Trails to the Past
Iowa
Mitchell County
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Biographies
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Progressive Men of
Iowa
The subject
of this sketch was born in Delhi, Delaware county, Iowa, October 13, 1848.
He received his education in the district school in Delhi and Osage, and
in the Cedar Valley seminary at Osage, Iowa, of which he was one of the
first pupils. He graduated from this institution in 1872. He entered the
State University Law school, and graduated in 1872, being selected as one
of the commencement orators. He was deputy clerk of courts, of Mitchell
county, from 1871 to 1874, and at that time he formed a partner-ship with
John B. Cleland, for the practice of law in Osage. In 1885 Mr. Cleland was
made district judge, and Mr. Eaton continued in the practice alone until
September 1, 1889, when J. F. Clyde was admitted to partnership, and this
continued until January 7, 1897, when Mr. Clyde also went on the bench as
district judge. Since then Mr. Eaton has practiced alone. His most
celebrated case was the defense of M. E. Billings, accused of the murder of
Kingsley, of Waverly. Mr. Eaton
was a democrat until the fall of 1893, when he became convinced that the
position of the democratic party was wrong, especially on the question of
the tariff and the currency, and since then he has acted with the
republicans. He has been mayor of Osage three terms, county attorney one
term as a democrat, and was elected in 1897 to the legislature as a
republican. He has been for many years a member of the school board, and
is now president of the board. He is a member of the Masonic order, and
past junior warden, also deputy past grand master. He is a member of the
commandery and of El Kahir Temple,Mystic Shriners. Though not a member of
the church, Mr. Eaton attends the Methodist Episcopal church in Osage, and
is a member of the board of trustees. He was
married September 11, 1874, to Laura R. Annis, a former resident of
Westfield, Vt. They have had two children: Ivan Willard, who died
September 19, 1884, at the age of 2 years, and Allen March Eaton, who was
born March 15, 1887. Mr. Eaton
won considerable distinction as a member of the legislature, purely on the
strength of his recognized ability as a lawyer and the candor and
earnestness with which he met all public questions. He was a member of most of the
more important committees in the house, and was chairman of the committee
on elections, which at that time was considered one of the very important
committees in the house, on the account of several contests and political
questions which were referred to that committee. He was chairman of the
sifting committee, at the close of the session, the most important of all
committee appointments. He formed many strong friendships at this time,
and was often pointed out as a man who would be heard from in the future
in state politics.
R. T. St.
John earned his first dollar by picking lead ore from the rubbish in the
Galena mines. He received a very liberal education in the common schools
and the Cedar Valley seminary. After coming to Iowa in 1859, he was
engaged in farming in Mitchell county. The nearest market for their grain
and cattle was McGregor, 100 miles away, and many interesting incidents of
marketing trips are told. He enlisted as a soldier at the age of 16,
became a member of Company A, Seventh Illinois cavalry, and served
valiantly until peace was declared, after which he returned to the farm.
Several winters were spent in the pine regions of Wisconsin, where he
"roughed it," and though falling behind the times in style of dress and
cut of hair, would return to civilization better in health and purse for
the experience. He later
owned and conducted the Riceville hotel, and handled agricultural
implements. At the present time he is the owner of the Oak Park stock
farm, located within the city limits of Riceville, Mitchell county, and is
actively engaged in breeding fine stock of various kinds. Among other
things he has a large pigeon ranch and five artificial ponds, which are
fed by springs and stocked with all kinds of game fish, including rainbow
and speckled trout. His election to the office of constable gave him the opportunity to break up several gangs of thieves, and brought him into prominence as excellent material for the sheriff's office, and in the fall of 1881 he was elected sheriff. He was continued in that place for five terms, being elected each time by a large majority. He was elected president of the Iowa Sheriffs' association in 1888. In secret societies his affiliations are with the Knights Templars, Odd Fellows and G. A. R. In Masonry he is a Shriner, in Odd Fellowship a past officer of the highest rank, and in the G. A. R. a past grand commander, having been the first commander of Frank A. Brush Post, at Osage. During the sessions of the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth General Assembles he was a member of various important committees, and chairman of the committee on agriculture. He was prominent in the work of re-codifying the laws, and gave particular attention to agriculture, taxation, and compensation of public officers. That his first term was entirely satisfactory to his constituents is evidenced by the fact that he was re-nominated by acclamation and elected by a majority far in the lead of the state ticket. He was married to Miss Addie E. Sayles, November 4, 1866. They have had three children, two of whom are living: Earl R., 18 years old, is a student in Grinnell college, and Harry D., 10 years of age, is in the Riceville high school.
J. H. worked
on the farm and attended school at home and at Mitchell until at the age
of 16 years he entered the military service in 1862, as a member of
Company K, Twenty-seventh regiment, Iowa in-fantry, under his former
teacher, now Judge C. T. Granger. In this company he served as private,
corporal and sergeant during three years, the entire term of the regiment,
and took part in its numerous engagements and campaigns. The fighting of
his regiment ended with the capture of Fort Blakely, the last of the
defenses of Mobile, on the evening of April 9, 1865, several hours after
Lee's surrender at Appomattox. Since then
he has always taken much interest in military affairs. He entered the Iowa
National Guard in 1877, in its early days, as a lieutenant in Company B,
Sixth regiment, and served successively as captain, lieutenant-colonel,
and was colonel of the regiment for four years, resigning that place to
accept a commission as inspector-general, with rank of brigadier-general.
The latter he resigned in the spring of 1889, after being elected to
congress. In 1892, having served in Iowa organizations for fifteen years,
he was placed on the retired list of the I. N. G. with rank of
brigadier-general.
After
returning from the war he resumed and continued his school work and
studies, and graduated with honors from the law department of the State
University of Iowa. He was one of the organizers of the banking house of
Sweney Brothers at Osage in 1874, and took an active part in its
management for several years. In 1881 he engaged in the active practice of
law in Osage. He has always been a republican. In 1883 he was elected by that
party to the state senate of the Twentieth General Assembly, from the
Forty-first district, com-posed of Mitchell, Howard and Worth counties. He
made so good an impression that he was elected president pro tem of the
senate of the Twenty-first General Assembly in 1886 by unanimous vote. He
served on the judiciary committee and on the committee on mines and
mining. He was re-elected in 1887 from Mitchell, Worth and Winnebago
counties, and during the Twenty-second General Assembly occupied the
responsible position of chairman of committee on railways, and under his
able leadership and management our present railroad law was enacted.
In 1888 he
was elected from the Fourth Iowa district to the lower house of the
Fifty-first Congress, where he served on the committees of education,
railways and canals and inter-state commerce, and helped to enact the
famous McKinley bill. After retirement he resumed his law practice and
attention to his extensive farming interests. Mr. Sweney is a member of the
First Congregational church of Osage, and has for several years been
president of the board of trustees in that organization. For twenty-two
years he has been a member of the board of trustees of the Cedar Valley
seminary at Osage, and served several years as president of the board. He
is director and president of the Osage Building and Loan association. He
belongs to the G. A. R., is a Knight Templar and a
Shriner.
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EATON, Willard Lee, member of the House from Mitchell county,
is a successful lawyer in Osage, and is known all over northern Iowa, and
also in Minnesota and Wisconsin, over which territory his practice
extends. His father, Arial K. Eaton, was a member of the legislature from
1852 to 1854, while living in Delhi. He was appointed receiver of the
Turkey River Land district by President Pierce in 1855, and moved to
Decorah. The next year he went with the land office to Osage, and became
one of the proprietors of that town. He was a member of the school board
for many years, and died in Osage July 17, 1896, at the end of a long and
useful life of 82 years.
ST. JOHN, Hon. R. T. A man of stalwart proportions and
soldierly bearing is Hon. R. T. St John, member of the house of
representatives of the Twenty-sixth General Assembly, representing
Mitchell county. He is a man of sterling integrity, and possesses ability
of a high order as a legislator. He was born July 14, 1846, at Elizabeth,
Jo Daviess county, 111., where a part of his childhood was spent. His
father, John St. John, was born at East St. Louis, 111., and was a soldier
in the Black Hawk war. He afterward took government land near Freeport,
and still later entered the lead mines at Galena. He is now living at
Riceville, Iowa, at the advanced age of 83 years. His mother's name before
marriage was Nancy Foster.
SWENEY, Joseph Henry, son of Hugh Sweney and Esther A. Sweney,
was born October 2, 1845, on farm in Warren county, Pa. There were four
brothers and three sisters in the family. Two brothers are engaged in
banking in Osage, the other, Dr. C. P., is a practicing physician in
St.