dominion he took up his abode in Ashtabula county, Ohio, and afterward journeyed westward to Iowa, making settlement in Wagner township, Clayton county, where he purchased a farm which he continued to further cultivate and improve until the time of his death. He passed away in 1890 at the age of eighty years and his widow died some time later, also at the age of eighty.

Oliver D. Eno largely spent his boyhood days in Canada and acquired an academic education at East Hadley. In 1854, when a young man of twenty-three years, he went to Ashtabula county, Ohio, where he engaged in teaching school through the succeeding winter. In 1855 ne arrived in Clayton county, Iowa, where he opened a select school, and in 1856 he established his home in the village of Clayton, where he taught in the district school for one term. He afterward took charge of a select school at Farmersburg, Iowa, where he engaged in teaching for nine months, and later he taught a term at Clayton and also a term at Elkader, Iowa. In the spring of 1858 he went to Garnavillo and entered the law office of J. O. Crosby, with whom he studied for six months. In the fall of 1858 he was a candidate for the position of county superintendent of schools and came within seventeen votes of being elected. Later he removed to Gutten-berg, Iowa, where he followed the profession of teaching, and in the meantime he studied law. While at Guttenberg hs was also editor of the Mississippi Valley Register, which supported Douglas for the presidency. But those were momentous times, a period of changing opinions as the country faced a crisis in its history. In the fall of 1861 Mr. Eno removed his newspaper office to Lake City and, having become convinced of the righteousness of the republican position upon political questions, he made his paper a republican sheet and supported Abraham Lincoln and the Union cause. Previous to his removal to Minnesota in 1860 he had been nominated for the office of clerk of the district court on the democratic ticket and his personal popularity and the trust reposed in him by his fellow townsmen were indicated in the fact that he ran three hundred votes ahead of the ticket. In the fall of 1862 he gave up the publishing business and went to Dane county, Wisconsin, where he engaged in teaching school through the following winter. He afterward returned to Guttenberg and in' 1866 removed to Postville, Iowa, where he entered upon the practice of law, having been admitted to the bar while in Guttenberg.

In the fall of 1867 Mr. Eno became a resident of Osage and taught in the public schools that winter. In the following fall he was employed as a salesman by the firm of Eno, Bowman & Company and in .the winter of 1869 he removed to Bristol, Worth county, Iowa, where he opened an agricultural warehouse, conducting the business with growing success until 1875. He was then called to public office, being elected auditor of Worth county, and for three consecutive terms he was reelected to that position, in which he made a most creditable and honorable record. In connection with his office he edited and controlled the Worth County Index and on removing to Worth county he purchased a farm in'Bristol township, west of Northwood, which he operated for a time. He did not live on the farm but took up his abode in the town while continuing the cultivation of his land.

On January 29, 1871, Mr. Eno was united in marriage to Miss Kate Sweney, adaughter of Hugh and Esther Ann (Phillis) Sweney. Mrs. Eno was born in Warren county, Pennsylvania. Her father was a native of Ireland and came to the United States in boyhood days, settling with his parents in the Keystone state, where he later wooed and won Esther Ann Phillis, who was^ born in Pennsylvania. They removed to Osage, Iowa, and the father purchased land in Mitchell county, upon which he and his wife spent many years. Finally they moved to Osage where he passed away in 1884, the mother spending her last days with her daughter, Mrs. Eno, and died in 1895. Mr. Sweney was one of the enterprising and progressive agriculturists of his locality and at the time of his demise was seventy-five years of age, his widow reaching the age of seventy-eight years. Mr. and Mrs. Eno have no children of their own but have educated four, Harry E. Bowman, Lelena Pheney, James Rowell and Elizabeth Rowell. In his religious belief Mr. Eno was a Unitarian, but he liberally supported all churches to. the best of his ability.

Mrs. Eno is still living in Northwood, where she has made her home since the death of her husband in 1892. For many years Mr. Eno was prominently identified with public interests and business affairs in Iowa and ever was actuated by the spirit of progress and improvement which made him a valued citizen. He held friendship inviolable, was devoted to the welfare of his wife and manifested the greatest kindness toward the children whom he raised. All who knew him entertained for him the highest regard because of his many sterling traits of character and in his passing the community felt a sense of personal bereavement, so active and prominent a place had he held on the stage of public activity in Worth county.

SOURCE: HISTORY OF MITCHELL AND WORTH COUNTIES, IOWA, 1918, VOL. II; PAGES 135 & 137

Transcription by Gordon Felland, 9/13/2006