McARTHUR, William Corse, is an influential young lawyer and republican politician of Burlington, the first republican to be elected to the state senate from that county in many years. Senator McArthur was born in the city of his residence and he comes from two historic families.  His father, Martin C. McArthur, was one of the pioneers of Iowa, who opened up and developed the express lines of the north-west territory, acquiring a competency, and was for many years one of the leading citizens of Burlington. He was born in New York. The senator's mother, Virginia Corse McArthur, was a native of Illinois and is a sister of Gen. John M.  Corse, of Allatoona fame, one of the most distinguished soldiers Iowa contributed to the war of the rebellion. Her father was prominent in democratic state politics.  Mrs. McArthur was deeply interested in religious and charitable work. The Corse family were French Huguenots and settled in Maryland in the Seventeenth century, afterwards going to Virginia and inter-marrying with the Marshall family, of which Chief Justice Marshall is the best known. The family was prominent in the revolutionary and civil wars. The McArthur family was of Scotch origin. The parent branch settled near Edinburgh, Scotland. John McArthur, grandfather of the senator, was banished from Scotland on account of being a non conformist, but through influence at court was pardoned.  Being disgusted with that form of government which could deprive him of his natural rights, he came to America, and settled in New York.

Senator McArthur received his early education from his mother and did not enter school until after he was 8 years old.  He was first sent to a German school and mastered that language. Subsequently he attended the Institute college, of Burlington, where he prepared for college and entered the Chicago university in 1878; remaining there one year, he then went to Cornell university, at Ithaca, N. Y., graduating with the class of 1881. He spent the winter of 1881 and 1882 at Columbia Law school, in New York city, and was examined and admitted to the bar in Iowa in July following. He was orator of his class in the senior year of college and is a member of the Zeta Psi Greek letter fraternity. He entered upon the practice of law in Burlington in July, 1882, and has continued successfully in the practice since that time. He has always been an active republican and was connected with the internal revenue service as deputy collector.  He served as a colonel on the staffs of Governors Jackson and Drake, and has long been a member of the board of trustees of the Burlington Free Public library. 

He was elected to the Twenty-sixth General Assembly in 1895, running 581 votes ahead of his ticket. During that session he took a leading part in securing the passage of a bill permitting the manufacture of liquor in the state, as its sale had already been authorized, and the business interests of his district demanded that an article which could be sold might also be manufactured. He introduced and secured the passage of a drainage bill redeeming thousands of acres of low land bordering on the Mississippi river, and a bill preventing city councils from granting or extending franchises to quasi-public corporations, such as water and electric light works, without first submitting the same to a direct vote of the people; also one requiring street car companies to vestibule their cars for the protection of employees during: the winter months, and making the liability of such corporations, in personal injury cases, the same as railway companies. He had an influential and prominent part in all the important legislation coming before the legislature during the special session when the new code was made. In 1897 he was elected to the state senate from Des Moines county as the personal representative of United States Senator John H. Gear, and his work in the upper body of the legislature fully bore out the reputation he had earned in the preceding general assembly, as a valuable legislator.

PALMER, Luke, Sr., was born in Stonington, Conn., October 18, 1808, and is the descendant of Walter Palmer, who came from England in 1629. At the age of 14 he was left fatherless. He went to school until his 19th year, learned the carpenter trade, and in his 25th year went to New Orleans to work at his trade. He shipped a stock of goods to cover expenses, found it paid and shipped more goods. He remained four years, found the climate unhealthy, and in 1837 determined to move.  The bank asked 24 percent exchange for a New York draft, which he declined to pay, so he bought sugar and shipped it to New York at a profit. Mr. Palmer then spent several months, in 1838, traveling about in the Mississippi valley. He finally bought a stock of goods in St. Louis, and, on January 15, 1839, shipped it up the Mississippi, the river being then open, though closed in the previous November. At Quincy, ice stopped the boats, and teams were hired and the stock brought to Burlington, crossing from Illinois on the ice at considerable risk on January 23, 1839, the legislature being then in session. He opened a general store in Burlington, and remained in business about twelve years. 

On January 8, 1851, he married Miss Mary E. Holbrook, a lady who was reared in Connecticut, educated in Hartford and taught school in Connecticut, and, afterwards, a private school in Burlington, Iowa.  The union was a happy one until the death of Mrs. Palmer, October 19, 1888, nearly thirty-eight years after the marriage.  There were two children, Luke, Jr., a sketch of whose life is subjoined, and Sarah M., who married John S. Cameron, a civil engineer, afterwards secretary of the railroad commission of Iowa, then assistant to general manager of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway company, later with the Union Pacific railroad, and finally proprietor of an electric railway in Salt Lake city, Utah. Mrs. Cameron died February 24, 1881, leaving two sons, now in Yale, and a daughter, now with her uncle, Luke Palmer, Jr., at Burlington, Iowa. 

In 1850 Mr. Palmer closed out his stock of merchandise and turned his attention to the improvement of the real estate which he had accumulated. In 1872 he undertook the erection of an opera house in Burlington, which, when near completion, he lost by fire, June 19, 1873. This was Burlington's largest fire, covering several squares and destroying the county court house and part of the county records. Mr. Palmer cleared away the debris and rebuilt.  Mr. Palmer was elected to the territorial legislature in 1845, but never took his seat, because the territory was admitted as a state pending the meeting of the legislature. He served in the city council as alderman repeatedly, between 1842 and 1861; served upon the board of trustees of the asylum for insane at Mt. Pleasant for fourteen years, from 1862 to 1875 inclusive, and was president of the board for the last four years of the period; served as a school director in Burlington, and was president of the board several years. He subscribed to the stock of all the plank roads and all the railroads built into or out of Burlington. He contributed to the building of the First Congregational church in Burlington, as well as to the present edifice, and gave much of his time, for three years, to the supervision of the work of building. He was for many years president of the board of trustees of this church.

Mr. Palmer was always a toiler, hard-working with hands, as well as with brains, at whatever he undertook, and he followed this practice after he became an octogenarian. He had a remarkably robust frame and great vigor and physical energy, as well as great power of endurance. His chief interests centered in his family. At an early period in his married life he built a fine residence, which he occupied until his death. On June 15, 1892, he was stricken with apoplexy. He lingered nearly three years and died suddenly of a second stroke April 22, 1895, in his 87th year. He is buried in Aspen Grove cemetery.

PALMER, Luke, Jr., was born November 20, 1851, at Burlington, Iowa, and attended the public schools, later Knox academy, and finally graduated at Knox college, Galesburg, III., in June, 1872, taking the degree of A. B., and three years later that of A. M.

He spent the following year chiefly in physical labor, though he visited Colorado and spent some time in reading elementary law. In 1873 he entered Harvard law school, passed the examination for the second year, but chose to enter the law office of N. C. Berry, of Boston, and attended lectures at Boston law school, where he graduated in June, 1876, taking degree of LL. B. He returned to Burlington, and was admitted to the bar, practiced three years and determined to go to Colorado. His father, who had paid the expense of his education, had suffered a heavy fire loss and the young man thought it his duty to make his way alone. With but little money he went to Colorado, and, finding no suitable opening for his profession, owing to his ignorance of mining terms, he turned his attention to making a living by physical labor, chiefly at mining and prospecting, also spending some time in reading mining law. In 1881 he opened a law office in Georgetown, Colo. Soon afterwards he formed a law partnership with Judge Thomas Mitchell. He also arranged to assist Hon.  R. S. Morrison in compiling a series of fifteen volumes of Mining Reports, covering the decisions of all the courts of last resort in this country and England. In the preface to this work, the author gives credit to Mr. Palmer "for faithful co-operation in the selection of the cases printed and the preparation of the same for publication." Mr.  Palmer also assisted in the preparation of "Morrison's Colorado Digest," published in 1884.  Mr. Palmar was twice elected to the office of county judge of Clear Creek county, Colo., but resigned in the fifth year of service to return to Burlington, where the increasing age of his father and the failing health of his mother made his presence necessary. Soon after entering upon his duties as judge.

Mr. Palmer married Miss Emma A. Dunn, of Galesburg, 111., who had been his classmate in Knox college, and graduated with him.  She resigned a position as instructor in the Latin language before her marriage. The union was a happy one until the death of Mrs. Palmer in 1892.  There were no children born of this marriage, but it happened that Bessie and Helen Clendenin, the young children of Mrs. Palmer's deceased sister, found a home for several years with Mr. and Mrs.  Palmer.

Since Mr. Palmer returned to Burlington, he has engaged only to a limited extent in law practice, but has given most of his time to the management of real estate. He, with the assistance of Mr. J. A. Strodel, rearranged the files and re-indexed the records of the clerk's office of the district court of Des Moines county in the years 1895 and 1896, under contract with the board of supervisors, and at the instance of the bar of Des Moines county. Mr. Palmer has been treasurer of the board of trustees of the Congregational church since January, 1890. On April 28, 1897, Mr. Palmer and Miss Marian E. Starr, daughter of the late Henry W. Starr, of Burlington, were united in marriage. Mrs. Palmer died February 11, 1898.

PERKINS, Charles Elliott, president of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, born November 24, 1840, and on both the paternal and maternal sides is descended from ancestors who were of old Puritan stock, and were prominently identified with the early history of the New England colonies. The first of the family to settle in America was Edmund Perkins, who em-igrated from England in 1650, and was a member of the Salem colony of Massachusetts, and from him descended a line of ancestors of the Perkins family, who have ever been distinguished, not only in the New England states, but in the western country, in which many of them subsequently made their homes. Our subject takes his middle name from his mother's family, the Elliotts, who were no less distinguished in the early annals of New England. Their first ancestor also landed in Massachusetts, but the family afterward removed to Connecticut.

Charles E. Perkins was educated in Cincinnati, Ohio, until 16 years of age, when he engaged as clerk in a store, where he learned practical bookkeeping and business methods. After some years' service in that line he came to Burlington, Iowa, in August, 1859, and was given a clerkship in the office of Charles R. Lowell, the assistant treasurer of the Burlington & Missouri railroad, at the munificent salary of $30 a month. He was soon made paymaster under Mr. Lowell, and filled that position until late in the autumn of 1860, when Mr. Lowell, having accepted the position of manager of the Mt. Savage Iron works, at Cumberland, Md., left the Burlington & Missouri River railroad service, and Mr.  Perkins, who was only 20 years of age, was promoted to the office of assistant treasurer.

Until January, 1865, Mr. Perkins continued to serve as assistant treasurer, when Hans Thielsen (the superintendent of the road at that time) was called to Nebraska to serve as chief engineer in making a survey of the road to be built from Plattsmouth to Kearney Junction, and Mr.  Perkins was made acting superintendent, to fill the vacancy. Some months later, it having been determined to extend the Burlington & Missouri River railroad to the Missouri river, and that Mr. Thielsen was to devote his attention to that part of the work, Mr. Perkins was promoted to be superintendent of the road, which at that time extended only from Burlington to Ottumwa, a distance of seventy-five miles.  During the period of Construction of the road through to the Missouri river he served both as superintendent and vice-president. In the meantime he had been active in promoting the organization of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad company in Nebraska, of which he was one of the incorporators and a member of the first board of directors, being chosen to that position October 28, 1869. On the 26th day of July, 1871, he was elected a director of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad company in Iowa; the Nebraska road was opened through to Kearney Junction in the summer of 1872, and November 4th of that year Mr. Perkins was chosen vice-president of that company. Upon the consolidation of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad company of Iowa with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy of Illinois, on January 1, 1873, he was deprived of his official connection with the former company through the changed condition of affairs. On the 2d of April, 1875, Mr. Perkins was chosen a member of the board of directors of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, then owning and operating the original road in Illinois and the newly acquired extension in Iowa; and on the 2d day of March, 1876, he was elected vice president of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy company, still retaining the vice-presidency and general management of the road west of the Missouri river. On the 5th day of May he was elected president of the Burlington & Missouri River railroad in Iowa; and on the first day of January, 1880, the Burlington & Missouri River railroad in Nebraska became consolidated with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, throwing the whole under one corporate management, Mr. Perkins remaining as vice-president until September 29, 1881, when he was chosen president. He has been re-elected at each succeeding election, and is now serving his eighteenth year in that capacity. Mr. Perkins is also officially connected with several other railroad corporations which are connected with the Chicago Burlington and Quincy railroad, and is director and president of the Hannibal & St. Joseph and the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs railroads, the two named being maintained as distinct and separate corporations.  When Mr. Perkins first came to Burlington, nearly thirty years ago, in August, 1859, he was not quite 19 years of age, so that it may be said of him that he began his connection with the important corporation of which he is now the chief executive officer, or rather with a constituent part of it, while but a boy, and that he has earned and won, by superior executive ability, energy and fidelity to the trust reposed in him, an honorable promotion through all the grades of service, from that of a clerk in the treasurer's office to his present prominent and responsible position, as chief executive officer of one of the greatest railway systems of the country.

In September, 1864, at Milton, Mass., near Boston, Charles E. Perkins was united in marriage with Miss Edith Forbes, daughter of Com. R. B. Forbes, of Boston, Mass. Mrs. Perkins was born and educated in Boston. Their family comprises six children - two sons and four daughters. It may be an item of interest to make some mention of the places of abode and the manner of Mr. Perkins way of living in his early days in Burlington.  He first made his home with Mr. Lowell and Leo Carper, both of whom were connected with the railway company. They lived together in what was known as Patterson's hollow, now Agency street, until the fall of 1860, when they removed to Shepard Leffler's farm, now West Burlington. Mr. Lowell had taken a lease of Mr.  Leffler's farm and house, which he transferred to Mr. Perkins when he left Burlington for Mt. Savage. The following spring (1861) Mr. Perkins succeeded in getting Mr. Leffler to take the farm off his hands and thus escaped becoming a granger. He then returned to the city, and for a while boarded at the Barrett house, and later with Mrs. Fletcher, on North Hill, in the house now owned and occupied by R. M. Raab. Remaining there until the fall of 1862, Mr. Perkins then rented a house on South Hill, of Mr. Nelson Dills, which he afterwards purchased, and in which he now resides. There were originally sixty acres in the place, but he has sold off several tracts until he now has but twenty acres, which, with the commodious residence, beautiful groves and lawns makes an elegant and pleasant suburban home. At the time of his marriage, in the autumn of 1864, he established his residence on the place now owned by Mrs. Erastus Chamberlain on North Hill, remaining there until the spring of 1867, when he sold to Mr. Chamberlain, and purchased the Dills farm, to which he removed at once. While Mr. Perkins and his family spend some months of each year in Boston, Burlington is their home.

Mr. Perkins is a republican in his political sentiments, but is not in any sense a politician. His important business relations, both private and official, leave him no time, even were he so disposed, to win prominence in the political arena. As a rule large corporations recognize superior ability and integrity of character in their employees, and reward true merit with promotion, and while the motive on the part of the corporation may be purely selfish, the success of the individual officer is none the less creditable. This is well illustrated in the career of Mr. Perkins in Burlington.  Beginning before reaching his majority as a clerk at $30 per month, he has steadily risen through all the grades.

WILSON, Israel P., D. D. S., M. D. of Burlington, is of Scotch-Irish and English descent. Jonathan Wilson, his father, was a Quaker farmer of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and a native of Ohio. He located in 1852 at Springdale, Cedar county, Iowa.  Dr. Wilson's mother, Mercy Kinsey, was a descendant of John Kinsey, a Quaker from London, England, who was one of the commissioners for the settlement of West Jersey. He arrived at New Castle on the Delaware in the ship "Kent," June 16, 1677. The first settlement made by the immigrants from this vessel was at what is now known as Burlington, N. J.  A son of John Kinsey became chief justice of Pennsylvania. Mercy Kinsey's mother's name was Loyd, and she was a descendant of Thomas Loyd, first governor of Pennsylvania, who came over from England with William Penn.

Israel P. Wilson was born April 12, 1837, at Mt. Pleasant, Jefferson county, Ohio. He received a common school education and then went for one year to the Union school at Tipton, Iowa, and later took a special course at Hopedale college in Ohio. He taught school for three years in Iowa and two years in Ohio. He studied dentistry with Dr. N. H. Tulloss, of Iowa City, then attended St Louis Medical col-lege one year. He afterwards attended Missouri Dental college, at St. Louis, and graduated March 8, 1869, receiving the degree of D. D. S. Locating at Burlington, Iowa, he has continued in practice there since that time. He received the degree of M. D. from the Keokuk Medical college For nearly thirty years Dr. Wilson has been an active member of the Iowa State Dental society and has been elected at different times president and secretary of that organization. He is a member of the American Dental association, has frequently read papers before that body and is at the present time chairman of the section on histology. He is also a member of the International Medical congress and was one of the essayists at the World's Dental congress in 1893. Dr. Wilson was chairman of the committee of three appointed by the Iowa State Dental society, on legislation, which secured the passage of the present law regulating the practice of dentistry in Iowa. He was also one of a committee appointed by the same society which went before the board of regents of the State university and secured the establishment of the dental department of that institution. For over fifteen years he was lecturer on dental surgery in the medical department of the State university and for six years professor of regional anatomy and dental histology in the dental department. For more than a quarter of a century he has been a regular contributor to dental literature through the columns of the dental journals.

The doctor has for many years been an earnest Knight Templar and is now high priest of Iowa Chapter No. 1, Royal Arch Masons. He has been married three times; first, November 25,1861, to Miss Mary A.  Ewing, of Smithfield, Jefferson county, Ohio. They had one child, Mary Ann, now Mrs. J. W. Todd, of Minneapolis, Minn.  Mrs. Wilson died March 10, 1863. The second marriage occurred May 15, 1866, to Miss Harriet E. Shepherd, daughter of Capt. Solomon Shepherd, of Iowa City.  She died August 26, 1873, leaving three sons, Lorenzo Shepherd Wilson, M. D., D.  D. S., now practicing dentistry at Burlington; Jay Willis, now in business in New Zealand, and Horace Plummer Wilson, Ph. B., M. D., now practicing medicine at Ottumwa. He was married again October 4, 1876, to Miss Lavinia Shepherd, a graduate of the State university and a sister of his second wife. They have four children, Alfred Luman, Chester Lloyd, Lavina Hortense and Helen.

Dr. Wilson has always been a staunch republican. He was brought up in the Quaker church but for the past twenty-five years has been a Methodist, and at various times superintendent of the Sunday School.  He was for three years a member of the board of education of Burlington, being also vice-president of the board.