Progressive Men of Iowa
1899

BANDY, Dr. Robert S., of Tipton, is a progressive dentist, a native Hawkeye, and has enjoyed the best educational advantages the state affords. He was born in Des Moines county, Iowa, November 26, 1863. His father, John Bandy, was among the earliest settlers of this state.  He came to the territory of Iowa with his parents in the spring of 1837, at the age of 10 years. He settled in Des Moines county and part of the old home there still remains in the family name. John Bandy was one of the famous California Forty-niners. He crossed the plains in company with other daring and ambitious men in 1849 and remained in California until 1857, returning by way of Panama and New York. He was married in 1860 to Miss Guelmia Stathemn, whose family came to Iowa from Ohio at an early day. They lived in Des Moines county until 1865, when they removed to Minnesota and lived there until 1884, when they returned to Iowa. Mr.  Bandy served during the war in the Second Iowa cavalry, commanded by Col. Wm.  P. Hepburn.

Robert S. Bandy, having been prepared to enter college, attended at Parsons college in Fairfield until 1888, when he entered the dental department of the State University of Iowa and was graduated from that institution with the class of 1891. He commenced the practice of his profession in Fairfield, but soon after went to Davenport and associated with Dr W. O. Kulp then a leading practitioner and educator in the state. In 1893 he located in Tipton, where he has since been engaged in the successful practice of dentistry.  Being a studious and progressive professional man, he belongs to the Iowa State Dental association and the Eastern Iowa Dental society.

Dr. Bandy was married in 1893 to Miss Rebecca Thomas, of Iowa City. They have one child, Geneva Kathryn, born June 16, 1896.

COUTTS, J. H. One of the solid business men of Cedar county, an able financier and a model citizen, is John H. Coutts, of Tipton. He was born in that county, to whose development he has contributed a lifetime of hard work, on July 20, 1850.  He is the oldest of seven children born of William and Barbara Banden Coutts.  The father was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 1812. He came to this country in 1832, and lived for a short time in Ashland county, Ohio. In 1837 he came to Cedar county, Iowa, and settled in Red Oak township, where he was married in 1849 to Barbara Banden, also a native of Scotland.  He died December 16, 1891.

J. H. Coutts was brought up on a farm, and received a common school education.  Although he has been called to fill the highest position of responsibility in his county, he has at no time in his life been a politician or an office seeker, having little or no ambition in that direction. He has devoted himself to business, and, while promoting such enterprises as have proved of inestimable value to the community at large, has accumulated considerable wealth.  He was elected county treasurer of Cedar county in 1887 on the democratic ticket, and was re-elected at the conclusion of his term of office by an increased majority.  He then turned his attention to financial enterprises. He became connected with the First National bank, of Tipton; was elected its president, and under the in-fluence of his personality and reputation for integrity, the business of the concern doubled in a short time. He is one of those men who always come to the front in emergencies.

He is a director in the Electric Light company, treasurer of the Eastern Iowa Building and Loan association, and director and treasurer of the Tipton Hotel association, in the organization of which last named concern he was very active.  In 1892 he located a bank at Stanwood, Iowa, which is known as J. H. Coutts' bank, a venture which, like all his others, has proved highly successful. He is progressive, far sighted in business, honorable to the highest degree, and generous to a fault - qualities which make him respected by everyone in the community where he resides.

In 1896 he took a well-earned vacation, making an extensive European trip, and returned to his large business interests at home with renewed vigor, and with an enlarged acquaintance with his eastern correspondents, and with financial leaders throughout our country.

FERGUSON, Joseph P., was born in Montgomery county, Ind., July 26, 1829.  His father, Price Ferguson, was a farmer, and of Scotch descent. His mother's ancestors were Germans, and her maiden name was Mary Shank. Both his father and mother died in one day, when Joseph was only 3 weeks old. They fell victims to the mysterious disease, milk sickness, which was so fatal in the pioneer days of Indiana. Soon after their death he was taken to the home of his grandfather, Aaron Ferguson, in Montgomery county, Ohio, where he lived until 12 years old. He was then placed in charge of his only sister, Elizabeth Ferguson, who lived in Warren county, Ind. During the remainder of his youth he lived with different relatives in Ohio and Indiana, and when a young man went with his uncle, John Ferguson, to Kendall county, 111., and leased a farm belonging to another uncle by the name of Hiddleson. Soon after commencing work here, he had a severe attack of typhoid fever, which left him much broken in health, and unable to continue farm work that season. He then returned to his sister's home, in Tippecanoe county, Ind., and secured a position as toll gatekeeper on a new plank road just built into the city of Lafayette. The next year he taught school in Warren county, Ind., and in May, 1852, came with his uncle and located in Jones county, Iowa. Here he began breaking prairie during the summer with an ox team and continued it for four seasons, and for several winters taught school in Cedar and Jones counties. In the winter of 1858 Mr. Ferguson taught school in his own dwelling house in Hall township, Jones county. The parents of his pupils hauled wood to the house and then the boys chopped it for him. He accepted for payment for teaching whatever provisions the patrons happened to have. Mr. Ferguson never had the advantage of much schooling; his education was mostly acquired by home study and teaching others.  In his first school he had to study bard to keep ahead of some of the smart scholars.

In the summer of 1860, allured by the report of rich gold discoveries near Pike's Peak, he crossed the plains to Colorado.  In company with John Weeks he drove a pair of oxen, yoked to a light wagon, and led a cow behind the wagon to insure a supply of milk. While he was making this trip, which yielded more experience than gold, the immortal Abraham Lincoln was nominated for president.

On August 6, 1862, Mr. Ferguson enlisted in Company G, Thirty-first Iowa volunteers, and went with the regiment to Helena, Ark. He was soon promoted to the position of second lieutenant, but his health, which was always delicate, soon failed and he was sent to the hospital at Memphis and afterwards transferred to one at St. Louis. Here he became very sick, and his wife was sent for and took him home. For two years after returning from the army Mr. Ferguson lived on the farm, and then began buying grain and stock, and continued in this business for several years. In 1869 he was appointed postmaster of Clarence, Iowa, by President Grant; held the office for nearly seventeen years, and resigned when Cleveland was elected, although his democratic friends urged him to make application for reappointment, and offered to sign a petition in his favor. When he retired from the post office the patrons, regardless of party, presented Mr. Ferguson and his daughter Helen each with a gold watch and chain.

For three terms Mr. Ferguson was elected mayor of Clarence. While attending to his duties as postmaster, he studied law, and on the 25th of February, 1875, was admitted to practice, at the age of 46 years. On March 80, 1856, he was married to Miss Persia Delamater, a native of Lewis county, N. Y., and a most estimable woman. They have seven children: Mary E., Mamie E., now Mrs. Lamos, of Stuart, Iowa; Davie F., who died August 15, 1882, aged 22; Jennie V., now Mrs.  Flansburg, of Glidden, Iowa; Helen M., now Mrs. Cook, of Jacksonville, 111.; Josie P., now Mrs. Lantz, of Sioux City, Iowa; and J. P. W. C. Ferguson.

Mr. Ferguson voted for John C. Fremont for president, and has ever since been a hard worker for the republican party, until the passage of the mulct law and the law allowing the manufacture of liquor. Since then he has acted with the prohibitionists and has been a worker in the temperance cause for many years.  Among the young men who have profited by Mr. Ferguson's experience and advice, and have had the advantage of reading in his law office, are Mr. S. E. Starrig, of Fayette; T. J. Garrison, of Denison; Prof. George D. Skinner, of Clinton; Prof.  J. H. Morgan, of Clarence; Prof. Harry Ferguson, of Tama City; N. H. Kent and Fred Orelup.

As this outline indicates, Mr. Ferguson is a man of strong character, and an original thinker. He has always believed that he was called to preach, but resisted the spirit.

GEIGER, Hon. William G. W., of Tipton, is well known throughout the state as a lawyer and politician. He possesses a fine judicial mind and great mental and physical activity. He is a native of Cedar county, born on the old homestead entered by his father, in time to be old enough to just remember the return of the boys in blue from the war of the rebellion. It was there the long winter evenings were spent in study; there was laid the foundation for a classical education, and there were acquired the habits of industry, which have enabled him to become a man of affairs. In September, 1874, he entered college at Carthage, 111., where he took the classical course, graduating in the spring of 1879, at the age of 22 years. At that time he received the degree of bachelor of arts, and three years later the honorary degree of master of arts. He was a member of Cicero Literary society during his college days, and as such earned considerable distinction.

He commenced the study of law in the office of Wolf & Landt at Tipton in the fall of 1879, and was admitted to the bar the following year, after which he read law in the office of Blake & Hormel, at Cedar Rapids. In the fall of 1881 he opened an office in Tipton and laid the foundation for a successful professional and business career. His first fee in the practice of his profession was earned in defending one charged with a felony. He secured the discharge of his client on preliminary hearing. He now enjoys a practice that is second to none in his native county. In his fifteen years of practice he has covered all lines of court work and has had entrusted to his care many extensive and complicated cases wherein the responsibility was great, in all of which he has performed his duties to the satisfaction of all concerned. He has the confidence of the courts before which he is in almost constant practice, and is held in the highest esteem by his brothers in the profession. 

Mr. Geiger is a democrat and says he expects to affiliate with that party as long as its principles come nearest to his convictions, but only so long. He places party second to individual conviction. He has never held office nor sought political preferment, believing it the best policy to keep out of politics as far as possible until such a time as one has become independent as he cares to be financially.  However, in 1888, when Cedar county was in the republican column, he was nominated for county attorney on the democratic ticket, and through loyalty to party permitted his name to go before the people.  Although defeated, he reduced the republican majority to fourteen, running far ahead of his ticket. This splendid endorsement led to his nomination for judge of the Eighteenth judicial district in 1890, and again in 1896, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge William P. Wolf, but he was defeated in both instances by reason of the political complexion of that section. 

Mr. Geiger has been a diligent reader all his life and has traveled extensively.  His father's home was well supplied with good books and the family custom of reading aloud stimulated the taste for profit-able reading. Mr. Geiger feels grateful to his parents for the correct ideas they gave him in his boyhood, and especially for teaching him habits of industry. 

Jacob Geiger, father of William, was a native of Germany. He came to this country when 8 years of age, and was given a college education, after which he learned the trade of currier and tanner.  He located in Cedar county in 1863. and died there in 1894, owning the same old farm he had entered, though it had grown to 520 acres. He was a candidate for congress on the greenback ticket against Hiram Price. The mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Lichtenwaiter. She was born near Taneytown, Md.; came to Iowa in 1852, and here met and married Jacob Geiger. Of this marriage there are seven children living: Mrs. Anna E.  Cravens, of Lake City, Minn.; W. G. W. Geiger, the subject of this sketch; Judge A. C T. Geiger, of Oberlin, Kan.; Mrs. H. Ruth Emahlzer.of Oberlin, Kan.; Mrs. M. Alice Spielman, of Fairfield, Iowa; Etta I. Geiger and Jacob L. Geiger, who are now with their mother at Long Beach, Cal. 

Mr. Geiger made a trip in 1896 to Mexico to learn more of the Aztecs, the Toltecs and the Montezumas by personal research and to study the silver question. He traveled about 4,000 miles in that strange republic. Mr. Geiger has tried to make the most of his surroundings and circumstances, and by hard work and close application avoid the jarring and discordant sounds of the closing doors of lost opportunities.  He has been across the continent by two different routes, camped through the Yellowstone National Park, in northwest Wyoming, with its hot springs, geysers, beautiful lakes, gorgeous canon and magnificent scenery; visited the Grand Canon of the Colorado river in Arizona, been around the lakes on the north and to the Gulf on the south of our country; loves the quiet scenery of the little Alleghenies and the rugged, wonderful views of the towering Rockies. Mr. Geiger takes great delight in the beauties of nature, enjoys the flowers, and finds much pleasure in music. He weaves past experiences together to aid in the judgments of the present. He likes to look back along the "River of Time" and see the achievements of the centuries as well as to reflect upon the ruined hopes and wrecked fortune that strew its shores.

He was married April 7,1885, to Miss Flora H.  Manler, daughter of W. H. Manler, a lawyer of Carthage, 111. She was his classmate in college and graduated in the classical course with him.  But death came and the husband is left with four little daughters, Maud Marguerite, Laura Helen, Sarah Gertrude and Flora Miriam, now with their grandparents at Carthage. Mr. Geiger is a member of the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen of America fraternal societies, and is also a member of the Lutheran church. In 1895 he was a delegate to the general synod of that church in Hagerstown, Md.

He built at Tipton, in the summer of 1897, a substantial and pretty office building with granite front for his own use.

HANLEY, Thomas B., one of the self-made and successful men of Tipton, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, December 11,1852.  He was one of a family of ten children, four of whom are dead. One brother, D.  R. Hanley, is a steamboat engineer, who, with a sister, Mrs. Claus Rolfs, lives in Davenport: one brother, W. H. Hanley, a lawyer, and another brother, M. L. Hanley, also a steamboat engineer, live in Dubuque; another brother, J. A. Hanley, a lawyer, lives in Davenport. Mr. Hanley 's father and mother came to America from Ireland in the spring of 1852, locating at Cleveland, Ohio. His father was a laborer in ordinary circumstances, and with a family of ten children it was necessary that they should learn in their early years to be of use to themselves and to others.  The family removed to Scott county, Iowa, in 1856.

After leaving the public schools Mr.  Hanley attended the Iowa Agricultural college for one year and was a member of the Bachelors' Debating society. He afterwards entered the law department of the State university, graduating in 1880. His first work outside of his own home was in a sawmill. At this time he also taught school off and on for ten years. After completing his law studies he located at Le Claire, Scott county, in 1880, where he practiced law until 1888, when he removed to Tipton and formed a partnership with Hon. William P. Wolf. This partnership continued until 1894 when Mr. Wolf became judge of the district court. Mr. Hanley continued his practice alone and has had no partner since. He is a prominent member of the Knights of Pythias and was elected grand chancellor of the Knights of Pythias of Iowa, in 1895. He was unanimously elected representative to the supreme lodge in 1897. He was one of six men to organize the Modern Brotherhood of America, a fraternal beneficiary association. He is president of the association.  The organization has been remarkably successful from the start, thus reflecting much credit upon its originators.

Mr. Hanley was a democrat until 1882, when he became a republican. He was mayor of Tipton for two years, and it was largely through his influence that Tipton has one of best electric light plants in the state.

Besides being a Knight of Pythias he is a Mason, and belongs to the Modern Brotherhood of America, also Modern Woodmen of America. He was married October 7, 1880, to Miss Flora Free, of Port Byron, 111. They have one child: Edna, born August 16, 1882. Without assistance Mr. Hanley worked his way up in the world, reaching a goodly position in society, in his profession and in the esteem of all who know him.