Searls, E. J. 1850-1917

SEARLS, DOUGLASS

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, volunteer (email)
Date: 11/12/2024 at 20:23:34

Akron Register Tribune
Thursday, Jan. 25, 1917 - page 4

Akron's Veteran Agent Answers Last Call

With the dawn of last Friday morning, the saddening news went out to the
community that one of Akron's most highly-respected pioneer citizens and
business man, E. J. Searls, had answered the last "call"-both in a
figurative and literal sense, as for the past thirty-five years in the
capacity of depot agent for the C. M. & St. P. Railway company here, he had
been answering the call of the wire, receiving and transmitting thousands
and thousands of messages-messages that have touched upon all the phases of
this community, business and pleasure; birth, sickness and death; joy and
sorrow. During the past three or four years Mr. Searls had not been in the
best of health, due to heart and kindred troubles, and at times was
compelled to be absent himself for short intervals from his work at the
depot, but each time he would get the upper hand of his ailment and return
to his post of duty. Since last February, however, he had been compelled to
transfer the heavier duties at the station to others, but was there every
day he was able, looking after certain details of his duties as agent.
During the second week of last December he suffered a severe attack of heart
trouble and from that time until the end he was confined to his home. Under
the constant care and ministrations of his devoted wife, he appeared to be
considerably improved for at least a week preceding his demise, and even the
day before he was up and about the house, seemed stronger and was in
unusually cheerful mood. But at about five o'clock Friday morning he was
seized with an unusually severe sinking spell, suffering greatly, and
despite all that could be done for his relief, passed away at ten minutes to
six o'clock. Such a serious outcome of his illness had not been looked upon
as immediate, so the suddenness of his taking away came as a grievous shock
to his family and host of friends.

[the microfilmed newspaper had a fold in it so the next few paragraphs
cannot be read sufficiently to transcribe accurately..I will start the
transcription again in mid-thought. It appears that the newspaper printed an
autobiography that Mr. Searls had written at one time.]

....commenced to learn telegraphy of this same agent, but Mr. Dwight had six
months the start of me. When he was proficient on the wire, J. P. Farley,
of Dubuque, Iowa, gave him Marcus station, and I came with him as a
companion and to finish learning the telegraphy business, which I did in the
winter of 1871. In the spring of 1872, the Illinois Central put me on as a
relief agent between Fort Dodge and Sioux City. After working in that
capacity the fall and winter of 1872, I was called to Sioux City in the
Commerical office as operator, and from there was sent to Springfield,
Dakota Territory, to open an office there on the old government telegraph
line that from Sioux City to Fort Sully, going from Sioux City to Yankton on
a stage (before they old Dakota Southern railroad was built.) I took a
horse and rode from Yankton to Springfield, opening the first telegraph
office in that town. After staying at Springfield a few months, I was
requested to go to Fort Thompson, Dakota Territory, and put in an office
there, which I did, taking the steamer "Western" at Springfield. I was
seven days going from Springfield to Fort Thompson on this boat, a distance
of 160 miles by land. In the fall of 1873, I was requested to come down the
Missouri river to White Swan, opposite Fort Randall, and take charge of that
office. As there was quite an amount of government wire work to do at White
Swan, stayed at that place the winter of 1873 and spring of 1874, when I had
a call to go to Vermillion, D.T., as operator and assistant to George Kella,
agent at that place. As the Dakota Central railroad had been completed to
Yankton, I remained at Vermillion until the fall of 1875, where on September
19, 1875, I was married to Miss Mary L. Douglass. Was given Gayville
station by Supt. J. S. Meekling, of the Dakota Central, and stayed at
Gayville the fall and winter of 1875. Was offered a clerkship in the
Greenwood (Yankton Indiana Agency) Trader's Store by Major T. S. Clarkson at
$125 per month, which I accepted, and took my young wife and moved there by
wagon in the spring of 1876-as wagon or steamboat was the only means of
conveyance at that time in that part of the country. After staying at
Greenwood for a time, I was transferred to White Swan store, opposite Fort
Randall, where a part of the 22nd Regular U.S. Infantry was located, Col.
Otis in command. Col. Otis was afterward promoted to General and was made
governor of the Philippine Islands. I was at White Swan when General Custer
and his command were on that fatal ride to the Little Big Horn battlefield,
and had the General with me in my office many times, dictating his long
government messages to Washington and Chicago. After leaving the Indian
country in 1879, I found myself and little family, which then consisted of
my wife and two sons, R.O. Searls (now traveling ticket and passenger agent
of the Milwaukee's Iowa and Dakota division, with headquarters at Mason
City, Ia.) and Harvey Searls (now in the lumber, coal and grain business at
Westside, Ia.), I ...[several lines missing from the top of next column]

..Gayville, S.D., to assist my father-in-law, G. L. Douglass, in operating
his grist mill, and was at Centerville during the memorable winter of
1880-81. In the spring of 1881 I was hauling flour from our grist mill to
Parker, D.T., and happened around the depot there to listen to the click of
the telegraph instrument again, and there became acquainted with the agent
who wanted a man to relieve him. Taking my team home, I went back to Parker
and relieved the agent for one week. When the week was up, I had a call
from the train dispatcher's office at Mason City, Ia., to come there, as
they wanted me in the office. I started from Parker and got as far as
Canton, where I received a message from Supt. G.W. Sanborn (as he was
superintendent of this division then, also) to go to Sioux Falls and assist
James Burrell, the agent. I went there the fore part of May, 1881, and
stayed until November 19, 1881, when I was given the station at
Portlandville (now Akron), Iowa, where I have seen the town grow from a few
old buildings (you could count them on your fingers) to the now beautiful
town of 1400 or more population. Since I have been at Akron, I have had
five different superintendents over me: 1st, G.W. Sanborn; 2nd, John
Jackson; 3rd, Mr. Minturn (to fill vacancy); 4th, W. J. Underwood; 5th, L.
B. Beardsley, our present superintendent. I have also been express agent
for: 1st, American Express Co.; 2nd, Adams Express Co.; 3rd, United States
Express Co.; 4th, Wells Fargo Express Co. It is with sadness when I think
of the old associates in the railroad business that have passed away. Some
of the superintendents and old conductors and other employees have crossed
the River, and we wonder when the last call will come to us, which can not
be far distant; but thank God we are able to be on duty at our appointed
hour and do our portion of those duties. And will say, I never put in two
days with more pleasure than when I attended the Veteran's Association of
the old employees at Milwaukee in August, meeting many old friends and
forming many new ones."

Mr. Searls is survived by his wife and seven children-Burton, of Mason City,
Iowa; Harvey, of Westside, Iowa; George of Harrisburg, S.D.; Mrs. Ethel
McKibben, of DeSmet, S.D.; Mrs. Jessie Goodwin, of Sioux City, Iowa; Miss
Nell Searls, of Rapid City, S.D.; and Dwight Searls at home. There are
three brothers and two sisters living-Daniel J., of Akron, Iowa, now at San
Jose, Cal.; William, now in Florida; Stephen, and Phoebe Celia and Ella, all
of Pecatonica, Ill. His parents and a brother, Ambrose, have passed beyond.

His thirty-five years as agent for the C.M. & St. P. railroad at Akron made
Mr. Searls the oldest employee of the company in point of continuous service
on the company's Sioux City and Dakota division-in fact, there are few men
in the service of the company who have such a record to their credit. Until
the past few years Mr. Searl's vacations from his post of duty were few and
far between and his fidelity to the responsibilities of his position was
indeed unusual and frequently remarked upon. At all times he labored for
the best interests of his employers-the railroad, telegraph and express
companies doing business through the local station. His relations with the
depot patrons and general public were always of the obliging and
accommodating kind, and it was a widespread axiom among the commercial
traveling men that at no place did they find a more genial and courteous
depot agent that Ed. Searls, of Akron. From the head of the division, down
through the rank and file of railroad employees to the embryo brakeman he
won and held their highest esteem by his good fellowship, his sympathy with
their every-day problems and vexations peculiar to the profession, as well
as his ready willingness to assist in every way possible to make the
machinery of railroading move expeditiously and smoothly. He took great
pride in maintaining the efficiency of the station work and his monthly
reports went forward on time and were models of neatness and accuracy. From
a very small beginning, the business of Akron station while under his charge
grew to a volume said to surpass any other on the S.C. & D. division between
Sioux City and Sioux Falls. Personally, Mrs. Searl's intimate acquaintance
was one well worth cultivating. If there was anything of gruffness about
him, it was altogether exterior, for he had a heart as tender as a woman's,
a generosity and sympathy that practically knew no bounds when approached in
sincerity and truth. By nature both genial and jovial, Mr. Searls was never
happier than when in the midst of a circle of friends recounting anecdotes
of pioneer days and his experiences among the Indians in Dakota Territory in
the early 70's-and he could tell some mighty interesting tales of those
stirring days, too, as his adventures among the redskins were not always of
the pleasurable sort; however, he gained the good-will of most of them on
the agency, learned to speak the Sioux language fluently, held the
friendship of some of the noted chieftains and possessed gifts from some of
them and many Indian relics, which he prized very highly. While maintaining
with dignity his position as the head of a large family, he was a kind and
considerate husband and an affectionate and indulgent father. His family
was ever his chief consideration and within its circle he delighted in
spending the most of the spare moments of his busy life. True, he had the
faults and frailties common to human kind, but his virtues so far outweighed
these that they could scarcely be discerned in the great balance of life.
Four-square in all dealing with his fellow man, there was nothing he
detested more than deceit and falsification, which he always met with
unsparing criticism. He lived a clean, upright, useful life, was intensely
loyal to his country and his home community and these have been made better
and brighter by his many years of faithful service. There is not another
man in the entire community whose departure would be more generally
regretted, for Mr. Searls was widely known, and his presence will be keenly
missed.

Mr. Searls was a Mason of many years standing. He held membership in both
the blue lodge and chapter. He was a madecca Mason in Dakota in an early
day and was a charter member of Freedom Lodge, No. 434, A.F. & A.M. of
Akron.

Funeral services were held in Akron Sunday forenoon, January 21. After a
brief service at the home, a large assemblage of Masonic brethren escorted
the remains and the family to the Baptist church, where an impressive
memorial service was conducted. Rev. F.E. Volck paid an eloquent tribute to
the character and life-work of the departed. Songs were beautifully
rendered by a quartet, Ed. Spears, Mrs. H. G. Clark, Miss Elizabeth Meredith
and L.A. Douglass, with Mrs. Jesse Mowers at the pipe-organ. The casket was
entirely covered with beautiful floral pieces, among which was one from the
Order of Railway Telegraphers, of which Mr. Searls was a member. Considering
the blizzard prevailing, the large attendance at the funeral was a
remarkable testimonial of the respect in which the deceased was held, and
had weather conditions been anything like normal edifice would not have been
half enough to hold the assemblage. Ever touching tribute was the fact that
nearly forty Masons, acting as escort to the remains, marched from the
church to Riverside cemetery through the storm and snow.

[Note: There are several more paragraphs explaining the graveside service
performed by the Masons. And there is a final large paragraph that conveys
those that attended the funeral from a distance despite the weather. The
copy was not legible enough to transcribe.]

Funeral Sermon by Rev. F. E. Volck

[Note: Next there are four columns of printed matter which is the sermon
preached at Mr. Searls service. Unfortunately, most of it is not legible
enough to transcribe correctly. The old newspaper must have had a fold in it
as it was being microfilmed. I will transcribe a couple of the paragraphs
that I can read well enough to type.]

"The days of our years are three score years and ten, and if by reason of
strength they be four score years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow,
for it is soon cut off, and we fly away." Psalm 90:10

"To teach us to number our days, ____ we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."
Psalm 90:12

I hold in my hand the Railroad Magazine, in which a brief life sketch of Mr.
Searls is printed, along with that of other veterans in the service of the
Milwaukee railway..

Thus, a long, useful life has passed-a life inured to experience that
commingled both hardships and triumphs; anxieties and raptures-a pioneer of
early frontier life-an honored citizen, scarcely yet come to forced
retirement as from infirmities due to advancing years. Mr. Searls was still
a young man.

The great western pioneer scout, Col. Cody, when a few days since he lay
dying in Denver, asked his physician and friend, Dr. East, what the chances
might be for recovery. The doctor hesitated a moment, then said solemnly,
"Colonel, there comes a time when the medical profession must yield its
charge to The Higher Power. Your life is now as the sands of the hour
glass. It is gradually but surely slipping away." How inevitable!

"If you have a friend worth loving, Love him-Yes, let him know that you love
him-ere life's evening Tinge his brow with sunset glow.

Why should words ne'er be said of a friend-till he is dead?"

Mr. Searls will not, perhaps be memorialized as one of America's
celebrities, but he is enshrined within the hearts of his friends-engraven
on the tablets of their memory.

In the death of Mr. Searls, Akron is again called upon to resign itself to
the inevitable. This passing closes once more the gateway and drops the
curtain between us and another pioneer, "gone to join the innumerable
caravan." Its sadness is intensified in the suddenness of the summons.
Everyone expectant, doubtful, yet hoping against hope that he might yet be
spared to health. Nor knowing how, nor when, nor where, the fortitude of
clinging hopes must suddenly be crushed. Everybody seemed for a little
while to be off-guard. His own faithful companion, than whom a truer,
nobler, more willing woman, wife and worker is scarcely to be found, almost
thought to let the kitchen fire die that night, so well for the evening he
had seemed-yet bethought to keep in readiness for an emergency call. Yes,
and that summons came, and it was to be for him the last, and the last great
struggle before his life went out. His latest spoken request of her he
loved and who in turn loved him was granted: "Oh, don't leave me! Oh, stay
by me!" And she answered, "Yes, I will never leave you." This was
characteristic of her splendid fidelity and solicitude so beautifully
exemplified in the long weeks of her vigil and watchcare during his broken
health. And so his last words were heard and answered.

If Mr. Searls himself suspected that the end was near, he had certainly
evinced, that evening before, no signs of apprehension. When last I visited
him, but twelve hours before he died, he met me at the door with more than
his usual cheer, he grasped my hand, he received my hat, he carried my
rubbers to the comfortable register, conversed heartily, handed me his life
sketch to read. Sad, indeed, that this was also to be the obituary I should
have to read so soon above his casket. He talked of his experience years
ago in the wilds of the frontier, before there was an Akron. He recalled
his nearly forty years of service under one company in the same old office,
year by year at his desk and books and the click of electric keys-a
remarkable business career is this. And when he said "Good-night" and
closed the door, Ah! Little I dreamed that this "Good-night" was farewell
and I should never hear his voice again on earth.

Men, "what is your life?" "Say not ye shall go tomorrow into such a city and
remain a year." What is this span of your sojourning on this earth? "It is
but a vapor that appears for a little while and vanishes away."

He was a man, who, by reason of some advantage gained by connection with a
railway system, was enabled to make almost any trip he liked-a privilege any
man might crave-and more fully of late, especially, did he avail himself of
this recreation and profit, though his keen sense of duty to the great
corporation employing him seemed always first, for which he denied himself
many pleasures of outing.

He had in his collection of souvenirs some very wonderful curios gathered
from far and near. He took special delight in God's great landscape, and it
might be that in the depth of his soul there were times when, under the blue
heavens, beside the mountain crags, or in the depths of their jeweled
caverns, or out beside the ceaseless, restless sea, he touched the heart of
the Master Artist-the Divine Maker of heaven and earth. I do not know. Mr.
Searls was not a man (though of the most affable and cordial disposition) to
invited discussion about the Bible and the church. He did not seem to
desire that one should talk much upon this subject, though health permitting
he was sometimes seen in the house of worship. But one time when we were
alone, I asked him about his soul, and of his thought concerning that
Eternal hope we all desire, and I asked him if he did trust in our Savior
and the truth and inspiration of His book. His simple answer was, "Oh, yes,
I do-and far more than I am given credit for." These are his exact words,
and they are all I have. And with that, while I said a little more, he
lapsed into silence, which very prudence seemed to forbid I should disturb,
and after a solemn silence of some moments, I left him that he might rest
and meditate while the western sun in its setting streamed into his window.

CARD OF THANKS
To the neighbors and friends, for their many acts of kindness and sympathy,
during the illness and after the death of our beloved husband and father, we
desire to express our most sincere thanks and appreciation.-Mrs. E. J.
Searls and Children.

[Transcriber Note: This date of death was 19 Jan 1917.]

AKRON'S VETERAN AGENT news release
 

Plymouth Obituaries maintained by Linda Ziemann.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen