1915 Index

Iowa: Its History and Its Foremost Citizens
Original Edition.  3 Vols.  Des Moines, IA: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1915-1916.

V

Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Dick Barton.

A well known representative in Des Moines of big financial interests is George M. Van Evera, who has justly won the proud American title of a self-made man. He has never feared to venture where favoring opportunity has pointed the way, nor has he allowed an overdeveloped ambition to guide him. At the same time his desire for progress has led him steadily forward and at all times his activities have been guided by sound judgment. Numbered among the native sons of Iowa, he was born in Scott county, August 31, 1859, and was descended from Myndert Frederick se from Iveren, Holland, who, crossing the briny deep to the new world during the early period of American colonization, settled at Berwyck, now Albany, New York, about 1656. The parents of our subject were James H. and Phoebe (Metteer) Van Evera. The father was a native of Montgomery county, New York, born October 2, 1828, and after spending the period of his youth in the Empire state arrived in Iowa in 1851, when about twenty-three years of age, casting in his lot with the early residents of Scott county. For many years he figured actively in agricultural circles, owning and cultivating a farm until 1896, when he put aside the work of the fields and removed to Des Moines , where his remaining days were passed in the enjoyment of well earned rest. His death there occurred January 12, 1911 , when he had reached the age of eighty-two. His wife, who was born in Broome county, New York, December 31, 1828, accompanied her parents to Iowa in 1839 and after living for a time at Tipton removed with the family to Scott county, where her father, Charles Metteer, died about 1870, while her mother reached the notable old age of ninety-seven years and passed away at Orient, Iowa. The great-great-grandmother of George M. Van Evera in the maternal line was a refugee from an Indian massacre at Wyoming , Pennsylvania , and escaped to New York state. The mother of Mr. Van Evera was married at her parents' home and her death occurred March 26, 1872 .

George M. Van Evera had the usual experiences of the farm bred boy, his time being divided between the work of the fields and attendance at the country schools of Scott county until he entered the high school, in which he spent four months. He early turned his attention to the profession of teaching and after acting in that capacity for a year became connected with the farm mortgage and loan business as a clerk in the employ of Underwood & Clark of Muscatine , Iowa . He spent a year with that firm and then removed to Kansas City, Missouri, where for nine months he occupied the position of bookkeeper and accountant in the Merchants National Bank, but at the end of that time resigned and entered the employ of the Kansas City Investment Company, with which he continued from 1883 until 1892, being in Kansas City during the great land boom excitement. He was ambitious to carry on business for himself, however, and returning to Des Moines entered into partnership with Oscar H. Robinson in 1892 under the firm style of Van Evera & Robinson. This firm became financial correspondent for the Union Central Life Insurance Company of Cincinnati and was given charge of investments for the company in Iowa and Oklahoma , in which connection they invested millions of dollars in loans on farm lands for the parent house at Cincinnati . The firm has large realty possessions in Des Moines , for the partners have great faith in the city and its future. Mr. Van Evera has ever manifested sound judgment in placing his investments and in putting a correct valuation upon property. He is actively connected with a number of successful business enterprises of the city and is one of the directors of the Iowa National Bank.