A Memorial and Biographical Record of
Iowa
Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1896
Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Dick Barton.
Charles
F. Saylor,
who is serving as Deputy City Auditor of Des Moines, is a native of
Polk county, Iowa, born September 8, 1856, and a representative of one
of the honored pioneer families of the State. In pioneer days, when
Iowa was still a Territory, his father, Thomas Jefferson Saylor, crossed
the Mississippi with has father, John B. Saylor, and took up his residence
in Van Buren county, where he remained from 1836 until 1844. In the
latter year he came to Polk county, where he is now the oldest settler.
For more than half a century he has witnessed the growth and development
of this region, taking an active part in the work of progress and improvement.
His connection with the county is an honorable one, and his name deserves
a high place on its annals as one of those who here opened up the way
to civilization and aided in laying the foundation upon which the present
prosperity and advancement of the county is builded. He descends from
an old Saxon family of the Rhine that sent its members to America in
early Colonial days. He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is a
son of John B. Saylor, a native of Ohio, who became one of the pioneers
of Rush county, Indiana. He was a stone- mason by trade and built the
court-house at the county seat of Rush county, also the one in the city
of Indianapolis. The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Adaline
Nagel. She was born in Dayton, Ohio, a daughter of Frank Nagel, and
is now in the sixty-fourth year of her age. Her father settled in Polk
county, Iowa, in 1846, and was therefore also one of the earliest settlers.
In the family of Thomas J. Saylor were four sons and six daughters,
of whom six are yet living, namely: J. F., president of the Lincoln
Normal University, of Nebraska; Lizzie I., private secretary to the
President of the Agricultural College at Ames; Charles F., whose name
heads this sketch; Mrs. John Matthews, who resides in Des Moines, Iowa;
Mattie A., who is engaged in school-teaching; and Effie, at home.
Charles F. Saylor
of this review obtained his elementary education in the district schools,
after which he entered the Iowa Agricultural College, at Ames, where
he completed the course and was graduated in 1882, winning the degree
of Bachelor of Science. He then turned his attention to teaching and
through the three succeeding years was principal of the schools in Redfield,
Iowa. In 1886 he was elected Superintendent of Schools of Polk county,
which office, by re-election, he held for six years, during which time
he greatly raised the standard of the schools by introducing improved
methods and more progressive systems of work. In 1890 he was elected
by the Legislature of the State to the office of Trustee of the Iowa
Agricultural College, in which position he has served also for six years,
four years of which time was to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation
of Hon. J. S. Clarkson; and he is still a member of the board. During
the last two years of his service as County Superintendent of Schools
he was chairman of the Association of County Superintendents of the
State. He also organized the State Teachers' Reading Circle, by which
body he was elected manager and State lecturer. His work in the interest
of education has been extensive and most beneficial, and his labors
have done much toward placing the schools of Iowa on a par with those
of the other States of the Union. On retiring from the County Superintendency
he was appointed Collector of the Fourth Division of the First District
of Iowa, in the Internal Revenue service, which position he resigned
under the Cleveland administration to accept the secretaryship of the
Home Savings & Loan Company, of Des Moines. After filling that position
for two years he was appointed Deputy Auditor of the city and is now
capably discharging the duties that devolve upon him. His has been an
honorable, straightforward business career, and the esteem and confidence
of all whom he meets is freely given him. Every trust reposed in him
has been faithfully performed. Whether in public or private life he
is a man of genuine worth, well meriting the regard in which he is so
universally held.
Mr. Saylor's social
relations connect him with Des Moines Lodge, No. 68, Knights of Pythias,
and University Lodge, No. 368, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while
in his political proclivities he is a Republican. His home life is very
pleasant, and with his wife and children he spends many happy hours
in their comfortable residence at No. 1141 Tenth street. He was married
in 1885 to Miss Jennie McFarland, a daughter of John McFarland, also
of Des Moines. They have two interesting children, Donald M. and Helen
I.
WILLIAM SCHREIBER, a manufacturer of carriages, buggies and wagons of Chariton , Iowa , is a self-made man, who through well-directed efforts has attained prosperity. He started out in life empty-handed, with no capital save a young man's bright hope of the future and a determination to succeed, and steadily has worked his way upward until he is to-day numbered among the leading business men and substantial citizens of Lucas county.
He was born in Wurtemberg , Germany , November 8, 1857 , and his parents, Christian and Rosena (Hohl) Schreiber, were also natives of that country, where the father spent his entire life, dying at the age of fifty-seven years. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Schreiber came to America and is now living in Forest , Illinois . She had two brothers who served as soldiers in the Union army during the Civil war. Her family numbered five sons and two daughters, and the latter and four of the former are yet living, one son having died in early manhood. Christian is now a blacksmith and carriage manufacturer of Indianola, Iowa; Fred follows the same business in Sloan , Iowa ; Jacob is in partnership with his eldest brother; Henry is employed as a wood-worker in the shop of our subject; Ernest is deceased; Carrie is the wife of W. E. Schlipf, a blacksmith and extensive manufacturer of Forest , Illinois ; and Mary is the wife of William Yoder, a farmer of Forest , Illinois . For many years the family have mostly followed mechanical pursuits and have been very successful in this business. They are men of medium stature, coming of a long-lived and industrious race, and are worthy and respected citizens of the various communities in which they reside.
William Schreiber was a studious boy, and, though his school privileges were meager he acquired a good education through his own exertions, for when other boys were playing on the streets he was usually studying by the fireside. In this way he acquired a knowledge of Latin and English besides his native tongue, and also read the commentaries of Blackstone and Kent. At the age of sixteen he came alone to America and for eighteen months worked at the blacksmith's trade in Albany , New York , having learned the business under his father's direction in his native land. He then came to Iowa , and for three years followed blacksmithing in Indianola, coming thence to Chariton in 1879. For about two years he worked as a journeyman, and then began business on his own account at his present location. At that time a small frame shop stood there, but after four years he began the erection of his present extensive and elegant establishment. He built a brick building, 40 x 80 feet, two stories in height, and in 1894 erected a brick addition 40 x 45 feet, also two stories in height, making the shops and storage rooms 125 x 40 feet. All this is the result of his own industry and economy. He never had a dollar given him, but has carved out his own fortune by hard labor. He now employs from ten to fourteen men in the wood, iron and painting departments, and averages about one hundred and fifty new jobs each month, and in addition does extensive repair work, general blacksmithing and wagonmaking. He manufactures a fine-line of buggies, carriages and wagons, which are sold throughout the country and universally give excellent satisfaction. He now builds vehicles at prices varying from $75 to $275, and they find a ready sale on the market, his business having steadily increased until it has now assumed extensive proportions.
Mr. Schreiber was married in Chariton to Miss Bertha McKlveen, a member of one of the representative and early families of this city. Five children bless this union, Ñ Walter, Helen, Fred, Raymond and Ruth; and the three eldest are in school.
In politics, Mr. Schreiber was formerly a Democrat. Socially, he is connected with the Odd Fellows society, and he and his wife are members of the First Baptist Church . He is a public-spirited and progressive citizen, who manifests a deep and abiding interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of the community. He is an ardent advocate of the cause of education, a warm friend of the free-school system of America and is now serving as a member of the Board of Education of this city. His life has been well and worthily spent, and his success is the fitting reward of earnest, honest labor, capable management and perseverance.
Calvin
Othello Sones, M. D., is one of the leading members of his profession in Guthrie county,
Iowa, his location being at Panora. He was born in Lycoming county,
Pennsylvania, August 14, 1853, son of George W. and Margaret (Lockard)
Sones, both natives of Pennsylvania and now residents of Anamosa, Jones
county, Iowa, their removal to this State being in 1855. George W. Sones
in early life followed the trade of carpenter and builder, but later
bought a farm and settled down to agricultural pursuits. During the
war he served for over two years as a member of the Twenty-fourth Iowa
Infantry, his command being in the Western Division, and as a soldier
made a good record. He and his wife have five children.
Their son, Calvin O., received his early training in the public schools,
after which he entered Cornell College, Iowa, where he graduated with
a class of thirteen in the year 1881. In the meantime he taught school
several terms and after leaving college continued teaching until 1883.
That year he began the study of medicine under the instructions of Drs.
Gowley & Packard, prominent physicians of Iowa, and later took a
course in the medical department of the Iowa State University in Iowa
City, at which institution he was graduated with a class of thirty-eight
students in the year 1886. That same year he came to Panora, opened
an office, and soon built up a lucrative practice, which he still conducts.
Feeling the need for still further preparation for his professional
duties and wishing to keep abreast with the times, he went to Chicago,
Illinois, where he pursued a course of post-graduate work in 1892, and
again a similar course in 1893.
He has pleasant and nicely furnished office rooms on the south side
of the main business square and gives his whole time and attention to
the demands of his practice, which extends into the surrounding country
for several miles. Both by education and natural ability is Dr. Sones
fitted for the profession he has chosen. He is a member of the Board
of Health of Panora, is identified with both the County and State Medical
Societies, and keeps himself well posted in everything pertaining to
the rapid advancement now made by the science of medicine.
Dr. Sones has an elegant and modern residence, surrounded with an attractive
lawn, and everything about the place giving evidence of culture and
refinement. He was married at Maxwell, Iowa, May 10, 1888, to Miss Amy
F. French, an accomplished and amiable lady, like himself a graduate
of Cornell College, she being a member of the class of 1885. Her father,
J. O. French, a native of New Hampshire, came to Iowa in 1872 and located
in Olin, Jones county, removing to Story county in 1882, where he died
in 1887. Her mother, nee Ellen Hutchinson, is a native of Vermont, and
now resides in Maxwell, Iowa. The Doctor and his wife have two daughters,
Helen M. and Gertrude. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, and, fraternally, he maintains a membership in good
standing in Panora Lodge, No. 121, A. F. & A. M.; K. of P. No. 176,
an sons of Veterans, Camp No. 91.
SAMUEL
RINGOLD STANLEY
is a representative of the business interests of Stuart, Iowa, where
he is successfully engaged in grain dealing. He is a wide-awake, enterprising
man, sagacious and far-sighted, and Guthrie county numbers him among
its valued citizens. The record of his life is as follows. He was born
at Marion, Marion county, Ohio, August 6, 1836, and when a child of
six years his parents removed to Rock Island, Illinois. They had previously
lived in Indiana and Michigan, but eventually settled in Rock Island
in 1842, at which time the city was but a hamlet containing not more
than a dozen business houses and scarcely a greater number of residences.
The country round was wild and uncultivated, and in this frontier settlement
Mr. Stanley spent his boyhood days. On the paternal side he is of English
ancestry, while his mother's people were of German lineage. His father,
James G. Stanley, was born at sea. The grandfather was captain of an
English merchantman, and the wife accompanied her husband on a number
of his voyages. He and his crew, together with the ship and cargo, were
lost at sea. James Stanley was reared in Maryland, and his wife, who
bore the maiden name of Sarah Feigley, was there born in 1802. Their
marriage was celebrated in the same State, whence they started on their
Westward journey, living in several different localities in the Mississippi
valley. The father died in Illinois, in October, 1853, at the age of
sixty-seven years, but the mother is now living in Lawrence, Kansas,
at the age of ninety-four years.
This worthy couple
were the parents of nine children, five sons and four daughters, and
all the sons served in the Union army at the same time. William was
wounded at the battle of Chickamauga, and died from his injuries. Greer
M. died in 1887 from disease contracted in the service. Mary Ann is
the widow of Henry Stevens, and resides at Lawrence, Kansas. Susan is
the widow of George A. Baker, and lives at Lisbon, South Dakota. Samuel
R. is the next younger. Sarah is the wife of John Hohn, a resident of
Illinois. John died of measles while in the army. Martha Jane is the
wife of John A. Gray, of Wykoff, Minnesota. James P. is engaged in the
lumber business in that State.
Mr. Stanley of this review
continued his residence in Rock Island county, Illinois, during the
greater part of the time until August 1, 1861, when at Geneseo, Illinois,
he enrolled his name among the boys in blue. He had enlisted on the
first call for three-months troops, but the quota was full ere the company
was called forth to action, and it disbanded until the latter part of
the summer. It was then sent to hold a post at Lexington, Missouri,
and while there its members were taken prisoners by the rebel General
Price. On being paroled they were sent to St. Louis, and were mustered
out October 18, 1861. This company was independent of any State organization,
though assigned to the Fourteenth Missouri Cavalry. After the discharge
another company was immediately reorganized and went to Leavenworth,
Kansas, where it was assigned to the Eighth Kansas Infantry, under command
of Colonel John A. Martin, who afterward served for two years as Governor
of that State. With the Twelfth and Thirteenth Wisconsin Regiments,
the Fifty-first Illinois, and the Seventh Kansas, it formed a brigade
under command of General R. B. Mitchell, and went from Leavenworth to
Columbus, Kentucky, in June, 1862.
The nest move of this command
took the troops to Corinth, Mississippi, after which they went with
General Buell on his famous Kentucky campaign and participated in the
battle of Perryville, returning to Nashville, November 1, 1862, when
General Rosecrans took command of the Army of the Cumberland. The regiment
to which our subject belonged was with the forces of General McCook
as a part of the Twenty-first Army Corps, and went on the Tullahoma
and Chickamauga campaigns, participating in all the engagements of these
famous expeditions. They met the enemy at Chattanooga and Mission Ridge,
and in the late fall of 1863 joined General Burnside at Knoxville, whence
they were ordered to Dandridge, East Tennessee, but again returned to
Knoxville. Mr. Stanley there re- enlisted as a veteran volunteer, and
the old organization was retained. In the spring of 1864 he started
on the Atlanta campaign under Sherman, and after the evacuation of the
city of Atlanta the Eighth Kansas Infantry became a part of the Fourth
Army Corps, and returned to Nashville under General Thomas, participating
in the battles of Spring Hill and Nashville, the rebel forces being
under command of General Bragg, who was threatening Sherman's rear.
They followed Bragg into Alabama, and fought the battle of Franklin,
November 30, and December 15 and 16 the battle of Nashville. They returned
back into Alabama, and went into winter quarters at Huntsville, where
they remained until March, 1865. They then returned to East Tennessee,
and in May were ordered back to Nashville, where, on the 20th of June,
an order came for the Fourth Corps to proceed by rail to Johnsonville,
thence by steamer to New Orleans, and on the morning of July 5 they
went aboard a ship bound for Matagorda bay. Thence they proceeded to
Green Lake, where the remained a month, and at San Antonio, Texas, on
the 28th of November, 1865, Mr. Stanley, with his regiment, was mustered
out of the service. The troops had been sent to the South in order to
watch Maximilian, who was then operating in Mexico. After being mustered
out, Mr. Stanley then returned to Leavenworth, Kansas, where the troops
were finally paid off and discharged, January 11, 1866. His service
covered a period of four years, five months and eleven days. He can
boast of holding at the present time four honorable discharges, the
first by reason of being a paroled prisoner of war, the second to enable
him to re-enlist as a veteran, the third to receive promotion as First
Lieutenant of his company, and lastly because the war was over and his
services were no longer needed. He filled all of the various official
grades from private to Captain, was promoted to the First Lieutenancy
in 1863, and was made Captain in 1864, commanding his company from that
time forward until the close of the war. Meritorious conduct on the
field of battle won him this honor and his military record is one of
which he may justly be proud.
Mr. Stanley at once returned
to his home in Illinois and engaged in farming for one year. In the
fall of 1866 he came to Iowa, locating in Boone county, where he made
his home for two years, and in March, 1869, arrived in Stuart. His arduous
army service had made such inroads upon his health that he was unable
to longer engage in agricultural pursuits or other manual labor, and
for about six years after coming to Stuart he lived a retired life in
consequence of his impaired health. At length he embarked in grain dealing,
which he has followed almost continuously since, and has built up an
excellent trade in this line, making large shipments.
On the 14th of February,
1866, was consummated the marriage of Mr. Stanley and Miss Ellen Smith,
a daughter of George and Mary Smith, prosperous farming people of Henry
county, Illinois. The lady was born April 4, 1844, in Ashland, Ohio,
and there acquired her education. The wedding was celebrated in Geneseo,
Illinois, and their union has been blessed with one child, Nellie M.,
now the wife of Alexander Turk, a resident of Tama, Iowa, by whom she
has two children - Minnie R. and Mahlon S.
Mr. Stanley is a stanch and
uncompromising Republican, who does all in his power to promote the
interests of his party, but has never sought or held office. He is a
member of Maxwell Post, No. 14, G. A. R., of which he has served for
two terms as Commander. He joined this post on its organization. He
also belongs to Stuart Lodge. No. 214, I. O. O. F., in which he has
filled all the offices. His wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, and the Woman's Relief Corps. Mr. Stanley is a representative
of a family noted for loyalty to the country, and in all the relations
of life he displays the same fidelity to duty that he manifested when
on Southern battle fields he followed the old flag.
Eugene
Stiles
Among
those whom the county has honored with office, an who, true to all the
duties devolving upon them, have won high commendation by faithfulness,
is this gentleman, the well known Sheriff of Fremont county.
Being widely and favorably known, we feel assured that the record
of his life will prove of interest to many of our readers, and therefore
gladly give it a place in this volume.
Mr.
Stiles was born in the county which is still his home on the 18th of
March, 1866. His father
was one of the pioneers of this State, removing from Knox county, Illinois,
to Iowa in the '50s. Amos
Stiles, the father of our subject, was born in Ohio about sixty-five
years ago, and was reared on the old home farm, early becoming familiar
with all the duties that fall to the lot of the agriculturist.
On coming to Fremont county, he took up his residence in Benton
township, and for some years was engaged in the milling business, but
the enterprise did not prove a profitable one in that early day, when
the country was but sparsely settled, and accordingly he turned his
attention to farming. Here
he wedded Mary McElroy, theirs being one of the first weddings celebrated
in the county. To them
were born the following named children:
Mrs. R. M. Leslie; Jennie;
C. E., an agriculturist of Fremont county; Eugene; Hattie
E.; Lillie A., wife of
George Miller; and John
A., of Idaho. The father
of this family was a well known Democrat, and was an influential and
respected citizen of the community.
Our
subject attended the public schools, and also spent one year in the
college of Shenandoah, Iowa. At the age of nineteen he took up the profession of teaching,
which he followed for three years, and then turned his attention to
the livery and breeding business in Sidney, making a specialty of heavy
draft horses. To this enterprise
he devoted his energies until his election to the office of County Sheriff. He was reared a Democrat, but believing the principles of Republicanism
best calculated to advance the interests of humanity, he became a stalwart
advocate of that party. He
had two opponents in the campaign of 1893, but won the election by a
plurality of seventy-five, R. S. Tate being his highest competitor.
He has proved a most capable officer, fearless in the discharge
of his duties. His most
important arrest was that of L. H. Davidson, who in October, 1894, murdered
M. T. Donnelly. Davidson
fled, but was overtaken and captured at Riverside, California.
On
the 28th of December, 1892, in Fremont county, Mr. Stiles was united
in marriage with Miss Mary Hiatt, whose father, Joseph L. Hiatt, was
a pioneer of the county. They
have twin boys, Bernard and Bertram. Socially, our subject is connected with the Knights of Pythias
fraternity and the Improved Order of Red Man.
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