Wapello County IA Archives Biographies.....Hutchison, Mabel V. Dixon 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 June 29, 2013, 1:59 pm

Source: See Below
Author: S. J. Clarke, Publisher

MRS. MABEL V. DIXON HUTCHISON.

There have been exhibited in the life of Mrs. Mabel Vernon Dixon Hutchison many
phases which perhaps might be more aptly termed many lines of capability.
Thoroughly womanly in all those qualities which have made her a leader in social
circles and placed her at the head of the Iowa Federation of Women's Clubs, she
is now proving equally successful as the head of an extensive wholesale business
house, taking up the work of management and control following the demise of her
husband.

A native of Iowa, she belonged to a well known family, her parents being J. W.
and Sallie Ann (Vernon) Dixon, who came from Pennsylvania to Ottumwa immediately
after their marriage. The Vernons came originally from Cheshire, England, their
ancestors being possessors of Haddon Hall, from which Dorothy Vernon eloped with
Sir John Manners, a romantic story of which use has been made by a novelist and
also a playwright. Both the Dixon and Vernon families were from good old Quaker
stock of Pennsylvania. J. W. Dixon, following his graduation from the law school
at Poughkeepsie, New York, removed to Iowa in 1856 and soon became a prominent
factor in connection with the history of the state. He represented his district
as senator in the ninth and tenth general assemblies and as representative in
the fifteenth and sixteenth general assemblies. His statesmanship and the
ability with which he handled many important problems did much toward shaping
the public policy of Iowa concerning legislation at that period. He was the
opponent of ex-Governor Gear for speaker of the house in a contest that
continued for two weeks. His marked intellectual strength and broad knowledge,
his independence and originality of thought and his pleasing and persuasive
oratory made him a man of marked influence, and he left the impress of his
individuality upon the history of the commonwealth. His position was never an
equivocal one. He stood loyally for what he believed to be right and when
convinced that he was following a correct course neither fear nor favor could
cause him to change. Of his wife it has been said: "Mrs. Dixon was possessed of
rare traits of character and her friends spoke of her as unselfish to a fault."
A happy, carefree childhood was that of Miss Dixon, spent largely in the
companionship of her sister, in the enjoyment of outdoor pleasures. A newspaper
of recent date wrote: "To her everything and everybody was interesting. The
family home was apart from other houses, in the midst of spacious grounds, which
favored an early tendency to search for geological specimens and also form
acquaintance with the birds that filled the woodland with song—a nature study
which she pursues with interest to the present time."

In 1898 Mabel Vernon Dixon gave her hand in marriage to the Hon. J. G.
Hutchison, who in 1866 had become a law partner of her father and of Judge E. H.
Stiles. Mr. Hutchison and Mr. Dixon held property interests together for many
years, and as an intimate friend of the family Mr. Hutchison was the legal
adviser to whom Miss Dixon turned when she was made acting executrix and had
full charge of the estate of her father following his death in 1889. Like her
father, Mr. Hutchison was active in public life and few men were more thoroughly
informed concerning affairs relative to state and nation. He was chosen to
represent his district in the eighteenth general assembly in 1882 and through
the nineteenth, twentieth, twenty-first and twenty-second general assemblies was
state senator. In the year preceding his death he established a wholesale house,
founding the important and extensive enterprise of which Mrs. Hutchison is now
the head.

Long before assuming charge of this business, however, Mrs. Hutchison had become
a recognized leader. At all times she has been actuated by broad humanitarian
principles. For twenty years she labored untiringly in the Sunday-school work of
the Trinity Episcopal church of Ottumwa and was instrumental in the organization
of the boy choir. She was at one time on the board of directors of the Young
Women's Christian Association of Ottumwa, and she has done splendid work in
support of the Ottumwa Hospital Association. In club circles, too, she rose to
prominence. She was one of the founders of the Ottumwa Women's Club and for
several years most of the meetings of the art department and the domestic
science department were held at her home. She is president of the Art Club of
Ottumwa and has a sincere interest in all those activities wherein women are
broadening and uplifting the standards of the home and at the same time
increasing its influence toward a happier condition among the human brotherhood.
Her interest in the club movement resulted in her attending the State Federation
of Women's Clubs at its meeting in Cedar Rapids, and there she was elected
treasurer of the state organization, in which capacity she served for four
years, from 1895 until 1899. She was elected president of the state federation
in 1899 and rendered a permanent service to the club movement in Iowa by the
formation of district organizations, through which a closer bond is felt among
clubs of neighboring counties and the worth of the state federation is brought
nearer to individual clubs. She was president of an organization known as the
Iowa Ex-Presidents Association, comprising all women who have held the office of
president of the Iowa Federation of Women's Clubs. This was formed chiefly for
the pleasure of social intercourse among its members and is now an advisory
committee of the state organization. She has not allowed practical affairs to
crowd out tastes fostered through years of careful study. She is deeply
interested in all art subjects and her musical nature has enhanced her pleasure
in life and contributed to the development of things musical about her.

Mrs. Hutchison has recently built the wholesale house which J. G. Hutchison &
Company now occupy. The building is ideally located facing a city park as well
as being provided with all necessary facilities for shipping. Of her work Mrs.
Hutchison says: "After the death of Mr. Hutchison I found I was facing new and
strange conditions. Bowed to the earth in the loss of my life's inspiration and
having few relatives and no one available to assist in the situation, I decided
that the only thing for me to do was to take up the work laid down by my husband
and seek to carry out his ideas and ideals. This I have striven hard to do. I
have found that the president of a wholesale grocery has little time for thought
outside of the routine of business. My work has grown interesting, as success
will in any line. There are so many women in business these days that no
surprise is shown in meeting a woman in place of a man at the head of any
enterprise. Business men are always most courteous to women in business.

"We are all creatures of circumstance. Mostly we fit into the place that seems
made for us. Work, energy, enthusiasm, good hard common sense will always bring
success. To be at the head of a wholesale business is not as usual for a woman
as a man, but it is not any easier for a woman than a man. Unless a woman has to
take hold of work in a mercantile life I could not advise one to adopt it for a
life work as a matter of choice. I do not feel that it is the woman's sphere,
because it cuts her off from so much that she is especially suited for.

"There was a time when I felt that every woman could and should forge to the
front in the world's work. Viewing life now from a different point of view I see
woman's power just as great, but am willing that men should battle with the
great problems of the world. Woman should be conversant with the burning
questions of the times and should be man's constant inspiration for high and
noble thought and action. I believe, too, that woman should have the right to
vote if she is a tax-payer. No woman feels justly treated to live under taxation
without representation."

Mrs. Hutchison is giving her foremost thought and talent to promote her business
interests, with perhaps a frequent realization that "The secret of happiness is
not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one has to do."

Phillips Brooks has said: "Pray not to have tasks equal to your powers but to be
given power equal to your tasks." Unused to the stress and strain of business,
Mrs. Hutchison entered upon her present work and has found that her powers have
developed to meet the emergency of the hour. At the same time she has maintained
an even balance by her continued interest in literature and the various forms of
art which uplift the individual and work for the betterment of mankind in the
achievement of a higher and more ideal civilization.


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


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