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Progressive Men of
Iowa
1899
 BOWERS, Henry Francis, of Clinton, was born,
in the city of Baltimore, Md.. August 12, 1837.
His
father, Augustus Bowers, or Bauer, as it was originally
spelled, was a native of Germany, and before emigrating
held the position of lieutenant in the German regular
army. He came to America and settled in Baltimore, where
he married Emaline Lewis. She was a native of Baltimore
and a niece of Dr. Nelson Reed, who, with Dr. Coke,
established Methodism in America. Thomas Barton, of
Newark, one of the first Baptist divines of the country,
was another uncle, and General Wayne, familiarly known
for his desperate valor as " Mad Anthony Wayne," was a
grand-uncle.
When Henry was a child his father started to
return to Germany to settle up the estate of his paternal
ancestor, and by the foundering of the ship in
which he took passage, was drowned at sea.
Henry's early education was
obtained at home from the instruction of his mother and
aunt. During the time when he should have been attending
the public schools they were closed and he was deprived
of that privilege which the youth of today enjoys so
fully. The schools of the entire state of Maryland were
closed by an act of the state legislature and remained
closed for several years. In April, 1857, the family
moved west and located on a farm near De Witt, Clinton
county, Iowa. At this period Henry completed his
education by candle-light study while others slept.
Their farming experience was not satisfactory and they
moved to the town of De Witt, where Henry secured
employment as carpenter and
cabinetmaker.
In 1863 he entered the office
of the clerk of the courts of Clinton county as
deputy. He
served one term in the clerk's office and two terms as
deputy recorder of the county and during this time
studied law. Soon after he was elected and served two
terms as county recorder. June 20, 1877, he was admitted
to practice law in the courts of Iowa, and in 1878 was
appointed special aid de-camp on Governor Gear's staff
and served to the end of his term. He was admitted to
practice in the supreme court in April, 1879, and in the
United States court in April, 1882, and has enjoyed a
good practice since. Mr. Bowers' party affiliations have
always been with the republican party. Shortly after the
convention which organized that party, he had the
pleasure of seeing and hearing the candidate for
president, Gen. John C. Fremont, in the city of
Baltimore, and with his uncle occupied a position on the
platform during the
meeting.
Mr. Bowers enjoys the
distinction of being the founder and the past supreme
president of the American Protective Association,
commonly known as the "A. P. A." He was led
to establish this organization by the closing of the
Maryland public schools, which deprived citizens of
their rights under the ordinance of 1798, where it is
recommended that every American child should have a
common school education. It was established for the
purpose of maintaining the public schools against the
machinations and influence of their enemies and does not
oppose any church societies or any man's right to
worship God as he sees fit. No organization is
antagonized so long as it does not resolve itself into a
political faction for the destruction of our public
institutions, the abridgement of free speech, a free
press and a free ballot.
For twenty-eight years Mr.
Bowers has been a member of the Masonic Blue Lodge and
for twenty-five years a member of the Consistory and of
the Scottish Rite bodies of the thirty-second degree and
of the Mystic Shrine. In religious matters he follows
the church relations of his mother and is a
Methodist.
He
was married October 25, 1870, to Emma V. Crawford, of
Barnsville, Belmont county, Ohio, and they have three
children, Clyde C., born October 21, 1871; Homer H.,
born May 7, 1876, and Emma V., born July 3, 1878. His
wife died October 24, 1878.
 FAIRCHILD, Dr. David S., who was connected
with the Iowa Agricultural college for so many years, is
now division surgeon for the Chicago & Northwestern
railway, with headquarters at Clinton. He was born in
Fairfield, Vt., September 16, 1847. His ancestors were
among the early settlers of Connecticut. A
great-great-grandfather, Abraham Fairchild, located in
Redding in 1746, where he reared a large family of
children. Six sons served in the continental army. From
Connecticut they went to New York, then Ohio, and later
to Wisconsin. A great-uncle invented the first pin
machine, and for many years the Fairchild pin was well
known in the market.
Dr. Fairchild's father, Eli
Fairchild, settled in Fairfield, Vt., in 1844, and
engaged in farming. His mother, whose maiden name was
Grace D. Sturges, was born in Fairfield in 1817, and
there married Eli Fairchild. Her father was a sea
captain, and migrated from Fairfield, Conn., to
Fairfield, Vt., in 1802. The Sturges family was among
the pioneer families of Fairfield, and has a prominent
place in the early history of Connecticut. A
great-grandfather on that side was chief justice of the
colony at the time of the out-break of the revolutionary
war. Dr.
David S. Fairchild attended the academies of Franklin
and Barre, Vt., after which he studied medicine for a
time with Dr. J. O. Cramton, of Fairfield, then attended
medical lectures at the University of Michigan, during
the years 1866, 1867 and 1868. Following his graduation
at Albany, N. Y., December, 1868, he located in High
Forest, Minn., where for three years he was engaged in a
general practice.
He located in Ames, Iowa, in
1872. In 1877 he was appointed physician to the Iowa
Agricultural college, and in 1879 was elected professor
of physiology and comparative anatomy, which position be
held until 1893, when he resigned to accept the position
of surgeon for the Chicago & Northwestern, covering
all the lines of that system in this state. He had
served as local surgeon for this road in 1884, and
through his satisfactory performance of the work was
promoted two years later to district surgeon; in 1897
was appointed special examining surgeon for the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St Paul Railway system; in 1882 he was
elected professor of histology and pathology in the Iowa
College of Physicians and Surgeons, Des Moines, and in
1885 was transferred to the chair of pathology and
diseases of the nervous system; in 1886 he was given the
chair of theory and practice, since which time no change
has been made. For two years previous to the
incorporation of the college as a part of Drake
university, he served as its president The doctor was
engaged in general practice for some sixteen years, but
for the past eleven years has devoted himself almost
exclusively to consultation, giving particular attention
to surgery and nervous diseases.
He has contributed numerous
articles to the medical journals, and his papers have
attracted wide attention in the various medical
societies. He has always taken a great interest in
medical organizations. In 1873 he issued a call to the
profession of Story county to meet for the purpose of
forming a county medical society, and, at the
organization, was elected its president. In 1874 he
assisted materially in organizing the Central District
Medical society, and in 1886 was made its
president.
He became a member of the Iowa State Medical
society in 1874, was elected second vice-president in
1886, first vice-president in 1894 and president in
1895. He is active in the work of the Western Surgical
and Gynecological association, and fills the position of
president; is prominent in the American Medical
association, the National Association of Railway
Surgeons, and the American Academy of Railway
Surgeons.
He was a delegate to the International Medical
congress in 1876; assisted in organizing the Iowa
Academy of Sciences, and was chairman of the committee
appointed by the State Medical society to prepare a
history of medicine in Iowa.
He was a republican until
1884, when, on account of the party's position on the
tariff, he affiliated with the democrats. He is a member
of the Wapsipinicon club and the Masonic order. He was
married May 1, 1870, to Miss W. C. Tattersall, daughter
of Hon. W. K. Tattersall. of High Forest, Minn. They
have three children. A son, D. S. Fairchild, Jr., M. D.,
is associated with his father in the practice, and is
now major surgeon of the Fifty first Iowa volunteers, on
duty in the Philippine islands, and Misses Gertrude and
Margaret are students in the University of
Wisconsin.
 ITEN, Louis, of
Clinton, Iowa, was born in Unterageri, Switzerland,
Canton Zug., in 1838. His father, John Joseph Iten, was
born in 1806 in Unterageri, Switzerland, and was owner
of a brick-yard in that city. He was also first
lieutenant and bodyguard of Louis Philippe of France, in
1830.
In 1850 Louis came with his
father to America and settled in Milwaukee, Wis. He
received his education in the city of his birth, and
later finished in America, at Geneseo, 111. In 1837 he
removed to Davenport, Iowa, where he went into the
vinegar business with his uncle, Antonio Iten. In 1853
he formed a partnership with William Smith and continued
in business with him until 1867. Since that time he has
been engaged in the bakery and cracker business.
In 1893 he went to Clinton,
Iowa, and erected a cracker factory, conducted under the
firm name of L. Iten & Sons. During the civil war he
was a member of the Union League and is a charter member
of the A.
O. U. W., of Rock Island, 111. In 1861 he married
Theresa Zeiglar, of Rock Island. To this union have been born seven children, six
of whom are living: John J., born in 1862; Anna M., born
in 1864; Louis C. born in 1865; Lizzie G., born in 1867;
Willie P., born in 1869, deceased; Frank J., born in
1873; Sadie M., born in 1876.
 SMITH, Dr. George Alfred, of Clinton, is one
of Iowa's best physicians, and is especially expert as a
medical examiner. Due to his careful inspection as
medical director of the Economic Life association, of
Clinton, the mortality record of that company, from its
organization to the present time, 1896, has been kept
down to 1.14 in 1,000, the best showing any company has
yet made.
Dr. Smith is a son of Col.
John Henry Smith, who was born in Albany county, N. Y.,
in 1827, and whose ancestors were Germans from the
valley of the Rhine. He learned the machinist's trade
and was a locomotive engineer on the line now belonging
to the Chicago & North-Western Railway company, at
the time when it terminated at Dixon, 111. He was
married March 13, 1851, to Miss Emily Perry Cooley, born
at Hartford, Conn., in 1834. Her father, Thomas Cooley,
a prominent politician, was for many years keeper of the
United States arsenal there. He was the son of James
Cooley, of Springfield, Mass., who traced his descent
from King James of England. Her mother, Ann Kennedy, was
of Irish descent, and numerous members of the family
were among the early settlers of Connecticut, and their
progeny still reside there. Mrs. Smith died in May,
1892. Colonel Smith came to Iowa in the spring of 1852,
and settled on a farm in Center township, Clinton
county, where he made his home until 1860, when he moved
his family to Lyons, while he was at the front, and in
1865 to the town of Camanche, where he still resides. He
belonged to the first board of supervisors in Clinton
county, and was a member of the convention that
organized the republican party in 1856. In 1860 he
recruited Company A, Sixteenth Regiment Iowa Volunteer
infantry, and entered the army as its captain, serving
with distinction through the entire war. He was promoted
successively to major and lieutenant-colonel and was
mustered out as commander of the regiment. He was
captured at the battle of Atlanta, and was for a long
time confined in numerous rebel prisons, but finally
escaped from one at Columbia, S. C., and in company with
eight others reached the union fleet after many
hardships. He took an active part in many engagements
and was awarded a silver medal by act of congress for
bravery in the siege of Vicksburg. He was mustered out
June 22,1865, after taking part in the grand review at
Washington, at the close of the war. He was elected
to the state senate in 1865, and served one term, being
succeeded by Dr. A. B. Ireland. He has held numerous
important positions in the United States revenue
department, and it was largely through his efforts that
the great frauds in the Camanche distillery were brought
to light and the property confiscated by the government
in 1873. He is still an active man, though over 72 years
old.
Dr. George A. Smith was born
July 6, 1854, on a farm in Center township, Clinton
County, Iowa, and received his earliest instruction from
his mother, who taught him at home. He afterwards
attended district schools, and the graded schools of
Lyons and Camanche. At the age of 16 he was apprenticed
to a carpenter and builder, and worked at his trade more
or less for four years. At 19 he began teaching, which
he continued until 1879. He also clerked in a drug store
three years, and in 1877 was a student in the Clinton
Business college. He entered the medical department of
the state university in 1879, graduating with his class
in March, 1881. He located at Camanche, where for four
years he practiced his profession and carried on a drug
business.
In the summer of 1885 he
moved to Clinton, and the following January his drug
store burned. Since then he devoted himself entirely to
his profession, which he carried on alone, except a year
when he was in partnership with Dr. A. H. Smith, now
deceased. He has built up a splendid practice, and has
held many important professional offices. He was for two
terms health officer of the city, and was a member and
the secretary of the Clinton County board of United
States examining surgeons for pensions under Harrison's
administration. He was also secretary and afterwards
president of the Clinton County Medical society. He is
now surgeon for the great lumbering firms of C. Lamb A Sons, W.
J. Young & Company, and the Curtis Brothers' Sash,
Door and Blind factory. Besides being medical director
of the Economic Life association, of Clinton, he is also
medical examiner for numerous life insurance companies
and fraternal organizations. He was a member of the
board of state medical examiners for the commencement of
the medical department of the State university in 1893,
and was chairman of the section of practice of medicine
in the annual meeting of the State Medical society in
1897. He has contributed a number of articles on
medicine and surgery to various publications, and is
associate in charge of the department of medicine of the
Iowa Medical Journal When the Spanish-American war was
declared he tendered his services to the government as a
surgeon, and early in June, 1898, he was appointed and
commissioned a brigade surgeon by the president. He was
assigned to the Tenth Army Corps, but owing to peace
negotiations this corps was not organized, and he was
placed in the hospital service at Chickamauga Park, Ga.
He soon advanced to the command of the Second division,
Third Army Corps field hospital, and continued in this
command until it was closed. He was soon after taken
sick and returning home was honorably discharged from
the service September 31,
1898.
Dr. Smith has always been an
enthusiastic, active republican, and has done much for
the good of the party in the state, as well as in his
own county and district. He began as a drummer boy in
the campaign of Grant against Seymour, and has taken
part in every election since. He has been a delegate to
every county convention for the past twenty years, and
to every state convention for the past ten years. He was
district alternate from the Second district to the
republican national convention in 1896, and as chairman
of the Clinton county central committee that year,
succeeded, by a splendid organization, in carrying his
county for McKinley by a majority of nearly 1,000,
though it had previously gone democratic for nearly
twenty years.
Dr. Smith is a member of
numerous civic organizations. He is a Mason, an Odd
Fellow, a Forrester, a member of Mystic Workers of the
World, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and
of the Knights and Ladles of the Golden Precept. He belongs to no
church, and believes more in deeds than in
creeds.
The doctor was married October 4,
1882, at Camanche, Iowa, to Miss M. Nettie Ireland,
youngest daughter of Dr. A. B. Ireland, deceased. They
have two children, Mabel, born August 8, 1884; and
Homer, born July 7, 1890.
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