The following biographies were scanned from the remnants of a book that apparently was a copy of "The History of Polk County, Iowa" published by the Union Historical Company, Birdsall, Williams & Co. 1880. Marion John Rice has a copyright to this transcription file and gives permission for this file to be posted to at the Iowa Biographies Projects. DES MOINES INGALLS, REV. P. P.-Editor of the Iowa State Tribune. Among the leading Methodist clergymen of Iowa, and one who is as widely known, is the subject of this sketch, who was born in Franklin county, Ohio, on the 1st day of February, 1823, and was there raised. He was educated at the Ohio Wesleyan University, and when twenty years of age he entered the ministry at Portsmouth, and served the churches at Chillicothe, Zanesville and Marysville, Kentucky. In 1855, he came to Iowa and settled in Burlington, and from this place to Chariton, and had charge of the district as presiding elder. From Chariton he went to Mt. Pleasant, and in 1860 to Keokuk, and from there he entered the army as chaplain of the Third Iowa cavalry in 1861, serving until 1863, when he resigned and returned to Mt. Pleasant, and for six months was pastor of the M. E. Church at that place. He then engaged in the interests of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home, as Secretary. This institution was organized by private contribution, and had been unsuccessfully managed, but by his untiring zeal and energy and incessant labor, combined with eloquence, he raised eighty-five thousand dollars, and was instrumental in getting the Leg- islature to adopt the institution in 1866. That same year he came to Des Moines, remaining for two years, when he went to Toledo, Ohio, and after a residence there of two years returned to this city and until 1875 was pastor of the Fifth Street M. E. Church. He then went to Kansas City, and after remaining there for six months was called to Iowa City, which was his home for two and a-half years, and returned to this city, where he became permanently located, and has devoted two years to the temperance missionary work, thus making an active service in the ministry for thirty-four years. He has pursued his chosen course with untiring zeal and with a success which has earned for him no inferior rank among, the preachers of the State. He is a man of strong, sharp intellect, untiring ambition, and as a pulpit orator has few superiors. In whatever he undertakes he throws his whole energy, and to this his success may be largely attributed. He is gifted with minor graces often denied men of studious habits, being genial, engaging and attractive in manner. He ranks high as a promoter of every good work and has made a record to which the limits of our space render it impossible for us to do justice. In December, 1879, he became editor and publisher of the Iowa State Tribune. Mr. lngalls has been twice married; first, to Miss Mary McDowell, on the 15th 822 BIOGRAPHICAL of June, 1846. She was born in Knox county, Ohio, and died in 1861, leaving two children: Joseph and Ida (now Mrs. A. E. Swisher, of Iowa City). His second marriage occurred November 20, 1865, to Miss Mary Kibben, of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. By this union they have two children: James and Mary. INGERSOLL, E. J.-President of the Hawkeye Insurance Company, is a native of Pulaski, Oswego county, New York, and was born March 28, 1828. He traces his ancestry to England, they having come to America previous to the Revolutionary War. Young Ingersoll lived with his parents until after his majority; he was educated in the common schools and in the academy at Mexico, New York, and Falley Seminary at Fulton, New York, when he entered the office of Judge Huntington of Pulaski. After about two years in the office he entered the law school at Balston Spa, where he graduated in the spring of 1852 with the degree of Bachelor of Law. In the following September he began the practice of law at Adams, New York, where he continued in a successful business until September, 1858, when he emigrated West and settled in Des Moines, Iowa, where he resumed the practice of his profession. In 1865 the Hawkeye Insurance Company was organized with Mr. Ingersoll as president. He had no intention of abandoning his profession, but in the fall of 1870 his increase of business, insurance and legal, compelled him to abandon one branch, which the force of circumstances, with money investments, decided in favor of his continuance with the Hawkeye. Mr. Ingersoll is a man possessing great force of character and eminent business qualifications, energetic, persistent, faithful and reliable in all business undertakings, and as a manager and financier, has but few superiors. On the tenth of January, 1861, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Whitcomb of Adams, New York. JACOBS, A. D.--Of the firm of Jacobs Bros., dealers in staple and fancy groceries. Was born April 14, 1854, in Carroll county, Illinois, and when nine years of age moved with his parents to Jasper county, this State. There he was raised on a farm and was educated in the common schools and Hazel Dell Academy of Newton. In the spring of 1878, he opened a general store in Newton and continued to keep the same until January, 1880, when he came to this city. He opened out a new and fine stock of staple and fancy groceries at his present place. Is unmarried. JACOBS, H. F.-A brother of the above and his partner in business, was born May 13, 1859, in Carroll county, Illinois. He was there raised, and received his education in the common schools, and also the Des Moines Baptist University. January 1, 1880, he began business with his brother, and they, by fair dealing and strict attention to business, have built up a fair trade. JACOBS, B.-Grocer. Was born in Mt. Carroll, Illinois, February 6, 1848, and at the age of fifteen years came to Iowa, locating at Cedar Rapids, where he lived for two years, and thence to Newton. He resided there four years, working on a farm. In the spring of 1869, he came to this city and entered the employ of Thos. Naylor, with whom he remained eight and one-half years. In September, 1876, he opened a grocery store in connection with Ira Critzer in the building he now occupies. In May, 1879, Mr. Critzer retired and was succeeded by C. E. Ford, and since that time the firm name has been Jacobs & Co. Mr. J. came to Iowa without .means and owes his success in business to his economy, prudence and good :management. He was married on the 11th .day of September, 1870, to DES MOINES. 823 Miss Mary E.Johnston. They have three children: Lutie, Ernest and Harry (twins). JAMES, TOM.-Of the firm of James & Pratt, photographers. Was born in Reddick, England, on the 24th day of January, 1853, and at the age of five years he emigrated with his parents to the United States, landing in New York, and from there went to Rhode Island, where he remained until 1859, then came to Iowa City, where he learned the photographers' business, and continued the same until the 14th of February, 1880, when he came to Des Moines. His gallery is one of the best in the city, finely furnished, etc. His marriage was in Iowa City, March 13, 1877, to Miss Fannie G. Berryhille, daughter of W. D. Berryhille. JARRETT, GEO. L.-Of the firm of Johnson & Jarrett, manufacturing millwrights, was born in North Carolina, August 22, 1852. Some six years prior to forming his present partnership he was in the employ of Mr. Johnson a greater portion of the time as foreman of his establishment. In the spring of 1876 the present partnership was established, and they are now doing an extensive business in their line, their trade extending into Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota in fact this establishment is one of the permanent and growing industries of the city. Mr. J. was married in 1877 to Miss Elizabeth Wright, of Minneapolis, Minnesota. They have one child, John G. JENNINGS, A. C.-Principal of the Iowa Business College. Is a native of England, and was born on the 10th day of December, 1850, and when two years of age came with his parents to the United States. They settled first in Michigan, where they remained two years, and thence to Wisconsin, where the subject of this sketch was principally raised. He had the advantages of the common schools, supplemented with a two years' course at the University at Madison, and finished his course in the Business College of that place. He came to this city in 1874 and took charge of the Iowa Business College, an institution founded in 1865, and one that has steadily grown in reputation and well deserves the success attained. Mr. Jennings was married in 1879 to Miss Gertrude Tregea, a native of Wisconsin. JENKINS-, E.--Dealer in house furnishing goods, new and second-hand. Was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, February 15, 1849, and there grew to manhood and learned the trade of cabinet maker. During the war he enlisted, February 22, 1863, at the age of fifteen years, in the Fifth Ohio cavalry as a bugler. He served in that position for some eight months, when he was promoted to orderly of his company, and was mustered out at the close of the war as commissary. After serving his time at his trade he went to Danville, Kentucky, where he was engaged in business some three years, and was there married on the 15th of June, 1869, to Miss Elizabeth Edwards. In 1872 he removed to Des Moines and has been engaged in his present business since 1875. Besides his store on the West Side, he has also recently opened out one on the East Side. Mr. and Mrs. J. have a family of five children: Nellie M., Maud L., Emma F., James W. and ,Charles G. JOHNS, STACY-Of the firm of Stacy Johns & Co., dealers in boots and shoes, is deserving of more than a passing notice in this work. He is the son of John and Ann Johns, and was born in Burlington county, New :Jersey, on the 26th day of January, 1831. His father was a native of Delaware, and his mother was born in New Jersey. When the subject of this 824 BIOGRAPHICAL. sketch was two years of age, he was taken by his parents to Summit county, Ohio, where he was raised with mercantile experience. In 1855 he came to this city and engaged in his present business, in connection with his father, and at the present time the house is the second oldest business firm in the city, Dr. Baker alone having priority, and few men have a better record and a marked characteristic during his entire career has been his untiring energy and enterprise. A man of determined purpose, he turned the whole current of his life force in one direction and as a result has secured that reward and success which must follow persistent, honorable effort, and while comparatively few business men are successful in these days of fluctuating strife and competition; but the subject of this sketch is an exception, and his private life and business record is without a stain. He was married to Miss Mary Doty on the 2d day of September, 1861; she is a native of Lockport, New York. Their family consists of five children: Carrie, Mamie, Nellie, Willie and Walter. Mrs. Johns is a daughter of Nathan and Johanna Doty. What is a remarkable circumstance in their family is that the father and mother of Mr. Johns and also of Mrs. Johns have both celebrated their golden wedding, and there was in attendance at the latter's the brothers and sisters (five in all) of the mother. JOHNS, CALEB-Of the Union Coal Company. Was born in Wales, in 1833, and was raised there on a farm until twenty years of age and then followed the occupation of miner. He emigrated to the United States in 1862, and settled in Trumbull county, Ohio, and lived there three years, and thence to Pennsylvania, where he remained one year, and returned to Ohio and after living in various places in the State, he came to Polk county, in August, 1875, and in company with others commenced mining on his own account. He has since purchased his partners' interest and is conducting it alone. He was married in 1862 to Miss Hannah Thomas, of Wales. JOHNSON, HERBERT E.-Was born in Rochester, New York, June 20, 1856. His early youth was spent in this beautiful city of the Empire State, where he divided his time between the public schools and a book store, where he was part of the time employed as a clerk. In the fall of 1873 he removed, with his parents, to Iowa and located near Winterset, in Madison county. He completed the regular course of study at the Winterset high school and graduated in 1876. He afterward took a course of study at the State University at Iowa City and then entered the law office of A. W. C. Weeks, of Winterset. After spending quite a time in the study of law he was admitted to its practice, having been examined before the bar of Polk county. His office is with the State Insurance Company, whose attorney he is. He was married December 24, 1876, to Miss Margery Cooper, of Logansport, Indiana. JOHNSON, A. T.-Was born in Harrison county, Ohio, April 19,1820. His, early youth was passed on a farm. When he arrived at the years of maturity he engaged in the stage business. He removed to Pittsburgh in 1844, where he was employed in stage, express and railroad offices for fourteen years. He was the first express agent west of the Alleghany mountains, and shipped the first Baltimore oysters that were sent to Chicago. In April, 1856, he removed to Des Moines, and entered the employ of the Western Stage Company, remaining with the company until July,. 1870. Since the Western Stage Company went out of existence, Mr. Johnson has been employed in the management of the Des Moines Omni- DES MOINES. 825 bus line, of which he is proprietor. He was married June 15, 1848, to Miss Mary E. Smith, a native of Pennsylvania. They have two children, a son and a daughter, named respectively Frank and Kate. JONES, A.-Dentist. Was born in Knox county, Illinois, April 9, 1843, and is a son of W. W. Jones, who removed with his family to Fort Des Moines in the spring of 1847. Here he lived four years, and then moved to Valley township, where young Jones was raised at farming, following this occupation, after completing his education, until called to the defense of his country. On the 20th of July, 1862, he enlisted in company A, Twenty-third Iowa infantry, and served with that regiment until the close of the war, participating in the following engagements: Port Gibson, Champion's Hill, Big Black River Bridge, siege of Vicksburg, Red river expedition, and Spanish Fort. He returned to his home at the close of the war and commenced the study of dentistry, which he continued until 1867, when he followed his profession in different localities in this vicinity. In 1872 he opened his dental rooms in East Des Moines, and the year following removed to the West Side, and came to his present location in 1880. 'August 11, 1872, he married, in this city, to Miss May E. Daugherty, a lady whose grace of mind and person have endeared her to all who enjoy her acquaintance. JONES, WM. M.-Of the firm of Jones & Blair, attorneys, is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was born of Welsh parentage on the eighth day of August, 1838. When thirteen years of age he was taken by his parents to Dayton, Ohio, where, until seventeen years of age, he was raised on a farm. He then read law, but before being admitted as a practitioner at the bar, engaged in railroading which he followed for a number of years with success, and when he left the business was the general western passenger and freight agent of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad. He removed to Indianapolis in 1870 and was admitted to the bar and engaged in the practice of his profession, and continued the same in this place until 1876, when he removed to Chicago and thence to Des Moines in the spring of 1877, and has taken a prominent place among the profession. He was married August 8, 1860, to Miss Caroline Faries, who was born in Butler county, Ohio, in 1843. They have four children: Charles J., born in March, 1862, (and at the present time a clerk in the Des Moines Bank), Naomi E. (born November), 1864, William M. (born October, 1867), and Edna (born in July, 1874). JORDAN, HON. JAMES C.-The subject of this sketch was born in Harrison county, Virginia, March 4, 1813; his boyhood days were spent in the Old Dominion; in the fall of 1832 he moved with his mother and family to Michigan and settled near Niles, his father having died about one year before in Lewis county, West Virginia; here he was married, in 1833, to. Malinda Pitman, of Mount Vernon, Knox county, Ohio; he removed to Platte county, Missouri, in the winter of 1839, where he resided until the fall of 1846, when he located in Walnut township, Polk county, Iowa, where he has since resided; he pitched his tent the first night under the oaks that. were soon to shelter his cabin, and whose now wide-spreading branches; shade his stately. mansion; the tent, the oaks, the mansion, have all grown in the thirty-four years since the weary pioneer halted to make this his life-long home; Mr. Jordan, well endowed in mind and heart by nature, and disciplined in the vicissitudes of frontier life, here struggled with great 826 BIOGRAPHICAL. zeal for independence and few in his day and in his sphere have been as successful; as a farmer and dealer in stock he is widely and honorably known; something of the extent and success of his business is known by his income tax of nearly a thousand dollars a year to the government; in the days of State banks, he was one of the directors of the branch of the State Bank at Des Moines; the public life of Mr. Jordan began in 1854; he had always been a Henry Clay Whig; he was radically opposed to the "Kansas-Nebraska Bill," and at a sacrifice of personal interests he reluctantly accepted the nomination to the State Senate on that issue; he was elected by eighty-four majority, but owing to slight informalities in one or two townships, in Jasper county where he had a majority, his opponent was counted in and given the certificate of election; in the contest which followed for the seat, Mr. Jordan was successful, not however, until his opponent had enjoyed the privilege of voting for U. S. Senator; this wrong, however, was righted by the U. S. Senate sending the contest, which resulted in this election, back to the State Legislature for another election, when Mr. Jordan had the privilege of contributing his influence and ballot to the sweeping majority for Mr. Harlan for U. S. Senator; his term in the State Senate was marked by the struggle for location of the State Capitol, in which he was thoroughly in earnest, and which resulted in bringing it to Des Moines; it is with just satisfaction he looks back on his conflicts and triumphs of these early legislative days; he served for years as chairman of the county Board of Supervisors under the old law, and his sound practical judgment has been in demand in most of the public interests of the county in all these years; his public spirit is indicated in his gifts to public enterprises; when the Valley Railroad proposed to extend their line to Des Moines if seventy thousand dollars could be raised he was one of the two hundred to voluntarily tax themselves according to their last assessment, to make up that amount; it cost him about one thousand dollars in cash to do this; his gifts to the cause of education and religion would aggregate a small fortune; his conspicuous place in local politics could hardly fail to create some animosity, but his recent unsought nomination and enthusiastic election to the Legislature was a more mature estimate of his worth as a citizen, and a well deserved compliment to his loyalty to the party; Mr. Jordan, though raised on slave territory, has been a life-long enemy to slavery; his devotion to political life as a staunch :and stalwart Republican is the outgrowth of deep-seated conviction; it is among the pleasant things to remember, that under his protecting roof John Brown and his associates, with more than a score of recently liberated slaves, have offered their prayers and sung their first jubilee hymns on their way to Canada, in the old slave days; said Brown, when forecasting the next day's journey, with a view of safe quarters for the next night, "we can stay with our enemies but prefer to stay with our friends"; In the panic created in war time by fear of rebel raid on Des Moines banks, deposits and securities were privately removed from the city and secreted at Mr. Jordan's place. He has been twice married and has raised quite a family; the children by first marriage are Benjamin P., Emma (now wife of Dr. Hanawalt of Des Moines), Henry C., John Q., James F., George B.; his wife by second marriage was Cynthia D. Sheppard of Yates county, New York; and the children by this marriage are Ella (now Mrs. Cook), Calvin, Eva, Eda (who died young), and Edward,.all now, but the two above-named, living in Polk county; Mr. Jordan has been for fifty years a member and an earnest DES MOINES 827 worker in the M. E. Church; he has been actively identified in all the church enterprises of half a century, and has liberally responded to calls for help in planting the institutions of Christianity in the new settlements of the West; under his roof was preached the first sermon, of which we have an authentic account, in this township; his home has ever been open to clergymen, and his hospitality has been enjoyed by many; the chapel which bears his name was built mostly by his personal donation; this type of manhood and sterling integrity of character has not been the product of school and college, but it has been developed and directed by the pulpit, the platform and the press. KAHLER, CHARLES L.-Of the firm of Kahler & Co., dealers in boots and shoes. Was born in Germany, March 9, 1839, where he was raised. While young he learned the boot and shoe business, and followed the same until 1857, when he emigrated to America, landing in New York. From there he came to Iowa, locating in Davenport, and there followed his former occupation. In the fall of 1857 he came to this city, and has since resided here, dealing extensively in boots and shoes. His store is large and commodious. He was married in this city October 2, 1868, to Miss Mary Lehman. They have by this union a family of three children: Frank, Carl and Solomon. KASSON, HON. JOHN A.-Is a native of Vermont, and was born in the town of Charlotte, Chittenden county, January 11,1822. He was deprived of the care of a father by death when six years of age, and he began early to be trained in the school of self support.. He received his primary education at the common schools and a county academy. He prepared for college in the city of Burlington, Vermont, where he entered the State University in 1838, and graduated in 1842. He had selected law as a profession, and began the study with his brother, Charles D., then a prominent lawyer of that State. His means being limited he was obliged to relinquish his studies for a while and sought employment as a teacher in Virginia. His residence there had much to do with the tone of his future political action on the slavery question. On his return from Virginia he resumed the study of law with Hon. Emory Washburne, of Worcester, Massachusetts, and after passing through many struggles and pecuniary embarrassments he was finally admitted at Lowell to practice in the State of Massachusetts. After his admission to the bar he went to New Bedford, where he entered the law office of Timothy Coffin, an eminent advocate. Here a year of additional study fitted him for a partnership with Hon. Thomas D. Eliot, afterward member of Congress from that district. After five years' practice in this State he decided to go where a larger field opened more avenues to a young man for a successful career. Accordingly he came West. At St. Louis he spent one year in the office of Hon. Joseph Crocket, and then opened an office of his own and gained a large practice. After six years of hard labor in his profession impaired health necessitated a change of climate, and in 1857 he established himself in Des Moines, in the practice of law, where his recognized talents soon gave him a large docket. In 1858 he was appointed chairman of the Republican State central committee. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Republican convention at Chicago which nominated Lincoln for President. In 1861 he was appointed by President Lincoln First Assistant Postmaster General, and it was the second nomination made by the President. In 1862 the State of Iowa became entitled to six representatives. The new Fifth district was 828 BIOGRAPHICAL. composed of twenty three counties. While he was in Washington the Republican convention of that district offered him a nomination in Congress. He accepted, resigned his place in the post-office department, and actively entered upon the canvass, and was elected by a handsome majority. In 1864 he was re-elected and has left a record that will live in history through all time. At the close of his Congressional service, in March, 1867, he was solicited by the Postmaster-General to undertake the negotiation of new treaties with various European governments, which resulted in reducing postage to one half of former rates. During his absence he was nominate and elected a member to the General Assembly. In the summer of 1872 he was called upon to become a candidate for Congress, and after a spirited contest was nominated and elected. In 1874 he was re-elected to the Forty-fourth. He was appointed by President Hayes in 1877 as United States Minister to Austria, and during his absence has been nominated by his party as their representative to the Forty-seventh Congress from this district. Mr. Kasson is not an office seeker, in nearly every instance the office having sought the man. Few men of his age have a more brilliant record, and few, if any, ever held a more confidential place in the hearts of the people. In all his relations to society he realizes that he is one of the people, and that their interests are his interests, and in their prosperity alone can he prosper. KAUFFMAN, B. F.-This rising young attorney of the firm of Nourse& Kauffman, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, December 12, 1846. Soon after his parents removed to St. Louis, and from thence on account of the cholera scourge of 1849 in St. Louis, removed to Muscatine, Iowa. At Muscatine his mother died in 1849. In 1852, his father having again married, the family removed to Keosauqua, Van Buren county, where most of his boyhood days were spent, and where he began his education at a select school. He entered the State University in 1863 and graduated from the law department in 1866. He came to this city in 1864, his parents having removed here in that year, and after graduation engaged in the practice of his profession, commencing the practice in 1868. In January, 1869, he formed a partnership with Hon. C. C. Nourse, and the firm has taken front rank among the legal firms in the State. He is a man whose fine legal mind has been rendered more acute by constant study and practice. He was married on the 6th of September, 1871, to Miss Anna LeBosquet. They have two children: Frank and Alice. He has given to the study and practice of the law his undivided attention, having no other ambition than to attain the highest degree of success in his chosen profession. KENNEDY, JOSIAH F.-Physician and surgeon. Was born January 31,1834, at Landisburg, Perry county, Pennsylvania, he being the second son of William and Mary A. Kennedy. He was educated at Williamsburg (Pa.) Academy, Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1855; at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and at the medical department of the University of New York City, graduating from the latter institution with the degree of M. D. in March, 1858. During the years 1855-56 he was principal of the Berrysburg (Pa.) Seminary, and he became a medical student in the office of Dr. Isaac Pursell, now of Danville, Pennsylvania. After graduating he located at Mechanicsville, Iowa, in 1859. In 1861 entered the United States army as assistant surgeon, serving as surgeon in charge of Seminary Hospital, Georgetown, D. C., resigning in consequence of sickness. He re-commenced the private practice DES MOINES. 829 of his profession in the fall of 1862, at Tipton, Iowa, and in 1870 removed to Des Moines, where he has since continued. He is a member of the State Medical Society, being now secretary. He was elected assistant secretary of that society in 1874. He is also president of the Polk County Medical Society, and two years served as secretary. He has contributed many valuable articles to the literature of his profession. Was professor of obstetrics in the Iowa State University from 1869 to the time of his removal to this city, and is at present the physician of Polk county having charge of the prison, alms-house, etc. July 13, 1858, he was married to Mary C., eldest daughter of Henry Reigart, Esq., of Tipton, Iowa. Their family consists of seven children: Anna S., Mary R., Carrie, Emery, Gertie, William and Karl. KENNEDY, B.-Railroad contractor. Among those who have been prominently identified with the railroad building in Iowa as well as other states is the subject of this sketch. He was born in Ireland in 1828, and was raised there with a mercantile experience, and in 1852 emigrated to the United States and settled first in New York, and from there to Chicago, Illinois, and subsequently to Davenport, Iowa, and has been almost continuously engaged on public works since coming to the country, and has been connected as contractor or superintendent of the construction of nearly all the prominent railroads. He was married to Miss Honora McInerney, in 1854. She was born in Ireland. To them have been born nine children: Michael A., Maria A., Ellen B., John F., P. J., J. P., Honora, Cecilia and P. B. KING, M. H.--Railroad contractor. Was born in Ireland, December 23, 1835, and when young his parents emigrated to the United States, locating in Chester county, Pennsylvania, where he was principally raised, attending school a short time in Harrisburgh. He afterward removed to Blairsville, Pennsylvania, and while residing there was engaged as a clerk most of the time. He came from there to Des Moines in 1856, and has lived here since. A portion of his first years in Des Moines he was in the employ of R. W. Clark and W. A. Scott, as clerk. He has been very prominent in the politics of the county, having held the office of County Supervisor, city clerk, justice of the peace, and been frequently elected a member of the city council, the latter position he is now occupying, having been elected in March, 1880. During the campaign of 1878 he was city editor of the Greenback daily People, and had the pleasure of seeing the most of the ticket he advocated, county, judicial and Congressional, elected. Of late years he has been quite prominently identified with railroad building, both in Wisconsin and Iowa. He was married in 1860, to Miss Rosa Ann Cassady, of Warren county, this State. KOENIGSBERGER, JOHN-Dealer in harness, saddlery, etc., was born in Prussia, Germany, April 29, 1829, where he was raised and learned his trade. He emigrated to the United States in 1854, and located in this city the year following, and since that time has been engaged in business the principal part of the time for himself. In 1871 he removed his business to the East Side where he now enjoys, a good trade. He was married in 1857, to Elizabeth Fillman, a native of Pennsylvania. KOONS, J. H.-County Superintendent of Schools. Was born in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, on the 8th day of February, 1847, and was raised there until 1856, when he was brought by his parents to this county. His 830 BIOGRAPHICAL. time in youth was divided between farming and attending school, and afterward in teaching. In 1861 he removed to Council Bluffs, and in 1862 returned to Indiana. In 1864 he enlisted in the First Indiana heavy artillery and served one year. He supplemented his education by attendance one year at Farmers' Academic Institute and two years at Earlham College. He returned to Iowa in 1868. Resumed his former occupation of teaching a portion of the time in the western part of the State. In 1870 and '72 attended the Iowa State University. He was for three years principal of the grammar department in the city schools previous to his election to the position of County Superintendent, in 1877. He was re-elected in 1879. He married Miss Emma E. Irwin, in May, 1877. She was born in Pennsylvania but a resident of this county for many years. They have one daughter, Edith Y. KURTZ, CHARLES J.-Was born in Prussia on the 12th of May, 1839, and in 1854 emigrated to America, and for a few months lived in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, then removed from there and came to this State, settling in Lee county. He then went to Peoria, Illinois, where he lived for four years, and then came to Des Moines on the 12th of February, 1866. When young he learned the wagon-maker's trade, but never followed it as an occupation. For twelve years he was in the stove and hardware business in this city. He is now engaged in keeping a saloon on Walnut street, Was married in this county November 22, 1866, to Miss Catharine Munzemier, a native of Wurtemberg, Germany. They have three children living; Carl, Elizabeth and Flora.