FRANCIS BETHEL. Whatever mark of note attaches to the name of old settler
may with appropriateness be conferred upon the gentleman of whom we here
write. Mr. Bethel has resided in Iowa for forty years, thirty-five of
which have been spent in the town of Manchester. He has seen the county of Delaware grow from a prairie and forest
wilderness into an unbroken succession of well-tilled farms, now thickly dotted
with peaceful, happy homes. He has seen the town where he now resides rise from
a thicket, tenanted by wolves, deer and other animals, make a start toward
municipal existence, and after passing through all the varying vicissitudes of
an aspiring frontier village, finally achieve that existence and then rivet
its hold on public attention by securing those coveted treasures, the public
records, and ultimately becoming, by the sovereign vote of the people, the
undisputed capital city of the county. During the years that have elapsed and
while these events have been in progress, Mr. Bethel has been called upon to
bear a part in affairs as they have transpired, and we are sure, without doing
any violence to language, and we hope without offending his modesty, we may say
that he has done all that has been required of him or expected at his hands as
a citizen, and has done it cheerfully and has done it well.
A native of
Somersetshire,
England, born April 3, 1827, he came to the United States a young man, making his way directly to Dyersville, Dubuque county, this state,
where he cast his worldly fortunes in the early part of
1850. He remained there until the
spring of 1854, when he went to Baldwins, N. Y., where he married, and returning. shortly afterward
to Dyersville, stayed there till December of the same year, when, in company
with James Dyer, he visited the present
site of Manchester, and at the laying out of the town selected two lots, on
the corner of Main and Franklin streets, upon which in January following he, in
connection with Thomas Toogood, began the erection of the Clarence Hotel. When this building was completed he, as joint
owner with Mr. Toogood, conducted it till 1875, when the old building was replaced
by the present one, and the business continued in the name of Toogood
& Bethel until the dissolution of the
firm in 1885, Mr. Bethel retiring.
During the thirty years that he
was in business, by strict attention to the details of his own affairs, and by
fortunate investments, he accumulated means sufficient to enable him to give up
active pursuits, and the last five years of his life have been spent in ease
and comparative freedom from all annoyances of a business nature. He became
connected with the Delaware County State Bank, on its organization in 1867, and
he still maintains that connection, having been a member of its board of
directors almost continuously since the institution was founded, and having
contributed as an officer and as a citizen to its very gratifying success. Mr.
Bethel is not a public man and from his nature could not be. He has no desire
for popular applause, much as he respects the good opinion of his
fellow-citizens, and he is too independent to accept public office as a means
of support.
Between
these two influences, negative and positive, he has happily been kept out of
the whirl-pool of politics, and has employed his talents in a field where they
have met with a richer and surer reward. Yet it cannot be said, and must not be
inferred, from the statement here made, that he has neglected any of those Important
duties which the citizen owes to the state. As a man of intelligence he has
kept himself well informed on all matters of public concern; as a man of
character he has made up his mind, independently of the opinions of others, as
to the correct course for him to pursue on every question of any moment, and as
a citizen, having at heart the good of his country and the greatest happiness
of those among whom he has lived, he has put into practical force and meaning
his beliefs in the ways prescribed by law and sanctioned by custom. Like many
other men of his tastes and disposition, Mr. Bethel has accomplished much good
that the world takes no reckoning of, not particularly by the bestowal of
those numerous little charities, given, it is said, by one hand, while the
other remains in ignorance of the kindly act, but by the silent influence of a
well-rounded character, one upon which men may look with no misgivings as to
the principles of which it is the off-spring, or the purposes in accordance
with which it has been formed.
Mr. Bethel
married on July 10, 1854. The lady who joined her fortunes
with his at that date was Miss Jane E. Toogood, daughter of James and Jenny
Toogood, and a native of Somersetshire, England. She was reared, however, in
Onondaga county, N. Y., where, as we have noted, the marriage occurred, and
from which place she, in company with her sister, Mary A., now Mrs. Bradford,
and two younger brothers, George and Thomas, came to Iowa in 1855, locating with her husband
and them in Manchester, where she has since resided. What,
therefore, is said in this article concerning her husband's early
opportunities for observation touching life as it was then called, "in the
far West," applies also to her, and much of the experience of the early
days which fell to her husband's lot she shared with him. If it be permissible
in a sketch like this (and we see no reason why it is not) to make a statement
concerning the character of the good wife who has borne the subject a faithful
companionship for so many years, we may add that the lady of whom mention is
here made is all as a woman what her husband is here represented to be as a
man.
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