Wapello County IA Archives Biographies.....Hutchison, Joseph G. 1840 - 1910
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Source: See Below
Author: S. J. Clarke, Publisher

JOSEPH G. HUTCHISON.

Ottumwa was proud to number Joseph G. Hutchison among her citizens. Here he made
his home from December, 1865, until his death and his life was one of increasing
usefulness to the community. His name figures in connection with progressiveness
along commercial and financial lines, and he had marked influence in shaping the
policy of the state on a number of important occasions. None questioned his
public spirit, and his devotion to the welfare of the state, for many tangible
evidences may be cited of his deep and abiding interest in Iowa’s welfare, an
interest which at times reached the point of self-sacrifice.

Mr. Hutchison was a native of Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred in
Northumberland county in 1840. He was descended from Scotch-Irish ancestry, the
paternal strain being Scotch. His maternal grandparents, Caldwell by name, came
from the north of Ireland in 1798, while his grandmother Hutchison, whose maiden
name was Guilford, was of English descent. His grandfather Hutchison was a
prominent figure in public life in Pennsylvania and at one time was a member of
the general assembly, representing a district which comprised about one-third of
the state.

Joseph G. Hutchison received the advantages of college training and was a highly
educated and classical scholar. He was a student in the Williamsport Dickinson
Seminary at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, completing a four years' course by
graduation in June, 1862. He had but entered upon the period of early manhood at
the time of the outbreak of the Civil war and in 1862, when a young man of
twenty-two years, he offered his services to the government, becoming first
lieutenant of the One Hundred and Thirty-first Regiment of Pennsylvania
Volunteer Infantry, which was assigned to duty with the Army of the Potomac. He
was a brave, loyal and fearless soldier and participated in many of the hotly
contested engagements which led up to the final victory that crowned the Union
arms, including the battles of Fredericksburg, Antietam and Chancellorsville. In
the report of the commanding general he was given special mention for gallantry
in the charge of Mary’s Hill at the battle of Fredericksburg. He also took part
in the sanguinary conflict at Gettysburg as Captain of Company I, Twenty-eighth
Regiment of Pennsylvania Infantry.

With the close of his military service Mr. Hutchison took up the study of law
and following his graduation from the Cleveland (Ohio) Law School he came to
Iowa in the spring of 1865, settling first at Des Moines. In December of that
year, however, he removed to Ottumwa, where he continued to make his home until
his demise. He was led to take this step through the influence and offer of
Senator Stiles, a member of the Ottumwa bar, who in that year had been elected
to the upper house of the Iowa general assembly and wished to enter into
partnership with a promising and reliable young man who could take charge of the
law practice during the absence of the senior partner of the firm at the
capitol. Writing of this Senator E. H. Stiles said:

"Captain A. A. Stuart, who was then seeing through the press his 'Iowa Colonels
and Regiments,' had, while in Des Moines for that purpose, become acquainted
with Captain Hutchison, whom he strongly recommended to me. He said young
Hutchison had served as a soldier and officer in the Civil war, that he had
received a good education, legal and otherwise, and had entered upon the
practice at Des Moines; that he was high-minded, honorable and altogether one of
the most estimable young men he had ever met. Upon this I wrote Mr. Hutchison,
telling him of the high recommendation he had received at the hands of Captain
Stuart and suggested that if he saw fit to come down to Ottumwa and hold an
interview with me it might result in an association that would be mutually
satisfactory. He accordingly came. I took him to my house and he remained with
us until the next day. We were greatly pleased with him, for he was one of those
men whose very presence indicates inborn high qualities. The result was that we
formed a law partnership which continued for seven years and until he diverged
into more profitable lines. At the outset he became a member of my family and so
continued until his marriage with Miss Sarah L. Taylor in 1868. He was one of
the purest and most lovable of men. During the whole period of our partnership
there was not the slightest friction between us and I found that he possessed to
the fullest extent all the fine qualities which Stuart had attributed to him.
Lie was diligent and efficient as a lawyer and nothing was ever neglected either
in the office or in the courts that came under his hands. He had a good legal
epuipment and his industry was untiring. Had he strictly adhered to the
profession and turned his face against all allurements to enter other
enterprises he would have made a careful, deliberate and able judge and would
doubtless have attained and graced that position had he continued in his
profession. Fie certainly would have been an incorruptible one, for I have never
known a man with a higher sense of honor or more perfect integrity, and for
these qualities he was distinguished to the end of his days."

At length, however, Mr. Hutchison abandoned professional activity to enter into
other lines of business that promised quicker returns and from that time forward
was a leading factor in industrial, commercial and financial circles in Ottumwa.
In 1872 he aided in the organization of the Johnston Ruffler Company, which
conducted business successfully for a number of years, when its shareholders
organized the Ottumwa Iron Works. During his connection with the former company
Mr. Hutchison and his wife went abroad and resided in England for a year,
representing the interests of the company in that land. On the return voyage to
the United States he formed an acquaintance with T. D. Foster, who was then on
his way to America with a view of establishing a large packing house for the
English firm of John Morrell & Company, and it was through Captain Hutchison's
influence that Mr. Foster chose Ottumwa as a favorable site for the new
undertaking, and thus won for the city an industry that has been of incalculable
benefit in the promotion of the material progress and welfare of this section.

After continuing actively in business for a few years Mr. Hutchison reentered
the field of law forming a partnership with I. N. Mast, but in three or four
years he again diverged from the profession, entering the political arena and
later becoming once more active in business. His fellow townsmen, appreciative
of his worth and ability, called him to serve the public by electing him to the
state legislature in 1879. His term of service was one of great efficiency and
was followed by his election to the state senate in 1881 and his reelection in
1884. For ten years, therefore, he continued a member of the general assembly,
winning a most enviable reputation by reason of his connection with much
important constructive legislation. He was able in argument upon the floor of
the house and senate and was most careful and persistent in his advocacy of wise
measures. Of his public career a contemporary biographer writes: "During his
senatorial terms he was a member of the ways and means and judiciary committees
and, it is said, he had more to do in shaping the policy that paid off the state
debt than any other man in the legislature. He was the author of the
registration system for elections, which is now giving the greatest satisfaction
to men of all parties, although it was opposed at the beginning by those who did
not understand its beneficent effect in securing an honest ballot. Mr. Hutchison
also devoted a great share of his attention to railroad legislation and
organized the committee which took the matter in charge, and at last brought
about reforms that were advantageous to the people." 

Touching this subject Governor Gue, in volume 4, page 141, of his History of
Iowa, says:

"Senator Hutchison was the author of the law for the registration of voters
which has become the settled policy of the state. As a member of the committees
of judiciary, appropriations and chairman of the ways and means committee he
became a leader of the senate and by wise measures relieved the state from a
large indebtedness during his term of service."

The indebtedness referred to by Governor Gue was the large one owing to the
school fund from the state and which was paid, through the efforts of and under
an act drafted by Senator Hutchison, from the money refunded by the general
government for the direct tax which it had received from the state. The payment
of this obligation left the state entirely free from debt. William H. Fleming,
who had been private secretary under five different governors and was thoroughly
informed concerning the legislative history of Iowa wrote concerning the
extinction of that debt and how it was brought about through the act of Senator
Hutchison:

"The final extinction of this debt came about in Governor Boies' administration,
but it was because of the operation of an act drafted in 1888 by Senator
Hutchison, whom Boies defeated for the governorship a year later. That act
directed that the proceeds of the expected refund should be applied to the
payment of the debt from the state to the school fund. The money came in 1891
and the school fund debt was paid from it, as directed bv the act referred to.
Thus, while it might be said that the debt was actually liquidated during Boies'
administration, it was because of Hutchison's work that it was done."

The splendid record made by Senator Hutchison in legislative halls led to his
nomination by the republican party for the office of governor in 1889. Writing
of this his old law partner, Senator Stiles, said:

"For thirty-five years the republican party had been continually in power and no
democrat had occupied the gubernatorial chair; but the immense republican
majorities had been declining in the latter years because of popular
dissatisfaction, especially in the larger cities, with the radical attitude of
the party on the question of general and absolute prohibition. It was thought by
many that in the cities referred to it was a dead letter and furnished the
pernicious example of constant law breaking. So strong had this feeling become
on the one hand and so strong the radicalism of the republican party on the
other that it made the political condition not only critical but threatened
party defeat; and the party was defeated. Horace Boies, the democratic
candidate, was elected. The same experience was repeated at the next
gubernatorial election when Governor Boies was reelected over Hiram Wheeler, the
republican candidate. And the same results would have continued had not the
party leaders joined in enacting the local option or Mulct law; upon which the
republican party was restored to power. It is thus clear that Mr. Hutchison's
defeat was not attributable to any personal ground, but solely to the causes
alluded to. If the election had rested alone on personal grounds he would
undoubtedly have been triumphantly elected."

In the meantime Mr. Hutchison engaged in banking, becoming one of the promoters
of the Ottumwa National Bank, of which he served as president for seven years,
when he resigned to accept the nomination for governor. The policy which he had
inaugurated and maintained was such as left the bank in excellent condition. In
1891 he entered the mercantile field as founder and proprietor of an extensive
wholesale grocery house, conducted under the style of J. G. Hutchison & Company.
He built up a large business and carefully and successfully guided its destinies
until his life's labors were ended in death in April, 1910.

Mr. Hutchison was twice married. He first wedded Sarah L. Taylor, on the 4th of
November, 1868. They traveled life's journey happily together until separated by
death on the 2d of November, 1896. On the 23d of June, 1898, Mr. Hutchison
wedded Miss Mabel Vernon Dixon, a daughter of Hon. J. W. Dixon, of whom more
extended mention is made on following pages of these volumes.

J. G. Hutchison & Company, wholesole grocers, is one of the visible evidences of
the marked ability of Mr. Hutchison, who was ever a man of action rather than of
theory, and when he saw opportunities—which by the way he readily recognized —he
utilized them to the full. He was a distinguished lawyer, an able business man
and a gifted statesman, and most of all he was a public-spirited citizen and a
high-minded Christian gentleman. In all of his public career he ever placed the
general welfare before partisanship and the public good before personal
aggrandizement. He did not hesitate to sacrifice his own interests if the
welfare of the community could be advanced. Life was to him purposeful and no
duty was ever neglected. When he came to the parting of the ways between right
and wrong he never hesitated as to his course, and his path was ever one of
ascent to the higher planes of citizenship, morality, duty and integrity.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY IOWA
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME II
CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1914


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