HISTORY: Albia, Monroe County, Iowa This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Deb December 2002 Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ________________________________________________________ NOTE: For more information on Monroe County, Iowa Please visit the Monroe County, IAGenWeb page at http://iagenweb.org/monroe/ ________________________________________________________ Source: "Recollections and sketches of notable lawyers and public men of early Iowa: belonging to the first and second generations, with anecdotes and incidents illustrative of the times" by Edward Holcolm Stiles. Des Moines: Homestead Pub. Co., 1916, 993 pgs. CHAPTER XVI. ALBIA. Daniel Anderson, Judge John S. Townsend, Theodore B. Perry, Josiah T. Young, Lafayette Young, John W. H. Griffin, William A. Allison, William P. Hammond, George Yocum, B. F. Yocum, James Coen. Daniel Anderson was the first lawyer of distinction in Monroe County. He was born in Monroe County, Indiana, in 1821. His ancestors were of Scottish extraction. He carried the blood of the Revolution in his veins. His grandfather, George Anderson, was a soldier under General Washington. He was reared on the farm of his father in Indiana, received his education in the common schools and a course at Bloomington College in that State. Judge George C. Wright and Senator James Harlan were students there at that time and with them he formed a life-long friendship. Encouraged by the eminent lawyer, Richard Thompson, of Indiana, he commenced the study of law in 1846, was admitted to the bar of Indiana in 1847, came to Keokuk the following year, and in the spring of 1849 located permanently at Albia, in Monroe County. His county and mine were adjacent, in the same judicial district, and for thirty years we were associated as members of its bar. I knew him intimately and respected him greatly. He frequently attended our court at Ottumwa, and I his, at Albia. My last professional association with him was in the trial of Pleasant Anderson for the murder of Chris McAllister. The murder was committed near Blakesburg, in Wapello County, but the trial took place at Oskaloosa, in December, 1885, the venue having been changed to Mahaska County. I was employed by our county to assist the District Attorney, John A. Donnell, in the prosecution. Col. Dan Anderson, as he was familiarly known, for he had well earned that title, Judge H. B. Hendershott and John F. Lacey were for the defendant. It was a mysterious case and attracted wide public attention. Judge J. Kelly Johnson presided. The trial lasted for more than a week-adjourning one day for Christmas-with night sessions, and was very weary upon all the counsel, each one of whom took an active part in it. Colonel Anderson made the opening argument for the defense, the character of which is indicated in the telegram to the "State Register," contained in the attached foot note.* He early identified himself with the Whig Party. He was one of the organizers of the Republican Party and a delegate to its first State Convention, and by that Convention, which met in Philadelphia, in 1856. In 1854 he was the nominee of the Whig Party and was elected State Senator for the Counties of Monroe, Lucas and Clarke, and served in the regular session of the Fifth General Assembly, which convened in July, 1856. In the fall of 1856 he was re-elected to the State Senate, representing the same counties and served in the Sixth General Assembly which convened at Iowa City in December, 1856. In the fall of 1857 he was again re-elected for the same counties and served in the Seventh General Assembly, which convened for the first time at Des Moines, in January, 1858, and also in the regular session of the Eighth General Assembly which convened at Des Moines in January, 1860, and in the extra session of May, 1861. The Civil War had commenced, and returning to his home a the close of this special session, he immediately commenced raising a company of cavalry, of which he was elected captain, and it became Company "H" of the First Iowa Cavalry, commanded by the gifted General Fitz Henry Warren. In July, 1862, he was promoted to Major of the Third Battalion of his Regiment; in the following August he was made its Lieutenant-Colonel, and in August of the next year, 1863, he was promoted to the colonelency of the Regiment. At the end of his three years' term of service he resigned his commission, in 1864, and returned to his home in Albia, greatly broken in health from the hardships he had endured, and from which he never fully recovered. His valor and services as a soldier are attested by his successive promotions and by the unanimous testimony of the soldiers under his command. During his lengthy services as a legislator he was noted for his efficiency. Col. Warren S. Dungan said of him: Colonel Anderson took high rank in the Senate, and on account of his parliamentary skill and knowledge was frequently called to preside over that body. He was an American citizen of the truest type. He was the personification of _________ *Note--Special Dispatch to the State Register, Oskaloosa, December 28.--Judge Johnson charged the jury this morning in the Pleasant Anderson murder case, and the jury after being out seven hours, returned a verdict of "not guilty." Anderson was freed to go to the bedside of a sister now dying in this city. Hon. E. H. Stiles made the closing argument for the State, and he is given the credit of making the ablest argument ever delivered here. District Attorney Donnell and Major Lacey of the defense, also made efforts that won many compliments. The quiet presentation of the case by Colonel Daniel Anderson, of Albia, is voted one of the most convincing and one of the best in many ways. Fourteen days and nights were consumed in the trial, and nearly two hundred witnesses were examined. Judge Johnson won fresh laurels in the conduct of the case, and the charge is deemed markedly able. The verdict meets with popular approval. honesty and integrity throughout his entire life. He had no sordid ambition to accumulate wealth, and was as ready to spend his money for the good of his family, his friends, and his fellow-men as he was to earn it. He stood high in his profession and was universally esteemed by his fellow members of the bar. To these testimonials of his character I can heartily add my own. He was a very pleasant man to be with; his simplicity and generous traits were conspicuous throughout his life. He had a good clientage, but caring nothing for money save to minister to the comfort of others, he accumulated but little and died comparatively poor at his home in Albia in the eightieth year of his age, in 1901. I have omitted to mention that in the second election of President Lincoln, in 1864, he was one of the presidential electors on the Republican ticket; in 1867 he was appointed Register in Bankruptcy and filled this position until the Bankrupt Law was repealed. He was a good specimen of the old-time gentleman; resolute, sometimes arbitrary, in character; dignified in manners, but simple and unaffected in his intercourse with his fellow men; in figure, very tall and erect. For a period he was associated with a young lawyer, D. W. O'Bryan, who was killed many years ago in a runaway accident. Though our acquaintance had been short, I was attracted to O'Bryan by his engaging manners, his brilliant temperament and the great promise, as it seemed to me, that he gave of becoming a notable man. Colonel Anderson took great interest in him and appeared to think as much of him as he did of his own sons. After the death of Mr. O'Bryan, Colonel Anderson took into partnership with him his son, D. M. Anderson, who became a lawyer of note, and is now the able Judge of the District Court of that district. Judge John S. Townsend came to the bench of the Second Judicial District in 1858 or 1859, succeeding Judge Henry B. Hendershott. He had been on the bench immediately previous to that since 1853 in a district differently composed. The constitution of 1857 made a change, and Monroe County became a part of the Second Judicial District. Judge Hendershott was the regular Democratic candidate for re-election. Samuel W. Summers was the Republican candidate. Through some arrangement, Summers withdrew and Townsend was induced to become an Independent candidate and was elected after a heated and somewhat bitter contest. Judge Hendershott, by his uniform amiable bearing, and especially by his helpful kindness to young men, had greatly endeared himself to them, and the means through which he had been defeated as the regular candidate, had a strong tendency to prejudice them against his successor. But this wore away, and in time we became perfectly reconciled to Judge Townsend. He served the full term of four years, making his entire judicial service in both districts, ten years. While, as already indicated, he was without that outward kindness, and that felicity of speech and action that characterized Judge Hendershott, he made a good judge, for he had been a hard-working student, was a well- grounded lawyer, and his character was above reproach. A long acquaintance convinced me, that at heart he was a very kindly man, and such he had the credit of being by those who knew him intimately. His old townsman, Josiah T. Young, once Secretary of State, writes that "he made no display of his good actions, and that in giving to the poor and needy, his liberality was well marked." Another distinguished townsman, and for many years his partner, T. B. Perry, writes: "He was entirely free from hypocrisy and deception. Though unassuming and retiring in his nature, no man was more tender of heart for those in trouble or distress." As a lawyer, his course was marked by great industry, and all his transactions were of the most systematic and methodical kind. Before he was elected judge, he was the Prosecuting Attorney of Monroe County, to which he was elected in 1851, and its representative in the House of the Fourth General Assembly, to which he was elected in 1852, and rendered services that were markedly creditable. Upon his retirement from the bench, he formed a law partnership with T. B. Perry, which continued for many years, and until he retired from the practice along in 1883, I think. The remainder of his life was quietly spent, intermingled with travel, in enjoying the fruits of his labor. Judge Townsend was a native of Morganfield, Kentucky, where he was born in 1824. When he was six years of age the family removed to Putnam County, Indiana, where John was reared and received his primary education, afterward entering and graduating from Asbury University. His father, James Townsend, had been a planter and slaveholder, manumitting his slaves on account of conscientious scruples before his removal to Indiana. John's brother, it is said, was Clerk of the Courts in Putnam County, and that John, in assisting him, acquired his love for the legal profession. In 1850 he came to Iowa, stopping for a short time in Lucas County, and later in the year locating permanently at Albia. His subsequent rise in the profession has already been noted. His name became widely known. His first wife, Mary Brooks, died in 1852, leaving one son, Rufus B. Townsend, who became a lawyer and was one term District Attorney. He died in the year 1900 in Arkansas. For his second wife, Judge Townsend married Annie Catherine Elbert, a daughter of Dr. John D. Elbert, an early settler and well-known man of Van Buren County. Judge Townsend died at Albia in 1892, leaving beside the son already mentioned, Judge James Elbert Townsend, of El Paso, Texas, Dr. Wilber Townsend, of Los Angeles, California, and Fred Townsend, a lawyer and public man of note in Monroe County. Theodore B. Perry was a young lawyer of the Albia Bar when I came to Ottumwa in 1856. He studied law with Judge John S. Townsend, was admitted to the bar in 1854, and the same year elected Prosecuting Attorney for Monroe County. Our counties adjoined, and we frequently met in their courts and elsewhere through the period of thirty years and until my removal to Kansas City. I knew him well. He was strongly marked. He possessed stubborn characteristics, great forcefulness and tenacity of purpose, quick perception, a practical mind, self-confidence, and courage to the point of audacity. These qualities combining with a good legal groundwork, brought him rapidly to the front and early gave him rank as one of the best trial lawyers in the State; and this reputation he has sustained for more than half a century. For part of this period, the law was his most absorbing pursuit, but later he devoted considerable attention to accumulating, and amassed a comfortable fortune. Upon the retirement of Judge Townsend from the bench early in the sixties, he and T. B. Perry entered into partnership, and there was scarcely a case of great importance in Monroe County during their more than twenty years of partnership in which they were not engaged. The same may be said of Mr. Perry after the retirement of Judge Townsend, and the name of one or both will be frequently found running through the series of the Supreme Court reports of their periods. Mr. Perry took great interest in collecting and preserving authentic material relating to the early history of the State. He was an active member of the Pioneer Law Makers' Association; prepared and read several interesting historical papers before it, and at one time was its President. He never paid much attention to or wasted much time on politics. He could see no adequate compensation in that field. It was not, however, entirely neglected, for as we have seen, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney in 1854, and in 1858 he was elected a member of the First State Board of Education, and in 1891 to the State Senate, and served in the Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth General Assembly with marked efficiency as the author of several important measures that passed into the laws of the State. He took a great interest in education. He had been a teacher before he was a lawyer, and was well-fitted to be a member of the first Board of Education under the constitution of 1857. I was present at the Reunion of the Pioneer Law Makers' Association in 1898, before which he read a paper he had prepared, entitled "The Iowa Board of Education." It covered the period of his service and was historically and graphically interesting, and from it I cannot refrain from making the following extract, because of the fine light it throws upon his associates on the board, and Mr. Perry's aptness of description: As to the membership of the first board, a large per cent were teachers, which peculiarly fitted them and qualified them as useful legislators on the subject of education and schools. Lieutenant-Governor Oran Faville was an intellectual and finely educated man, a successful teacher, a good parliamentarian, a superior presiding officer, and was highly esteemed by all. Dan Mills was the father of the Mills brothers, so well known in Des Moines as enterprising publishers and prominent business men. D. E. Brainard was the oldest member and I the youngest. Mr. Brainard ws the humorist of the body, and could tell a good story. S. F. Cooper was a useful member. He had a good education and considerable experience in teaching, and was active and efficient in all that pertained to his duties as a member of the board. T. H. Canfield was a Congregational clergyman, strong in his political convictions, but of good intentions and kind impulses. Still he was always satisfied to keep in line with his party in all its movements. F. M. Connelly was a young man who had just entered upon the practice of law. He was regarded by all as honorable and upright in every way, and one whose desire was to do right, fearlessly at all times. O. H. P. Roszelle had been a teacher and, as I now recollect, county superintendent of Buchanan County. He was an honest, earnest, unassuming man, and made a useful member. He was one of the most zealous advocates of the township system. A. B. F. Hildreth, then and still a resident of Charles City, was a thoroughbred Massachusetts Yankee and never afraid to express himself in advocacy of what he believed to be right. He was a newspaper editor, but, from his manner and conversation, I always suspected that he had had a large experience as a teacher. He was not subject to any embarrassment while occupying the floor in advocating the township system. In fact, I do not call to mind now that I ever saw him laboring under what might be called embarrassment. But he was one of the most active and useful members of the board. I. J. Mitchell, of Boone, was an excellent young man. There was no more conscientious, fair minded or worthy member of the board. He had a red head, and, when occupying the floor, seemed to be terribly in earnest and no man ever doubted his sincerity. Governor Lowe was so well known in Iowa for his high character and useful life as not to require special attention at my hands, further than to say that he gave the subject of education his heartiest support and was an ex-officio and active member of the board. George P. Kimball was a teacher and was very much in earnest in all his undertakings, which rendered him a useful member. He was a warm friend of the township system, and gave it his hearty support. In conclusion of what I have to say of my personal recollections of the membership of the board of the first session, I shall speak of Judge Mason. He was clearly the ablest member. Besides his great intellect, he had the benefit of superior opportunities and advantages over most men. Mr. Perry was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1832, where he was reared and educated. In his eighty-third year and in the full possession of his intellectual powers, he is still on deck, though leaning somewhat, like myself, on the ship's forecastle for support. Josiah T. Young and his brother, Lafayette Young, both became prominent in the State's affairs. Josiah was born in Johnson County, Indiana, in 1831, and died at Albia in 1907. Lafayette is still living. Josiah, I became early acquainted with; he was then Clerk of the District Court of Monroe County, to which he was elected in 1866, and was twice re-elected, holding that office for six years. In the fall of 1872 he was elected on the Republican ticket, Secretary of State, re-elected in 1874, and again in 1876. Before the war he had been a Democrat, and in 1860 he was instrumental in establishing the "Monroe County Sentinel," which advocated the election of Stephen A. Douglas to the Presidency. In 1862 he became a soldier in Company "K," of the Thirty-Sixth Regiment of Iowa Infantry. His army experience was a trying one, including a number of severe battles, in the last of which, the bloody one of Mark's Mills, he was taken prisoner and endured a most loathsome and horrifying captivity for eight or nine months in a southern prison. A full account of his military experience will be found in the United States Biographical Dictionary for Iowa, 1878. In addition to the other offices mentioned to which he was elected, was that of Representtive in the House of the Twenty- Third General Assembly. For many years he was an infulential citizen of Monreo County and the State. His educational advantages had been very meagre, but by dint of his characteristic perseverance and his determinatiion, he made amends for this defieciency and became an honor to the commonwealty. He was plain in manners and address and there was not a false fibre in his character. He was utterly devoid of hypocrisy and well verified the saying, that an honest man is the noblest work of God. Lafayette Young was born in Monroe County in 1848. He became noted as a man of extraordinary talents. He learned the printer's trade and mastered its every detail. He engaged in newspaper work and in that field as editor and writer, attained great prominence. He was regarded as one of the most graceful and pungent writers of his time, and his editorials were frequently reproduced in other newspapers. He early went to Atlantic in Cass County, where he established a newspaper called the "Telegraph." In 1873 he was elected State Senator, representing the Counties of Adair, Cass, Adams and Union. In 1877 he was re-elected, and again in 1885, serving in all twelve years in the Senate. In 1890 he became proprietor of the "Iowa Capital," published at Des Moines, and under his editorial management it became one of the most widely known newspapers in the country, and one of the most powerful organs of the Republican Party. He was not only an editor of ability, but an eloquent orator, and may be properly termed a highly gifted man. General W. L. Alexander told me, in a conversation I had with him the other day in reference to Lafayette Young, that he was one of the most finished and eloquent speakers he ever heard. A specimen of Mr. Young in that behalf will be found in connection with the sketch of Charles Aldrich. In 1893 he was a prominent candidate before the Republican State Convention for Governor, and from 1894 to 1900 he held the office of State Binder. During the Spanish-American War he went with our army to the field as War Correspondent, and furnished strikingly graphic reports of the military operations. Speaking of Josiah Young as having been Clerk of the District Court of Monre County, reminds me of John W. H. Griffin, who was his Deputy, afterward Clerk himself, as is still a fixture in that office. The following Associated Press dispatch, which I clipped from a newspaper at the time, will throw sufficient light on the subject: Albia, June 30, 1913.--John W. H. Griffin was given a letter shower June 27th, by the members of the Monroe County bar and by his numerous friends. The occasion was the forty-fourth anniversary of his clerkship in the county clerk's office, both as county clerk and deputy. He is eighty years old and celebrated his golden wedding five years ago. He is still active and vigorous, rides a bicycle, and his mind still gives him power to take an active part in business life. One who has served the public so long and faithfully, deserves the notice I have thus given to him. There were two or three other early lawyers of considerable note that located in Albia, and with whom I became acquainted. They were William A. Allison, William P. Hammond, George Yocum, B. F. Yocum, and James Coen, but concerning them I have no data save a little obtained from Col. Dan Anderson some thirty-five years ago, and of which I made a memoranda at the time, and my own recollection. Allison, Colonel Anderson informed me, came from Ohio and located in Albia soon after he did. They were both associated with Cyrus Walker in the defense of Cap Ross for killing Doctor Wright at a land sale in Ottumwa. The trial was in the old log courthouse at Albia. Allison subsequently went to Texas for his health, returning to Eddyville in Wapello County in a year or two afterward, where he died of consumption. I became acquainted with him while he was in Eddyville. He was a learned and excellent lawyer, but on account of his health, did but little practice after I knew him. Henry N. Clements, of Eddyville, studied law with him, and afterward went to California. William P. Hammond, according to Colonel Anderson, came to Albia in 1855 or 1856. I recollect him distinctly. He was an exceedingly bright and ingenius lawyer, with black hair, fine black eyes, and a pale face upon which consumption had set its mark, and of which he died some forty years ago. George Yocum came soon after Hammond. Both he and Hammond used frequently to attend our courts at Ottumwa. He was slight of figure, wore spectacles and looked like a young professor. He was exceedingly vivacious, made quite a lively figure in court, and had talents of no mean order. He was associated with his brother, B. F. Yocum. He moved away or died very many years ago. James Coen came a few years later. He was crippled in his feet and legs, which made it difficult for him to get about. He was a very industrious lawyer and made his way quite successfully in the profession. He, too died many years ago.