Polk County IA Archives Biographies.....Granger, Barlow 1816 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 14, 2007, 8:08 pm

Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1896)

COLONEL BARLOW GRANGER is one of the oldest and most honored residents of Des
Moines. He was born in Cayuta, Tioga county, New York, May 31, 1816, and is a
son of Erastus and Betsey (Gillet) Granger, the former born November 18, 1787,
the latter December 16, 1787; she died June 24, 1840. His grandfather, Daniel
Granger, was born August 14, 1765, and made farming his life work. He married
Sarah Searles and reared a large family. His death occurred March 29, 1814. The
maternal grandfather lived and died in Connecticut.

   Erastus Granger was a farmer and tavern-keeper. He was married February 4,
1813, to Miss Gillet, who was born December 16, 1787. They became the parents of
four children,-Barlow, Sallie, Locke and one who died in infancy. The father
held various public offices and was a prominent and influential citizen. He died
in Woodhull, Steuben county, New York, when about seventy-three years of age,
and his wife, who was a member of the Presbyterian Church, passed away in Green,
Chenango county, New York, June 24, 1840. Colonel Granger was reared in
Cortland, New York, and during his boyhood was apprenticed to Hon. Henry S.
Randall, serving on the first newspaper published in that place, called the
Cortland Advocate. He had acquired a limited education in Rochester, New York,
to which place his father had removed in 1823 from Newtown, now Elmira. The
printing-office proved to him a school in which he learned many valuable
lessons, and remained with Mr. Randall until 1835, when he began work as a
journeyman printer. He found himself in Albany with only twelve cents in his
pocket, and, leaving his trunk as security for his dinner, he started by
steamboat, paying half his shilling for fare, for Troy, New York, where he
succeeded in obtaining employment. During the few succeeding years he worked in
New York, New Haven, Hudson, Ohio, Cleveland and Detroit. In the last mentioned
city he worked on the first statutes of Michigan. In 1838 he was again in
Albany, where he helped to "setup" the first statutes of Wisconsin. The next
year he went to Columbus, Georgia, and finally to Charleston, South Carolina,
where he was employed on the Courier for two years. One of the owners of that
paper was Mr. King, between whom and our subject there sprang up a very warm
friendship. When Colonel Granger was first in Charleston, Mr. King lent him $60
to enable him to get to Columbus, although he was a total stranger and had no
security to give. From that time forward the two gentlemen were warm friends,
the Colonel ever gratefully remembering the gentleman who proved to him a
benefactor in the early days when he was trying to gain a start in life. He
afterward returned to Albany, where he remained until the spring of 1847, anc*
then went to Buffalo and started on a trip up the lakes. He visited Chicago,
pushing on through to Wisconsin and St. Paul, Minnesota, which was then but an
Indian trading-post. In the fall of that year he boarded a steamer at St. Paul
and went down the river to St. Louis with the intention of returning to Albany,
but instead secured work on the St. Louis Republican.

   The next summer Colonel Granger, with a friend from Albany, James B. Jones,
made a trip into Iowa, and followed the valley of the Des Moines to Fort Des
Moines, then a hamlet consisting of a few log cabins erected for the soldiers
and one or two frame buildings. He was much pleased with the situation, and
though he took the trip with no such intention in view, he determined to remain
here. His friend was a son of Nathaniel Jones, a prominent politician of the
Empire State. They reached Fort Des Moines in August, 1848, having traveled by
boat to Keokuk, and from there by stage to Fairfield, where they hired a horse
and buggy and drove to their destination. They were not altogether suited with
the prospects of Des Moines and determined to seek another location, but the
road which they took on leaving the fort led them past the site of the Colonel's
present suburban residence, where such a magnificent view of the Des Moines
valley met their gaze that they were charmed, and at once changing their
determination they decided to remain. The Colonel declared that he would have
the tract of land upon which they stood as the site of his future residence, and
Mr. Jones chose the place where B. F. Allen afterward erected his mansion.
Having settled this important matter these gentlemen returned to the fort and
established themselves in the real-estate and land-warrant business, then the
most important and promising field of operation. Having a strong credit they
succeeded in negotiating a loan of $5,000, and entered upon the new field of
undertaking. The Colonel was also admitted to the bar in the summer of 1848 and
began the practice of that profession.

   In 1849 he established the first paper published at Des Moines, which he
called the Iowa Star, and now for forty-seven years he has been actively
interested in and identified with the development of the capital city of Iowa.
He was appointed a member of the staff of Governor Hempstead, with the rank of
Colonel, and has held other positions of honor and trust. He was for a time
Prosecuting Attorney for Polk county, afterward served as County Judge, was
elected as Mayor of Des Moines, and subsequently filled the same position in the
suburban town of Sevastopol. He made extensive and judicious investments in real
estate, and the growth of the city and the consequent rise in land values has
made him independently wealthy. His farm is now comprised within the limits of
the city, and faces the State capitol.

   On the 7th of October, 1856, Colonel Granger was united in marriage with Mrs.
Lucinda L. Rush, the ceremony being performed by the Right Rev. Dr. Drake. She
was the widow of Hon. John W. Rush and a daughter of Daniel and Abbie (Van
Schaick) Powers, who were originally from Pennsylvania, and removed to Ohio and
later to Indiana. Mrs. Granger was born in Montgomery county, Indiana, March 12,
1825, and came to Des Moines in 1849 with her first husband, who died two years
later. At the time of his marriage, the Colonel built his present commodious and
elegant residence, which is situated south of the capitol in the southern part
of the city, on a picturesque bluff which commands an extensive view of the
city, the river and the valley. There is nothing in the vicinity of Des Moines
to equal the beautiful and varied scenes spread out to the gaze from the
Colonel's grounds. The broad sweep of the river and valley, the magnificent city
with its 70,000 inhabitants, and the rich and undulating country, form a picture
well worthy the skill of the finest artist. Within the brief space of forty-six
years this magnificent city has grown to its present dimensions, and to-day it
stands without a rival in the State. Foremost among those who aided in the
growth and development of Des Moines stands Colonel Granger; and when it was
hoped to locate the capital here no man exerted more influence or labored more
earnestly for it than he.

   The Colonel usually supports the Democratic party, but is independent and
original in his political views. In his home he is seen at his best, being
devoted to his family and generous in his hospitality. He is an entertaining
host, possessing a rich fund of anecdote and an intimate knowledge of public men
and current events. He is one of the oldest residents of Des Moines, being now
in his eightieth year. No celebration held in the city is considered complete
without his presence, and he is one of the most highly esteemed and honored
residents of Iowa, where for forty-seven years he has made his home, devoted to
the welfare of his adopted State.


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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