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Progressive Men of Iowa
1899
 NICHOLSON, Delos Fremont, cashier of the State bank
at Lamoni, is a man of great energy and business sagacity, and
entirely through his own efforts has already amassed a very
comfortable fortune.
His ancestors were of the thrifty New England type, his
great great-grand father, Joshua Nicholson, having come from
England in 1740 to settle in Philadelphia. His grandfather,
Joshua Nicholson, was one of the early pioneers of western New
York, and died in 1865 at the age of 87. Mr. Nicholson's
father, Charles Nicholson, was born in 1819 in Duchess county,
N. Y. He was a
great lover of books, and dealt in them for over forty years.
He was liberal in religion, and a republican in politics. He
died in 1883. Mr. Nicholson's mother, Fanny S. Cady, was born
in 1828, in Oneida county, N Y. Her parents were also pioneers
of that state, her father, Philip Cady, having moved from
Vermont to New York, with his family, in 1830.
D. F. Nicholson was born December
11, 1855, in Hector, Schuyler county, N. Y., near the banks of
Seneca lake. He spent his youth on a farm, and until he was 15
attended school at the little red schoolhouse on the bill. At
15 he came west with his parents, who settled on a small farm
near Sandwich, 111. Here the opportunities for securing an
education were more favorable, and he made good use of them,
walking two miles to town during the winter to attend the
Sandwich high school, where he made rapid progress. He
afterwards attended the Classical seminary at Paw Paw, and
then began teaching in the district schools, but soon
advanced, teaching a year in the public schools of Paw Paw and
a year in the Paw Paw seminary, and then became principal of
the Sandwich high school, where he had been a student four
years previous.
Though successful as a teacher, he resigned in 1880 in
order to engage in more remunerative employment, and accepted
a position with the D. M. Osborne Machine
company, taking charge of a branch agricultural implement
house at Salt Lake City. He remained with this company five
years, receiving an increase in salary each year, and
successfully managing their business throughout Utah, Idaho
and Montana. While in Salt Lake City he was appointed
territorial treasurer of Utah in 1882 by Governor Murray, but
the Mormon legislature did not permit him to accept the office
on account of his not being a polygamist.
During his residence in the west
Mr. Nicholson acted as reporter and correspondent for several
newspapers, and his descriptions of the Rocky Mountain
country, which appeared in eastern periodicals, were read with
much interest. In 1885 he came to Lamoni, Iowa, and for three
years successfully conducted a hardware business. In 1888 he
sold out at a good profit, and in company with Robert Winning,
a capitalist from St Joseph, Mo., he organized the first bank
of Lamoni, which was soon incorporated as the Lamoni State
bank, with Mr. Nicholson as cashier and manager. Lamoni was
then a village of but 400 inhabitants, but it has grown
rapidly, and its population is now about five times that
number. During this period he bought and sold many farms, and
also a large tract of land adjoining the town which he laid
off in half-acre lots.
In this way he rapidly increased his income, and
wealth, until now he owns the controlling interest in the
bank, besides hundreds of acres of valuable farming land, and
an elegant home in Lamoni. Mr. Nicholson has
always been a republican in politics, and has held numerous
local offices. He is a pioneer member of the Odd Fellows lodge
at Lamoni, and is also a Modern Woodman. He is secretary of
the board of trustees of Graceland college, and has served
several years as city alderman. He was brought up a Methodist,
but has since become a member of the church of Latter Day
Saints.
He was married March 6, 1878, to
Miss Minnie Blair, daughter of Elder William and Elizabeth
Blair, of Sandwich, 111.
They have four children: Harry Carl, born in 1879, who
is now attending Graceland college; Todd Blair, born in 1883;
Ray Kessler, born in 1886, and Gracia, born in
1896.
This ends the first twenty years of
Mr. Nicholson's
married life, and he is now just in his prime. Commencing as a
poor farmer's boy, he educated himself and has reaped the
fruits of his labors, being a self-made man in every respect,
and has much to expect from the
future.
 STOOKEY, Millard Fillmore, editor of the Decatur
County Journal, published at Leon, is one of the progressive
newspaper men of the state, and a representative man of his
section. He was born near Leesburg, Kosciusko county, Ind.,
April 25, 1849. His father, Levi Jackson Stookey, a farmer by
occupation, was born in Fayette county, Ohio, and is of Scotch
descent. His grandfather, on his mother's side, fought in the
war of 1812. His
wife's maiden name was Sarah Jane Clark. She, too, is of
Scotch descent.
She was born in Miami county, Ohio, and her father, a
Pennsylvanian, was a government surveyor, doing a great deal
of surveying in Indiana in an early day. She also had a cousin,
Rev. Wilson Blaine, who was educated at Oxford, Ohio, and was
pastor of a Presbyterian church at Valparaiso, Ind., for many
years. Both Father and Mother Stookey are members of the
Presbyterian church.
M. F. Stookey came to this state
with his parents May 20, 1855, and located near Marion, the
county seat of Linn county. He attained a common
school education in the public schools of Leesburg, Ind., and
Marion, Iowa, and in September, 1866, entered Western college,
then located at Western, Linn county, now situated at Toledo,
Iowa. He remained there two years. In August, 1869, he entered
the office of the Tama County Republican at Toledo, when M. B.
C. True was editor.
He worked at the printing trade nearly two years. He
then taught school for several terms in the country, near
Marion, when he entered the law office of Thompson &
Davis, Marion, and was admitted to the bar October 30, 1873.
In the spring of 1874 he located at Elroy, Wis., and
established a newspaper called The Headlight. April 5, 1875, he was
appointed postmaster at Elroy, and, in the fall of the same
year, resigned his position, sold out his business and
returned to Linn county, Iowa, where he taught school for
several terms. In August, 1877, he located in Leon and
commenced the practice of law. The following year he was
elected justice of the peace, and, in 1880, was elected clerk
of the circuit and district courts, which position he held two
terms. In 1887 he was again elected to the same position. In
the spring of 1891 he removed to Bethany, Mo., and became the
editor of the Bethany Republican, which position he held until
February 1, 1893, when he purchased a half interest in the
Decatur County Journal at Leon, Iowa, and returned to that
place to take up his duties as editor of that paper, where he
has since resided. He has always been a hard-working
republican; he has served one term as a member of the state
republi-can committee from the Eighth district, and two terms
as chairman of the republican central committee of Decatur
county. He is a
member in good standing of Leon Lodge No. 84, I. O. O. F.,
having joined that society when 22 years old, in Elroy,
Wis.
He was married December 20, 1887, to Miss
Jessie Forrey, and to this union there has been born one son,
Paul.
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