Madison-Polk-Story County IA Archives Biographies.....Mott, Frederick 1828 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 11, 2007, 11:25 pm

Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1896)

HON. FREDERICK MOTT.-Prominent in legal and political circles, a valuable
citizen, and honored Christian gentleman, no one perhaps is more worthy of
representation in the history of Iowa than Judge Mott. A native of Susquehanna
county, Pennsylvania, he was born at Montrose, on January 14, 1828, a descendant
of a family of three French brothers who were settlers on Long Island, spelling
their name De la Motte.

   The grandfather of the subject of this sketch emigrated from Massachusetts to
Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, was a pioneer farmer in that section of the
State, and for more than fifty years was a Deacon of the Baptist Church near his
home, of which church he was largely the founder. Merritt Mott, the father of
Frederick Mott, was a woolen manufacturer, and, like his father, was a Deacon in
the Montrose Baptist Church for more than half of a century, the church having
over 500 members.

   From eight years of age to seventeen young Mott spent nine months of the year
in the woolen factory and three months at school. Uniting with the Baptist
Church at Montrose at the age of seventeen, he soon after entered Hamilton
University (now known as Colegate University), at Hamilton, New York. Here he
studied for two years and then entered the sophomore class of Brown University,
Providence, Rhode Island, and graduated there in 1851. In the fall of the same
year he became principal of a Baptist school located at Derby, Orleans county,
Vermont, and known as the Derby Academy. Here he remained for three years,
studying law a part of his time and finally being admitted to the bar at
Irasburg in that State, under Judge Poland.

   Coming West in the fall of 1855, he took charge of the public schools of
Upper Sandusky, Ohio, which position he occupied for two years. In the meantime
some of his former Vermont friends had come West and settled at Pella, Iowa, and
were interested in the young Baptist college recently organized there. In 1857
through their efforts he was invited to take charge of this college, but on
reaching the place the financial condition of the State and college was such
that he declined the position.

   At Winterset, Iowa, in the same year he formed the acquaintance of Hon. John
Leonard, and in the fall of that year formed a partnership with him in the law
business, which association continued until the year 1868. He allied himself at
once with the First Baptist Church of Winterset, at that time a small body
without a place of worship. From that day to the present, he has been a firm and
constant j supporter of that body, and has taken great pleasure in serving the
same in almost all capacities. He recalls with pleasure that he helped break
ground for the erection of the old, stone church edifice that still stands, an
old landmark, at the northeast corner of the public square, and that, when was
laid the corner stone of the new brick edifice that now stands as a credit to
the Baptist society and the town, he made the principal address, at the request
of the church. He wrought with his own hands quarrying rock for the old church,
and hauled sand for the same, driving an ox team. For four years in succession
he was elected and served as president of the Iowa Baptist State convention, a
body organized for missionary purposes. It is needless to say that the Judge
takes both pride and comfort in being a Baptist.

   In the spring of 1860 Leonard & Mott succeeded Cummings & Hutchings in
carrying on a small private banking institution which they had established on
the southwest corner of the public square. This was Mr. Mott's introduction to
the banking business, and to it reference will again be made herein.

   In September, 1862, the companies that were to compose the Thirty-ninth Iowa
Volunteer Infantry were about to go into camp at Des Moines, Iowa. Two of these
companies were raised in Madison county, and Mr. Mott had aided in securing
their enlistment. He also aided in getting H. J. B. Cummings, Captain of Company
F, Fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, appointed Colonel of the regiment, and hence
felt a deep interest in its fortunes, and when the regiment was finally
organized, accepted the position of Quartermaster thereof, and received his
commission from Governor Kirkwood September 14, 1862, going into camp at Des
Moines, Iowa, on the 20th of September of the same year. The regiment was
assigned to the command of Major General G. M. Dodge, at Corinth, Mississippi.
In the spring of 1863 he was appointed Adjutant of the regiment and served as
such until the regiment reached Savannah, Georgia, in December, 1864. There he
received his commission from President Lincoln and Secretary Stanton as
Assistant Adjutant General, with the rank of Captain, and on January 1, 1865,
was assigned for duty to the Third Brigade, Fourth Division, Fifteenth Army Corps.

   On the campaign from Savannah to Goldsboro, as executive officer of the
brigade, Mr. Mott claims that he did some hard work. The brigade was frequently
complimented by General Corse, commander of the division, for obeying promptly
all orders given. Though Mr. Mott was never wounded, this campaign brought upon
him physical disabilities that have ever since attended him.

   The Fifteenth Corps was disbanded at Louisville, Kentucky, at the close of
the war. Thereupon Mr. Mott telegraphed his resignation to Washington, District
of Columbia, which was accepted and he was discharged from the service July 10,
1865. He returned home and resumed the practice of law in company with Judge
Leonard.

   On the Atlanta campaign, hearing that they were about to organize a national
bank at Winterset, he wrote home saying: "Take all the stock possible; it is as
necessary to sustain the credit of the Government as it is to send soldiers to
the front." The First National Bank of Winterset, Iowa, was organized in 1865
and Mr. Mott has been connected with it from that time to the present, a period
of thirty years. For four years he was cashier of the bank and nearly all of
that time a director. This bank has been of great service to the mercantile and
farming community.

   In the fall of 1868 he was elected judge of the Second Circuit, Fifth
Judicial District of Iowa, comprising the counties of Madison, Adair, Cass,
Guthrie, Audubon, Greene and Carroll. For four years he held four terms of court
per annum in each of these counties. This was at a time when the railroads were
being constructed through the State, bringing in a large new population and
making litigation more prevalent, and consequently the dockets were heavy, and
he was called on to try many cases. It was apparent to many observers that it
was the ambition of Judge Mott to see to it that, as far as possible,
substantial justice was meted out to all parties resorting to his courts. The
result was that from a majority of the counties of his circuit there were no
appeals whatever, and from the others but a very few.

   In June, 1873, the regents of the Iowa State University elected him to the
professorship of pleading and practice in the law department of that
institution, which position he filled for two years, to the entire satisfaction
of all concerned. He resigned this position at the close of the college year, in
June, 1875, at the urgent request of his Baptist friends of the State, that
denomination having resolved to utilize the Centennial year, 1876, in efforts to
more fully endow all schools, colleges and universities under its control. He
accepted the presidency of the Des Moines College, which position he held until
the 1st of January, 1877, when ill health compelled him to resign. During his
connection with the college the main building was finished, rooms for the
societies and library were provided, and a large addition was made to the
endowment. Again locating at his old home in Winterset, Judge Mott resumed the
practice of law.

   We cannot better close this review than by quoting the words of an old
neighbor and law associate of Judge Mott's, who spoke of him as follows: "In all
the relations of life he aims to be true to the best interests of manhood, and
his worth is widely recognized. He is pleasant in his manner, kind-hearted and
charitable, ever ready with a kind word when a kind word will do good. He is an
earnest Christian worker, public-spirited and an invaluable citizen. As captain
and assistant adjutant general in the army, he was prompt, courteous, efficient
and gallant. As a judge he was pleasant in his treatment of the bar and
litigants, ever, anxious to see that fair play and justice were accorded to all.
Few appeals were taken from his rulings and in only two instances were his
rulings reversed by the Supreme Court of the State."

   Judge Mott has been twice married. At Grafton, Vermont, in 1856, he married
Emma E. Dean, daughter of Hon. Peter Dean, one of the foremost Baptists of that
State. Miss Dean was a lady of talent and culture and marked amiability. She was
preceptress of the Derby Academy of Vermont at the time it was under Judge
Mott's control. She died at Winterset, Iowa, in August, 1858. In July, 1861, be
was married to Mary J. Best, daughter of Mrs. Minerva Leonard, wife of Honorable
John Leonard. She was a student at the Baptist College, of Pella, Iowa, prior to
her marriage. She has been a faithful companion of the Judge in all the
vicissitudes of his life. She is a woman of marked individuality and of
executive ability. Her home is always attractive to her friends, and the members
of her household. Judge and Mrs. Mott are the parents of four sons: Shelton, the
oldest, is a successful clerk; Leonard is a young farmer in what was lately an
Indian reservation in Gregory county, South Dakota; the other two, Chester and
Myron, are still boys at home.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

A MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF IOWA

ILLUSTRATED

"A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendants."'—MACAULAY.

"Biography is by nature the must universally profitable, universally pleasant,
of all things."—CARLYLE

"History is only biography on a large scale"—LAMARTINE.

CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1896


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