Trails to the Past
Iowa
Greene County
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Biographies
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Progressive Men of
Iowa
J. M. Forbes
was born September 26, 1860, near Bloomington, ILL., and was one of six
children, all of whom are living.
He attended district school until he was 17 years old, when he
entered the Illinois Wesleyan university at Bloomington. He remained there
only one year, and in 1880 began teaching. He received his first
certificate from Prof. William Hawley Smith, the author of "The Evolution
of Dodd." He attended the Northern Indiana Normal school at Valparaiso,
Ind., from 1884 to 1885, and in the same year removed to Jefferson, Iowa,
where he again engaged in teaching. In 1887 he began the study of law in
the office of A. M. Head, remaining there six months when he continued his
studies in the office of Russell & Toliver. He entered upon the senior law
course of Drake university at Des Moines in the fall of 1888, and
graduated in June 1889, with the degree LL. B. He began the active
practice of the law at Jefferson in 1891. He has made a specialty of
commercial law and of real estate, of which he is a clever holder in
Jefferson. Aside from his suburban residence he owns a number of tenant
properties and a quarter section of land within the corporate limits of
the city. Mr. Forbes has
always been a conservative republican. In 1894 he was secretary of the
county central committee of Greene county, and in 1895 was elected
chairman. In 1896 he was
president of the McKinley Sound Money club of that place. For a number of
years he has been a member of the Jefferson board of education. He is a
member of I. O. O. F. Lodge No. 315, and in 1895 was one of a committee of
three selected by the Jefferson Improvement company who visited the grand
lodge at Marshalltown and aided in securing the location of the I. O. O.
F. orphans' home at Jefferson. He belongs to the Methodist
church. Mr. Forbes
was married October 31, 1889, to Miss Ida A. Williams, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. N. M. Williams, old settlers of Jefferson. Mrs. Williams died of
peritonitis the 6th of December, 1897, at the age of 67 years. Mr. and
Mrs. Forbes have no children.
During his
service he was wounded several times, once at Corinth, Miss., once at
Champion Hill, and once at Vicksburg, the latter being a severe injury of
the head, which detained him in the hospital from May 22 until September,
1863. Upon regaining his health he assumed his rank as assistant
adjutant-general, serving on the staffs of Generals Mathias, McPherson and
Raum, and was with Sherman on his famous march through Georgia to the
sea. Immediately
after the close of the war he came to Greene county, locating in
Jefferson, where he took up the practice of his profession, and also, in
co-operation with Mahlon Head, established the banking firm of Head
Brothers. Under this caption the bank was continued until 1893 when it was
merged into the Greene County State bank, with Hon. Albert Head as
president and the principal stockholder. While the
captain has recently transferred a great deal of the responsibility of his
numerous financial and real estate interests to the care of his sons, A.
A. and R. C. Head, he is yet a busy man and holds many important positions
of honor and trust. Aside from being president of the Greene County State
bank, he is president of the Jefferson Land and Loan company, president
Bank of Paton, president of Citizens' bank, Grand Junction: vice-president
Bank of Pilot Mound, trustee Drake university, of Des Moines, and
president of the Greene County Agricultural society. He is also very
prominent and takes a deep and active interest in numerous civic societies
and holds leading offices in many of the most prominent lodges of the
state, among them being treasurer Des Moines Consistory No. 3, Scottish
Rite Masons; treasurer M. O. O. L., of United States; is a thirty-third
degree Mason; noble grand of Greene Lodge No. 316, and member Jefferson
Encampment, I. O. O. F.; member of Capital Lodge No. 110, Masonic Order,
Des Moines, and Chapter R. A. M., and Knight Templar, of Jefferson, and El
Kahir Temple, Mystic Shrine, Cedar Rapids. He has been
a member of George H. Thomas Post, G. A. R, ever since the institution of
that poet, and he takes special interest in all the doings of his friends
and comrades who endured with him the hardships and privations of war. His
sterling worth as a citizen and business man has long been recognized by
his fellow citizens, and many times he has been called to fill high
offices in the gift of his constituents. For eight
years he represented Greene county in the house of representatives, having
been four times nominated by acclamation by the republican party, and was
speaker of the house one term. The valuable services he rendered in this
position will long be remembered by his constituents. He was several times
mayor or Jefferson and each time proved an admirable executive officer and
gave the city a progressive and prosperous administration. He served one year each as
president and treasurer of the Iowa State Agricultural society. The
captain is a gentleman whose personal deportment never falls to win the
admiration of all his associates and his kind-hearted nature strongly
testifies the high appreciation in which he holds the confidence that has
been reposed in him by his fellow citizens and associates. He is public
spirited and enterprising in the extreme and can always be relied upon to
give liberally his time, counsel and money to aid any enterprise that will
promote the public welfare. He has a
bright and interesting family-four children, three sons and one
daughter. His eldest son, M.
M. Head, is the capable and efficient cashier of the Greene County State
bank. His only daughter, Estelle, is the wife of C. E. Marquis, the
popular assistant cashier of the Greene County bank, and also one of
Jefferson's leading grocers.
His second son, A. A., assists him in caring for his real estate
interests, while the youngest son, Roscoe C., is a graduate of the law
department of the State university and is practicing his profession in
Jefferson. In 1895 the captain erected the Head house, one of the finest hotels in the state, where he resides with his sons. Since his residence in Jefferson he has erected several fine structures, among them " Head's opera house," the city hall and several brick business houses. He is the owner of about 6,000 acres of land in Greene county, in which he is more interested, personally, than in any other branch of his varied business. His 1,000 acre farm near Jefferson receives his personal attention.
Mahlon Head
obtained his education in the common schools of Ohio, attending three or
four months of each year and the rest of the time working upon bis
father's farm. He was 21 years of age when he came to Iowa with his
parents. He worked on a farm in Poweshiek county for two years, and since
then he has been engaged in the real estate and banking business, except
the time he was in the army. He enlisted in Montezuma in August, 1861, as
a private in Company F, Tenth Iowa infantry. His first encounter with the
confederates was at Bloomfield, Mo. He was in other engagements as
follows: New Madrid, Mo.; Island No'. 10; at the bombardment of Ft.
Pillow; siege of Corinth; battles of Iuka, Corinth, Raymond and Jackson,
Miss.; siege of Vicksburg; again at Jackson and battles of Mission
Ridge; Resaca; and
through the Atlanta campaign and Sherman's march to the sea. He was
promoted to second lieutenant of his company in the spring of 1862, and
was acting adjutant after the siege of Vicksburg and until after the
battle of Mission Ridge, in which battle he was wounded in the left
thigh. Mr. Head
cast his first vote for John C.
Fremont for president and has voted the straight republican ticket
from that time to this. He was the first mayor of Jefferson and served in
that capacity for four years.
He has been the chairman of the board of supervisors of Greene
county for six years. He was
the first chief engineer of the fire department of Jefferson, serving
continuously as such for eight years, when he resigned on account of his
health. He is a Thirty-second Degree Mason, a prominent member of the Odd
Fellows fraternity and a member of the Methodist church. Mr. Head is now, July, 1899, the
nominee of the republican party of his county for representative in the
state legislature, and will be elected. Altogether,
Mr. Head is known and regarded as one of the most upright and influential
citizens of Greene county, and is respected by all. He was married to Mary
L. Mullikin in the fall of 1866. They have ten children: Florence, Mary
M., Dorothy J., Mabel S., John, Mahlon, Va Va, Rena E., Charles D. and
Marguerita.
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FORBES, James Madison, a leading attorney and politician of
Jefferson, is of English, Scotch and German descent.
HEAD, Hon.
Albert, whose name for more than thirty years has been identified with
every stride that Greene county and Jefferson have made towards progress
and improvement, was born November 25, 1838, in Highland county, Ohio. His
father being a farmer, he was reared to this life until he attained his
majority. In 1855, with his parents, he came overland from their Ohio home
to Poweshiek county, Iowa, where his father again located on a farm.
During the winter of 1857 and 1858 Mr. Head taught district school, at the
close of which he took up the study of law, reading with the late Hon. M.
E. Cutts, with whom he remained until 1859, when he was admitted to
practice. At the same time he co-operated with Col. S. F. Cooper in the
newspaper business, publishing the Montezuma Republican. He continued this
but a brief time, however, for in 1861 he assisted in the organization of
Company F, Tenth Iowa infantry, and was elected captain. He commanded the
company until promoted to assistant adjutant-general in 1863.
HEAD, Mahlon,
one of the most influential business men of Jefferson, Greene county, was
born on a farm in Highland county, Ohio, July 12, 1835. His father,
William M. Head, was also born in that county in 1808, and died in
Jefferson in 1893. He came to Iowa in the full of 1855 and settled in
Montezuma. He was a farmer the most of his life, but was treasurer of
Poweshiek county for three terms. His wife, whose maiden name was Margaret
Perneau, was also a native of Ohio, born in 1813 and died in Montezuma in
1894. Their remains rest in Jefferson cemetery, in Greene county. Father
Head was a firm, conscientious man.