Wapello County IA Archives Biographies.....Simmons, Francis William 1854 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 July 5, 2013, 1:16 pm

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

FRANCIS WILLIAM SIMMONS.

Francis William Simmons is president of the American Mining Tool Company,
manufacturers of miners' tools and supplies. Well earned success is his, success
that has come through energy wisely directed. He was active in promoting one of
the important productive industries of the city, one that features largely in
manufacturing circles and thus adds to the material prosperity of Ottumwa and
her people. Mr. Simmons was born in Ohio, January 11, 1854, a son of Rev. John
T. Simmons, whose birth occurred in Wilmington, Delaware, January 11, 1829. The
paternal grandparents were John and Margaret (Talley) Simmons. John Simmons,
grandfather of Francis W. Simmons, spent his entire life in his native state of
Delaware, and during the Revolutionary war our subject's great-grandfather
served in Harry Lee's Light Horse Brigade. The widow of John Simmons later
removed to Vinton county, Ohio, where she continued to make her home until
called to her final rest.

Their only child was the Rev. John T. Simmons, who was reared in Ohio and
largely acquired his education in Morgan county. He was deeply interested in the
vital questions that engaged public attention prior to the Civil war, became a
stanch supporter of the abolition cause and made many speeches in its behalf. In
1855 he removed to Jefferson county, Iowa, and purchased an improved farm, upon
which he established his home. The following year he became identified with the
Methodist conference, and in a life devoted to the ministry he accomplished much
good work for the cause of Christianity, his influence being a potent force in
moral development in the different communities in which he lived. Until 1858 he
filled a pastorate at Glasgow and then went to Iowa county, where he had charge
of a large circuit, consisting of sixteen appointments, making his home at that
time in Richmond. In 1862, heartily in sympathy with the Union cause, he joined
the Twenty-eighth Regiment of Iowa Infantry as chaplain and was mustered into
service at Iowa City. In October of the same year the regiment proceeded to
Davenport and on a transport went to Helena, Arkansas, where, on the 20th of
November, 1862, the Twenty-eighth Iowa was assigned to the First Brigade, Second
Division, military district of East Arkansas. On the 11th of December the Rev.
Simmons was transferred to the Second Brigade, First Division, and on December
17th to the Second Brigade, Second Division. On the 11th of April, 1863, he was
assigned to the Twelfth Division, Thirteenth Army Corps and with that command
participated in the Vicksburg campaign and the battles of Fort Gibson and
Champion Hills. He was later in the siege of Vicksburg and after its surrender
went to Jackson. He was later again at Vicksburg and then at Natchez and at
Carrollton. At the last named place he was transferred to the Third Division and
on the 26th of February the troops were ordered to report at New Orleans. They
passed through the Red River campaign and at length reached New Orleans, where
they embarked under scaled orders. They went to Fortress Monroe and thence to
Alexandria, Virginia, and Washington, D. C., this being the first Iowa regiment
in the capital. Proceeding to the Shenandoh valley, they were assigned to the
Fourth Brigade, Third Division, Nineteenth Army Corps, marched through
Charleston, West Virginia, on the 8th of September and participated in the
battles of Perryville and Winchester.

In March, 1865, Rev. Simmons resigned and returned to his home in Iowa county,
Iowa. In 1873 he entered upon a three years' pastorate in Ottumwa and from 1882
until 1886 he was presiding elder of the Keokuk district. He then settled upon a
well improved farm of eighty acres in Center township, Wapello county. He was
pastor of the Mount Pleasant Methodist church in 1878-79 and agent for the Iowa
Wesleyan University in 1880-81. He was also presiding elder of the Newton
district for four or five years, and in 1866 he devoted a year to the
establishment and building of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home of Iowa.

Rev. Simmons was married in 1852 in Ohio to Martha Arganbright, who died in
Center township in 1892, when sixty vears of age, her birth having occurred in
Ohio, February 29, 1832. Mr. Simmons survived for fourteen years and passed away
in 1906. They were a most highly esteemed and worthy couple and had an extensive
circle of warm and devoted friends in Wapello county. In their family were six
children: Lydia, now the deceased wife of E. G. Chapman of Duluth, Minnesota;
Francis William; George B., living in Ottumwa; John W., a resident of Florida;
Kitty, the widow of G. G. Springer and the mother of two children; and
Edmundson, of Nebraska.

Francis William Simmons attended the common schools of this state. According to
the itinerant custom of the Methodist ministry, the family removed from place to
place, so that his studies were pursued in different cities. He was a student in
the high school at Mount Pleasant and also the Iowa Wesleyan University there
and afterward entered the State University at Iowa City. He next taught school
for seven months and then entered the hardware business in Ottumwa. He first
worked for two years for the firm of George Haw & Company and at the end of that
time purchased the interest of Mr. Henry in the business, entering the firm in
1878. He was continuously connected with the business for thirty-one years,
during which time it was a prosperous and growing concern. He has a contagious
enthusiasm which is felt by all who are associated with him, and his enterprise
and energy were factors in the growth of the house. After thirty-one years'
connection therewith he retired, and in 1906 he, together with his brother
George, organized and secured the charter for the American Mining Tool Company,
of which he is president, with George B. Simmons as vice president. This is a
growing concern, engaged in the manufacture of miners' tools, miners' clothing
and other supplies. Among their well known products are the Little Giant drill,
the Scott Patent pick and Uncle Sam overalls. Their plant is large, well lighted
and splendidly equipped with the latest improved machinery to facilitate the
work, and the enterprise is one of the important productive industries of the
city, furnishing employment to from sixty to seventy-five people. In addition to
his activity in that direction Mr. Simmons is known in financial circles and
through his further investment in other industrial concerns. He is now one of
the directors of the First National Bank and of the Union Trust & Savings Bank.

On the 16th of January, 1890, Mr. Simmons was united in marriage to Miss
Elizabeth B. Bonnifield, a daughter of W. B. Bonnifield and a native of Ottumwa.
Their children are four in number: Kenneth (j., living in Chicago; John B., a
student in Yale College, who entered the freshman class at the age of seventeen
years; Francis William, attending high school; and Martha, also in school.

The family attend the First Methodist church, and Mr. Simmons holds membership
in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Masonic fraternity. He is also a
member of the Country Club and the Wapello Club. His political allegiance is
given to the Republican party. He has frequently represented the party in state
and national conventions. He was a delegate to the national convention in 1892,
which nominated Benjamin Harrison; was delegate at large to the convention in
1908, which nominated William Howard Taft; and was alternate at large to the
Chicago convention in 1904. He recognizes the duties and obligations as well as
the privileges of citizenship and is anxious and willing to cooperate in all
movements for the general good of city, county, state and nation. He keeps in
touch with the trend of modern thought, is well informed on the leading
questions and issues of the day, political and otherwise, and in business
affairs is abreast of the tendency of the times.


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


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