Trails-to-the-Past-Iowa-Linn-Co.-Biographies-Progressive-Men

Progressive Men of Iowa1899

BENNETT, Henry, a well known insurance inspector and rate maker of Cedar Rapids, has been in business in Iowa for about thirty years. He came to the state with his parents in 1855. They settled in Iowa City, remaining there about two years, when they moved to Cedar Rapids, which has since been Mr. Bennett's home, with the exception of a temporary absence of two years. He is the son of Henry Bennett and Angeline Fife Bennett, and was born in Pittsburg, Pa., October 29, 1850. His father, who came to America when a small boy, was born in York, Eng., in 1827. He followed the merchant tailoring business for more than fifty years, having only recently retired. Mrs. Bennett was, as her name indicates, of Scotch-Irish descent and was born near Pittsburg, Pa, in 1830. Their son attended the public schools in Iowa City and afterward graduated from the Cedar Rapids high school in 1867.

He began, his business career as an office boy in the law office of Greene & Belt. Judge George Greene was the judge of the state supreme court and compiled Greene's Iowa reports. During the war, although young Bennett was not old enough to join the army, he worked on a farm during the summers of 1862-3-4-5. Early in the year 1868 he entered the law and insurance office of West & Eastman, where he studied law and looked after the details of fire insurance and afterward became a member of the firm. The insurance business increased so as to require all his time and attention and he never began the practice of law or applied for admission to the bar. Soon after, he acquired the insurance business of the firm and conducted it until 1881, when he formed a partnership with A. R. West, continuing in law and insurance for two years, when he sold to his partner and his son, and accepted the position of compact manager, fixing rates and supervising business for nearly all the fire insurance companies transacting business in Iowa. He resigned this position January 1, 1895, and accepted the state agency of the Fire Association of Pennsylvania, which he resigned in June, 1896, to establish an independent rating, fire map and inspection bureau. The legislature had passed a law prohibiting any combination of insurance companies in regard to rates. It became necessary to have some standard to follow and some inspection of business, so Mr. Bennett, enjoying the confidence of the insurance managers of the state in a high degree, established this independent bureau which has no connection with any board, compact or alliance, and is in no sense a combination. Through its agency all risks taken in the state are inspected, advisory tariffs of equitable, uniform and discriminating rates are published and information is furnished to subscribers relating to hazards, faults of management and condition of risks, at a low rate of expense. The system has worked satisfactorily and has accomplished its desired purpose. There are but four similar bureaus in the United States.

Mr. Bennett has affiliated with the democratic party since 1872, but has never held any office. He was junior deacon, secretary and junior warden of Crescent Lodge No. 25, A. F. and A. M., for a number of years, and was high priest of Trowel Chapter No. 49, R. A. M., and was a member of Apollo Commandery No. 26; he was first lieutenant commander of the Grand Consistory Iowa, under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Council of the United States, their territories and dependencies, Scottish Rite Masons.

He belongs to St. Paul's M. E. church, in Cedar Rapids. Mr. Bennett was married April 26, 1883, to Ella Janet Evans. They have four children, Helen E., born May 16, 1884; Max, born November 24, 1886; Mary, born July 1, 1891, and Alice, born May 22, 1898. Mr. Bennett is thus seen to be one of the pioneers of Cedar Rapids, having witnessed its growth from a riverside hamlet to one of the best cities in the state.

BOYD, Hugh, teacher and clergyman of Cornell college, Mount Vernon, Iowa, was born August 6, 1835, in Keene, Coshocton county, Ohio. His father was Daniel Boyd, who was born near Ardara, parish of Inniskeel, County Donegal, Ireland, and his mother was Jane Elliott, of Glenconway, parish of Killibegs, County Donegal, Ireland. They came to this country in 1819 to escape the infamous system of land tenure in their native land. Daniel Boyd's father and mother were Robert Boyd and Jane Ramsey, and his wife was a daughter of John Elliott and Frances Blaine. The preceding generation were Albert Boyd, Mr. Ramsey and Kate Karrigan, John Elliott and Annie Lee, Moses Blaine and Jennie McKee. When Daniel Boyd first came to America he was a teacher, and afterwards engaged in weaving fine linen and coverlets, and was a retail merchant in Jefferson and Coshocton counties, Ohio. In 1839 he removed to Athens county, Ohio, and opened up a farm out of the native forest, where, for the remainder of his life, he expended his energies to good purpose. He was an active worker in all religious, political, humanitarian and educational movements of his time. He brought up a large family of children, and all of them now living are well established in life.

The educational advantages were not many, but the training of the future teacher and preacher was not neglected. There were the weekly papers, the daily reading from the new testament, the earnest and beautiful prayers of the boy's father and mother, and the frequent visits of the pioneer preacher. On these occasions every subject of human interest was discussed between him and the boy's father. The boy was silent and listened. There was a little district school of irregular attendance of two or three months each year, and finally a seminary was opened in a little village five miles away. Here the boy was prepared for college in a surprisingly short time. Often he had to walk the entire distance to the seminary, but he always got there and made the best use of his time. The farm had made him familiar with hard work and he was not afraid of it. He entered the Ohio university and was graduated with the honor of valedictorian in 1859. Some years later he was further honored with the degree of doctor of divinity.

Professor Boyd, after several years of service as a teacher in the public schools of Ohio, and, after having labored several other years as a clergyman in the Methodist Episcopal church, was, in 1871, transferred from the Ohio annual conference to the Upper Iowa annual conference, and appointed professor of Latin in Cornell college. This position he now holds and has adorned with many years of earnest and effective service. He follows no stereo-typed method, but has, in great part, made the Latin a living longue rather than a dead language. His work has received substantial endorsement from Harvard uni versity, from the fact that several students after they had received their early training at Cornell entered Harvard for more advanced work, and the number of courses required of them was lessened as compared with the number of courses required of students coming from other colleges of similar grade. While devoting himself mainly to his duties as teacher. Professor Boyd has been in demand both at home and abroad for addresses, lectures and sermons, in which he has demonstrated himself to be a speaker of commanding force and eloquence. He is often called upon in his own town and no one is received with more kindly interest and generous attention. Aside from his regular duties he is deeply interested in the study of sociology. Besides his membership in other organizations he is a member of the Beta Theta Phi, and belongs to the order of Knights of Pythias, and is a Knight Templar in the Masonic fraternity.

Professor Boyd was married August 20, 1860, to Ida Patterson, daughter of James Patterson and Martha Henry Patterson, of Amesville, Ohio. Two children were born to them: Luella, born October 25, 1863, and Robert Allyn, born July 17, 1866. Mrs. Boyd died October 21, 1867. Professor Boyd was married the second time, August 20, 1874, to Mary Ellen Moody, daughter of Gen. Granville Moody and Lucretia Elizabeth Harris Moody, of Ohio. To them were born four children: Granville Moody, born June 12, 1877, died November 3, 1879; Clifford Moody, born October 21, 1879; Lucy Moody, born September 12, 1881; and Elizabeth Moody, born April 17, l887, and who died April 20, 1887.

DOUGLAS, George, late of Cedar Rapids, was born in the county of Caithness, Scotland, April 17, 1817. He came to Rochester, N. Y., in 1848, and engaged in canal, railway and bridge construction in western New York, continuing in this work until 1852. In that year he followed the general western movement and moved to Illinois, where he engaged in various railway and bridge building contracts at Dixon, 111., and vicinity. Here his work lasted until 1855, when he took contracts for building a portion of the railway line now operated by the Illinois Central railway, west of Dubuque, Iowa. From 1855 until 1870 he was actively engaged in railway construction, mostly in Iowa and Nebraska, doing much of the work on the lines now operated by the Illinois Central railway across the state of Iowa, also the present main line of the Chicago & Northwestern railway in Iowa, and a considerable portion of the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley railway in eastern Nebraska.

Mr. Douglas was associated with Mr. John I. Blair in his projection of the various railway lines in western Iowa, and many miles of the grading, bridging and track laying of the railways promoted by the companies of which Mr. Blair was president, were completed by the firm of Douglas, Brown & Company, of which the subject of this sketch was the senior partner. From 1870 to 1873 Mr. Douglas engaged in his last work in railway construction, completing 155 miles of the International & Great Northern railway in Texas, including the grading, bridging, track laying and depot building complete. In 1874 he associated himself with Mr. Robert Stuart, now of Chicago, under the firm name of Douglas & Stuart, and engaged in the manufacture of oatmeal and other cereal products, at Cedar Rapids, and continued in active connection with the business until the time of his death, in May, 1884.

The firm of Douglas & Stuart extended its operations materially, and at the time its properties were acquired by the American Cereal company, was the largest producer of goods in the cereal line in the world.

Mr. Douglas married Margaret Boyd at Dixon, 111., in 1855. She was born in the north of Ireland. Mrs. Douglas and three sons, George Bruce, Walter D.. and William Wallace, live in Cedar Rapids at the present time.

FOUSE, Rev. Dewalt S., D. D., of Lisbon, is a native of Huntingdon county, Penn. He was born near Marklesburg, in that county, November 15, 1840. His father, Dewalt Fouse, was born December 26, 1802, in Blair county, Penn., and was a minister in the Reformed church in the United States. His grandfather was a native of Bavaria, Germany, and came to America in 1784. Dewalt Fouse was married March 25, 1823, to Nancy Shontz, who was born in Huntingdon county. Her father, Christian Shontz, and her mother, Margaret Huber Shontz, were both natives of Lancaster county, Penn., although of Swiss descent.

Young Mr. Fouse received his early education in the common schools of his county and at Marklesburg academy. The young man was naturally studious and made full use of his opportunities for acquiring knowledge. He entered Franklin Marshall college at Lancaster, Penn., in 1859. His college course was interrupted by the rebellion, and September 16, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company C, Fifty-third Pennsylvania volunteers, commanded by Col. John R. Brooke, now active in the service at Havana, Cuba, as military governor. Mr. Fouse was soon made orderly sergeant, and December 14, 1862, was promoted to first lieutenant of his company. During much of the time he acted as adjutant of the regiment, and when mustered out, October 9, 1864, he was acting assistant adjutant-general of the Fourth brigade, First division, Second army corps. Gen. W. S. Hancock was commander of the corps. Lieutenant Fouse participated in the battles of Fair Oaks, Gains Mills, Peach Orchard, Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, Malvern Hill, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Mine Run, and in the battles of the Wilderness campaign from the Rapidan river to Petersburg in 1864. Through all the hardships and privations of three years he passed without being seriously affected, but the poisoned air of the swamps brought on malarial fever at last, and his health being shattered and the term of enlistment having expired, he returned home in October, 1864. Six of his brothers were in the army and of these two died in service, one lost an eye, and another has a crippled leg and arm.

After resting and recovering his health, Mr. Fouse entered the Theological Seminary of the Reformed church, at Mercersburg, Penn., from which he graduated in May, 1867. He was soon after sent by the board of home missions of his church to do mission work in Iowa, and settled near Central City, Linn county, in July, 1867. While living there he preached at Boulder, Linn county, and at Brandon, Buchanan county, for several years. In 1872 he moved to Lisbon, where he preached for a number of years, and still resides. In October, 1889, he became general superintendent of the board of home missions of the Reformed church in the United States. This gives him general oversight and supervision of all the home missions of his church in the United States, and requires him to spend much of his time traveling among the churches.

Mr. Fouse was married January 30, 1868, to Sarah A. Geissinger, of Huntingdon county, Penn. They have four children: David Henry, born July 1, 1869, and now a minister in the Reformed church; Samuel G., born February 27, 1871, now a merchant in Lisbon; John D., born June 1, 1873, now a commercial traveler, and Mary Naomi, born April 18, 1879, now attending Cornell college, at Mt. Vernon, Iowa.

The information on Trails to the Past © Copyright may be used in personal family history research, with source citation. The pages in entirety may not be duplicated for publication in any fashion without the permission of the owner. Commercial use of any material on this site is not permitted. Please respect the wishes of those who have contributed their time and efforts to make this free site possible.~Thank you!